Introduction: Risk, geohazard and mitigation
Course synopsis and aims
The aim of this course is to familiarize students with natural hazards and their associated risks. This unit of study is presented in two parts. The first part deals with concepts related to geohazards, risk assessment and mitigation. The first six weeks of the course focuses on earthquakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones. The focus of these lectures is to equipped students with a solid understanding of the causes of these processes and to describe their associated hazards to local population and infrastructures. The practical classes for the first part of the course introduce students to practical aspects in the collection and analysis of geo-spatial data in the context of risk assessment. They emphasise the type of geo-spatial and time series data collected and used in risk analysis and geohazard mitigation. The second part of the unit introduces the broader principles of spatial analysis and examines how these can be applied in predicting and managing natural hazards in relation to bushfires. The unit also aims to assist students develop their understanding of spatial analysis through practical experience in the use of GIS and mapping technology.
Course objectives
The objectives of this course are:
• To learn about the causes and consequences of earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and bushfires.
• To understand the concepts of exposure, vulnerability and risk in the context of the above geohazards.
• To understand the conceptual and theoretical basis of spatial analysis and Geographical Information Science (GIS) and apply GIS as a mechanism for assessing hazard vulnerability.
• To recognize the role of spatial analysis in understanding landscape pattern and relate this to the prediction and management of natural hazards.
• To undertake geographical enquiry and develop spatial reasoning skills
• To critically reflect on how the outcomes of spatial models can inform environmental decision-making and management of natural hazards.
• To gain practical experience in the use of environmental mapping equipment (GPS) in the field and the GIS software package ArcGIS.
Course assessment
Assessment Percentage Due
Hazard Practicals Report 20
Bush Fire Hazard Mapping 20 5pm Friday 4th June 2010
WebCT Quiz 10 Week 7 and Week 10
Exam 50 Exam Period
Fieldwork
A half-day fieldtrip to the St. Ives Showground is scheduled for Week 9 (dates and times to be announced). The aim of the fieldtrip is to measure fuel load characteristics in an urban bushland area. The data collected during the fieldtrip will be integrated into GIS and form the basis of the Bush Fire Hazard Mapping Assessment.
LECTURES PRACTICALS ADDTIONAL READINGS
Week 1 Introduction.
Risk and hazard: Definitions and examples; Principles of risk assessment		 No practical Natural Hazards in Australia: Chp.1 , Chp2 and Chp3 http://www.ga.gov.au/hazards/ Also downloadable by clicking on this very link .... :
Week 2 Earthquakes: Faults, stress and elasticity; Tectonic hotspots; Earthquake scales
Earthquakes: Ground deformation, seismic shaking and liquefaction; Evidence of palaeoearthquakes		 No practical (in lieu of Week 9 fieldtrip) Natural Hazards in Australia: Chp.9
Week 3 Earthquakes: Mitigation techniques; Seismic monitoring, forecasting and predicting
Tsunami: Generation mechanisms, local and distant		 Probability analysis – earthquake data
Week 4 Tsunami: Propagation, transformation and runup
Tsunami: Evidence of palaeotsunami; Models, forecasts and early warning systems		 Extreme event analysis – storm wave data Natural Hazards in Australia: Chp.10
Week 5 Tropical cyclones: Formation of tropical cyclones; Intensity scale
Tropical cyclones: Wind, storm surge and flooding		 Tests for uniformity, randomness and clustering of geo-spatial data Natural Hazards in Australia: Chp.4 & Chp 5
Week 6 Tropical cyclones: Forecasts and early warning systems
Review of hazards.		 Introduction to GPS and mapping techniques Natural Hazards in Australia: Chp.6
Week 7 What is GIS and spatial analysis? Natural hazard case studies Introduction to spatial analysis techniques and map projections
Week 8 Capturing spatial data
Map Projections		 Mapping vegetation fuel loads for bushfire modelling
Week 9 No Lectures Fieldwork
Week 10 Abstracting reality: Representing and modelling landscape processes in a GIS environment
Vector and raster analysis methods		 Spatial data preparation - Integrating field data, generating environmental data layers and data accuracy issues
Week 11 Bushfire Behaviour
Fire Hazard Mapping		 Use of dispersion models for understanding fire behaviour and risk factors Natural Hazards in Australia: Chp.7
Week 12 Application of remote sensing in natural hazard management Mapping fire risk
Week 13 Guest Lecture
Course Revision		 Supervised Project Work
Required GIS Text (*) Reading List
Delaney, J. and Van Neil, K., 2006. Geographical Information Systems: An Introduction, Second Edition, Oxford University Press.

Burrough, P. A. and McDonnell, 1998. Principles of Geographical Information Systems, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press.

Delaney, J. 1999. Geographical Information Systems An Introduction, Oxford University Press.

DeMers, M. N., 2005. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, John Wiley and Sons, US.

Heywood, Cornelius, Carver, 2006. An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education, 426 pp.

*Longley, P. A., Goodchild M. F., Maguire, D. J. and Rhind, D. W. 2005. Geographic Information Systems and Science, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2nd Edition, 536pp.

*Chapman, D. M., 1998, Natural Hazards, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Required Natural Hazard Texts (*) Reading List

***Middelmann, M.H., (Editor) 2007. Natural Hazards in Australia: Identifying Risk Analysis Requirements. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. http://www.ga.gov.au/hazards/ (look for the link on the right side of the page.)

*Donald L Turcotte 1999. Self Organized Criticality. Rep. Prog. Phys. 62 1377-1429.

http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0034-4885/62/10/201/*Jackson, J., 2006. Fatal attraction: living with earthquakes, the growth of villages into megacities, and earthquake vulnerability in the developing world, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A , 364, 1911-1925.

*Zoback, M.L., 2006. The 1906 earthquake and a century of progress in understanding earthquakes and their hazards. GSA Today: v. 16, no. 4/5, doi: 10.1130/GSAT01604.1
Free GIS tools:
http://www.landserf.org

Neteler, M., Mitasova, H., 2004. Open Source GIS: A GRASS GIS Approach, Second ed. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, 424pp. http://grass.itc.it