• A Landsat image of Salt Lake City displayed using principal components with overlaid text saying Remote Sensing Applications
  • A student using a field spectrometer to measure the reflectance of wetland vegetation
  • A student measuring an aspen grove using a mobile lidar, with a georeferencing target in the center of the image
  • A student using a field spectrometer to measure the reflectance of dry grass
  • Students looking at a GPS tablet while standing in a sequioa grove

Remote Sensing at the University of Utah

The Utah Remote Sensing Applications (URSA) Lab uses remote sensing data acquired from satellites, aircraft, and drones to explore applications solving real-world problems. We use data from a variety of different sensors, including hyperspectral, lidar, multispectral, and thermal infrared, to measure and map the Earth’s surface. We combine remote sensing with GIS to provide powerful tools to monitor changes in vegetation caused by drought and disturbance, map fuel and fire properties, and assess wildland fire and firefighter safety. For more details on our current work, see Projects.

The URSA Lab is affiliated with the School of Environment, Society & Sustainability at the University of Utah.