Crystal L. Schaaf

Research Professor, Geography and Environment
PhD, Boston University, 1994
Areas of interest: Remote sensing and the development of bidirectional reflectance models of the earth’s surface for the EOS-MODIS and NPP-VIIRS BRDF/Albedo products. Satellite meteorology and the automated detection of clouds on a global basis
Phone: 617-358-0503
Fax: 617-617-353-8399
E-mail: schaaf@bu.edu
Website: http://people.bu.edu/schaaf/
Office: Room 436A, Geography and Environment Department
675 Commonwealth Ave., 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02215

Current Research

Crystal Barker Schaaf is currently a research professor in the Center for Remote Sensing and Department of Geography and Environment at Boston University. She is working on the development and use of operational products from NASA’s MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) to monitor the Earth’s environments from the Terra and Aqua polar-orbiting space platforms. She is a science team member for both the MODIS and the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) sensors (NPP is the precursor to the next generation of national meteorological satellites). Her interests include modeling reflectance anisotropy and albedo and using remote sensing data to reconstruct and and monitor the reflectance characteristics of various land surfaces, including vegetation phenology and land surface change. More recently she has also been involved in the development and use of ground-based lidar systems to characterize biomass and vegetation structure.