Dr. Lee Vierling

Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Lee Vierling

Institute of Atmospheric Sciences
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
501 East Saint Joseph Street
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701-3995

Phone: 605-394-6855
FAX: 605-394-6061 
email: lee.vierling@sdsmt.edu

Dr. Vierling heads the IAS Remote Sensing and Ecology Lab.  Visit the Lab's website by clicking on the icon below:


 

Professional Background and Interests
University Activities
Affiliations
Other Activities
Publications

Professional Background and Interests

 
Lee Vierling received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Colorado in May, 1999.  In June, 1999, he joined the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology as an assistant professor, and now heads the Remote Sensing and Ecology Laboratory within IAS.  He attended Colorado College from 1988-1992, where he received a B.A. with distinction in Geology in May, 1992.  In early 1993, Lee joined the Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions group at the National Center for Atmospheric Research as a research assistant.  At NCAR, he conducted atmospheric and ecological research to quantify biogenic trace gas fluxes from a variety of plant and ecosystem types.  His work spanned a wide range of spatial scales, from gas flux measurements on individual leaves to regional estimation of fluxes from entire forests using several techniques including satellite remote sensing.

While a doctoral student at the University of Colorado, Lee worked in Alaska, Brazil, and central Africa to investigate various topics related to biosphere-atmosphere interactions and remote sensing.  The focus of his doctoral work was to examine how changes in cloud and haze cover influence the radiation transfer within and gas exchange above a Congolese tropical rain forest canopy.  As a part of this project, he also did preliminary research to examine how satellite-derived estimates of global net primary productivity may be affected by varying cloud cover.  His current research is aimed at using remotely sensed data to study various aspects of ecosystem structure and function, with field sites in the Black Hills of SD and south-central Siberia.   

Lee's primary research interests include local- to regional-scale biosphere-atmosphere interactions, with particular interest in how human activities affect biogeochemical cycling.  His teaching interests include ecology, environmental science, and biosphere-atmosphere interactions, and remote sensing, with a special interest in educating non-scientists about various aspects of global change.  He is a member of the Ecological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and Sigma Xi.

Back to the beginning!

University Activities

Dr. Vierling joined the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences in June 1999 and currently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science and a research scientist for the Institute. He serves on several campus committees and currently teaches ATM/BIOL 402 (Global Environmental Change) and ATM 410/510 (Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing) in addition to various special topics seminar courses.  See the Remote Sensing and Ecology Laboratory website for more information about his research and outreach activities.  
Back to the beginning!

Affiliations

Member of: Ecological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and the American Geophysical Union.
Back to the beginning!

Other Activities

Lee enjoys woodworking, baseball, adventure science, and singing.
Back to the beginning!

 Selected Recent Publications

Helmig, D. and L. Vierling, 1995: Water adsorption capacity of the solid adsorbents Tenax TA, Tenax GR, Carbotrap, Carbotrap C, Carbosieve SIII, and Carboxen 569 and water management techniques for the atmospheric sampling of volatile organic trace gases. Analytical Chemistry, 67, No. 23, 4380-4386.

Guenther, A., J. Greenberg, P. Harley, D. Helmig, L. Klinger, L. Vierling, P. Zimmerman, and C. Geron, 1996: Leaf, branch, stand and landscape scale measurements of volatile organic compound fluxes from US woodlands. Tree Physiology, 16, 17-24.

Guenther, A., W. Baugh, K. Davis, G. Hampton, P. Harley, L. Klinger, L. Vierling, P. Zimmerman, E. Allwine, S. Dilts, B. Lamb, H. Westberg, D. Baldocchi, C. Geron, and T. Pierce, 1996: Isoprene fluxes measured by enclosure, relaxed eddy accumulation, surface-layer gradient, and mixed layer mass balance techniques. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 18,555-18,567.

Vierling, L.A., D.W. Deering, and T.F. Eck, 1996: Nadir and bidirectional surface measurements of Arctic tundra: Site differentiation and vegetation phenology early in the growing season. 1996 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS'96), Lincoln, NE.

Eck, T.F., D.W. Deering, and L.A. Vierling, 1997: Arctic tundra albedo and its estimation from spectral hemispheric reflectance. Int. J. Remote Sensing, 18, 3535-3549. 

Vierling, Lee A., D.W. Deering, and T.F. Eck, 1997: Differences in Arctic tundra vegetation type and phenology as seen using bidirectional radiometry in the early growing season. Remote Sens. Environ., 60, 71-82.

Vierling, L.A., 1998: Palynological evidence for late- and postglacial environmental change in Central Colorado. Quaternary Research, 49, 222-232.

Helmig, D., L.F. Klinger, A.B. Guenther, L.A. Vierling, P. Zimmerman, and C. Geron 1999: Biogenic volatile organic compound emissions (BVOCs) I. Identifications from three continental sites in the U.S. Chemosphere, 38, 2163-2187.

Helmig, D., L.F. Klinger, A.B. Guenther, L.A. Vierling, P.R. Zimmerman, and C. Geron, 1999: Biogenic volatile organic compound emissions. II. Landscape flux potentials from three continental sites in the U.S. Chemosphere, 38, No. 9, 2189-2204.

Isebrands, J.G., A.B. Guenther, P. Harley, D. Helmig, L. Klinger, L. Vierling, P. Zimmerman, and C. Geron, 1999: Volatile organic compound emission rates from mixed deciduous and coniferous forests in Northern Wisconsin, USA. Atmospheric Environment, 33, 2527-2536.

Guenther, A., S. Archer, J. Greenberg, P. Harley, L. Klinger, L. Vierling, M. Wildermuth, P. Zimmerman, S. Zitzer, 1999: Biogenic hydrocarbon emissions and landcover/climate change in a subtropical savanna. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 24, 659-667.

Guenther, A., B. Baugh, G. Brasseur, J. Greenberg, P. Harley, L. Klinger, D. Serca, and L. Vierling, 1999: Isoprene emission estimates and uncertainties for the Central African EXPRESSO study domain. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 24(6): 659-667.

Vierling, L.A., and C.A. Wessman, 2000: Photosynthetically active radiation heterogeneity within a monodominant Congolese rain forest canopy.  Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 103, 265-278.

Wylie, B.K., D.J. Meyer, M.J. Choate, L.A. Vierling, and P. Kozak, 2000: Mapping woody vegetation and eastern red cedar in the Nebraska sand hills using AVIRIS. In: Summaries of the Ninth JPL Airborne Earth Science Workshop, R.O. Green, ed. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.

Serça, D., A. Guenther, L. Klinger, L. Vierling, P. Harley, A. Druilhet, J. Greenberg, B. Baker, W. Baugh, C. Bouka-Biona, and J. Loemba-Ndembi.  2001.  EXPRESSO flux measurements at upland and lowland Congo tropical forest site.  Tellus, 53B(3):  220-234. 

Vierling, L., Frykholm, J., and Glasson, G.  2002.  The earth systems connections elementary curriculum:  a world of contexts for teaching and learning remote sensing.  IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Toronto, Canada, Proceedings of IGARSS ’02.

Vierling, L., Rowell, E., Chen, X., Dykstra, D., and Vierling, K.  2002.  Relationships among airborne scanning LiDAR, high resolution multispectral imagery, and ground-based inventory data in a ponderosa pine forest.”  IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Toronto, Canada, Proceedings of IGARSS ’02, 0-7803-7537-8/02.

Harley, P., P. Vasconcellos, L.A. Vierling, C. Cleomir de S. Pinheiros, J. Greenberg, A. Guenther, L. Klinger, S. Soares de Almeida, D. Neill, T. Baker, O. Phillips, Y. Malhi, 2004: Variation in potential for isoprene emissions among Neotropical forest sites. Global Change Biology, 10, 1021, doi: 10.111/j.1529-8817, 2003.00760.xl

Chen, X., L. A. Vierling, E. Rowell, and T. DeFelice, 2004: Using Lidar and effective LAI data to evaluate IKONOS and Landsat 7 ETM+ vegetation cover estimates in a ponderosa pine forest. Rem. Sens. Environment., 91, 14-26.

Zimmerman, P. R., M. Price, W. J. Capehart, K. Updegraff, P. Kozak, L. A. Vierling, E. Baker, F. Kopp, G. Duke, and C. Das, 2003: C-Lock (Patent Pending): A system for estimating and certifying carbon emission reduction credits for the se-questration of soil carbon on agricultural land. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, (in press).

 

 

  Back to the beginning

Back to the IAS Faculty page

Back to the  IAS homepage