Vegetation change is an important factor affecting the global carbon cycle, land-atmosphere interaction, and terrestrial ecology. The study of vegetation change on a global scale can be used to evaluate the impact of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. Satellite remote sensing can monitor vegetation change at the global scale,...
Once considered the largest wetland in Central Asia, the Mesopotamian Marshlands of Southeastern Iraq have nearly disappeared. Various hydrological projects by the Iraqi government and dam construction in the region have nearly destroyed these once rich freshwater wetlands by over 90%. With the launching of Operation Iraqi Freedom recent attempts...
Forested, mountain landscapes in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are changing at an unprecedented rate, largely due to shifts in the regional climate regime. Documented climatic trends across the PNW include increasing wildfire frequency and intensity and an increasingly ephemeral snowpack, especially at moderate elevations. One relationship that has yet to...
The western United States is experiencing significant changes in wildfire and snow regimes as a result of warming temperatures. An amplification of wildfire activity and reduction in snow water equivalent, snow covered area, and earlier spring snowmelt are documented trends that are projected to continue into the future. With an...
As a result of a warming climate, subsequent declining snowpack, and a century of fire suppression, forest fires are increasing across the western United States. However, we still do not fully understand how forest fire effects snowpack energy balance, nor the volume and availability of snow melt and associated water...
Arctic-boreal regions are exhibiting the symptoms of profound ecological shifts as they experience pronounced warming. Wildlife in high-latitudes are one such harbinger of change, and their populations are undergoing range-shifts, declines, and extinctions in response to their rapidly altering habitats. As the circumpolar and boreal north is snow-covered for up...
An integrative method for monitoring glacier geometry change and mass balance is presented and applied to the Pacific Northwest, USA. Acting as a baseline for interpretation of future changes in glacier size and shape, we first derive a new inventory of regional glacier cover using remotely sensed data. To investigate...
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Anne W. Nolin
An integrative method for monitoring glacier geometry change and mass balance
Satellite remote sensing is an effective tool for mapping snow covered area. However, complex terrain and heterogeneous land cover, due to vegetation and patchy snow cover, present challenges to snow cover mapping. This research compares two techniques for mapping snow covered area: binary and enhanced fractional snow cover mapping techniques....
The net mass balance fluctuations of Arctic and Sub-Arctic glaciers, north of 47.5°
North latitude, are described over a 45-year period from 1957 to 2002 using two
parameters derived from a gridded climatology reanalysis. Variability among 185
measured glaciers was represented according to two main components. The first
component represents...
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Anne W. Nolin
The net mass balance fluctuations of Arctic and Sub-Arctic glaciers, north of
Shifting climate patterns in the Columbia River basin are affecting snow pack, and, as a result, stream flow throughout the region. In the Oregon Cascades, ever growing populations, and their associated activities, place increasing stress on an already over allocated hydrologic system. Political pressures, including the possibility of renegotiation or...
Mountain glaciers are receding worldwide with numerous consequences including changing hydrology and geomorphology. This study focuses on changes in glacier area on Mt. Hood, Oregon and Mt. Rainier, Washington where damaging debris flows have occurred in glaciated basins. Landsat imagery is used to map debris-free ice on a decadal time...
In November of 2006 an intense rainstorm of tropical origin, known colloquially as the "Pineapple Express," inundated the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, initiating numerous periglacial debris flows on several of the
stratovolcanoes in the Cascade Range of Oregon and Washington. These debris flows rapidly aggrade channels, deposit...
Locating archaeological sites that predate the arrival of modern sea level has been difficult along the Oregon coast. This is in part believed to be the result of geologic processes that have influenced the preservation, distribution, and visibility of sites within the Oregon coastal landscape. Because of these changes, researchers...
Progress in the development of color CRT's and color
graphic hard-copy devices offers a new tool for the thematic mapper.
From a cartographic perspective, the technology for displaying and
producing color maps has advanced without concern for cartographic
principles and conventions in the employment of color. Since it is
necessary...
Ecological regionalization is a form of spatial
classification, where boundaries are drawn around areas
relatively homogeneous in landscape characteristics. In the
delineation of ecological regions, or ecoregions, the process
includes the analysis of ecosystem structure and function.
Ecoregions have been developed at national and state scales
for research and resource...
This study delineates and characterizes the distribution of montane meadows in the Willamette National Forest, identifies encroachment patterns in relation to topographic features and proximity to trees in the Chucksney-Grasshopper meadow complex, and examines tree species and age distributions in relation to distance from forest edges or isolated tree clusters...
Many studies have looked at human settlements around individual volcanoes for
volcanic risk analyses, but few have done a comparative study to identify possible global
patterns. With the use of Landsat ETM+ data, this study identifies and compares urban
proximity to the Decade Volcanoes to identify volcanic settlement patterns. These...
The objective of this study was to examine vegetation and vegetation change in Eritrea over a period from the mid 1980s to 2002 using satellite remote sensing, and relate observed changes to the recent history of drought and war in the region. Specific objectives were (1) to examine vegetation change...
The analysis of material and energy exchange between the marine and terrestrial components of island ecosystems enables research into the impact of human population and land use on the health of coral reef habitat. Satellite and acoustic remote sensing technologies enable the collection of data to produce high resolution bathymetry...
The purpose of this thesis is to analyze an abrupt case of climate change in the past as a means to understand the mechanisms that force climate change. By looking to past analogs of climate change, we hopefully will gain an understanding of these events, which could be used to...
Most data are associated with a place, and many are also associated with a moment in time, a time interval, or another linked temporal component. Spatiotemporal data (i.e., data with elements of both space and time) can be used to assess movement or change over time in a particular location,...
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G Web Code for the Simulation Results Page, Map-based Visualization,
and Tabular Data
Increased variability of rainfall and flow from climate change has the potential to stress existing transboundary water sharing agreements and make meeting the needs of all riparians difficult. Water treaties have been theorized as valuable tools for mitigating conflict in times of climate stress, but the relationship between the design...
Seven socioeconomic factors common to two Oregon
communities, Beaverton and Corvallis, were examined and
compared for the influences they might have on participation
in recycling programs. Sampling technique involved
the use of a prepared survey questionnaire through which
the data necessary for the appropriate statistical methodology
used in the study...
Reservoir systems in the western US are managed to serve two main competing purposes: to reduce flooding during the winter and spring, and to provide water supply for multiple uses during the summer. Because the storage capacity of a reservoir cannot be used for both flood damage reduction and water...
Parks help to build social cohesion within a community. Urban open spaces offer
a sense of place, act as the focal points for public gatherings, and provide an
opportunity for social networking (Francis, 2003; Hayward, 1989). While offering so
much they are also known to be places of disgust and...
This dissertation examines the spatial distribution of park access by type in relation to trajectories of gentrification in Seattle from 1990 to 2010. The dissertation includes 5 Chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of the literature that motivated this research. The second, third and fourth chapters are research papers...
The concept of ecosystem services broadens perspectives on nature to include not only intrinsic value but also the utilitarian value it provides to society. Viewing nature through this lens informs our understanding of how particular ecological processes benefit different actors. In this research, I examine how water utilities in the...
Altitudinal variations in upland regions of the earth create
variable climatic zones and conditions. Plant and animal
communities must adapt to these conditions, and when they reach
their tolerance limits for environmental conditions at the upper
levels of a zone, they cease to exist in the environment. Humans
also utilize...
During the summer of 1986, an archaeological testing project was
completed at seven prehistoric campsites primarily located in the
upper Deschutes River Basin of central Oregon. Testing was focused on
two low-density "lithic scatters", an archaelogical site type which is
especially abundant in this obsidian-rich region but which, to date,...
Approximately 5,500 years ago a discreet period of
wetter and cooler environmental conditions prevailed
across the southern Columbia Plateau. This period was
marked by the first prominent episodes of erosion to occur
along the lower Snake River following the height of the
Altithermal and eruption of Mt. Mazama during the...
The prehistory of Central Oregon is explored through the examination of six archaeological sites and two isolated finds from the Upper Deschutes River Basin. Inquiry focuses on the land use, mobility, technological organization, and raw material procurement of the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. Archaeological data presented here are augmented...
Geochemical characterization methods are commonly used in the reconstruction of prehistoric raw material use and procurement systems. Trace element studies of lithic source material and artifacts, specifically those made of obsidian, can reveal important information about the environmental and cultural factors which influence the prehistoric distribution of raw material. The...
Geographical data and information are virtually unlimited in their quantity and are oftentimes scattered throughout a multitude of locations and stored in various formats on a wide variety of platforms. The Oregon Coast Geospatial Clearinghouse (OCGC) is a web-based central repository for metadata (data about data) corresponding to collected data...
This dissertation uses a new methodological approach for an in-depth analysis of three cartographic works. Studies within the discipline of the history of cartography have followed various methodologies throughout the past century. This dissertation argues that in order to come to a more complete understanding of how maps were produced...
Geographical data and information are virtually unlimited in their
quantity and are oftentimes scattered throughout a multitude of locations and stored
in various formats on a wide variety of platforms. The Oregon Coast Geospatial
Clearinghouse (OCGC) is a web-based central repository for metadata (data about
data) corresponding to collected data...
This thesis was to develop a bone artifact typology for the Oregon coast. This typology was used to test the hypothesis that different geographical regions of the Oregon coast would have different artifact assemblages associated with them. These regions, identified by geologist from landform changes, have been defined as: region...
The Greenbelt Land Trust (GLT) (a grass-roots conservation group in
Oregon) is interested in a conservation plan for the Marys River Corridor. To
facilitate this effort, a resource inventory was required and a Geographic
Information System (GIS) data base used to compile the inventory (called the
Marys River Project (MRP))....
Developing accurate predictive distribution models requires adequately representing relevant spatial and temporal scales, as these scales are ultimately reflective of the relationships between distributions and influential environmental conditions. In this research, we considered both spatial and temporal scale and the influence each has on predicting broad-scale distributions of two disparate...
The dramatic upsurge of contract-supported archaeological activity,
generated by legislative action, has precipitated an increase
in information about Oregon's prehistoric peoples. This information,
however, has not been presented in a format which can be easily
understood by the general public.
This study presents an account of early peoples in Oregon,...
Deforestation and accompanying environmental deterioration is a threat to the economic growth and to the survival of the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal . There is need for a comprehensive forest rehabilitation program tailored to the different conditions of the Terai plain, Middle Hills and the Highland Himalaya regions of the...
A process to distinguish between primary and
secondary resource lands is currently a concern of state and local
land-use agencies in Oregon. Two approaches for identifying
Secondary Resource Lands have been developed. The Land
Conservation and Development (LCDC) staff, in conjunction with the
County Planning Directors Association, have developed one...
This research questions the effectiveness of newspapers as a
vehicle of environmental information by determining whether the
public attitude in Alaska towards off-shore oil exploration was
consistent with that expressed in the local newspapers. All
newspaper articles about off-shore oil exploration published in
Alaska between 1980 and May 1987 were...
Composition and structure of Oregon ash
(Fraxinus latifolia) woodlands in the William L. Finley
National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon are described. Twenty
stands dominated by Fraxinus latifolia were sampled with
500 m2 circular macroplots in which floristic microplot
data were collected for plant community synthesis. Plant
communities were identified by computer-assisted...
The purpose of this study is to determine if the
ntoraines damming proglacial Carver Lake are ice-cored.
The methodology to be employed consists of interpretation
of aerial photographs and field observations. The results
of these studies will be compared. to past research of
known ice-cored moraines in other regions of...
Seal Rock (35LNC14) is a late prehistoric shell midden site located on the central Oregon coast. Information derived from the faunal remains, radiocarbon dates, and location and size of the midden deposits suggest the site represents a late littoral stage of cultural adaptation. Analyses of lithic artifacts, and bone and...
Environmental crime around the world, such as trafficking in illegal timber, is directly related to political instability. Traffickers exploit weak, fragile, and chaotic political circumstances to illegally extract high-value commodities, challenging the extent to which conservation goals are achievable in resource rich developing countries. Rosewood is the largest traded endangered...
Instream flow protection in western prior appropriation states is a relatively new phenomenon.
Integrating instream flow protection measures with the older water law has been accomplished with varying
degrees of success. Idaho relies on appropriation of unappropriated water by the Idaho Water Resource Board
for protection of instream flows. Idaho's...
Satellite imagery has been a useful tool in monitoring land cover changes, including changes within protected areas. In the 1980’s and 1990’s Honduras created over 100 protected areas, yet few resources have been dedicated to their management. This study used Landsat satellite imagery to evaluate deforestation in the Río Plátano...
This thesis examines prehistoric land use patterns of the entire North Santiam subbasin, located on the western slopes of the Oregon Cascade Range. The objective of this analysis is three-fold: 1) to contribute to reconstructing the cultural chronology of the area; 2) to address the use of raw material by...