Biography
Brian received his B.Sc in Geomatics from the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) in 2004. He later completed his M.Sc in GIS and Remote Sensing in 2006 and his PhD ('Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) intensity and interferometric approaches to near-surface soil moisture characterisation') in 2011, both at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) in University College Cork (UCC). Between 2011 and 2012, he held a Teaching Fellowship in the School of GeoSciences at The University of Edinburgh and is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the School of Geography & Archaeology in University College Cork, working on projects that include: developing a radar-based approach to improving land use inventories and facilitating annual reporting on national greenhouse gas emissions related to land use (Irish Land Mapping Observatory (ILMO) project); investigating a combined optical and radar approach for monitoring vegetation in unenclosed upland regions (Towards Landcover Accounting and Monitoring (TaLAM) project); improving the error characterisation of global soil moisture datasets using a time-series of radar and in-situ measurements (European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Soil moisture project); and on modelling biomass in intensive dairy pastures using very-high spatial resolution (<1m) radar data.
Brian has extensive experience in using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for biophysical parameter retrieval and has completed several ESA Earth Observation (EO) training courses, focusing on the use of EO data for land applications. In 2009, he spent an internship at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) (Ottawa) working on the development of methods to derive land and soil parameters from SAR. He has presented his research at many national and international conferences and meetings and contributed to several successful grant proposals.
Research Interests
Brian`s 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 him. Most of his 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, he has also 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 land use.
Publications
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2015) | 'Forest Cover Estimation in Ireland Using Radar Remote Sensing: A Comparative Analysis of Forest Cover Assessment Methodologies' Devaney, J., Barrett, B., Barrett, F., Redmond., J., O`Halloran, J (2015) 'Forest Cover Estimation in Ireland Using Radar Remote Sensing: A Comparative Analysis of Forest Cover Assessment Methodologies'. Plos One, [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Surface soil moisture retrievals from remote sensing: Current status, products & future trends' Petropoulos, G. P., Ireland, G., Barrett, B. (2015) 'Surface soil moisture retrievals from remote sensing: Current status, products & future trends'. Physics And Chemistry Of The Earth, [Details] | |
| (2015) | 'Temporal optimisation of image acquisition for land cover classification with Random Forest and MODIS time-series' Nitze, I., Barrett, B., 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 :136-146 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Assessment of multi-temporal, multi-sensor radar and ancillary spatial data for grasslands monitoring in Ireland using machine learning approaches' Barrett, B., Nitze., I., Green, S., 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 :109-124 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Evaluation of a Global Soil Moisture Product from Finer Spatial Resolution SAR Data and Ground Measurements at Irish Sites' Pratola, C., Barrett, B., Gruber, A., Kiely, G., Dwyer, E. (2014) 'Evaluation of a Global Soil Moisture Product from Finer Spatial Resolution SAR Data and Ground Measurements at Irish Sites'. Remote Sensing, 6 (9):8190-8219 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2013) | 'Carbon cycling of European croplands: A framework for the assimilation of optical and microwave Earth observation data' Revill, A., Sus, O., Barrett, B., 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 :84-93 [Details] | |
| (2013) | 'Detecting Changes in Surface Soil Moisture Content using Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR)' Barrett, B., Whelan, P., and Dwyer, E. (2013) 'Detecting Changes in Surface Soil Moisture Content using Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR)'. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34 (20):7091-7112 [Details] | |
| (2013) | 'Sensitivity of spaceborne radar to near-surface soil moisture in grasslands across southern Ireland' Barrett, B., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2013) 'Sensitivity of spaceborne radar to near-surface soil moisture in grasslands across southern Ireland'. Irish Geography, 45 (2):131-149 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2012) | 'The use of C- and L-band repeat-pass interferometric SAR coherence for soil moisture change detection in vegetated areas' 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'. The Open Remote Sensing Journal, 5 (1):37-53 [Details] | |
| (2009) | 'Soil Moisture Retrieval from Active Spaceborne Microwave Observations: An Evaluation of Current Techniques' Barrett, BW,Dwyer, E,Whelan, P (2009) 'Soil Moisture Retrieval from Active Spaceborne Microwave Observations: An Evaluation of Current Techniques'. Remote Sensing, 1 :210-242 [DOI] [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2013) | 'Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Soil Moisture' Barrett, B. W. & Petropoulos, G. P. (2013) 'Satellite Remote Sensing of Surface Soil Moisture' In: Remote Sensing of Land Surface Turbulent Fluxes and Soil Surface Moisture Content: State of the Art. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. [Details] |
Conference Publications
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2013) | ESA Living Planet Symposium Barrett, B., Nitze, I., Green, S., Cawkwell, F. (2013) Improving grassland inventories in Ireland - the contribution of multi-temporal radar data ESA Living Planet Symposium Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, , 09-SEP-13 - 13-SEP-13 [Details] | |
| (2010) | ESA Living Planet Symposium Barrett, B., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2010) Soil Moisture Estimation over Southeast Ireland using C-and L-band Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) ESA Living Planet Symposium Bergen, Norway, , 28-JUN-10 - 02-JUL-10 [Details] | |
| (2007) | ESA ENVISAT Symposium Barrett, B., Dwyer, N., Whelan, P., Bartlett, D.; (2007) Soil Moisture Determination using an ASAR Time Series ESA ENVISAT Symposium Montreux, Switzerland, , 23-APR-07 - 27-APR-07 [Details] |
Professional Activities
Professional Associations
| Association | Function | From / To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc) | Member | / |
Conference Contributions
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2015) | Uplands Workshop 2015, Barrett, B., Raab, C., Cawkwell, F., Green, S. (2015) Upland vegetation mapping in Ireland using optical and radar satellite data. [Oral Presentation], Uplands Workshop 2015, Trinity College Dublin , 15-APR-15 - 15-APR-15. [Details] | |
| (2014) | Forest Change 2014, Devaney, J., Barrett, B., Redmond, J., O`Halloran, J. (2014) Deforestation in Ireland 2000 – 2012; an assessment of existing and potential estimation techniques. [Oral Presentation], Forest Change 2014, Kardinal-Döpfner Haus, Freising, Germany , 02-APR-14 - 04-APR-14. [Details] | |
| (2014) | Frontiers in Earth Observation for Land System Science (A joint workshop of the EARSeL SIG LULC and the NASA LCLUC Science Team), Barrett, B., Nitze, I., Cawkwell, F., Green, S. (2014) Assessment of multi-temporal, multi-frequency radar and ancillary spatial data for routine grassland monitoring. [Poster Presentation], Frontiers in Earth Observation for Land System Science (A joint workshop of the EARSeL SIG LULC and the NASA LCLUC Science Team), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany , 17-MAR-14 - 18-MAR-14. [Details] | |
| (2014) | Frontiers in Earth Observation for Land System Science (A joint workshop of the EARSeL SIG LULC and the NASA LCLUC Science Team), Nitze, I., Barrett, B., Green, S., Cawkwell, F. (2014) Inventory assessment of grassland in Ireland using hyper-temporal optical data. [Poster Presentation], Frontiers in Earth Observation for Land System Science (A joint workshop of the EARSeL SIG LULC and the NASA LCLUC Science Team), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany , 17-MAR-14 - 18-MAR-14. [Details] | |
| (2013) | 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Barrett, B; Nitze, I; Green, S; Cawkwell, F (2013) Contribution of multi-temporal and multi-frequency radar data to operational grassland mapping. [Oral Presentation], 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland , 24-OCT-13 - 25-OCT-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Nitze, I; Barrett, B; Cawkwell, F; Green, S (2013) Comparison of DMC and Landsat data for the classification of grassland use. [Oral Presentation], 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland , 24-OCT-13 - 25-OCT-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Nitze, I; Barrett, B; Cawkwell, F; Green, S (2013) An automated processing chain of large-scale hyper-temporal optical data for machine-learning based classification. [Oral Presentation], 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland , 24-OCT-13 - 25-OCT-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Pratola, C; Barrett, B; Dwyer, N (2013) Assessment of a global soil moisture product by using finer spatial resolution SAR data and in situ measurements. [Oral Presentation], 7th Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland , 24-OCT-13 - 25-OCT-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Barrett, B., Nitze, I., Cawkwell, F., Green, S. (2013) Improving grassland inventories in Ireland - the contribution of multi-temporal radar data. [Oral Presentation], Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Glasgow, Scotland , 04-SEP-13 - 06-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Nitze, I., Barrett, B., Cawkwell, F., Green, S. (2013) Inventory assessment of grasslands in Ireland using hyper-temporal optical data. [Oral Presentation], Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Glasgow, Scotland , 04-SEP-13 - 06-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Barrett, B., Nitze, I., Cawkwell, F., Green, S., Hallahan, P., Black, K. (2013) Improving Grassland Inventories in Ireland ‐ the Contribution of Multi‐Temporal SAR data. [Poster Presentation], European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland , 09-SEP-13 - 13-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Nitze, I., Barrett., B., Cawkwell, F., Green, S., Hallahan, P. (2013) Inventory Assessment Of Grasslands In Ireland Using Hyper‐Temporal Optical Data. [Poster Presentation], European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland , 09-SEP-13 - 13-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Revill, A., Sus, O., Barrett, B., Williams, M. (2013) Constraining the Carbon Budgets of Global Croplands with Earth Observation Data. [Poster Presentation], European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland , 09-SEP-13 - 13-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Devaney, J., Barrett, B., Redmond, J., Cawkwell, F., O`Halloran, J. (2013) Reducing Uncertainties Associated with Deforestation Estimation in Ireland using Optical and Radar Sensors. [Poster Presentation], European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland , 09-SEP-13 - 13-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2013) | European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Pratola, C., Dwyer, E., Barrett, B., Gruber, A. (2013) Error characterisation of the Soil Moisture ECV product over Europe. [Oral Presentation], European Space Agency (ESA) Living Planet Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland , 09-SEP-13 - 13-SEP-13. [Details] | |
| (2012) | Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Nitze, I., Cawkwell, F. (2012) Land cover mapping in Ireland using multi-temporal SAR data. [Oral Presentation], Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Dublin Institute of Technology , 01-NOV-12 - 02-NOV-12. [Details] | |
| (2012) | Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Cawkwell, F., Barrett, B., Nitze, I., Green, S., Dwyer, N. (2012) Irish Land Mapping Observatory (ILMO). [Poster Presentation], Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), University of Greenwich, London, UK , 12-SEP-12 - 14-SEP-12. [Details] | |
| (2011) | GIS Update, Barrett, B. W. (2011) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for soil moisture monitoring. [Oral Presentation], GIS Update, University of Edinburgh , 10-JUN-11 - 10-JUN-11. [Details] | |
| (2010) | Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2010) SAR Interferometry for Soil Moisture Retrieval. [Oral Presentation], Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc), University College Cork, Ireland , 31-AUG-10 - 03-SEP-10. [Details] | |
| (2010) | EPA National Research Conference, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2010) Soil Moisture Retrieval from Space. [Poster Presentation], EPA National Research Conference, Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland , 23-JUN-10 - 23-JUN-10. [Details] | |
| (2010) | ESA Living Planet Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2010) Soil Moisture Estimation over Southeast Ireland using C-and L-band Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). [Poster Presentation], ESA Living Planet Symposium, Bergen, Norway , 28-JUN-10 - 02-JUL-10. [Details] | |
| (2009) | Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2009) A comparative analysis of soil moisture retrieval using C-and L-band Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) over Southeast Ireland. [Oral Presentation], Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI), Dublin, Ireland , 12-NOV-09 - 13-NOV-09. [Details] | |
| (2008) | ESA Earth Observation Summer School on Earth System Monitoring and Modelling, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2008) C- and L- band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for Estimating Spatially Distributed Surface Soil Moisture in Southern Ireland. [Poster Presentation], ESA Earth Observation Summer School on Earth System Monitoring and Modelling, ESRIN, Frascati, Italy , 04-AUG-08 - 14-AUG-08. [Details] | |
| (2008) | ESA/JAXA ALOS PI`s Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2008) Active Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture. [Poster Presentation], ESA/JAXA ALOS PI`s Symposium, Rhodes, Greece , 03-NOV-08 - 07-NOV-08. [Details] | |
| (2008) | Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2008) Active Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture. [Poster Presentation], Irish Earth Observation Symposium, University College Cork, Ireland , 06-NOV-08 - 07-NOV-08. [Details] | |
| (2008) | EPA National Research Conference, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2008) Quantifying the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Soil Moisture using C-and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar. [Poster Presentation], EPA National Research Conference, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland , 06-FEB-08 - 07-FEB-08. [Details] | |
| (2008) | EPA Doctoral and Fellowship Seminar, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2008) Active Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture. [Oral Presentation], EPA Doctoral and Fellowship Seminar, Dublin, Ireland , 13-NOV-08 - 14-NOV-08. [Details] | |
| (2007) | Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2007) Quantifying the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Soil Moisture using C-and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar. [Poster Presentation], Irish Earth Observation Symposium, Teagasc, Kinsealy, Dublin, Ireland , 14-NOV-07 - 14-NOV-07. [Details] | |
| (2007) | Environmental Science Association of Ireland (ESAI) ‘Environ 2007’, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2007) Active Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture. [Oral Presentation], Environmental Science Association of Ireland (ESAI) ‘Environ 2007’, Institute of Technology, Carlow, Ireland , 26-JAN-07 - 28-JAN-07. [Details] | |
| (2007) | EPA Doctoral and Fellowship Seminar, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2007) Quantifying the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Soil Moisture using C-and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar. [Poster Presentation], EPA Doctoral and Fellowship Seminar, Dublin, Ireland , 01-NOV-07 - 02-NOV-07. [Details] | |
| (2007) | ESA Envisat Symposium, Barrett, B. W., Dwyer, E., Whelan, P. (2007) Soil Moisture Determination using an ASAR Time Series. [Oral Presentation], ESA Envisat Symposium, Montreux, Switzerland , 23-APR-07 - 27-APR-07. [Details] |
Committees
| Committee | Function | From / To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Landcover Working Group | Member | 2012 / |
Employment
| Employer | Position | From / To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University College Cork (UCC), Ireland | Post-Doctoral Researcher | 01-MAY-12 / | |
| The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK | Teaching Fellow | 25-APR-11 / 24-APR-12 |
Education
| Year | Institution | Qualification | Subject | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | University College Cork (UCC), Ireland | PhD | Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) intensity and interferometric approaches to near-surface soil moisture characterisation’ | |
| 2006 | University College Cork (UCC), Ireland | M.Sc. | Applied Science (GIS and Remote Sensing in Environmental Resource Management) | |
| 2004 | Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Ireland | B.Sc. (Honours) | Geomatics |
Outreach Activities
| Description | |
|---|---|
European Space Expo - Soap box talk entitled Seeing through the Clouds Trinity College Dublin, 4-9 June 2013 (see http://spaceexpo.ie/) |
Journal Activities
| Journal | Role | To / From | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote Sensing Of Environment | Referee | - | |
| International Journal Of Applied Earth Observation And Geoinformation | Referee | - | |
| Ieee Journal Of Selected Topics In Applied Earth Observations And Remote Sensing | Referee | - | |
| Isprs Journal Of Photogrammetry And Remote Sensing | Referee | - | |
| Remote Sensing | Referee | - | |
| International Journal Of Remote Sensing | Referee | - | |
| Hydrology And Earth System Sciences | Referee | - | |
| Canadian Journal Of Remote Sensing | Referee | - | |
| Estuarine, Coastal And Shelf Science | Referee | - | |
| Environmental Engineering And Management Journal | Referee | - |
Teaching Activities
Teaching Interests
The University of Edinburgh (2011-2012)
Course Organiser for Remote Sensing and Global Climate Change and Introduction to Radar Remote Sensing. Contributor to: Geography Fieldwork: Foundation (Physical), The Nature of Geographical Knowledge, Research Design in Geography, Research Practice and Project Planning, Principles of Geographical Information Science, Forests and Environment, Visions for Geography, Geosciences Innovative Learning Week [Social Media Workshop].
University College Cork (2005 – 2011)
Contributed lectures in Remote Sensing and Microwave Remote Sensing to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science and the School of Geography and Archaeology.