SSCI Lab 3
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University of Southern California *
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Geography
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by SuperRainJellyfish39
Rachel Schreiber
Wednesday 10:00-11:50
Lab 3
1.
(1 point) Retrieve the screenshot of your map and calculated length of your flow trace line from step 14; you will use these to answer this question. Length: 13.08 miles = 21.05 kilometers
a.
Your friend accidently dropped her favorite rubber duck keychain to the drain on the USC UPC. The rubber duck flows downstream towards the sea following the flow path you traced at a speed of 20 km/hr. If you start driving from the UPC campus 10 minutes after she dropped her duck, do you have a chance of arriving at the coast before the duck? Assume that it takes you 40 minutes to get to the drain outflow point regardless of the traffic or your car condition. Include your calculation process and the screenshot from step 14 in your answer. Time it takes the duck to reach the coast : t = d/r = 21.05 km / 20 km/hr = 1.0025 hrs for the duck to reach the coast
Time for me to reach the coast from the moment she dropped the duck = 40 min +10 min = 50 min (or 0.833 hrs)
Yes, I have a chance of arriving at the coast before the duck, because it will take the duck just over an hour (or 60 minutes) to reach the coast, so even leaving 10 minutes after she dropped the duck, it will only take me 40 mins to get to the drain outflow point, so 50 minutes in total from the moment she dropped the duck. I will reach the outflow point approximately 10 minutes before the duck does. 2.
(1 point) As you observed during this lab, not all water flows eventually reach the ocean. For example, the flow path you created which starts in Nevada does not travel far in the desert and never reaches the ocean. The reason this is the case is Nevada is primarily in an endorheic basin: a closed drainage basin that retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water. (Note that this is not the case for the path beginning from
your Michigan point. Instead, this flow path drains into one of the Great Lakes and eventually northeast to the Atlantic Ocean.) Return to your map with the major US rivers and flow paths from various US states. Repeat the flow path analysis process with additional points outside of the United States until you have two additional examples where the water does not make it to the ocean. For your answer, include screenshots of the two other water traces that satisfy the following parameters: a.
the water from the initial flow point never makes it to the ocean
b.
the points and traces are located in two different countries other than the U.S. In addition to the screenshots, briefly describe the terrain (e.g. desert, lake, mountain) of the origin and endpoints for each flow path. You may include additional map data layers to help you characterize the terrain in these locations.
Add a caption to your screenshots to say which river and in which country they are of. (Hint: do a Google search for ‘endorheic rivers’ to see where in the world they might be!)
This flow point is in Kazakhstan, is part of the Shu River and ends in the Ozero Azhaykyn lake. The flow has a length of 22.05 miles, or 35.49 kilometers, starts at
an elevation of 139.33 meters and ends at an elevation of 125.26 meters.
This flow point in China, is part of the Tarim river and ends in Lop Nur. It is entirely located in the western Siberian plains, within the Taklimakan Desert, a basin of the Tien Shan and Kunlun Mountains. The flow has a length of 387.06 miles, or 622.91 kilometers, starts at an elevation of 886.52 meters and ends at an elevation of 785.9 meters. ‘
3.
(1.5 point) Retrieve the screenshot of your map from step 31 (0.5 point) A huge river system like the Mekong has a significant impact on the residents from the six countries it intersects. This impact can be helpful, such as by providing a source of drinking water, agricultural water, or water for transportation. This impact can also be harmful, such as increased exposure to water pollution or water-borne disease or increased flood risk. Choose one helpful aspect and one harmful aspect (from the list above or from your own perspective) and discuss the possible impact of the Mekong River on the human populations which are affected. For your answer, be sure to compare the possible impacts on populations from different countries or regions. Your answer should consider data from the river path and watershed layers, the country boundary layer, and the population density layer. (1-2 paragraphs). (1 point) (Hint: Make full and accurate use of the data-make sure to refer to the legend to see what each color of each layer represents.)
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The Mekong River, which passes through six countries, has the potential to serve as a source
of agricultural water for all six. This agriculture could come in the form of land based through irrigation, or water based through aquaculture and fishing. The Mekong thus supports the food needs of six countries. Population density around the Mekong is especially high in central southern China, eastern Thailand, southern Cambodia, and southwestern Vietnam, so populations in those areas likely are especially reliant on the Mekong for agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing. A large area of the Mekong’s watershed is located in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, so those areas also are able to use the river for
irrigation drainage. The Mekong also has the potential to spread water-borne disease amongst the countries it flows through. The downstream countries, such as Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia would be most susceptible to these diseases, as any disease that starts upstream would flow
downstream towards those countries. Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia also have especially high concentrations of people who live around the river and use it for sustenance.
However, the fact that the larger watershed area of the Mekong is downstream means that it’s less likely that water-borne contamination would happen upstream because there is a smaller area of land that feeds the river with water.
4.
(1.5 point) Assume a factory in Memphis, TN accidently polluted the local water. The contaminated water flows up to 100 miles down the Mississippi River and threatens the residents living within 30 miles of the river. What is the size of the population potentially impacted by this disaster? Work through the following steps to complete this task: a.
Add a data point note in Memphis, TN to represent the factory location using “Add Map Notes.” b.
Trace the flow path of the polluted water starting at your factory location point using the “Trace Downstream” analysis following a similar process as the analysis
you completed for the lab. To set a specific flow distance (100 miles) for your analysis, set “Maximum distance of the trace” to 100 miles in the Step 2 (settings)
for the “Trace Downstream” Analysis. (Hint: Refer to the step 4-9 of the lab instructions) c.
Conduct a buffer analysis for the flow path. To create a buffer around your flow path trace, go to “Analysis” -> “Feature Analysis” “Use Proximity” -> “Create Buffers” and choose the layer you created in step b (make sure you choose the flow path layer, NOT the point layer). Create a buffer with a 30mile diameter to represent a 30-mile impact buffer region around your flow line. (Set buffer size to 30 miles in the Step 2 (settings) for the “Create Buffers” Analysis. Remember to unclick the “Use current map extent”) d.
Enrich the buffer layer using population information. Select “Analysis” -> “Feature
Analysis” -> “Data Enrichment” -> “Enrich Layer” and choose the buffer layer you created in step c. Enrich this layer with “2023 Total Population (Esri)” as the selected variable. (In Step 2 of the “Enrich Layer” Analysis, Click “Select Variable” -> “Population” icon -> choose the variable. Always remember to unclick the “Use
current map extent”) After enriching the layer, you will be able to see the population represented by the buffer region in the attributes of the enriched buffer layer. The 2023 population will be added to the attribute table for the enriched buffer layer. Include a screenshot of your 30-mile buffer of the 100-mile-long contaminated river segment and the attribute table containing support evidence for you following assessment (e.g., pollution number, area size). (1 point) Report the number of people at risk based on your analysis and assessment of the resulting buffer layer: in your answer, discuss the extent of the factory pollution disaster with references to the land area and population affected. Insert a screenshot to support your answer. (0.5 point)
The factory pollution would affect an area of 7,574.53 square miles, putting 1,351,845 people at risk. As the polluted water flows down the river, it would affect the water supply for agriculture, drinking, household use, community use, potentially the air quality due to evaporation, as well as the groundwater quality and thus plant life.
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