Dr. Erika Podest has been field-testing an unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, for various research applications. In one of her test flights she captured part of the geophysical fieldwork as well. An unedited version of that particular video is available through this link. Dr. Podest is a scientist with the Water and Carbon Cycles Group in Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Earth Science Division. She is Visiting Associate Researcher in the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on using Earth observing satellites, particularly microwave sensors, for characterizing and monitoring wetland ecosystems and seasonal freeze/thaw dynamics in the northern high latitudes as related to the global carbon and water cycles and climate change.