The Center for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing (CEARS) is a state of the art research facility developed by several Virginia Tech researchers from multiple departments who have formed partnerships with other industries, institutions, and governments to solve a wide array of environmental problems. CEARS was established in 1997 as a NASA center of excellence in applications of remote sensing to regional and global integrated environmental assessments. Co-directed by Randolph H. Wynne (Forestry) and James B. Campbell (Geography), it is Virginia Tech’s focal point for interdisciplinary research, instruction, and outreach focused on remote sensing applications.

Center researchers have extensive expertise with a wide variety of data types (i.e., active and passive microwave, multispectral, hyperspectral, lidar, aerial photographs) and application areas (e.g., temperate and tropical forestry, limnology, ecological modeling, marine biology, environmental monitoring, urban ecology, carbon sequestration, tropical biodiversity assessment, rangeland management, invasive species, fire fuel loading). The CEARS laboratory is physically and administratively housed within the College of Natural Resources, but is shared with other colleagues and constituencies, both on campus and off.

Latest News

Visit VirginiaView to see our efforts at a statewide consortium for remote sensing education, research, and geospatial applications.

Join us to learn about recent developments in monitoring forest resources using airborne and terrestrial Lidar systems at the Silviscan Conference Sept. 29 - Oct. 3, 2005.

Mission

Our mission is to provide interdisciplinary leadership in remote sensing through formal instruction, outreach, cooperative research, and consulting. CEARS contributes to applications of the science and technology necessary to better understand effects of both natural and human-induced variability and change within the Earth system.

Philosophy

In 2001, the National Research Council (NRC) identified eight grand challenges in environmental sciences. The Center for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing (CEARS) at Virginia Tech focuses on three of these pressing priorities, namely

1. to further our understanding of the earth's major biogeochemical cycles,
2. to improve understanding of the factors affecting biological diversity and ecosystem structure and functioning, and
3. to develop a systematic understanding of changes in land uses and land cover that are critical to ecosystem functioning and services and human welfare.

A subsequent NRC study on Transforming Remotely Sensed Data into Information and Applications identified three crucial gaps that we must bridge to develop effective applications of environmental remote sensing, as follows:

1. the gap between raw data and the information needed by end users,
2. the gap in communication and understanding between end users and those with remote sensing technical experience and training, and
3. the financial gap between data acquisition and useable applications.

CEARS researchers have a extensive experience in bridging these crucial gaps to develop state-of-the-art remote sensing applications for a wide variety of stakeholders.

Contact Information

	Les Fuller, Laboratory Coordinator College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA  24061. Ph: (540) 231-7416, Fax: (540) 231-7664, Email: fuller@vt.edu
	Randolph H. Wynne, Co-Director and Associate Professor Department of Forestry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Ph: (540) 231-7811, Fax: (540) 231-3698, Email: wynne@vt.edu
	James B. Campbell, Co-Director and Professor Department of Geography, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Ph: (540) 231-5841, Fax: (540) 231-6367, Email: jayhawk@vt.edu
	Postal Address CEARS 217 Cheatham Hall - 0324 College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061
	Electronic Mail General Information: cears@vt.edu Webmaster: pmb@vt.edu