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Stories from around the region that engage and inspire.A special thank you to the City of Flagstaff BBB grant program and Flagstaff Cultural Partners for awarding KNAU $18,400 to help fund KNAU's Science and Technology Desk.

Earth Notes: Drones in the Woods

Michele James

An exciting tool is providing a new way to better determine the effectiveness of restoration projects in northern Arizona forests. 

Last year, researchers at Northern Arizona University’s School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems used thousands of images taken from satellites and airplanes to compare snow cover in forests that received restoration treatments to those that didn’t. That study, located west of Flagstaff, found that thinning of ponderosa pine resulted in more snow cover that stuck around longer than on sites that weren’t treated. Thus, more snow was able to soak into soils and groundwater.

This year, professor Teki Sankey and graduate student Jonathon Donald are employing an eight-legged drone, called an octocopter, to expand on these earlier findings.

The drone carries a Light Detection and Ranging scanner that measures precise distances with a laser beam that bounces off objects. The LIDAR data produce three-dimensional images that can help reveal snow depth, timber harvest yield, or carbon storage in a forest. Snowpack and soil moisture can help predict seasonal drought.

The octocopter also holds a sensor that records hundreds of wavelengths of reflected sunlight, letting researchers identify various plant species on the ground, and discern water content in snow and soils.

Use of a drone offers a potentially inexpensive and quicker way to gauge the effectiveness of forest treatments on ecological and watershed health.  

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