Gareth Roberts
Contact Details
email:
gareth.j.roberts@kcl.ac.uk
Biography
I am a research associate in the Department of Geography, King’s College London. I carried out my MSc and PhD degrees in remote sensing in the Department of Geography, University College London. My PhD research focussed on monitoring vegetation dynamics using linear parametric Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) models.
Research
My research interests focus on monitoring land surface dynamics using optical and thermal EO remote sensing. One aspect of this concerns linking optical EO data with BRDF models for quantification of land surface dynamics and vegetation change through the derivation of biophysical parameters such as leaf area index and vegetation cover, together with related variables such as surface albedo.
More recently my research has involved applying thermal remote sensing techniques to address key questions regarding fire impact and effects. This research has involved the development of thermal EO methods and their use in quantifying the amount of terrestrially-stored carbon released through biomass burning. Part of this research has involved the development of a fire detection and characterisation algorithm which has been implemented by EUMETSAT for operational production.
Publications
Roberts, G., and Wooster, M. J. (2007) New perspectives on Africa biomass burning temporal dynamics. EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union. 88. 38. 18 September 2007
Roberts, G., and Wooster, M. J., (2007) Geostationary Fire Detection and Fire Characterization over Africa. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Accepted.
Roberts, G., Wooster, M.J., Perry, G.L.W., Drake, N., Rebelo, L-M., Dipotso, F. (2005)
Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: Application to southern Africa using geostationary SEVIRI Imagery. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, D21111, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006018
Wooster, M.J., Roberts, G., Perry, G. and Kaufman, Y.J. (2005)
Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: Calibration relationships between biomass consumption and fire radiative energy release. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, D21111, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006318
Zhukov, B., Lorenz, E., Oertel, D., Wooster, M.J. and Roberts, G. (2005) Spaceborne detection and characterization of fires during the Bi-spectral Infrared Detection (BIRD) experimental small satellite mission (2001-2004). Remote Sensing of Environment, 100, 29-51
Zhukov, B., Lorenz, E., Oertel, D., Wooster, M.J. and Roberts, G. (2005) Experience of detection and quantitative characterization of fires during the experimental small satellite mission BIRD. Forschungsbericht, DLR, 96pp.
Privette, J. L., Tian, Y., Roberts, G., Scholes, R., Wang, Y., and Caylor, K., (2004) Structural characteristics and relationships of Kalahari woodlands and savannas. Global Change Biology. 10, 281–291, doi: 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2003.00740.x
Privette, J., L., Myneni, R., B., Knyazikhin, Y., Mukufute, M., Roberts, G., Tian, Y., Wang, Y., and Leblanc, S. (2002) Early spatial and temporal validation of MODIS LAI product in Africa. Remote Sensing of Environment. 83(1-2), 232-243.
Schaaf, C., B., Gao, F., Strahler, A., H., Lucht, W., Li, X., Tsang, T., Strugnell, N, C., Zhang, X., Muller, J-P., Lewis, P., Barnsley, M., Hobson, P., Disney, M., Roberts, G., Dunderdale, M., Doll, C., d’Entremont, R., P., Hu, B., and Privette, J. (2002) The At-launch MODIS BRDF and albedo product. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83, 135-148.
Roberts, G. (2001) A review of the application of BRDF models to infer land cover parameters at regional and global scales. Progress in Physical Geography. 25. 4. 483 – 511.
Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBDs)
FTA team members. (2006) MSG SEVIRI Fire Thermal Anomaly (FTA) Characterisation. Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document. EUMETSAT. Version 1.1.
MODIS BRDF/Albedo team members (1999) MODIS BRDF/Albedo Product. Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document. NASA. Version 5.0.