GEOG2750 Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment 20 Credit Level 2 Module

1. GEOG2750Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment20 Credit Level 2 Module Louise Mackay & Steve Carver Module Information See also http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/courses/level2/geog2750/index.html GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

2. Module Outline • Runs Semester 1 & 2. • Semester 1: Earth Observation of the Physical Environment – Louise Mackay • Semester 2: GIS of the Physical Environment – Steve Carver • Two complimentary technologies for monitoring & understanding the Earths physical environment GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

3. GIS Aims On completion of semester 2 students should have: • Knowledge of the use of GIS across a range of applications in physical geography including terrain analysis, hydrology, landscape evaluation and environmental assessment; • Familiarity with the use and application of the ArcGIS package; and • Knowledge of environmental data sources, skills in the interpretation of spatial environmental data and an awareness of specific problems and issues relating to data quality, spatial data models and methods of interpolation. GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

4. GIS Objectives • Identify principles and functional issues pertaining to physical geography applications of GIS; • Examine and review specific application areas where GIS is a useful tool; • Investigate techniques provided by GIS which have particular relevance to physical geography applications and problem solving; and • Identify and address problem areas such as data sources, modelling, error and uncertainty. GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

5. Overall Learning Outcomes • On completion of this module students should be able to: • Demonstrate a clear knowledge and understanding of the key concepts concerning the application of Earth observation and GIS to problems in physical geography; • Critique and evaluate the applicability of Earth observation and GIS in relation to physical geography applications; and • Demonstrate a high level of skill in the application of Earth observation & GIS software to the solving of environmental problems. GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

6. Dates & Times • GIS – Semester 2: • 10 x 1hr lectures, Monday 10-11am, Geography Lecture Theatre • 10 x 2hr practicals, Tuesday 3-5pm or Friday 9am-1pm, Textiles G34 Computer Lab GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

7. Module Assessment Semester 2 - GIS • 5 practical worksheets contributing 5% each to the final module mark • 1 x 1hr exam (short answer) at the end of the semester (2 questions from 5) contributing 25% of module mark Overall assessment based on: • 10 Practicals = 50% of final module mark (5 x Earth Observation = 25% done already last semester) • 2 exams = 50% of final module mark (Earth Observation = 25% done already last semester) GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

8. GIS Syllabus – Semester 2 (Weeks) 14. Introduction to GIS for environmental applications 15. Spatial & Temporal variability and environmental data 16. Error & Uncertainty 17. Interpolation of environmental data 18. Principles of grid-based modelling 19. Terrain modelling: the basics 20. Reading week 21. Terrain modelling: applications 22. Hydrological modelling 23. Environmental assessment 24. Making Decisions GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

9. Lecture 11Introduction to GIS for environmental applications • Outline • what makes physical geography applications of GIS different? • environmental science and management • the role of GIS? GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

10. What makes physical geography applications of GIS different? • The natural environment is… • extremely complex • highly variable (space and time) • complicated further by human action • Understanding of natural systems • very basic • multiple approaches to natural science GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

11. From this… …to this GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

12. Spatio-temporal variation • Range of variability over a range of spatial and temporal scales • variation depends on the scale of observation • e.g. vegetation (species, community, ecosystem) • sliding scale to represent both spatial and temporal variability • i.e. space from infinitesimal (zero) to infinite • i.e. time from the instantaneous to ‘for ever’ GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

13. Spatio-temporal scales of operation • Variety of spatial and temporal scales: • micro scale - meso scale - macro scale • e.g. Hydrology • Micro : runoff plots, infiltrometer, hillslope • Meso: sub-catchment, headwaters, reach • Macro: whole catchment, region, watershed • now - sec - min - day - year - century - etc. • e.g. Climatology • Seconds: Wind speeds • Minutes: Incoming solar radiation • Day: Anabatic/katabatic winds • Year: Annual temperature variation • Millennium: Glacial/interglacial periodicity GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

14. Complexity • Complex nature of environmental systems makes possibility of realistic modelling seem remote • Frustrated by lack of understanding • e.g. influence of human activity • Variations in complexity: • most GIS applications model only 1 or 2 processes with assumptions/simplification GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

15. Question… • How can sampling strategies be matched to spatio-temporal scales? GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

16. Sampling theory • Sampling spatial processes: • the sampling frequency needs to be small enough to record local variations without undue generalisation of spatial pattern but coarse enough so as to avoid data redundancy • Sampling temporal processes: • in order to record variations in temporal processes sampling frequency needs to be about half the wavelength of the process to avoid measurement bias and too much detail • Sampling dependent on process(es) operating GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

17. Sampling theory DEM Cell size 1 Cell size 2 1 wavelength Rate amplitude Time GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

18. Question… • How do we choose appropriate sampling frequencies? GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

19. Advantages of GIS • GIS is good at… • handling spatial data • visualisation of spatial data • integrating spatial data • framework for: • analysis and modelling • decision support GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

20. (dis)Advantages of GIS • GIS is not so good at… • handling temporal data • visualisation of temporal data • integrating spatial and temporal data • framework for: • analysis and modelling of time dependent data • volumetric analysis • uncertainty GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

21. GIS alone is not enough • Integrated systems: • limited ‘off-the-shelf’ spatial analysis and modelling • framework for developing better integrated systems • GIS - image processing systems • GIS - modelling systems • GIS - statistical software • facilitated through • specialist programming languages (e.g. AML and Avenue) • universal programming languages (e.g. Java and Visual Basic) • access to source code (e.g. GRASS) GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

22. Integrated systems • Combined (symbiotic) systems • Example: • NERC/ESRC Land Use Programme (NELUP): decision support for land use change in UK • GRASS GIS • models: hydrological (SHE), agricultural economics and ecological • Graphic User Interface (GUI) • Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

23. NELUP GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

24. Conclusions • The physical world is complex and our understanding simple • environmental data is highly variable • implications for GIS applications • GIS has important role to play in environmental science and management • handling and analysing spatial data • problems with temporal data GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

25. Practical • Spatial variability in environmental data • Task: Investigate the spatial variability in terrain datasets and determine the effects of a) sampling strategy, and b) resolution on the data. • Data: The following datasets are provided for the Leeds area • 10m resolution DEM (1:10,000 OS Profile data) • 50m resolution DEM (1:50,000 OS Panorama data) • 10m interval contour data (1:10,000 OS Profile data) GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

26. Practical • Steps: • Display both elevation datasets in ArcMap and look for visible differences - do these result from differences in sampling strategy or resolution or both? Use the IDENTIFY tool to interrogate the images. • Calculate the slope (gradient) from both the 10m and 50m data – is there any ‘striping’ in the slope data and what might this be due to? (use the slope tool in ArcMap or ArcGRID to calculate slope) GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

27. Learning outcomes • Familiarity with scale issues especially resolution and sampling in relation to spatial variation in environmental data • Experience/practice in use of analysis and display functions in ArcMap • Familiarity with OS terrain model products GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

28. Useful web links • NELUP web site • http://www.ncl.ac.uk/wrgi/wrsrl/projects/nelup/nelup.html GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment

29. Next week… • Spatial and temporal variability and environmental data • general characteristics of environmental data • environmental data sources • toward integrated databases • Practical: Using Digimap to access OS data products GEOG2750 – Earth Observation & GIS of the Physical Environment