About Us
The NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF)
The NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility is an expanding world class facility supporting Earth System Science. The FSF comprises of a pool of high quality field spectroradiometers with associated calibration and support equipment. The facility is based in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh and is physically housed in the Crew Annexe at the University’s Kings Buildings site.
Our Mission Statement
The mission of the Field Spectroscopy Facility is to:
- Support high-quality, peer reviewed NERC science
- Maintain a pool of modern, high quality field instruments and an associated optical instrument calibration and characterisation facility. These are to be made available to environmental scientists in support of their research through a FSF SC peer review process. The field equipment includes spectroradiometers, sun photometers and associated equipment to support their field use and the laboratory instrument include calibration sources, full wavelength and monochromatic light sources and directional response instruments
- Provide training and user support, and to promote good practice in the application of field spectroscopy
- Promote the awareness, application and technology of field spectroscopy and to disseminate to a wider scientific community, thereby contributing to the economic competitiveness of the United Kingdom, the effectiveness of public services and policy and the quality of life
- Undertake research into calibration procedures, measurement methodology, data analysis and display appropriate to the FSF mission and to disseminate the results by the most appropriate means.
The Team
Dr Steven Hancock
Facility Director
Reader, The University of Edinburgh
Mr Alex Merrington
Operations Manager
Mr Craig Atkins
Operations Technician
Dr Robbie Ramsay
Earth Observation Equipment Specialist
Our Steering Committee
The running and development of the Facility is overseen by the FSF Steering Committee. This is a panel of six to eight people comprising the Facility Director, NCEO Divisional Director for EO Instrumentation and Facilities (EOIF), and four to six experts from the UK remote sensing community, whose details are presented below. Among other things the Steering Committee exist to review applications for use of Facility equipment, to monitor output from the Facility (research, reports, software products), and to provide advice to the Director of NERC Services and Facilities on all aspects of the operation of the Facility.
Dr Tom Pering
Chair of FSFSC
Senior Lecturer in Geography (Remote Sensing), University of Sheffield
Prof. Martin Wooster
Director of NCEO EO Instrumentation and Facility
Professor of Earth Observation Science, King’s College London
Dr Holly Croft
Member of FSFSC
Future Leaders Fellow (Senior), University of Sheffield
Dr Frederick Draper
Member of FSFSC
Lecturer and NERC Independent Research Fellow, University of Liverpool
Dr Charles George
Member of FSFSC
Earth Observation Scientist, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Dr Mary Langsdale
Member of FSFSC
Postdoctoral Research Associate King’s College London
Dr Shubha Sathyendranath
Member of FSFSC
Merit Remote Sensing Scientist, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Prof. Evangelos Spyrakos
Member of FSFSC
Professor, University of Stirling
Travel and Contact Details
The Field Spectroscopy Facility is located in the “Near Earth Observation Nexus” Hub, located within the Crew Annex. The Crew Annex is part of the University of Edinburgh’s Kings Buildings University campus, which is on the south side of Edinburgh, near the Royal Observatory.
For customised directions to the facility, please enter your starting location:
Contact address
NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF)
University of Edinburgh
Crew Annex
Alexander Crum Brown Road
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
EH9 3JW
Telephone
+44 (0) 131 650 5926
fsf@nerc.ac.uk