Mark Chopping received the M.Phil. in Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems from the University of Cambridge in 1995 and the Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from the University of Nottingham in 1998. His research interests focus on the use of multi-angle data and bidirectional reflectance distribution function models with moderate resolution off-nadir data from space-borne sensors to mapping vegetation canopy structure and type. He has worked in arid and semi-arid environments in China and in the United States, and more recently in Arctic tundra.

In 1999 he joined the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture as Physical Scientist, working on remote sensing of arid rangelands. He has also served as an investigator with the European Space Agency’s program for exploitation of multi-angle data from the Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer flown on the PROBA mission. In 2002 he joined the Department of Earth and Environmental Studies as Assistant Professor at Montclair State University (NJ) and in 2003 became Principal Investigator in a NASA Earth Observing System project to map vegetation communities and carbon pools in arid environments using data from MISR and MODIS. Since then he has served as Principal Investigator in three further NASA-funded projects.

Focus on the use of multi-angle data and bidirectional reflectance distribution function models with moderate resolution off-nadir data from space-borne sensors to mapping vegetation canopy structure and type. He has worked in arid and semi-arid environments in China and in the United States, and more recently in Arctic tundra.

Remote Sensing
BRDF and Canopy Reflectance Modeling
Terrestrial Ecology/Carbon Cycle Science
Geographical Information Systems

Expert on Satellite Remote Sensing and Earth Observation; Mapping vegetation canopies (dryland forest; rangeland; semi-arid and desert grassland; Arctic tundra); Wide-swath observing systems; Multi-angle imaging; BRDF modeling; and Geographic Information Systems.