In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Gwyneth Holt and Eric Rasmussen sit down with Curt Storlazzi, a research geologist and oceanographer with the US Geological Survey’s Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, who’s also a researcher with the UC-Santa Cruz Institute for Marine Sciences.
01:20 Focus of past and current research on coral reefs and the impact of wave circulation.
https://www.chasingcoral.com/
02:15 Island infrastructure vulnerability to sea level rise.
03:10 The threat of more frequent “overwash events” from sea level rise.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aap9741
05:10 Geographic specificity for island research – especially within US Pacific territories.
06:35 “Boundaries” research with the Pacific Community (Suva, Fiji)
Pacific Community: https://spc.int/
Vulnerable Basepoints Project, now https://gem.spc.int/projects/resilient-boundaries
Geoscience Australia: https://www.ga.gov.au/
07:15 Every sandy bump a meter above the waves can define an Exclusive Economic Zones – 200 miles of fishing, mining.
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/useez.html
09:25 How is data being collected in these remote locations? Discussion of tiered trust in source datasets, and triaging islands of concern.
12:20 LIDAR on land and bathymetry in water – accurate and rigorous gold standards, but expensive. Now looking at SfM and satellite colorimetric pseudo-bathymetry.
Visual SfM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ceiOd8Yx3g
Storlazzi Pseudo-bathymetry paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303697607_Benthic_Habitat_Map_of_US_Coral_Reef_Task_Force_Faga%27alu_Bay_Priority_Study_Area_Tutuila_American_Samoa
Pseudo-bathymetry for the enthusiast: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/6/859/htm
14:50 Calibration / Validation efforts with Office of Naval Research
15:50 NASA’s Structure from Motion Mars Rover research adapted for earth observation.
EROS Earth Observing Group: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros
17:05 ICESAT 2 satellite laser altimeter. Global calibration/validation support.
https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/space-lasers
17:55 Is any data available to the public? Are the models available?
American Samoa Bathymetry above
LIDAR downloads: https://gisgeography.com/top-6-free-lidar-data-sources/
20:45 Human security concerns becoming visible from his research
21:30 Island limitations – stranded populations, climate refugees, and all adaptation is expensive. Diasporas require thought.
22:30 Floating Cities being tested in Busan, Korea and the Maldives.
https://oceanixcity.com/busan/
https://maldivesfloatingcity.com/
22:55 Low-lying atoll coral reefs losing the capacity to buffer vulnerable islands.
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