Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

Quantifying Transit Access In New York City: Formulating An Accessibility Index For Analyzing Spatial And Social Patterns Of Public Transportation, Maxwell S. Siegel

Theses and Dissertations

This paper aims to analyze accessibility within New York City’s transportation system through creating unique accessibility indices. Indices are detailed and implemented using GIS, analyzing the distribution of transit need and access. Regression analyses are performed highlighting relationships between demographics and accessibility and recommendations for transit expansion are presented.

Observational Analysis Of Inter-Annual Boundary Layer Processes Within The Glaciated Llanganuco Valley, Peru, Jason Covert

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The tropical glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru are rapidly receding as a result of significant mass and energy imbalances caused by climate change. The glacier recession is raising concerns among the scientific community and those living in the Rio Santa Valley of Ancash, Peru due to the likely water shortages in the near future as a result of disappearing glaciers and the subsequent reduction of fresh water discharge. In response to the concern, much research has sought to constrain the atmospheric forcing of the glacier surface energy balance (SEB) in effort to model future glacier loss. There is little …

Using Residential Location To Assess The Environmental Value-Action Gap Of Students At James Madison University, Emma Rose Martin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study focuses on the environmental Value-Action Gap of students at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. This gap occurs when a person has pro-environmental beliefs but does not have congruent actions. Often, there are other factors apart from a person’s values that influence his/her willingness to participate in eco-friendly behavior (Howell 2013). For this study, the factor of influence being addressed is location. When students live on-campus at JMU they are surrounded by ‘green’ initiatives. Understanding the diffusion of environmental behavior from on-campus living to off-campus living is important because the majority of a JMU student’s residency is …

Aquifer Vulnerability Modeling In New Jersey Through The Use Of Modified Drastic Methodology, Clement Uduk, Tanja Hopmans

Student Research Symposium

Due to the global average increase in temperature over the last 50 years, sea levels have been rising and making coastal aquifers more susceptible to saltwater intrusion. The average rate of sea level rise has increased from 2 mm/year to 3.5 mm/year during the twentieth century. The state of New Jersey is not only densely populated but the development along coastlines makes inundation a potential serious threat. New Jersey is diverse in aquifer types, in addition to the types of water bodies surrounding New Jersey, and makes for an interesting case study for groundwater vulnerability. The EPA has a universal …

Renewable Energy Matters: Small Hydel Power And Sustainability In India, Madhu N. Rao

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Shared Perspectives Of Divided Space: Perceptions Of The Urban Environment Among Jerusalemites, Andie Duplantis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multidisciplinary research and philosophical discourse have long explored the complex relationship between the objective environment and subjective human perception. No two humans perceive, experience, and form attitudes about the same phenomenon in exactly the same way. Individual demographics (sex, age) and group identity (culture, religion, ethnicity, political ideology) have been shown to have a profound effect on perception of phenomena; research has also focused on the effect of the physical environment itself. Differences in perception, experience, and resulting behavior have great implications for governance, particularly in regards to planning and development. Recognizing these differences, modern urban planning increasingly seeks to …

Dating Late Quaternary Alluvial Fills In The Platte River Valley Using Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating, Jacob C. Bruihler

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alluvial fills underlying the Platte River Valley in Nebraska record the geologic history of the Platte River in the late Quaternary. This study investigated the alluvium underlying the valley near the cities of North Platte and Kearney, Nebraska. Data obtained from sediment cores drilled in the alluvial deposits was used to investigate the changes in Platte River dynamics on a glacial – interglacial timescale. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating was used to determine burial ages of recovered sediments and to quantify the thicknesses of the late Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial fills at each study area. Our geochronology depicts considerable differences …

Relationship Between Lidar-Derived Canopy Layering And Rainfall Redistribution In Forests Varies With Scale, Daniel Cirincione

GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium

Forest canopy can reduce precipitation reaching the ground by up to 50% through interception, storage, and evaporation of droplets from leaf and bark surfaces. This process, called "interception loss," impacts runoff, recharge, flood flashiness, erosion, etc., and cost of stormwater management. It is not well understood how canopy structure affects interception loss, particularly in urban forests. This research addresses this issue by monitoring interception loss variables for a common south eastern US tree species (slash pine) across a natural-to-urban gradient in forest structure. This study considers three different sites to obtain the natural-to-urban gradient. Two of those sites are at …

Atlanta Greenspace, Travis Robinson

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2011-2015 Summary Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Christopher J. Davis

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Program and Fire Effects Program have been monitoring vegetation in Agate Fossil Beds National Monument for over 18 years. While methods have changed slightly, this report summarizes data from over 80 locations from 1998-2015. We use these data to explore status and trends in upland and riparian plant communities, the occurrence of rare plants, and the effects of the Fossil Hills trail installation on the surrounding vegetation. A summary of the current condition (2011-2015) and trends (based on 1998-2015) in plant communities at Agate Fossil Beds NM (AGFO) is found in …

A General Method To Normalize Landsat Reflectance Data To Nadir Brdf Adjusted Reflectance, David P. Roy, Hankui Zhang, Junchang Ju, Jose Luis Gomez-Dans, Philip E. Lewis, Crystal Barker B. Schaaf, Qingsong Sun, Jian Li, Haiyan Huang, V. Kovalskyy

GSCE Faculty Publications

The Landsat satellites have been providing spectacular imagery of the Earth's surface for over 40 years. However, they acquire images at view angles ±7.5° from nadir that cause small directional effects in the surface reflectance. There are also variations with solar zenith angle over the year that can cause apparent change in reflectance even if the surface properties remain constant. When Landsat data from adjoining paths, or from long time series are used, a model of the surface anisotropy is required to adjust all Landsat observations to a uniform nadir view (primarily for visual consistency, vegetation monitoring, or detection of …

A Comparison Of Multiple Datasets For Monitoring Thermal Time In Urban Areas Over The U.S. Upper Midwest, Cole Krehbiel, Geoffrey M. Henebry

GSCE Faculty Publications

Traditional studies of urban climate used air temperature observations from local urban/rural weather stations in order to analyze the general pattern of higher temperatures in urban areas compared with corresponding rural regions, also known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. More recently, satellite remote sensing datasets of land surface temperature have been exploited to monitor UHIs. While closely linked, air temperature and land surface temperature (LST) observations do not measure the same variables. Here we analyze land surface temperature vs.air temperature-based characterization and seasonality of the UHI and the surface UHI (SUHI) from 2003 to 2012 over the …

They Come Like The Clouds: Governing The Mountainous Periphery, Jared Sousa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper addresses the extension of governmental power into the mountainous periphery of the village of Dho Tarap in the Dolpa District of Nepal. New technologies, new markets, and new social dynamics are penetrating the Himalaya and reshaping the connections that mountain people have to the outside world. In this context of connectivity and modernity, the people of Dho Tarap are also being thrust into far closer proximity to the Nepali government. After a series of geopolitical moves in Nepal and China in the 1960s, Dho Tarap as part of an isolated border region has been a part of a …

One Year Later: The Politics And Stories Of Post-Earthquake Nepal, Boyer Andrew

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25^th, 2015. This was followed by a second major earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on May 12^th , 2015. These disasters took the lives of thousands of Nepali people, destroyed hundreds of thousands of structures, and displaced an estimated two million people. Immediately following the disaster, there was an outpouring of humanitarian aid from around the world. This lead to a conference where $4.1 billion USD of reconstruction funds were pledged to Nepal by international donors. Five months later, a new constitution passed into law and an informal blockade of …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2011-2015 Summary Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Christopher J. Davis

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Program and Fire Effects Program have been monitoring vegetation in Scotts Bluff National Monument for over 18 years. While methods have changed slightly, this report summarizes data from over 80 locations from 1998-2015. Below, we list the questions we asked using these data and provide a summarized answer. For more details see the full report. A summary of the current condition (2011-2015) and trends (based on 1988-2015) in plant communities at Scotts Bluff is found in Table ES-1.

1. What is the current status of plant community composition and structure of …

Air Quality Related Values (Aqrvs) For Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn) Parks, Effects From Ozone; Visibility Reducing Particles; And Atmospheric Deposition Of Acids, Nutrients And Toxics, Timothy J. Sullivan

United States National Park Service: Publications

Summary

This report describes the Air Quality Related Values (AQRVs) of the Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN). AQRVs are those resources sensitive to air quality and include streams, lakes, soils, vegetation, fish and wildlife, and visibility. This report also describes air pollutant emissions and air quality in NGPN, and their effects on AQRVs. The primary pollutants likely to affect AQRVs include nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) compounds (nitrate [NO₃^-], ammonium [NH₄⁺], and sulfate [SO₄^2-]); ground-level ozone (O₃); haze-causing particles; and airborne toxics.

The 13 parks that are included in …

A Green Leap Forward Eco State Restructuring And The Tianjin Binhai Eco City Model, I-Chun Chang, Helga Leitner, Eric Sheppard

I-Chun Catherine Chang

Coupling Community Preferences With Hydrologic Evaluation Of Low Impact Development Implementation In An Urban Watershed, Corinna M. Fleischmann, Carol Atkinson-Palombo, Joseph T. Bushey, Eric D. Jackson, David W. Payne

Suburban Sustainability

Stormwater runoff, and its associated pollutants, is a major problem in urban watersheds where the runoff is either channeled into surface water bodies or wastewater treatment plants. One emerging Best Management Practice (BMP) to control stormwater runoff is low impact development (LID). The EPA Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) was used to evaluate the hydrologic effectiveness at a watershed scale of five LID technologies (vegetated swales, bioretention cells, porous pavement, rain barrels and tree boxes) in an existing, typical urban watershed. As implementation focused on public transportation areas, hydrologic effectiveness of runoff reduction was assessed as a function of roadway length: …

Cruising The Canal: A Methodological Approach To Assessing Trail Conditions Along The Hennepin Canal Parkway, Alyssa Clarida

Geography: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Trail conditions in the United States are degrading and trail systems do not receive enough funding to repair them in a timely manner. Park managers often conduct trail assessments to collect trail condition data. They use this data to make timely and judicious decisions regarding trail repairs. However, many trail assessments are time consuming, costly, and require high levels of expertise. This project creates a trail assessment methodology that can be applied to a trail with limited funds. The final methodology was efficient, succinct, accurate, and simple to conduct. It uses a problem based methodology where every instance of degradation …

Supporting New England Communities To Become River-Smart: Policies And Programs That Can Help New England Towns Thrive Despite River Floods, Eve Vogel, Et. Al.

Water Reports

This report aims to help New England’s communities and their residents, as well as the governments thatserve them, to better deal with and adjust to riverfloods. It points to practical policy solutions at federal, state and regional levels that can support NewEngland communities to become what we call river-smart.