Spatiotemporal Variability Of Twenty‐First‐Century Changes In Site‐Specific Snowfall Frequency Over The Northwest United States, 2019 Portland State University
Spatiotemporal Variability Of Twenty‐First‐Century Changes In Site‐Specific Snowfall Frequency Over The Northwest United States, Arielle J. Catalano, Paul C. Loikith, C. M. Aragon
Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations
In the Northwest United States, warming temperatures threaten mountain snowpacks. Reliable projections of snowfall changes are therefore critical to anticipate the timeline of change. However, producing such projections is challenging, as most state‐of‐the‐art climate models are limited in sufficiently resolving influential topography. Here we leverage atmospheric freezing level to estimate precipitation phase and project twenty‐first‐century snowfall frequency change at Snowpack Telemetry Network stations across the Northwest. Under “moderate” and “business‐as‐usual” emission pathways in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 models, snowfall frequency is projected to decline at all stations. Business‐as‐usual declines accelerate after midcentury at most locations, whereas moderate declines …
Lidar-Based Sinkhole Detection And Mapping In Knox County, Tennessee, 2019 University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Lidar-Based Sinkhole Detection And Mapping In Knox County, Tennessee, J Clint Shannon, David Moore, Yingkui Li, Cathy Olsen
Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee
Sinkholes are one of the major causes of damage to roads, buildings, and other infrastructure throughout the US. Sinkholes near or on roads are especially costly and occasionally deadly. Knox County and much of East Tennessee are located within karst areas (comprised of porous and soluble limestone and dolomite), deeming it at risk for sinkholes. Currently, Knox County uses contour maps to manually identify sinkholes. Supported by a geographic information system (GIS), we developed a streamlined model to identify the locations and extents of potential sinkholes using 1.3-ft resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and applied it to the …
Modeling Fire Observations, Ignition Sources, And Novel Fuels To Understand Human Impacts On Fire Regimes Across The U.S., 2019 University of Massachusetts Amherst
Modeling Fire Observations, Ignition Sources, And Novel Fuels To Understand Human Impacts On Fire Regimes Across The U.S., Emily Fusco
Doctoral Dissertations
Fire is a natural, and necessary, component of many ecosystems. However, people are changing the spatial and temporal distribution of wildfires in the U.S. at great economic and ecological costs. My dissertation addresses the impacts of humans on U.S. fires both through the introduction of ignition sources and flammable grasses. Further, I evaluate fire datasets that are widely used to investigate these phenomena over large spatial and temporal scales. Finally, I create an aboveground carbon map that can be used to estimate the potential carbon loss consequences in western U.S. ecosystems most at risk to fire. My work shows that …
A Tourism Impact Index For Water-Based Natural Attractions Field-Tested In Subarctic And Maritime Climates, 2019 Western Kentucky University
A Tourism Impact Index For Water-Based Natural Attractions Field-Tested In Subarctic And Maritime Climates, Jason Fox
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Tourism in cold and cool-climate regions is largely characterized by recreational and sightseeing activities at water-based natural attractions such as beaches, coastal cliffs, and waterfalls. While the economic benefits of the tourism industry can contribute to a sustainable future for these regions, the environmental implications of a hastilydeveloped industry cannot be ignored given that cold-climate and cool-climate landscapes are at risk of rapid environmental change from a warming climate and other environmental concerns. This study consisted of the development of the Tourism Impact Index for Water-Based Natural Sites, the first of its kind, and its application and refinement in the …
Thousands Forced To Migrate As Sea Swallows Coastal Belt, 2019 Institute of Business Administration
Thousands Forced To Migrate As Sea Swallows Coastal Belt, Jahanzeb Tahir
MSJ Capstone Projects
Pakistan is one those tropical countries that faces a major climate change challenge. People are generally less concerned about the issue but a great effort is required to face this growing threat. Extreme weather events can already be seen. In 2015 more than 2000 people died because of heat wave which heat in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.
Karachi, the Arabian coastal region has area of approximately 3,640 km2. The impact of global warming can be measured in the coastal region as sea levels have risen by approximately 10 centimetres in the last century. The sea levels are expected …
Wyoming Wildlife: A Natural History, 2019 University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Wyoming Wildlife: A Natural History, Paul Johnsgard, Thomas D. Mangelsen
Zea E-Books Collection
This book surveys Wyoming’s mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian faunas. In addition to introducing the state’s geography, geology, climate, and major ecosystems, it provides 65 biological profiles of 72 mammal species, 195 profiles of 196 birds, 9 profiles of 12 reptiles, and 6 profiles of 9 amphibians. There are also species lists of Wyoming’s 117 mammals, 445 birds, 22 reptiles, and 12 amphibians. Also included are descriptions of nearly 50 national and state properties, including parks, forests, preserves, and other public-access natural areas in Wyoming. The book includes a text of more than 150,000 words, nearly 700 references, a glossary …
Bird Monitoring At Homestead National Monument Of America, Nebraska, Status Report 2009–2017, 2019 United States National Park Service, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network
Bird Monitoring At Homestead National Monument Of America, Nebraska, Status Report 2009–2017, David G. Peitz, Lloyd W. Morrison, Kristen L. Mecke
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
In 2009, the Heartland Inventory Monitoring Network initiated breeding bird surveys on Homestead National Monument of America, Nebraska, to address two objectives: (1) to monitor changes in bird community composition and abundance, and (2) to improve our understanding of relationships between breeding birds and habitat, and the effects of management actions on those relationships. This report evaluates trends in the park’s breeding bird populations in the context of trends observed within the North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s (NABCI) Central Mixed Grass Prairie Bird Conservation Region, the region in which the park is located. By doing so, we can …
Bird Monitoring At Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Iowa, Status Report 2005–2017, 2019 United States National Park Service Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network
Bird Monitoring At Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Iowa, Status Report 2005–2017, David G. Peitz, Lloyd W. Morrison, Kristen L. Mecke
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
In 2005, the Heartland Inventory & Monitoring Network initiated breeding bird surveys on Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Iowa, to address two objectives: (1) to monitor changes in bird community composition and abundance, and (2) to improve our understanding of relationships between breeding birds and habitat, and the effects of management actions on those relationships. This report evaluates trends in the park’s breeding bird populations in the context of trends observed within the North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s (NABCI) Eastern Tallgrass Prairie Bird Conservation Region , the region in which the park is located. By doing so, we …
The Long-Run Effects Of Tropical Cyclones On Infant Mortality, 2019 The University of San Francisco
The Long-Run Effects Of Tropical Cyclones On Infant Mortality, Isabel Miranda
Master's Theses
In the United States alone, each tropical cyclone causes an average of $14.6 billion worth of damages. In addition to the destruction of physical infrastructure, natural disasters also negatively impact human capital formation. These losses are often more difficult to observe, and therefore, are over looked when quantifying the true costs of natural disasters. One particular effect is an increase in infant mortality rates, an important indicator of a country’s general socioeconomic level. This paper utilizes a model created by Anttila-Hughes and Hsiang, that takes advantage of annual variation in tropical cyclones using annual spatial average maximum wind speeds and …
Determining The Effect Of Mission Design And Point Cloud Filtering On The Quality And Accuracy Of Sfm Photogrammetric Products Derived From Suas Imagery, 2019 Missouri State University
Determining The Effect Of Mission Design And Point Cloud Filtering On The Quality And Accuracy Of Sfm Photogrammetric Products Derived From Suas Imagery, Daniel Shay Hostens
MSU Graduate Theses
This research investigates the influence that various flight plan and mission design strategies for collecting small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) imagery have on the accuracy of the resulting three-dimensional models to find an optimal method to achieve a result. This research also explores the effect that using gradual selection to reduce the sparse point cloud has on product accuracy and processing details. Imagery was collected in the spring of 2018 during leaf-off conditions at six field sites along the North Fork of the White River. The aerial imagery was collected using a DJI Phantom Pro 4 sUAS. Four different image …
Circumpolar Status Of Arctic Ptarmigan: Population Dynamics And Trends, 2019 Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre
Circumpolar Status Of Arctic Ptarmigan: Population Dynamics And Trends, Eva Fuglei, John-Andre ́ Henden, Chris T. Callahan, Olivier Gilg, Jannik Hansen, Rolf A. Ims, Arkady P. Isaev, Johannes Lang, Carol L. Mcintyre, Richard A. Merizon, Oleg Y. Mineev, Yuri N. Mineev, Dave Mossop, Olafur K. Nielsen, Erlend B. Nilsen, Ashild Ønvik Pedersen, Niels Martin Martin, Benoıt Sittler, Maria Hørnell Willebrand, Kathy Martin
United States National Park Service: Publications
Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and willow ptarmigan (L. lagopus) are Arctic birds with a circumpolar distribution but there is limited knowledge about their status and trends across their circumpolar distribution. Here, we compiled information from 90 ptarmigan study sites from 7 Arctic countries, where almost half of the sites are still monitored. Rock ptarmigan showed an overall negative trend on Iceland and Greenland, while Svalbard and Newfoundland had positive trends, and no significant trends in Alaska. For willow ptarmigan, there was a negative trend in mid-Sweden and eastern Russia, while northern Fennoscandia, North America and Newfoundland had no significant trends. …
Assessing How Terrain Representations And Scale Affect The Accuracy Of Distance Estimates, 2019 University of New Mexico
Assessing How Terrain Representations And Scale Affect The Accuracy Of Distance Estimates, Kristian Mueller
Geography ETDs
Terrain is often displayed on maps either as background or foreground. Although terrain representations are ubiquitous, there is not a thorough understanding of map-readers’ cognition of geographic surfaces from various terrain representations. The research described in this thesis empirically assessed map users’ abilities at estimating straight-line distance using maps with two different types of terrain representations and at three different scales. The objective of this research was to assess how accurately map users estimate distance on the ground taking into account variations in elevation. Participant data in the form of demographics and distance estimates were statistically analyzed to determine if …
Homelessness In Portland, Oregon: An Analysis Of Homeless Campsite Spatial Patterns And Spatial Relationships, 2019 Portland State University
Homelessness In Portland, Oregon: An Analysis Of Homeless Campsite Spatial Patterns And Spatial Relationships, Krystle N. Harrell
Geography Masters Research Papers
Homelessness is a complex American social issue. Understanding the homeless population, including how many people experience homelessness, how they entered the experience, their demographics, how they survive, and where they survive, aids policymakers, planners, and advocates in developing the appropriate approaches and solutions to end and prevent homelessness. Analysis of homeless spatial patterns and distributions across different locales provides a more in-depth understandings of this population and how best to support them, from the local to national level. Using geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical methods, this study examines the spatial patterns of homeless campsites and their relationship with urban …
Stream Channel Monitoring In Northern Great Plains Network, Data Quality Standards, 2019 United States National Park Service, Northern Great Plains Network Inventory & Monitoring Program
Stream Channel Monitoring In Northern Great Plains Network, Data Quality Standards, Darren J. Thornbrugh
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to document the standards used by the Northern Great Plain Network (NGPN) for activities related to the collection, processing, storage, analysis, and publication of monitoring data as described in the Protocol implementation plan for stream channel monitoring in the Northern Great Plains Network: narrative version 1.0 (Thornbrugh et al. 2019). The plan also serves as a guide for all NGPN personnel who are involved in protocol/program activities and as a resource for identifying memoranda, publications, and other literature that describe associated techniques and requirements in more detail.
Detecting Coastal Marsh Change From Aerial Imagery Using Spectral And Textural Methods: Pascagoula River Estuary, Mississippi, 1955-2014, 2019 University of Southern Mississippi
Detecting Coastal Marsh Change From Aerial Imagery Using Spectral And Textural Methods: Pascagoula River Estuary, Mississippi, 1955-2014, Margaret Claire Bell Waldron
Master's Theses
As sea level rise accelerates, coastal marsh ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable. Vertical accretion rates must exceed or keep pace with rates of sea level rise to prevent transition to open water or inland migration of marsh vegetation. While some marsh systems along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast have remained stable, others, e.g., the marshes of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, have experienced high rates of conversion to open water. This study examined the historical extent of intertidal marsh at the mouth of the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, Mississippi to determine whether marsh extent changed during the period 1955-2014 and …
The Image From The Road: Towards Mapping The Phenomenological, 2019 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
The Image From The Road: Towards Mapping The Phenomenological, Rachel Anna Smith Loerts
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
An area of focus, used in early and contemporary forms of cognitive geography research, is the ‘cognitive map’, a concept that suggests “that people hold a map-like database in their minds to which they can add and use to tackle geographical tasks”. Kevin Lynch, an urban planner in the 1960s, was an early adopter of the cognitive map approach to reveal spatial cognition, what or how people see their environment, specifically cognition of the urban environment. Lynch’s research aimed to develop empirical methods, to identify how people make spatial relationships. Contemporary tools like machine learning are now considered relevant for …
Spreadsheets-In-Space: A Quantitative Exploration Of Movement, Currency Creation, And Conflict Within Eve Online, 2019 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Spreadsheets-In-Space: A Quantitative Exploration Of Movement, Currency Creation, And Conflict Within Eve Online, Christopher Alan Pryor
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
EVE Online is a massively-multiplayer online game with complex interactions between players and their unique, virtual environment. These relationships are the ongoing results of a conflict-driven economy, but they vary both in duration and by location.
This study attempts to quantify the direct effects of movement and indirect effects of conflict upon economic activity in the form of currency creation and delineate how successfully these relationships can be quantified by narrower time-spans and areas. Results of the mediation models used in this exploration indicate the changing relationship between movement (Ship Jumps), conflict (Ship Kills), and currency creation (Faction Kills) is …
Analysis And Conservation Of Native Forests At Kessler Mountain Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2019 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Analysis And Conservation Of Native Forests At Kessler Mountain Fayetteville, Arkansas, Alan James Edmondson
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Kessler Mountain in Fayetteville Arkansas has long been recognized for its beauty and natural resources. Parts of Kessler Mountain have been homesteaded and developed in the past, but most of the mountain has remained relatively undisturbed. The planned development of over 4,000 housing units to cover Kessler Mountain stimulated controversy and consideration of other management alternatives. A twist of fate involving an economic recession, a dedicated group of outdoor recreation enthusiasts, and environmental conservationists led to the permanent protection of 384 acres in the Kessler Mountain Regional Park. To help evaluate the natural resources at Kessler Mountain, forest composition, structure, …
Erosion And Storm Water Runoff: Spower Solar Farm Project: Watershed Environmental Analysis, 2019 University of Richmond
Erosion And Storm Water Runoff: Spower Solar Farm Project: Watershed Environmental Analysis, Stanford Lee
Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects
The University of Richmond has announced their partnership with sPower’s Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center that is to be developed in the next two years to contribute to their 2050 carbon neutrality goals. The university is supposed to have 20 MWs of the 500 MW solar development, which should produce enough energy to account for 100% of the electricity usage on campus. This will make the University of Richmond the first institution of higher education in the southeast to match 100% of its electricity needs with solar energy and will decrease the university’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60% (University of Richmond …
Shrinkage Of Tropical Glaciers In Peru, 2019 Ohio Wesleyan University
Shrinkage Of Tropical Glaciers In Peru, Ashley Mccracken
Student Symposium
Over the past few decades, global atmospheric temperatures have increased at an alarming rate, which has a significant impact on glaciated regions of the world. Tropical glaciers represent 1/6th of all the glaciers in the world and provide key water sources for many millions of inhabitants, including the Andes region of South America. Increasing temperatures and humidity due to anthropogenic climate change means there will be more rain and less snow, causing glaciers in the tropics to shrink – without the key inter-seasonal snow accumulation, many are expected to disappear within the next 60 years. Advances in satellite imagery allow …