May 17, 2002

Contact: Ranjit Arab, University Relations, (785) 864-8855.

MEDIA ADVISORY: KU scientists to discuss remote sensing research at Congressional field hearing

WHAT: Two University of Kansas researchers will be among those testifying before a Congressional field hearing on the KU Medical Center campus Monday.

The House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a field hearing titled "How space technology and data can help meet state and local needs."

U.S. Rep Dennis Moore, D-Kan., who is a subcommittee member, is host of the field hearing.

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 20.

WHERE: The Varnes Center, room 4024, fourth floor of the School of Nursing Building on the KU Med Center campus, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, Kan.

DETAILS: Ed Martinko, director of the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program at KU and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Kevin Price, associate director of KARS and professor of geography at KU, will testify on the importance of further federal funding for remote sensing technologies that aid state and local officials.

They will discuss the applications of remote sensing satellite imagery for a wide range of state and local issues, from land use and management to emergency preparedness and response.

Price, who has overseen the development of the GreenReport, a series of color-coded maps that provide highly detailed satellite images of vegetation conditions, will discuss how remote sensing can improve agricultural management.

Earlier this year, researchers in KARS were able to use remote sensing technology to pinpoint the 13 Kansas counties that were hit the hardest by the drought.

"We were able to tell state and local officials which counties were in trouble long before that was general knowledge," Price said.

KARS researchers also were able to use the technology this spring to predict the winter wheat crop within one-half bushel per acre about a month before the yield estimates for Kansas were released to the general public.

Martinko will provide a more general overview of remote sensing applications. He will touch on the LandScan population database, a project proposed by a researcher at KU, in collaboration with scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee. The database will help emergency officials respond to natural disasters and possible terrorist attacks.

He also will discuss the role of remote sensing in areas such as forest and wildlife management, water resources, transportation and carbon sequestration -- a process being considered that would pay farmers for storing more carbon in their soils

"It is important to understand that federal investment has had a major impact on the utilization of these technologies," Martinko said. "And it is important that the investment continues on a long-term basis because it is necessary to conduct the research and develop the applications."

The field hearing is open to the public.