Downer Woods has been selected as one of a hundred global locations to test a newly launched earth observing micro-satellite called Venμs (Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro Satellite). Alison Donnelly (UWM Geography) and Rong Yu (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) will use leaf development (phenology) observations from Downer Woods to validate the effectiveness of the high resolution multispectral Venμs vegetation product at capturing ecosystem dynamics. The project will advance previous observations carried out by Mark Schwartz.