Unit 1.1 - CZ Overview part of Critical Zone Science
Tim White, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
The Critical Zone encompasses the external or near-surface Earth extending from the top of the vegetation canopy down to and including the subsurface zone of freely circulating fresh groundwater. Complex ...

Unit 4: Impacts of Environmental Change on Organisms: Horses part of Changing Biosphere
Camille Holmgren, SUNY Buffalo State University
In this unit, students will gain a deep-time perspective on how life evolves on a dynamic planet. They will use the Equidae (horse family) as a case study to examine the relationship among climate, biomes, and ...

Unit 2: Water Footprints part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability
Robert Turner, University of Washington-Bothell Campus
Unit 2 opens a window into water accounting and reveals intensive water use that few people think about. How much water goes into common commodities? Have you considered how much water it takes to support our ...

Unit 3: Getting started with GPS data part of GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes
Vince Cronin, Baylor University (Vince_Cronin@baylor.edu) Phil Resor, Wesleyan University (presor@wesleyan.edu)
This unit provides essential background information on GPS (global positioning system) and reference frames. Students learn how to access GPS location and velocity data from the Network of the Americas (NOTA). They ...

Unit 2.1: Hydrologic Impact of Land-Use Change part of An Ecosystem Services Approach to Water Resources
John Ritter, Wittenberg University; Meghann Jarchow, University of South Dakota; Ed Barbanell, University of Utah
In this activity, students model the impact of land-cover changes on stormwater runoff using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator (Calculator). The students are introduced to the Calculator through a ...

Unit 4: Geomorphic change detection part of Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM
Kate Shervais (UNAVCO) J. Ramon Arrowsmith (Arizona State University) Nathan Niemi (University of Michigan) Marin Clark (University of Michigan) Chris Crosby (UNAVCO)
Applications of geodetic imaging in geomorphology research often center on monitoring and detecting change within a system over time. Since most geomorphic systems evolve over longer time periods—months, years, ...

Unit 3: Geodetic survey of a fault scarp part of Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM
Bruce Douglas (Indiana University) Nicholas Pinter (University of California Davis) Nathan Niemi (University of Michigan) J. Ramon Arrowsmith (Arizona State University) Kate Shervais (UNAVCO) Chris Crosby (EarthScope)
In this unit, students will design a survey (TLS and/or SfM) of a fault scarp. After conducting the survey in the field, students will analyze the data to identify the number and magnitude of possible fault ...

Unit 1-TLS: Introduction to TLS part of Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM
Bruce Douglas (Indiana University) Chris Crosby (UNAVCO) David Phillips (UNAVCO) Kate Shervais (UNAVCO)
Field experience using geodetic and geophysical tools provides a unique opportunity for upper-level undergraduates to learn research skills applicable to their future graduate research or career path. This unit ...

Unit 2: Geodetic survey of an outcrop for stratigraphic analysis part of Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM
Bruce Douglas (Indiana University) Chris Crosby (UNAVCO) Kate Shervais (UNAVCO)
Geodetic survey techniques, such as TLS and SfM featured here, have many applications in sedimentology research, including lithological identification and analysis, sediment surface topography, and sequence ...

Unit 1-SfM: Introduction to SfM part of Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM
Kate Shervais (UNAVCO) Bruce Douglas (Indiana University) Chris Crosby (EarthScope)
This unit introduces students to Structure from Motion (SfM). SfM is a photogrammetric technique that uses overlapping images to construct a 3D model of the scene and has widespread research applications in ...