Dr Gareth Roberts BSc, MSc, PhD

Lecturer in Remote Sensing

Dr Gareth Roberts is Lecturer in Remote Sensing within Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton.

Qualifications
Ph.D : Monitoring land cover dynamics using linear BRDF model parameter temporal trajectories (University College London)
M.Sc : Remote Sensing (University College London)
B.Sc : Geographical Information Systems (Kingston University)

Employment
2011 – present : Lecturer in Remote Sensing
2002 – 2011 : Research Associate at Kings College London

Research

Responsibilities

Publications

Contact

Research Interests
My research interests focus on monitoring land surface dynamics using optical and thermal remote sensing. One aspect of this concerns linking Earth Observation (EO) data with models for quantifying land surface dynamics and vegetation change using biophysical parameters such as leaf area index and vegetation cover. More recently my research has focused on improving the understanding of fire in the natural environment and on the utilisation of satellite data to address questions regarding fire impacts and effects. This involves the development of thermal EO methods and their use in quantifying the amount of terrestrially-stored carbon released through biomass burning. In conjunction with colleagues at Kings College London and EUMETSAT this research led to the production of an operational fire detection and characterisation algorithm which is available from the Land Satellite Applications Facility.

Research group

Global Environmental Change and Earth Observation

Programme Leader for the MSc in Applied GIS and Remote Sensing.

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Articles

Roberts, G., Wooster, M., Lauret, N., Gastellu-Etchegory, J-P., Lynham, T., & McRae, D. (2018). Investigating the impact of overlying vegetation canopy structures on fire radiative power (FRP) retrieval through simulation and measurement. Remote Sensing of Environment, 217, 158-171. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2018.08.015
Swain, D., Roberts, G. J., Dash, J., Lekshmi, K., Vinoj, V., & Tripathy, S. (2017). Impact of rapid urbanization on the City of Bhubaneswar, India. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section A: Physical Sciences, 87(4), 845-853. DOI: 10.1007/s40010-017-0453-7
MacLachlan, A., Roberts, G., Biggs, E., & Boruff, B. (2017). Sub-pixel land cover classification for improved urban area estimates using Landsat. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 38(20), 5763-5792. DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2017.1346403
MacLachlan, A., Biggs, E., Roberts, G., & Boruff, B. (2017). Urban growth dynamics in Perth, Western Australia: using applied remote sensing for sustainable future planning. Land, 6(1), 1-14. DOI: 10.3390/land6010009
MacLachlan, A., Biggs, E., Roberts, G., & Boruff, B. (2017). Urbanisation-induced land cover temperature dynamics for sustainable future urban heat island mitigation. Urban Science, 1(38). DOI: 10.3390/urbansci1040038
Roberts, G., Wooster, M. J., Xu, W., Freeborn, P. H., Morcrette, J-J., Jones, L., ... Kaiser, J. (2015). LSA SAF Meteosat FRP Products: part 2 – evaluation and demonstration of use in the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15(22), 13241-13267. DOI: 10.5194/acp-15-13241-2015
Wooster, M. J., Roberts, G., Freeborn, P. H., Govaerts, Y., Beeby, R., He, J., ... Mullen, R. (2015). Meteosat SEVIRI Fire Radiative Power (FRP) products from the Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA SAF): Part 1 - algorithms, product contents & analysis. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15(22), 13217-13239. DOI: 10.5194/acp-15-13217-2015
Roberts, G. (2014). Development of a multi-temporal Kalman filter approach to geostationary active fire detection & fire radiative power (FRP) estimation. Remote Sensing of Environment, 152, 392-412. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2014.06.020
Freeborn, P. H., Wooster, M. J., Roberts, G. J., & Xu, W. (2014). Evaluating the SEVIRI fire thermal anomaly detection algorithm across the Central African Republic using the MODIS active fire product. Remote Sensing, 6(3), 1890-1917. DOI: 10.3390/rs6031890
Paugam, R., Wooster, M. J., & Roberts, G. (2012). Use of handheld thermal imager data for airborne mapping of Fire Radiative Power and energy and flame front rate of spread. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 99, 1-15. DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2012.2220368
Freeborn, P. H., Wooster, M. J., & Roberts, G. (2011). Addressing the spatiotemporal sampling design of MODIS to provide estimates of the fire radiative energy emitted from Africa. Remote Sensing of Environment, 115(2), 475-489. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2010.09.017
Roberts, G., Wooster, M. J., Freeborn, P. H., & Xu, W. (2011). Integration of geostationary FRP and polar-orbiter burned area datasets for an enhanced biomass burning inventory. Remote Sensing of Environment, 115(8), 2047-2061. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.04.006
Archibald, S., Scholes, R. J., Roy, D. P., Roberts, G., & Boschetti, L. (2010). Southern African fire regimes as revealed by remote sensing. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 19(7), 861.
Vermote, E., Ellicott, E., Dubovik, O., Lapyonok, T., Chin, M., Giglio, L., & Roberts, G. J. (2009). An approach to estimate global biomass burning emissions of organic and black carbon from MODIS fire radiative power. Journal of Geophysical Research, 114(D18), 205-227. DOI: 10.1029/2008JD011188
Roberts, G., Wooster, M. J., & Lagoudakis, E. (2009). Annual and diurnal african biomass burning temporal dynamics. Biogeosciences, 6(5), 849-866. DOI: 10.5194/bg-6-849-2009
Freeborn, P. H., Wooster, M. J., Roberts, G., Malamud, B. D., & Xu, W. (2009). Development of a virtual active fire product for Africa through a synthesis of geostationary and polar orbiting satellite data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 113(8), 1700-1711. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2009.03.013
Ellicott, E., Vermote, E., Giglio, L., & Roberts, G. (2009). Estimating biomass consumed from fire using MODIS FRE. Geophysical Research Letters, 36(13), L13401-[5pp]. DOI: 10.1029/2009GL038581
Roberts, G. J., & Wooster, M. J. (2008). Fire detection and fire characterization over Africa using Meteosat SEVIRI. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 46(4), 1200-1218. DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2008.915751
Zhukov, B., Lorenz, E., Oertel, D., Wooster, M., & Roberts, G. (2006). Spaceborne detection and characterization of fires during the bi-spectral infrared detection (BIRD) experimental small satellite mission (2001–2004). Remote Sensing of Environment, 100(1), 29-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2005.09.019
Roberts, G., Wooster, M. J., Perry, G. L. W., Drake, N., Rebelo, L-M., & Dipotso, F. (2005). Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: Application to southern Africa using geostationary SEVIRI imagery. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, D2111. DOI: 10.1029/2005JD006018
Wooster, M. J., Roberts, G., Perry, G. L. W., & Kaufman, Y. J. (2005). Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: FRP derivation and calibration relationships between biomass consumption and fire radiative energy release. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110(D24), 311. DOI: 10.1029/2005JD006318
Privette, J. L., Tian, Y., Roberts, G., Scholes, R. J., Wang, Y., Caylor, K. K., ... Mukelabai, M. (2004). Vegetation structure characteristics and relationships of Kalahari woodlands and savannas. Global Change Biology, 10(3), 281-291. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2004.00740.x
Privette, J. L., Myneni, R. B., Knyazikhin, Y., Mukelabai, M., Roberts, G., Tian, Y., ... Leblanc, S. G. (2002). Early spatial and temporal validation of MODIS LAI product in the Southern Africa Kalahari. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83(1-2), 232-243. DOI: 10.1016/S0034-4257(02)00075-5
Schaaf, C. B., Gao, F., Strahler, A. H., Lucht, W., Li, X., Tsang, T., ... Roy, D. (2002). First operational BRDF, albedo nadir reflectance products from MODIS. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83(1-2), 135-148. DOI: 10.1016/S0034-4257(02)00091-3
Roberts, G. (2001). A review of the application of BRDF models to infer land cover parameters at regional and global scales. Progress in Physical Geography, 25(4), 483-511. DOI: 10.1177/030913330102500402

Book Chapters

Wooster, M., Roberts, G., Smith, A., Johnston, J., Freeborn, P., Amici, S., & Hudak, A. (2013). Thermal infrared remote sensing: sensors, methods, applications. In C. Kuenzer, & S. Dech (Eds.), Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing (Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing; No. 17). Springer.
Quegan, S., Lewis, P., Quaife, T., Roberts, G., Wooster, M., & Disney, M. (2008). Using satellite observations in regional scale calculations of carbon exchange. In H. Dolman, R. Valentini, & A. Freibauer (Eds.), The Continental-Scale Greenhouse Gas Balance of Europe (pp. 309-340). (Ecological Studies; Vol. 203). New York, US: Springer.

Letters/Editorials

Roberts, G. (2018). The benefits of allergy patient support groups. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 48(9), 1078-1079. DOI: 10.1111/cea.13240
Orr-ewing, A. J., Verlet, J. R. R., Penfold, T. J., Minns, R. S., Minitti, M. P., Sølling, T. I., ... Neville, S. P. (2016). Electronic and non-adiabatic dynamics: general discussion. Faraday Discussions, 194, 209-257. DOI: 10.1039/C6FD90070D

Dr Gareth Roberts
Building 44 University of Southampton University Road Southampton SO17 1BJ

Room Number: 44/2079

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