Image captured by a DJI Mavis Air 2S over the flight mission area surrounding the NEON flux tower at Mountain Lake Biological Station in Pembroke, VA.
Image captured by a DJI Mavis Air 2S over the flight mission area surrounding the NEON flux tower at Mountain Lake Biological Station in Pembroke, VA.

In August and September, Paige Williams (Ph.D. Candidate (FREC) and Daniel Cross (M.S. student (FREC) and Project Associate - UAS Operator/GIS at the Conservation Management Institute at Virginia Tech) conducted multiple unmanned aerial system (UAS) flight acquisitions over the forested area surrounding the MLBS NEON flux tower.

They flew their SkyFish M6 drone mounted with a Headwall hyperspectral sensor and Velodyne LiDAR sensor. This combination of sensors provides a rich dataset for environmental analysis by producing 3D high-resolution images of the forest.

Paige’s research investigates the dynamics of our planet’s interconnected earth system functions by integrating remote sensing (drones, planes, satellites) and field observations (flux towers). Her dissertation research combines remotely sensed estimates of forest structure and function to improve the quantification of forest productivity. By combining high-resolution observations of forest structure from lidar data and function from hyperspectral data, she seeks to improve our understanding of ecosystem dynamics and the response to changing climate conditions.

Paige works with a science team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center called Structure and Function of Forested Ecosystems (SAFE). The team is interested in developing an Earth observing system that simultaneously quantifies structure and function to assess global productivity changes in forests.