Before and After - Skytruthing the Impact of Human Activity on the EnvironmentDavid Manthos, SkyTruthSkyTruth brings together people, remote sensing, and big data to promote conservation and to inform decisionmakers about pressing environmental issues. Effectively communicating the impact of extractive industries such as mining, drilling, and logging often requires more than a static look at one place and time, but rather showing change over time. SkyTruth uses satellite and aerial imagery to track the impact of oil and gas drilling across the country, was among the first to report that BP was severely underreporting the size of the Gulf Oil Spill from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and used Landsat imagery to map the footprint of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mines in Appalachia since 1976. Learn how SkyTruth is building the skytruthing movement to engage the public with satellite images and temporal data to map environmental issues and illustrate how we are impacting the world around us.
Iron, Steam and Speed: The Coast Survey and the Cartography from the Inland Seaport of PittsburghJohn Cloud, NOAA Central LibrarySome ships of the Coast Survey/NOAA have been custom-built, but most have come from other government agencies. When the Industrial Revolution first went to sea, in iron ships powered by iron steam engines, they could be built in only a few specialized sites where coal, water, iron and skilled workers converged, which is how Pittsburgh became an important ship-building inland seaport before the Civil War. A class of Revenue Marine cutters made there later became legendary Coast Survey ships. The scientific work from the decks of the George Bibb and the Robert Walker was foundational to modern oceanography, and their cartography was critical in the Civil War, even though the Walker was sunk in 1860. Its cartography continues to the present, as NOAA discovered the ancestral wreck in 2013 using geo-positioned multi-beam sonar. This presentation will return the cartography of the Walker to the city where it was forged.
View presentation »Mapping Unconventional Oil and Gas Activity on FrackTracker.orgMatt Kelso, FracTracker Alliance
Samantha Malone, FracTracker AllianceUnconventional gas and oil (O&G) extraction - often referred to as 'fracking' - has increased significantly in the United States in recent years. The associated environmental and public health concerns have created a desire to track where drilling and its impacts are occurring. Mapping such activity enables citizens to better understand the complex nature of the industry. FracTracker.org is a free system that tracks and visualizes data related to O&G operations via a customized Esri mapping tool. Unconventional O&G activity - such as the location of permits, operators, well sites, violations, where available - has already been mapped by the FracTracker Alliance in over 25 states. This session will highlight the insightful maps, tools, and findings of FracTracker's work. After attending the session, participants will be able to utilize the various features incorporated into FracTracker's maps, such as measuring how close activity is occurring to waterways.
