Tag Archives: Iowa

Dear Teachers: Part 4 – Identify Local Natural Hazards to Prevent Powerful Disasters

By Activity, AmericaView, Dear Teachers, Game, Landsat, Lesson Plan, Map, Outreach, Remote Sensing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As we continue moving through the series of lessons of the 2024 Earth Observation Day poster, “Earth Science Everywhere.” Today we will examine the disaster management lesson, “Exploring Disaster Management: Learning about natural hazards to prepare and prevent natural disasters”. This lesson seeks to engage students in learning about natural hazards in the environment. To begin student first will explore the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. Afterwards, they will look at the potential for natural hazards in the local community. This lesson fulfills the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectation MS-ESS2-4.

Lesson Plan Background Information:

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted, causing widespread devastation across the surrounding landscape. An infrared, false-color image, captured on August 26, 1986, by the Thematic Mapper sensor on Landsat 5, vividly illustrates the eruption’s aftermath. The image reveals the extensive damage caused by the eruption, including the vast areas of barren land and the destruction of dense forests. Disaster mapping is crucial in understanding the long-term environmental impact of natural and human-made disasters. It also aids in monitoring the gradual environmental recovery process.

Image 1: What’s going on in this picture? An Image from the lesson plan

This lesson teaches students about natural hazards and disasters from a global scientific perspective and also to help bring awareness to the natural hazards at their local level. By having local knowledge about natural hazards students are better prepared as they make choices in their communities. In the first activity, students learn important vocabulary words. the words will help students understand the difference between a natural hazard (environmental phenomena that have the potential to impact societies and the human environment) and a natural disaster (the negative impact following an actual occurrence of a natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community.)

Then students will use Mt. St. Helens as a case study to examine these ideas. Students will look at a satellite image taken shortly after the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption and be asked to tell what is going on in the image (see Image 1). To help reinforce the vocabulary concepts students can play an online game or complete a print handout (see Image 4).

Image 2: A screenshot from the NASA Earth Observatory Page

Next, students will continue learning about Mt. St. Helens by completing a reading, “Devastation and Recovery at Mt. St. Helens,” on the NASA Earth Observatory website. They will also view a time-lapse video showing images from 1979-2016. Students can complete another short online quiz or printout to assess reading comprehension. To wrap up the Mt. St. Helens lesson, students will spend time using Google Earth to explore the site of the volcano’s eruption. The teacher is encouraged to discuss how satellite imagery has been a major technological breakthrough for disaster management. It has allowed scientists a new way to monitor changes, which helps track hazards and disasters. Example: images before the eruption, in the aftermath (to assess the damage), and in the recovery phase. Share with students that the Landsat satellite has a new image every 16 days.

Transitioning to the second part of the lesson which is focused on identifying the most significant risks of natural disasters locally based on the local occurrence of natural hazards. It is important to emphasize that natural hazards can occur in any region of the country. While we can’t stop natural hazards from occurring, we can do our best to be prepared for them when they do occur.

One way we can be prepared for natural hazards is to know the greatest risks in our local community. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defines natural hazards as environmental phenomena that have the potential to impact societies and the human environment. FEMA created a web map of the United States that scores every location based on their risk of natural hazards and their community’s resiliency. The FEMA National Risk Index Map can help communities understand their natural hazard risks and their expected impacts during or after a disaster.

Image 3: The user interface of the FEMA National Risk Index Tool

Therefore, to better understand these risks, students will learn about 18 common natural hazards, and then they will estimate which hazards they think are most likely to happen in your community. After talking with a partner and the class, students will be introduced to the FEMA National Risk Index website; please take a look at the lesson plan for more details. As the class wraps up, there will be a short discussion of emergency management careers. A final online game or printable quiz is available to test students’ natural hazards knowledge from the lesson.

To download the lesson: https://ckan.americaview.org/data/AmericaView/EOD/2024_eod_disaster.pdf

To view the 2024 EOD poster and other lesson plans: https://ckan.americaview.org/dataset/2024-earth-observation-day-poster

View related posts:
Part 3: https://www.iowaview.org/dear-teachers-part-3-a-lesson-about-forestry/
Part 2: https://www.iowaview.org/dear-teachers-part-2-exploring-the-electromagnetic-spectrum/
Part 1: https://www.iowaview.org/dear-teachers-2025-a-review-of-av-teaching-resources/

Image 4: An example question from the online game used to help recall information from the reading and other learning activities

Timelapse Tuesday – 37 years of Urban Growth in Ames, Iowa

By #Time Lapse Tuesday, Activity, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Observation, Remote Sensing, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This week we are exploring urban growth in Ames, Iowa. The red areas are showing areas of vegetation that are primarily agricultural in the larger areas, the neon green areas are short grass and trees, the gray color is urban areas, and blue areas are water.

Timelaspse Video of Ames, Iowa 1984 to 2021 – Summer Landsat Images

As you watch the time lapse video notice several things:

  1. The expansion of Ada Hayden (the large lake in the center right of the image.)
  2. How the agricultural land in the center of the images fills in rapidly with development between 2008 to 2021
  3. The increase in permanent water retention ponds in as the city develops.
  4. Many of the red agricultural parcels along Ioway Creek (the left river) become smaller and more developed through the time series.

Compare an image of north Ames, Iowa from 1987 to 2021 – what other urban growth changes can you spot?

Ames, Iowa – 1987
Ames, Iowa – 2021

Celebrating Zero Emissions Day with Landsat – A Solar Farm in Wapello, Iowa

By #Time Lapse Tuesday, Education, Landsat, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Outreach, Remote Sensing, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Iowans are working to reduce emissions by moving to renewable energy sources.

Image Date: 08/17/2013
Image Date: 08/18/2022

Change Over Time – Flooding on the Landscape (NW Iowa)

By Education, Environmental Change, Imagery, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Observation, Remote Sensing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Use sliders to compare images.

Today’s image shows an area in northwest Iowa between Spencer (Clay County) and Emmetsburg (Palo Alto County). The two images on the left are showing water levels in 1990 (typical year) and 2022 (recovering from a drought) compared to 1993 (heavy flooding) and 2008 (flooding). Notice the swollen streambanks and flooding along water bodies in the right images.

7/6/1990 – Landsat 5
06/21/1993 – Landsat 5
06/29/2022 – Landsat 9
06/14/2008 – Landsat 5

This year we are celebrating 50 years of the Landsat earth observing satellite mission. Landsat data helps us observe changes in our communities and environment over time.

Happy Summer Solstice Week! Let’s head to the lake!

By Education, Imagery, Landsat, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Observation, Outreach, USGS, , , , , , , , , , ,

We are continuing our celebration of the 50th year of the US Landsat satellite imagery program. This week we are heading to the lake – Clear Lake, Iowa, located in north central Iowa.

Below are four images showing Summer Solstice (6/13/2019), Fall Equinox (9/17/2019), Winter Solstice (12/22/2019), and Spring Equinox (3/18/2019) from Landsat 8. The images are presented in color infrared which shows vegetation in red rather than green for better contrast.

Summer Solstice – 6/13/2019
Fall Equinox – 9/17/2019
Winter Solstice – 12/22/2019
Spring Equinox – 3/18/2019

Observations:

  • At Summer Solstice things are still greening up while at Fall Equinox the fields are all green and some are beginning to be harvested.
  • Observe the different states of the lake: open water, snow covered, and frozen.
  • The topography of the landscape (ie. hills and roughness) are much more apparent with snow on the ground. In the summer/fall images, it all looks flat.

What else do you notice? Happy Observing!

Way back when before the Saylorville Dam – #Throwback Thursday

By #Throwback Thursday, Education, Environmental Change, Imagery, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Observation, Outreach, , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s another Throwback Thursday. Saylorville Lake and Dam are located in Central Iowa northwest of Des Moines, Iowa. The Saylorville complex was built to help with flood control and as a drinking water source for surrounding communities. At normal levels, the Saylorville reservoir stores 21.1 billion gallons of water with capacity at flood levels to hold 204.1 billion gallons of water.

Landsat 1 – 1976
Landsat 3 – 1980

Below are several resources if you are interested to learn more about this important structure north of Des Moines:

This year we are celebrating 50 years of the Landsat earth observing satellite mission. Landsat data helps us observe changes in our communities and environment over time.

Brushy Creek: The Birth Of A Reservoir – #Time Lapse Tuesday

By #Time Lapse Tuesday, Education, Environmental Change, Imagery, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Observation, Outreach, Remote Sensing, , , , , , ,

Today’s time lapse video is highlighting the damming of Brushy Creek and the creation of 690-acre Brushy Creek Lake, Iowa’s deepest artificial lake.

Watch the dam development begin around 1994 and then the lake begin to fill around 1998. The Brushy Creek State Recreation Area is a 6500-acre park located in north central Iowa. To read more about the park at the Iowa Department of the Natural Resources Brushy Creek page: https://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/uploads/parks/parkmaps/brushycreekmap.pdf

This year we are celebrating 50 years of the Landsat earth observing satellite mission. Landsat data helps us observe changes in our communities and environment over time.

#TimeLapse Tuesday – Spot the Change – Urban Growth of Ankeny, Iowa

By #Time Lapse Tuesday, Education, Environmental Change, Imagery, Landsat, Landsat Golden Jubilee, Observation, Remote Sensing, , , , , , , , ,

What changes do you notice in this Landsat time lapse video?

1) The areas of purple and white in the image are urban areas. Throughout the video they fill in the area from the bottom to the center. The pink areas are farm land.

2) Did you notice the increase in the number of retention ponds (dark blue specks in the urban areas) over time? Retention ponds are used to prevent flooding and provide for water storage in urban areas. As areas become urbanized there is often more surface covered in concrete, parking lots and buildings. There are fewer places for the water to flow directly into the ground.

3) Did you spot the golf course on the northern edge of the city?

This year we are celebrating 50 years of the Landsat earth observing satellite mission. Landsat data helps us observe changes in our communities and environment over time.

This video was created using Google Earth Engine. You can create your own time lapse videos by visiting: https://emaprlab.users.earthengine.app/view/lt-gee-time-series-animator.