PhD student opportunity in remote sensing of
alluvial sandbar dynamics in Grand Canyon
Funding is available for a PhD student to study
alluvial sandbar dynamics on the Colorado River
in Grand Canyon. The research objective is to
better understand the highly localized nature of
eddy sandbar responses to hydrologic regime, at
the event scale (such as during floods) as well
as longer-term morphodynamics. The project will
make use of an extensive data set from 40
autonomously operating digital camera systems
('remote cameras') which have been providing
oblique high-resolution color imagery
(<http://grandcanyon.usgs.gov/giswebdev/sandbarphotoviewer2/RemoteCameraTimeSeries.html>http://grandcanyon.usgs.gov/giswebdev/sandbarphotoviewer2/RemoteCameraTimeSeries.html),
up to 12 times per day, for several years (at
some sites, going back to 2008). This wealth of
data can be used to explore sandbar responses to
flows at a range of timescales (from hours to
years) as well as other important aspects of the
river corridor such as vegetation encroachment
and erosional processes. Additional data sets
include (annual or sub-annual) ground-based
topographic surveys, and other remote sensing
data sets derived from aerial imagery (collected in 2005, 2009, and 2013).
The PhD funding will include full tuition,
stipend, and health insurance. The student will
be based at the Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics
Lab
(<https://sites.google.com/a/nau.edu/remote-sensing-lab/>https://sites.google.com/a/nau.edu/remote-sensing-lab/),
advised by Dr. Sankey, School of Earth Sciences
and Environmental Sustainability, and Informatics
and Computing Program, Northern Arizona
University. The student will also work closely
with USGS GCMRC (Grand Canyon Monitoring Research
Center; <http://www.gcmrc.gov/>www.gcmrc.gov)
research scientists specifically Dr Daniel
Buscombe, Dr Paul Grams and Dr Erich Mueller -
and a large group of academic and government
researchers working in Grand Canyon and
throughout the Colorado River Basin. The project
will involve georectification of oblique imagery
into planform imagery using a network of surveyed
ground control points at each site. The student
will contribute to the development of automated
or semi-automated algorithms for the segmentation
of sandbars from georectified images, and the
continuing development of a novel approach
developed at GCMRC to extract 3D topographic data
from imagery, thus potentially providing a means
to estimate sandbar volumes. The ideal candidate
should have, or is keen to develop, skills in a
high-level programming language such as
Matlab/Python/R/IDL; an interest in image
processing/photogrammetry and/or remote sensing;
a background in geomorphology, geology,hydrology,
engineering, computer science or related
discipline. Although this is designed as a PhD
position, qualified applicants seeking a M.S
degree may be considered. Candidates interested
in the position should contact Dr. Sankey at
<https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&[email protected]>[email protected].
Temuulen Teki Sankey
Assistant Professor
Informatics and Computing Program
ARD Building Suite 120 Room 122
1298 S. Knoles Drive
Northern Arizona University
Phone: 928-523-7098
