Digital Commons Network^™

Brooklyn Trash Problems, Christina Diaz

Capstones

Walk through the streets of New York and at some point you’ll inevitably pass by a wafting smell of garbage, but residents of North Brooklyn are handling more than their share of the smelly load and they’re tired of getting dumped on.

A newly formed coalition of neighbors and environmental activists has begun a turf war against Brooklyn Transfer LLC, a waste transfer station located on Thames Street in East Williamsburg, which handles private commercial waste through ­­­­­­­­­­­­­Five Star Carting.

Link to Map: https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=1769408

Losing Ground, Alison Kanski

Capstones

Climate change and sea level rise are slowly decimating beaches. But the U.S. government and loyal residents won't let go of the beaches so easily.

A determined resident of the Rockaways in New York fights for the money and attention from governments to sustain his lifelong home and stop it from washing away.

Greenpoint's Superfund Problem, Helina Selemon

Capstones

A feature observing a community living in the shadow of a superfund site, a toxic industrial site in need of cleanup, that was recently purchased for development. The story looks at the complicated nature of this particular superfund and the problems the community around it has--including potential health risks during cleanup, rapid development, and an inescapable industrial past.

Evaluation Of Viirs Land Surface Temperature Using Crest-Safe Air, Snow Surface, And Soil Temperature Data, Carlos L. Pérez Díaz, Tarendra Lakhankar, Peter Romanov, Reza Khanbilvardi, Yunyue Yu

Publications and Research

In this study, the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land Surface Temperature (LST) Environmental Data Record (EDR) was evaluated against snow surface (T-skin) and near-surface air temperature (T-air) ground observations recorded at the Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center—Snow Analysis and Field Experiment (CREST-SAFE), located in Caribou, ME, USA during the winters of 2013 and 2014. The satellite LST corroboration of snow-covered areas is imperative because high-latitude regions are often physically inaccessible and there is a need to complement the data from the existing meteorological station networks. T-skin is not a standard meteorological parameter commonly observed at synoptic …

Development And Evaluation Of A Multi-Year Fractional Surface Water Data Set Derived From Active/Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Data, Ronny Schroeder, Kyle C. Mcdonald, Bruce D. Chapman, Katherine Jensen, Erika Podest, Zachary D. Tessler, Theodore J. Bohn, Reiner Zimmermann

Publications and Research

The sensitivity of Earth’s wetlands to observed shifts in global precipitation and temperature patterns and their ability to produce large quantities of methane gas are key global change questions. We present a microwave satellite-based approach for mapping fractional surface water (FW) globally at 25-km resolution. The approach employs a land cover-supported, atmospherically-corrected dynamic mixture model applied to 20+ years (1992–2013) of combined, daily, passive/active microwave remote sensing data. The resulting product, known as Surface WAter Microwave Product Series (SWAMPS), shows strong microwave sensitivity to sub-grid scale open water and inundated wetlands comprising open plant canopies. SWAMPS’ FW compares favorably (R2 …

Evaluation Of The Snow Thermal Model (Sntherm) Through Continuous In Situ Observations Of Snow’S Physical Properties At The Crest-Safe Field Experiment, José Alberto Infante Corona, Jonathan Muñoz, Tarendra Lakhankar, Peter Romanov, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

Snowpack properties like temperature or density are the result of a complex energy and mass balance process in the snowpack that varies temporally and spatially. The Snow Thermal Model (SNTHERM) is a 1-dimensional model, energy and mass balance-driven, that simulates these properties. This article analyzes the simulated snowpack properties using SNTHERM forced with two datasets, namely measured meteorological data at the Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology-Snow Analysis and Field Experiment (CREST-SAFE) site and the National Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS). The study area is located on the premises of Caribou Municipal Airport at Caribou (ME, USA). The model evaluation …

'At-Risk' Places: Inequaties In The Distribution Of Environmental Stressors And Prescription Rates Of Mental Health Medications In Glasgow, Scotland, Juliana A. Maantay, Andrew Maroko

Publications and Research

Using geospatial analytical methods, this study examines the association between one aspect of the built environment, namely, the concentration of vacant and derelict land (VDL), and the prevalence of mental health disorders (using the proxy variable of mental health medication prescription rates) in Glasgow, Scotland. This study builds on our previous research, which demonstrated the spatial correspondence between the locations of VDL in Glasgow and several physical health outcomes. Numerous studies of other locales have found similar correspondence between different elements of the built environment and various health outcomes. This is the first study of its kind to look at …

Transportation And Sanitation Drivers Of Land Use/Land Cover Change: Loss Of The Jamaica Bay Wetlands, Margaret Joy Cytryn

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an analysis (1830-2014) of the historical events of land use/land cover change in the Jamaica Bay estuary, identification of the agents of change, and a perspective on the potential drivers of transportation and sanitation in land use/land cover change.

Can Improved Agricultural Water Use Efficiency Save India’S Groundwater?, Ram Fishman, Naresh Devineni, Swaminathan Raman

Publications and Research

Irrigated agriculture is placing increasing pressure on finite freshwater resources, especially in developing countries, where water extraction is often unregulated, un-priced and even subsidized. To shift agriculture to a more sustainable use of water without harming the food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholders, substantial improvements of water use efficiency will be required. Here, we use detailed hydroclimatic and agricultural data to estimate the potential for the widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies to halt the depletion of India's groundwater resources. Even though we find substantial technical potential for reversing water table declines, we show that the …

Comparative Sorption Of Methylene Blue Onto Hydrophobic Clays, Alvaro D. Sponza, Natalia J. Fernandez, David Yang, Karla A. Ortiz, Abel E. Navarro

Publications and Research

Chemical modifications of clay to remove methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions at room temperature were compared. Natural bentonite (NC) was modified by cation exchange with hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (HC), bencyltriethylammonium chloride (BC), and tetramethylammonium chloride (TC) to reverse the surface polarity of the hydrophilic bentonite. The adsorption of MB was studied and fitted by the adsorption theories of Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich, and Temkin. Equilibrium parameters were calculated, indicating that chemical modification did not improve the adsorption, due to the electrostatic adsorption mechanism. Specific surface area was determined, reporting the following trend: NC > TC > BC > HC. Isotherms show that TC is …

Geospatial Resolution Of Human And Bacterial Diversity With City-Scale Metagenomics, Ebrahim Afshinnekoo, Cem Meydan, Shanin Chowdhury, Dyala Jaroudi, Collin Boyer, Nick Bernstein, Julia M. Maritz, Darryl Reeves, Jorge Gandara, Sagar Chhangawala, Sofia Ahsanuddin, Amber Simmons, Timothy Nessel, Bharathi Sundaresh, Elizabeth Pereira, Ellen Jorgensen, Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis, Nell Kirchberger, Isaac Garcia, David Gandara, Sean Dhanraj, Tanzina Nawrin, Yogesh Saletore, Noah Alexander, Priyanka Vijay, Elizabeth M. Hénaff, Paul Zumbo, Michael Walsh, Gregory D. O'Mullan, Scott Tighe, Joel T. Dudley, Anya Dunaif, Sean Ennis, Eoghan O'Halloran, Tiago R. Magalhaes, Braden Boone, Angela L. Jones, Theodore R. Muth, Katie Schneider Paolantonio, Elizabeth Alter, Eric E. Schadt, Jeanne Garbarino, Robert J. Prill, Jane M. Carlton, Shawn Levy, Christopher E. Mason

Publications and Research

The panoply of microorganisms and other species present in our environment influence human health and disease, especially in cities, but have not been profiled with metagenomics at a city-wide scale. We sequenced DNA from surfaces across the entire New York City (NYC) subway system, the Gowanus Canal, and public parks. Nearly half of the DNA (48%) does not match any known organism; identified organisms spanned 1,688 bacterial, viral, archaeal, and eukaryotic taxa, which were enriched for harmless genera associated with skin (e.g., Acinetobacter). Predicted ancestry of human DNA left on subway surfaces can recapitulate U.S. Census demographic data, and bacterial …

Population Genetic Structure Of The Dwarf Seahorse (Hippocampus Zosterae) In Florida, Nathan Fedrizzi, Melanie L. J. Stiassny, J. T. Boehm, Eric R. Dougherty, George Amato, Martin Mendez

Publications and Research

The dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is widely distributed throughout near-shore habitats of the Gulf of Mexico and is of commercial significance in Florida, where it is harvested for the aquarium and curio trades. Despite its regional importance, the genetic structure of dwarf seahorse populations remains largely unknown. As an aid to ongoing conservation efforts, we employed three commonly applied mtDNA markers (ND4, DLoop and CO1) to investigate the genetic structuring of H. zosterae in Florida using samples collected throughout its range in the state. A total of 1450 bp provided sufficient resolution to delineate four populations of dwarf seahorses, as …

The Energetic Value Of Land-Based Foods In Western Hudson Bayand Their Potential To Alleviate Energy Deficits Of Starving Adult Male Polar Bears, Linda J. Gormezano, Robert F. Rockwell

Publications and Research

Climate change is predicted to expand the ice-free season in western Hudson Bay and when it grows to 180 days, 28–48% of adult male polar bears are projected to starve unless nutritional deficits can be offset by foods consumed on land. We updated a dynamic energy budget model developed by Molnar et al. to allow influx of additional energy from novel terrestrial foods (lesser snow geese, eggs, caribou) that polar bears currently consume as part of a mixed diet while on land. We calculated the units of each prey, alone and in combination, needed to alleviate these lethal energy deficits …

Evaluation Of Alos Palsar Data For High-Resolution Mapping Of Vegetated Wetlands In Alaska, Daniel Clewley, Jane Whitcomb, Mahta Moghaddam, Kyle Macdonald, Bruce Chapman, Peter Bunting

Publications and Research

As the largest natural source of methane, wetlands play an important role in the carbon cycle. High-resolution maps of wetland type and extent are required to quantify wetland responses to climate change. Mapping northern wetlands is particularly important because of a disproportionate increase in temperatures at higher latitudes. Synthetic aperture radar data from a spaceborne platform can be used to map wetland types and dynamics over large areas. Following from earlier work by Whitcomb et al. (2009) using Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS-1) data, we applied the “random forests” classification algorithm to variables from L-band ALOS PALSAR data for 2007, …

Using Spatiotemporal Methods To Fill Gaps In Energy Usage Interval Data, Kristin K. Graves

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers analyzing spatiotemporal or panel data, which varies both in location and over time, often find that their data has holes or gaps. This thesis explores alternative methods for filling those gaps and also suggests a set of techniques for evaluating those gap-filling methods to determine which works best.

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Farmer's Bane Or Boon?, Jeeva Mary Jacob

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one of the solutions that simultaneously address the issues of food security, climate change and agricultural productivity. It has been gaining momentum in the last five years among policy circles and development organizations have prioritized CSA interventions in developing countries around the world. In this paper, CSA interventions are examined from the small farmer's perspective and the purpose of this paper is to find out whether Climate-Smart Agriculture truly empowers the farmer in the face of climate change. Such a study emerged from the fact that in the past, agricultural interventions like the Green Revolution promised …

Bad Apple: Complexities Of New York City Food Aid Programs, Rose Meagan Jimenez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The only universal thing about food is that everyone needs to eat. In the United States, there are more instances of food insecurity than impoverishment. Governmental and local food aid programs are complex but are essentially motivated by socioeconomic issues. Food aid programs, from community gardening to Food Stamps, initially stem from a depression-era need to stimulate the economy. However, as socioeconomic issues change, food aid programs also evolve to meet those needs. By excavating different pieces of literature that discuss issues in food aid, the forms of structural violence that cause hunger come to life. This piece discusses community …

Estimating Stormwater Runoff For Community Gardens In New York City, Mara Gittleman

Theses and Dissertations

While much of the literature cites community gardens as providing urban ecosystem services, there is very little research quantifying these benefits. This thesis compares the stormwater runoff rates of urban vacant lots, community gardens, and residential developments in New York City and evaluates community gardens as green infrastructure.

Integration Of Live Radio Programming & Real-Time Blogging In The Macaulay Honors College Seminar Iii On Science And Technology In New York City, Angelo Lampousis, Aaron Kendall, Chris Caruso

Open Educational Resources

In this presentation we summarize the lessons learnt through this experience of including live radio programming activities in the context of Macaulay Honors College Seminar III on Science and Technology in New York City. Our presentation falls under the innovation theme and specifically the blended learning opportunities track. The overall goal of the Macaulay Honors College Seminar III is to offer students fundamental scientific and technological knowledge. An essential aspect of our approach was to afford Honors students a real opportunity to interface directly with the actual people involved in science and technology. We arranged for live radio interviews, as …

Adolescent Girls, Human Rights And The Expanding Climate Emergency, Holly G. Atkinson, Judith Bruce

Publications and Research

Many adolescent girls—the poorest girls in the poorest communities—already live in an “emergency.” Humanitarian crises only amplify the call on their coping and caring capacities, while exacerbating their vulnerabilities. The frequency and intensity of emergencies, including natural disasters, conflicts, and infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola, appear to be growing.¹ These emergencies threaten entire communities and whole countries, often with global implications. Many become virtually permanent. The authors urge key actors responding to both the threats and opportunities that climate change poses to understand adolescent girls as exceptionally at risk on the one hand, and as exceptionally resilient and …

Statement And Action Agenda From The Girls In Emergencies Collaborative, Omar Robles, Judith Bruce, Holly G. Atkinson, Dale Buscher, Karen Scriven, Kristin Kim Bart, Shelby French, Judithe Registre, Audrey Anderson

Publications and Research

Many adolescent girls—the poorest girls in the poorest communities—already live in an “emergency.” Humanitarian crises only amplify the call on their coping and caring capacities, while exacerbating their vulnerabilities. The frequency and intensity of emergencies, including natural disasters, conflicts, and infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola, appear to be growing. These emergencies threaten entire communities and whole countries, often with global implications. Many become virtually permanent.

Mapping Regional Inundation With Spaceborne L-Band Sar, Bruce Chapman, Kyle Macdonald, Masanobu Shimada, Ake Rosenqvist, Ronny Schroeder, Laura Hess

Publications and Research

Shortly after the launch of ALOS PALSAR L-band SAR by the Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA), a program to develop an Earth Science Data Record (ESDR) for inundated wetlands was funded by NASA. Using established methodologies, extensive multi-temporal L-band ALOS ScanSAR data acquired bi-monthly by the PALSAR instrument onboard ALOS were used to classify the inundation state for South America for delivery as a component of this Inundated Wetlands ESDR (IW-ESDR) and in collaboration with JAXA’s ALOS Kyoto and Carbon Initiative science programme. We describe these methodologies and the final classification of the inundation state, then compared this with results …

Utilizing Remote Sensing Imagery To Monitor Vegetation Change Within World Heritage Sites, Mimi Eve Hatzis

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

World Heritage sites provide a glimpse into the stories and civilizations of the past. There are currently 1007 unique World Heritage properties with 779 being classified as cultural sites, 197 as natural sites, and 31 falling into the categories of both cultural and natural sites (UNESCO & World Heritage Centre, 1992-2015). However, of these 1007 World Heritage sites, at least 46 are categorized as in danger and this number continues to grow. These unique and irreplaceable sites are exceptional because of their universality. Consequently, since World Heritage sites belong to all the people of the world and provide inspiration …

Probabilistic Precipitation Estimation With A Satellite Product, Nir Y. Krakauer, Soni M. Pradhanang, Jeeban Panthi, Tarendra Lakhankar, Ajay K. Jha

Publications and Research

Satellite-based precipitation products have been shown to represent precipitation well over Nepal at monthly resolution, compared to ground-based stations. Here, we extend our analysis to the daily and subdaily timescales, which are relevant for mapping the hazards caused by storms as well as drought. We compared the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42RT product with individual stations and with the gridded APHRODITE product to evaluate its ability to retrieve different precipitation intensities. We find that 3B42RT, which is freely available in near real time, has reasonable correspondence with ground-based precipitation products on a daily timescale; rank …

Assessment Of The Consistency Among Global Microwave Land Surface Emissivity Products, Hamidreza Norouzi, M. Temimi, C. Prigent, J. Turk, Reza Khanbilvardi, Y. Tian, F. A. Furuzawa, H. Masunaga

Publications and Research

The goal of this work is to intercompare four global land surface emissivity products over various landcover conditions to assess their consistency. The intercompared land emissivity products were generated over a 5year period (2003–2007) using observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer – Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), and WindSat. First, all products were reprocessed in the same projection and spatial resolution as they were generated from sensors with various configurations. Then, the mean value and standard deviations of monthly emissivity values were calculated for each …

Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Rainfall In The Gandaki River Basin Of Nepal Himalaya, Jeeban Panthi, Piyush Dahal, Madan Lall Shrestha, Suman Aryal, Nir Y. Krakauer, Soni M. Pradhanang, Tarendra Lakhankar, Ajay K. Jha, Mohan Sharma, Ramchandra Karki

Publications and Research

Landslides, floods, and droughts are recurring natural disasters in Nepal related to too much or too little water. The summer monsoon contributes more than 80% of annual rainfall, and rainfall spatial and inter-annual variation is very high. The Gandaki River, one of the three major rivers of Nepal and one of the major tributaries of the Ganges River, covers all agro-ecological zones in the central part of Nepal. Time series tests were applied for different agro-ecological zones of the Gandaki River Basin (GRB) for rainfall trends of four seasons (pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter) from 1981 to 2012. The non-parametric …

Up-To-Date Probabilistic Temperature Climatologies, Nir Krakauer, Naresh Devineni

Publications and Research

With ongoing global warming, climatologies based on average past temperatures are increasingly recognized as imperfect guides for current conditions, yet there is no consensus on alternatives. Here, we compare several approaches to deriving updated expected values of monthly mean temperatures, including moving average, exponentially weighted moving average, and piecewise linear regression. We go beyond most previous work by presenting updated climate normals as probability distributions rather than only point estimates, enabling estimation of the changing likelihood of hot and cold extremes. We show that there is a trade-off between bias and variance in these approaches, but that bias can be …

The Use Of A Statistical Model Of Storm Surge As A Bias Correction For Dynamical Surge Models And Its Applicability Along The U.S. East Coast, Haydee Salmun, Andrea Molod

Publications and Research

The present study extends the applicability of a statistical model for prediction of storm surge originally developed for The Battery, NY in two ways: I. the statistical model is used as a biascorrection for operationally produced dynamical surge forecasts, and II. the statistical model is applied to the region of the east coast of the U.S. susceptible to winter extratropical storms. The statistical prediction is based on a regression relation between the “storm maximum” storm surge and the storm composite significant wave height predicted ata nearby location. The use of the statistical surge prediction as an alternative bias correction for …

Role Of Engineering In Sustainable Water Management, Balázs M. Fekete, János J. Bogárdi

Publications and Research

The recognition of the limits of resources is almost as old as the realization that our planet is a sphere leading to concerns about sustainable resources management. Water resources in particular receive growing attention given its uneven distribution in many parts of the world. Engineering solutions to address water management challenges played significant roles in the past in areas such as access to clean water and sanitation, providing water for irrigation, offering protection against floods, allowing power generation, etc. Despite their proven benefits, engineering solutions are receiving increasing criticism due to their negative environmental and societal impacts and the high …

The Theoretical And Psychological Foundations Of Care In Environmental Ethics, Rachel Fedock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I investigate the phenomenon of care, provide some of the theoretical and psychological framework for the ethics of care, and apply this framework to environmental issues. The neglected dimensions of care I explore are: the emotions of care, care as a virtue, and the caring person, respectively, while constructing possible conceptions of in what each dimension consists. I argue for the necessity of sympathy and concern within the ethics of care, while arguing against the necessity of empathy. Next, I explore the virtue of care as an ideal, where emotions, desires, reasoning, motive, duty and action all play an important …