TY - GEN A1 - Fischer, Thomas A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Eisele, Andreas A1 - Bens, Oliver A1 - Spyra, Wolfgang A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. T1 - Small Scale Spatial Heterogeneity of Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) and Hot Spots of Photosynthesis in Biological Soil Crusts T2 - Flora N2 - Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVIs) are typically determined using satellite or airborne remote sensing, or field portable spectrometers, which give an averaged signal on centimetre to metre scale plots. Biological soil crust (BSC) patches may have smaller sizes, and ecophysiological, hydrological as well as pedological processes may be heterogeneously distributed within this level of resolution. A ground-based NDVI imaging procedure using low-cost equipment (Olympus Camedia 5000z digital camera equipped with a Hoya R72 infrared filter) was developed in this study to fill this gap at the level of field research, where carrying costly and bulky equipment to remote locations is often the limiting factor for data collection. Method principle and field data are presented, and the field experiment was deepened comparing NDVI measurements and CO2 turnover of soil crust samples in the laboratory, backing the reliability of the approach. A commercially available colour rendition chart with known red (600–700 nm) and NIR (800–900 nm) reflectances was placed into each scene and used for calibration purposes on a per-image basis. Generation of NDVI images involved (i) determination of red and NIR reflectances from the pixel values of the red and NIR channels, respectively, and (ii) calculation and imaging of the NDVI, where NDVI values of −1 to +1 were mapped to grey values of 0 to 255. The correlation between NDVI values retrieved from these images and NDVI values determined using field spectrometry was close (r2 = 0.91), the 95% confidence interval amounted to 0.10 NDVI units. The pixel resolution was 0.8 mm in the field and 0.2 mm in the laboratory, but can still be improved significantly with closer distance to the crust or with higher camera resolution. NDVI values obtained using the new method were related to the net CO2 uptake of BSCs, where both slope and correlation coefficient of the respective regression function conformed with literature data. Geostatistical analysis revealed that both spatial variability of net CO2 uptake as well as size of individual hot spots of this parameter increased with crust development. The latter never exceeded 4 mm in the investigated crusts, which points to the necessity of high resolution imaging for linking remote sensing with ecophysiology. Perspectively, the new method could be used for field monitoring of both biological soil crusts and vascular vegetation. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2012.01.001 VL - 207 IS - 3 SP - 159 EP - 167 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Fischer, Thomas A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Eisele, Andreas A1 - Bens, Oliver A1 - Spyra, Wolfgang A1 - Hüttl, Reinhard F. T1 - High resolution mapping of Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) of biological soil crusts T2 - EGU General Assembly 2012, held 22-27 April, 2012 in Vienna Y1 - 2012 N1 - EGU2012-7052 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kalra, Amanpreet A1 - Alvarado Chavarin, Carlos A1 - Nitsch, Paul-Gregor A1 - Tschammer, Rudi A1 - Flege, Jan Ingo A1 - Ratzke, Markus A1 - Zoellner, Marvin Hartwig A1 - Schubert, Markus Andreas A1 - Wenger, Christian A1 - Fischer, Inga Anita T1 - Deposition of CeOₓ/SnOₓ-based thin films via RF magnetron sputtering for resistive gas sensing applications T2 - Physica B, Condensed matter N2 - Cerium oxide-tin oxide (CeOx/SnOx) thin films with varying Sn content were deposited using RF magnetron sputtering and investigated for hydrogen sensing applications. Structural, compositional, and morphological properties were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Gas sensing measurements showed effective hydrogen detection at room temperature, with the sensitivity strongly influenced by Sn content and oxygen vacancy concentration. Higher Sn concentration enhanced the sensing response, which was correlated with microstructural features obtained from AFM and EDX, as well as with the presence of Ce3+ and Ce4+ oxidation states identified by XPS. This study highlights the potential of CeOx/SnOx thin films for possible back-end-of-line integration and provides proof-of-principle for room-temperature hydrogen sensing. KW - RF magnetron sputtering KW - CeOx/SnOx thin film KW - Room temperature KW - Hydrogen sensing Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2025.418098 SN - 0921-4526 VL - 723 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Elsevier BV CY - Amsterdam ER -