GeoFly Lab University of California, Santa Cruz

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles and reports by GeoFly Lab members and collaborators.

2026

  1. Ren, X., Yang, B., Filkov, A., Wilkin, K., Benterou, C., Hussey, O., & Clements, C. (2026). Integrating georeferencing and fire anatomy modeling in canyon fire experiments using thermal UAV remote sensing. International Journal of Wildland Fire, WF25235. DOI: 10.1071/WF25235
  2. Allen, J. E., Benterou, D., Brillon, H., Yang, B., et al. (2026). Reexamining the relationship between post-fire twig diameter and fire intensity in California's chaparral to better assess fire severity. Fire Ecology. DOI: 10.1186/s42408-026-00486-4
  3. Ren, X., Benterou, D., Allen, J., Wilkin, K. M., Brillon, H., Clements, C. B., & Yang, B. (2026). UAV-Based Estimation of Fuel Structure and Dynamics in a California Canyon Fire Experiment. Drones, 10(7), 520. DOI: 10.3390/drones10070520
  4. Tran, M. T., Swindell, C., Yang, B., Skupin, A., & Akerkar, R. (2026). Quantifying the Impact of Transportation on Urban Heat Islands. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 1–21. DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2025.2600638

2025

  1. Yang, B., Hussey, O., & Alexander, S. (2025). Quantifying highway expansion impact on urban heat island effect in San Francisco bay area. Cities, 169, 1065. DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106555
  2. Huang, Y., Yang, B., Ren, X., Lu, Y., Lan, M., & Gong, X. (2025). Spatio-temporal cokriging crime predictions using social media data: a multi-type case study in San Jose, California. Computational Urban Science, 5(1), 72. DOI: 10.1007/s43762-025-00233-6 PDF
  3. Aoki, L. R., Ritter, C. J., Beatty, D. S., ... Yang, B., & Duffy, J. E. (2025). Seagrass wasting disease prevalence and lesion area increase with invertebrate grazing across the northeastern Pacific. Ecology, 106(1), e4532. DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4532

2024

  1. Alexander, S. E., Yang, B., Hussey, O., & Hicks, D. (2023). Examining the Externalities of Highway Capacity Expansions in California: An Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) Using Remote Sensing Technology. Mineta Transportation Institute Publications DOI: 10.31979/mti.2023.2251 PDF

2023

  1. Yang, B., Hawthorne, T.L., Aoki, L.R., Beatty, D.S., Domke, L.K., Copeland, T., Eckert, G.L., Graham, O.J., Harper, L., Hessing-Lewis, M., Rappazzo, B., & Hovel, K.A., et al. (2023). Low-Altitude UAV Imaging Accurately Quantifies Eelgrass Wasting Disease from Alaska to California. Geophysical Research Letters DOI: 10.1029/2022GL101985 PDF
  2. Aoki, L.R., Yang, B., O.J. Graham, C. Gomes, B. Rappazzo, T.L. Hawthorne, J.E. Duffy, & D. Harvell. (2023). UAV high-resolution imaging and disease surveys combine to quantify climate-related decline in seagrass meadows. Oceanography 36(Supplement 1) DOI: 10.5670/oceanog.2023.s1.12 PDF
  3. Shu, S., Yu, O.-Y., Schoonover, C., Liu, H., & Yang, B. (2023). Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Structure from Motion Technique for Precise Snow Depth Retrieval—Implication for Optimal Ground Control Point Deployment Strategy. Remote Sensing, 15(9), 2297. DOI: 10.3390/rs15092297
  4. Graham, O.J., Stephens, T., Rappazzo, B., Klohmann, C., Dayal, S., Adamczyk, E.M., Olson, A., Hessing-Lewis, M., Eisenlord, M., Yang, B., Burge, C., Gomes, C., & Harvell, D. (2023). Deeper habitats and cooler temperatures moderate a climate-driven seagrass disease. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 378:20220016 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0016
  5. Tran, M. T., & Yang, B. (2023). Using Thermal Remote Sensing to Quantify Impact of Traffic on Urban Heat Islands during COVID. Mineta Transportation Institute Publications (2023). DOI: 10.31979/mti.2023.2207 PDF

2022

  1. Yang, B., Liu, H., Kang, E.L., et al. (2022). Traffic restrictions during the 2008 Olympic Games reduced urban heat intensity and extent in Beijing. Nature Communications Earth & Environment, 3:105 DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00427-4 PDF
  2. Hawthorne, T.L., Toohy, K.R., Yang, B., Graham, L., Lorenzo, E.M., Torres, H., McDonald, M., Rivera, F., Bouck, K., & Walters, L.J. (2022). Mapping Emotional Attachment as a Measure of Sense of Place to Identify Coastal Restoration Priority Areas. Applied Geography, 138, 102608. DOI: 10.1016/J.APGEOG.2021.102608
  3. Aoki, L.R., Rappazzo, B., Beatty, D.S., … & Yang, B., et al. (2022). Disease surveillance by artificial intelligence links eelgrass wasting disease to ocean warming across latitudes. Limnology and Oceanography. DOI: 10.1002/lno.12152
  4. Geng, H., Jin, Z., Yao, J., Zhang, H., Hu, Z., Yang, B., Guo, Y., et al. (2022). Efficient Routing Protection Algorithm Based on Optimized Network Topology. Computers, Materials & Continua, 72(3), 4525–4540. DOI: 10.32604/cmc.2022.027725 PDF
  5. Beatty, D.S., Aoki, L.R., … & Yang, B., et al. (2022). Predictable Changes in Eelgrass Microbiomes with Increasing Wasting Disease Prevalence across 23° Latitude in the Northeastern Pacific. mSystems, 7(1), e00224-22. DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00224-22

2021

  1. Yang, B., Liu, H., Kang, E., Shu, S., Xu, M., Wu, B., Beck, R., Hinkel, K., & Yu, B. (2021) Spatio-temporal Cokriging method for blending and downscaling multi-scale remote sensing data. Remote Sensing of Environment. DOI:10.1016/j.rse.2020.112190
  2. Yang, B., Tong, S., & Fan, R. (2021). Using high resolution images from UAV and satellite remote sensing for best management practice (BMP) analyses. Journal of Environmental Informatics. DOI:10.3808/jei.202000433 PDF
  3. Beatty, D.S., Aoki, L.R., Graham, O.J., Yang, B. (2021). The future is big—and small: remote sensing enables cross-scale comparisons of microbiome dynamics and ecological consequences. mSystems, 6:e01106-21. DOI:10.1128/mSystems.01106-21
  4. Xu, M., Liu, H., Beck, R., Lekki, J., Yang, B., Liu, Y., Shu, S., et al. (2021). Implementation Strategy and Spatiotemporal Extensibility of Multipredictor Ensemble Model for Water Quality Parameter Retrieval With Multispectral Remote Sensing Data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2020.3045921
  5. Groner, M.L., Eisenlord, M.E., Yoshioka, R.M., …, Yang, B., et al. (2021) Warming sea surface temperatures fuel summer epidemics of eelgrass wasting disease. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 679:47-58. DOI:10.3354/meps13902
  6. Shu, S., Liu, H., Beck, R.A., Frappart, F., Korhonen, J., Lan, M., Xu, M., Yang, B., & Huang, Y. (2021). Evaluation of Historic and Operational Satellite Radar Altimetry Missions for Constructing Consistent Long-term Lake Water Level Records. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, pp.1-40. DOI:10.5194/hess-2020-510
  7. Wang, Z., Liu, L., Haberman, C., Lan, M., Yang, B., Zhou, H. (2021). Burglaries and entry controls in gated communities. Urban Studies, 1-13. DOI:10.1177/0042098020972636

2020

  1. Yang, B.; Hawthorne, T.L.; Hessing-Lewis, M.; Duffy, E.J.; Reshitnyk, L.Y.; Feinman, M.; Searson, H. (2020) Developing an Introductory UAV/Drone Mapping Training Program for Seagrass Monitoring and Research. Drones (Journal Cover Story), 4, 70. DOI:10.3390/drones4040070
  2. Yang, B., Liu, L., Lan, M., Wang, Z., Zhou, H., Yu, H. (2020). A spatio-temporal method for crime prediction using historical crime data and transitional zones identified from nightlight imagery. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 1-25. DOI:10.1080/13658816.2020.1737701
  3. Liu, L., Lan, M., Eck, J.E., Yang, B., Zhou, H. (2020) Assessing the Intraday Variation of the Spillover Effect of Tweets-Derived Ambient Population on Crime. Social Science Computer Review, December 2020. DOI:10.1177/0894439320983825
  4. Shu, S., Liu, H., Frappart, F., Kang, E.L., Yang, B., Xu, M., Huang, Y., Wu, B., Yu, B., Wang, S., & Beck, R. (2020). Improving Satellite Waveform Altimetry Measurements With a Probabilistic Relaxation Algorithm. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2020.3010184
  5. Yu, H.; Liu, L.; Yang, B.; Lan, M. (2020) Crime Prediction with Historical Crime and Movement Data of Potential Offenders Using a Spatio-Temporal Cokriging Method. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 9, 732. DOI:10.3390/ijgi9120732
  6. Shu, S., Liu, H., Beck, R., Frappart, F., Korhonen, J., Xu, M., Yang, B., Hinkel, K., Huang, Y., Yu, B. (2020). Analysis of Sentinel-3 SAR Altimetry Waveform Retracking Algorithms for Deriving Temporally Consistent Water Levels over Inland Lakes. Remote Sensing of Environment, 239, 111643. DOI:10.1016/j.rse.2020.111643
  7. Sun, H., Cai, C., Liu, H., & Yang, B. (2020). A model for disaggregating microwave satellite soil moisture with land surface evapotranspiration products and gridded meteorological data. Remote Sensing. DOI:10.3390/rs12060980

2019

  1. Yang, B., Hawthorne, T., Torres, H., Feinman, M. (2019). Using Object-Oriented Classification for Coastal Management in the East Central Coast of Florida: A Quantitative Comparison between UAV, Satellite, and Aerial Data. Drones, 3(3), 60. DOI:10.3390/drones3030060
  2. Yang, B., Tong, S., & Fan, R. (2019). Sharpening land use maps and predicting the trends of land-use change using high-resolution airborne image: a geostatistic approach. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 79, 141-152. DOI:10.1016/j.jag.2019.03.010
  3. Zhou, H., Liu, L., Lan, M., Yang, B., Wang, Z. (2019) Assessing the Impact of Nightlight Gradients on Street Robbery and Burglary in Cincinnati of Ohio State, USA. Remote Sensing, 11, 1958. DOI:10.3390/rs11171958
  4. Sun, H., Cai, C., Liu, H., & Yang, B. (2019). Microwave and Meteorological Fusion: A method of Spatial Downscaling of Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 12(4), 1107-1119. DOI:10.1109/JSTARS.2019.2901921
  5. Xu, M., Liu, H., Beck, R., Lekki, J., Yang, B., Shu, S., et al. (2019). Regionally and Locally Adaptive Models for Retrieving Chlorophyll-a Concentration in Inland Waters From Remotely Sensed Multispectral and Hyperspectral Imagery. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 57(7), 4758-4774. DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2019.2892899

2018 and before

  1. Beck, R., Xu, M., Zhan, S., Johansen, R.A., Liu, H., Tong, S., Yang, B., Shu, S., et al., (2018). Comparison of satellite reflectance algorithms for estimating turbidity and cyanobacterial concentrations in productive freshwaters using hyperspectral aircraft imagery and dense coincident surface observations. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 45(3), 413-433. DOI: 10.1016/j.jglr.2018.09.001
  2. Xu, M., Liu, H., Beck, R., Lekki, J., Yang, B., Shu, S., et al., (2018). A spectral space partition guided ensemble method for retrieving chlorophyll-a concentration in inland waters from Sentinel-2A satellite imagery. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 45(3), 454-465. DOI: 10.1016/j.jglr.2018.09.002
  3. Johansen, R., Beck, R., Nowosad, J., Nietch, C., Xu, M., Shu, S., Yang B., et al. (2018) Evaluating the portability of satellite derived chlorophyll-a algorithms for temperate inland lakes using airborne imagery and dense surface observations. Harmful algae, 76, 35-46. DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2018.05.001
  4. Beck, R., Xu, M., Zhan, S., Liu, H., Johansen, R.A., Tong, S., Yang, B., et al. (2017). Comparison of Satellite Reflectance Algorithms for Estimating Phycocyanin Values and Cyanobacterial Total Biovolume in a Temperate Reservoir Using Coincident Hyperspectral Aircraft Imagery and Dense Coincident Surface Observations. Remote Sensing, 9(6), p.538. DOI: 10.3390/rs9060538
  5. Beck, R., Zhan, S., Liu, H., Tong, S., Yang, B., Xu, M., et al. (2016). Comparison of satellite reflectance algorithms for estimating chlorophyll-a in a temperate reservoir using coincident hyperspectral aircraft imagery and dense coincident surface observations. Remote Sensing of Environment, 178, 15-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2016.03.002
  6. Beck, R. A., Hinkel, K. M., Eisner, W. R., Whiteman, D., Arp, C. D., Machida, R., Yang, B., et al. (2013). Contrasting historical and recent breakup styles on the Meade River of Arctic Alaska in the context of a warming climate. American Journal of Climate Change, 2(2), DOI:10.4236/ajcc.2013.22016
  7. Zhang, W. G., Yang, B., Ding, R., & Hu, Y. Q. (2010). Design of High-Speed Decoder for New High-Speed Bus. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 20, 958-962. DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.20-23.958

Conference papers

  1. Liu, H., Yang, B., & Kang, E. (2015, July). Cokriging method for spatio-temporal assimilation of multi-scale satellite data. In 2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) (pp. 3314-3316). IEEE. DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS.2015.7326527
  2. Yang, B., & Zhang, W. (2011, October). Intelligent learning system based on HMM model. In 2011 IEEE. Fourth International Symposium on Knowledge Acquisition and Modeling (pp. 490-492). DOI: 10.1109/KAM.2011.133

More conference proceedings and colloquium talks can be found here.