Arizona Remote Sensing Center (ARSC)

Since its inception in 1972, the Arizona Remote Sensing Center (ARSC) has used advanced airborne and satellite remote sensing data and geospatial information technology to address natural resource management issues at the local, regional, national, and international levels.

ARSC’s mission is to solve natural, agricultural, and cultural resource problems in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. This involves both basic and applied research using geospatial technologies. The center integrates, analyzes, and models field data and remotely sensed imagery to help stakeholders and decision makers.

In addition, ARSC maintains scientific websites to provide critical hydrological and vegetation data to various agencies, including two sites that assist with decision making: DroughtView and SnowView. The former allows users to better understand rangeland impacts of short- and long-term drought conditions, while SnowView provides information on precipitation, snow, and streamflow for river basins across the United States.

Examples of Projects

  • Snowpack and streamflow monitoring and modeling for the Salt River Project
  • Assessing impacts of the 2020 Bighorn Fire on vegetation communities and flood potential
  • Rangeland Brush Estimation Toolbox, along with the U.S.D.A. Agricultural Research Service and the National Ecological Observation Network
  • Cultural Resources Vulnerability Assessment, with the U.S. National Park Service and the Vanishing Treasures Program
  • Vegetation change along the Lower Gila River in Arizona, with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
  • Assessing biodiversity in the eastern Mojave Desert, with the Eastern Mojave Conservation Collaborative
  • Detecting cotton root rot in pecan orchards using drone imagery
  • Identifying urban mosquito habitat in Tucson
  • Mapping pygmy owl habitat near the United States-Mexico border
  • Using drone-based hyperspectral/lidar imagery to investigate dryland productivity

For additional information on our projects and recent publications, visit our StoryMap page