Dr. Heather McNairn

Research Scientist

My research develops methods, models and algorithms to monitor the state and condition of our soils and crops using data from multi-spectral, hyperspectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

960 Carling Avenue Ottawa, ON

Current research and/or projects

I am currently leading two research projects:

“An International Comparison Of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Based Methods For Crop Type And Crop Condition Monitoring: Developing An Operational Monitoring Capability For Canada, And Beyond”

"Quantifying Crop Productivity from Space: A New Radar Satellite-based Metric for Measuring Crop Response"

Research and/or project statements

Fields of Science

Learn more about my research and how it impacts you by visiting Fields of Science, a campaign featuring 11 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists from coast to coast.

Additional links

Reaching for the Stars: Advice from a Scientist in Satellite Research

Key publications

Colliander, A., Njoku, E.G., Jackson, T.J., Chazanoff, S., McNairn, H., Powers, J., Cosh, M.H. (2016). Retrieving soil moisture for non-forested areas using PALS radiometer measurements in SMAPVEX12 field campaign. Remote Sensing of Environment, [online] 184 86-100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.06.001
2016 - View publication details
Shellito, P.J., Small, E.E., Colliander, A., Bindlish, R., Cosh, M.H., Berg, A.A., Bosch, D.D., Caldwell, T.G., Goodrich, D.C., McNairn, H., Prueger, J.H., Starks, P.J., van der Velde, R., Walker, J.P. (2016). SMAP soil moisture drying more rapid than observed in situ following rainfall events. Geophysical Research Letters, [online] 43(15), 8068-8075. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069946
2016 - View publication details
Chan, S.K., Bindlish, R., O'Neill, P.E., Njoku, E., Jackson, T., Colliander, A., Chen, F., Burgin, M., Dunbar, S., Piepmeier, J., Yueh, S., Entekhabi, D., Cosh, M.H., Caldwell, T., Walker, J., Wu, X., Berg, A., Rowlandson, T., Pacheco, A., McNairn, H., Thibeault, M., Martinez-Fernandez, J., Gonzalez-Zamora, A., Seyfried, M., Bosch, D., Starks, P., Goodrich, D., Prueger, J., Palecki, M., Small, E.E., Zreda, M., Calvet, J.C., Crow, W.T., Kerr, Y. (2016). Assessment of the SMAP Passive Soil Moisture Product. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, [online] 54(8), 4994-5007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2016.2561938
2016 - View publication details
Pattey, E., Jégo, G., Liu, J., Smith, W.N., VanderZaag, A.C., Desjardins, R.L., Tremblay, N., Geng, X.Y., Qiu, B., Shang, J., McNairn, H., and Jarvis, I.E. (2015). "Field-scale research to quantify the impact of climate variations on crop production and to enhance the environmental performance.", Invited Presentation at ECORC/ACGEO Agri-Environmental Science Day, Ottawa, ON, Canada, February 10, 2015. (Presentation)
2015 - View publication details
Hosseini, M., McNairn, H., Merzouki, A., Pacheco, A. (2015). Estimation of Leaf Area Index (LAI) in corn and soybeans using multi-polarization C- and L-band radar data. Remote Sensing of Environment, [online] 170 77-89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.09.002
2015 - View publication details
Pacheco, A., McNairn, H., Mahmoodi, A., Champagne, C., Kerr, Y.H. (2015). The Impact of National Land Cover and Soils Data on SMOS Soil Moisture Retrieval over Canadian Agricultural Landscapes. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, [online] 8(11), 5281-5293. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2417832
2015 - View publication details
Kross, A., Lapen, D.R., McNairn, H., Sunohara, M., Champagne, C., Wilkes, G. (2015). Satellite and in situ derived corn and soybean biomass and leaf area index: Response to controlled tile drainage under varying weather conditions. Agricultural Water Management, [online] 160 118-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.06.007
2015 - View publication details
Merzouki, A., McNairn, H. (2015). A Hybrid (Multi-Angle and Multipolarization) Approach to Soil Moisture Retrieval Using the Integral Equation Model: Preparing for the RADARSAT Constellation Mission. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, [online] 41(5), 349-362. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07038992.2015.1104629
2015 - View publication details
Ojo, E.R., Bullock, P.R., L’Heureux, J., Powers, J., McNairn, H., Pacheco, A. (2015). Calibration and evaluation of a frequency domain reflectometry sensor for real-time soil moisture monitoring. Vadose Zone Journal, [online] 14(3), http://dx.doi.org/10.2136/vzj2014.08.0114
2015 - View publication details
Adams, J.R., McNairn, H., Berg, A.A., Champagne, C. (2015). Evaluation of near-surface soil moisture data from an AAFC monitoring network in Manitoba, Canada: Implications for L-band satellite validation, 521 582-592. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.10.024
2015 - View publication details
Kross, A., McNairn, H., Lapen, D., Sunohara, M., Champagne, C. (2015). Assessment of RapidEye vegetation indices for estimation of leaf area index and biomass in corn and soybean crops. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, [online] 34(1), 235-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2014.08.002
2015 - View publication details
McNairn, H., Wiseman, G., Powers, J., Merzouki, A., and Shang, J. (2014). "Assessment of disease risk in canola using multi-frequency SAR: preliminary results.", EUSAR 2014 – 10th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar, Berlin, Germany, June 2-6, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Kim, S.-B., Huang, H.-C., Tsang, L., Jackson, T.J., McNairn, H., and van Zyl, J. (2014). "Surface layer soil moisture retrieval using L-band time-series SAR data and inversion of forward models.", EUSAR 2014 – 10th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar, Berlin, Germany, June 2-6, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Charbonneau, F.J., Brisco, B., van der Sanden, J.J., Toutin, T., Touzi, R., Chen, H., Liu, C., McNairn, H., Shang, J., Buckley, J.R., Arkett, M., and Poitevin, J. (2014). "RCM compact polarimetry applications development overview.", Joint 2014 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS 2014) and the 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (CSRS 2014), Quebec Convention Centre, Quebec City, Canada, July 13-18, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Niazmardi, S., Homayouni, S., McNairn, H., Shang, J., and Safari, A. (2014). "Multiple kernels learning for classification of agricultural time series data.", 3rd International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, Beijing, China, August 11-14, 2014, Article number 6910640.
2014 - View publication details
Li, Y., Liu, T., McNairn, H., Shang, J., and Touzi, R. (2014). "RADARSAT-2 PolInSAR coherence optimization for agriculture crop change detection.", Joint 2014 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS 2014) and the 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (CSRS 2014), Quebec Convention Centre, Quebec City, Canada, July 13-18, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Kim, S.-B., Huang, H.-C., Tsang, L., Jackson, T.J., McNairn, H., and van Zyl, J. (2014). "Soil moisture retrieval using L-band time-series SAR data from the SMAPVEX12 experiment.", Joint 2014 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS 2014) and the 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (CSRS 2014), Quebec Convention Centre, Quebec City, Canada, July 13-18, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Champagne, C., Kerr, Y.H., Mahmoodi, A.B., Richaume, P., Mialon, A., McNairn, H., Pacheco, A., Bélair, S., and Carrera, M. (2014). "Enhancements of SMOS level 2 soil moisture products over Canada.", Joint 2014 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS 2014) and the 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (CSRS 2014), Quebec Convention Centre, Quebec City, Canada, July 13-18, 2014, pp. 2435-2438.
2014 - View publication details
Pattey, E., Jégo, G., VanderZaag, A.C., Liu, J., Qian, B., Smith, W.N., Geng, X.Y., Baret, F., Beaudoin, N., Desjardins, R.L., Fernandes, R., Jarvis, I.E., Huffman, E.C., Lacaze, R., and McNairn, H. (2014). "JECAM CFIA-Ottawa.", JECAM/GEOGLAM Science Meeting, Ottawa, Canada, July 21-23, 2014, Oral presentation.
2014 - View publication details
Shang, J., Huffman, E.C., Liu, J., Ma, B.-L., Zhao, T., Qian, B., McNairn, H., Geng, X.Y., Lantz, N., and Wang, J. (2014). "Using Earth Observation to Monitor Corn Growth in Eastern Canada.", 68th North Eastern Corn Improvement Conference, Wooster, Ohio, USA, February 13-14, 2014.
2014 - View publication details