Monday, June 5, 2017

Humans vs. Drones and Satellites!

Posted by Richard Primack

“If there is nothing new on earth, there is still something new in the heavens.”
-Thoreau in his journal, Nov. 17, 1837

In an earlier post (April, 2016) we described comparing our on-the-ground observations of tree leaf-out times with data from LANDSAT satellites. Are data gathered by the two methods comparable, and can they be combined in climate change research?




We are now collaborating with Margaret Kosmala and David Basler from Harvard who are using drones to monitor tree leaf-out times at the Arnold Arboretum. Will drones flying a few hundred feet high provide similar dates of leaf-out to an observer on the ground and satellites in the sky? We will soon find out!


Science journalist Meera Subramanian recently wrote abut this project for Undark magazine.

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