With increasing levels of motor vehicle ownership, automobile crashes have become a serious public issue in the U.S. and around the world. Knowing when, where, and how traffic accidents happen is critical in order to ensure road safety and to plan for adequate road infrastructure. There is a rich body of literature pertaining to time-related fatal crashes, most of which focuses on non-spatial factors such as a driver’s visibility at night, drinking and drug use, and road conditions. These studies provide a theoretical basis for understanding the causes of crashes from a non-spatial perspective, and a number of traffic laws and policies consequently have been enacted to minimize the impacts of non-spatial factors. Over the past few years, advances in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have greatly enhanced our ability to analyze traffic accidents from a spatial perspective. This study aims to fill a void in traffic safety studies by comparing and analyzing the differences in the spatial distribution of fatal crashes based on temporal factors, specifically in three periods: 1) day and night; 2) A.M. rush hours and P.M. rush hours; and 3) weekdays and weekends. With the Nashville Metropolitan Area as the study area, the research utilized a number of spatial point-pattern analysis (SPPA) methods, including planar KDE, planar global auto K function, network global cross K functions, and network local cross K functions. All fatal crashes in the Nashville area were found to be clustered and generally follow the patterns of average daily traffic flow. All time-based subtypes of fatal crashes also were found to be concentrated within the central urban area of Nashville, mostly along major roads, and especially near major road intersections and highway interchanges. No notable spatial differences were detected among the subtypes of fatal crashes when applying network global cross K function. However, with the help of the network local cross K function, some localized spatial differences were identified. Some specific locations of hotspots of nighttime and P.M. rush hour fatal crashes were found not to be at the same locations as those at of daytime and A.M. rush hour fatal crashes, respectively. The approach adopted in this study not only provides a new way to analyze spatial distribution of spatial point events such as fatal crashes, but it also can be applied readily to real-world applications. A good understanding of where these spatial differences are should help various agencies practice effective measures and policies in order to improve road conditions, reduce traffic accidents, and ensure road safety.

Until very recently, Colombia was the only country in the world that still permitted the eradication of illicit crops –primarily coca and to a lesser extent, opium poppies— through aerial fumigation. It was a controversial practice for a number of reasons, chiefly the damage caused to plants, animals, and people living in or near fumigated areas. A favored tactic in the U.S.-supported War on Drugs, aerial eradication actually contributed to the spread of illicit crops to increasingly remote areas of Colombia, such as the collectively titled lands of both indigenous and black communities. Concerns about the practice of aerial eradication, however, appeared completely disconnected from the positive framing of the policy and guidelines governing its implementation. Employing mixed methods, both ethnographic and cartographic, this dissertation examines how these contradictory discourses —aerial eradication explained by officials involved in its operation versus described locally by people living in or near fumigated areas— materialized in 2015, the last year the aerial eradication program was in operation. This study engages critical social science theory to deconstruct dominant conceptualizations of territoriality, geopolitics and environmental conservation, while at the same time proposing alternative understandings of those concepts grounded in local experiences. This research finds that aerial eradication authorities overstated the accuracy of aerial eradication operations by: 1) downplaying the incidence of pilots spraying legal crops, 2) invalidating local reports on the effects of aerial eradication, and 3) requiring technical evidence far beyond the means of poor rural Colombian farmers. Furthermore, in the specific context of the collectively titled black communities of the Pacific region, aerial eradication authorities did not respect the right to previous consultation per Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 169. This dissertation concludes that that aerial eradication —justified by notions of security and environmental conservation that had little to do with black communities of the Pacific region— operated as a means of displacement. This displacement was literal in the sense that aerial eradication made life difficult for people to live in affected communities and figurative because local knowledge was pushed aside in favor of the external interpretations of the effects of this counternarcotics policy.

Satellite geodesy plays an important role in earth observation. This dissertation presents three applications of satellite geodesy in environmental and climate change. Three satellite geodesy techniques are used: high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS), the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). In the first study, I use coastal uplift observed by GPS to study the annual changes in mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet. The data show both spatial and temporal variations of coastal ice mass loss and suggest that a combination of warm atmospheric and oceanic condition drove these variations. In the second study, I use GRACE monthly gravity change estimates to constrain recent freshwater flux from Greenland. The data show that Arctic freshwater flux started to increase rapidly in the mid-late 1990s, coincident with a decrease in the formation of dense Labrador Sea Water, a key component of the deep southward return flow od the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Recent freshening of the polar oceans may be reducing formation of Labrador Sea Water and hence may be weakening the AMOC. In the third study, I use InSAR to monitor ground deformation caused by CO2 injection at an enhanced oil recovery site in west Texas. Carbon capture and storage can reduce CO2 emitted from power plants, and is a promising way to mitigate anthropogenic warming. From 2007 to 2011, ~24 million tons of CO2 were sequestered in this field, causing up to 10 MPa pressure buildup in a reservoir at depth, and surface uplift up to 10 cm. This study suggests that surface displacement observed by InSAR is a cost-effective way to estimate reservoir pressure change and monitor the fate of injected fluids at waste disposal and CO2 injection sites.

The purpose of the project was to develop a Web application using GIS data that would map addresses or coordinate information and then find any hazardous areas that may fall within a given distance to this location. The geographic area of this project covers the extent of cities San Bernardino, Redlands, and Yucaipa, California.

Wetlands are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, providing a range of services, including: water quality improvement, flood mitigation, erosion control, habitat, and carbon storage. It is estimated that Tennessee has lost 60% of its original 2 million acres of pre-European settlement wetlands. Recently, increased funding has been made available for wetland restoration and expansion. In response, the Cherokee National Forest has proposed a range of wetland restoration actions within the Paint Creek Watershed to expand and restore some of the existing bogs and fens, including the Cutshaw Bog, a 163,864 m2 wetland located 32 km south of Greeneville, TN. The U.S. Forest Service has proposed a new expanded wetland boundary to result from restoration efforts. However, to assess the potential for success, current wetland indicators based on soil color, texture, depth, drainage, sulfide materials, and iron concentrations were examined. Sampling locations were identified by overlaying a grid, composed of 64 cells, each 40.5 meter by 40.5 meter in size. Soil cores were extracted up to a depth of 0.6 meters from each sampling cell and evaluated in situ for hydric soil properties using the Eastern Mountains and Piedmont Army Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual. Soil physical (texture, bulk density, moisture content) and chemical (pH, cation exchange capacity, % base saturation, Nitrogen, Bray II Phosphorus, Iron, Zinc, and Total Carbon Content) properties were evaluated in the laboratory. Results indicated 47% of samples taken within the proposed wetland expansion area currently have hydric soil characteristics and were located along drainage lines. Presence of hydric soils was correlated with soil physicochemical properties including bulk density, moisture content, sulfur and phosphorus concentrations, iron, and other metals. Statistical analyses for the northern section and southern section of the bog were completed separately, as they were physically divided by a French drain structure. Logistic regression models were developed using properties most strongly correlated with the presence of hydric soil. For the northern section, bulk density and iron were retained in the model, while for the southern section, iron was retained. A spatial model for the presence of hydric soil was developed by spatially interpolating the covariates through kriging. Next, a probability map was created from the logistic regression equation with raster math in ArcGIS Pro. Results indicate that Cutshaw Bog’s area cannot be expanded to the original proposed boundary provided by the US Forest Service and a new recommended boundary was delineated from the probability map. The results of this data driven approach will assist the Forest Service in targeted wetland restoration efforts at the Cutshaw Bog.

This thesis examines the impact of planning a potential new urban university campus in Springfield, Massachusetts on the city’s long term goals for urban revitalization. By exploring a collaborative and community-oriented process for higher-educational development, I propose a dynamic model that could work as a catalyst for urban revitalization. The study will focus on the following: developing partnerships between the city of Springfield (government, community, local groups) and major educational institutions (such as the University of Massachusetts system); identifying potential sites suitable for the anticipated urban/mixed-use campus or compound; and studying and analyzing the forces within the city (neighborhoods around site) that would inspire and shape the ideal concept for a campus master plan. I will use four major research strategies: (1) Developing a partnership that is to be both interactive and instructive, (2) selecting and analyzing three or more best practice case studies, (3) analyzing the existing conditions in Springfield, particularity the surroundings of selected sites, and, (4) a critically and professionally developed urban design vision for the right kind of university campus in Springfield that would highlight the main ideas and conclude with a master plan as part of the overall recommendations of this research. Data are collected from books, journals, interviews, newspapers, website sources, and other published reports using a mixed-methods case-study approach. I expect that the study of this topic and the urban design programming and work associated with it would yield a successful model for campus planning and be potentially adopted or adapted by others in the future.

Use of satellite imagery makes environmental monitoring easy and convenient with little of the logistics involved in planning sampling campaigns. Colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is an important component to track as a proxy for the large pool of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). In a world contending with the looming issue of global climate change, the ability to investigate the carbon cycle of inland to coastal environments allows for examination of the magnitude of carbon flowing through the system and potential changes over years. The Arctic region is a critical area for climate change impacts but is a difficult landscape for sampling implementation and is thus an excellent target for satellite monitoring. This thesis focuses on the North Slopes region of Alaska to take advantage of the Toolik Lake monitoring site. Landsat 8 imagery has the appropriate spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions for use in inland water and coastal environments. There are numerous developed algorithms for CDOM estimations, but many algorithms are designed for specific regions. A special challenge in inland environments is the bottom reflectance contribution to the outgoing light signal. An algorithm designed specifically for optically-shallow water environments (SBOP) was tested against two algorithms designed for optically-deep water environments (QAA-CDOM, K05). The relationship between CDOM and DOC was also investigated and used as further validation for algorithm performance. The SBOP algorithm shows promise iv alongside QAA-CDOM at estimating CDOM absorption, but the number of validation point makes pinpointing one algorithm difficult. All algorithms performed well at estimating DOC concentrations.

Beaver Creek is an impaired streams that is not supporting its designated use for recreation due to Escherichia coli (E.coli), and sediment. To address this problem, this thesis was divided into two studies. The first study explored changes in Land Use Land Cover (LULC), and its impact on surface water quality. Changes in E.coli load between 1997-2001 and 2014-2018 were analyzed. Also, Landsat data of 2001, and 2018 were examined in Terrset 18.31. Mann-Whitney test only showed a significant reduction in E.coli for one site. Negative correlation was established between E.coli load, and Developed LULC, Forest LULC, and Cultivated LULC. The second study modelled discharge for Beaver Creek watershed using HEC-HMS. This study simulated discharge in an upstream sub-watershed of Beaver Creek, and the full Beaver Creek with a Nash-Sutcliffe of 0.007, and R2 0.20. Sub-basins with high discharge were identified for further examination for possible high sediment load.

This thesis identifies a problem in the current practice for storage of locational data of entities in the cadastral layer of a land information system (LIS), and presents as a solution an information model that uses an object-oriented paradigm.

Traditional geologic mapping involves substantial time and labor in the field as geologic contacts are manually examined and interpreted. The processes of mapping geologic contacts can be condensed into a quicker and less laborious process using advances in remote sensing and GIS (geospatial information systems), including increased resolution and computerized data management and interpretation. Application of these advances reduces the costs and time of geologic mapping. The Sparta 7.5-minute quadrangle provides a mostly unaltered view of regional Paleocene and Upper Cretaceous geology due to its rural locale, lack of development, and stream topography. Recently LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) survey data covering the Sparta quadrangle were collected. These data were not available during previous attempts to map the area using computer modeling. With these new data, high-resolution topographic maps have been produced based on modern satellite imagery together with pre-existing maps of the Sparta quadrangle, which support improved geologic mapping.