EARTH ENGINE

Coding in Google Earth Engine using Javascript, using datasets in both raster and vector formats, including satellite imagery from NAID, Landsat, MODIS, and Sentinel. Thanks to Jeff Howarth, Middlebury College Associate Professor of Geography. These projects are meant to demonstrate knowledge of workflows and are able to be replicated for most any location and time, data permitting.

Dubai Urban Development

This swipe map app examines urban development in Dubai, UAE from 1998 to 2013 using Landsat imagery from Landsat 5 and Landsat 8. During this time, the city notably constructed its famous palm islands and the world islands, as well as on-land projects such as the Emirates Hills. Click here to view.

GHANA FOREST LOSS

This app takes a look at Ghana as a case study of examining how protection level (National Park, National Monument, Habitat Management Area, Nature Preserve, etc.) truly protects areas from threats such as deforestation. This project uses datasets from the World Database on Protected Areas and Hansen Global Forest Change. In Ghana, we can see that most protected areas report similar forest loss, except for National Parks and Nature Reserves, which prove to be extremely resistant to deforestation. This is visible on the map as well, as the corresponding colored blocks resist the swarm of forest loss. Click here to view.

2021 CALDOR FIRE BURN SEVERITY

This app examines the burn severity of the Caldor Fire, which tore through the Sierra Nevadas, particularly around Lake Tahoe, in the fall of 2021. This map was made using imagery from Sentinel, which was then used to calculate the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), which assesses which areas are burned, before and after the fire. Then, burn severity was calculated by comparing the pre- and post-burn images, discovering which areas are severely scarred, which are unburned, and which have seen post-burn growth. This map was made using a tool created by Dave Montero Loaiza, so thanks to him. Click here to view.

SPRING 2023 Spain DROUGHT

This app examines the Spring 2023 drought in Spain, which resulted in bodies of water being drained to fractions of their capacity and some, like the Fuente de Piedra Lagoon, were temporarily converted to entities such as salt flats. This event was part of a larger drought in Europe, but regions like Catalonia were especially impacted. This map was made using MODIS composite imagery, and then calculated using NDVI anomalies, which can show how impactful droughts can be as it measures vegetation health. This is done by comparing a short-term record with a long-term record, then getting a percent difference from the two. Click here to view.

REDLINING 'S IMPACT ON HEAT

This app examines redlining, a phenomenon where neighborhoods were graded from A-D, primarily based on racial demographics, where "white" neighborhoods were given higher grades, and "black" neighborhoods were given lower ones. Today, redlining is evident in Land Surface Temperature (LST), which shows the heat across areas of cities. Previously low-graded neighborhoods had trouble getting loans for public services like parks, which help reduce heat. While nearly every city in the country which underwent redlining shows connection between redlining and LST, St. Louis is one case which stands out, with temperatures in the "A" neighborhoods nearly 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler and "D" neighborhoods nearly 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer. Click here to view.

Sea Surface Temperature

This app examines an anomaly in sea surface temperature (SST), an area known commonly as "The Blob" in the northeast Pacific, which was much hotter than the rest of the sea between 2013 and 2018, but has since dispersed into multiple hotter zones. The analysis in this project detects this anomaly by comparing SST from September 2016 with the SST from the Septembers from 2000-2010, and calculating the difference. Click here to view.

New england URBAN VEGETATION

This app examines the health of vegetation in some of New England's biggest cities, notably Boston, Portland, Providence, and Manchester. This is found using imagery from Landsat 9, then calculating the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which measures both health and density of plants. In this app, we can see which cities of New England are home to healthy vegetation, and where urban sprawl has mowed down the most trees. NDVI is a helpful statistic to not only determine health of vegetation, but can also inform metrics such as land surface temperature. Click here to view.

WESTVILLE GROWTH

This swipe map app examines Westville, a neighborhood of New Haven, CT. Using NAID imagery, the map shows change from 2008-2023, a time when the area has begun to emerge as a sort of separate entity from New Haven, with a developing downtown, retail options, and investment from both public and private entities in the area. Click here to view.

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