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Khanna, Shruti

Shruti Khanna

Shruti Khanna is a post doctoral scholar at CSTARS, UC Davis. She is interested in wetlands and river floodplains and the impact of anthropogenic stress factors on these boundary ecosystems that can disrupt their natural functioning. After working on the invasive aquatic macrophyte, water hyacinth, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for her PhD, she is currently looking at oil spill damage on Louisiana coastal wetlands as a result of the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill.

Current Project: BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Impact and Recovery

Latest Paper: Khanna, S., M. J. Santos, D. S. L. Ustin, A. Koltunov, R. F. Kokaly, and D. A. Roberts. (2013). Detection of Salt Marsh Vegetation Stress and Recovery after the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill in Barataria Bay, Gulf of Mexico using AVIRIS Data. PLoS One, 8(11): e78989. (available online)

Education:

Ph. D in Ecology, University of California, Davis, August, 2010.

Dissertation: Development and Use of Remote Sensing Tools to Study the Impact of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Invasion in an Estuarine Ecosystem (Hestir et al. 2007, Khanna et al. 2011, 2012).

Masters in Ecology, University of California, Davis, March 2006.

Thesis: Use of spectral angle indexes, SASI and ANIR, as predictors of soil moisture, green vegetation and dry matter in multispectral MODIS data (Khanna et al. 2007, Palacios-Orueta et al. 2012).

Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science, M.S.U., Vadodara, India, June 1997.

Research experience:

2010 – Present Postdoctoral Researcher University of California, Davis

Gulf Oil Spill Impact: Project goals include determining the impact of oil contamination (from the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill) on salt marsh vegetation and monitoring wetland recovery. AVIRIS imagery was atmospherically calibrated and georegistered. Stress indices, change detection, and PROSAIL model inversion techniques used to detect plant stress and study trajectory of stress relative to distance from oil. Project funded by NSF, Chevron and NASA.

2004 – 2009 Graduate Student University of California, Davis

Invasive species in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta: Project goals included classification of two invasive species, Eichhornia crassipes and Egeria densa, change detection of species distributions from 2004 to 2008, and determination of impact of chemical control of both species (Hestir et al. 2007, Khanna et al. 2011, 2012, Santos et al. 2009, 2011). Annual field work was a collaboration between three agencies, CSTARS lab at UCD, California Department of Funding and Waterways (CDBW, funding agency), and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Field surveys typically included 20-30 participants with more than 2000 survey points collected each year. A team of 6-7 undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs worked on the project every year.

2004 Stream survey field work University of California, Davis

River Geomorphology: Conducted stream surveys in tributaries of the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada as part of a field geology class in Spring/Summer of 2004. Surveys included characterization of the geology and ecology (mainly invertebrates and fishes) of streams (http://watershed.ucdavis.edu/skeena_river).

Teaching experience:

2013 Lecturer University of California, Davis

Upper-level Undergraduate Course: Aerial Photo Interpretation and Remote Sensing: Co-instructor: developed lectures, labs, homework and exam assignments.

2011 Guest Lectuer University of California, Davis

Graduate Course: Advanced Topics in Remote Sensing: Presented as a guest lecturer on decision trees and object-oriented classification.

2003 – 2006 Teaching Assistant University of California, Davis

Courses: Environmental Remote Sensing & Aerial Photo Interpretation and Remote Sensing: Responsibilities included grading, holding study sessions, overhauling lab assignments, giving presentations on concepts covered in the lab, preparing exam questions, and guiding students in lab projects.

Technical Skills:

Software: ENVI, ERDAS, Google Earth, ArcGIS, Definiens (eCognition), See5

Programming Languages: C, IDL, MATLAB, R⁺

Statistical Packages: Jump, MATLAB, R⁺

Sensors: Aerial images, LANDSAT, MODIS, AVIRIS, HyMap, WorldView-2, QuickBird, SPOT, RapidEye

Atmospheric calibration programs: ACORN, FLAASH, ATCOR

Publications:

Hestir, E. L., S. Khanna, M. E. Andrew, M. J. Santos, J. H. Viers, J. A. Greenberg, S. S. Rajapakse & S. L. Ustin. (2007). Identification of invasive vegetation using hyperspectral remote sensing in the California Delta ecosystem. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112: 4034 – 4047.

Khanna, S., A. Palacios-Orueta, M. L. Whiting, S. L. Ustin, D. Riano, and J. Litago, (2007). Development of Angle Indexes for Soil Moisture Estimation and Land-Cover Discrimination. Remote Sensing of Environment, 109(2): 154 – 165.

Khanna, S., M. J. Santos, and S. L. Ustin, (2011). An integrated approach to a biophysiologically based classification of floating aquatic macrophytes. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 32(4): 1067-1094.

Khanna, S., M.J. Santos, E.L. Hestir & S.L. Ustin. (2012). Plant Community dynamics relative to the changing distribution of a highly invasive species, Eichhornia crassipes: a remote sensing perspective, Biological Invasions, 14(3): 717-733.

Khanna, S., M. J. Santos, D. S. L. Ustin, A. Koltunov, R. F. Kokaly, and D. A. Roberts. (2013). Detection of Salt Marsh Vegetation Stress and Recovery after the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill in Barataria Bay, Gulf of Mexico using AVIRIS Data. PLoS One, 8(11): e78989.

Kokaly, R. F., B. R. Couvillion, J. M. Holloway, D. A. Roberts, S. L. Ustin, S. H. Peterson, S. Khanna, and S. C. Piazza. (2013). Spectroscopic remote sensing of the distribution and persistence of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Barataria Bay marshes. Remote Sensing of Environment, 129: 210-230.

Palacios-Orueta, A., M. Huesca, M. L. Whiting, J. Litago, S. Khanna, M. Garcia, and S. L. Ustin. (2012). Derivation of phenological metrics by function fitting to time-series of Spectral Shape Indexes AS1 and AS2: Mapping cotton phenological stages using MODIS time series. Remote Sensing of Environment 126:148-159.

Santos, M.J., E.L. Hestir, S. Khanna & S.L. Ustin. (2011). Image spectroscopy and stable isotopes elucidate functional dissimilarity between native and nonnative plant species in the aquatic environment. New Phytologist 193: 683 – 695.

Santos, M. J., S. Khanna, E. L. Hestir, M. E. Andrew, S. Rajapakse, J. A. Greenberg, L. W. J. Anderson, and S. L. Ustin, (2009). Use of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing to Evaluate Efficacy of Aquatic Plant Management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, California. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 2: 216 – 229.

Vanderbilt, V. C., S. Khanna, and S. L.Ustin, (2007). Impact of Pixel Size on Discrimination of Surface Water in Subsolar Imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 109(1): 1 – 9.

Conference Presentations:

Khanna, S., E. Hestir, M.J. Santos, S.L. Ustin. (2010). Diverse approaches to detection and mapping of aquatic invasive species using hyperspectral remote sensing imagery. Remote Sensing and Hydrology 2010 Symposium. Jackson Hole, WY.

Khanna, S., A. Koltunov, S.L. Ustin, E.L. Hestir, R. Kokaly, S. Peterson, and D. A. Roberts. (2011). Initial Assessments of Ecologic Response to Oil from the Deepwater Horizon Spill. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Khanna, S., A. Koltunov, M. J. Santos, E. L. Hestir, P. J. Haverkamp, M. C. Lay, and S. L. Ustin (2012). Diverse Uses of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing for Mapping and Monitoring of Wetlands. Remote Sensing Workshop for Water Resources Management, San Diego, CA, September 20-29.

Khanna, S., M. J. Santos, A. Koltunov, P. J. Haverkamp, M. C. Lay, R. Kokaly and S. L. Ustin (2013). Quantifying severity of plant stress induced by oil spill contamination in the Gulf of Mexico using hyperspectral remote sensing. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 21-23.

Khanna, S., A. Koltunov, M. J. Santos, P. J. Haverkamp, M. C. Lay, S. L. Ustin (2013). Use of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing to Detect Plant Stress and Monitor Recovery from the Macondo Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ASPRS 2013 Annual Conference, Confluence by the Bay - A Gathering of Geospatial Insights, Baltimore, MA, March 24-28.

Ustin, S. L. and S. Khanna. (2011). Contributions of HyspIRI science to monitoring global coastal wetlands and near shore aquatic environments. NASA HyspIRI Science Workshop, Washington D.C., August 23-25.

Ustin, S. L., S. Khanna, A. Koltunov, D. A. Roberts, R. Kokaly. (2011). Monitoring coastal wetlands and near shore aquatic environments in response to the BP Horizon oil spill. NASA Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop, Alexandria, VA, October 3-7.

Windham-Myers, L., K..Byrd, S. Khanna, R. Miller, and F. Anderson. (2011). Wetland plant physiology exhibits controls on carbon sequestration processes in restored temperate peatland of California, USA. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 3-9.

Conference Posters:

Hestir, E., S.S. Rajapakse, S. Khanna, M.E. Andrew, M.J. Santos, M. Lay & S. L. Ustin. (2006). Detecting water quality and trophic transitions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta using hyperspectral imagery. Western Aquatic Plant Management Society Conference. San Diego, CA, USA.

Hestir, E. L., S. Khanna, M. Andrew, M.J. Santos, J. Viers, J. Greenberg, S. Rajapakse & S. Ustin. (2007). Ecosystem-scale aquatic weed detection in the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA. Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

Khanna, S., S. S. Rajapakse, M. J. Santos, and S. L. Ustin, (2006). Change detection of water hyacinth and Brazilian waterweed following herbicide application in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California. 4th Biennial CALFED Science Conference 2006 – Making Sense of Complexity: Science for a Changing Environment, Sacramento.

Khanna, S., S.S. Rajapakse, M.J. Santos & S. L. Ustin. (2006). Change Detection of Water Hyacinth and Egeria before and after herbicide applications in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California. CalFed Science Conference. Sacramento CA, USA

Khanna, S., E. L. Hestir, M. J. Santos, J. Greenberg, and S. L. Ustin, (2007). Water Hyacinth Identification Using CART Modeling With Hyperspectral Data in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta of California. EOS Transactions. AGU, 88(52), Fall Meeting, Abstract B43C-1453.

Khanna, S., M.J. Santos, E. Hestir, P. J. Haverkamp, J.A. Greenberg & S.L. Ustin. (2008). Patterns of change in water hyacinth distribution in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. California Invasive Plant Council Symposium.

Khanna, S., M. J. Santos, A. Koltunov, and S. L. Ustin, (2009). Results from Change Detection of Floating Aquatic Species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. State of the San Francisco Estuary. Fall Meeting, Oakland.

Khanna, S., M.J. Santos & S.L. Ustin. (2009). Synergistic effects of disturbance and control in the decline of Eichhornia crassipes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. AGU, Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Khanna, S., M.J. Santos, E.L. Hestir & S.L. Ustin. (2010). Vegetation Community dynamics relative to the changing distribution of water hyacinth in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Remote Sensing and Hydrology 2010 Symposium. Jackson Hole, WY.

Khanna, S., P. J. Haverkamp, M. J. Santos, K. Shapiro, M. Lay, A. Koltunov, and S. L. Ustin. (2013). Impact of hurricane Isaac on recovery of saltmarshes affected by the BP oil spill in Barataria Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Palacios-Orueta, A., S. Khanna, J. Litago, M. L. Whiting and S. L. Ustin, (2006). Assessment of NDVI and NDWI spectral indices using MODIS time series analysis and development of a new spectral index based on MODIS shortwave infrared bands. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Processing, Trier, Germany. pp 207 – 209.

Palacios-Orueta, A., M. L. Whiting, S. L. Ustin, J. Litago, M. Garcia, and S. Khanna. (2008). Cotton phenology analysis with the new remote sensing spectral angle indexes AS1 and AS2.in International Conference on Agricultural Engineering, Crete, Greece.

Rajapakse, S. S., S. Khanna, M. E. Andrew, S. L. Ustin and M. Lay, (2005). Identifying and classifying water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) using the HyMap sensor. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability III, Proceedings of SPIE, 6298: 1 – 12.

Rajapakse, S.S., S. Khanna, E. Hestir, S. Ustin, M.J. Santos, M. Andrew & M. Lay. (2006). Identifying egeria (Egeria densa) density in Sacramento-San Joaquin delta region. Aquatic Plant Management Society Meeting, Portland OR, 16-19 July 2006

Rajapakse, S.S., S. Khanna, E. Hestir, S. Ustin, M.J. Santos, M. Andrew & M. Lay. (2006). Identifying egeria (Egeria densa) density in Sacramento-San Joaquin delta region. Geospatial tools for freshwater conservation: SCGIS Special Sessions San Jose 24-28 June 2006.

Rajapakse, S. S., S. Khanna, M.E. Andrew, E. Hestir, S.L. Ustin, M.J. Santos & M. Lay. (2006). Change detection of hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) invasive weed species in Sacramento San-Joaquin river Delta using HyMap imagery. Western Aquatic Plant Management Society Conference. San Diego, CA, USA.

Rajapakse, S. S., S. Khanna, M.J. Santos, E. Hestir, S. Ustin, M. Lay & M. Andrew. (2006). Identifying Egeria and Water Hyacinth infestations in the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta. CalFed Science Conference. Sacramento CA, USA.

Santos, M.J., S. Khanna, S. Rajapakse, E.L. Hestir, M.E. Andrew, J. Greenberg & S.L. Ustin, (2007). Bringing hyperspectral methods to applied science: active management of invasive species in the California Delta. Proceedings of the AVIRIS Earth Science and Applications workshop. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA. Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

Santos, M.J., S. Khanna, S. Rajapakse, E. Hestir, M. Andrew & S. Ustin. (2007). Bringing hyperspectral methods to applied science: active management of invasive species in the California Delta. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA. Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

Santos, M.J., S. Khanna, S. Rajapakse, E. Hestir, M. Andrew & S. Ustin. (2007). Patch dynamics of managed invasive aquatic weeds in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California. 20th Annual Symposium of the United States Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, USA. Tucson, Arizona.

Santos, M.J., E. Hestir, S. Khanna, M. Andrew, J. Greenberg, M. Whiting, N. Noujdina & S. L. Ustin. (2007). Monitoring invasive weeds in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta: methods, effectiveness and potential for restoration. Ecological Society of America. San Jose, CA, USA.

Santos, M.J., E.L. Hestir, S. Khanna, N. Noujdina, J. Greenberg & S.L. Ustin. (2008). Weeding out the invaders: lessons learned from 5 years of hyperspectral weed detection in a highly altered estuary. NASA Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop. Maryland, U.S.A.

Santos, M.J., S. Khanna, E.L. Hestir, J.A. Greenberg, M.E. Andrew & S.L. Ustin. (2009). Spatio-temporal dynamics of a submerged landscape: submerged aquatic vegetation in the California Delta ecosystem. 22nd Annual Symposium of the United States Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, USA. Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Santos, M.J., S. Khanna, E.L. Hestir, M.E. Andrew, S.S. Rajapakse, J.A. Greenberg, L.W. J. Anderson & S.L. Ustin. (2009). Use of hyperspectral remote sensing to evaluate efficacy of aquatic plant management. CalFED State of the Estuary Conference. Oakland, CA, USA.

Santos, M.J., E.L. Hestir, S. Khanna, E. Duncan & S.L. Ustin. (2010). Imaging spectroscopy elucidates functional dissimilarity between native and non-native plant species in the aquatic environment. Remote Sensing and Hydrology 2010 Symposium. Jackson Hole, WY.

Santos, M.J., J.A. Greenberg, S. Khanna, E.L. Hestir & S.L. Ustin. (2010) Hyperspectral remote sensing applications to the management of invasive plant species. Remote Sensing and Hydrology 2010 Symposium. Jackson Hole, WY.

Ustin, S.L., S. Khanna, M.J. Santos, E.L. Hestir, J. Greenberg, P. Haverkamp & S. Kefauver. (2008). Mapping invasive aquatic plant species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta using hyperspectral imagery. California Invasive Plant Council Symposium.

Ustin, S.L., S. Khanna. (2011). Contributions of HyspIRI science to monitoring global coastal wetlands and near shore aquatic environments. NASA HyspIRI Science Workshop, Washington D.C.

Ustin, S.L., S. Khanna, A. Koltunov, D. R. Roberts, R. Kokaly. (2011). Monitoring coastal wetlands and near shore aquatic environments in response to the BP Horizon oil spill. NASA Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop, Alexandria, VA.

Vanderbilt, V. C., J. Greenberg, M. E. Andrew, E. L. Hestir, S. Khanna, M. J. Santos, and S. L. Ustin, (2007). Species Identification from Spatial Analysis of Digital Imagery. EOS Transactions AGU, 88(52), Fall Meeting. Abstract B43C-1448.

Vanderbilt, V. C., J. A. Greenberg, G. P. Livingston, S. Khanna, L. A. Morrissey, S. L. Ustin, and U. Boettger. 2008. Mapping Wetlands Cover Types with Directional Polarization Signatures. Pages 435-438 in Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2008. IGARSS 2008. IEEE International.

Reports:

Ustin, S. L., S. S. Rajapakse, S. Khanna, M. J. Santos, M. E. Andrew, E. L. Hestir, and M. Lay. (2006). Mapping invasive plant species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using hyperspectral imagery. Submitted to California Department of Boating and Waterways, Sacramento, CA.

Ustin, S. L., S. S. Rajapakse, S. Khanna, M. J. Santos, E. L. Hestir, M. Lay, and M. E. Andrew. (2006). Change Detection of Egeria and Water Hyacinth Invasive Weed Species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using Hyperspectral Imagery. Submitted to California Department of Boating and Waterways, Sacramento, CA.

Ustin, S. L., J. A. Greenberg, E. L. Hestir, S. Khanna, M. J. Santos, M. E. Andrew, M. Whiting, S. Rajapakse, and M. Lay. (2007). Mapping invasive plant species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using hyperspectral imagery. California Department of Boating and Waterways, Sacramento, CA.

Ustin, S.L., J.A. Greenberg, M.J. Santos, S. Khanna, E. Hestir, P. Haverkamp & S. Kefauver. (2008). Mapping Invasive Plant species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region using Hyperspectral imagery. Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing. Submitted to California Department of Boating and Waterways, Sacramento, CA.

Ustin, S.L., S. Khanna, E. L. Hestir, P. J. Haverkamp, J. A. Greenberg, S. C. Kefauver, J. L. Tuil, C. A. Rueda. (2009). Mapping Invasive Plant species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region using Hyperspectral imagery. Submitted to California Department of Boating and Waterways, Sacramento, CA.

Ustin, S.L., P.J. Haverkamp, S. Khanna, and J.A. Greenberg. (2012). Improved efficiency land use/land cover mapping to provide next generation environmental information. Submitted to Chevron Inc.