Professor Danny Donoghue

Contact Professor Danny Donoghue (email at danny.donoghue@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Professor Donoghue has a broadly based research profile that covers applications of remote sensing technology in the fields of spectrometry, forestry, coastal ecology, land use change and archaeology. He has developed processing methods for high spectral resolution optical imaging including a commercial image-processing package (T-Spectra). Recent projects include studies on the use of artificial neural networks for image processing, the study of airborne thermal infrared imagery for geology and archaeology, the use of declassified space photography (e.g. CORONA) and high spatial resolution imagery for archaeological prospection (e.g. IKONOS).

Woodland Structure, Habitats assessment & Land cover change
Research Associates Robert Dunford and Pete Watt are currently working on methods to quantify woodland structure and volume in upland conifer forests in the UK. Recent work includes a British National Space Centre Customer Partnership Project to study woodland establishment, and, a EU LIFE-ENVIRONMENT project to study rapid stock assessment using satellite image data. Khondaker Huda, Tawhidul Islam and Shahed Rashid hold Commonwealth Commission Scholarships and are using remote sensing to study different aspects of land cover and resource change in Bangladesh. Huda is investigating changes in the distribution and function of small water bodies, Islam is studying changes to sal forest resources and Rashid is looking a land transformation for 1951-2001. Our research group have undertaken contracts research for Durham County Council, English Nature, the Environment Agency and the EU. NERC has supported our work by supplying airborne remotely sensed images. Dr Donoghue was a member of NERC's Airborne Science Steering Committee (1995-1998).

Archaeological Remote Sensing
Anthony Beck holds a NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) studentship to evaluate satellite data for archaeological landscape assessment. Nikolaos Galiatsatos holds a HSSF (Hellenic State Scholarships Foundation) scholarship to study the use of declassified space photography (e.g. CORONA) and high spatial resolution imagery for archaeological prospection (e.g. IKONOS). Kay McManus holds a University Scholarship and is investigating methods for processing airborne thermal infrared imagery for geology and archaeology applications, this work is in part supported by Dr Stuart Marsh from the British Geological Survey. Dr Donoghue was a member of editorial board of Archaeological Prospection (1999-2002). He helped to found the Archaeological Special Interest Group of Remote Sensing Society and was invited to join Aerial photography & Remote Sensing Committee of the Archaeological Data Service (1996).

Catchment Sensitivity Modelling
Penny Widdison holds a NERC-ESRC research studentship to study the impacts of land use and policy on freshwater quality in the Leet and Lamden burn sub-basins of the River Tweed. Stephen Opoku Duah holds a Ghana Scholarship to study land cover change and its impact on the Volta river basin in Ghana. Katherine Arrell holds a University Scholarship to study the evolution of cirque glaciers, this work is primarily supervised by Dr Ian Evans. Dr Donoghue helped to found the Scottish Fisheries Co-ordination Centre and is a member of the management committee with responsibility for information technology. The Centre is a partnership among the Scottish Executive, Independent fisheries trusts, Scottish and Southern Energy and The University of Durham. Members of the group have developed computer systems for catchment area analysis and management.

Examples of Recent Externally Funded Research Projects

2001 European Commission, LIFE-Environment Fund, 249,000 Euro.

British National Space Centre, Customer Partnership Project �44,000.

Environment Agency, �2,500, Sediment and GIS analysis of Seal Sands, Teesside.

Research Groups

Department of Geography

• Catchments and Rivers
• Hazards and Surface Change

Research Projects

Department of Archaeology

• Settlement and Landscape Development in the Homs Region, Syria
• The Fragile Crescent Project (Middle East): Settlement Change during the Urban Transition

Department of Geography

• British National Space Centre (BNSC) Customer Partner Project
• ForestSAFE
• Fragile Crescent, The: Settlement Change during the Urban Transition
• Teesmouth Sediment, Enteromorpha and Water Flux Study

Research Interests

• Airborne and satellite remote sensing
• Applications of remote sensing for archaeology, forestry and coastal change
• Computer aided learning techniques
• Geographical information systems for environmental modelling

Selected Publications

Chapter in book

• Beck, A., Philip, G., Donoghue, D. & Galiatsatos, N. (2005). Using De-Classified Satellite Imagery. In In Volo Nel Passato Aerofotografia e Cartografia Archaeologica. Musson, C., Palmer, R. & Campana, S. All'Insegna del Giglio s.a.s. 295-300.
• Donoghue, D. (2001). Remote sensing. In Handbook of Archaeological Sciences. Brothwell, D. R. & Pollard, A. M. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. 551-560.
• Donoghue, D. N. M., Galiatsatos, N., Philip, G. & Beck, A. (2001). Satellite imagery for archaeological applications: a case study from hte Orontes Valley, Syria. In Nato Science Series. Bewley, R. 337: 211-223.

Journal Article

• Galiatsatos, N., Donoghue, D.N., Watt, P., Bholanath, P., Pickering, J., Hansen, M.C. & Mahmood, A.R. (2020). An Assessment of Global Forest Change Datasets for National Forest Monitoring and Reporting. Remote Sensing 12(11): 1790.
• Morley, Peter J., Donoghue, Daniel N. M., Chen, Jan‐Chang & Jump, Alastair S. (2020). Montane forest expansion at high elevations drives rapid reduction in non‐forest area, despite no change in mean forest elevation. Journal of Biogeography 47(11): 2405-2416.
• Davison, Sophie, Donoghue, Daniel N.M. & Galiatsatos, Nikolaos (2020). The effect of leaf-on and leaf-off forest canopy conditions on LiDAR derived estimations of forest structural diversity. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 92: 102160.
• Morley, Peter J., Donoghue, Daniel N.M., Chen, Jan-Chang & Jump, Alistair S. (2019). Quantifying structural diversity to better estimate change at mountain forest margins. Remote Sensing of Environment 223: 291-306.
• Rayne, Louise & Donoghue, Daniel (2018). A Remote Sensing Approach for Mapping the Development of Ancient Water Management in the Near East. Remote Sensing 10(12): 2042.
• Morley, Peter J., Donoghue, Daniel N.M., Chen, Jan-Chang & Jump, Alistair S. (2018). Integrating remote sensing and demography for more efficient and effective assessment of changing mountain forest distribution. Ecological Informatics 43: 106-115.
• Tapete, D., Cigna, F. & Donoghue, D.N.M. (2016). ‘Looting marks’ in space-borne SAR imagery: Measuring rates of archaeological looting in Apamea (Syria) with TerraSAR-X Staring Spotlight. Remote Sensing of Environment 178: 42-58.
• Wilkinson, T., Philip, G., Bradbury, J., Dunford, R., Donoghue, D., Galiatsatos, N., Lawrence, D., Ricci, A. & Smith, S. (2014). Contextualizing Early Urbanization: Settlement Cores, Early States and Agro-Pastoral Strategies in the Fertile Crescent during the Fourth and Third Millennia BC. Journal of World Prehistory 27(1): 43-109.
• Ozdemir, I. & Donoghue, D.N.M. (2013). Modelling tree size diversity from airborne laser scanning using canopy height models with image texture measures. Forest Ecology and Management 295: 28-37.
• Khalaf, A. & Donoghue, D. (2012). Estimating recharge distribution using remote sensing: A case study from the West Bank. Journal of Hydrology 414-415: 354-363.
• Dunford, R., Donoghue, D. & Burt, T.P. (2012). Forest land cover continues to exacerbate freshwater acidification despite decline in sulphate emissions. Environmental Pollution 167: 58–69.
• Galdies, C. & Donoghue, D.N.M. (2009). A first attempt at assimilating microwave-derived SST to improve the predictive capability of a coupled, high-resolution Eta-POM forecasting system. International Journal of Remote Sensing 30(23): 6169-6197.
• Galiatsatos, N., Donoghue, D.N.M. & Philip, G. (2008). High resolution elevation data derived from stereoscopic CORONA imagery with minimal ground control: an approach using IKONOS and SRTM data. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing 74(9): 1093-1106.
• Donoghue, D.N.M., Watt, P.J., Cox, N.J. & Wilson, J. (2007). Remote sensing of species mixtures in conifer plantations using LIDAR height and intensity data. Remote Sensing of Environment 110(4): 509-522.
• Donoghue, D. N. M., Philip, G., Beck, A. & Galiatsatos, N. (2007). Satellite imagery for archaeological applications: a case study from the Orontes Valley, Syria. Aerial Archaeology - developing future practice
• Powlesland, D., Lyall, J., Hopkinson, G. Donoghue, D. , Beck, M., Harte, A. & Scott, D. (2006). Beneath the Sand - Remote sensing. Archaeology, Aggregates and Sustainabiliy: a case study from Heslerton, the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK. Archaeological Prospection 13: 291-299.
• Donoghue, D.N.M. & Watt, P.J. (2006). Using LIDAR to compare forest height estimates from IKONOS and Landsat ETM+ data in Sitka spruce plantation forests. International Journal of Remote Sensing 27(11): 2161-2175.
• Watt, P. J. & Donoghue, D. (2005). Measuring forest structure with terrestrial laser scanning. International Journal of Remote Sensing 26(7): 1437-1446.
• Suarez, J., Smith, S., Bull, G., Malthus, T., Donoghue, D. & Knox, D. (2005). The Use of Remote Sensing Techniques in Operational Forestry. Quarterly Journal of Forestry 99(1): 31-44.
• Donoghue, D.N.M., Watt, P.J., Cox, N.J., Dunford, R.W., Wilson, J., Stables, S. & Smith, S. (2004). An evaluation of the use of satellite data for monitoring early development of young Sitka spruce plantation forest growth. Forestry 77(5): 383-396.
• Pavey, J. & Donoghue, D. (2003). The use of role play and VLEs in teaching Environmental management. Planet 10: 7-10.
• Donoghue, D. N. M., McManus, K. B. & Brooke, C. J. (2002). Airborne thermography of the vegetation-soil interface for detecting shallow ground disturbance. Geophysical Research Abstracts 4.
• Philip, G., Donoghue, D.N.M., Beck, A.R. & Galiatsatos, N. (2002). CORONA satellite photography: an archaeological application from the Middle East. Antiquity 76(291): 109-118.
• Donoghue, D.N.M. & Mironnet, N. (2002). Development of an integrated geographical information system prototype for coastal habitat monitoring. Computers and Geosciences 28(1): 129-141.
• Watson, B. & Donoghue, D. (2002). One Year's Experience of DUO (Durham University Online). Planet 3: 15-16.
• Donoghue, D. (2002). Remote Sensing: environmental change. Progress in Physical Geography 26: 144-151.
• Donoghue, D. (2001). Multispectral remote sensing for archaeology. Consiglia nazionale Delle Ricerche Universita Degli Studi Di Siena 181-192.
• Zong, Y., Tooley, M.J. & Donoghue, D. (1995). Geographical Information Systems and sea flooding risk assessment in the Thames Lowlands. Journal of the Society of Fellows 9(2): 3.
• Donoghue, D., Reid-Thomas, D.C. & Zong, Y. (1994). Mapping and monitoring the intertidal zone of the east coast of England using remote sensing techniques and a coastal monitoring GIS. MTS Journal 28(2): 19-29.

Conference Paper

• Galiatsatos, N., Wilkinson, T.J., Donoghue, D.N.M. & Philip, G. (2009), The Fragile Crescent Project (FCP): Analysis of Settlement Landscapes Using Satellite Imagery, CAA 2009: Making history interactive. Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, Williamsburg VA.
• Galiatsatos, N., Donoghue, D.N.M., Dong, L. & Warburton, J. (2008), Assessment of sediment delivery from shallow landslides in upland terrain using 3D remote sensing, 2007 Annual Conference of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society. Newcastle upon Tyne, Curran Associates, 331-335.

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Supervises

• Miss Clare Bliss
• Miss Ruusa-magano David
• Mr Md. Saidur Rahman
• Mr. Matthew Wiecek

Selected Grants