Bhuta, Arvind1, Lisa
Kennedy1, Carolyn Copenheaver2,
and Philip Sheridan3.
The Population Dynamics of Longleaf Pine at its Northernmost Range.
1Department of Geography, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,
VA 2Department of Forestry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,
VA 3Meadowview Biological Research Station, Woodford, VA
Longleaf pine in the state of Virginia is at its northernmost
range. Prior to European settlement, it was estimated to occur on over
607,035 hectares (1.5 million acres) in pure and mixed stands throughout the
Piedmont and Coastal Plains regions of Virginia. After European settlement,
the effects of the naval store industry coupled with intense landuse practices
in Virginia caused the decline of longleaf pine to its present distribution
of less than 2,000 individuals on six known sites occupying less than 81
hectares (200 acres). Of these sites, we surveyed and sampled two of
them for occurrence of longleaf pines and measured height and diameter of
all individuals, and calculated age using dendrochronological techniques.
A total of 78 trees at both sites were surveyed and no seedlings or saplings
were found. This absence of regeneration could be due to a lack of
fire which would eliminate competition for the establishment of longleaf
pine seedlings. In ongoing research, a dendroecological study of these
two sites will compliment the age, height, and diameter data, to determine
the effects of loblolly pine (the dominant canopy species at both of these
sites) on this species, and build a climatological record for longleaf pine
in this part of its range.
Boulton, M.A. Lisa.
Reach Scale Sediment Processes in a Channelized Tributary. Department
of Geography, University of Alabama.
This research examines the role of reach scale sediment
processes in determining the location and duration of channel widening occurring
in a tributary stream channelized in the 1970s. Bank failure and sediment
stored in the channel was monitored for change during a period of seven months.
Channel sediment from throughout the system was sampled, and the particle
size analyzed as an indication of the frequency of sediment transport.
Results suggest that bank failure is progressive and begins with bank undercutting.
Sediment is stored in the channel in berms and bars for prolonged periods.
The existence of berms and bars with relatively fixed positions may be contributing
to bar-bend processes of lateral migration and, as a result, bank failure
and channel widening. Particle size of channel sediment does not decrease
in a downstream direction suggesting local sediment input from bank failure
and infrequent sediment transport, enhancing channel sediment storage.
Results of this research emphasize the importance of localized sediment sources,
the role of sediment storage in channel widening, and the occurrence of lateral
migration processes in response to channelization.
Click, Rebecca
A. and Korine N. Kolivras. Climate Variability
and the Potential Spread of Chagas Disease in North America.
Virginia Tech, Geography Department.
Chagas disease is endemic in Central and South America
and primarily spreads through the infestation of domestic dwellings by the
Triatoma species. The disease is caused by a parasitic protozoan, Trypanosoma
cruzi. In the United States, the disease is spread when the vector bites the
infected reservoir and in turn bites a human, transferring the protozoan.
In Central and South America, the disease is frequently spread when the infected
vector infests the home and directly bites a human. In 2003, an outbreak of
Chagas was found in Texas in which the vector colonized domestic dwellings.
While the spread of the disease involves multiple factors, this study explores
one potential factor – climate variability.
The disease vector is found throughout the southern
United States and the 2003 outbreak indicates that research into the potential
geographic distribution is necessary. This study focuses on the effect of
climate variability in the distribution of Chagas disease and the Triatoma
species. A model has been created which consists of North and South American
climate data, the current Triatoma species ranges, and disease concentrations.
Fuhrmann, Christopher
M. and Charles E. Konrad, II. Does
Charlotte, NC Create Its Own Weather? An Examination of Possible Urban Thunderstorm
Enhancement Using Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Data. The
University of Georgia, UNC at Chapel Hill.
This study used cloud-to-ground lightning (CG) data
for the period 1995-1999 to determine the extent of thunderstorm enhancement
over Charlotte, North Carolina. The CG frequency over Charlotte was compared
to the frequency over upwind and downwind rural locations relative to the
city. An overall enhancement of 21-25% in CG density was observed over the
city. The strength of this enhancement varied by season and by time of day.
The greatest seasonal enhancement occurred during the summer (25-34%), particularly
in the early morning hours (46-81%), while both the fall and winter seasons
experienced decreases in CG frequency over the city relative to the rural
locations. Urban-initiated CG days only comprised 2% of the overall difference
in CG between the city and rural locations, indicating that the urban environment
is more efficient at enhancing the CG production of existing storm cells.
Over 70% of urban-enhanced CG days were comprised of isolated cells or clusters
of storm cells with little organization under weak synoptic forcing.
Griffith, J.,
D. Caviness, and G. Hennington. Creation of a GIS Database for Mississippi’s
Wetland Permits.
Prior to the 1800s, Mississippi had nearly 10 million
acres of wetlands. Until the 1970s there were not any regulations on the destruction
of wetlands. Today almost 60% of these wetlands have been lost. Through
regulatory and incentive programs the rate of wetland loss has been dramatically
reduced. This poster presents an overview of the geographic information
system created by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
ArcView 3.2a was chosen as the platform for the database. Much of the descriptive
information in the GIS derives from the wetland permit itself including site
descriptions, wetland impacts, and mitigation measures. An avenue script
was written to capture this text information. The database was integrated
into an ArcIMS project to allow the permit writers an intra-office access
to the database via internet browser on their computers. The
permit writers in the Wetland Section of the Mississippi Department of Environmental
Quality are able to use this GIS database to assist them in making well-informed
decisions when reviewing a public notice that has been submitted.
Gross, Justin.
The Glen Arthur Initiative: Town-Gown Relations and Explorations of a Transient
University Neighborhood. East Carolina University, jag0729@mail.ecu.edu.
Town-Gown relations is one of major cultural issues
facing institutions of higher education and their surrounding neighborhoods.
As more neighborhoods convert to student rental housing and become more transient
in nature, tensions can arise between these new arrivals and established homeowners
and renters. By understanding the changing dynamics of transient neighborhoods,
information can be used to provide better services and mediation between
groups with conflicting goals. This poster presents the results of
a case study of Glen Arthur neighborhood, which borders the expanding campus
of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Working with
university and city officials, the researcher designed and collected information
about the neighborhood using a questionnaire. Residents of Glen Arthur
were asked about their demographic characteristics, neighborhood/community
perceptions, relationships with community members, and crime/safety issues.
Guttmann, Joseph.
Mapping Religious Trends in East Tennessee, 1990-2000. University
of Tennessee, Knoxville
Impacting everything from a community’s social norms
to its voting patterns, one of the South’s most distinguishing cultural identifiers
is its dominant evangelical Protestant religious tradition. Religious
patterns are not static. Changes are occurring due to migration and
internal pressures within denominations. Using data collected in the
2000 Churches and Church Membership in the United States census, the purpose
of this poster is to get a snapshot view of the religious composition of East
Tennessee and to track the emerging trends taking place over the past ten
years. The Southern Baptist Convention dominates the region but its
gains in membership have not kept pace with overall population growth.
Mainstream Protestant denominations have also experienced relative declines.
Two denominations that are growing numerically and as a percentage of the
overall population are the Roman Catholics and the Church of God (Cleveland,
TN).
Harden, Carol . Soils
and the Glacial History of Cajas National Park, Ecuador. Department
of Geography, University of Tennessee.
This research sought to determine whether soil development
indicates the relative ages of land surfaces in the glacierized, high mountain
landscape of Cajas National Park, Ecuadorian Andes. Descriptions
of soil profiles and characteristics, including wet consistence, grittiness,
rod formation, color, and surface horizon depth, were recorded in the field.
Loss-on-ignition was determined in lab to represent the proportion of organic
matter in soil samples. Overall, surface soil depth appears to reflect the
relative exposure age of sites. Soils on moraines in valleys that had
Late Glacial ice are thin (0-30 cm) and highly organic. Soils above
the elevation of valley glaciers are typically much deeper. Rocks and
deposits, on which the black surface soils lie unconformably, include highly
weathered deposits that merit further study, as they may represent an earlier
glacial cycle and/or surfaces exposed early in the last glacial maximum.
Better understanding local soils and the extent to which they document glacial
and post-glacial history will benefit glacial studies and provide valuable
information for water resource managers.
Heavner, Laura. The
Power of Photography: Measuring Levels of Gender and Racial/Ethnic Representation
in North Carolina’s Tourism Brochures. Department of Geography,
East Carolina University.
Although places have long advertised themselves, tourism
promotion has emerged as a critical facet of economic development, illustrating
the importance that cultural representation plays in the process and politics
of converting communities into saleable commodities. Within the realm of tourism
promotion, brochures play an especially important role in representing destinations
as unique and attractive to visitors. In constructing tourist brochures,
communities often make strategic use of visual representations, slogans,
symbols, and rhetoric to construct selective images of people and places.
Photography is one of the most important ways of communicating meaning in
tourism brochures because of the power of visual images. Interesting
or controversial images will linger in the minds of visitors long after they
have left the tourist destination. Previous research has suggested
that photographs of men and women are popular images found within tourism
brochures and that many of these images perpetuate representations of sexism,
objectifications of women, and gender inequality. For example, Annette
Pritchard has developed a content analysis technique for analyzing gendered
representations in tourism brochures by coding photographs along a four level
scale of sexism. This poster applies Pritchard’s technique to brochures
from locations throughout North Carolina, seeking to measure levels of gender
and racial/ethnic representation within promotional photographic images.
Evidence suggests that there are clear quanitative and qualitative limitations
in how women and minorities are portrayed within North Carolina’s tourism
industry.
Kendrick, Dasen
and Rezaul Mahmood. Ground Ozone Concentration
Variability and Its Association with Mesometeorological Conditions.
Department of Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling
Green, KY .
Throughout the United States, many areas exceed the
level of safe ground ozone concentration consumption. Man-made emissions
and natural emissions react photochemically to produce ground ozone concentration.
Variability in ground ozone concentration is controlled by local and regional
emissions, synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, and boundary layer chemistry
and dynamics. Particular meteorological factors can alter ground ozone concentration
in a given area. If the right meteorological variables are present,
rural areas can have unhealthy air conditions with high levels of ground ozone
concentration similar to that of metropolitan areas. Many rural areas
do not have access to certain meteorological instrumentation. However,
meteorological variables such as diurnal temperature, daily precipitation,
and solar radiation can generally be observed in these areas. Using
these variables, a regression analysis is performed. The regression
model and results explain the association between ground ozone concentration
and particular meteorological variables.
Knight, Laura L.
Remote Sensing Applications In Underwater Archeological Mapping.
University of Georgia, Department of Geography.
This presentation focuses on the importance of creating
a photographic and/or sonar record of images that provide researchers with
missing data about two locations. The first location, West Point, Georgia,
is the site of a civil war battle, a steamship wreck, a culturally significant
bridge, and is a likely host to other yet undiscovered events.
The second location, the lower Savannah River estuary in Savannah, Georgia,
has a plethora of culturally relevant information as well as physical data
about the bottom features, sediment type and even some of the demersal inhabitants
of this region.. These images were generated using a Klein side-scan sonar,
a DIDSON high frequency sonar and an underwater camera to provide details
in the creation of a geo-referenced map of the individual sites. Photographic
data and sonar imagery are complementary elements for creating a comprehensive
record of the site. The physical measurement of previously culturally
defined events provides credible evidence that these events shaped the future
and help us define where and who we are today.
Lecce, Scott A.
A Depth-Proportional Sampling Device for Automatic Water Samplers.
East Carolina University.
The difficulty of collecting suspended sediment samples
using manual techniques during infrequent large events has made pumping water
samplers increasingly popular. Although these instruments make it possible
to sample events in remote locations, there are several problems associated
with their use. One of the most significant is the need to place the
intake nozzle in a fixed position. Sampling at a fixed location in the
flow may produce non-representative samples because sediment concentrations
vary vertically and horizontally in the cross section. This paper describes
and evaluates a device that samples at the same proportion of flow depth regardless
of stage.
Levengood, Michael
and Emily Powers. New Urbanism:
Atlantic Station. University of Georgia.
After years of uncontrolled suburban sprawl, Atlanta
has seen the construction of numerous mixed-use developments across the metropolitan
area. The largest and most ambitious of these projects, Atlantic Station,
lies at the site of the former Atlantic Steel Mill adjacent to Midtown, one
of Atlanta’s prime businesses districts. Though still under construction,
phases of the 138-acre development have opened over the past two years. While
Atlantic Station presents itself as a live/work/play community, the development
is arguably also an example of the New Urbanism movement in planning. This
video explores Atlantic Station’s use of these ten basic elements of New Urbanism:
walkability, connectivity, mixed use and diversity, mixed housing, quality
architecture and design, traditional neighborhood structure, increased density,
smart transportation, sustainability, and quality of life. Atlantic Station
fulfills most of these elements but falls short in a few areas. This ‘city
in a city’ will, however, set the tone for implementing successful mixed-use
in an urban setting and will undoubtedly benefit the Atlanta region.
Mayfield, Michael
W. and Christian Degrassi. Snow and Ice Changes
in the Cordillera Real, Bolivia. Appalachian State University
and Cypress College.
Mountain glaciers and ice caps are sensitive indicators
of climate change and may be especially useful in the detection of enhanced
greenhouse warming (Thompson 2000). The purpose of this research was to analyze
snow and ice cover changes of the glaciers of the Cordillera Real (Bolivia)
during the period 1987-2001. The study sought to enhance understanding of
regional trends in ice loss through remote sensing change detection.
A combination of image processing techniques was used
to determine the rates and patterns of ice accumulation and loss between image
capture dates. Those techniques included spectral unmixing, binary classification,
and a minimum distance supervised classification. The binary and minimum
distance classifications were used to identify the snow and ice facies of
the glaciers. The spectral unmixing technique was applied to better define
the transition between fresh snow, firn, and ice. The snow and ice cover
of the Cordillera Real were found to be highly sensitive to changes in regional
weather patterns such as those induced by ENSO events, but may also be related
to global change processes such as the increasing planetary temperature.
Nicholson, Amy. Housing
on the Run: A History of the American Nomad. East Carolina
University, Department of Geography.
The term “nomad” usually evokes images of tribal communities
of the past in distant regions of the world. In reality, American has
its own nomads, people who strategically move or occupy temporary types of
housing. The movements of the American nomad are motivated by the search
for opportunity, convenience, and affordable living quarters in an increasingly
exclusive and expensive housing market. In this poster, I will present
a timeline outlining the evolution of nomads, examining different types of
nomads and their housing structures over a variety of historical periods in
the United States. This will include the future of nomadic housing,
with fresh, new ideas and innovative designs being used today that will hopefully
shape the way all types of nomads live their lives. By examining the
progression of temporary nomadic housing in the United States, you will understand
the evolution and the future of these modern American nomads.
Smith, P. Caleb.
Hot Water: The Distribution of Public Swimming Pools in Mississippi
1967-71. University of Southern Mississippi.
With the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 1965, and 1967,
and such court cases as Palmer v Thompson (1969) the time had come to face
the facts that public entities in the South had to be integrated. Plessy
v Ferguson (1896) created separate societies in the South. Brown v Board
(1954) broke down those barriers and began integration in the South. With
this integration, public space in the South was changed. No longer were dual
water fountains, dual restrooms, and dual public swimming pools the norm.
In 1969 The United States Supreme Court ruled (Palmer v Thompson) that public
swimming pools had to be desegregated just like public schools. This poster
will display the reaction of cities to this ruling and other similar rulings
and how by 1971 the scope of public swimming pools in Mississippi had changed
forever.
Snow, Mary and Rich
Snow. GIS Analysis of Sea Turtle Nesting Sites
in Volusia County, Florida. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University.
Daytona Beach in Volusia County is situated on a barrier
island facing the Atlantic Ocean along the east coast of Florida. While this
location is advantageous for the tourism industry, Daytona Beach is susceptible
to tropical storms, hurricanes, and the associated storm surge. Daytona Beach
is unique in that it is one of the few areas in the United States capable
of supporting driving on the beach with nearly 16 miles of hard-packed sand
open to automobile traffic. The beach also is home to a variety of animals
that depend on the dunes including nesting sea turtles such as leatherbacks,
greens, and loggerheads, all of which are listed as endangered. Sea turtle
nesting season in Daytona Beach is from 1 May through 31 October each year.
Volusia County has established natural beach management areas and conservation
zones that are off limits to public vehicles and protect sea turtles and sand
dunes. Because sea turtles mainly nest and hatch at night, Volusia County
has ended public vehicular access after dark and restricts beachfront lighting
issuing fines to violators. During sea turtle nesting season, the beaches
are not open to public driving until every drivable mile has been inspected
by specially trained and permitted sea turtle monitoring teams. All turtle
nests in Volusia County are mapped with GPS (sub-meter accuracy) within 48
hours of the eggs being deposited. These data points are entered into a sea
turtle database and used at the end of the season to create a GIS of all nest
locations. This research analyzes the temporal and spatial distribution of
sea turtles nests and discusses the issues associated with Volusia County’s
Habitat Conservation Plan which includes an Incidental Take Permit to enable
driving on the beach.
Soulé, Peter
T. and Paul A. Knapp. Are Growth Rates of
Ponderosa Pine in the Pacific Northwest Related to Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide?
Appalachian State University; University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
In 2003 we presented at SEDAAG preliminary results from
our study dealing with radial growth rate enhancement of ponderosa pine. In
this poster we present the final results from phase one of this study. Our
primary objective was to determine if rising levels of CO2 have
impacted radial growth rates of ponderosa pine in non-laboratory (i.e., natural)
settings. We developed tree ring chronologies from eight sites in the Pacific
Northwest (northern Oregon to northern California) that have all received
minimal human impacts. We compared radial growth pre- and post 1950 in various
ways using multiple comparison tests and compared radial growth changes post-1950
to a simple measure of site harshness. We conclude that 1) CO2
fertilization is likely operative, having a positive effect on radial growth
rates of ponderosa pine, 2) enhanced radial growth rates of ponderosa pine
are more evident during drought years in comparison to wet years, 3) site
harshness is positively related to enhanced radial growth rates, and 4) the
observed changes in radial growth are occurring in the absence of favorable
climatic conditions (for radial growth).
Tresohlavy, Timothy1,
Joseph Luchette1, Paul Black2, and Chris Lukasina2.
Long-Range Transportation Planning Utilizing Local Land-use Data in
Rural North Carolina. 1East Carolina University
2Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments
Regional-scale transportation analysis is primarily
conducted by state Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies. Creation
of long-range transportation plans are often long-overdue, especially in
rural areas where priority is presumed low. This project fills a gap in long-range
transportation planning for a four-county (Edgecombe, Johnston, Nash and
Wilson) area of rural North Carolina.
As land-use categories change, from agricultural to
residential, there is a general increase in transportation trip generation,
establishing a loose causal connection between land-use and transportation.
This project utilized publicly available local government data to identify
transportation ‘hot spots’ within the Upper Coastal Plain Rural Planning
Organization (UCPRPO) jurisdiction. Twenty-five years of parcel data (1980-2004)
were projected to 2029, and exported into ArcGIS 9.0 for visual representation.
Output maps confirm that the pattern of residential land-use change for these
areas is primarily influenced by growth from an urban center (Raleigh, NC)
located beyond our jurisdictional limits, and secondarily by single-family,
suburban-style, residential neighborhoods on the fringes of metropolitan
areas.
This 2-month analysis of land-use data demonstrated
the cost effectiveness of local government data for use in transportation
planning efforts by rural planning organizations. The applications of this
project, however, extend into the real estate market and business world.
Vaughn, Sallie. The
Importance of Trading Paths to Late Classic Maya Settlement Locations:
An Example from Northwestern Belize. Department of Geography,
East Carolina University.
The Ancient Maya of Mesoamerica were a complex civilization
known to employ extensive trade networks connecting all cities and settlements
throughout the region. These networks were used to carry information,
resources, trade goods, and served as pedestrian pathways. During the
population explosion of Late Classic times (600-900 A.D.), these pathways
were likely utilized to disperse people across the landscape away from overcrowded
and overpopulated regions. This project identifies one such path between
two ancient Maya cities, La Milpa and Dos Hombres, located in present day
northwestern Belize. Due to the variable topography of the underlying
karstic plain, this path is not simply a straight line. Rather, it represents
the least strenuous path which can be traversed on foot in the shortest period
of time; a least cost path. In a similar fashion, the landscape surrounding
the path is analyzed for its ‘closeness’ to this path, creating a least cost
surface. Other existing archaeological sites are inserted into this
surface and correlations between distance from the path and site placement
and distribution are made.
Wang, Gang and
Russel Taylor. Uncertainty Analysis of A GIS Based
Hydrological Model: A Case Study for the Middle Tallapoosa River Watershed
of Alabama. Department of Geography, The University of
Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.
Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) provides choices
of using either skewed normal or mixed exponential method to calculate rainfall
and options of using either the model generated or historically recorded weather
data as input. Also, it lets you input a threshold level used for subdividing
the watershed. These different setups can affect a watershed modeling process
and subsequent output results. The goal of this study is to examine the SWAT
output differences caused by these different input setups using an example
from the Middle Tallapoosa River Watershed located in east-central Alabama.
The results indicate that: (1) the two different rainfall calculation methods
produced a big difference on output results; (2) the two methods of generating
weather data resulted in different results; (3) the number of subbasins selected
had little impact on the final output. Validation was conducted for six sampling
points around Lake Martin. Based on the analysis of correlation coefficients,
we concluded that the mixed exponential rainfall calculation method and the
historically recorded weather data may be better in producing more accurate
results.
Warner, Timothy1,
Rick Landenberger1, and M. Duane Nellis2.
West Virginia View: An AmericaView state remote sensing consortium.
1West Virginia University, 2Kansas
State University.
West Virginia View is a state consortium dedicated to
promoting remote sensing in West Virginia. The founding members of West
Virginia View are West Virginia University, which acts as the lead institution,
the WV GIS Technical Center, Canaan Valley Institute and the WV Department
of Environmental Protection. Recently Marshall University and Glenville
State College have joined the consortium, along with the non-profit, SkyTruth.
One of the key projects of West Virginia View is an
on-line data archive, which includes over 150 Landsat images (mostly of West
Virginia) available for free download. In addition to the data archive,
West Virginia View supports remote sensing infrastructure at the participating
institutions, sponsors internships, and provides student research grants.
West Virginia View has sponsored the training of an instructor and a teacher
training workshop for the GLOBE Program. West Virginia View is also
supporting the development of new remote sensing courses at 4-year colleges
in the state.
West Virginia View is funded by AmericaView, which in
turn is funded by the United States Geological Survey. AmericaView,
founded in 2001, currently has 25 state-View consortia members. Other
SEDAAG states that have formed AmericaView consortia include Virginia, Alabama,
Georgia, Kentucky and Mississipppi.
Worley, Angela
R. and Johan Liebens. Relationships between health
outcomes and air pollution in Northwest Florida. Department
of Environmental Studies, University of West Florida.
Morbidity and mortality in Northwest Florida vary spatially
at the ZIP code level and, for some ZIP codes, are significantly different
from those in socially and demographically similar ZIP codes elsewhere in
the state. We examined if in Northwest Florida statistical and spatial relationships
exist between morbidity and mortality, demography and air pollution, and compared
these results with those for the similar ZIP codes elsewhere in the state.
To this end, we calculated proximity indexes for permitted air emitters within
10 km of Census 2000 block centroids for all ZIP codes in an existing health
outcome study for the region. The indexes were weighted separately with TRI
site total emissions, benzene equivalent pound emissions from TRI sites,
and with a combination of FDEP major and minor air emitters. Results indicate
that differences in mortality and morbidity within Northwest Florida are
not statistically related to the weighted proximity indexes. Proximity indexes
for Northwest Florida ZIP codes and the socially and demographically similar
ZIP codes are comparable. Statistical analysis does not identify environmental
inequity in proximity to air emitters in Northwest Florida.
Wuensch, Sol
, Jennifer Ast, and Scott Curtis. The Impacts of
North Carolina’s 2004 Hurricane Season and Comparison with Previous Years.
Department of Geography, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
The 2004 hurricane season was one of the most destructive
and emotionally draining Atlantic hurricane seasons on record. In the
US there were 151 total deaths either directly or indirectly attributed to
hurricanes and total property damage reached 42 billion dollars making it
the costliest season on record. Although Florida was the hardest hit,
enduring a record four direct hits, North Carolina did not escape unscathed.
No other state, including Florida, had as many storms (six) pass through its
borders. North Carolina can be affected by both “direct-hit” hurricanes
from the Atlantic and “back-door” storms that usually hit the Gulf coast as
hurricanes, and then make a northeast turn crossing over the Appalachian Mountains
as extra-tropical depressions. The “direct-hit” hurricanes are characterized
by strong winds, storm surge, and the spawning of tornadoes. However,
the “back-door” type can be equally devastating as warm tropical air is forced
to rise up mountain slopes dumping large amounts of rain which causes flash
flooding and even land slides on steep terrain. North Carolina was
impacted by four “direct-hit” (Alex, Bonnie, Charley, and Gaston) and three
“back-door” hurricanes (Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne). The purpose of
this poster is to analyze the hurricanes of 2004 and the destruction they
caused in North Carolina. In addition, the poster will compare North
Carolina’s 2004 hurricane season with those of previous years. Analyzing
precipitation amounts, tornadoes spawned, deaths caused by hurricanes, and
property damage should prove that the 2004 hurricane season was one of the
most active and costliest on record.
Xie, Shouhong and
Lisa Drummond. The Development of Big Cities and
the Formation of Metropolitan Areas in Contemporary China.
York University, Canada.
Along with the tremendous transition of market economy
in China since 1980, funds, technology and manpower have flown more freely
and the process of spatial agglomeration and dispersion has accelerated at
different levels. A huge amount of laborers in rural areas have flown into
cities and towns in an unprecedented scale, which has led to urbanization
at a surprising speed. Big cities have fast sprawled, towns have constantly
emerged and enlarged, and social and economic linkages between central cities
and surrounding areas have strengthened, which remarkably accelerate the formation
of metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas will be an important spatial form
in China in new era, but they will also bring new challenge to urban development
strategy, urban planning, and urban management. This article firstly investigates
the development trend and spatial change of big cities in contemporary China
and discusses the formation mechanism of metropolitan areas. Then the authors
propose the concept, definition criteria, and planning strategy of China’s
metropolitan areas. Key words: big cities; metropolitan areas; urban form;
urban planning
