Students explore issues related to the rapid intensification of hurricanes. They become familiar with the concepts of heat energy and the specific heat of water and interact with animations of sea surface temperature images to identify the Gulf Stream and the Loop Current. Students use ImageJ, a free image processing application, to explore visualizations of heat content in the Gulf of Mexico just before Hurricane Katrina. They plot the path of Katrina as an overlay on these visualizations and observe changes in the heat content of Gulf waters as the hurricane passed over it.
Ian McHarg (1920–2001) was one of the true pioneers of the environmental movement. In his 1969 landmark book, Design With Nature, McHarg spelled out the need for urban planners to consider an environmentally conscious approach to land use, and provided a new method for evaluating and implementing it.
Students analyze population, streets, and proximity to high schools and universities to locate an Internet Cafe in Houston, Texas. The concepts could be applied to any county in the USA for for different types of businesses. Through this analysis, students understand patterns of population and the application of geography to everyday business decisions.
In this 50-question activity, you will determine the best locations to site a wind energy farm in Colorado. You will use GIS as your primary investigative tool and use spatial analysis techniques to consider the best site. You will consider highways, wind speed, cities, size of polygon, contiguity, elevation, federal land, and will perform a number of geoprocessing functions including dissolve, intersect, erase, join, and more to arrive at your conclusion.
