Dr. Susan Ustin has 35 years of experience in working with remote sensing instruments to study and understanding ecosystem processes. Her research has focused on detection of ecophysio-logical traits and processes in relation to remotely sensed characterization of stressed vegetation from climate variability and change. Her work includes wildfire-related research at local to regional scales that address risk, mitigation, and adaptation. Dr. Ustin’s research includes forest structure, drought and wildfire risk, quantifying live fuel loads, and recovery after wildfire. She has also worked on impacts of multiple stressors, including Gulf oil spill and subsequent hurricane damage.

Current Projects

• Using GOES direct downlink data to produce daily maps of potential evapotranspiration
• Mapping invasive aquatic species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
• eDaRT program development (Elseveir Journal)
• Assessment of drought-induced blue oak mortality in the Sierra Nevada Mountain, California (In Progress)
• Using hyperspectral imagery to map biodiversity from the Western Ghats Mountains, a hotspot of biodiversity in India
• Quantifying the impact of a major earthquake disturbance on ecosystem services
• Live fuel moisture content product from Landsat TM for fire behavior models (in review)