Final Lab: Station Fire 2009

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Station Fire 2009 : Effects on LA County Parks

·               “Bone-dry conditions in an area that has not seen a major fire in more than 60 years pushed a Southern California wildfire from 45,000 acres to more than 100,000 acres in a matter of hours Monday, fire officials said” (CNN). August 26, 2009 marked the beginning of the most intense fire Southern California, Los Angeles County specifically, has experienced in almost a century. The Station Fire blazed outward from the Angeles National Forest, located approximately 30 miles NNE of Los Angeles. Late summer in California is one of the most unfavorable environments for a wild fire. Humidity is low, warm Santa Ana winds can reach speeds of sixty knots, and the common chaparral shrubbery has not tasted water since the previous winter or longer.

The Station fire was shaped and guided by these unfortunate conditions. The fire started out as a brush fire, but as it spread North-East towards a more forested area, matters worsened. The innocent brush fire had arrived at the San Gabriel Mountains. “The Station Fire, burning on National Forest lands, is truly a forest fire, especially at the higher elevations of the San Gabriel Mountains where dense stands of timber retain heat despite suppression efforts”(Inciweb). With the Station Fire’s access to the Angeles National Forest, the fuel needed for a record-breaking fire was more than available.

Low humidity, the presence of moderate Santa Ana winds, and now the addition of the forest super fuel made the fire into what it became. The fire started near Mount Lukens and spread North and then East. Since heat rises, the fire stayed mostly at higher elevations. It was lucky that the initial fire made it over the first mountain range because if it had taken a course downward, it could have spread through densely populated areas. Once the fire got a hold of the National Forest, it started to engulf its entirety. With help of the Santa Ana’s, its intensity increased, just as one blows on the kindling to start the camp fire. As the fire weaved through the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains, it picked up even more speed as a result of the canyons natural wind tendencies. All of these claims can be supported by my topographical reference map illustrated by a DEM hillshade and transparently layered spread of the fire.

The Station Fire affected so many different aspects of central Los Angeles County. Of all of these, I chose to focus on its affect on Los Angeles County’s recreational parks. LA’s parks accommodate millions of visitors a year. These parks are a source of income for many people in LA both directly and indirectly. Not only that but these parks showcase some of California’s greatest beauties. The loss or even temporary loss of these recreational parks would be a true disappointment to the County of Los Angeles. I found that eleven recreational parks were affected by heavy ash deposits and small pockets of brush fires within a ten mile radius surrounding the fire.

Although no recreational parks lie within the marked territory of the fire, there were some parks less than half a mile away. The closest parks were Loma Alta, Charles C. Farnesworth, Charles White, Crescenta Valley, Dexter, and Two Strike Park. The parks proximity to the fire boundary suggests closure and physical damage during the fire. The thickness of ash falling from a 100,000 acre fire can cause great physical damage to a park. The ash dismantles soil composition, deteriorates structures, and leaves an off-putting aesthetic. Besides this, small outbursts from the main fire scorched land in mass quantities within the parks. Until the forest regains strength, foliage turns green, and structures are rebuilt, there will be little to no visitors to these parks.

Bibliography:

CNN. "'Angry fire' roars across 100,000 California acres - CNN." Featured Articles from CNN. N.p., 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 9 June 2011. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US>.

"InciWeb the Incident Information System: Station Fire News Release." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Current Incidents. N.p., 15 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 June 2011. <http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9535/>.

"InciWeb the Incident Information System: Station Fire." InciWeb the Incident Information      System: Current Incidents. N.p., 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 9 June 2011. <http://inciweb.org/incident/1856/>.

KTLA News. "Report: Number of Firefighters Reduced Before Station
Fire." KTLA.com. N.p., 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 9 June 2011.
<www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-angeles-fire,0,5292469.story>.

KTLA News. "Station fire is largest in L.A. County's modern history."
Los Angeles Times. N.p., 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 June 2011.
<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-is-largest-in-la-county-history.html>.

Week 7 Santa Barbara Maps

DEM

Slope

Aspects

3D

     The area I chose to geographically analyze is my home town of Montecito in Southern California. Since I have lived in this area my whole life I was curious to know the details of the surrounding landscape. Besides this, I have always been awestruck by the close proximity of coastal mountain ranges compared to other areas of Southern California. The approximate parameters of this area in decimal degrees is 34.5877777769 at the top to 34.3852777769 at the bottom. Then -119.757777777 from the left to -119.456666666 on the right.

Conformal, Equal-Area, and Equidistant Map Projections

     A certain map is used depending on its purpose. The most common categories for these projections are conformal, equal-area, and equidistant. The above maps show these different map perspectives.
     The first map set I created is an example of conformal maps. Conformal maps are used when the purpose is to represent angles and distribution from a local area. In other words, each parallel must cross each meridian at a right angle. Of the many conformal projections, the transverse and vertical mercators are seen most often. Transverse mercators is used to measure and analyze areas from East to West. Vertical mercator projections are used for North to South.
     Another map set I used is the equal-area map projection. These maps are used for getting a general feel of proportion for an area because this map preserves area consistently. The equidistant map projection and the equal-area map projection sound like they represent the same purpose, however they are different. The equidistant map projection is used to measure distance from a point or multiple points outward. This is not used for general proportions or areas like equal-area but rather used for more specific measurements for one point or between multiple designated points.
     Each map projection can be used in its best way as long as the cartographer knows the purpose of the map and what is desired.

Airport MAP

 

     I really enjoyed creating this airport map. I would say I am quite computer savvy but I have never worked with a program this intricate and detailed. I was especially interested about the different layering features, graphs, and tables, all of which I was able to get my hands on in this lab. This lab also gave me an better idea of how GIS relates to the real world.

    I think that GIS has so many potential uses. It can be used for finding renewable resources, discovering prime building sites for construction, and to create beautiful maps of specific landscapes. My interest in GIS mostly because of its multipurpose capabilities. I would specifically want to use it to map out elevations and environmentally friendly building sites.

     If I had to mention any pitfalls it would be that the computer-based aspect of GIS is taking away from the original mapping techniques that I believe are also wonderful. I believe you cannot include the artistic aspects of a hand drawn map in a GIS map. Otherwise, I think GIS is great.

    Once again, I really enjoyed doing this lab and I cannot wait to see what the next has to offer. I really want to get into topography so hopefully there is some lab this quarter that includes that.

A Guide to Southern Santa Barbara County Surfing

View Guide to Southern Santa Barbara County Surfing in a larger map

Lab 2: Beverly Hills Topo Map Analysis

1. Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2. Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, and Inglewood

3. 1966

4. North American Datum of 1927, 1983, and the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5. 1:24,000

6.A. 5 cm. on the map is equal to 1200 m.

   B. 5 in. on the map is equal to 1.894 mi.

   C. 1 mi. is equal to 2.64 in. on the map

   D. 3 km. is equal to 12.5 cm. on the map

7. 20 ft.

8.A. 34°4'23"N 118°26'15"W or N34.073° W118.437°

   B. 34°0'30"N 118°30'0"W or N34.008° W118.50°

   C. 34°7'17"N 118°24'37"W or N34.121° W118.410°

9.A. 580 ft. or 176.784 m.

   B. 140 ft. or 42.672 m.

   C. 700 ft. or 213.36 m.

10. UTM zone 11

11. 37,630,000 ft. N 3,610,000 ft. E

12. 1,000,000 sq. m. per UTM square

13.

14. 14° or 249 miles

15. The river flows South

16.

Three Enjoyable Maps

 

This is a map of Bandar At Tawahi, otherwise known as Aden Harbon. Aden Harbor is located in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen. This map is from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Nautical Charts. This map describes the various aquatic depths of Aden Harbor along with the heights of the surrounding terrestrial area. The map uses numbered marking and topographical lines to mark these depths and heights. Besides describing the physical location, this map also labels major land and sea structures surrounding the harbor. The lines in the water highlight the shipping lanes and areas that have been dredged in the harbor. This map is interesting to me because of the the color choices used for varying topographic levels. The color scheme of this map combined with the topographical lines create a very nice aesthetic.

  

 This map is created from a satellite image taken by NASA. This map concentrates on the islands off the coast of Southern California. This map points out the names of all the islands, their location, and their proximity to major Californian cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara. This map is interesting to me because I grew up in Santa Barbara. I usually see the islands from the perspective of the coastline so it is always nice to see a different view of the Channel Islands. I also like this map because it is a pure image of the Southern California coastline. No roads or cities pop out from the map. They are simply labeled as opposed to putting a huge red dot on the location.

 

This topographical map shows a piece of Mount St. Helens. This map is from The United States Geographical Survey (USGS). This map contains many lines marking the contours and different heights of Mount St. Helens. There are labels, like "Lava Dome" and "Tallus Glacier," next to major physical structures on the mountain. The numbers on the map signify the maximum height at different locations along the rim of the crater. I find this map interesting because of the intricacy of the topographical lines.