Exercise 9

Investigating three hazards of 2010 The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Eyjafjallajkull volcanic eruption in Iceland, and the Haiti earthquake

This exercise invites exploration of three major hazards that occurred in 2010, including the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajkull volcano in Iceland, and the earthquake in Haiti, using GIS as the investigative tool. Each hazard uses progressively more rigorous GIS tools and invites deeper exploration.

ArcMap document illustrating earthquakes in the Caribbean region. ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Explorer Online are also used in this exercise.

Exercises for The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data

Context
As the worlds population increases, and as that population becomes increasingly settled in areas more frequently affected by natural hazards, the threat to human lives and property increases. According to news agency DotsPress, natural hazards caused 295,000 deaths and US$130 billion in damages in 2010 alone. According to the United Nations, the economic cost of these hazards tripled from 2009 to 2010.

Problem
As these natural hazards affect and, in turn, are affected by the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and anthrosphere (human dimension), they can be effectively studied, modeled, and even to some extent predicted using a GIS. The goal in many such studies is to understand how hazards work, how to prepare for them, and how to mitigate their impact to save lives and property. You will consider the following in your hazards analysis:

Natural hazards are also interrelated. For example, earthquakes can cause tsunamis and landslides, while hurricanes can cause damage from winds and floods. Natural hazards also have a major impact on human systems; for example, a drought can lead to famine and political instability. Some natural hazards, such as a hailstorm or a tornado, occur on a local scale. Others, such as a tsunami or a hurricane, cover large areas of the globe.

What is the difference between natural hazards and human-caused hazards?

Name three hazards that caused devastation and destruction in 2010. Explain why these hazards caused so much damage. Which of the three hazards you identified were natural and which were human-caused?

Problem (contd.)
What are the gray areas between what is considered to be a natural hazard and what is considered to be a human-caused hazard? What are the geographic components of hazards? How can GIS help us understand the causes and impacts of hazards so that we may be better prepared for future hazards and minimize loss of life and destruction of property? What were the chief causes, impacts, location, movement, and spatial pattern of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Eyjafjallajkull volcanic eruption, and the earthquake in Haiti?

Skills Required
Using ArcGIS for Desktop tools, such as querying, symbolizing, and joining, to examine spatial patterns Examining tabular attributes, hyperlinking, posting notes, geoprocessing, and other selected skills Accessing ArcGIS Help files for unfamiliar tasks Using the web GIS environment to analyze data, create a presentation, save, and share maps

Resources
TIME This exercise contains sixty-two questions and will require three to five hours to complete. SOFTWARE ArcGIS 10.0 or later, from Esri.

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Steps 1 - 9

The objective for this first part of the exercise is to understand the location, movement, size, and spatial pattern of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010.
Create a folder on your computer for the data for this exercise; this will store the data files for the desktop GIS portion of the exercise. Give the folder a descriptive name (without spaces) so that you will remember what it contains.

1) Access ArcGIS Online

Access ArcGIS Online (http://www.arcgis.com). Make sure All Content is selected next to Show: for the search scope, and then search for gulf oil spill over time owner:user_community. The search results should appear as shown next.

Searching ArcGIS Online for the Gulf oil spill map.

2) Open map viewer

Under the thumbnail of the map that appears on the Search Results screen, select Open in ArcGIS.com map viewer. Once the map opens in your web browser, examine your map and note the contents by clicking Show Contents of Map (the middle icon above the text to the left of the map).

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2) Open map viewer (contd.)

Steps 1 - 9

2.1) How many layers are in the table of contents?

2.2) What are the names of the layers and what do they contain? 2.3) Name two advantages of having ready access to these mapping services in the cloud, in this case, on ArcGIS Online, instead of being stored on your desktop computer. You may find occasionally that one or more of the layers will not be available when you need it. If the map services that provide access to the layers are taken off line, you will not see specific layers and will receive a warning message or have an incomplete map. 2.4) Name two challenges of having these mapping services in the cloud instead of on your desktop computer. Display the map legend by clicking Show Map Legend (the right-most icon above the text to the left of the map). Your map will look similar to the image shown next. (You may need to zoom or adjust the Time slider to get a comparable view.)

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2) Open map viewer (contd.)

Steps 1 - 9

Gulf Coast Protected Resources and Gulf oil spill trajectory.

2.5) Describe the pattern of the protected turtles and the protected mammals in the area. Be sure to use the names of cities, states, countries, and cardinal directions in your description. 2.6) Describe the pattern of the at-risk species. Which counties have the highest numbers of turtle and mammal species?

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2) Open map viewer (contd.)

Steps 1 - 9

Examine the time slider bar underneath the map.

2.7) What is the date range for the data on the map?

2.8) Describe the pattern of the entire oil spill at the end point of the data collection period (October 2010); include a description of the heavy and medium oil spill area in relationship to the light and uncertain areas. Be sure to use the names of cities, states, countries, and cardinal directions in your description. 2.9) Measure the width, length, and area of the oil spill at its maximum extent and indicate what these values are by including the units that you are using.
2.10) Name a state that is roughly the same areal size as the spill area. (You may need to zoom out to see the states.)

2.11) Click the red target symbol representing the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. This is the point from which oil leaked for so many days. Based on the location of this point and the subsequent oil spill area, what direction(s) would you say that the oil spread after it leaked? Why?
2.12) Which state is closest to the point from which the oil leaked? Which cities are nearest to this point? 2.13) Use the Measure tool to determine the distance to the nearest land from the oil rigs location. Be sure to indicate the units that you are using.

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2) Open map viewer (contd.) 3) Examine species at risk

Steps 1 - 9

The point where the oil rig stood is a fairly sizeable distance from the nearest land.
2.14) Why was the depth to the ocean floor a significant factor in the capping of the oil spill? Below the Gulf Coast Protected Resources layer, use the arrows for the turtles and mammals layer to configure the pop-ups; Make sure that the species field is one field that will appear when you click a point representing that species. 3.1) Name several species of mammals and turtles affected by the oil spill.

3.2) Do you think the environmental effects of the oil spill continued past 2010 to the present time? Why?

4) Add data layers

The ArcGIS Online environment allows you to easily add data layers. Lets say you want to examine the impact that precipitation might have on a current oil spill. Select Add, and search for Ridge Precipitation in ArcGIS Online. From the list that appears, select the layer and add it to the map. Then, click Done Adding Layers.

4.1) Describe the current weather along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Is it clear or stormy?
4.2) Why is severe weather of concern for this or any oil spill?

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill 5) Add weather warnings

Steps 1 - 9

Select Add again, and search for US Weather Warnings in ArcGIS Online. Add to map, and then select Done adding layers. 5.1) What are the current warnings along or near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, if any? What are the current warnings elsewhere? 5.2) Which warnings are of increased concern during an oil spill? Why?

6) Save

Save your map to ArcGIS Online using Save. If you do not have an ArcGIS Online account, you will need to create one to save your map. When you are saving your map, give your map some appropriate metadata, keeping in mind the importance of metadata that is carefully thought out as discussed in this book. Lastly, share this map with everyone.

6.1) Where is this map physically stored?

6.2) Why is it important that your map includes appropriate metadata?

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Steps 1 - 9

One of the trends in GIS is crowdsourcing or volunteered geographic information where ordinary citizens can contribute to online geospatial information. It is especially relevant in the face of a disaster that affects lives and the environment, such as an oil spill, earthquake, fire, or political turmoil. The ability to geocode real-time data that citizens collect during these events can help inform the international community and, even more importantly, aid with rescue and relief efforts during and following an event. For this reason, the creation of crowdsourced maps has become commonplace, such as during the Haitian earthquake, Australian floods, New Zealand earthquake, and political turmoil in Egypt.

7) Investigate social media

Investigate the interactive social media maps hosted by Esri from its Disaster Response page, on: http://www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/index.html. 7.1) Name at least three types of disasters that social media maps are helping people to understand and to mitigate. 7.2 Name at least three types of social media represented on these maps. 7.3) Name one thing that you learned on this site about the oil spill that was contributed by ordinary citizens. 7.4) How spatially accurate do you believe the geocoded points on this map are? What implications does that have on your perceived usefulness of this map? 7.5) How temporally accurate do you believe this map is? What implications does this have on your perceived usefulness of this map?

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Steps 1 - 9

8) Creating your own data

Go back to your Gulf oil spill map. Use Add and Create Editable Layer, as follows:

Name your new layer Map Notes.

Add a hyperlinked note to the oil spill area by selecting the pushpin and clicking somewhere in the oil spill area. Edit the pop-up content as follows:

Adding a pop-up to the map.

Work package 1: Investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Steps 1 - 9

8) Creating your own data (contd.)

Create at least one note that contains a hyperlinked picture of the oil spill that you can find on the Internet. If you need help, look up Create Notes in the Help section of ArcGIS Online. Add the image URL to the correct section in your pop-up screen and a few lines in the description, giving your point a suitable title. 8.1) Paste a screenshot of your hyperlinked note and save it as a graphic. Save your map again with appropriate metadata.

9) Using ArcGIS Explorer Online

Exit your map and go back to ArcGIS Online and search for your map. Open your map again, this time in ArcGIS Explorer Online. ArcGIS Explorer Online gives you additional tools that ArcGIS Online does not have, including a presentation creating capability.
9.1) Create a presentation that contains at least five slides with text and images that describe the location, movement, size, and spatial pattern of the Gulf oil spill. If you need help, see the creating a presentation of your map in the Help contents. 9.2) Write a paragraph that you will use as narrative in your presentation. Save the map that includes your presentation to your ArcGIS Online account. Give it appropriate metadata to help other data users find and decide to use your data.

9.3) What did you name your map and what metadata did you include?
End of work package

Work package 2: Investigating the Eyjafjallajkull volcano

Steps 10 - 16

The objective for this second part of the exercise is to understand the location and hazards associated with the Eyjafjallajkull volcano in Iceland and the pattern of volcanoes around the world.

10) Investigate the volcano

Do some research into this volcano. 10.1) What was the primary hazard associated with this volcano on a local scale?

10.2) What was the primary hazard associated with this volcano on a continental scale?

11) Using ArcGIS Online

Go back to ArcGIS Online (http://www.arcgis.com). For this hazard, we will use a tool that gives us even more power to do analysisArcGIS for Desktop. Make sure the Show option is set to All Content and not Web Content Only. Search on volcano owner:jjkerski and select the layer package Volcanoes of the World as shown next.

Choosing a layer package on ArcGIS Online.

Work package 2: Investigating the Eyjafjallajkull volcano

Steps 10 - 16

12) Add data to ArcGIS for desktop

Open the map in ArcGIS for Desktop and add another layer package from ArcGIS Online. In ArcGIS Online, search and add world cities and countries owner:jjkerski. Add the layer to your map document.
Note: Layer packages are stored in a zipped format. They can be single layers or they can be group layers (several layers grouped together). Your map will look similar to the one shown next.

Volcanoes of the World map document.

Work package 2: Investigating the Eyjafjallajkull volcano

Steps 10 - 16

13) Examine volcanoes

Open the attribute table for volcanoes. Select all active volcanoes. 13.1) What percentage of all volcanoes in the database are active? 13.2) Examine your map. What is the pattern of active volcanoes in the world? Why?

14) Examine Eyjafjallajkull

Select Eyjafjallajkull and zoom to it.

14.1) On which side of Iceland is the volcano located?

14.2) Where does Eyjafjallajkull volcano rank in terms of elevation in your database of world volcanoes? 14.3) How far is the volcano from Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland? How far is the volcano from London? 14.4) From your earlier research on the regional hazard associated with this volcano, which direction would you say the prevailing winds blow in this area? From ______________ to ______________. 14.5) How do you know that this is the direction that prevailing winds blow in this area? Clear your selection.

Work package 2: Investigating the Eyjafjallajkull volcano

Steps 10 - 16

15) Perform spatial join

Perform a spatial join on volcanoes to countries. Use the on-line Help if you need assistance with this. Summarize the result on the count of the number of volcanoes per country. 15.1) What country contains the most volcanoes? How does Iceland rank in terms of the number of volcanoes in each country? 15.2) What percentage of volcanoes are not in any country, i.e. located in oceans? 15.3) Why are oceanic volcanoes also potentially hazardous?

16) Save

Save your map document in an appropriate location on your computer.

End of work package

Work package 3: Investigating the 2010 earthquake in Haiti

Steps 17 - 21

The objective for this third part of the exercise is to understand the location, spatial patterns, and hazards associated with the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Mapping Caribbean earthquakes.

17) Access ArcGIS Online

Go to http://www.arcgis.com and search for Haiti and the Caribbean Plate Tectonics January 2010 and Historical Map Package owner:jjkerski. Be sure to click All Content and not Web Content Only.

Work package 3: Investigating the 2010 earthquake in Haiti 17) Access ArcGIS Online (contd.)

Steps 17 - 21

On the resulting screen of metadata, you will see the Haiti and the Caribbean Plate Tectonics January 2010 and Historical Map Package, as shown next:

Map package metadata in ArcGIS Online.

A map package includes spatial data as well as an .mxd (map document) file. It is everything a layer package is with the addition of a map document. The spatial data can be a single layer or a group of several layers.
Open this map package in ArcGIS for Desktop. Once it opens, it will look similar to the map shown at the beginning of the exercise. 17.1) What is the spatial relationship between volcanoes, plate boundaries, and earthquakes? Why? 17.2) Which types of plate boundary would you say is the most active tectonically? 17.3) Which type of plate boundary is near Haiti? What are the names of the plates that meet here? 17.4) Which type of ocean feature is associated with the plate boundary?

Work package 3: Investigating the 2010 earthquake in Haiti 17) Access ArcGIS Online (contd.)

Steps 17 - 21

17.5) What was the magnitude of the largest earthquake in Haiti in January 2010? What was its depth? When did it occur? 17.6) Was this the largest earthquake in the historical dataset that covers this region? If not, which earthquake(s) were larger and where did they occur? 17.7) How far from Port-au-Prince was the January 2010 earthquake? Be sure to include the units that you are using. 17.8) How many of the earthquakes in Haiti during the week of January 714, 2010 would you say were aftershocks?

18) Compare historical earthquakes

News reports from January 2010 indicated that these earthquakes in Haiti were unusual in that very few earthquakes in Haiti had occurred historically. Toggle on and off the January 714 earthquakes and compare them to the historical earthquakes. 18.1) Based on the data that you have investigated and mapped, would you say that these news reports were correct? Why or why not? 18.2) Do some research on this earthquake. Other earthquakes have occurred that were greater than magnitude 7.0. Why was this one so devastating?

Work package 3: Investigating the 2010 earthquake in Haiti 19) Examine satellite imagery

Steps 17 - 21

Change your basemap to a satellite image using ArcGIS Online and examine Portau-Prince. 19.1) Describe the local terrain in the vicinity of the earthquake. 19.2) How did the local terrain affect relief efforts, and why? 19.3) Describe the land use pattern in the city where the most damage occurred.

20) Examine cities basemap

Change your basemap to a boundaries and cities basemap using ArcGIS Online. 20.1) Where were most of the epicenters as compared to the location of Portau-Prince?
Save your map document and exit ArcMap.

21) Save

End of work package

Work package 4: Assessment and synthesis 22) Assessment

Step 22

Considering the three hazards youve just investigated, answer the following: 22.1) Name three things that you have learned about the spatial perspective through your use of GIS to examine these three hazards. 22.2) Name three ways that cloud computing using ArcGIS Online changed the way you used data to examine these hazards. 22.3) Which of these three hazards would you classify as natural hazards, and which would you classify as human-caused? 22.4) Think of other hazards. Is there any gray area between classifying a hazard as natural versus human-caused? What is it? Name a specific example. 22.5) Present your results to your colleagues in a five-minute presentation, making use of your maps and spatial perspective.

End of work package

Chapter 9 quiz
1) Define cloud computing and name two reasons why it is changing the nature of GIS and public domain spatial data. 2) Define the three types of cloud computing deployment models. 3) Name three concerns about cloud computing and explain why they are concerns. 4) Do you believe that serving data in the cloud is worth the effort for an organization? Why or why not? 5) Have you posted spatial data to the Internet via ArcGIS Online or another means? What motivated you to do so? Are you likely to share spatial data in the future via the cloud? 6) Name two similarities and two differences in working with spatial data using ArcGIS Online versus ArcGIS Explorer Online. 7) Describe two ways that you can use ArcGIS Online data within ArcGIS for Desktop. 8) Compare and contrast desktop-based GIS vs. web-based GIS. Do you believe that these will converge in the future? Why or why not? 9) In the exercise, when you examined three hazards that occurred during 2010, did cloud computing affect your ability to analyze those hazards? If so, how? 10) How do you think cloud computing will affect GIS over the next decade?