FACILITIES

This Landsat Thematic Mapper image collected after the Cerro Grande Fire (May-June, 2000, Jemez Mountains and Los Alamos, New Mexico) expresses the classic 'signature' of a fire scar. This image was computer-enhanced in the Pyrogeography Research Laboratory to show fire-induced changes in the visible and near-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Unburned areas retain their bright tones, due chiefly to high near-infrared reflectance. Dark, burned areas are outlined to help visualize the extent of this historic ~19,000 hectare, billion-dollar fire (Source: S. Yool)

GRD faculty expertise spans several fields of information technology, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and public participation GIS. GRD faculty translate expertise in information technology into student training.

Biogeographer and remote sensing specialist Stephen Yool runs the Pyrogeography Research Laboratory (PRL). The PRL specializes in the biogeography of wildfire-pyrogegraphy, to coin a term. The PRL hosts 6 PC workstations, field equipment and library of books and research papers. Student researchers working in the PRL use Leica (ERDAS) Imagine image processing and ArcGIS software environments for their projects.

Climatologist Andrew Comrie runs the Applied Climate for Environment and Society (ACES) laboratory. The ACES lab focuses on a wide variety of climate research that intersects with other environmental sciences and with social sciences. Examples of this work include climate and health, air quality, wildfire, drought and climate variability, and global climate change. The ACES lab is home to graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and undergraduate interns working in these areas. It hosts 6 PC workstations, access to university high-performance computers, and a range of climate visualization and analysis software tools.

Landscape ecologists and remote sensing scientists Wim van Leeuwen and Stuart Marsh have their main image processing and GIS resources at the Arizona Remote Sensing Center in the Office of Arid Lands, focusing on spatial and temporal landscape dynamics (e.g. post wildfire vegetation recovery, water erosion, carbon and vegetation phenology) and web-based decision support tools for natural resource management. (http://RangeView.arizona.edu). Field research is being facilitated with field mapping equipment (handheld GPS and iPAQ units), a hyperspectral full range spectroradiometer, a leaf area index canopy analyzer, photosynthetic radiation canopy absorption sensors, and weather data collection sensors.

GRD has striven always to be at the forefront of effective teaching. It was in 1992 that GRD was awarded by the University the first ever Parent's Association Departmental Award for teaching excellence. We used that award to purchase our first suite of 4 computers. This award sparked a teaching technology revolution in GRD, exemplified today by a 30-seat state-of-the-art Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL), 10-seat high-end Geovisualization Lab, and three computer laboratories for biogeographical and climate studies. The SAL hums 40 hours/week with classes and student project work. The Geoviz Lab supports our new GIS faculty, expanded GIS courses, and our undergraduate GIS Minor.

Since 1981 Geography and Regional Development has occupied the top floor of the Harvill Building, near the center of the University of Arizona campus. The department maintains strong interdisciplinary ties to numerous other research centers on campus, including the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Arid Lands Studies, the Latin American Area Center, and the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.