Publications, Media and Outreach

Simpson, G., Nichol, C., Wade, T., Helfter, C., Hamilton, A. & Gibson Poole, S., 13 Mar 2024, In: Drones. 8, 3, 97. Species-Level Classification of Peatland Vegetation Using Ultra-High-Resolution UAV Imagery

Tyndall, A., Nichol, C., Wade, T., Pirrie, S., Harris, M. P. & Wanless, S., 30 Jan 2024, In: Drones. 8, 2. Quantifying the Impact of Avian Influenza on the Northern Gannet Colony of Bass Rock Using Ultra-High-Resolution Drone Imagery and Deep Learning

Lane et al .. Nichol, CJ High pathogenicity avian influenza (H5N1) in Northern Gannets: 2 Global spread, clinical signs, and demographic consequences. Accepted (2023). High pathogenicity avian influenza (H5N1) in Northern Gannets: Global spread, clinical signs, and demographic consequences | bioRxiv

Aquino, C., Mitchard, E., McNicol, I., Carstairs, H., Burt, A., Puma Vilca, B. L., Obiang Ebanega, M., Modinga Dikongo, A., Dassi, C., Mayta, S., Tamayo, M., Grijalba, P., Miranda, F. & Disney, M., 26 Sept 2022, Reliably Mapping Low-intensity Forest Disturbance Using Satellite Radar Data In: Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.

Carstairs, H., Mitchard, E. T. A., Mcnicol, I., Aquino, C., Burt, A., Ebanega, M. O., Dikongo, A. M., Bueso-bello, J. & Disney, M., 18 Jan 2022, An Effective Method for InSAR Mapping of Tropical Forest Degradation in Hilly Areas In: Remote Sensing. 14, 3, p. 452

Carstairs, H., Mitchard, E. T. A., Mcnicol, I., Aquino, C., Chezeaux, E., Ebanega, M. O., Dikongo, A. M. & Disney, M., 27 Aug 2022, Sentinel-1 Shadows Used to Quantify Canopy Loss from Selective Logging in Gabon In: Remote Sensing. 14, 17, 4233.

Mcnicol, I. M., Mitchard, E. T. A., Aquino, C., Burt, A., Carstairs, H., Dassi, C., Modinga Dikongo, A. & Disney, M. I., 20 Dec 2021, To What Extent Can UAV Photogrammetry Replicate UAV LiDAR to Determine Forest Structure? A Test in Two Contrasting Tropical Forests, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 126, 12, e2021JG006586.

James, K., Nichol CJ., Wade, T, Cowley D., Gibson Poole, S., Gray A & Gillespie J. (2020) Thermal and multispectral remote sensing for the detection and analysis of archaeologically induced crop stress at a UK Site. Drones. 4, 4, p. 61

Myers-smith, I. H., Kerby, J. T., Phoenix, G. K., Bjerke, J. W., Epstein, H. E., Assmann, J. J., John, C., Andreu-hayles, L., Angers-blondin, S., Beck, P. S. A., Berner, L. T., Bhatt, U. S., Bjorkman, A. D., Blok, D., Bryn, A., Christiansen, C. T., Cornelissen, J. H. C., Cunliffe, A. M., Elmendorf, S. C., Forbes, B. C., & 21 others, 31 Jan 2020, Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic, In: Nature Climate Change. 10, 2, p. 106-117

Cunliffe, A. M., Assmann, J. J., Daskalova, G., Kerby, J. T., & Myers-Smith, I. H. (2020). Aboveground biomass corresponds strongly with drone-derived canopy height but weakly with greenness (NDVI) in a shrub tundra landscape. Environmental Research Letters.

dePolo, P. E., Brusatte, S. L., Challands, T. J., Foffa, D., Wilkinson, M., Clark, N. D. L., Hoad, J., Pereira, P., Ross, D. A., and Wade, T. J., 2020, Novel track morphotypes from  new tracksites indicate increased Middle Jurassic dinosaur diversity on the Isle of Skye, Scotland: PLoS ONE, 15(3): e0229640, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229640. 

Assmann, J. J., Myers-Smith, I. H., Kerby, J. T., Cunliffe, A. M., & Daskalova, G. N. (2020). Drone data reveal heterogeneity in tundra greenness and phenology not captured by satellites. Environmental Research Letters, 15(12), 125002.

Daskalova, G. N., Myers-Smith, I., Bjorkman, A., Blowes, S. A., Supp, S. R., Magurran, A. E. & Dornelas, M., 2 Sept 2020, Rare and common vertebrates span a wide spectrum of population trends In: Nature Communications.

Davenport, I., McNicol, I., Mitchard, E., Dargie, G., Suspense, I., Milongo, B., Bocko, Y., Hawthorne, D., Lawson, I., Baird, A., Page, S. & Lewis, S., 20 Jul 2020, First Evidence of Peat Domes in the Congo Basin using LiDAR from a fixed-wing drone In: Remote Sensing. 12, 14, 2196.

Bisset, R. R., Dehecq, A., Goldberg, D. N., Huss, M., Bingham, R. G. & Gourmelen, N., 14 May 2020, Reversed Surface-Mass-Balance Gradients on Himalayan Debris-Covered Glaciers Inferred from Remote Sensing In: Remote Sensing. 12, 10, p. 1563

Nichol, C.J., Drolet, G. G., Porcar-Castell, A., Wade, T., Sabater, N., Middleton, E., MacLellan, C., Levula, J., Mammarella, I., Vesala, T. & Atherton, J., 30 (2019) Diurnal and seasonal solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthesis in a boreal scots pine canopy. Remote Sensing. 11, 3, p. 1-22 22

Stow,D., Nichol,C., Wade,T., Assmann,J., Simpson,G. & Helfter,C., (2019), Illumination Geometry and Flying Height Influence Surface Reflectance and NDVI Derived from Multispectral UAS Imagery In: Drones. p. 1 28.

Cunliffe, A., Tanski, G., Radosavljevic, B., Palmer, W., Sachs, T., Lantuit, H., Kerby, J. & Myers-Smith, I., 27 May 2019, Rapid retreat of permafrost coastline observed with aerial drone photogrammetry In: The Cryosphere (TC). 13, 5, p. 1513-1528 16 p.

Moriarty, C., Cowley, D., Wade, T., Nichol CJ. (2018) Deploying multispectral remote sensing for multi temporal analysis of archaeological crop stress in Ravenshall Fife. Archaeological Prospection 1-14 https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1721

​​​dePolo, P. E., Brusatte, S. L., Challands, T. J., Foffa, D., Ross, D. A., Wilkinson, M., and Yi, H., 2018, A sauropod-dominated tracksite from Rubha nam Brathairean (Brothers’ Point), Isle of Skye, Scotland: Scottish Journal of Geology, v. 54, p. 1-12, doi: 10.1144/sjg2017-016. 

Gibson-Poole, S., Fenton, BF., Griffin-Walker, RD., & Hamilton, A., 2018, Getting down to the plant level: potato trials analysis using a uav equipped with un-modified and modified commercial off-the-shelf digital cameras. 231-236  Proceedings Crop Protection in Northern Britain 2018. (Conference contribution)

Assmann, J. J., Kerby, J. T., Cunliffe, A. M., & Myers-Smith, I. H. (2018). Vegetation monitoring using multispectral sensors—Best practices and lessons learned from high latitudes. Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems, 7(1), 54–75.

Gibson-Poole, S., Humphris, S., Toth, I. K., & Hamilton, A., 2017, Identification of the onset of disease within a potato crop using a UAV equipped with un-modified and modified commercial off-the-shelf digital cameras. Advances in Animal Biosciences, 8(2), 812-816

Cowley, D. C., Moriarty, C., Geddes, G., Brown, G. L., Wade, T. & Nichol, C., 23 Dec 2017, UAVs in Context: Archaeological Airborne Recording in a National Body of Survey and Record: Drones.

Toet , S., Keane, B., Yamulki, S., Blei, E., Gibson-Poole, S., Xenakis, G., Perks, M., Morison, J., & Ineson, P. (2016). Upscaling of greenhouse gas emissions in upland forestry following clearfell. In EGU General Assembly 2016 (pp. EPSC2016-13775)

Hartley, I. P., Hill, T. C., Wade, T. J., Clement, R. J., Moncrieff, J. B., Prieto-blanco, A., Disney, M. I., Huntley, B., Williams, M., Howden, N. J. K., Wookey, P. A. & Baxter, R., 1 Oct 2015, Quantifying landscape-level methane fluxes in subarctic Finland using a multiscale approach: Global Change Biology. 21, 10, p. 3712-3725

Drolet, G., Wade, T, Nichol C.J., Maclellan, C., Levula, J., Porcar-Castell, A., Nikinmaa, E., Vesala, T. (2014) A temperature controlled spectrometer system for continuous and unattended measurement of canopy spectral radiance and reflectance. International Journal of Remote Sensing 35: 5 1769-1785

Stoy, P. C., Williams, M., Evans, J. G., Prieto-Blanco, A., Disney, M., Hill, T. C., Ward, H. C., Wade, T. J. & Street, L., May 2013, Upscaling Tundra CO2 Exchange from Chamber to Eddy Covariance Tower: Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR) . 45, 2, p. 275-284 10 p.

Nichol CJ., Pieruschka, R., Takayama, K., Forster, B., Kolber, Z., Grace, J., Pogson, B., Robinson, S, and Osmond CB. Canopy conundra: pushing the envelope of leaf to landscape observations that may throw further light on the regulation of photosynthesis in canopies (2012). Functional Plant Biology 39: 1-24  

Arctic tundra plant phenology and greenness across space and time (Doctoral thesis)

Satellite and UAV remote sensing of debris-covered glaciers (Doctoral thesis)

 Drivers of peatland CO₂ balance: a fusion of UAV remote sensing and micrometeorology  (Doctoral thesis)

Plant traits as predictors of ecosystem change and function in a warming tundra biome (Doctoral thesis)

Biodiversity: ecosystem function relationships in southern African woodlands (Doctoral thesis)

Drivers of biodiversity change in the Anthropocene (Doctoral thesis)

Using UAV Photogrammetry to measure snow depth in alpine environments (Masters thesis)

Comparing UAV RGB, Thermal and LiDAR Cameras for the Optimal Detection of Brown Hares (Lepus europaeus) on Rosemains Farm, Pathhead. (Masters thesis)

Quantifying the Impact of Avian Influenza on the Northern Gannet Colony of Bass Rock Using Ultra-High Resolution UAV Imagery and Deep Learning (Masters thesis)

Mapping beach plastics using drone-based (UAV) imaging systems, in conjunction with East Lothian Council (Masters thesis)

Dinosaur footprints of the Valtos Sandstone and Kilmaluag Formations on the Isle of Skye, Scotland (Masters thesis)

Reconstruction of a Visean forest based on new evidence of stigmarian roots from photogrammetric surveys & petrographic analysis (Barns Ness, East Lothian) (Masters thesis)

Exploring the utility of high-resolution UAV imagery for mapping nectar-rich pollinator floral resources in a temperate montane heathland. (Masters thesis)

Deploying thermal and multispectral remote sensing for the detection and analysis of archaeologically induced crop stress in East Saltoun, East Lothian. (Masters thesis)

Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to create three-dimensional (3D) models of centimetre level precision and accuracy using structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry (Masters thesis)

Deploying UAV multispectral imaging sensors to assess vegetation and identify a historic river channel in the Eddleston Water catchment, Scottish Borders (Masters thesis)

Mapping coastal marine debris, An application for UAV remote sensing and OBIA (Masters thesis)

Data Fusion in Archaeological Survey: Integrating Drone-Based Thermal and Multispectral Imaging with Established Techniques (Masters thesis)

Detection of floating marine plastic: Utilizing UAV remote sensing and object-based image analysis to derive an algorithm and test the accuracy against other models  (Masters thesis)

Assessing the influence of illumination geometry and atmospheric effects on surface reflectance and NDVI derived from multispectral UAV imagery  (Masters thesis)

Generation of DEMs for channel change of the river Feshie (Masters thesis)

Assessing UAV multispectral imagery applications in peatland restoration (Masters thesis)

In-situ tracksites on Isle of Skye (Scotland, UK) as indicators of Middle Jurassic dinosaur diversity and behavior (Masters thesis)

Mapping coastal marine debris: Application for UAV remote sensing and object-based image analysis (Masters thesis)

Detecting marine litter in a dune to nearshore environment: An integrated approach to coastal erosion and marine litter mapping (Masters thesis)

UAV Remote Sensing for Disease Detection in Potato Leaf (Masters thesis)

Improving the workflows for airfix design by photogrammetry scanning (Masters thesis)

The topical and often novel or unique nature of our work is commonly very 'newsworthy' and is able to attract media attention. Some recent news articles featuring our work are listed below:

Belmont Estate, Grenada, and University of Edinburgh community heritage project

Bass Rock gannet colony down by quarter after bird flu - BBC News

World's largest gannet colony recovering | CBC.ca

Bird flu takes toll on Bass Rock gannet colony (thetimes.co.uk)

Concern for gannets’ future as bird flu sees numbers crash | East Lothian Courier

East Lothian's iconic Bass Rock gannet population plummets by a third following deadly bird flu - Edinburgh Live

Bass Rock Gannet Count (countryside-jobs.com)

The largest gannet colony in the world at Bass rock has shrunk by 30% - Scottish Field

Scotland's iconic Bass Rock gannets plummet by a third in wake of deadly bird flu - Daily Record

​​​Bass Rock's gannet colony 'recovering' after avian flu - BBC News

Drone footage reveals devastating impact of bird flu on the Bass Rock gannets | The National

Bass Rock gannets reveal unusual side-effect of surviving avian flu | HeraldScotland

Bird flu's devastating impact on Bass Rock gannets laid bare in drone footage | East Lothian Courier

East Lothian landmark Bass Rock unrecognisable as bird flu decimates gannets - Edinburgh Live

'Significant drop' in seabird numbers on Bass Rock amid avian flu outbreak, says Scottish Seabird Centre | STV News

Scottish Seabird Centre - https://www.seabird.org/press-releases/avian-flu-confirmed-in-bass-rock-gannet-colony

Edinburgh University researchers use drones to map retreating Andes glaciers - BBC News

Edinburgh experts to monitor how trees absorb CO2 - BBC News 

Edinburgh University Receives Grant From UKSA To Develop Space Solutions For Malawi Farmers - Space in Africa (africanews.space)

Our outreach activities have included static displays at airshows (at RAF Leuchars and Perth Airport) and exhibits at science festivals (e.g. Dynamic Earth) and the Royal Highland Show, where we've have had the privilege of engaging with thousands members of the public to discuss our research and the technologies that we use. We've recently been privileged to engage with the local community and staff at the Belmont Estate, Grenada (W. Indies) during the course of a heritage mapping project, where were able to discuss our methods with members of the estate's staff, the T.A. Marryshow Community College, and members of the local community and government.

We would be delighted to undertake further outreach activities, and we find that the nature of our work and the tools that we use are often very interesting to both adults and and young people alike. Please do contact us with any suggestions for future outreach opportunities.