GEORGE LESHKEVICH

GEORGE LESHKEVICH

George Leshkevich, a Research Physical Scientist and manager of the Great Lakes CoastWatch Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, has been involved with the interpretation of Great Lakes parameters and features, including ice cover, water quality, and lake color, from satellite and aircraft imagery for over 30 years.

Undergraduate and graduate background in physical geography/geology and remote sensing at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan includes air photo interpretation, mapping, field data, and GIS techniques as well as remote sensing and image processing theory, techniques, and applications. Added experience in digital image processing and optical and radar remote sensing and sensor design were acquired at the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM), EROS Data Center, NASA, and Bigelow Laboratory.

George has conducted research on the optical properties (ice, chlorophyll, CDOM) of Great Lakes waters and has contributed to the development of digital image processing algorithms for the classification and mapping of Great Lakes ice types using satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for which he was awarded NOAA’s Bronze Medal Award. Currently, he is collaborating in research efforts to develop chlorophyll, primary production, and harmful algal bloom (HAB) mapping algorithms for the Great Lakes using SeaWiFS and MODIS satellite data. As manager of the Great Lakes Node of the NOAA CoastWatch Program, he assembles, develops, and disseminates to the user community a variety of satellite and in situ data and products via the Great Lakes CoastWatch Web Site (http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov).