Paul Gessler Associate Professor of Remote Sensing & GIS Co-Director, Geospatial Laboratory for Environmental Dynamics Department of Forest Resources E-mail: paulg@uidaho.edu Web: www.cnrhome.uidaho.edu/remotesensing Office: Room 17C, CNR Phone: (208) 885-2595

Education & Experience:

• B.S. Natural Resources (Soil Science), University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1986
• M.S. Environmental Monitoring (Remote Sensing), University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1990
• Ph.D. Environmental Modeling, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 1996
• Research Assistant, Environmental Remote Sensing Center, University of Wisconsin, 1988-1990
• Senior Experimental Scientist, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) - Division of Land & Water, Canberra, Australia, 1990-1997
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Geography, University of California - Santa Barbara, 1996-1997
• Affiliate Faculty, Centro Agronmico Tropical de Investigacin y Enseanza (CATIE), Turrialba, Costa Rica, 2001-present
• Co-director, Geospatial Laboratory for Environmental Dynamics, College of Natural Resources, 1997-present
• Assistant Professor of Remote Sensing & GIS, Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, 1997-2003
• Associate Professor of Remote Sensing & GIS, Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, 2003-present

Specialty Areas of Interest:

• Remote Sensing & GIS for Forest Ecosystem Analysis & Monitoring
• Wildland Fire Fuels and Fire Hazard Mapping
• Airborne Sensor Development
• Environmental, Ecosystem and Soil-Landscape Modeling
• Terrain and Watershed Analysis
• Forest Soils
• Spatial Statistics

Current University of Idaho Courses:

• Introduction to Spatial Analysis for Natural Resource Management - Ugrad
• Remote Sensing of the Environment - Ugrad
• Spatial & Biophysical Modeling - Grad
• Advanced RS/GIS Research Topics - Grad

Continuing Education or Service Activities:

• Leader, Inland Northwest Infomart, Raytheon Synergy Program
• Leader, Inland Northwest Remote Sensing Laboratory for Bioregional Analysis - NASA Funded Center of Excellence
• USFS landcover classification and change detection training course
• Idaho representative, Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium

Recent and Current Research:
     (>$4 million of externally funded research since 1997)

• Remote sensing of forest characteristics for process models
• Development of a forest health/stress index
• Ecosystem modeling on the Sedgwick Natural Reserve
• Effect of topography on soil carbon dynamics
• Incorporation of digital terrain analysis methods for quantitative soil-landscape modeling

Recent Peer Reviewed Publications and Submissions:

• Falkowski, M.J., J. Evans, S. Martinuzzi, P.E. Gessler and A.T. Hudak. Accepted. Characterizing forest succession with LiDAR data: an evaluation for the Inland Northwest, USA. Remote Sensing of Environment.

• Strand, E.K., L.A. Vierling, S.C Bunting, and P.E. Gessler. Accepted. Quantifying successional rates in western aspen woodlands: Current conditions, future predictions. Forest Ecology and Management.

• Dickinson, J., A.Robinson, P.E. Gessler, A.M.S. Smith, and R.J. Harrod. Accepted. Flatland in flames: a more simple canopy fire propagation model. International Journal of Wildland Fire.

• Gorsevski, P.V. and P.E. Gessler. Accepted. The design and development of a hyperspectral and multispectral airborne mapping system. International Journal of Remote Sensing.

• Sesnie, S., B. Finegan, P. Gessler, S. Rajaniemi, and A. Smith. Accepted. The multispectral separability of Costa Rican rain forest composition and structural types with Landsat TM imagery and support vector machines. International Journal of Remote Sensing.

• Gorsevski P.V., P.E. Gessler and P. Jankowski. In press. Integrating a fuzzy k-means classification and a Bayesian approach for spatial prediction of landslide hazard. In Fischer MM and Getis A (eds), Handbook of Applied Spatial Analysis, Springer.

• Sesnie, S., B. Finegan, P. Gessler, Z. Ramos. 2009. Landscale-scale environmental and floristic variation in Costa Rican old-growth rain forest remnants. Biotropica. 41(1): 16-26.

• Gessler, P., R. Pike, T. Hengl, R.A. MacMillan and H.I. Reuter. 2009. The future of geomorphometry. Chapter 28 In: Hengl, T., Reuter, H.I. (eds.), Geomorphometry: concepts, software, applications. Developments in Soil Science, Vol. 33, 637-651. Elsevier.

• Nelson, A., H.I. Reuter and P. Gessler. 2009. DEM production methods and sources. Chapter 3 In: Hengl, T., Reuter, H.I. (eds.), Geomorphometry: concepts, software, applications. Developments in Soil Science, Vol. 33, 65-86. Elsevier.

• Reuter, H.I., T. Hengl, P. Gessler and P. Soille. 2009. Preparation of DEMs for geomorphometric analysis. Chapter 4 In: Hengl, T., Reuter, H.I. (eds.), Geomorphometry: concepts, software, applications. Developments in Soil Science, Vol. 33, 87-120. Elsevier.

• Falkowski, M.J., A.M.S. Smith, P.E. Gessler, A.T. Hudak, L.A. Vierling, and J.S. Evans. 2008. The influence of conifer forest canopy cover on the accuracy of two individual tree measurement algorithms using LiDAR data. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. Suppl. 2, 34:338-350.

• Sesnie, S.E., P.E. Gessler, B. Finegan, and S. Thessler. 2008. Integrating Landsat TM and SRTM-DEM derived variables with decision trees for habitat classification and change detection in complex neotropical environments. Remote Sensing of Environment. Special Issue: Earth Observation for Biodiversity and Ecology. 112:5:2145-2159.

• Eitel, J.U.H., D.S. Long, P.E. Gessler and E.R. Hunt. 2008. Combined spectral index to improve ground-based estimates of nitrogen status in dryland wheat. Agronomy Journal. 100:1694-1702.

• Beck, R.N. and P.E. Gessler. 2008. Development of a Landsat time-series for the Inland Northwest and an application in forest status assessment. Western Journal of Applied Forestry. 23:1:53-60.
• Eitel, J.U.H., D.S. Long, P.E. Gessler, and A.M.S. Smith. 2007. Using in-situ spectroradiometry to evalue RapidEye satellite data for prediction of wheat nitrogen status. International Journal of Remote Sensing. Vol. 28. 18:4183-4190.
• Gessler, P., R. Pike, T. Hengl, R.A. MacMillan and H.I. Reuter. 2007. The future of geomorphometry. Chapter 28 In: Hengl, T., Reuter, H.I. (eds.), Geomorphometry: concepts, software, applications. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, EUR 22670 EN, pp. 479-489.
• Nelson, A., H.I. Reuter and P. Gessler. 2007. DEM production methods and sources. Chapter 3 In: Hengl, T., Reuter, H.I. (eds.), Geomorphometry: concepts, software, applications. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, EUR 22670 EN, pp. 49-62.
• Reuter, H.I., T. Hengl, P. Gessler and P. Soille. 2007. Preparation of DEMs for geomorphometric analysis. Chapter 4 In: Hengl, T., Reuter, H.I. (eds.), Geomorphometry: concepts, software, applications. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, EUR 22670 EN, pp. 65-88.
• Eitel, J.U.H., P.E. Gessler, A.M.S. Smith, and R. Robberecht. 2006. Suitability of Existing NIR and Novel SWIR Spectral Indices to Remotely Detect Water Stress in Populus spp. Forest Ecology and Management. 229:170-182.
• Lentile, L.B., Z.A. Holden, A.M.S. Smith, M.J. Falkowski, A.T. Hudak, P. Morgan, P.E. Gessler, N. Bensen, and C.H. Key. 2006. Remote sensing techniques to assess fire and fire effects. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 15:319-345.
• Gorsevski, P.V., P.E. Gessler, J. Boll, W.J. Elliot, and R.B. Foltz. 2006. Spatially distributed process modeling of landslide hazard. Geomorphology. 80, 3-4:178-198.
• Falkowski, M.J., A.M.S. Smith, A.T. Hudak, P.E. Gessler, L.A. Vierling and N.L. Crookston. 2006. Automated Estimation of Individual Conifer Tree Height and Crown Diameter via Two-dimensional Wavelet Analysis of Lidar Data. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 32, 2:153-161. PDF link
• Hudak, A.T., N.L. Crookston, J.S. Evans, M.J. Falkowski, A.M.S. Smith, P.E. Gessler, and P. Morgan. 2006. Regression modeling and mapping of coniferous forest basal area and tree density from discrete-return lidar and multispectral satellite data. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 32, 2:126-138. PDF link
• Gorsevski, P.V., P.E. Gessler, R.B. Foltz and W.J. Elliot. 2006. Spatial prediction of landslide hazard using logistic regression and ROC analysis. Transactions in GIS. 10, 3:395-415. PDF link
• Gorsevski P.V., Jankowski P., and P.E. Gessler.  2006. Heuristic approach for mapping landslide hazard integrating fuzzy logic with analytic hierarchy process. Control and Cybernetics. 35(1): 121-146.
• Williamson, T.N., P.E. Gessler, P.J. Shouse, and R.C. Graham. 2006. Pedogenesis-Terrain Links in zero-order watersheds after chaparral to grass vegetation conversion. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 70:2065-2074.
• Strand, E.K., A.M.S. Smith, S.C. Bunting, L.A. Vierling, D.B. Hann, and P.E. Gessler. 2006. Wavelet estimation of plant spatial patterns in multi-temporal aerial photography. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 27, 9-10:2049-2054.
• Holden, Z.A., A.M.S. Smith, P. Morgan, M.G. Rollins and P.E. Gessler. 2005. Evaluation of novel thermally enhanced spectral indices for mapping fire perimeters and comparisons with fire atlas data. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 26(21): 4801-4808.
• Falkowski, M.J., P.E. Gessler, P. Morgan, and A.M.S. Smith. 2005. Evaluation of the ASTER sensor for fire fuels mapping in North Idaho. Forest Ecology and Management. 217:129-146.
• Gorsevski, P.V., P. Jankowski, and P.E. Gessler. 2005. Spatial prediction of landslide hazard using fuzzy K-means and Dempster-Shafer theory. Transactions in GIS. 9(4): 455-474. PDF link
• Robinson, A.P., A.L. Pocewicz, and P.E. Gessler. 2004. A cautionary note on scaling variables that appear only in products in ordinary least squares. Forest Biometry, Modeling and Information Systems. 1:83-90. PDF link
• Pocewicz, A., P.E. Gessler, and A.P. Robinson, 2004. The relationship between leaf area index and Landsat spectral response across elevation, solar insolation, and spatial scales, in a northern Idaho forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34:465-480. PDF link
• Gorsevski, P.V., P.E. Gessler, and P. Jankowski, 2003. Integrating a Fuzzy k-means classification and a Bayesian approach for spatial prediction of landslide hazard. Journal of Geographical Systems. 5:223-251. PDF link
• Chamran, F., P.E. Gessler, and O.A. Chadwick, 2002. Spatially Explicit Treatment of Soil-Water Dynamics along a Semiarid Catena. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66:1571-1583. PDF link
• Vert, G., M. Stock, P. Jankowski, and P.E. Gessler. 2002. An architecture for the management of GIS datasets. Transactions in GIS. 6(3):259-275.
• Gessler, P.E., O.A. Chadwick, F. Chamron, K. Holmes, and L. Althouse. 2000. Modeling soil-landscape and ecosystem properties using  terrain attributes.  Soil Science Society of America Journal 64:2046-2056. PDF link
• N.J. McKenzie, P.E. Gessler, P.J. Ryan, and D.A. O'Connell. 2000. The role of terrain analysis in soil mapping.   In Terrain Analysis: Principles and Applications. J.P. Wilson and J.C. Gallant (Eds.). Chapter 10. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. New York.
• Cook, S.E., R.J. Corner, G.J. Grealish, P.E. Gessler, and C.J. Chartres. 1996.  A rule based system to map soil properties. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 60:1983-1900.
• Gessler, P.E., I.D. Moore, N.J. McKenzie, and P.J. Ryan. 1995. Soil-landscape modeling and spatial prediction of soil attributes. Special issue: Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling.  International Journal of Geographical Information Systems, Volume 9, 4:421-432.
• McSweeney, K., P.E. Gessler, B. Slater, D. Hammer, J. Bell, and G.W. Petersen. 1994. Towards a new framework for modeling the soil-landscape continuum. Chapter 8 In Factors of soil formation: a fiftieth anniversary retrospective. SSSA Special Pub. 33. p.127-145.
• Hutchinson, M.F., and P.E. Gessler. 1994. Splines - more than just a smooth interpolator. Proceedings Pedometrics - 92: Developments in spatial statistics for soil science. September 1-3, 1992. Wageningen, Netherlands. Geoderma 62(1-3):45-67.
• Gallant, J.C., I.D. Moore, M.F. Hutchinson ,and P.E. Gessler. 1994. Estimating fractal dimension of profiles:a comparison of methods. Mathematical Geology. Vol. 26, 4:455-481.
• Moore, I.D., P.E. Gessler, G.A. Neilsen, and G.A. Petersen. 1993. Soil attribute prediction using terrain analysis. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 57:443-452.
• Moore, I.D., P.E. Gessler, G.A. Neilsen, and G.A. Petersen. 1993. Terrain analysis for soil-specific crop management. Chapter 3 In Soil specific crop management: a workshop on research and development issues. Minneapolis, Minnesota. April 14-16, 1992. p. 27-55.
• Bolstad, P.V., P.E. Gessler, and T.M. Lillesand. 1990. Positional uncertainty in manually digitized map data. International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 4:399-412.