Michael Camponovo recognized by Esri and National Geographic

September 26, 2022

Michael Camponovo recognized by Esri and National Geographic

Our GIS Outreach Coordinator Michael Camponovo was recognized by Esri and National Geographic for a story map he made focusing on EMR, remote sensing, and geospatial tech and how students can use them to study landscape recovery after wildfires. Well done, Michael. Congratulations!

See the Storymap Here

The Storymap’s Introduction

Exploring EMR With Wildfire Satellite Imagery

Combining Math, EMR, and GIS

Teachers are encouraged to download and use this mini-unit lesson plan ( Google Doc link )

Here in the United States, we typically associate wildfires with the western part of the country. But we actually have wildfires all across the country, even here in Tennessee.

While we often think of wildfires as destructive and bad, they are actually a natural part of our landscape. In fact, some species, like the table mountain pine, need fires for their cones to open and drop their seeds . Animals benefit from wildfires too because they change the habitat of the land. You can even become a wildfire ecologist and study the way fire changes the landscape as a career .

One question you might have about wildfires and their impact on the environment is:

How long does it take for an area burned by a wildfire to recover?

Michael Camponovo's acknowledgement by National Geographic Society and ESRI

A simple way to answer that question would be to see how long it takes for vegetation to appear in the burned area.

Today we are going to use data from satellites to explore this topic while focusing on wildfires in the Southeastern United States. But first, we need to learn a little about electromagnetic radiation and how we collect and visualize that data.

Geographic Mobility as a Civil Right

September 23, 2022

Geographic Mobility as a Civil Right

Summer teaching institute explores geographic mobility as it relates to the African American freedom struggle

In July of 2022, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, hosted a residential summer institute for K-12 educators from across the US, funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant (NEH). Participants explored the history of the Civil Rights movement through geographic mobility. The institute highlighted the central role of migration, transportation, and travel and tourism in structural racism and the fight for African American freedom and self-determination.

Participants attended lectures and lab exercises; participated in discussions; and learned methodologies and classroom activities from curriculum and content specialists. They also took field trips around Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis as part of the institute’s commitment to place-based education.

“Through the institute, we offered a model of critical thought, instruction, and pedagogical application that supports ongoing calls for greater numbers of social studies educators to address power and inequity,” said Derek Alderman, professor of geography.

Alderman and colleague Joshua Kenna, associate professor of social science education in the UT College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, received nearly $200,000 in funding to host the institute from the National Endowment for the Humanities “A More Perfect Union” initiative, which aims to promote a deeper understanding of American history and culture.

Joshua Kenna

“In addition to having a well-rounded curriculum that utilizes several experts from the field and provides experiential learning opportunities, we’re also proud of our strong emphasis on building and fostering relationships with teachers,” Kenna said. “The goal is not achieved when they acquire the content, it is only achieved when we help them grapple with and overcome pedagogical and logistical hurdles so that they can teach this content in their classrooms.”

Workshops featured guest lectures and hands-on lessons from experts on geographic mobility, race and racism, oral history, digital mapping and the humanities, and pedagogy. The institute culminated with participating teachers developing and presenting curriculum projects and ideas for teaching about the role of migration, transportation, travel and tourism within the Black civil rights experience.

“Our hosting of this summer institute in Knoxville received high marks from participating teachers and NEH program directors. It further cements the University of Tennessee’s reputation as a national leader in teacher training and creating important synergies between the teaching of history, geography, and social justice,” Alderman said. “The university welcomed a brilliant group of K-12 teachers, many of whom are educators of color. They significantly advanced discussions of diversity and inclusion on our campus and taught many of the institute’s staff important lessons about the struggles currently facing the nation’s teachers.”

Read more about the UT initiative, Geographic Mobility in the African American Freedom Struggle, and the NEH grant award that supported this important work in the Department of Geography and Sustainability and the Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education at UT.

Geography Student Morgan Steckler’s summer internship with Maxar

August 5, 2022

Geography Student Morgan Steckler’s summer internship with Maxar

This summer, our Geography MS Student Morgan Steckler is working with Maxar as an intern. Maxar is a space technology company headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, United States, specializing in manufacturing communication, Earth observation, radar, and on-orbit servicing satellites, satellite products, and related services.

Here is what Morgan shared with us:

“This summer, I worked remotely for Maxar Technologies as a data science intern on the Kestrel team. I analyzed maritime vessel loitering behaviors through independent research and scripted processing of remotely sensed data. This internship greatly improved my understanding and appreciation of the private space and intelligence industry, efficient and effective teamwork, and the colorful role of a data scientist.”

Reference: ESRI Living Atlas app for US Vessel Traffic.

Creating satellite timelapse with Streamlit and Earth Engine

December 15, 2021

Creating satellite timelapse with Streamlit and Earth Engine

Dr. Qiusheng Wu just published a new blog post – Creating satellite timelapse with Streamlit and Google Earth Engine. Check it out.

Blog: https://blog.streamlit.io/creating-satellite-timelapse-with-streamlit-and-earth-engine
Web App: https://streamlit.gishub.org
GitHub: https://github.com/giswqs/streamlit-geospatial

Wild weather: 4 essential reads about tornadoes and thunderstorms

March 22, 2021

Wild weather: 4 essential reads about tornadoes and thunderstorms

*Debris near Lebanon, Tennessee, after tornadoes struck on the night of March 3, 2020, killing more than 20 people across the state. AP Photo/Mark Humphrey*

Jennifer Weeks, The Conversation

Springtime in the U.S. is frequently a season for thunderstorms, which can spawn tornadoes. These large storms are common in the South and Southeast in March and April, then shift toward the Plains states in May. Scientists have warned that 2021 could be an active tornado year, partly because of a La Niña climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Past research has suggested that La Niña increases the frequency of tornadoes and hail by concentrating hot, humid air over Texas and other Southern states, which helps to promote storm formation.

These four articles from The Conversation’s archives explain how tornadoes form, why night tornadoes are more deadly, and how in rare cases thunderstorms can take a different but equally destructive form – a derecho. We also look at a neglected aspect of disaster response: disposing of massive quantities of waste.

1. How thunderstorms generate tornadoes

Most tornadoes are spawned by large, intense thunderstorms called supercell thunderstorms. The key ingredients are rising air that rotates, and wind shear – winds at different altitudes blowing at different speeds, and/or from different directions.

Forecasters can’t always predict when or where a tornado may form, but they are very good at identifying the conditions that have the potential to support strong tornadoes. As Penn State university meteorologists Paul Markowski and Yvette Richardson explain,

“The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center routinely predicts large outbreaks days in advance. ‘High-risk’ outlooks capture most major tornado events, and strong tornadoes rarely occur outside of tornado watches. We have less ability to forecast tornadoes in more marginal situations, such as within non-supercell storms.”

2. A special risk in the South: Night tornadoes

Tornado strikes are bad news at any time, but especially when they occur at night. Night tornadoes are more than twice as likely to be fatal as daytime twisters, for several reasons: They are harder for storm spotters to see, people may sleep through alerts, and victims are more likely to be in vulnerable structures such as mobile homes at night.

Night tornadoes are more common in the South because of regional atmospheric conditions there. University of Tennessee geographer Kelsey Ellis and Middle Tennessee State University geoscientist Alisa Hass write that communication challenges are a serious problem in their state, where nearly half of tornadoes strike at night.

“Experts in Tennessee recommend having multiple methods for receiving warnings at night,” they note. “This strategy allows for backup options when power goes out, cellphones go down or other unforeseen circumstances occur.”

WILD WEATHER

4 essential reads about tornadoes and thunderstorms

What causes some supercell thunderstorms to become tornadoes?

3. Derechos: Storms without spin

In rare instances, weather systems can generate organized lines of thunderstorms called derechos, from the Spanish word for “straight ahead.” For a storm to qualify as a derecho, it has to produce winds of 57.5 mph (26 meters per second) or greater. And those intense winds must extend over a path at least 250 miles (400 kilometers) long, with no more than three hours separating individual severe wind reports.

Most areas of the Central and eastern U.S. may experience a derecho once or twice a year on average. They occur mainly from April through August, but they can also occur earlier in spring or later in fall. And they can inflict heavy damage. A derecho that swept across the Midwest in August 2020 generated over US$7.5 billion in damages – the nation’s most costly thunderstorm.

Derechos can be even harder to predict than tornadoes, and once they form, they can move very fast. As Colorado State University atmospheric scientist Russ Schumacher warns,

“Communities, first responders and utilities may have only a few hours to prepare for an oncoming derecho, so it is important to know how to receive severe thunderstorm warnings, such as TV, radio and smartphone alerts, and to take these warnings seriously. Tornadoes and tornado warnings often get the most attention, but lines of severe thunderstorms can also pack a major punch.”

*An August 2020 derecho crumpled this grain storage tower in Martelle, Iowa. Phil Roeder/Flickr, CC BY*

4. Cleaning up after storms

Tornadoes and other natural disasters often leave huge quantities of debris behind – uprooted trees, splintered buildings, smashed cars and more. It can take communities months or even years to clean up, and the process typically is slow, expensive and dangerous.

Sybil Derrible of the University of Illinois–Chicago, Juyeong Choi of Florida State University and Nazli Yesiller of California Polytechnic State University study urban engineering, disaster management and planning, and waste management. They see a need for new technologies and strategies that officials can use to figure out what materials storm debris contains and find options for separating, reusing and recycling it.

“For example, drones and autonomous sensing technologies can be combined with artificial intelligence to estimate amounts and quality of debris, the types of materials it contains and how it can be repurposed rapidly. Technologies that allow for fast sorting and separation of mixed materials can also speed up debris management operations,” they write.

“Turning the problem around, creating new sustainable construction materials – especially in disaster-prone areas – will make it easier to repurpose debris after disasters.”

Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]

Jennifer Weeks, Senior Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation

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

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