CIRES Council of Fellows>

Alexander F.H. Goetz

Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1967
Emeritus Professor, Geological Sciences
Emeritus Director, Center for the Study of Earth from Space
Retired 2006 after 21 Years of Service

Dr. Goetz can be reached at goetz@asdi.com.

Research Interests

Development of techniques and application of remote sensing to problems in the earth sciences ranging from mineral and petroleum exploration to ecology.

Research Projects

Automated extraction and analysis of spectral features from hyperspectral imaging data; climate change in the Holocene as evidenced in stabilized dune systems on the High Plains; Development of techniques to detect swell potential in Front Range soils using reflectance spectroscopy; the application of laser altimetry, hyperspectral imaging and fire propagation models to fire mitigation strategies. Research projects include:

• Future Stability of U.S. High Plains Land Use
• Identification and Mapping of Expansive Clay Soils in the Western US
• Mapping Soil Swell Potential by Reflectance Spectroscopy
• The Search for Swelling Clays along the Colorado Front Range: The Role of AVIRIS Resolution in Detection
• Use of AVIRIS Hyperspectral Data to Identify and Map Expansive Clay Soils in the Front Range Urban Corridor in Colorado

Selected Publications

• Chabrillat, S., A.F.H. Goetz, L. Krosley, and H.W. Olson, 2002, Use of hyperspectral images in the identification and mapping of expansive clay soils and the role of spatial resolution. Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 82, 431-445.
• Martinez-Alonso, S., J. Rustad, and A.F.H. Goetz, 2002, Ab initio quantum mechanical modeling of infrared vibrational frequencies of the OH group in dioctahedral phyllosilicates. Part I: Methods, results and comparison to experimental data. In Press: American Mineralogist, vol 87, 1215-1223.
• Martinez-Alonso, S., J. Rustad, and A.F.H. Goetz, 2002, Ab initio quantum mechanical modeling of infrared vibrational frequencies of the OH group in dioctahedral phyllosilicates. Part II: Main physical factors governing the OH vibrations. In Press: American Mineralogist, vol 87, 1224-1234.
• Chabrillat S., A.F.H. Goetz, H. Olsen, and L. Krosley, 2001, Field and Imaging Spectrometry for Identification and Mapping of Expansive Soils, in Imaging Spectrometry: Basic Principles and Prospective Applications, Freek D. van der Meer and Steven M. de Jong, eds. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 87-109.
• Goetz, A.F.H., S. Chabrillat and Z. Lu, 2001, Field reflectance spectrometry for detection of swelling clays at construction sites. Field Analytical Chemistry and Technology, vol. 5, no. 3, 143-155.
• Kindel, B., Z. Qu, and A.F.H. Goetz, 2001, Direct solar spectral irradiance and transmittance measurements from 350 to 2500 nm. Appl. Opt., vol. 40, no. 21, 3483-3494.

See Also

• "CIRES collaboration uses imaging to find expansive soils" (a CIRES news feature)