Dr Brian Barrett

  • Lecturer in Remote Sensing (School of Geographical & Earth Sciences)

Research interests

My principal research interests are in the use of microwave remote sensing for applications in the terrestrial environment. From a wider perspective, the use of remote sensing to study the interaction and further understanding of Earth system processes, in the context of environmental change, greatly interests me. Most of my research to date has been concerned with the modelling and characterisation of the spatio-temporal behaviour of surface soil moisture, a key parameter for the energy and mass fluxes at the land surface-atmosphere boundary. Assessing the influence of soil moisture on Differential SAR interferometry is an area of particular interest. More recently, I have been exploring the use of different machine learning algorithms to identify patterns in time-series of multi-configuration radar datasets with the ultimate goal of improving land use inventories and facilitating reporting on national greenhouse gas emissions related to landuse. Current research focuses on the use of radar and multispectral remote sensing to improve upland habitat inventories, support monitoring of diffuse pollution risk in Scottish catchments, socio-ecological sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa (https://sustainablefuturesinafrica.com/) and in predicting pasture biomass in Irish, Colombian and New Zealand dairy farms.

 

PhD Opportunities

I am keen to hear from prospective students who wish to study for a PhD. Enquiries are welcome, although please investigate potential funding and/or scholarships (if required) before getting in touch. Please see here for further details.


Publications

Selected publications

All publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2009
Number of items: 26.

2020

Raab, C., Riesch, F., Tonn, B., Barrett, B. , Meißner, M., Balkenhol, N. and Isselstein, J. (2020) Target‐oriented habitat and wildlife management: estimating forage quantity and quality of semi‐natural grasslands with Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2 data. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, (doi: 10.1002/rse2.149)

2019

Echeverría, C., Ruiz-Pérez, G., Puertes, C., Samaniego, L., Barrett, B. and Francés, F. (2019) Assessment of remotely sensed near-surface soil moisture for distributed eco-hydrological model implementation. Water, 11(12), 2613. (doi: 10.3390/w11122613)

Tojal, L.-T., Bastarrika, A., Barrett, B. , Sanchez Espeso, J. M., Lopez-Guede, J. M. and Graña, M. (2019) Prediction of aboveground biomass from low-density LiDAR data: validation over P. radiata data from a region north of Spain. Forests, 10(9), 819. (doi: 10.3390/f10090819)

Dingle, E. H., Paringit, E. C., Tolentino, P. L.M., Williams, R. D. , Hoey, T. B. , Barrett, B. , Long, H., Smiley, C. and Stott, E. (2019) Decadal-scale morphological adjustment of a lowland tropical river. Geomorphology, 333, pp. 30-42. (doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.01.022)

Nicholson, P. J. , Dixon, D. , Pullanikkatil, D., Moyo, B., Long, H. and Barrett, B. (2019) Malawi stories: mapping an art-science collaborative process. Journal of Maps, (doi: 10.1080/17445647.2019.1582440) (Early Online Publication)

2018

Cawkwell, F., Raab, C., Barrett, B. , Green, S. and Finn, J. (2018) TaLAM: Mapping Land Cover in Lowlands and Uplands with Satellite Imagery. Project Report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

Hockridge, B., Barrett, B. , Long, H., Wilson, L. and Silgram, M. (2018) Best Use of Remote Sensing Technologies to Assess Effectiveness of Measures for Controlling Rural Diffuse Pollution. Technical Report. ADAS. (Unpublished)

2017

Devaney, J., Redmond, J., Barrett, B. , Cott, G. and O'Halloran, J. (2017) 21st Century Deforestation in Ireland. Project Report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

Ali, I., Barrett, B. , Cawkwell, F., Green, S., Dwyer, E. and Neumann, M. (2017) Application of repeat-pass TerraSAR-X staring spotlight interferometric coherence to monitor pasture biophysical parameters: limitations and sensitivity analysis. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 10(7), pp. 3225-3231. (doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2017.2679761)

Cawkwell, F., Barrett, B. , Nitze, I., Green, S., Black, K. and Hallahan, P. (2017) The Irish Land Mapping Observatory: Mapping and Monitoring Land Cover, Use and Change. Project Report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

2016

Ali, I., Cawkwell, F., Dwyer, E., Barrett, B. and Green, S. (2016) Satellite remote sensing of grasslands: from observation to management—a review. Journal of Plant Ecology, 9(6), pp. 649-671. (doi: 10.1093/jpe/rtw005)

Barrett, B. , Raab, C., Cawkwell, F. and Green, S. (2016) Upland vegetation mapping using Random Forests with optical and radar satellite data. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 2(4), pp. 212-231. (doi: 10.1002/rse2.32)

Barrett, B. , Pratola, C., Gruber, A. and Dwyer, E. (2016) Intercomparison of soil moisture retrievals from in situ, ASAR and ECV SM data sets over different European sites. In: Srivastava, P., Petropoulos, G. and Kerr, Y. (eds.) Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals: Techniques and Applications. Elsevier: Amsterdam, pp. 209-228. ISBN 9780128033883 (doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803388-3.00011-5)

2015

Pratola, C., Barrett, B. , Gruber, A. and Dwyer, E. (2015) Quality assessment of the CCI ECV soil moisture product using ENVISAT ASAR wide swath data over Spain, Ireland and Finland. Remote Sensing, 7(11), pp. 15388-15423. (doi: 10.3390/rs71115388)

Nitze, I., Barrett, B. and Cawkwell, F. (2015) Temporal optimisation of image acquisition for land cover classification with random forest and MODIS time-series. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 34, pp. 136-146. (doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2014.08.001)

Devaney, J., Barrett, B. , Barrett, F., Redmond, J. and O`Halloran, J. (2015) Forest cover estimation in Ireland using radar remote sensing: a comparative analysis of forest cover assessment methodologies. PLoS ONE, 10(8), e0133583. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133583) (PMID:26262681) (PMCID:PMC4532497)

Petropoulos, G. P., Ireland, G. and Barrett, B. (2015) Surface soil moisture retrievals from remote sensing: Current status, products & future trends. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 83-84, pp. 36-56. (doi: 10.1016/j.pce.2015.02.009)

Raab, C., Barrett, B. , Cawkwell, F. and Green, S. (2015) Evaluation of multi-temporal and multi-sensor atmospheric correction strategies for land cover accounting and monitoring in Ireland. Remote Sensing Letters, 6(10), pp. 784-793. (doi: 10.1080/2150704X.2015.1076950)

2014

Barrett, B. , Nitze, I., Green, S. and Cawkwell, F. (2014) Assessment of multi-temporal, multi-sensor radar and ancillary spatial data for grasslands monitoring in Ireland using machine learning approaches. Remote Sensing of Environment, 152, pp. 109-124. (doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2014.05.018)

Pratola, C., Barrett, B. , Gruber, A., Kiely, G. and Dwyer, E. (2014) Evaluation of a global soil moisture product from finer spatial resolution sar data and ground measurements at Irish sites. Remote Sensing, 2014(6), pp. 8190-8219. (doi: 10.3390/rs6098190)

2013

Barrett, B. W. and Petropoulos, G. P. (2013) Satellite remote sensing of surface soil moisture. In: Petropoulos, G. P. (ed.) Remote Sensing of Energy Fluxes and Soil Moisture Content. CRC Press: Boca Raton, pp. 85-120. ISBN 9781466505780

Revill, A., Sus, O., Barrett, B. and Williams, M. (2013) Carbon cycling of European croplands: a framework for the assimilation of optical and microwave earth observation data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 137, pp. 84-93. (doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2013.06.002)

Barrett, B. , Dwyer, E. and Whelan, P. (2013) Sensitivity of spaceborne radar to near-surface soil moisture in grasslands across southern Ireland. Irish Geography, 45(2), pp. 131-149. (doi: 10.1080/00750778.2012.758434)

Barrett, B. , Whelan, P. and Dwyer, E. (2013) Detecting changes in surface soil moisture content using differential SAR interferometry. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(20), pp. 7091-7112. (doi: 10.1080/01431161.2013.813654)

2012

Barrett, B. , Whelan, P. and Dwyer, E. (2012) The use of C- and L-band repeat-pass interferometric SAR coherence for soil moisture change detection in vegetated areas. Open Remote Sensing Journal, 5, pp. 37-53. (doi: 10.2174/1875413901205010037)

2009

Barrett, B. , Dwyer, E. and Whelan, P. (2009) Soil moisture retrieval from active spaceborne microwave observations: an evaluation of current techniques. Remote Sensing, 2009(1), pp. 210-242. (doi: 10.3390/rs1030210)

This list was generated on Sun Apr 5 23:49:54 2020 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 26.

Articles

Raab, C., Riesch, F., Tonn, B., Barrett, B. , Meißner, M., Balkenhol, N. and Isselstein, J. (2020) Target‐oriented habitat and wildlife management: estimating forage quantity and quality of semi‐natural grasslands with Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2 data. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, (doi: 10.1002/rse2.149)

Echeverría, C., Ruiz-Pérez, G., Puertes, C., Samaniego, L., Barrett, B. and Francés, F. (2019) Assessment of remotely sensed near-surface soil moisture for distributed eco-hydrological model implementation. Water, 11(12), 2613. (doi: 10.3390/w11122613)

Tojal, L.-T., Bastarrika, A., Barrett, B. , Sanchez Espeso, J. M., Lopez-Guede, J. M. and Graña, M. (2019) Prediction of aboveground biomass from low-density LiDAR data: validation over P. radiata data from a region north of Spain. Forests, 10(9), 819. (doi: 10.3390/f10090819)

Dingle, E. H., Paringit, E. C., Tolentino, P. L.M., Williams, R. D. , Hoey, T. B. , Barrett, B. , Long, H., Smiley, C. and Stott, E. (2019) Decadal-scale morphological adjustment of a lowland tropical river. Geomorphology, 333, pp. 30-42. (doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.01.022)

Nicholson, P. J. , Dixon, D. , Pullanikkatil, D., Moyo, B., Long, H. and Barrett, B. (2019) Malawi stories: mapping an art-science collaborative process. Journal of Maps, (doi: 10.1080/17445647.2019.1582440) (Early Online Publication)

Ali, I., Barrett, B. , Cawkwell, F., Green, S., Dwyer, E. and Neumann, M. (2017) Application of repeat-pass TerraSAR-X staring spotlight interferometric coherence to monitor pasture biophysical parameters: limitations and sensitivity analysis. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 10(7), pp. 3225-3231. (doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2017.2679761)

Ali, I., Cawkwell, F., Dwyer, E., Barrett, B. and Green, S. (2016) Satellite remote sensing of grasslands: from observation to management—a review. Journal of Plant Ecology, 9(6), pp. 649-671. (doi: 10.1093/jpe/rtw005)

Barrett, B. , Raab, C., Cawkwell, F. and Green, S. (2016) Upland vegetation mapping using Random Forests with optical and radar satellite data. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 2(4), pp. 212-231. (doi: 10.1002/rse2.32)

Pratola, C., Barrett, B. , Gruber, A. and Dwyer, E. (2015) Quality assessment of the CCI ECV soil moisture product using ENVISAT ASAR wide swath data over Spain, Ireland and Finland. Remote Sensing, 7(11), pp. 15388-15423. (doi: 10.3390/rs71115388)

Nitze, I., Barrett, B. and Cawkwell, F. (2015) Temporal optimisation of image acquisition for land cover classification with random forest and MODIS time-series. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 34, pp. 136-146. (doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2014.08.001)

Devaney, J., Barrett, B. , Barrett, F., Redmond, J. and O`Halloran, J. (2015) Forest cover estimation in Ireland using radar remote sensing: a comparative analysis of forest cover assessment methodologies. PLoS ONE, 10(8), e0133583. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133583) (PMID:26262681) (PMCID:PMC4532497)

Petropoulos, G. P., Ireland, G. and Barrett, B. (2015) Surface soil moisture retrievals from remote sensing: Current status, products & future trends. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 83-84, pp. 36-56. (doi: 10.1016/j.pce.2015.02.009)

Raab, C., Barrett, B. , Cawkwell, F. and Green, S. (2015) Evaluation of multi-temporal and multi-sensor atmospheric correction strategies for land cover accounting and monitoring in Ireland. Remote Sensing Letters, 6(10), pp. 784-793. (doi: 10.1080/2150704X.2015.1076950)

Barrett, B. , Nitze, I., Green, S. and Cawkwell, F. (2014) Assessment of multi-temporal, multi-sensor radar and ancillary spatial data for grasslands monitoring in Ireland using machine learning approaches. Remote Sensing of Environment, 152, pp. 109-124. (doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2014.05.018)

Pratola, C., Barrett, B. , Gruber, A., Kiely, G. and Dwyer, E. (2014) Evaluation of a global soil moisture product from finer spatial resolution sar data and ground measurements at Irish sites. Remote Sensing, 2014(6), pp. 8190-8219. (doi: 10.3390/rs6098190)

Revill, A., Sus, O., Barrett, B. and Williams, M. (2013) Carbon cycling of European croplands: a framework for the assimilation of optical and microwave earth observation data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 137, pp. 84-93. (doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2013.06.002)

Barrett, B. , Dwyer, E. and Whelan, P. (2013) Sensitivity of spaceborne radar to near-surface soil moisture in grasslands across southern Ireland. Irish Geography, 45(2), pp. 131-149. (doi: 10.1080/00750778.2012.758434)

Barrett, B. , Whelan, P. and Dwyer, E. (2013) Detecting changes in surface soil moisture content using differential SAR interferometry. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(20), pp. 7091-7112. (doi: 10.1080/01431161.2013.813654)

Barrett, B. , Whelan, P. and Dwyer, E. (2012) The use of C- and L-band repeat-pass interferometric SAR coherence for soil moisture change detection in vegetated areas. Open Remote Sensing Journal, 5, pp. 37-53. (doi: 10.2174/1875413901205010037)

Barrett, B. , Dwyer, E. and Whelan, P. (2009) Soil moisture retrieval from active spaceborne microwave observations: an evaluation of current techniques. Remote Sensing, 2009(1), pp. 210-242. (doi: 10.3390/rs1030210)

Book Sections

Barrett, B. , Pratola, C., Gruber, A. and Dwyer, E. (2016) Intercomparison of soil moisture retrievals from in situ, ASAR and ECV SM data sets over different European sites. In: Srivastava, P., Petropoulos, G. and Kerr, Y. (eds.) Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals: Techniques and Applications. Elsevier: Amsterdam, pp. 209-228. ISBN 9780128033883 (doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803388-3.00011-5)

Barrett, B. W. and Petropoulos, G. P. (2013) Satellite remote sensing of surface soil moisture. In: Petropoulos, G. P. (ed.) Remote Sensing of Energy Fluxes and Soil Moisture Content. CRC Press: Boca Raton, pp. 85-120. ISBN 9781466505780

Research Reports or Papers

Cawkwell, F., Raab, C., Barrett, B. , Green, S. and Finn, J. (2018) TaLAM: Mapping Land Cover in Lowlands and Uplands with Satellite Imagery. Project Report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

Hockridge, B., Barrett, B. , Long, H., Wilson, L. and Silgram, M. (2018) Best Use of Remote Sensing Technologies to Assess Effectiveness of Measures for Controlling Rural Diffuse Pollution. Technical Report. ADAS. (Unpublished)

Devaney, J., Redmond, J., Barrett, B. , Cott, G. and O'Halloran, J. (2017) 21st Century Deforestation in Ireland. Project Report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

Cawkwell, F., Barrett, B. , Nitze, I., Green, S., Black, K. and Hallahan, P. (2017) The Irish Land Mapping Observatory: Mapping and Monitoring Land Cover, Use and Change. Project Report. Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

This list was generated on Sun Apr 5 23:49:54 2020 BST.

Grants

2019

CoSE IT & Computing Equipment for Research competition, (£10,310). PI: Brian Barrett

Scottish Funding Council GCRF - Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) network’s administrative support (£74,941). PI: Brian Barrett

BBSRC (as part of the RCUK-CIAT Newton-Caldas Fund Sustainable Tropical Agricultural Systems Programme) - Advancing sustainable forage-based livestock production systems in Colombia (CoForLife) (£819,681 (UofG £411,341)) Co-I and UofG lead: Brian Barrett

NERC (funded through the NERC TaSE (Towards a Sustainable Earth) research programme) - “River basins as 'living laboratories' for achieving sustainable development goals across national and sub-national scales” (£399,237 (UofG £239,273)) Co-I: Brian Barrett

2018

Scottish Funding Council GCRF Lost limbs, lives and livelihoods: understanding community behavioural change and the role of remote data collection approaches for Mine Risk Education (MRE) in Myanmar (£51,430). PI: Brian
Barrett

Scottish Funding Council GCRF - Towards resilient and sustainable tropical livestock production systems in Colombia (£22,795). PI: Brian Barrett

BBSRC (as part of the RCUK-CIAT Newton-Caldas Fund Sustainable Tropical Agricultural Systems Programme) - Advancing sustainable forage-based livestock production systems in Colombia (£135,392 & additional US$111,883 of in-kind contributions from the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)). PI: Brian Barrett. Further details here

2017

Scottish Funding Council – Visualising Violence in Malawi (£46,776) Co-I: Brian Barrett

European Commission - GEONATURA – open educational resources platform for Geomatics applications to social and environmental issues (€247,988 (UofG €60,163)). Universidade Nova de Lisboa (coordinator), TU Delft, University of Florence, and University of Glasgow. Further details here.

Industry (UK SME) - Developing a radar model for pasture biomass estimation in New Zealand (£64,648) PI: Brian Barrett

SEPA/Scottish Government - How can SEPA best use remote sensing technology to help assess the effectiveness of measures to address rural diffuse pollution (£75,543, (UofG £18,463)). ADAS RSK Ltd & Brian Barrett.

Scottish Funding Council - Building Sustainable futures in Africa: using capacity-strengthening activities to design and pilot methods for cross-disciplinary research (£36,500) Co-I: Brian Barrett

2016

British Council Newton Fund - Earth Observation in support of sustainable livestock grazing systems in Colombia (£3,932) PI: Brian Barrett

University of Glasgow Learning & Teaching Development Fund - Unmmanned Aerial Vechicles in fieldwork teaching and learning (£2,644) Co-I: Brian Barrett

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland - Stevenson in Vulcano: the acquisition of raw materials for Glasgow`s industries in the 19th century (£1,870) Co-I: Brian Barrett. Further details here.


Supervision

Post-graduate research students

Qi Qin (MSc-by-Research) Mapping environmental factors to Fasciola hepatica at farm-scale. Co- supervised by Prof. Nick Jonsson (Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine) (Graduated June 2019).

Uduak Affiah (PhD candidate) Vulnerability of the Nigerian coastal communities to climate change induced coastal hazards.Co-supervised by Dr Larissa Naylor and Dr Mia Perry (School of Education).

Niantang Liu (PhD candidate) A Deep Convolutional Neural Network-based framework For Crop Classification on High-Resolution Radar & Multispectral Imagery

 

Post-doctoral researchers

Dr Marcela Ramos - BBSRC funded CoForLife project

Dr Jing Xie - BBSRC funded Sustainable Tropical Agricultural Systems project

Dr Philip Nicholson - SFC GCRF funded Remote data collection approaches for Mine Risk Education in Myanmar project.

 

Visiting postgraduate (PhD and MSc) students

Diana Gutierrez - PhD student from the University of Antioquia, Colombia, July – October 2019 (Colciencias funded).

Carlos Echeverria, PhD student in Water Engineering at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain, September – December 2018 (Erasmus funded).

Nikolina Mijic - PhD student from the Institute of Geophysics and Geoinformatics at the University of Miskolc, Hungary, October 2017 (British Scholarship Trust funded).

Konstantina Bika, MSc student from the University of the Aegean, Greece, July – September 2016.


Teaching

Postgraduate

  • Environmental Remote Sensing (Nankai University, China - DUMF-5114)
  • Principles of GIS (GEOG-5019)
  • Remote Sensing of the Environment (GEOG-5056)
  • Applied GIS (GEOG-5102)
  • Managing Sustainable Water Environments: Policy and Practice (GEOG5115)

Undergraduate

  • Remote Sensing (GEOG-4094) Geography/Earth Science Level 3/4

  • Geography Level 2 (GEOG-2001) (GIS)

  • Research Skills (GEOG-3010) (Advanced Geographical Techniques) Geography Level 3


Additional information

Administrative Responsibilities

Journal Reviewer

  • Remote Sensing of Environment
  • Nature Plants
  • IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
  • ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
  • International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
  • Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science
  • Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
  • Remote Sensing
  • International Journal of Remote Sensing
  • Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing
  • Journal of Applied Remote Sensing
  • Sensors
  • Environmental Engineering and Management Journal
  • Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
  • Comptes Rendus Geoscience
  • Physics and Chemistry of the Earth
  • Environments
  • Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation
  • Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis
  • Restoration Ecology

Professional Society Membership

  • Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc)