The purpose of this field trip is to introduce students taking Geography 175 to the Micromet towers deployed as part of the IDEAS NSF CCLI project. Students will be introduced to the AIRS and LISQUE Creek stations and learn about the observations/instrumentation at each station. Next, students will be divided into small teams and trained about vegetation field analysis. Students will work in groups measuring vegetation transects along 6 fixed transects at AIRS, estimating canopy height, measuring species composition, surface albedo and temperature. They will use digital cameras to quantitatively measure fractional cover using a CCD camera and surface temperature with a FLIR. Field measures are a repeat of observations made in 2008, 2011, 2013 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023, providing a time series of change. Another field trip will be scheduled for April 26th.

Approved