Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
Summer 7-10-2024
Abstract
Hydrologic nitrogen in ecosystems can significantly impact water quality. Excessive nitrogen, often originating from agricultural runoff, wastewater discharge, and industrial activities, can lead to eutrophication – the over-enrichment of water bodies with nutrients, resulting in excessive algal growth and depleted oxygen levels. This study aims to use geospatial analytics to identify areas in Ohio that are more susceptible to high nitrogen levels due to their topographic characteristics.
Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI) and Terrain Position Index (TPI) are two key metrics derived from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) that can help characterize the landscape. TRI measures the variability in elevation of adjacent parts of a DEM, while TPI compares a data point in a DEM to its neighbors. By analyzing terrain ruggedness and position, we can statistically identify locations that are more likely to have higher nitrogen levels.
Nitrogen tends to flow towards areas with lower elevation relative to their neighbors. By using geospatial techniques to identify points on the DEM with lower TPI and TRI values, we can locate areas that could have higher nitrogen runoff compared to others. If left unchecked, hydrologic nitrogen can cause disastrous consequences for ecosystems, as evidenced by the algal blooms in Lake Erie caused by nitrogen runoff from fertilizers.
In this study, we propose to use geospatial analytics to estimate areas in Ohio that are more likely to have higher nitrogen levels based on their topographic characteristics. We will visualize our findings using a Shiny App to effectively communicate the spatial distribution of potential high-nitrogen areas.
Keywords
Geospatial Analysis, Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI), Terrain Position Index (TPI), Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Hydrologic Nitrogen, Geospatial Mapping, Ohio
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Department/Center
Materials Science & Engineering
Recommended Citation
Rajagopalan, Shreyas N.; Akanbi, Olatunde D.; Mandayam, Vibha S.; Barcelos, Erika I.; and French, Roger H., "Geospatial Analysis of Hydrologic Nitrogen in Ohio Using Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI) and Terrain Position Index (TPI)" (2024). Student Scholarship. 17.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/17