THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ACTIVITY WILL FOCUS ON THE IMPACT OF WETLAND STATUS AND CHANGE ON WATERFOWL HABITAT. THE WORK WILL UTILIZE PROVEN METHODS TO CHARACTERIZE WETLAND TYPE ASCERTAIN CHANGE AND MEASURE DYNAMICS OF SEASONAL INUNDATION STATE. WETLANDS PROVIDE UNIQUE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND THEREBY HAVE GREAT SIGNIFICANCE FOR HUMAN SUBSISTENCE IN THE VAST REGIONS OF NORTHERN NORTH AMERICA. THIS VAST 1.4 BILLION ACRE AREA IS HOME TO 23 SPECIES OF WATERFOWL OF WHICH AT LEAST 10 HAVE MORE THAN HALF OF THEIR CONTINENTAL BREEDING SEASON POPULATION WITHIN THE REGION. THE PROJECT GOAL IS TO CHARACTERIZE CHANGES IN WATERFOWL HABITAT USING REMOTE SENSING APPROACHES DEVELOPED USING FIELD AIRBORNE AND SATELLITE DATA COLLECTED DURING THE ABOVE RESEARCH CAMPAIGNS. THE GOAL WILL BE ADDRESSED THROUGH TWO OBJECTIVES THAT WILL UTILIZE FIELD AND REMOTE SENSING DATA AND RESEARCH OUTCOMES FROM PREVIOUS ABOVE ACTIVITIES AS WELL AS DATA AND EXPERTISE OF PARTNERS WITH THE JET PROPULSION LAB (JPL) DUCKS UNLIMITED CANADA (DUC) AND OTHER CANADIAN COLLABORATORS. THE RESEARCH WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR THE CORE ABOVE STUDY REGION AND DEMONSTRATED AT SPECIFIC WATERFOWL STUDY SITES WHERE HABITAT AND DUCK POPULATIONS ARE WELL DOCUMENTED. THE RESEARCH WILL ADDRESS TWO TOPICS UNDER THE SOLICITATION REQUESTS UNDER SECTION 4.1: AIRBORNE SCIENCE USING DATA COLLECTED DURING 2017 AAC AS WELL AS TOPICS UNDER 4.3: SOCIETAL EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. WE PROPOSE TWO SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES. THE FIRST IS TO DEVELOP WETLAND MAPPING ALGORITHMS ACROSS DIVERSE WETLAND TYPES IN THE BOREAL REGION USING MULTIPLE REMOTE SENSING APPROACHES BUT FOCUSING ON L-BAND SAR (NISAR W/UAVSAR AND ALOS-2 SAOCOM IF AVAILABLE) AS WELL AS MAPPING OF WETLAND INUNDATION. THIS OBJECTIVE WILL INCLUDE EFFORTS TO VERIFY PERFORMANCE OF EMERGING NISAR INUNDATION MAPPING CAPABILITY (DEVELOPED FOR ALOS-PALSAR) FOR WETLANDS IN THE ABOVE REGION. WE WILL LOOK AT INTEGRATING DIFFERENT WAVELENGTH SAR (E.G. RADARSAT SENTINEL1 PALSAR) FOR EXPLORING INUNDATION ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION. THE VALUE OF RADARSAT 2 AND SENTINEL 1 C-BAND SAR IS TO PROVIDE A LONG TIME SERIES OF IMAGERY. OUR SECOND OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO USE THE NEW MAPS OF WETLAND TYPE CHANGE AND INUNDATION FOR WATERFOWL HABITAT SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT. THE EXPECTATION IS THAT IMPROVED WETLAND CHARACTERIZATION WILL BE USEFUL FOR FORECASTING HABITAT SUITABILITY AND HENCE WATERFOWL DISTRIBUTION AND TRENDS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE. WE WILL TEST THIS APPROACH IN THE MACKENZIE RIVER DELTA REGION PEACE-ATHABASCA DELTA AND SLAVE RIVER DELTA REGIONS OF CANADA WHICH ARE HIGH WATERFOWL USE AREAS WITH LONG TEMPORAL RECORDS OF WATERFOWL BREEDING POPULATION DATA REMOTE SENSING INFORMATION (SATELLITE AND AERIAL INCLUDING 2017/18 ABOVE AIRBORNE CAMPAIGNS) AND CURRENT PARTNERSHIPS WITH INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES. WETLAND TYPE MAPS WILL BE DEVELOPED USING METHODS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY WITHIN THE ABOVE PROGRAM (BOURGEAU-CHAVEZ PI). THE MAP ACCURACY AND VALUE WILL BE ASSESSED WITH REGARD TO NEEDS FOR WATERBIRD HABITAT AS DEFINED WITH OUR DUCKS UNLIMITED RESEARCH PARTNERS. IN ADDITION TO THE FOCUS OF WILDLIFE HABITAT ASSESSMENT THE RESEARCH WILL BE BENEFICIAL BROADLY BY DEVELOPING METHODOLOGIES FOR USING NISAR FOR WETLAND CHARACTERIZATION AND SPECIFICALLY FOR DEVELOPING TECHNIQUES OF VALIDATING SAR-DERIVED ESTIMATES OF INUNDATION EXTENT BY USING SENTINEL-1 AND RADARSAT-2 AS SURROGATES FOR THE FUTURE NISAR MISSION. THE OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE CONSISTENT WETLAND MAPS AND HYDROLOGICAL CONDITION PRODUCTS WHICH ARE VALUABLE TO SPATIAL DATA MODELING ACTIVITIES FOR WILDLIFE HABITAT AND POPULATIONS BIODIVERSITY CARBON AND ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES. THESE APPROACHES WILL BE IMPORTANT IN LATER PHASES OF ABOVE WHERE ECOLOGICAL MODELING AND DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS WILL BE DEVELOPED.