Facilities-Other

Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER)

The UCSB Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) collections of over 350,000 botanical and zoological specimens are vital to discovering, understanding, and documenting biodiversity and to informing public policy on such issues as invasive species, climate change, evolution, and emerging public health threats. The Vertebrate Collections Management Project will provide our primary users on campus and in our local community, as well as researchers around the world, with access to these valuable collections and their associated data, while contributing to the education of students interested in biological field work and museum practices and careers.

 

AVHRR Receiver Facility

ERI maintains a Terascan receiver and data archive at UCSB. Data is collected daily from overhead satellite passes, contains raw satellite pass data dating from September, 1993, to the present and is an important source of current and historical remote sensor observations of the west coast of the United States.

 

Optical Calibration Facility

Optical signals--whether obtained at ocean depths, in glacier ice, on the Earth's surface, from the atmosphere, or in space--are a key component of our scientific observations. We have developed a number of unique optical instruments (e.g., in-water UV and visible spectroradiometers) for our various research efforts. Sensitive calibration of these optical sensors is essential to ensure high quality and reliable data and we have developed a state-of-the-art optical calibration facility.

 

Micro-Environmental Imaging & Analysis Facility

This state-of-the-art imaging facility for both academic and non-academic research features an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) with X-ray microanalysis and a new cold stage that together enable high-resolution imaging of hydrated specimens, observation of dynamic experiments such as crystal formation and dehydration, freeze-fracturing, and ultra-low temperature imaging.  Applications range from microelectronics to forensic science.  This facility is housed in the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and managed by ERI.

 

The Cooperative Snow Study Site at Mammoth Mountain, California

A complex system of sensors and automatic data logging devices monitor snow and energy budget conditions at a cooperative site midway up Mammoth Mountain (37 deg. 37 min. N, 119 deg. 2 min. W) at about 2940 meters (9645 feet) in the eastern Sierra Nevada of California. Researchers and research staff also make a variety of manual measurements at the site, which has operated at the current location in Mammoth Mountain Ski Area since 1987. The site lies well out of the way of ski area operation and recreational ski traffic so that the snow remains undisturbed from accumulation through melting. The site's position, on the east side of the Sierra crest near the headwaters of the San Joaquin River, makes environmental conditions sensitive to different types of storms, which typically result in an enormous amount of precipitation and severe winds. These weather conditions, along with ease of winter access via the ski area, make this an ideal spot for monitoring alpine snow. Measurements include meteorological variables that affect energy transfer over the snow and its mass balance, snow properties as the pack evolves during the snow season and conditions in the soil under the snow cover. 

 

Resource Center for SPOT Imagery

In June of 2005, a program was launched to allow UCSB faculty, researchers, and students unlimited access to high spatial resolution commercial satellite imagery from the SPOT constellation of satellite sensors. These data are commercial products and have previously been inaccessible to academic researchers due to their high cost.  During the period of the program (lasting until May of 2008), UCSB was able to task the SPOT satellites in areas of scientific interest and impact, such as the LTER sites.  In all, we archived over 70,000 scenes, occupying over 16 Terabytes, with a retail value of over $241-million.  Faculty, researchers, and students in Geography, Earth Science, the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Marine Science Institute, Environmental Studies, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), and the former Crustal Studies and ICESS (now ERI), have utilized the satellite images (both archive and newly tasked).  These data remain available to UCSB members.