Research Interests

• Remote Sensing
• Spatial statistics
• Soil science
• Leaf biochemistry
• Phenology
• Plant physiology
  

Current Research

• My current research is focused on investigating seasonal variations in leaf chlorophyll content, using a physically-based modelling approach.

Education and employment history

• Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Toronto, Canada (2011 - )
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Basel, Switzerland (2010 - 2011)
• PhD Physical Geography, University of Exeter, UK (2010)
• MSc Environmental Monitoring Modelling and Reconstruction, University of Manchester (2006)
• BSc (Hons) Physical Geography, University of Manchester, UK (2002)

PUBLICATIONS

• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. Zhang, Y. Simic, A. Noland, T. Nesbitt, N. (submitted) Modelling leaf chlorophyll content from broadband Landsat data: model development and validation.
• Kuhn, N.J. Berger, S. and Croft, H. (submitted) Tree lines, tree cover and global warming in mountains.
• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. and Zhang, Y. (submitted) Modeling spatial and temporal dynamics in canopy chlorophyll content and leaf area index in an Acer Saccharum forest.
• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. and Zhang, Y. (submitted) The applicability of empirical vegetation indices for determining leaf chlorophyll content over different leaf and canopy structures.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K. and Kuhn, N.J. (submitted) The influence of surface soil moisture and soil surface roughness on optical directional reflectance factors.
• Simic, A. Chen, J.M. Leblanc, S. Dyk, A. Croft, H. and Han, T. (in press) Testing the top-down model inversion method of estimating leaf reflectance used to retrieve vegetation biochemical content within empirical approaches.
• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. Zhang, Y. and Simic, A. (2013) Modelling spatio-temporal variations in leaf chlorophyll content for broadleaf and needle forest canopies. Remote sensing of Environment 113: 128-140
• Croft, H., Anderson, K., Brazier, R.E., Kuhn, N.J. (2013) A multi-scale approach to modelling soil surface structure using geostatistical analysis. Water Resources Research 49(4): 1858-1870
• Croft, H., Kuhn, N.J., Anderson, K. (2012) On the use of remote sensing techniques for monitoring spatio-temporal soil organic carbon dynamics in agricultural systems. Catena 94: 64-74
• Croft, H., Anderson, K., Kuhn, N.J. (2012) Reflectance anisotropy for measuring soil surface roughness of multiple soil types. Catena 93: 87-96
• Anderson, K., Croft, H., Milton, E.J., Kuhn, N.J. (2012) A simple spectro-goniometer for collection of multiple view angle reflectance factors. Remote Sensing Letters, 3(2): 131-140.
• Anderson, K. and Croft, H. (2010) Remote sensing approaches for soil erosion monitoring. Developing a cost-effective framework for monitoring soil erosion in England and Wales. DEFRA, pp 25.
• Anderson, K. and Croft, H. (2009) Remote sensing of soil surface properties. Progress in Physical Geography 33(4): 457-473
• Croft, H. Anderson, K. and Kuhn, N.J. (2009) Characterising soil surface roughness using a combined structural and spectral approach. European Journal of Soil Science. 60(3): 431-442.

In preparation

• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. Zhang, Y. Simic, A. Noland, T. Nesbitt, N. (in prep) Variation in leaf chlorophyll content in Pinus Banksiana according to stand age. Target journal: Remote sensing of Environment
• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. Zhang, Y. and Simic, A. (in prep) An optimised spectral vegetation index for modelling needle leaf chlorophyll content. Target journal: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

Conference papers

• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. Zhang, Y. and Simic, A. (2012) Modelling spatio-temporal variations in leaf chlorophyll content for broadleaf and needle forest canopies ORAL PRESENTATION European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna,22nd-27th April 2012.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K. and Brazier, R.E. (2012). Soil surface microtopography from close-range laser data and hyperspectral directional reflectance factors ORAL PRESENTATION European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna,22nd-27th April 2012.
• Croft, H. and Anderson, K. (2012). Directional reflectance factors for monitoring spatial changes in soil surface structure and soil organic matter erosion in agricultural systems POSTER European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna,22nd-27th April 2012.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K., Kuhn, N. (2011). New approaches of monitoring spatio-temporal soil organic carbon dynamics in agricultural systems. POSTER European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna, 3rd-8th April 2011.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K., and Kuhn, N.J. (2010) Reflectance anisotropy for characterising fine-scale changes in soil surface condition across different soil types. ORAL PRESENTATION European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna, 2nd-7th May 2010.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K., and Kuhn, N.J. (2010) Using semi-variogram analysis for providing spatially distributed information on soil surface condition for land surface modeling. POSTER European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna, 2nd-7th May 2010
• Croft, H. Anderson, K., and Kuhn, N.J. (2009) Characterising soil surface roughness using a combined structural and spectral approach. POSTER European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna, 19th-24th April 2009.
• Croft, H. and Anderson, K. (2009) Spatial statistics and directional reflectance for monitoring fine-scale changes in soil surface condition and carbon vulnerability ORAL PRESENTATION Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Student Conference, Lake District,14th-16th April 2009.
• Croft, H. and Anderson, K. (2008) Characterising soil surface condition and carbon vulnerability using spatial statistics and directional reflectance ORAL PRESENTATION American Geosciences Union conference, San Francisco, 15th-19th December 2008.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K. and Kuhn, N.J. (2008) Characterising fine-scale variations in soil surface roughness using directional reflectance factors. ORAL PRESENTATION Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference, Cornwall, 15th-17th September 2008.
• Kuhn, N.J. Schwanghart, W. Anderson, K. and Croft, H. (2008) Geostatistical analysis of near-range soil DEMs. ORAL PRESENTATION Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference, Cornwall, 15th-17th September 2008.
• Croft, H. and Anderson, K. (2008) Hyperspectral, in situ directional reflectance measurements for soil degradation monitoring. POSTER British Society for Geomorphology Annual Conference, Exeter, 2nd-4th July 2008.
• Croft, H. and Anderson, K. (2008) Hyperspectral, multiple view angle measurements for soil degradation monitoring. ORAL PRESENTATION Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Student Conference, Southampton, 10th-11th March 2008.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K. and Kuhn, N.J. (2007) A new operational method for soil degradation monitoring: directional reflectance using an Ocean Optics spectroradiometer. POSTER European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna, 15th-20th April 2007.
• Kuhn, N.J. Anderson, K. and Croft, H. (2007) Geostatistical analysis of near-range soil Digital Elevation Models. POSTER European Geosciences Union conference, Vienna, 15th-20th April 2007.

Invited presentations

• Croft, H. Chen, J.M. Zhang, Y. and Simic, A. (2012) Modelling spatio-temporal variations in leaf chlorophyll content for broadleaf and needle forest canopies. University of Basel, Switzerland, 20th April, 2012.
• Croft, H. and Anderson, K. (2010) A cross-instrument comparison of ASD and Ocean Optics spectroradiometers using laboratory and field experiments. European Union Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) ACTION ES0903 Joint Working Groups meeting. Viote del Monte Bondone-Trento, Italy. April 28th-30th, 2010.
• Croft, H. Anderson, K. and Kuhn, N.J. (2010) Remotely sensed techniques for monitoring soil surface condition and carbon vulnerability in agricultural areas. Worksop on Carbon Movement and Storage in Agricultural Landscapes. University of Basel, Switzerland, 27th April, 2010.