Wilket Creek: Urbanization, Geomorphology, Policy, And Design, Danielle Barr

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The understanding of the morphology of an urbanized channel is currently limited to a ‘black box’ understanding in that the main driving force of morphological change is hydrologic. This study aimed to expand our understanding of urbanized channels by conducting a socio-geomorphological investigation; that is, the natural and policy-driven events and processes leading to the current channel form. A fluvial audit including historical analysis and fieldwork was conducted in Wilket Creek, a southern Ontario urbanized channel, along with a review of provincial and municipal policy and reports. Overall, it was concluded that the current morphology of Wilket Creek is the ...

Comparisons Of Global Land Surface Seasonality And Phenology Derived From Avhrr, Modis And Viirs Data, Xiaoyang Zhang

Comparisons of Global Land Surface Seasonality and Phenology Derived from AVHRR, MODIS and VIIRS data

The data set in this collection is for the paper Comparisons of Global Land Surface Seasonality and Phenology Derived from AVHRR, MODIS and VIIRS Data which will be published in the "Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences."

The Anthropocene, Overview, Scott W. Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

This presentation offers an overview of the developing concept of The Anthropocene -- a term coined to describe our current geological epoch, in which human impact on the planet will leave a permanent trace.

Assessing Landslide Susceptibility With Gis Using Qualitative & Quantitative Methods In Knox County, Nebraska, Christian J. Cruz

Theses and Dissertations in Geography

This thesis assesses landslide susceptibility using data from LiDAR DEMs, land cover, and soil surveys. Data were assessed quantitatively through Bayesian logistic regression within a geographic information system (GIS) and statistical software to produce a landslide susceptibility map. The study area exhibits moderate relief where bluffs along the Missouri River valley gradually recede into rolling loess-mantled hills further to the south and southeast in Knox County. The six factors used to determine susceptibility to landslides are: land cover, parent material, slope aspect, slope curvature slope degree, and soil series. My findings show an increase in slope is the most significant ...

Environmental And Climatic Constraints On Large-Scale Camelina Production In Eastern Arkansas, Benjamin Robert Tracy

Theses and Dissertations

Camelina sativa is a cold weather crop that is typically grown in semi-arid environments in the Western United States, usually as a spring crop, but sometimes during the winter. Research analyzing climate data and soil hydrology is important to better understand the environmental and terrain conditions necessary for Camelina farming wherever it is proposed for large-scale production. This study focused on various conditions and constraints pertaining to the potential for Camelina as a crop biofuel in Eastern Arkansas. Due to interest in the economic potential of crop biofuels in this area, and in particular the low input costs for Camelina ...

Where The Sidewalk Ends: Reimagining Urban Place And Governance In Semarang, Indonesia, Emmaleah K. Jones

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Purpose: This project analyzes the uses of space and geography up the scales of political organization – from the village to the municipal – attempting to find the intersections where physical space meets governance using Semarang, Indonesia as my strategic case. This research employs a biocultural lens, addressing the existing gaps in literature by advancing a framework to function across disciplines and ultimately reconnecting to its practical application in urban planning and design. Such a framework is important in providing a blueprint for building a coherent and supportive structure on which to assess the human impact of design and contribute new “human-centered ...

Mapping Community Space And Place In Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania Through Surveys And Gis, Jessica Craigg

Georgia College Student Research Events

Cities throughout the African continent have been developing at an unprecedented pace, many of them due to the influence of the tourism industry. This is particularly true in Tanzania, a country famous for its national parks and their draw to tourists who help provide money for development. However, the only way to get the whole story on how to spend this money is through the experiences and needs of the people themselves. This study focuses on a small town in northeastern Tanzania, Mto wa Mbu, situated near Lake Manyara National Park, and its people’s perceptions of the park and ...

Forest Inventory Data, Izaya Numata, Mark Cochrane, Jeppe Kjaersgaard, Sonaira Souza Da Silva

Drought in Amazonia Data Sets

Forest inventory was conducted in Acre, the southwestern Amazon, in July-August in 2014. Field data was collected in four fragmented forest areas. In addition, this forest inventory includes data in forest areas burned in 2005 and 2010 and unburned forest areas. Forest inventory includes information on vegetation species and stem diameter at breast height (DBH) at each plot of 25m x 25m. All trees with DBH ≥ 10cm were measured at 25m x 25m plots and those with DBH< 10cm and lianas were measured at 10m x 10m and 5m x 5m subplots within each 25m x 25m plot.

Groundwater Potential Assessment Using Weighted Overlay In Rural Areas Of Kano State, Northern Nigeria, Tasiu Yalwa Rilwanu

Confluence Journal of Environmental Studies (CJES), Kogi State University, Nigeria

Location Choices Of Ethanol Firms In The Midwest Corn Belt, Monica A. Haddad, Gary Taylor, Francis Y. Owusu

Monica Haddad

The Corn Belt has experienced a rapid expansion of corn-based ethanol plants. This has provided researchers the opportunity to examine the relative importance to the renewable fuels industry of several location factors previously identified as important to agro-industries. Using probit regression this study identifies the factors significant to ethanol firms’ location decisions in the four-state study area of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska. In Iowa and Illinois, where corn is largely ubiquitous, firms move beyond corn supply to consider other localized factors in their decisionmaking process. Factors such as rail access, population density and proximity to blending terminals emerge as ...

Climate Change Adaptation For Southern California Groundwater Managers: A Case Study Of The Six Basins Aquifer, Frank Lyles

Pomona Senior Theses

Groundwater has been very important to the economic development of Southern California, and will continue to be a crucial resource in the 21st century. However, Climate Change threatens to disrupt many of the physical and economic processes that control the flow of water in and out of aquifers. One groundwater manager, the Six Basins Watermaster in eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino Counties, has developed a long-term planning document called the Strategic Plan that mostly fails to address the implications of Climate Change, especially for local water supplies. This thesis presents an in-depth analysis of the Six Basin Watermaster ...

Examination Of The Potential Of Structure-From-Motion Photogrammetry And Terrestrial Laser Scanning For Rapid Nondestructive Field Measurements Of Grass Biomass, Sam D. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations

Above ground biomass (AGB) is a parameter commonly used for assessment of grassland systems. While destructive sampling of AGB is highly accurate, it is time consuming and often precludes repeat temporal sampling or sampling in sensitive ecosystems. Consequently, a number of nondestructive techniques that relate grass structural properties to AGB have been developed. This study investigated the application of two recent technologies, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and Structurefrom- Motion (SfM), in the development of rapid nondestructive AGB estimation of grassland plots. TLS and SfM volume metrics generated using a rasterized surface differencing method were linearly related to destructively measured total ...

A Comparison Of Land Use And Land Cover In Public Lands Of The Northwestern Great Plains And High Plains Ecoregions And The Implications For Grassland Birds, Dawn L. Siemonsma

Theses and Dissertations

Loss and degradation of grassland habitat are driving forces that contribute to widespread declines of grassland birds in the United States. Many studies have evaluated habitat needs for the conservation of grassland birds, but the relative contribution of public lands in representing and maintaining avian biodiversity remains poorly understood. Having a better understanding of the role that publicly managed grasslands play in the conservation of grassland bird habitat is important for assessing the value of the investment the American public makes in these lands. Therefore, I investigated spatial relations among variations in amounts and distributions of publicly owned and managed ...

Sequias En El Sur De La Peninsula De Yucatan: Analisis De La Variabilidad Anual Y Estacional De La Precipitacion (Droughts In The Southern Yucatan Peninsula: Analysis Of The Annual And Seasonal Precipitation Variability), Sofia Mardero, Elsa Nickl, Birgit Schmook, Laura Schneider, John Rogan, Zachary Christman, Deborah Lawrence

Zachary Christman

Paper is in Spanish. English abstract: This study analyzes the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation across the Southern Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, addressing the anomalies and trends of annual and seasonal precipitation as well as the occurrence of meteorological droughts, using rainfall data from nine weather stations during the period 1953-2007. Linear regression in the annual and seasonal rainfall were used to analyze the increase or decrease in precipitation trends over this period. Precipitation anomalies enabled the evaluation of the stability, deficit, or surplus of precipitation for each year or season, and a quintile method was used to classify ...

Distinguishing Land Change From Natural Variability And Uncertainty In Central Mexico With Modis Evi, Trmm Precipitation, And Modis Lst Data, Zachary Christman, John Rogan, J. Ronald Eastman, B. L. Turner Ii

Zachary Christman

Precipitation and temperature enact variable influences on vegetation, impacting the type and condition of land cover, as well as the assessment of change over broad landscapes. Separating the influence of vegetative variability independent and discrete land cover change remains a major challenge to landscape change assessments. The heterogeneous Lerma-Chapala-Santiago watershed of central Mexico exemplifies both natural and anthropogenic forces enacting variability and change on the landscape. This study employed a time series of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) composites from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectoradiometer (MODIS) for 2001–2007 and per-pixel multiple linear regressions in order to model changes in EVI ...

An Integrated Approach For A Better Understanding Of The Paleo-Hydrology And Landscape Evolution In The Sahara During The Previous Wet Climatic Periods, Abotalib Zaki Abotalib Farag

Dissertations

Paleoclimatic regimes over Saharan Africa alternated between dry and wet periods throughout the Pleistocene Epoch, and it is during the wet periods that the Saharan fossil aquifers were recharged. The present study investigates the role of groundwater-related processes in shaping the Saharan landforms (e.g., theater-headed valleys [THV]; depressions, escarpments, playas, and tufa deposits) over areas occupied by the largest of these aquifer systems, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS). The present study reviews the suggested hypotheses for the origin of these landforms in the Sahara, and in similar settings elsewhere, and presents evidence in support of the following: during ...

A Gis Approach To Modeling Groundwater Levels In The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Josef Orion Lilly

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater depletion, a subject of growing concern for a significant portion of Arkansas, may lead to future economic challenges for the Arkansas Delta region. The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer is the uppermost aquifer and features the largest groundwater capacity in the Mississippi Embayment Aquifer System. The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, commonly referred to as the “alluvial aquifer”, spans 53,000〖 km〗^2 underlying portions of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee. As the alluvial aquifer trends southward for approximately 250 miles alongside the Mississippi River, its geographical extent ranges from 50 to 125 miles wide. There ...

A Location Allocation Model For Retention Basin Placement On Vacant Land In Detroit, Mi, Keith Chapman

Master's Theses

The principal objective of this research is to develop a location-allocation model for vacant lots in the City of Detroit, MI, to analyze for the suitability of retention basin placement. The model will place the retention basins in areas that will effectively reduce the amount of stormwater runoff that reaches the surrounding storm drains. Detroit needs stormwater mitigation to relieve the burden that is currently on the outdated combined sewer system (CSS). The Detroit Future City strategic framework suggests the use of blue infrastructure controls to alleviate the sewer system and reduce the number of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The ...

Contingent Valuation Methodology In The Natural Resource Damage Regulatory Process: Choice Theory And The Embedding Phenomenon, Brian R. Binger, Robert Copple, Elizabeth Hoffman

Elizabeth Hoffman

In their most recent article on the use of Contingent Valuation Methodology ("CVM") in the natural resource damages assessment ("NRDA") process, the authors take issue with the CVM components of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's ("NOAA") proposed NRDA rules. In particular, the authors argue that NOAA's proposed NRDA process does not comport with basic tenets of choice theory and that the CVM safeguards created by NOAA are not adequate to address the inherent, and perhaps irreconcilable, flaws in CVM assessments. To illustrate their arguments, the authors examine and criticize NOAA's treatment and general disregard of the ...

The Economics Of Adaptation To Climate Change In Coasts And Oceans: Literature Review, Policy Implications And Research Agenda, Charles S. Colgan

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Sea level rise and other effects of climate change on oceans and coasts around the world are major reasons to halt the emissions of greenhouse gases to the maximum extent. But historical emissions and sea level rise have already begun so steps to adapt to a world where shorelines, coastal populations, and economies could be dramatically altered are now essential. This presents significant economic challenges in four areas. (1) Large expenditures for adaptation steps may be required but the extent of sea level rise and thus the expenditures are unknowable at this point. Traditional methods for comparing benefits and costs ...