Learning

Introduction

As part of our mission statement, the facility aims to “provide training and user support, and to promote good practice in the application of field spectroscopy”, as well as to “promote the awareness, application and technology of field spectroscopy and to disseminate to a wider scientific community”. As part of this endeavour, this section of the website provides a number of learning and training resources which are made freely available to users.

Field Spectroscopy – An Overview

This section provides an overview of the practice of field spectroscopy, covering the basic fundamentals of field spectroscopy (including an introduction to the practice itself, and an introduction to the science of radiometry), to spectrometer design and calibration, concluding with the best practices for field spectroscopy.

Earth Observation Data Processing Tutorial

Following from the last section of “Field Spectroscopy – An Overview” is an online data processing tutorial, which – using a sample dataset provided by the facility – gives you the tools and techniques to read, correct, and utilize field spectroscopy data. This section also covers guidelines on how to analyse multispectral imagery as acquired from a UAV, and how to integrate concurrent ground measurements of field spectroscopy into the classification of said imagery.

Workshops

The workshops section will provide up to date information on the in person, physical workshops which are provided by the facility.

Resources

Finally, our resource section provides a number of tools and helpful information for remote sensing:

• Reading Lists provides a list of suggested textbooks which can help further enhance knowledge of field spectroscopy.
• Data Processing Software provides a list of suggested processing tools which you can use to analyse your data.
• Field of View Calculator provides a tool which helps to calculate the parameters required for field spectroscopy measurements, such as the correct choice of lens optics, the distance from the spectrometer to the target, and the overall area covered by sampling.
• Finally, Other Facilities provides a list of other NERC facilities involved in remote sensing, and how you can contact them for further support.

One-to-one training

With every loan which the facility supports, we will provide one-to-one training which is tailored to the loan user’s science and methodology requirements.