NEARC 2001 

Title of Panel Presentation: The Tale of Two Municipal Applications of Remote Sensing: the Providence Urban Forest Analysis & Ground-Level Ozone Variablility in Southern New England

Speakers: Greg Bonynge1, Jim Lucht2, Jason Yang1, and Y.Q. Wang1

1 University of Rhode Island
Department of Natural Resources Science
1 Greenhouse Road
Coastal Institute in Kingston
Kingston, RI 02881
greg@edc.uri.edu
jyan1185@postoffice.uri.edu
yqwang@uri.edu

2 The Providence Plan
56 Pine Street, Suite 3B
Providence, RI 02903
jlucht@providenceplan.org

Background information regarding the presentation will be on a website. Attendees may view it before the conference at www.ltrs.uri.edu/nearc2001  (you may link to the site before the conference - will be online before September 1st).

Software used for project: ArcInfo 8.1; ArcView 3.2; American Forest’s CityGreen ArcView extension; Erdas Imagine 8.4; ENVI 3.4

Abstract for panel presentation:
Remote sensing is increasingly becoming more accessible to municipalities. This panel will discuss two specific municipal applications of remote sensing in Southern New England.

Greg Bonynge & Jim Lucht will address the Providence Urban Forest Analysis. Apart from obvious aesthetic value, urban trees reduce air pollution, lessen stormwater impact, save energy, provide wildlife habitat, and calm traffic. The goal of this project is to measure the extent of the urban forest canopy in Providence, Rhode Island, then estimate the economic benefits urban trees provide. We are accomplishing this using GIS and remote sensing technology in conjunction with a variety of data sources.

Jason Yang will discuss the application of remote sensing to study the relationship between ground-level ozone and land cover types as well as land cover change. Comparisons of ozone concentrations and exceedances of EPA standards were made between land cover types, then related to the dynamics of the land cover change. The results showed that ground-level ozone in southern New England region varied with land cover types and affected by land cover change.

Time permitting, Y.Q. Wang will close the panel with a discussion of multisource spatial data being used for Rhode Island land use/land cover change analysis.