Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

Reconstruction Of Daily 30 M Data From Hj Ccd, Gf-1 Wfv, Landsat, And Modis Data For Crop Monitoring, Mingquan Wu, Xiaoyang Zhang, Wenjiang Huang, Zheng Niu, Changyao Wang, Wang Li, Pengyu Hao

GSCE Faculty Publications

With the recent launch of new satellites and the developments of spatiotemporal data fusion methods, we are entering an era of high spatiotemporal resolution remote-sensing analysis. This study proposed a method to reconstruct daily 30 m remote-sensing data for monitoring crop types and phenology in two study areas located in Xinjiang Province, China. First, the Spatial and Temporal Data Fusion Approach (STDFA) was used to reconstruct the time series high spatiotemporal resolution data from the Huanjing satellite charge coupled device (HJ CCD), Gaofen satellite no. 1 wide field-of-view camera (GF-1 WFV), Landsat, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Then, …

Spatial Analysis Of Distributions And Habitat Conditions Of Fallopia Japonica (Japanese Knotweed) Invasive Species Applying Unmanned Helicopter Remote Sensing, Jiazhen Zhang

Great Lakes Center Masters Theses

Abstract:

Fallopia japonica (Japanese knotweed) is a perennial herbaceous plant that is native to East Asia. It is considered as one of the worst invasive species worldwide because of its serious impact on biological diversity and human activities (Lowe et al., 2001). Once established, Japanese knotweed forms dense stands that shade and crowd out native plant species. The objectives of this research were to verify and confirm the distribution of Japanese knotweed as published online by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) – iMap and to identify the geographic areas of spreading and the local habitat conditions. In …

Delivering Green Streets: An Exploration Of Changing Perceptions And Behaviours Over Time Around Bioswales In Portland, Oregon, Glyn Everett, Jessica Lamond, Anita T. Morzillo, Annie Marissa Matsler, Faith Ka Shun Chan

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Green Infrastructure (GI) is an increasingly popular means of dealing with flooding and water quality issues worldwide. This study examines public perceptions of, and behaviour around, bioswales, which are a popular GI facility in the United States. Bioswales are highly visible interventions requiring support from residents and policy-makers to be implemented and maintained appropriately. To understand how the residents’ perceptions and attitudes might develop over time, we interviewed residents of Portland, Oregon, living near bioswales installed 1–2, 4–5 and 8–9 years ago, to determine awareness, understanding, and opinions about the devices. We found no consistent patterns across time periods, but …

Thermodynamic Modeling Of Aqueous Geochemistry Of Chlorine Salts: Application To Stability And Habitability Of Liquid Brines On Mars, Amira Elsenousy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The WCL (Wet Chemistry Lab) instrument on board the Mars’s Phoenix Lander has identified the soluble ionic composition of the soil at the landing site. Two important ions were detected at the landing site; perchlorates (ClO4-) with a concentration of ~ 2.4 wt% and chlorides (Cl-) with a concentration of 0.54 wt%. Between chloride and perchlorate ions three other oxidized ions exist and called chlorine ions: hypochlorite ClO - (ox. state +1), chlorite ClO2- (ox. state +3) and chlorate ClO3- (ox. state +5). These oxidized ions might be existed as intermediate species on the surface of Mars but remained undetected. …

Towards Systematic Selection Of Terrain- And Ground Cover-Specific Lidar Filtering Parameters, Vance Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurate automated classification of LiDAR point clouds is a well-known problem and proper parameterization of the classification algorithm is essential to creating useful bare-earth terrain models. Parameterization is particularly important in areas characterized by extremely low relief, such as the Little Red River Irrigation Project Area in central Arkansas. In this kind of landscape, analyses such as hydrological flow models are sensitive to small changes in the topography, and therefore prone to errors in the classification of the LiDAR point cloud and the digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from it. Developing effective project-specific parameters requires a high degree of knowledge …

Assessing The Risk Of West Nile Virus On The Age 65 And Older Population Segments In Fort Collins, Colorado, Richard Cornell

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

West Nile virus (WNV) is an arbovirus whose more severe, neurologic symptoms may include seizures, paralysis, or coma. Despite a variety of possible symptoms, most people do not realize they are infected with the virus with a majority of those infected not developing any symptoms. Members of the population aged 65 and older naturally experience reduced immunity to viruses as they get older. Exposure to West Nile virus can occur around one’s home, in a park, natural area, alongside a source of water, or even walking along a trail. Areas exist around town that present risks of being infected or …

Predicting Toucan Locations In Panama Using Arcgis, Daniel J. Herrera

Geography: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Toucans are omnivorous birds native to southern Latin America and South America. They are non-migratory, and their range is disputed among experts. In an attempt to develop a better understanding of the range and behavior of toucans, correlations between toucan presence and geographic features of the area were analyzed to create a location probability map.

Tracking Of Karst Contamination Using Alternative Monitoring Technologies: Hidden River Cave Kentucky, Caren Raedts, Christopher Smart

Sinkhole Conference 2015

Karst groundwater contamination presents great challenges for efficient monitoring because of rapid, discrete transport and the diversity of contaminants. Here a low cost approach is described and applied to Hidden River Cave, Kentucky, where a long history of contamination has been experienced. Local knowledge was acquired through informal interviews and coupled with observations of contaminant residues, faunal distributions and fluorescence spectra in the cave. The resulting patterns were interpreted using Google Earth and Street View to identify specific contaminant sources in the affected sub-catchment of the cave. Despite success in matching contaminant sources with the contamination history and pattern, the …

Modeling Vegetation Mosaics In Sub-Alpine Tasmania Under Various Fire Regimes, Gabriel I. Yospin, Samuel W. Wood, Andrés Holz, David M.J.S. Bowman, Robert E. Keane, Cathy Whitlock

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Western Tasmania, Australia contains some of the highest levels of biological endemism of any temperate region in the world, including vegetation types that are conservation priorities: fire-sensitive rainforest dominated by endemic conifer species in the genus Athrotaxis; and fire-tolerant buttongrass moorlands. Current management focuses on fire suppression, but increasingly there are calls for the use of prescribed fire in flammable vegetation types to manage these ecosystems. The long-term effects of climate and alternative management strategies on the vegetated landscape are unknown. To help identify controls over successional trajectories, we parameterized a spatially explicit landscape-scale model of vegetation and fire …

Short-Tailed Temperature Distributions Over North America And Implications For Future Changes In Extremes, Paul C. Loikith, J. David Neelin

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Some regions of North America exhibit nonnormal temperature distributions. Shorter-than-Gaussian warm tails are a special subset of these cases, with potentially meaningful implications for future changes in extreme warm temperatures under anthropogenic global warming. Locations exhibiting shorter-than-Gaussian warm tails would experience a greater increase in extreme warm temperature exceedances than a location with a Gaussian or long warm-side tail under a simple uniform warm shift in the distribution. Here we identify regions exhibiting such behavior over North America and demonstrate the effect of a simple warm shift on changes in extreme warm temperature exceedances. Some locations exceed the 95th percentile …

Evapotranspiration In The Nile Basin: Identifying Dynamics, Trends, And Drivers 2002-2011, H. Alemu, A. T. Kaptué, G. B. Senay, M. C. Wimberly, Geoffrey Henebry

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Analysis of the relationship between evapotranspiration (ET) and its natural and anthropogenic drivers is critical in water-limited basins such as the Nile. The spatiotemporal relationships of ET with rainfall and vegetation dynamics in the Nile Basin during 2002–2011 were analyzed using satellite-derived data. Non-parametric statistics were used to quantify ET-rainfall interactions and trends across land cover types and subbasins. We found that 65% of the study area (2.5 million km2) showed significant (p < 0.05) positive correlations between monthly ET and rainfall, whereas 7% showed significant negative correlations. As expected, positive ET-rainfall correlations were observed over natural vegetation, mixed croplands/natural vegetation, and croplands, with a few subbasin-specific exceptions. In particular, irrigated croplands, wetlands and some forests exhibited negative correlations. Trend tests revealed spatial clusters of statistically significant trends in ET (6% of study area was negative; 12% positive), vegetation greenness (24% negative; 12% positive) and rainfall (11% negative; 1% positive) during 2002–2011. The Nile Delta, Ethiopian highlands and central Uganda regions showed decline in ET while central parts of Sudan, South Sudan, southwestern Ethiopia and northeastern Uganda showed increases. Except for a decline in ET in central Uganda, the detected changes in ET (both positive and negative) were not associated with corresponding changes in rainfall. Detected declines in ET in the Nile delta and Ethiopian highlands were found to be attributable to anthropogenic land degradation, while the ET decline in central Uganda is likely caused by rainfall reduction.

Prescribed Fire Monitoring Report, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve 2014 (Iqcs Fire Number 285382, 285383, 266782, 285677), Sherry A. Leis, Sarah E. Hinman

United States National Park Service: Publications

Introduction

In 2014, the preserve’s federal and NGO partners conducted prescribed fires during March, April, and October that encompassed 8129.8 acres of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR). This was a unique burn year in that prescribed burns occurred in the spring, the traditional burn season, and the fall. Fall burns were conducted to support needed archaeological surveys as part of the environmental compliance for a symphony event scheduled for June 2015 at the preserve. Burns at TAPR were coordinated with local US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and various units of the National Park Service.

Burns …

Late Quaternary Speleogenesis And Landscape Evolution In A Tropical Carbonate Island: Pango La Kuumbi (Kuumbi Cave), Zanzibar, Nikos Kourampas, Ceri Shipton, William Mills, Ruth Tibesasa, Henrietta Horton, Mark Horton, Mary Prendergast, Alison Crowther, Katerina Douka, Patrick Faulkner, Llorenç Picornell, Nicole Boivin

International Journal of Speleology

Kuumbi Cave is one of a group of caves that underlie a flight of marine terraces in Pleistocene limestone in eastern Zanzibar (Indian Ocean). Drawing on the findings of geoarchaeological field survey and archaeological excavation, we discuss the formation and evolution of Kuumbi Cave and its wider littoral landscape. In the later part of the Quaternary (last ca. 250,000 years?), speleogenesis and terrace formation were driven by the interplay between glacioeustatic sea level change and crustal uplift at rates of ca. 0.10-0.20 mm/yr. Two units of backreef/reef limestone were deposited during ‘optimal’ (highest) highstands, tentatively correlated with MIS 7 and …

Quantifying Undisturbed Land In Minnesota's Prairie Coteau And Lac Qui Parle Valley Regions, Pete Bauman, Ben Carlson, Tanner Butler

Quantifying Undisturbed Lands in MInnesota's Prairie Coteau and Lac qui Parle Valley Regions

We employed simple GIS methods utilizing the Minnesota Farm Service Agency’s Common Land Unit (CLU) cropland data layer from 2013, along with 2013 USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) county mosaic aerial imagery, to evaluate over 5 million acres of land in 14 southwest Minnesota counties, including all or portions of 10 counties within the Minnesota portion of the Prairie Coteau region and the entirety of four counties in the Lac qui Parle region. We utilized the CLU cropland layer to first identify and remove any areas with a cropping history, regardless of current land use. We then analyzed the …

Transportation And Sanitation Drivers Of Land Use/Land Cover Change: Loss Of The Jamaica Bay Wetlands, Margaret Joy Cytryn

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an analysis (1830-2014) of the historical events of land use/land cover change in the Jamaica Bay estuary, identification of the agents of change, and a perspective on the potential drivers of transportation and sanitation in land use/land cover change.

A Critical Physical Geography Of Urban Soil Contamination, Nathan Mcclintock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Anthropogenic lead (Pb) is widespread in urban soils given its widespread deposition over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries via a range of point- and non-point sources, including industrial waste and pollution, leaded paint, and automobile exhaust. While soil scientists and urban ecologists have documented soil Pb contamination in cities around the world, such analyses rarely move beyond proximal mechanisms to focus on more distal factors, notably the social processes mediating Pb accumulation in particular places. In this paper, I articulate a critical physical geography of urban soil Pb contamination that considers the dialectical coproduction of soil and …

Pedestrian Exposure To Near-Roadway Pm2.5 In Mixed-Use Urban Corridors: A Case Study Of Omaha, Nebraska, Bradley Bereitschaft

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Compact, mixed-use, and pedestrian-oriented urban developments may offer numerous environmental and health benefits, yet they may also facilitate pedestrian exposure to air pollution within the near-roadway environment. This research examines ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) across six sites situated within central Omaha, Nebraska, a mid-sized metropolitan area located in the Midwest US. The sites ranged from a low-density, strip-mall development to moderate-density entertainment, commercial, and retail districts with varying degrees of horizontal and vertical mixed-use. Tracing approximately two kilometer routes along the sidewalk, factors affecting average and peak PM_2.5 concentrations at each site were identified …

Estimating Sediment And Nutrient Loading In The Davis Creek Watershed Using Soil And Water Assessment Tool (Swat), Fatma Ulku Karatas

Masters Theses

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a physically model to estimate impact of land cover on water, sediment, and agricultural chemical yields in large, complex yields in large, complex watersheds with fluctuating soils, land use, and management conditions for long periods of time. ln order to simulate the movement of sediment and nutrients, the Davis Creek Watershed is subdivided into 31 homogeneous sub basins, having unique soil and land use properties. The data for each subbasin is grouped into categories of land cover, soil, management within sub basin, draining the sub basin.

The objectives of this study are …

Spatial Patterns Of Drought Persistence In Xinjiang (A.R), China, Guzhaliayi Sataer

Masters Theses

Droughts have become one of the crucial hazards affecting Xinjiang, Northwest China, the biggest agricultural province and an important area for the grazing husbandry industry in China. Investigations about droughts in Xinjiang have been conducted from various perspectives by previous researchers. However, there are very few studies that focus on drought persistence and seasonal drought frequency. These issues are particularly important as they influence water resource management and forecasting, crop yields, agricultural development and energy consumption. Seasonal drought persistence describes how well drought conditions persist from one season to next season and is expressed as probability of persistence. In this …

Emissions From Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations During Wet And Dry Periods In The Southeastern United States, Jesse N. F. Winchester

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Air quality modeling is a recent development in atmospheric science dedicated to simulating the characteristics of surface emissions within the context of a variety of meteorological conditions. In western Kentucky, there are several concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that emit a variety of gases, including sulfur dioxide (SO₂). The hypothesis was that the concentration and spread of SO₂ emissions from these sources would differ between wet and dry periods over the CAFO locations. In this thesis, point emissions from locations representing CAFOs in western Kentucky and the transit of SO₂throughout the southeastern U.S. were simulated …

Assessing Mesoscale-Equivalent Temperature In Kentucky, Keri Younger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate mesoscale-equivalent temperatures (TE) in Kentucky and potential land cover influences. Kentucky presents a unique opportunity to perform a study of this kind because of the observational infrastructure provided by the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet.org). This network maintains 65 research-grade, in-situ weather and climate observing stations across the Commonwealth. Equivalent temperatures were calculated utilizing high-quality observations from 33 of these stations. In addition, the Kentucky Mesonet offers higher spatial and temporal resolution than previous research on this topic. As expected, the differences (TE-T) were greatest in summer (smallest in winter), with an average of …

Environmental Impact Of Conference Realignment, Bradley Farley

Masters Theses

Sports have a large impact on the environment. While leagues and teams are looking at improving their sustainability at stadiums, they also have increased their travel distances. NCAA Division I athletic conferences have recently endured conference realignments. This expanding geographic footprint of these conferences has led to teams having an increased travel distances for all sports. This research investigates the environmental impact of travel distances that conference realignment has had in NCAA Division I athletics, particularly regarding the Power 5 conferences carbon footprint. The research question examined is, based on travel distances, has the carbon footprint of the conferences changed …

The Demand For Change: A Study Of Recreational Amenities For Ramona Park, Nicholas K. Mucha

Masters Theses

For years, Ramona Park has been a summer destination spot for residents of the City of Portage. With beach access as well as picnic areas and playground structures, Ramona Park has offered visitors a place to beat the summer heat. This thesis looks at what priorities visitors have for potential future developments in the park. Park visitors were surveyed during the summer months of May, June, July, and August of 2014 to see what should be included in future developments of the park, and the potential impacts of those improvements on future park usage. Initial findings indicated that visitors are …

Recent Shoreline Erosion Rates Along Black River Bay, Jamaica: Erosion And Recovery After Hurricane Ivan In 2004, Karen Louise Zelzer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Rising sea level is threatening coastal areas, particularly those in the Caribbean which rely heavily on tourism and marine resources to support local economies. The purpose of this study is to analyze shoreline position along the south coast of Jamaica to determine the locations and rates of coastal change. IKONOS satellite imagery sets for 2003, 2007 and 2012 were used to monitor land use and shoreline changes along Black River Bay, including Galleon Beach Fish Sanctuary, in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. In particular, the effect of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 on shoreline changes was evaluated. Erosion rates were significantly higher during …

September 2013, Colorado Front Range Flooding, And Impacts On Agriculture And Irrigation Infrastructure: A Case Study In The Left Hand Ditch System, Boulder County, Colorado, Nick Ludolph

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Flooding can cause massive harm to the agricultural sector by flooding fields and damaging the infrastructure that is essential for agricultural activities. Crops are often lost and repairs may be necessary to restore irrigation systems to functional status. This research aims to quantify the damages and losses experienced from the unprecedented September 2013 flooding event in Boulder County Colorado’s Left Hand Ditch Company service area. Damages are cataloged and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies were used to estimate economic impact and determine the landscape characteristics of lands where the highest rates of flooding occurred. Alfalfa and non-alfalfa hays experienced the …

Mapping Ancient Baldcypress Forests For Conservation At Black River, North Carolina, Jordan Nichole Burns

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A few ancient baldcypress-bottomland hardwood forests survive across the southeastern United States in a mosaic of remnant old-growth stands left untouched by extensive logging during the early 20th century. Uncut stands in the Southeast that survived centuries of disturbance following European settlement tended to be too senescent and non-commercial to justify logging. Remnant ancient baldcypress forests at Black River, North Carolina, appear to contain the oldest living trees in eastern North America and The Nature Conservancy has protected several of these stands. However, the full extent of ancient bottomland forests along Black River is not known and many valuable tracts …

Comparative Geomatic Analysis Of Historic Development, Trends, And Functions Of Green Space In Kuwait City From 1982-2014, Yousif Abdullah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research assessed green space morphology in Kuwait City, explaining its evolution from 1982 to 2014, through the use of geo-informatics, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and cartography. This research examined archival and contemporary satellite images that show the distribution, size, amount, and type of green spaces in Kuwait City, within the framework of its surrounding urban, exurban, and suburban expansion, and landuse change. Through this integrated analysis, it was found that green space growth passed through three main stages: Early Stage, Growth Stage, and Stable Stage.

This study also examined the effective use of public parks and …

Sustainability Perceptions In The Brewing Industry: Regional/Regional Craft, Microbreweries And Brewpubs, William B. Pierson

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of this study is to identify sustainability perceptions within the US brewing industry. In 2014, we disseminated an online survey to all regional/regional craft breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs as identified by the Brewer's Association, 2012 (http://www.brewersassociation.org/). We employed statistical analysis to determine if there was a significant difference among the three categories of breweries found in urban and urban clusters regarding their self-assessment of sustainability. Findings indicate that regional/regional craft breweries and microbreweries tend to score higher in their self-assessment when compared to brewpubs.

Environmental Change And The Emergence Of New Livestock Production Systems In Central Gansu Province, China, Gregory Veeck

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA)

Post-2000 efforts to protect China’s grassland areas are distinct from earlier efforts in that funding for the most recent round of policies and programs is commensurate with the task. Among the most controversial of the current policies is the provision of an annual subsidy ranging from 2 yuan to 20 yuan/mu (1/15 hectare) to herders to not graze livestock contracted by their families for periods from 3-10 years. Many other recent policies, such as fencing programs and hunting and burning bans to protect keystone species are also controversial. Ideally, the policies are intended to protect grassland ecological systems while assuring …

Habitat Suitability Study Of Parcel In Gourdneck State Game Area For Downy Woodpeckers, Emma Fojtik

Honors Theses

This study examines the habitat suitability for Downy woodpecker for a parcel of land in Gourdneck State Game Area, Portage, Michigan. Land within the State Game Area has undergone habitat restoration from forest and shrub to savanna and prairie, intentionally excluding two parcels directly north of the restoration. This study took place on one of the excluded parcels. Using the Habitat Suitability Index Model produced by the Fish and Wildlife Service, basal area and number of snags within the study site were measured to determine suitability of the study site for Downy woodpeckers. Ten-1/10th acre sample plots were randomly chosen …