Team Travels to Survey Sites

December 29, 2017

Dr. Karen Seto, Dr. Sara Shneiderman,  Kellie Stokes, and Meredith Reba took a trip out to Charikot & Kathmandu, Nepal and Almora, India to survey field sites.   The team took a preliminary look at the success of the remote sensing change detection algorithm/Python package, called CCDC/YATSM, the team has been using in the region. The algorithm and Python package were developed at Boston University by Dr. Zhe Zhu, Dr. Curtis Woodcock, and Dr. Chris Holden, while Baohui Chai, a visiting Ph.D. student and Meredith are working to implement it in the HKH region. The algorithm will aid the team in determining land-cover change in the region, specifically changes in urban settlements.

The field work was productive and Meredith remarked, “The steep slopes, persistent cloud cover, and rebuilding of settlements in the region will make change detection challenging, yet it is inspiring to see such resilience and ingenuity throughout the region.” 

At the end of the trip, Karen and Meredith met with Dr. Prakash C. Tiwari from Kuman University in Nanital, India to look at land use changes in the Nanital/Almora region.