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Landsat satellite images showing a side-by-side comparison of southern Pakistan in August 2021 (one year before the floods) and August 2022 (right), Images from The Conversation

How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes

How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes

Over 8,000 satellites are orbiting Earth today, capturing images like this, of the Louisiana coast.
NASA Earth Observatory

Qiusheng Wu, University of Tennessee

If you want to track changes in the Amazon rainforest, see the full expanse of a hurricane or figure out where people need help after a disaster, it’s much easier to do with the view from a satellite orbiting a few hundred miles above Earth.

Traditionally, access to satellite data has been limited to researchers and professionals with expertise in remote sensing and image processing. However, the increasing availability of open-access data from government satellites such as Landsat and Sentinel, and free cloud-computing resources such as Amazon Web Services, Google Earth Engine and Microsoft Planetary Computer, have made it possible for just about anyone to gain insight into environmental changes underway.

I work with geospatial big data as a professor. Here’s a quick tour of where you can find satellite images, plus some free, fairly simple tools that anyone can use to create time-lapse animations from satellite images.

For example, state and urban planners – or people considering a new home – can watch over time how rivers have moved, construction crept into wildland areas or a coastline eroded.

A squiggly river moves surprisingly quickly over time.
Landsat time-lapse animations show the river dynamics in Pucallpa, Peru.
Qiusheng Wu, NASA Landsat
Animation shows the shoreline shrinking.
A Landsat time-lapse shows the shoreline retreat in the Parc Natural del Delta, Spain.
Qiusheng Wu, NASA Landsat

Environmental groups can monitor deforestation, the effects of climate change on ecosystems, and how other human activities like irrigation are shrinking bodies of water like Central Asia’s Aral Sea. And disaster managers, aid groups, scientists and anyone interested can monitor natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and wildfires.

The lake, created by damming the river, has shrunk over time.
GOES images show the decline of the crucial Colorado River reservoir Lake Mead since the 1980s and the growth of neighboring Las Vegas.
Qiusheng Wu, NOAA GOES
A volcanic eruption bursts into view.
A GOES satellite time-lapse shows the Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption on Jan. 15, 2022.
Qiusheng Wu, NOAA GOES

Putting Landsat and Sentinel to work

There are over 8,000 satellites orbiting the Earth today. You can see a live map of them at keeptrack.space.

Some transmit and receive radio signals for communications. Others provide global positioning system (GPS) services for navigation. The ones we’re interested in are Earth observation satellites, which collect images of the Earth, day and night.

Landsat: The longest-running Earth satellite mission, Landsat, has been collecting imagery of the Earth since 1972. The latest satellite in the series, Landsat 9, was launched by NASA in September 2021.

In general, Landsat satellite data has a spatial resolution of about 100 feet (about 30 meters). If you think of pixels on a zoomed-in photo, each pixel would be 100 feet by 100 feet. Landsat has a temporal resolution of 16 days, meaning the same location on Earth is imaged approximately once every 16 days. With both Landsat 8 and 9 in orbit, we can get a global coverage of the Earth once every eight days. That makes comparisons easier.

Landsat data has been freely available to the public since 2008. During the Pakistan flood of 2022, scientists used Landsat data and free cloud-computing resources to determine the flood extent and estimated the total flooded area.

Images show how the flood covered about a third of Pakistan.
Landsat satellite images showing a side-by-side comparison of southern Pakistan in August 2021 (one year before the floods) and August 2022 (right)
Qiusheng Wu, NASA Landsat

Sentinel: Sentinel Earth observation satellites were launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Copernicus program. Sentinel-2 satellites have been collecting optical imagery of the Earth since 2015 at a spatial resolution of 10 meters (33 feet) and a temporal resolution of 10 days.

GOES: The images you’ll see most often in U.S. weather forecasting come from NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, or GOES. They orbit above the equator at the same speed Earth rotates, so they can provide continuous monitoring of Earth’s atmosphere and surface, giving detailed information on weather, climate, and other environmental conditions. GOES-16 and GOES-17 can image the Earth at a spatial resolution of about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) and a temporal resolution of five to 10 minutes.

Animation showing swirling clouds off the coast and the long river of moisture headed for California.
A GOES satellite shows an atmospheric river arriving on the West Coast in 2021.
Qiusheng Wu, GOES

How to create your own visualizations

In the past, creating a Landsat time-lapse animation of a specific area required extensive data processing skills and several hours or even days of work. However, nowadays, free and user-friendly programs are available to enable anyone to create animations with just a few clicks in an internet browser.

For instance, I created an interactive web app for my students that anyone can use to generate time-lapse animations quickly. The user zooms in on the map to find an area of interest, then draws a rectangle around the area to save it as a GeoJSON file – a file that contains the geographic coordinates of the chosen region. Then the user uploads the GeoJSON file to the web app, chooses the satellite to view from and the dates and submits it. It takes the app about 60 seconds to then produce a time-lapse animation.

TUTORIAL

INTERACTIVE WEB APP

How to create satellite time-lapse animations.

There are several other useful tools for easily creating satellite animations. Others to try include Snazzy-EE-TS-GIF, an Earth Engine App for creating Landsat animations, and Planetary Computer Explorer, an explorer for searching and visualizing satellite imagery interactively.The Conversation

Qiusheng Wu, Assistant Professor of Geography and Sustainability, University of Tennessee

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A Syllabus for the Present Predicament: A photo of the introductory text to the Syllabus

A Syllabus for the Present Predicament

A Syllabus for the Present Predicament

Adam Bledsoe¹, Jasmine Butler², LaToya Eaves³, Alex A. Moulton³

¹University of Minnesota; ²Writer and Cultural Worker; ³University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

A SYLLABUS FOR THE  PRESENT PREDICAMENT
February 13, 2023 Edition

This reading list provides resources for situating the simultaneous manifestations of antiblackness and assault on Black life in the present. We are specifically motivated by the murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, by police officers; the attack on the AP African American Studies course in Florida; and what might be interpreted as the capitulation of the College Board to the demands of Florida’s Republican Governor. These convergent events serve as poignant reminders of the pervasiveness of anti-blackness, the everyday reality of gratuitous police violence, and the regressive nature of a politics of compromise that demurs to white supremacy, historical amnesia, and the sanitizing of Black social and political movements.

This bibliography is divided into four sections. The first provides a primer on the long struggle for Black life in Memphis. The second contextualizes the function of the police, to show how what happened to Mr. Nichols is possible even when the officers committing the violence are Black. The  section shows why abolition is an imperative of the struggle for Black life. The third section deals with the ethics and care guiding Black mourning and hope amidst the death dealing of antiblack violence. The fourth and final section is concerned with the indispensability of Black Studies to American Studies, national memory, and the radically transformative potential of critical study. 

In addition to this syllabus, we encourage readers to consult the American Association of Geographers statements “On the Structural and Spatial Forces that Contribute to Police Brutality” and on “the targeting of diversity education and critical inquiry by U.S. States”.

Memphis Black History and Geographies

Police, State Violence, and The Imperative of Abolition

Black Mourning, Care, and Hope

The Radical Promise of Black Studies beyond the AP African American Studies

Download the Syllabus

Joe Tuccillo

Spring colloquium on Feb. 2, 2023

Spring colloquium on Feb. 2, 2023

Joe Tuccillo

UrbanPop: A Spatial Microsimulation Framework for Exploring Demographic Influences on Human Dynamics

Speaker: Joe Tuccillo, PhD, Geospatial Science and Human Security Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2023 | TIME: 4:05-5:20 PM

AUDITORIUM: NURSING EDUCATION BUILDING (NEB) 302 (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

Abstract: Human dynamics models, which address how people live, move, and interact, are critical to promote effective and equitable public service delivery, develop policy interventions, and provide responses to natural and technological hazards at the neighborhood and community scales. The UrbanPop spatial microsimulation framework developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) supports human dynamics modeling by generating high-fidelity representations of individual demographics during the nighttime and daytime using synthetic populations derived from public-use American Community Survey (ACS) data.

In this talk, Dr. Tuccillo will provide a survey of research highlights from various applications of UrbanPop, including estimating social vulnerability, understanding healthcare access among underserved populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and assessing environmental justice issues related to urban extreme heat events. Additionally, Dr. Tuccillo will discuss efforts to develop Likeness, a new Python software stack for UrbanPop designed to increase the framework’s reproducibility for a variety of research aims, as well as expand modeling capabilities to real-world transportation networks and building occupancy characteristics.

Colloquium Flyer (PDF)

LaToya Eaves

Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow

Eaves Named AAG 2023 Fellow

LaToya Eaves, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Sustainability, was named a 2023 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Eaves is one of 16 geographers in a variety of practice areas recognized for their contributions to geographic research, advancement of practice, and careers devoted to strengthening the field of geography, including teaching and mentoring. The honorary title of AAG Fellow is conferred for life.

Her research interest is at the intersections of race, gender, diaspora, critical geography and queer studies. Eaves explores the geographic imaginaries of Blackness, gender, and queerness by bringing critical approaches to the social transformation of places, the nuances of region, and lived experiences under rights-based progress narratives. 

Her research has been published in Geoforum, Dialogues in Human Geography, Gender, Place & Culture, The Professional Geographer, and Journal of Geography in Higher Education, among other journals and edited volumes. 

She has received numerous accolades within geography, including but not limited to the UT Department of Geography’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, Academic Advancement Award by the Tennessee LGBT+ College Conference, the Ronald F. Abler Distinguished Service Honors by the AAG, and the Enhancing Diversity Award by the AAG.

AAG Fellows serve the AAG as an august body to address, contribute to, and at times create initiatives to advance the discipline. Fellows also advise AAG on strategic directions and challenges, and mentor early- and mid-career faculty. The Fellows will be formally recognized in March at the AAG 2023 annual meeting.

Contributions to the Field of Geography

Eaves has established a record of transformative research, dynamic teaching, and dedicated mentoring in the field of geography. Her contributions to the fields of Black Geographies, Black feminism, queer geographies, and the US South are particularly noteworthy. Eaves’s rigorous and accessible scholarship pushes geography as a discipline to engage with the importance of Black geographic thought and practices in the production of space and place. Her scholarship provides accessible entry points for students to engage with Black Geographies, and she has contributed foundational texts for scholars doing work within Black Geographies literature.

One of the founders of the Black Geographies Specialty Group, Eaves’s organization and caring mentorship has transformed the discipline of geography and provided a space and academic home for Black scholars and scholars of Black Geographies. She is a generous and caring mentor as well. Her reputation within the geography community broadly and within the Black Geographies community specifically speaks to her generous mentorship of students and junior scholars, much of which is invisible, uncompensated, and unrecognized work in institutional settings. She has been committed to recognizing and honoring senior Black scholars, organizing panels, special issues of journals, and award applications to assure that these senior scholars are recognized for their foundational contributions.  

Beyond the subfield of Black Geographies, Eaves has served the AAG in the roles of national councilor, treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee. She also contributed to the AAG Harassment Free Task Force and the AAG Task Force on Diversifying the Curriculum in Geography, and she co-chaired the AAG New Orleans Featured Theme Committee. She has served as an editor for Dialogues in Human Geography and on numerous editorial boards.

Background information republished from the AAG website.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham with her advisor Dr. Madhuri Sharma at UTK Geography Commencement

Geography at the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony

Geography at the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony

On December 16, our geography faculty and students attended the Fall 2022 Commencement Ceremony. Congratulations to Dr. Shaundra Cunningham and Dr. Heather Davis for their graduation! Below are some photos taken at the Commencement Ceremony.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham hooded by her advisor Dr. Madhuri Sharma.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham with her advisor Dr. Madhuri Sharma.

Dr. Shaundra Cunningham with her dad Rev. Cunningham.

Dr. Heather Davis with her advisor Solange Muñoz.

Students congregate at UT

Student Spotlights – 2022

Student Spotlights – 2022

Megan Porter is a senior at UT where she is pursuing degrees in geography and sustainability. Her studies and research focus on climate change and human—environment relationships, specifically as it applies to vulnerability and community resilience building to natural hazards. 

Megan is a first-generation college student whose journey to UT was first made possible by the outreach of the UT Math and Science Center Upward Bound program, which provides academic development and summer research opportunities for socio-economically disadvantaged students. Within her first semester, Megan declared her major as a geography student while in the introductory course on weather and climate change. Having always been interested in severe weather hazards, the course illuminated the possibilities for making this a life-long passion and career.

She soon began working with Kelsey Ellis, assistant professor of geography, on a VORTEX-SE project where she first began to learn of the unique climatology and societal risks that nocturnal tornadoes pose in the Southeast. Supported and continually challenged by her peers and professors, Megan began to thrive in an academic environment where she could utilize diverse toolsets and perspectives to address community vulnerabilities. In April 2020, Megan was accepted into the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings program, a prestigious two-year scholarship and internship program. 

“The opportunity empowered me to continue studying community risks to climate change and building community resilience through outreach and data-driven citizen science,” Megan said. 

She now is making plans to obtain a Master of Science and become further involved in hazard-preparedness outreach and community resilience building at multiple scales within the Southeast. Megan has served for two years as the Alliance of Geographers and Sustainers co-president where she works alongside peer, Maya Rao, to plan undergraduate social and service events within the department and community. 

Megan is proud to be an East Tennessean and Volunteer. Her journey exemplifies the importance of promoting educating and academic development to those historically absent from pathways to higher education and research. She is especially thankful to the faculty, staff, and friends she’s made within the geography department who supported her and paved the way for what opportunities lie ahead. 

Luke Blentlinger is a Master’s candidate in the UT Department of Geography. He will finish his MS in spring 2022 and will then start his PhD. Luke grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and initially aspired to major in Spanish at UT so that he could become a high school Spanish teacher. After starting his undergraduate degree at UT, however, Luke excelled in physical geography courses and never looked back. He still maintained his love for Spanish through a minor. 

Like most undergraduates, Luke had not been previously exposed to research in geography, and he found the diversity of research topics and methods fascinating. Luke participated in undergraduate research with Professor Sally Horn and graduate students, which led him on his path to graduate school. Luke’s concentrations are climate and environmental change, biogeography, and human impacts on landscapes. 

“I examine environmental change in tropical environments over the past several thousand years using evidence preserved in lake sediments and soils,” Luke said. “During my time at IT, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in collaborative research projects, travel to Costa Rica for my research, present at professional conferences, and gain experience teaching as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses.”

In 2020, Luke received a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation, which allows him to spend most of his time on his MS research and other projects. 

In summer and fall 2021, Luke participated in a project, headed by Sally Horn, focusing on charcoal preserved in soils in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Over several months, Luke and other graduate students hiked more than 80 miles and collected hundreds of pounds of soil samples. Luke’s PhD project will use lake sediments to study climate, vegetation, fire, and study human-environment interactions near archaeological sites in Veracruz, Mexico. 

Melissa Hinten

Faculty Updates – 2022

Faculty Updates – 2022

Melissa Hinten
Melissa Hinten

Melissa Hinten was promoted to senior lecturer in recognition of her outstanding leadership in sustainability and teaching reputation. Through her leadership the department was able to incorporate the sustainability program, and Hinten has successfully worked to build up the program and to mentor and advise Sustainability majors and minors. In addition to the many courses she teaches and her responsibilities as director of sustainability, she has developed a study abroad program in Frieberg, Germany. Finally, Hinten is an exceptional teacher and colleague who looks out for her students and is committed to helping make the department a great place to work. We are lucky to have her in our ranks.

Sally Horn exploring a lake in Costa Rica
Sally Horn

Sally Horn received the Karl and Elisabeth Butzer Award for Lifetime Achievement in the study of Paleoenvironmental Change at the April 2021 meeting of the American Association of Geographers. Presented by the Paleoenvironmental Specialty Group, this award is named after the late Karl Butzer, a geographer who specialized in the study of sedimentary and archaeological evidence of past environments, and his wife and research partner, Elisabeth Butzer, whose continuing research focuses on archival evidence of environmental change. Professor Horn received the award in recognition of her efforts, along with dozens of collaborators and graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee and elsewhere, to document the long-term environmental history of the circum-Caribbean region, South America, and the southeastern US based on lake sediments and other natural archives.

Dr. Shih-Lung Shaw
Shih-Lung Shaw

Shih-Lung Shaw has been elected President-Elect of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), which is a non-profit organization that creates and supports communities of practice for GIScience research, education, and policy endeavors in higher education and with allied institutions. It is the professional hub for the academic GIS community in the United States, with partnerships extending this capacity abroad. It will be a three-year service andShaw will serve as president-elect, president, and past president of UCGIS. We thank Professor Shaw for his service and leadership in GIS. Shaw has also published a new book: Mapping COVID-19 in Space and Time: Understanding the Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of a Global Pandemic, co-edited by Daniel Sui. 

Kelsey Ellis
Kelsey Ellis

Kelsey Ellis received a grant from the UT Institute for a Secure & Sustainable Environment (ISSE). Her project is titled “Beat the heat: Building adaptive capacity of vulnerable populations in Knox County to combined stressors from climate change and urban heat.“ Her collaborators on the project include Jennifer First (Social Work) and Kristing Kintziger (Public Health).

LaToya Eaves received an award from the National Science Foundation for her proposal on “The Role of Museums in the Landscape of Minority Representation.” Eaves is the primary investigator on this project, which brings excellent recognition to her, to the department, and to UT. This is a massive research project involving five institutions. 

Qiusheng Wu
Qiusheng Wu

Qiusheng Wu is recognized as a world leader in developing and promoting open source geospatial tools with a special emphasis on geemap and Google Earth Engine. In addition to his on-campus instruction, Dr. Wu posts instructional materials and videos online, recently reaching more than 11,000 subscribers with more than 14,500 watch hours on YouTube.

Hyun Kim

Tran, Kim Honored with Sustainability Science Award

Tran, Kim Honored with Sustainability Science Award

Liem Tran
Liem Tran

Professor Liem Tran and Associate Professor Hyun Kim are part of a team who received the Ecological Society of America Sustainability Science Award for their paper “US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in 2017.

The Sustainability Science Award recognizes the authors of the scholarly work that makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences.

Hyun Kim
Hyun Kim

The interdisciplinary team used spatially referenced data from cities and surrounding rural areas to show how local and regional policy choices can affect hydrologic system integrity and biodiversity conservation. Their work highlights ways to make better choices about land use, water management, and electricity production, and it promotes integrated planning and decision-making for greater sustainability of cities and the water- and energy-sheds that support them. This research demonstrates a novel approach to integrating ecosystem and social sciences, embodying the mission of ESA’s Sustainability Science Award. Read the full article online.

“This year’s award recipients have shown remarkable leadership and creativity,” said Kathleen Weathers, ESA president. “On behalf of the Ecological Society of America, I congratulate the award winners and thank them for their significant contributions to building both ecological knowledge and the community of ecologists.”

ESA will present the 2021 awards during a ceremony at the Society’s upcoming Virtual Annual Meeting, which will take place August 2 to August 6, 2021. Read more about winners of the 2021 ESA awards.

Alexis Andershock

New Department Members – 2022

New Department Members – 2022

Alexis Andershock
Alexis Andershock

Alexis Andershock, career coach with the Division of Student Success, provides support to undergraduate and graduate students within geography and sustainability to achieve their professional goals. Alexis meets one-on-one with students to review resumes and cover letters, find relevant internship opportunities, explore potential career paths, and guide students through the graduate school application process. Alexis has also been instrumental in many of the department’s recent career focused events such as the UT Department of Geography and Sustainability Virtual Career Mingle and organizing in-person and virtual guest speakers. 

Tommy Brown
Tommy Brown

Tommy Brown, academic advisor with the College of Arts and Sciences, provides academic support for undergraduate students within geography and sustainability. Tommy meets one-on-one with students to review their course of study, find suitable classes, and help students graduate on schedule. Tommy is also involved with many departmental outreach events such as the Big Orange Welcome.

Olusola Festus
Olusola Festus

Olusola Festus, lecturer specializing in geographic information systems (GIS) in urban terrestrial wetland landscapes and public health, joined the department in fall 2021. Festus is currently teaching several introductory and intermediate GIS courses with large positive feedback from students.

Mayra Román-Rivera
Mayra Román-Rivera

Mayra Román-Rivera, lecturer specializing in coastal geomorphology and remote sensing, also joined the department in fall 2021. She is a physical geographer specializing in coastal geomorphology of post-storm recovery, and she gave a department seminar on this research in fall 2021. She is currently teaching a suite of climate change, natural disaster and human dimensions, and GIS courses with excellent feedback.

Carol Harden

Professor Emerita Carol Harden Receives AAG Lifetime Achievement Award

Professor Emerita Carol Harden Receives AAG Lifetime Achievement Award

Carol Harden
Carol Harden

Carol Harden, the 2021 recipient of the AAG’s Lifetime Achievement Honors, is the quintessential field scientist, professional association leader, and effective science communicator. She has been at the forefront of advancing geography’s role in the natural sciences, whether in the AAG, National Research Council, National Geographic Society, or National Science Foundation. Over a half-century career, Harden has established herself as one of the leading figures in contemporary physical geography and environmental science. More broadly, she has had a tremendous influence across our entire discipline, owing to the many roles she has played at the University of Tennessee, AAG, National Research Council, and National Geographic Society, and as editor of Physical Geography.

Since the 1980s, Harden has done fieldwork in the Andes, including a year on a Fulbright to Ecuador. Her commitment to international fieldwork and diversity in geography and other field disciplines and her encyclopedic knowledge of physical geography allows her to evaluate critically, and advocate for support of, fieldwork, especially by diverse scholars from around the world. In addition to her Latin American research, she has generated a substantial body of research in the U.S., mainly in Appalachia, on soil erosion, watershed hydrology, water quality, and human impacts.

Harden is currently the Chair of the Geographical Sciences Committee and a Member of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, both for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). She was recently a member of the prestigious and influential Committee on Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society. She has also served as a member and Chair of the Nominations Committee, Geology, and Geology Section, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Harden was a member (2017) and then Chair (2016-2020) of the Geographical Sciences Committee (GSC-NASEM). In 2010-2012, Harden served first as Vice President and then as President of the American Association of Geographers. 

She is a compassionate listener and a fair-minded leader. Harden is a mentor with an impact on cultivating new and early-career disciplinary leaders. She does this with a clear vision of geography’s role in science, higher education, and society, allowing her to see and realize new opportunities and build new initiatives. A strong sense of collegiality and caring has allowed her to engage in constructive and productive dialog across several disciplinary divides. For these qualities and achievements, the AAG recognizes Carol Harden as the 2021 recipient of the AAG Lifetime Achievement Honors.

an illustration of geographers engaged in research surrounding a globe

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