Applications of GIS and

Remote Sensing in the Sciences

NS 420 Applications of Geographic Informations Systems and Remote Sensing in the Sciences. 4 credits. New Course

Course Background

This course, as the title implies, will examine the use of GIS and remote sensing in the sciences. With the advent of satellites, remote sensing has increased in importants, not only for the discovery of new features of the earth system (mineral deposits, ocean temperatures), but also for investigating the changes taking place in the earth's ecosystems (deforestation in Rondonia, fire in Yellowstone National Park, etc.). In a similar manner more and more investigators are applying GIS to their own research specialties to not only determine more about their systems, but also to model perturbations to their systems. This course will examine the body of knowledge that has accumulated in the past decade in a variety of science disciplines, including but not limited to: Conservation Biology, Ecology, Mineral Exploration, Global Warming, Oceanic Productivity, Terrestrial Productivity, Global and Regional Weather Patterns, and Environmental Degradation.

Although we will be using GIS and remote sensing techniques, this course will be handled as a "case studies" course. Therefore, no expertise in either GIS or remote sensing is required. It is expected that some of the enrolled students will have those skills and will be able to share them with their classmates. The course prerequisites are upper division standing and three courses in the natural sciences, or permission of instructor.

This course can be used to complete the upper division requirements of the Earth Science Minor, as an upper division elective for the Environmental Biology degree, as an upper division course in a student-designed interdisciplinary degree, or as an upper division elective.

Spring 2000 Materials

Spring 1999 Materials

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Edited Version as of 14 February 2000, Copyrighted by Larry T. Spencer