2016 Summer Research Experience in Boulder, CO under the UNAVCO RESESS Program

Ayanna Reed

The City University of New York at Lehman College, Department of Earth, Environmental and Geospatial Science, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468

Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 1261833

• Created in 1984 for applying GPS to earth science.

• University NAVSTAR Consortium formed under the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder

• Fast forward: in 2013, under an NSF award, UNAVCO operates the Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope (GAGE) Facility

• Under this umbrella, it is an non-profit consortium that uses geodesy for geoscience research and science education

(http://www.unavco.org/about/about.html)

“Geodesy is the study of Earth’s shape, gravity field, and rotation. Geodetic research…quantifies changes in the properties of Earth’s surface and subsurface, ice sheets and glaciers, and oceans and atmosphere.” -UNAVCO

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

What is Geodesy

• Research Experiences in Solid Earth Sciences for Students in Boulder, CO (late May-Early August)

• Summer internship program dedicated to increasing the diversity of students entering the geosciences

• Includes: – Stipend for eleven weeks– Round-trip airfare to Boulder, CO– A shared furnished apartment at no cost– A research experience in the solid earth geosciences– An intensive communications course – Opportunity for participation in a national science meeting– Eligibility for scholarship money during the school year– Research Colloquium– Professional development– Financial support for graduate school applications– Participation for up to THREE summers!

UNAVCO RESESS 2016

Orientation

Weekly Communication Workshops

Rocky Mountain National Park and Mountain Research Station (12,183 ft!)

Boulder, CO

#5 out of the Top 100 Best places to live

#6 out of the 99 Best Beer Cities #1 out of the Top 50 Cities for Entrepreneurs

#7 of the Top 10 Best Foodie Cities2016 Livability.com

Flatiron Mountains of the Rocky Mountain National Park

Biking

Peal Street Mall and Great Food!

[U.S. Geological Survey]

Study Area

• 13 cities including:– Baytown, Galveston, Pasadena,

Sugarland, Houston (largest city: 2.1 million people)

• Total Population: 5.7 million people [Bawden et. 2012; 2008 United States Census]

• *More land is farmed in Texas than in any other state

Houston-Galveston Region, TX [Coplin and Galloway 1999]

Detecting and Measuring Land Subsidence in Houston-Galveston, Texas using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Positioning System Data, 2012-2016By Ayanna Reed and Scott Baker

5 year gap in data since Qu et al. 2015’s Study on HG Subsidence

Line of Sight Deformation Maps created from the following satellite data: a) ERS (data period: 1995-1998, b) Envisat (2005-2010) & c) ALOS (2007-2011) [Qu et al. 2015] (measured subsidence patterns using multi-temporal InSAR & GPS time series data)

Ganga-Brahmaputra, Bangladesh [Higgins et al. 2014]

Las Vegas, NV [Hoffman et al. 2001] New Orleans, LA [Dixon et al. 2006]

Beyond Houston-Galveston:

Broader Impact• Better management of water resources• Creating stronger monitoring systems for land subsidence using

geodetic methods• Protecting water resources for future generations

Research Symposium

Productive, yet challenging summer of research!

Thanks! Questions?