A scanning polarized lidar was used to detect flying honey bees trained to locate buried land mines through odor detection. A lidar map of bee density shows good correlation with maps of chemical plume strength and bee density determined by visual and video counts. The co-polarized lidar backscatter signal was found to be more effective than the crosspolarized signal for detecting honey bees in flight. Laboratory measurements show that the depolarization ratio of scattered light is near zero for bee wings and up to 30% for bee bodies.

Abstract. Advances in microbolometer detectors have led to the development of infrared cameras that operate without active temperature stabilization. The response of these cameras varies with the temperature of the camera's focal plane array (FPA). This paper describes a method for stabilizing the camera's response through software processing. This stabilization is based on the difference between the camera's response at a measured temperature and at a reference temperature. This paper presents the mathematical basis for such a correction and demonstrates the resulting accuracy when applied to a commercially available longwave infrared camera. The stabilized camera was then radiometrically calibrated so that the digital response from the camera could be related to the radiance or temperature of objects in the scene. For FPA temperature deviations within AE7.2°C changing by 0.5°C∕ min, this method produced a camera calibration with spatial-temporal rms variability of 0.21°C, yielding a total calibration uncertainty of 0.38°C limited primarily by the 0.32°C uncertainty in the blackbody source emissivity and temperature.

An uncooled microbolometer-array thermal infrared camera has been incorporated into a remote sensing system for radiometric sky imaging. The radiometric calibration is validated and improved through direct comparison with spectrally integrated data from the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI). With the improved calibration, the Infrared Cloud Imager (ICI) system routinely obtains sky images with radiometric uncertainty less than 0.5 W/(m(2 )sr) for extended deployments in challenging field environments. We demonstrate the infrared cloud imaging technique with still and time-lapse imagery of clear and cloudy skies, including stratus, cirrus, and wave clouds.

Parasites, by definition, extract energy from their hosts and thus affect trophic and food web dynamics even when the parasite may have limited effects on host population size. We studied the energetic costs of mange (Sarcoptes scabiei) in wolves (Canis lupus) using thermal cameras to estimate heat losses associated with compromised insulation during the winter. We combined the field data of known, naturally infected wolves with a data set on captive wolves with shaved patches of fur as a positive control to simulate mange-induced hair loss. We predict that during the winter in Montana, more severe mange infection increases heat loss by around 5.2-12 MJ per night (1,240-2,850 kcal, or a 65-78% increase) for small and large wolves, respectively, accounting for wind effects. To maintain body temperature would require a significant proportion of a healthy wolf 's total daily energy demands (18-22 MJ/day). We also predict how these thermal costs may increase in colder climates by comparing our predictions in Bozeman, Montana to those from a place with lower ambient temperatures (Fairbanks, Alaska). Contrary to our expectations, the 14°C differential between these regions was not as important as the potential differences in wind speed. These large increases in energetic demands can be mitigated by either increasing consumption rates or decreasing other energy demands. Data from GPScollared wolves indicated that healthy wolves move, on average, 17 km per day, which was reduced by 1.5, 1.8, and 6.5 km for light, medium, and severe hair loss. In addition, the wolf with the most hair loss was less active at night and more active during the day, which is the converse of the movement patterns of healthy wolves. At the individual level, mange infections create significant energy demands and altered behavioral patterns, this may have cascading effects on prey consumption rates, food web dynamics, predator-prey interactions, and scavenger communities. Publication DetailsCross, P., Almberg, E. S., Haase, C. G., Hudson, P. J., Maloney, S. K., Metz, M. C., Munn, A. J., Nugent, P. 1938 Ecology, 97(8), 2016Ecology, 97(8), , pp. 1938Ecology, 97(8), -1948Ecology, 97(8), © 2016 Abstract.Parasites, by definition, extract energy from their hosts and thus affect trophic and food web dynamics even when the parasite may have limited effects on host population size. We studied the energetic costs of mange (Sarcoptes scabiei) in wolves (Canis lupus) using thermal cameras to estimate heat losses associated with compromised insulation during the winter. We combined the field data of known, naturally infected wolves with a data set on captive wolves with shaved patches of fur as a positive control to simulate mange-induced hair loss. We predict that during the winter in Montana, more severe mange infection increases heat loss by around 5.2-12 MJ per night (1,240-2,850 kcal, or a 65-78% increase) for small and large wolves, respectively, accounting for wind effects. To maintain body temperature would require a significant proport...

Imaging the atmosphere with a thermal infrared camera can yield a rich variety of information, ranging from the water-vapour content to the spatial distribution of clouds. Such remote sensing measurements are being used to study climate and to characterize ground-station sites for Earth-space optical communications. The key to turning interesting but qualitative images into the highly accurate quantitative images required for this type of research is careful radiometric calibration. This is especially true when using uncooled microbolometer cameras, which are becoming widely available at relatively low cost. When such cameras are calibrated properly, their images illustrate a variety of important basic principles of optics and atmospheric physics related to thermal emission and absorption by atmospheric gases and clouds.