Environmental Change Analysis

Environmental Change Analysis

Projects for modeling, monitoring and predicting environmental change require distinct techniques. Whether we consider global atmospheric changes or the loss of biodiversity, sound tools are needed to assess the rates of change, make predictions for the future and to model the impacts of alternative solutions.

Clark Labs' technologies are used for a variety of environmental change problems. Special tools have been developed for analyzing anomalies from long time sequences of imagery, analyzing change from historical landuse maps, modeling and predicting future change scenarios, and assessing the impact of change on habitat and biodiversity.

Application areas include:
- Landuse change and time series analysis
- Habitat assessment and suitability
- Soil erosion potential modeling
- Watershed management
- Pest infestation risk mapping
- Impact analysis and scenario mapping
- Land Change Modeler - fully integrated within IDRISI
- Landscape pattern analysis

Analytical Examples: [Click the images to enlarge]


NDVI data are often used for monitoring change. Here long-term average NDVI for July is compared to July 1994 NDVI to develop an image of NDVI anomalies for July 1994. Monthly NDVI data for Africa, 1982-1999, as well as other data sets are available on CD from Clark Labs.


Watershed analysis and planning is crucial for environmental sustainability. IDRISI includes tools for automatic watershed determination from DEMs.


IDRISI also includes tools for the derivation of runoff potential and stream networks.


LCM can model habitat suitability / species distribution using both expert knowledge and empirical data.


LCM provides the capability for both hard and soft projection of change into the future. Both modes accommodate the recalculation of dynamic variables and dynamic road growth. Hard prediction models a single realization while soft prediction maps the spatial pattern and potential for change.