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Eyes on Earth Episode 15 – Burn Severity Mapping

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we hear about burn severity mapping project in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Color photo of Birgit Peterson with USGS EROS "Eyes on Earth" podcast graphic
EROS Geographer and Senior Scientist Birgit Peterson

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Summary: Scientists at EROS have spent years refining their approach to mapping burn severity using remotely-sensed data from satellites like Landsat, but Landsat comes with limitations. Landsat data cannot see the vegetation below a thick tree canopy, for example. In this episode, we learn about a project in South Dakota’s Black Hills that seeks to leverage 3D data gathered using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to improve burn mapping and help land managers.

Guests: Birgit Peterson, Geographer and Senior Scientist, EROS; Gail Schmidt, Software Engineer, EROS contractor

Host: Steve Young

Producer: Brian Hauge

Release date: Jan. 27, 2020

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