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University of Alaska Fairbanks

Geospatial Science in the Arctic Domain

University of Alaska Fairbanks via edX

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Overview

This course enables students to solve real-world problems using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. Students will acquire skills in data management, vector, and raster analysis. They will work with elevation data and point coordinates in a GIS environment and learn how to assess data accuracy in GIS.

Remote sensing observations from airborne and spaceborne platforms have become an essential tool for monitoring environmental change. This is especially true for the Arctic, where accelerated climate warming has caused exceptional changes of landscape and ecosystems, and where the vastness and remoteness of the landscape has made remote sensing an indispensable observational tool.

In light of this need for remote sensing, this course focuses on a range of geospatial science applications in the Arctic domain. Example applications include general change detection, the monitoring of snow and water; the analysis of wildfires, and the mapping and assessment of landslides. All these applications are actors of change in the Arctic and impact geospatial intelligence applications such as the assessment of Arctic domain trafficability.

This course includes the following modules:

  • Module 0: Introduction to the Course

  • Module 1: Monitoring Environmental Change From Imagery

  • Module 2: Mapping Snow Cover with the Normalized Difference Snow Index

  • Module 3: Wildfire Mapping Concepts

  • Module 4: Landslide Mapping using Remote Sensing

Learners on the Verified Track will put their learned knowledge into action in data analysis exercises related to all four course modules. In these exercises, learners who select the verified track will have access to online computational labs using ArcGIS pro and Jupyter notebooks. These will facilitate a deeper immersion into the subject matter.

Syllabus

  • Week 1: Introduction to the Course and Environmental Change Detection Techniques

Week 1 will introduce you to the main content and structure of this course. In this first week, you will also learn about methods to detect and map environmental changes using remote sensing data. The following items will be addressed:

Introduction to course

Presentation of course syllabus

Introduction to the concept of change detection and the sensor types used in this module

Basic principles and capabilities of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging

Introduction to SAR-based change detection techniques

Verified Track: Lab exercise on change detection from SAR observations

Week 2: Snow and Water Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Data

This module exposes you to remote sensing methods for the mapping of snow and water. Both are significant obstacles in the Arctic, affecting mobility and access to the landscape. We will mostly use multispectral remote sensing sensors for this task. Specifically, in Week 2 we will address:

  • The concepts of mapping snow, ice, and water with remote sensing

  • What is the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), how is it derived, and what are its applications

  • Methods for mapping water from remote sensing images

  • An application of snow and water mapping techniques to a 2015 spring flooding event in northern Alaska

  • Verified Track: Lab exercise exploring flood mapping techniques from optical remote sensing

Week 3: Wildfire Mapping From Remote Sensing

As temperatures have risen in the Arctic, wildfires have become an ever-present hazard in the Arctic domain. In this module, we will explore wildfire remote sensing and will discuss techniques for monitoring active fires and mapping wildfire burn scars. Specifically, week 3 will discuss the following:

  • What are the concepts of wildfire remote sensing

  • How to detect active fires using thermal remote sensing

  • Mapping of burned area and burn severity using the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR)

  • Verified Track: In lab exercises, students on the verified track will explore active fire services and will work on hands-on exercises to map burned area for recent fire events

Week 4: Landslide Mapping using Remote Sensing

The accelerated warming of the Arctic in recent decades has led to a rapid increase of landslide activity especially in sloped terrain. This is partly because the thawing of permafrost has reduced the integrity of soils. Additionally, receding mountain glaciers have reduced buttressing of unstable soils and caused the activation of landslides in many mountain valleys.

Remote sensing is an indispensable tool for monitoring these activities across the vast reaches of the Arctic. Therefore, week 4 of this course will discuss the following:

  • What are landslides, what causes them, and how can they be categorized

  • What are shallow landslides and how can remote sensing help in calculating the susceptibility of a landslide to produce shallow landslides

  • How can shallow landslides risks be determined using remote sensing observations

  • What are deep-seated landslides and what are their properties

  • What is InSAR and how can it be used to detect deep-seated landslides and measure their motion

Verified Track: In lab exercise students on the verified track will explore landslide susceptibility maps and analyze landslide motion using InSAR techniques

Taught by

Franz Meyer

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