Elijah Ramsey, III, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Department of Geography, University of South Carolina
M.S., Geophysical Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
B.S., Chemistry, University of Oregon
RESEARCH
Elijah Ramsey III is a principal investigator of terrestrial and coastal ocean remote sensing and image processing in the U. S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette, Louisiana. His applied research is focused on producing consistent biophysical information directly relevant to sustaining critical natural resources that support the well-being of human and wildlife populations. As part of that focus, his work integrates data from passive to active and optical to radar systems that advance the response and strategic monitoring of natural resources and the human populations and facilities that occupy these environments. Current applied research include building a strategic mapping and monitoring system based on the integration of optical and radar image data, mapping invasive species, detection and monitoring of the onset and progression of detrimental change, operational subcanopy flood mapping, and the use of polarimetric radar for detection of subcanopy oil occurrence and definition of canopy structure. He has been honored with awards from the European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar and American Society of Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing for Scientific Publications, including the Leica Geosystems Award for Best Scientific Paper in Remote Sensing. He served as an Associate Editor for Wetlands and the Journal of Coastal Research and is currently an Associate Editor on Wetlands Ecology and Management.
BACKGROUND
In addition to completing graduate studies at the Univesity of South Carolina, he was a Research Project Manager in the Departments of Geography and Civil Engineering. As a postdoctorate, he modeled light interaction with various mangrove canopies based on an implemented radiative transfer model and used those results to simulated broadband and highspectral resolution satellite sensor imaging. In addition, he constructed an integrated system of computer models and algorithms to detect, isolate, and link rainfall events to storm hydrographs and couple those data with unit hydrograph theory within an nonlinear optimization to determing time-to-peak and peak rate factors for individual watersheds.
Science and Products
Mapping Mangrove Condition
Mangroves have decreased worldwide due to human development, climate change and other forces. In southwest Florida, tremendous growth and development pressure has resulted in appreciable losses in mangrove wetlands.
Mapping Marsh Structure with Polarimetric Radar: Highlighting Change in Oil Spill Impacted Marshes
While the historic focus of vegetation condition is the bulk live and dead compositions, these variables provide no information on the structure of vegetation (density and orientation). Canopy structure information is critical for monitoring status and trends, and essential in climate, weather, and ecological studies.
Hurricane Sandy Surge and Marsh Dieback in the New Jersey Coastal Zone
Detection of storm surge impacts on coastal marshes requires regional or broader mapping of surge flooding above and below the wetland canopy and estimation of abnormal change in wetland condition.
Mapping Oil in Marshes and Its Implications
Remote sensing helps USGS scientists detect and map surface oil in coastal environments.
Optical and Radar Fusion: Mapping Coastal Marsh Dieback
With the help of remote sensing, USGS maps the progression of marsh dieback along the Louisiana coast.
Mapping Phragmites australis live fractional cover in the lower Mississippi River Delta, Louisiana
In response to a co-occurring non-native scale infestation and Phragmites australis dieback in southeast Louisiana, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) satellite mapping was implemented to track P. australis condition in the lower Mississippi River Delta. While the NDVI mapping successfully documented relative condition changes,...
Rangoonwala, Amina; Howard, Rebecca J.; Ramsey III, Elijah W.
Monitoring live vegetation in semiarid and arid rangeland environments with satellite remote sensing in northern Kenya
As part of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) commitment to provide technical assistance to the Kenyan Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the DOI International Technical Assistance Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s regional mission in East Africa, created a high...
Rangoonwala, Amina; Ramsey III, Elijah W.
Hyperspectral remote sensing of wetland vegetation
Chapter 11 by Ramsey and Rangoonwala provides an overview of how hyperspectral imaging (HSI) advances the mapping of coastal wetlands that comprise a unique variety of plant species, forms, and associations. Each description begins by seeking to uncover the relationship between canopy hyperspectral reflectance and one or more of the aggregated...
Ramsey, Elijah; Rangoonwala, Amina
Mapping the change of Phragmites australis live biomass in the lower Mississippi River Delta marshes
Multiyear remote sensing mapping of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was carried out as an indicator of live biomass composition of the Phragmites australis (hereafter Phragmites) marsh in the lower Mississippi River Delta (hereafter delta) from 2014 to 2017. Maps of NDVI change showed that the Phragmites condition was fairly...
Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina Operational shoreline mapping with high spatial resolution radar and geographic processing
A comprehensive mapping technology was developed utilizing standard image processing and available GIS procedures to automate shoreline identification and mapping from 2 m synthetic aperture radar (SAR) HH amplitude data. The development used four NASA Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) data collections between summer 2009 and 2012...
Rangoonwala, Amina; Jones, Cathleen E; Chi, Zhaohui; Ramsey, Elijah W. Marsh canopy structure changes and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Marsh canopy structure was mapped yearly from 2009 to 2012 in the Barataria Bay, Louisiana coastal region that was impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Based on the previously demonstrated capability of NASA's UAVSAR polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) image data to map Spartina alterniflora marsh canopy structure,...
Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina; Jones, Cathleen E. Wetland shoreline recession in the Mississippi River Delta from petroleum oiling and cyclonic storms
We evaluate the relative impact of petroleum spill and storm surge on near-shore wetland loss by quantifying the lateral movement of coastal shores in upper Barataria Bay, Louisiana (USA), between June 2009 and October 2012, a study period that extends from the year prior to the Deepwater Horizon spill to 2.5 years following the spill. We document...
Rangoonwala, Amina; Jones, Cathleen E.; Ramsey, Elijah W. Response and resilience of Spartina alterniflora to sudden dieback
We measured an array of biophysical and spectral variables to evaluate the response and recovery of Spartina alterniflora to a sudden dieback event in spring and summer 2004 within a low marsh in coastal Virginia, USA. S. alterniflora is a foundation species, whose loss decreases ecosystem services and potentiates ecosystem state change. Long-term...
Marsh, Amanda; Blum, Linda K.; Christian, Robert R.; Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina Radar and optical mapping of surge persistence and marsh dieback along the New Jersey Mid-Atlantic coast after Hurricane Sandy
This study combined a radar-based time series of Hurricane Sandy surge and estimated persistence with optical sensor-based marsh condition change to assess potential causal linkages of surge persistence and marsh condition change along the New Jersey Atlantic Ocean coast. Results based on processed TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed synthetic aperture...
Rangoonwala, Amina; Enwright, Nicholas M.; Ramsey, Elijah W.; Spruce, Joseph P. Marsh canopy leaf area and orientation calculated for improved marsh structure mapping
An approach is presented for producing the spatiotemporal estimation of leaf area index (LAI) of a highly heterogeneous coastal marsh without reliance on user estimates of marsh leaf-stem orientation. The canopy LAI profile derivation used three years of field measured photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) vertical profiles at seven S....
Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina; Jones, Cathleen E.; Bannister, Terri Structural classification of marshes with Polarimetric SAR highlighting the temporal mapping of marshes exposed to oil
Empirical relationships between field-derived Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Leaf Angle Distribution (LAD) and polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) based biophysical indicators were created and applied to map S. alterniflora marsh canopy structure. PolSAR and field data were collected near concurrently in the summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012...
Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina; Jones, Cathleen E. Radar and optical image fusion and mapping of land cover and wetland resources
Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina
USGS, NASA Study Finds Widespread Coastal Land Losses from Gulf Oil Spill
A new USGS-NASA study found widespread shoreline loss along heavily oiled areas of Louisiana's coast after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and compared the erosion from the spill with coastal changes Hurricane Isaac caused in 2012.