In December 2014 Dr Arko Lucieer visited the GIS and remote sensing group at the Department of Geoscience, Institute of Geography at the University of Cologne. Arko Lucieer is senior lecturer in remote sensing and GIS and team leader of the TerraLuma group (www.terraluma.net) at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. He aims to develop novel tools and algorithms for environmental remote sensing applications and aerial surveys using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Since 2009 he has specialized in UAS sensor integration and image processing for earth observations including visible, multispectral and hyperspectral (VNIR), thermal and LIDAR systems in several terrestrial, marine and Antarctic environments and for different subfields of geoscience.

Dr Lucieers talk on “Rise of the Drones – How Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) create new opportunities for environmental remote sensing and geoscience” in the BioGeoscience lecture hall was very well attended which confirms the interest in UAS remote sensing possibilities for geoscience. In his talk he gave an introduction to the topic and demonstrated the possibly in three case studies on hyperspectral remote sensing of Antarctic moss beds, land slide and vegetation monitoring. The talk ended with a well-balanced discussion on the possibilities and limitations of UAS in geoscience applications.

Beside of the talk the visit of Dr Lucieer gave the opportunity to discuss different aspects of remote sensing with UAS with an emphasis on remote sensing of vegetation. Additionally, the meeting helped to establish the base for future collaborations. The support of the invitation of Dr Arko Lucieer by the Graduate School of Geoscience at the University of Cologne is highly appreciated.