Unit 2: Reading the landscape
How do geologic, hydrologic, biologic, and built-landscape features manifest themselves on maps? In this unit, students will use topographic maps, hillshade maps, and aerial imagery to learn to recognize a variety ...

Unit 1: Slip-sliding away: case study landslides in Italy and Peru
How have mass-wasting events affected communities, and what lessons have we learned from these natural disasters that might help us mitigate future hazards? In this unit, students answer these questions by being ...

Unit 3: Monitoring groundwater storage with GPS vertical position
This unit shows how GPS records of surface elevation can be used to monitor groundwater changes. Students calculate secular trends in the GPS time series and then use the original and detrended records to identify ...

Unit 1: Introduction to the hydrologic cycle and stakeholder analysis
This unit introduces the hydrological cycle to provide context for the module as a whole. It particularly focuses on those portions of the hydrological cycle that take place on land and that form the basis for ...

Unit 4: Water budget assessment of a California drought
The California Drought of 2012–2016 had significant social and economic consequences. This final unit focuses on this drought as a case study for measuring the hydrologic system so that we can better understand ...

Unit 2: Characterizing groundwater storage with well and GRACE data
This unit provides students with experience analyzing traditional (depth to water table measured in a well) and geodetic: GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) data for monitoring changes in groundwater ...

Measuring Water Resources
Measuring water resources such as groundwater and snowpack is challenging, but the advent of satellite gravity measurements and hydrologic GPS applications can augment traditional methods. This module gives ...

Unit 4: GPS and infinitesimal strain analysis
Students work with GPS velocity data from three stations in the same region that form an acute triangle. By investigating how the ellipse inscribed within this triangle deforms, students learn about strain, strain ...

Unit 5: 2014 South Napa Earthquake and GPS strain
The 2014 South Napa earthquake was the first large earthquake (Mag 6) to occur within the Plate Boundary Observatory GPS network (now Network of the Americas- NOTA) since installation. It provides an excellent ...

Unit 6: Applying GPS strain and earthquake hazard analyses to different regions
Students select their own set of three stations in an area of interest to them, conduct a strain analysis of the area between the stations, and tie the findings to regional tectonics and societal impacts in a 5–7 ...