Opportunity Title:

Land and Water Remote Sensing Research

Research Area:

Water

EPA Lab/Center/Office:

National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL)

Location:

Research Triangle Park, NC

Duration:

12 months

Brief Summary:

This internship provides an opportunity to conduct a research project in collaboration with EPA and NASA on utilizing airborne remote sensing for collecting data to support water and land research needs. The proposed research includes field work and aircraft flight support.

Opportunity Description:

EPA, partnering with NASA, is developing an airborne remote sensing system called Transportable Environmental Resource Observation Suite (TEROS). The instrument supports landscape analysis such as urban infrastructure mapping, land cover change, wetland and coastal zone change detection, and water quality research on algal blooms and mine drainage sediments.

The instrument suite is comprised of two hyperspectral imagers that cover the visible to short wave infrared region, a thermal camera for temperature sensing, and a mapping camera for the production of 3D digital terrain models. The TEROS package is certified to fly on common Cessna aircraft as an underbelly pod configuration. This allows TEROS to be shipped to field study locations and operate using local aircraft providers.

This an exciting opportunity to conduct research with remote sensing experts from both NASA and EPA, designing experiments that utilize the unique capabilities of TEROS. Research will be focused on several areas: investigating the water quality impacts from historical mine operations in California and Nevada, detecting the formation and mapping the extent of harmful algal blooms in Virginia and North Carolina, and developing land cover change detection methods integrating space-borne and airborne datasets. Students will have the opportunity to be involved with NASA Langley Research Center supporting TEROS electronics and structural design modifications for integration on multiple aircraft, and developing airborne flight operation procedures. The work will include deploying to field sites, setting up and operating instrumentation, utilizing image processing algorithms and developing custom analytical procedures, participating in laboratory analysis of samples, statistical analysis of data, and manuscript writing and publishing. Depending on EPA and NASA safety protocols and a successful medical clearance, there may be opportunities for flight operations support as a sensor operations specialist.

Opportunities for Professional Development:

Professional development opportunities include working with a team of scientists and engineers from EPA and NASA as well as other federal, state and local agencies. There also will be opportunities to write manuscripts and publish as first author.

Point of Contact or Mentor:

David Williams, williams.davidj@epa.gov