Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

The Changing Contexts And Transboundary Dynamics Of Reconciling Conservation And Development In The Amazon Borderlands, David S. Salisbury, Jorge Vela Alvarado, Cloe R. Franko

Geography and the Environment Poster Presentations

The 12,000 kilometers of international boundaries within the Amazon’s lowland rainforest biome form the axis of a borderland region shared by the nine states of Amazonia (Figure 1). These Amazon borderlands contain high concentrations of conservation units and indigenous territories to preserve the transboundary region’s rich ecological and cultural diversity (Figures 2 & 3). However, this biocultural diversity is increasingly threatened by advancing development frontiers and a growing global demand for Amazonian resources.

United States Land Cover Land Use Change, Albedo And Radiative Forcing: Past And Potential Climate Implications, Christopher A. Barnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Land Cover Land Use (LCLU) change affects Earth surface properties including albedo that impose a radiative forcing on the climate. Recent spatially explicit satellite derived contemporary LCLU, albedo, and projected LCLU data are used to study the impact of LCLU change from 1973 to 2000, and from 2000 to 2050, on albedo and surface radiative forcing for the conterminous United States. Four research hypotheses concerned with past and potential future climate implications of LCLU change are addressed. The research described in this dissertation makes an important contribution to advancing understanding of the role of LCLU change on the climate system, …

Tracking Bare Sand Mobilization Arising From Landscape Manipulations In The Grasslands Destabilization Experiment (Gdex) In The Nebraska Sandhills Using Imaging Spectroscopy, Benjamin Helder

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Grassland Destabilization Experiment (GDEX) is a landscape scale manipulative experiment initiated in 2004 in the Nebraska Sandhills to evaluate changes in surface properties following the abrupt loss of stabilizing vegetation. The GDEX features five treatments allocated among ten plots of 120 m in diameter (1.13 ha). The Aggressive Bare Sand protocol included chemical defoliation and subsequent shallow disking and raking in 2004 to devegetate the plot with periodic physical disturbance to maintain bare sand. The Long Term Disturbance (Press) protocol includes an initial chemical defoliation in May 2005 and seasonal spring reapplications, but no physical disturbance. Short Term Disturbance …

Combining A Dispersal Model With Network Theory To Assess Habitat Connectivity, Todd R. Lookingbill, Robert H. Gardner, Joseph R. Ferrari, Cherry E. Keller

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Assessing the potential for threatened species to persist and spread within fragmented landscapes requires the identification of core areas that can sustain resident populations and dispersal corridors that can link these core areas with isolated patches of remnant habitat. We developed a set of GIS tools, simulation methods, and network analysis procedures to assess potential landscape connectivity for the Delmarva fox squirrel (DFS; Sciurus niger cinereus), an endangered species inhabiting forested areas on the Delmarva Peninsula, USA. Information on the DFS’s life history and dispersal characteristics, together with data on the composition and configuration of land cover on the peninsula, …

Using Conservative And Biological Tracers To Better Understand The Transport Of Agricultural Contaminants From Soil Water Through The Epikarstic Zone, Brian Ham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Agriculture contamination is very common in karst systems due to the vulnerability of these aquifers. Animal waste is often spread across crop land to enrich the soil with nitrates and phosphates. Herbicides and pesticides are also applied to the crops. The transport of these pollutants through the soil and epikarst is a difficult process to monitor due to the complex, heterogeneous behavior of the groundwater as it makes its way down to the aquifer below.

An experimental site at Crumps Cave lended a unique opportunity to monitor the vadose zone at a waterfall in the cave below. A previous dye …

A Gis Analysis On Possible Photovoltaic Cell Use For Energy Reduction During Peak Hours In Huntington, West Virginia, James Eric Tadlock

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Solar panels are one of the fastest growing renewable energy technologies. This study aims to identify to what extent roof-mounted solar panels can reduce the need of power provided by Appalachian Power Company. Data from the Reliability First Corporation was employed to determine the individual average household power usage. Three study areas in Huntington, West Virginia, were selected to determine if solar panels could be implemented. Roofs in the study areas were digitized to calculate the available area. Based on the average household usage, four different sized photovoltaic systems were determined. Potential power production was computed to identify any offset …

A Cluster Identification Framework Illustrated By A Filtering Model For Earthquake Occurrences, Zhengxiao Wu

Research Collection School of Economics

A general dynamical cluster identification framework including both modeling and computation is developed.The earthquake declustering problem is studied to demonstrate how this framework applies.A stochastic model is proposed for earthquake occurrences that considers the sequence of occurrencesas composed of two parts: earthquake clusters and single earthquakes. We suggest that earthquake clusterscontain a “mother quake” and her “offspring.” Applying the filtering techniques, we use the solution offiltering equations as criteria for declustering. A procedure for calculating maximum likelihood estimations(MLE’s) and the most likely cluster sequence is also presented.

A Plotless Density Estimator Based On The Asymptotic Limit Of Ordered Distance Estimation Values, Barry Kronenfeld

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Estimation of tree density from point-tree distances is an attractive option for quick inventory of new sites, but estimators that are unbiased in clustered and dispersed situations have not been found. Noting that bias of an estimator derived from distances to the kth nearest neighbor from a random point tends to decrease with increasing k, a method is proposed for estimating the limit of an asymptotic function through a set of ordered distance estimators. A standard asymptotic model is derived from the limiting case of a clustered distribution. The proposed estimator is evaluated against 13 types of simulated generating processes, …

A Plotless Density Estimator Based On The Asymptotic Limit Of Ordered Distance Estimation Values, Barry J. Kronenfeld

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Estimation of tree density from point-tree distances is an attractive option for quick inventory of new sites, but estimators that are unbiased in clustered and dispersed situations have not been found. Noting that bias of an estimator derived from distances to the kth nearest neighbor from a random point tends to decrease with increasing k, a method is proposed for estimating the limit of an asymptotic function through a set of ordered distance estimators. A standard asymptotic model is derived from the limiting case of a clustered distribution. The proposed estimator is evaluated against 13 types of simulated generating processes, …

Comparing Pixel- And Object-Based Classification Methods For Determining Land-Cover In The Gee Creek Watershed, Washington, Tyler Vick

Geography Masters Research Papers

This study analyzes land-cover types in the Gee Creek Watershed of southern Washington using the pixel-based and object-based image analysis approaches. Landsat imagery has traditionally been used for pixel-based classification and change detection in land-cover studies. In recent years, the availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery have enabled for land-cover classification to occur at scales not possible using traditional Landsat imagery. High-resolution aerial imagery of 1 meter or greater has become readily available for free. Yet, commonly found black and white (or panchromatic) aerial imagery is without the multiple spectrum bands found in Landsat imagery, thereby limiting the accuracy …

Characterization And Analysis Of Hailstorms In The Northern Great Plains, Thomas Sando

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Hail is a meteorological occurrence that appears frequently during spring and summer across the Northern Great Plains. This paper first characterizes patterns associated with reported hail events occurring within a five-state region (North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska) from 2000-2006 using records taken from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Severe Storms database. Patterns of interest include the seasonality of hail activity for each state and across the region, observational bias in the reporting of hailstone size, and temporal trends in the number of hail reports across the region and in each state. This paper then explores a …

Gis Aided Archaeological Research Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas With Focus On The Landscape And River Crossings Along El Camino Carretera., Jeffrey M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Many generations of indigenous pathways through the forests of eastern Texas have their origins obscured in antiquity. Utilized by early European explorers, these pathways became modified through heavy use and the expansions and improvements needed to accommodate easy passage of European horses and carts and finally the heavy wagons of Anglo-American settlers. The first road through Texas, El Camino Real de Los Tejas, utilized portions of these early trails.

El Camino Carretera (known as the cart road) is an early segment of El Camino Real de los Tejas that crossed the Sabine River at the boundary between Texas and Louisiana. …

Estimation Of The Effects Of Vegetation On Local Climate Using Gis And Remote Sensing Data, Won Hoi Hwang

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

As one of the effective methods to control urban temperatures, the effects of trees and other vegetation have come into focus. Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing data, Digital Orthophoto Quarter-Quadrangle (DOQQ) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (Landsat TM), have been applied in this study to analyze the UHI. The effect of road-side trees on local micro-climate was examined with in-situ temperature measurement and simulated shade. Regression analyses revealed significant negative slopes for all time periods. This trend continued throughout the entire night until sunrise the next morning. The relationship between thermal patterns and vegetation distributions was investigated using the …

Biodiversity In Space And Time: Towards A Grid Mapping For Mongolia, Michael Stubbe, Annegret Stubbe, Henrik Von Wehrden, Nayamsuren Batsaikhan, Ravčigijn Samjaa

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In the future, grid mapping of animal and plant organisms will also play a major role in Mongolia. Based on geographical coordinates, a grid with a resolution of 100 x 100 km was created, which contained 561 cells. Methods and level of current understanding are exemplified by means of two raptors and three mammal species. This establishes a basis for an initial project, which will summarize all breeding occurrences of raptors based on all records, publications, or diary notes. For the first time, the short toed eagle was verified in Mongolia as a breeding bird in 2004. By 2006, ten …

An Assessment Of The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Upper Clackamas River Basin With A Distributed Hydrologic Model, David Graves

Dissertations and Theses

The Pacific Northwest is dependent on seasonal snowmelt for water resources that support a significant portion of its economy. Increased temperatures resulting from higher concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases may cause disruptions to these resources because of reductions in the annual snowpack and variations of the timing of snowmelt. This study reconstructs and applies a GIS-based distributed hydrologic model at a monthly scale to assess the effects of future climate change on runoff from the Upper Clackamas River Basin (located near Portland, Oregon). Historic flow data and snow measurements are used to calibrate and test the performance of the hydro …

Methods For Correcting Topographically Induced Radiometric Distortion On Landsat Thematic Mapper Images For Land Cover Classification, David Michael Rosen

Geography Masters Research Papers

Satellite imagery is commonly used to study land-use, land-cover change in mountainous areas. Classification of land-cover types is particularly difficult in this type of terrain because topography affects the spectral response of surface features. Several techniques have been developed to help compensate for this topographic effect and to increase classification accuracy.

The purpose of this study is to compare topographic correction methods to determine which produces the most accurate results. Method 1 does not use any topographic correction, serving as a control. Method 2 is based on the Lambertian model, and uses topographical data as variables in an equation. Method …

A Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Conifers Using Remote Sensing And Gis, Michael Koon

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Two sets of remotely sensed images, 1986 Landsat Multispectral Scanner and a 2000 Landsat Thematic Mapper +, were used in a change detection study to determine decline and growth of conifers in Grant and Tucker Counties. The images were registered, preprocessed for atmospheric effects, ratioed using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and categorized. A thematic change calculation was performed indicating growth and decline of vegetation. The resulting information was combined with ancillary data for GIS spatial analysis. The results showed an overall increase in vegetation and specifically on abandoned mine lands. Statistical tests showed decline occurred on steeper slopes, but was …

Bear River Watershed, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

A map outlining the drainage basin of the Bear River, Utah with topography and a satellite image as the base layers. This was produced by the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory, Department of Wildland Resources, Quinney College of Natural Resources in support of research conducted by faculty in the Department of Environment and Society in the same college.

Utah's Southwest, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

This map of Utah's Southwest features a cartographic illustration created by draping four cross-blended hypsometric tint ramps over a grayscale hillshade. A hypsometric tint ramp is essentially a blend of one or more colors that is associated with an elevation range. A cross-blended hypsometric tint derived image consists of two or more color ramps with at least one ramp presenting the terrain in a "dry" condition and the other in a "moist" or vegetated condition. The addition of a satellite image derived vegetation index allows vegetation colors to appear where the terrain is vegetated irrespective of elevation.

Circulation Mapping Of The North Atlantic Ocean During The 1990'S And From 1974 To 1984 As Determined From The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (Woce) Eulerian Current Meter Moorings, Roger Palmini

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Study of the ocean presents many challenges due to its vast size and the difficulty in representing such a system with the availability of few data measurements. The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) is the largest oceanographic experiment ever conducted. Data collection has been completed and we are now in the analysis, interpretation, modeling and synthesis phases (AIMS). An analysis and interpretation of the North Atlantic Ocean was conducted using a subset of the WOCE data. In the pre-WOCE period between Apr-11-74 and Sep-03-84 a total of 272 records were obtained having a spatial range of 23.2˚- 60.2˚N and …

Canyonlands National Park, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Satellite image map of Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Gis Modeling Of Desert Root Crop Maturation On The Mid-Columbia Plateau, Mary Michelle Phillips

All Master's Theses

The settlement patterns of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Columbia Plateau were choreographed to match the cadence of the seasons, with movements timed to efficiently utilize available resources. Desert roots, such as lomatium and bitterroot, provided a primary source of dietary nutrition, yet the ideal conditions for exploiting these plant resources coalesced for a very limited time in any one location. It was therefore necessary to possess an intimate knowledge of the plants' lifecycles in order to effectively plan gathering activities. In order to predict the growth patterns and maturation rates of these desert root crops, a GIS model was …

Great Salt Lake Watershed, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

A map outlining the drainage basin of the Great Salt Lake, Utah with shaded topography as the base layer. This was produced by the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory, Department of Wildland Resources, Quinney College of Natural Resources.

Spectral Response And Spatial Pattern Of Fraser Fir Mortality And Regeneration, Great Smoky Mountains, Usa, Thomas R. Allen

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

High elevation Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) forests of the Southern Appalachians have undergone widespread mortality since the introduction of the balsam woolly adelgid in the 1950s. Resulting changes in ecosystem pattern and process (e.g., stand dynamic processes) have greatly affected floral and faunal communities. In this project, we integrated field observations, geographic information system topographic models, and 1988–1998 satellite imagery to analyze spatial and temporal conditions of Fraser fir and spruce-fir ecosystems in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Tasseled cap indices (brightness, greenness, and wetness) and associated spectral changes for Landsat TM digital data were statistically modeled by …

Visualizing Uncertainty Of The Great Plains Boundary, Sonja Lynn Rossum

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Geographic regions all have some degree of uncertainty, though this is seldom represented on their maps. The Great Plains is an excellent example of how even a well known and widely accepted region can be a source of cartographic confusion. This region is fuzzy in nature, with few landforms or sharp changes in characteristics to help locate the boundary line. Also, the act ofregionalization itself is a highly subjective process, using defining criteria and methods of mapping selected by the cartographer.

The uncertainty of the Great Plains boundary location is shown by comparing many such interpretations from individual cartographers, all …

Mojave Desert - Land Ownership And Administration, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey, Alan Falconer

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior.

Cartography and image processing by:

Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory

Department of Geography and Earth Resources

College of Natural Resources

Utah State University

Logan, Utah 84322–5240

Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998.

Land ownership compiled from 1:100,000-scale Bureau of Land Management Surface Management Status maps.

Populated places produced from USGS Geographic Names Information System.

Roads and water bodies produced from USGS 1:100,000-scale Digital Line Graph data.

Project boundary based on the …

Mojave Desert - Shaded Relief, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey, Alan Falconer

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program

under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior.

Cartography and image processing by:

Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory

Department of Geography and Earth Resources

College of Natural Resources

Utah State University

Logan, Utah 84322–5240

Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998.

Shaded Relief derived from U.S> Geological Survey (USGS) National Elevation Database.

Solar elevation 25°, azimuth 315°, exaggeration 5x, ambient light 0.5

Land ownership compiled from 1:100,000-scale Bureau of Land Management Surface Management Status maps.

Populated places produced from USGS …

Mojave Desert - Satellite Image Map, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey, Alan Falconer

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior.

Cartography and image processing by:

Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory

Department of Geography and Earth Resources

College of Natural Resources

Utah State University

Logan, Utah 84322–5240

Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998.

Image map produced from 15 Landsat Thematic Mapper images recorded from 1991–1993, provided by U.S.

Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the Multi–Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium Activities.

Bands 7, 4, 2. Simulated natural color composite.

Land ownership compiled from …

Holocene Fluctuations Of The Coe Glacier, Mount Hood, Oregon, Karl Douglas Lillquist

Dissertations and Theses

Numerous moraines front the Coe Glacier on the north side of Mount Hood, Oregon. These moraines were identified and dated using a multiple methodology approach in order to establish a chronology for the advances and stillstands of the Coe Glacier. This chronology was compared to chronologies established for other glaciers on Mount Hood, North Sister, Mount Rainier and Mount Baker as well as glaciers in Scandinavia. The chronology was also compared to a long term temperature record from Longmire, Washington.

The maximum identified extent of the pre-Little Ice Age Coe Glacier was indicated by moraines located at an elevation of …

A User's Manual For: A Clear Sky Solar Radiation Generator For The Personal Computer, Keith R. Mountain, Richard Lycan

Occasional Papers in Geography

Occasional Papers in Geography Publication No. 3

This program is primarily designed as an interactive instructional aid for students concerned with select aspects of shortwave radiation climatology. On the basis of user supplied temporal and geographic information the algorithm will produce instantaneous values of diffuse, direct, global, reflected, net shortwave and extraterrestrial radiation. Daily totals are also generated by numerical approximation of the area under the curve as described by each of these quantities. In addition, an optional routine to compute the instantaneous values of solar elevations and azimuths is included to further define the nature of astronomical relationships for …