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Physical and Environmental Geography Commons

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Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Physical and Environmental Geography

Progressive Destabilization And Triggering Mechanism Analysis Using Multiple Data For Chamoli Rockslide Of 7 February 2021, Wenfei Mao, Lixin Wu, Ramesh P. Singh, Yuan Qi, Busheng Xie, Yingjia Liu, Yifan Ding, Zilong Zhou, Jia Li Dec 2021

Progressive Destabilization And Triggering Mechanism Analysis Using Multiple Data For Chamoli Rockslide Of 7 February 2021, Wenfei Mao, Lixin Wu, Ramesh P. Singh, Yuan Qi, Busheng Xie, Yingjia Liu, Yifan Ding, Zilong Zhou, Jia Li

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A catastrophic rockslide occurred on 7 February 2021 in Chamoli area in the high Himalaya. In the absence of field data, multiple satellites data of decade span have been used to investigate and understand the progressive destabilization of rockslide body. A 3D geometric model was developed using geospatial information about geology, terrain, and ice cover to understand the triggering mechanism. Several causes are uncovered as: the pronounced long-term change of land surface temperature facilitated local permafrost degradation and led to ice cover shrinking since 2010; the occurrence of ice avalanche nearby in 2016 accompanying with sidewall-to-bedrock fracturing enhanced the ice …


Impacts Of Sea-Level Rise On Urban Properties In Tampa Due To Climate Change, Weiwei Xie Dec 2021

Impacts Of Sea-Level Rise On Urban Properties In Tampa Due To Climate Change, Weiwei Xie

Theses and Dissertations

The fast urbanization produces a large and growing population in coastal areas. However, the rise of sea level, one of the most significant impacts of global warming, makes coastal communities much more vulnerable to flooding than before. This Master’s thesis study investigates sea-level rise impacts on parcel-level property in the specific coastal city of Tampa, Florida, USA. An improved sea-level rise model based on satellite altimeter data is first used to predict future sea levels. Based on high-resolution LiDAR digital elevation data and property map, flooded properties are identified to evaluate property damage cost. This empirical analysis provides an in-depth …


Short-Term Slope Changes On Dokdo Island Identified From Ground-Based 3d Lidar Data, Jihyun Kang, Hyejin Kim, Jaegeum Park, Hyunchul Shin Oct 2021

Short-Term Slope Changes On Dokdo Island Identified From Ground-Based 3d Lidar Data, Jihyun Kang, Hyejin Kim, Jaegeum Park, Hyunchul Shin

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

This study was designed to determine the slope changes on Dokdo Island, focusing on Seodo islet (slopes consisting of colluvial debris) and Dongdo islet (slopes consisting of large-scale tafoni). To do so, we obtained high-resolution 3D LiDAR data in May and November 2020 and calculated the changes in slope shape and volume over this period. Our results showed that during this time, approximately 136 m3 of colluvial debris was removed from the slopes of Seodo islet and a boulder that had separated from the massive tuff breccia migrated approximately 5 cm downslope. The major causes of such rapid changes …


Algorithm Performance On The Estimation Of Cdom And Doc In The North Slopes Of Alaska, Monica Weisenbach Oct 2021

Algorithm Performance On The Estimation Of Cdom And Doc In The North Slopes Of Alaska, Monica Weisenbach

Masters Theses

Use of satellite imagery makes environmental monitoring easy and convenient with little of the logistics involved in planning sampling campaigns. Colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is an important component to track as a proxy for the large pool of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). In a world contending with the looming issue of global climate change, the ability to investigate the carbon cycle of inland to coastal environments allows for examination of the magnitude of carbon flowing through the system and potential changes over years. The Arctic region is a critical area for climate change impacts but is a difficult landscape …


Landslide Mapping And Susceptibility Assessment Of Chittagong Hilly Areas, Bangladesh, Yasin Wahid Rabby Aug 2021

Landslide Mapping And Susceptibility Assessment Of Chittagong Hilly Areas, Bangladesh, Yasin Wahid Rabby

Doctoral Dissertations

Landslides are natural phenomena in mountainous areas that cause damage to properties and death to people around the world. In Bangladesh, landslides have caused enormous economic loss and casualty in Chittagong Hilly Areas (CHA). In this dissertation, a landslide inventory of CHA was prepared using Google Earth and field mapping. Google Earth-based mapping helped in recording landslides in inaccessible areas like forests. In contrast, field mapping helped in mapping landslides in accessible areas like areas near road networks. For absence data sampling of landslide susceptibility mapping, this research proposed the Mahalanobis distance (MD) based absence data sampling and compared it …


Geolocation Of Monitoring Wells Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Joel Deyoung Jul 2021

Geolocation Of Monitoring Wells Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Joel Deyoung

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater monitoring wells are commonly installed on a property as part of an environmental investigation to observe hydrological subsurface conditions, facilitate the collection of groundwater samples, and predict the flow of groundwater across a site. In addition to their installation, monitoring wells should be surveyed or mapped as accurately as possible. Traditional surveying techniques have employed the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) technologies or other surveying equipment. A common surveying approach is to use real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS to accurately measure the coordinates of each monitoring well on the site.In recent years, drones, or small unmanned aircraft systems …


Machine Learning & Big Data Analyses For Wildfire & Air Pollution Incorporating Gis & Google Earth Engine, Abdullah Al Saim Jul 2021

Machine Learning & Big Data Analyses For Wildfire & Air Pollution Incorporating Gis & Google Earth Engine, Abdullah Al Saim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The climatic condition, the vegetation type, and the landscape of the United States have made it susceptible to wildfires. This research is divided into two parts based on the analysis of two different aspects of wildfires of two distinct regions. The first part of the study investigates the wildfire susceptibility in Arkansas. Arkansas is a natural state, and it is heavily dependent on its forest and agricultural resources. During the last 30 years, more than 1,000 wildfires occurred in Arkansas and caused more than 10,000 acres of burned areas. Therefore, identifying wildfire-susceptible areas is crucial for ensuring sustainable forest and …


Digital Earth: The Impact Of Geographic Technology Through The Ages, Mishka Vance Huq May 2021

Digital Earth: The Impact Of Geographic Technology Through The Ages, Mishka Vance Huq

Theses and Dissertations

Geographic technology encompasses a wide range of geographic knowledge, concepts, processes, and artifacts. Because of its interdisciplinarity and integration with other technologies, the paper examines the diffuse impacts of geographic technology within the evolving relationship between technological and societal developments over time.


Using New And Long-Term Multi-Scale Remotely Sensed Data To Detect Recurrent Fires And Quantify Their Relationship To Land Cover/Use In Indonesian Peatlands, Yenni Vetrita Jan 2021

Using New And Long-Term Multi-Scale Remotely Sensed Data To Detect Recurrent Fires And Quantify Their Relationship To Land Cover/Use In Indonesian Peatlands, Yenni Vetrita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indonesia has committed to reducing its greenhouse gases emissions by 29% (potentially up to 41% with international assistance) by 2030. Achieving those targets requires many efforts but, in particular, controlling the fire problem in Indonesia’s peatlands is paramount, since it is unlikely to diminish on its own in the coming decades. This study was conducted in Sumatra and Kalimantan peatlands in Indonesia. Four MODIS-derived products (MCD45A1 collection 5.1, MCD64A1 (collection 5.1 and 6), FireCCI51) were initially assessed to explore long-term fire frequency and land use/cover change relationships. The results indicated the product(s) could only detect half of the fires accurately. …


An Application Of The Sleuth Model: Future Urbanization Of Davidson County, Tennessee, Caitlyn J. Linehan Jan 2021

An Application Of The Sleuth Model: Future Urbanization Of Davidson County, Tennessee, Caitlyn J. Linehan

Theses

As the urban population is expected to grow in the coming decades, there is pressure on urban areas to expand to accommodate this growth. Often times, these expansions are not sustainable, they consume valuable lands and cause significant environmental, social, and economic burdens, a theory which is known as urban sprawl. Therefore it is often imperative to model areas more likely to urbanize in order for cities to plan for their expansion in the most sustainable way possible. Nashville, Tennessee located within Davidson County is an area that has been experiencing a significant period of urban growth. The objective of …


A Karst Feature Prediction Model For Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska Based On High Resolution Lidar Imagery, Alexander Lyles Jan 2021

A Karst Feature Prediction Model For Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska Based On High Resolution Lidar Imagery, Alexander Lyles

Master's Theses

Investigation into surface karst formation is significant to hazard prediction, hydrogeologic drainage, and land management. Southeast Alaska contains over 600,000 acres of mapped carbonate bedrock, and some of the fastest recorded karst dissolution in the world. The objectives of this study are to develop and compare multiple semi-automated models to map and delineate karst features from bare-earth LiDAR imagery using ArcGIS Desktop 10.7, and to apply a preliminary geostatistical analysis of sinkhole morphometric parameters to highlight potential spatial patterns of karst evolution on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. A semi-automated approach of mapping karst features provides a dataset that minimizes …


Use And Improvement Of Remote Sensing And Geospatial Technologies In Support Of Crop Area And Yield Estimations In The West African Sahel, Kaboro Samasse Jan 2021

Use And Improvement Of Remote Sensing And Geospatial Technologies In Support Of Crop Area And Yield Estimations In The West African Sahel, Kaboro Samasse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In arid and semi-arid West Africa, agricultural production and regional food security depend largely on small-scale subsistence farming and rainfed crops, both of which are vulnerable to climate variability and drought. Efforts made to improve crop monitoring and our ability to estimate crop production (areas planted and yield estimations by crop type) in the major agricultural zones of the region are critical paths for minimizing climate risks and to support food security planning. The main objective of this dissertation research was to contribute to these efforts using remote sensing technologies. In this regard, the first analysis documented the low reliability …


Evaluating St. Catherines Island's Shoreline, Vegetation Line, And The Locations Of Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nests, Sydney O. Davis Jan 2021

Evaluating St. Catherines Island's Shoreline, Vegetation Line, And The Locations Of Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nests, Sydney O. Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

St. Catherines Island is a highly dynamic barrier island on the Georgia coast that is also federally listed critical nesting habitat for loggerhead sea turtles. Understanding how St. Catherines’ shoreline and vegetation is changing over time is geographically important as a potential template for other barrier islands. Measuring sea turtle nest locations will provide insight into their natural patterns and how they adjust those locations on a changing barrier island. Analyzing Moving Boundaries Using R (AMBUR) is implemented in this research to assess the movement of the vegetation and shorelines from 2005-2017 using the End Point Rate (EPR) and Linear …