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Roy, D.P., Wulder, M.A., Woodcock, C., 2025, Independent oversight crucial to Landsat Next, Science, 388 (6751),1033.

Ju, J., Zhou, Q., Freitag, B., Roy, D.P., Zhang, H.K., Sridhar, M., Mandel, J., Arab, S., Schmidt, G., Crawford, C.J., Gascon, F., Strobl, P.A., Masek, J.G., Neigh, C.S.R., 2025, The harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 version 2.0 surface reflectance dataset, Remote Sensing of Environment, 324, 114723.

Cho, M-S., Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Yan, L., Shen, M., 2025, Assessment and improvement of GEDI canopy height estimation in tropical and temperate forests, Science of Remote Sensing, 11, 100221. 

Huang. H., Roy, D.P., De Lemos, H., Qiu, Y., Zhang, H.K., 2025, A global Swin-Unet Sentinel-2 surface reflectance-based cloud and cloud shadow detection algorithm for the NASA Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) dataset, Science of Remote Sensing, 11,  100213 . 

Yan, L. and Roy, D.P., 2025, Using Landsat 8 and 9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data  to characterize geometric distortion and improve geometric correction of Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) imagery, Remote Sensing of Environment, 321, 114679 . 

McGregor, S., Cromsigt, J.P.G.M., te Beest, M., Chen, J., Roy, D.P., Hawkins, H-J., Kerley, G.I.H., 2024, Grassland albedo as a nature-based climate prospect: the role of growth form and grazing, Environmental Research Letters, 19, 124004. 

Gao, S., Zhang, X., Zhang, H.K, Shen, Y., Roy, D.P., Wang, W., Schaaf, C., 2024, A new constant scattering angle solar geometry definition for normalization of GOES-R ABI reflectance times series to support land surface phenology studies, Remote Sensing of Environment, 315, 114407.

Roy, D.P., De Lemos, H., Huang, H., Giglio, L., Houborg, R., Miura, T., 2024, Multi-resolution monitoring of the 2023 Maui wildfires, implications and needs for satellite-based wildfire disaster monitoring, Science of Remote Sensing, 10, 100142. 

Liu, H., Zhang, H.K., Huang, B., Yan, L., Tran, K. H., Qiu, Y., Zhang, X., Roy, D.P., 2024, Reconstruction of seamless harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) time series via self-supervised learning, Remote Sensing of Environment, 308,  114191. 

Giglio, L., and Roy, D. P., 2024, Satellite artifacts modulate FireCCILT11 global burned area, Nature Communications, 15, 2079.

Zhang, H.K., Luo, D., Roy, D.P., 2024, Improved Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) cloud and shadow detection with the learning attention network algorithm (LANA), Remote Sensing, 16(8), 1321.

Radeloff, V. C., Roy, D.P.,  Wulder, M.A.,  Anderson, M., Cook, B., Crawford, C. J., Friedl, M., Gao, F., Gorelick, N., Hansen, M., Healey, S., Hostert, P., Hulley, G.,  Huntington, J.L.,  Johnson, D.M., Neigh, C., Lyapustin,  A., Lymburner, L., Pahlevan, N., Pekel, J.-F. , Scambos, T. A., Schaaf, C., Strobl, P., Woodcock, C.E., Zhang, H.K., Zhu, Z., 2024, Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products.  Remote Sensing of Environment, 300, 113918.

Giglio, L. and Roy, D.P., 2023, FireCCILT11 artifacts may confound the link between biomass burning and infant mortality, Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 120 (51), e2317759120. 

Crawford, C.J., Roy, D.P., Arab, S., Barnes, C., Vermote, E., Hulley, G., Gerace, A., Choate, M., Engebretson, C., Micijevic, E., Schmidt, G., Anderson, C., Anderson, M., Bouchard, M., Cook, B., Dittmeier, R., Howard, D., Jenkerson, C., Kim, M., Kleyians, T., Maiersperger, T., Mueller, C., Neigh, C., Page, B., Pahlevan, N., Rengarajan, R., Roger, J-C., Sayler, K., Scaramuzza, P., Skakun, S., Yan, L., Zhang, H., Zhu, Z., Zahn, S., 2023,  The 50-year Landsat collection 2 archive, Science of Remote Sensing, 8, 100103. 

Kashongwe, H.B., Roy, D.P., Skole, D.L., 2023, Examination of the amount of GEDI data required to characterize central Africa tropical forest aboveground biomass at REDD+ project scale in Mai Ndombe province, Science of Remote Sensing, 7, 100091.

­­­Zhang, H.K., Roy, D.P., Luo, D., 2023, Demonstration of large area land cover classification with a one dimensional convolutional neural network applied to single pixel temporal metric percentiles, Remote Sensing of Environment, 295, 113653.

Egorov, A., Roy, D. P., Boschetti, L., 2023, Generation and comprehensive validation of 30 m conterminous United States Landsat percent tree cover and forest cover loss annual products. Science of Remote Sensing, 7, 100084. 

Roy, D.P., Cho, M., Kashongwe, H., Bwangoy, J.R., Assessing central Africa tropical forest carbon using ground-based inventory and Sentinel-2 tree height deep learning, A-CG35 Global Carbon Cycle Observation and Analysis, Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2025, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, May 25-30 2025.

Roy, D.P., H., Huang, H., Boschetti, L., De Lemos, H., Zhang, H.K., Globally applicable high resolution burned area mapping by deep learning PlanetScope image pairs, M-AG33 Satellite Land Processes Monitoring at Medium/High/Very High Resolution, Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2025, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, May 25-30 2025.

Huang, H., Roy, D.P., De Lemos, H., Qiu, Y., Zhang, H.K., A global Swin-Unet Sentinel-2 surface reflectance-based cloud and cloud shadow detection algorithm for the NASA Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) dataset, M-AG33 Satellite Land Processes Monitoring at Medium/High/Very High Resolution, Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2025, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, May 25-30 2025.

Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H., Cho, M., Skole, D., Bwangoy, J.R., Using GEDI data to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth, GEDI Science Team Meeting, University of Maryland, 4600 River Road, Riverdale, MD, 1-3 April 2025. 

Xu, Y., Yan, L., Roy, D.P., A novel approach for satellite coastal-aquaculture cage and raft detection using sensor band misregistration parallax over coastal waves, Presentation in Symposium on Spatial AI & Data Science for Sustainability: Geospatial Artificial Intelligence, Remote Sensing, and Deep Learning, 2025 American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Detroit, 24 – 28 March 2025.

Yan, L., Roy, D.P., Precise sub-field boundary delineation using medium- and high-resolution satellite imagery in U.S. agricultural regions, Presentation in Advancing agricultural monitoring through remote sensing II, 2025 American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Detroit, 24 – 28 March 2025.

Baldiga, L., Belton, B., Yan, L., Roy, D.P., Napasintuwong, O., Wangvoralak, S., What Happens After the Boom? Stagnation, Diversification, Exit, and Continuity in Aquaculture in Central Thailand, Presentation in Agro-industrial transformation and crises, 2025 American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Detroit, 24 – 28 March 2025.

Yan, L., Roy, D.P., Conterminous United States field extraction 2008-2026 from Landsat. NASA ACRES Meeting, Denver, Colorado, 5-6 March 2025.

Cho, M.S., Roy, D.P., Huang, H., Yuean, Q., Hugo, D.L., Significantly improved GEDI canopy height estimation in tropical and temperate forests by Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) surface and then canopy height calibration, Poster in Advances in Tracking Global Change: Insights from NASA’s Satellite Laser Altimetry Missions (ICESat, ICESat-2, and GEDI) and the Path to EDGE I session, Fall Meeting, AGU, Washington D.C., 9-13 December 2024.

Qiu, Y., Roy, D.P., Zhang, H.K., Huang, H., Self-supervised deep learning Forest Cover Loss detection over the Conterminous United States, Poster in Earth Observation–Based Methods to Monitor Forest Loss, Degradation, and Growth, Fall Meeting, AGU, Washington D.C., 9-13 December 2024.

Zubkova, M., Giglio, L., Boschetti, L., Roy, D.P., Hall, J., Humber, M., Huang, H., Oles, V., The NASA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) burned area product - VNP64A1, Poster in The Role of Fire in the Earth System: Understanding Drivers, Feedbacks, and Interactions with the Land, Atmosphere, and Society, Fall Meeting, AGU, Washington D.C., 9-13 December 2024.

Roy, D.P., Huang, H., De Lemos, H., Qiu, Y., Artificial Intelligence for high spatial resolution satellite fire monitoring, Workshop on Cross-Disciplinary Challenges and Opportunities in AI Applications to Science and Engineering (C²OA²SE), Michigan Tech Research Institute, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 6-8 November 2024.

Yan, L., Belton, B., Roy, D.P., Baldiga, L., Napasintuwong, O., Wangvoralak, S., Chandra Mohan, A.B., Babi, R., Shen, M., Apichaya, T., Tracking and accounting for patterns of land use change in Asian aquaculture hotspots, NASA Land Cover Land Use Change Webinar, Online, October 31 2024.

Boschetti, L., Oles, V., Roy, D.P., Validation of non-permanent vegetation disturbances at the continental to global scale: the case of burned areas and forest cover loss, Invited Seminar, King’s College, London (UK), October 15 2024.

Roy, D.P., De Lemos, H., Huang, H., Giglio, L., Houborg, R., Miura, T., Multi-resolution Monitoring of the 2023 Maui Wildfires, Implications and Recommendations for a Dedicated Fire Monitoring Satellite Constellation, 13th EARSeL Workshop on Forest Fires, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Milan, Italy, 19-20  September 2024.

Boschetti, L., Roy, D.P., Giglio, L., Oles, V., Intercomparison and Validation of the MODIS and VIIRS Global Burned Area Products, 13th EARSeL Workshop on Forest Fires, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Milan, Italy, 19-20  September 2024.

Roy, D.P., The emerging role of artificial intelligence for satellite fire monitoring, a case study of the 2023 Maui wildfires, and implications for future satellite wildfire disaster monitoring, Keynote at the Australasian Fire And Emergency Services Authorities Council conference (AFAC24), Sydney International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Sydney, Australia,  3-6 September 2024.

Roy D.P. and Zhang, H.K., Landsat NEXT westward tilt sun-glint reduction study: BRDF modelling analyses of tilt impact on Landsat surface reflectance consistency & the 2018-2023 Landsat Science Team tilt recommendations, NASA Surface Biology Geology (SBG) Algorithms Working Group Virtual Meeting, June 24 2024.

Roy, D.P., Invited panel speaker in session From Science to Action: Applying Research to Solve Real-world Challenges, Planet On The Road Washington D.C. area one day in-person learning/networking inspiration meeting, The Westin Tysons Corner, Falls Church, Virginia, June 12 2024. 

Dr. Myung Sik Cho, Postdoctoral research associate 

Dr. Haiyan Huang, Assistant research professor

Dr. Herve Kashongwe, Postdoctoral research associate

Yuean Qiu, Ph.D. student 

Apichaya Thaneerat, Masters student

Yunci Xu,  Visiting Ph.D. student

Dr. Lin Yan, Associate research professor

Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H., Cho, M., Using GEDI data to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth. Funded by NASA NNH23ZDA001N-GEDI Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Science Team program. 

Giglio, L., Roy, D.P., Hall, J.V., Zubkova, M., Santamaría-Artigas, A.E., Huang, H., Yan, L. A Five-Decade Multi-Sensor Global Burned Area Data Record. Funded by NASA NNH22ZDA001N-MEASURES Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments program.

Roy, D.P., Wei, G., Huang, H., Egorov, A., Machine learning PLANET high resolution training data for medium resolution land cover and disturbance mapping.  Funded by NASA NNH19ZDA001N-ACCESS Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) program. 

Roy, D.P., Democratic Republic of Congo satellite forest canopy cover, loss and swamp extent mapping, demonstration pilot in support of Wildlife Works Carbon LLC REDD+ projects.  Funded by Wildlife Works Carbon LLC (https://www.wildlifeworks.com/mai-ndombe).   See https://sites.google.com/view/msu-drc-forest/home. 

Yan, L., Benton, B., Roy, D.P., Drivers and constraints of land cover land use change in Asian aquaculture hotspots. Funded by NASA Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) NNH22ZDA001N-LCLUC program.

Whitcraft, A.K. (University of Maryland) et al., Roy, D.P.,  NASA ACRES: A Climate Resilient Ecosystem Approach to Strengthening US Agriculture. Funded by NASA Applied Science Program, solicitation A. 36 Earth Science Applications: Agriculture, NNH22ZDA001N-AG. program. 

Giglio, L. (University of Maryland), Hall, J., Humber, M., Zubkova, M., Boschetti, L., Roy, D.P., Support and Maintenance of S-NPP and JPSS VIIRS Global Active Fire and Burned Area Earth System Data Records, Funded by NASA NNH20ZDA001N-SNPPSP Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (NPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Satellites Standard Products for Earth System Data Records program.

Boschetti, L. (University of Idaho), Roy, D.P. and Giglio, L., Is the world burning less? Disentangling decadal trends, inter-annual fire variability and product uncertainties, through harmonization of the NASA MODIS and VIIRS fire product record,  Funded by NNH20ZDA001N-TASNPP:A.33 The Science of Terra, Aqua, and Suomi-NPP program. 

GEO 827 Theory and Practice of Terrestrial Remote Sensing

Mon & Wed : 5:00 PM-6:20 PM   

8/26/2024 - 12/4/2024   

Environmental remote sensing systems have evolved significantly over the last two decades fueled by pressing needs to monitor human impacts on the Earth system and to develop a comprehensive understanding of Earth system functioning.  Space agency and commercial satellite remote sensing systems are in orbit and planned for launch with associated computing systems to derive biophysical and geophysical data products on a global, systematic basis. This course describes the science theory, algorithms, and computational approaches to generate and assess derived satellite products for long term Earth system monitoring. Emphasis is on the principles of optical remote sensing (0.4-14 microns) and quantitative algorithms for estimating biophysical and geophysical land surface variables from remotely sensed observations. The course provides insights into how space agencies, and in particular NASA, goes about these tasks, using the NASA MODIS land products as a lens for what we learn throughout the course.  Yes, deep learning is mentioned in some of the later lectures.

This is 3 credit graduate level course. Understanding of the fundamental principles of remote sensing, some physics, calculus, statistics, and also computer literacy, is expected.  Lecture material will be provided to students after each lecture as .PDF files.

Students who desire an introductory Remote Sensing course should take GEO-324 or GEO-424.

1990 - 1993   Ph.D. Remote Sensing,  University of Cambridge, Department of Geography, Cambridge, U.K.

1987 - 1988   M.Sc.  Remote Sensing and Image Processing Technology, University of Edinburgh, Department of Meteorology, U.K. 

1984 - 1987    B.Sc. Geophysics, Lancaster University, Department of Environmental Science, Lancaster, U.K.