|
Current Research:
<<<UNDER
CONSTRUCTION>>>
Past Research
Projects:
Environmental Impacts of the
Gabcikov Barrage System in Hungary using Satellite Remote Sensing
Techniques
Project Team:
Scot E. Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, University
of Florida
Lajos Horvath, Head, Water Quality Department, North
Trandanubian Water District Authority
Ferenc Szilagyi, Professor, Water Cehmistry Department, Technical University
of Budapest
Georgy Buttner, Senior Scientist, FOMI National Remote
Sensing Centre, Budapest
Project Sponsors:
The
National Science Foundation of the United States, the Hungarian
Acadaemy of Sceince and the Hungarian Environemntal Protection Ministry.
Project Description:
After
thirty years of planning and construction, a hydroelectric power system
known as the Gabcikovo Barrage System (GBS) was completed on a section of
the Danube River
between Hungary and the Slovak Republic
(formally Czechoslovakia)
in 1995. However, in 1992, prior to diversion of water for the power
channel, Hungary
requested that the project be halted due to concern for potential
environmental impacts. Slovakia,
citing that the project was too far along to be abandoned, unilaterally
completed the system in 1996.
The
potential and immediately-realized environmental impacts of the GBS in Hungary and Slovakia are examined in this
project. An objective analysis of the actual and potential environmental
impacts is timely due to the fact that a great deal of unsubstantiated
information currently is being publicized which serves neither Hungary nor
Slovakia well. The decision to build the GBS was made during the era when
eastern European countries such as Hungary
and Czechoslovakia
wanted to copy the enormous dam construction works conducted on large
rivers in the Soviet Union such as the Volga
and the Dneper. Now is an appropriate time when a critical assessment as to
the feasibility and environmental consequences of civil projects such as
this one built during the communist era can be performed.
This
project examines the GBS project and concerns expressed for its short and
long-term environmental impacts. It further describes preliminary results
from a study that used satellite remote sensing techniques for assessing
changes in agricultural, forested and river bed lands since diversion of
water for the dam system in 1992.
***********
|
|
|
Image Acquisition from Aerial Sampling of the St. Johns River
Water Management District
Principle Investigators: Scot E. Smith and Leonard
Pearlstine
Sponsor: St Johns River Water Management
District
Background:
A district-wide land use/land cover (LU/LC) mapping
contract was awarded to Geonex Corporation, which is under strict time and
quality constraints. In view of these constraints, and the limited
viability of geographical information system (GIS)/mapping staff, it is
imperative that the quality assurance for the LU/LC maps be accomplished
under contract, as specified in the selected proposal. Historically,
quality assurance analyses have been infeasible due to potential bias,
cost, lack of acceptable method, and difficulty in traveling to remote
locations in the landscape.
The purpose of this contract is to acquire new image
products that can help to overcome the above limitations. These include
videography and high resolution digital images, registered precisely to map
coordinates using a real time global positioning system (GPS) and a
sophisticated on-board linkage system. This system is developed for land
cover mapping in Florida
by a number of resource management agencies, in a cooperative effort.
Because the images have high resolution (up to 10 cm pixels), they may
substitute for a large portion of the field work required for ground
truthing.
Scope of Work:
The project is acquiring, processing and delivering
digital images and associated videography and written material to the St
Johns River Water Management District (District) as specified below. High
resolution digital imagery are being collected in transects covering the
entire area covered by the District. The ground area of the images were
specified by District, within a range of 40 x 60 to 100 x 150 meters. In
addition, videography is being acquired contemporaneously with the digital
images using high resolution video cameras.
Acquisition is divided into two tasks. The first task
covers three (3) USGS quadrangles: Emeralda Island,
Leesburg East and Howey-in-the-Hills. The second task covers selected
transects for the rest of the district, focusing on publicly-owned and less
developed areas. 320 images are being delivered under Task 1 covering 120
km in transects, and 2,540 additional images covering the remainder of the
district, over 1,000 km of transects are to be delivered.
Method:
Two cameras are mounted on a plane and operated
simultaneously. One camera is a 24-bit color infrared digital camera with a
1012 x 1524 fixed-plane array. Imagery from the digital camera is
downloaded to a computer aboard the aircraft. The other camera is a video
camera that is linked to a high resolution video recorder inside the plane.
The video resolution is 400 lines per inch or better. An aerial photography
control system takes input from an on-board GPS and a gyroscope system that
reports pitch, roll and heading of the plane. The GPS processes real time
differential correction data. The control system uses input from the GPS to
time the triggering of the digital camera, and at the same time, logged the
GPS and gyro information for each image frame. The actual ground position
of the image is calculated from the GPS data, corrected with the altitude
and plane orientation. GPS data are collected during each flight and linked
to a corresponding time code recorded on the audio track of the video tape.
***********
|
|
|
Assessment of Data for the City of Jacksonville Brownsfields Study Area
Principal
Investigators: Scot E. Smith and Kirk Hatfield
Sponsor: St Johns Water Management District
***********
|
|
|
|
Improvement of
the Biological Degradability of Wastewaters Using Activated Zeolites: A
Study Supported by NATO’s Science for Peace Programme
NATO SfP Programme Project
reference number
SfP-972494
Principal
Investigators: Scot E. Smith,
Péter Princz
Start Date:
July 1999
Background of NATO Science for Peace
Programme
The
objective of the Science for Peace sub-programme is to offer support to
Partner countries in their transition towards a market-oriented,
environmentally-sound economy. This sub-programme supports applied research
and development projects in Partner countries, that relate to industrial or
environmental problems, when such problems involve collaboration between
science and industry or between science and other end-users. Science for
Peace helps Partner scientists to increase contacts in the NATO science
community, while building a stronger science infrastructure in their home
countries.
Description of Project
Current wastewater treatment
processes usually improve the quality of effluent water by enhancing the
efficiency of the pollutant reduction process and/or by increasing the retention
time of the wastewater in the treatment facility. The latter approach,
however requires a larger aeration basin and higher operation cost
resulting in an expensive solution.
One of the most promising
approaches to improve the efficiency and increase the capacity of
wastewater treatment plants (WTP), without increasing size, is based upon
application of natural zeolites in the aeration basin. Zeolite particles
are good carriers of bacteria, which adsorb on the zeolite surface
resulting in increased sludge activity. In spite of this advantage, the
application of zeolite additive has a significant drawback. Formation of
the bacteria layer on the zeolite surface is a slow process, consequently
the additive becomes effective only after 5 - 7 days. It must be the reason
that the application of zeolites in wastewater treatment, although the
basic technology called Zeoflocc was developed and patented in Hungary
20 years ago, has not been widely accepted. Currently only 0.2 percent of
the wastewater is treated by the Zeoflocc technology in Hungary.
Under this project a new zeolite modification methods will be
developed to accelerate the interaction between zeolites and activated
sludge (AS) and increase further the sludge activity. The effects of
modified zeolites on organic degradation rates will be tested at laboratory
and full-scale experiments applying AS technology. Based upon the experiments, new
industrial technologies for zeolite modification and wastewater treatment
will be developed
Technologies to be applied
are the following: zeolite milling; treatment of zeolites with aqueous
solutions of HCl, NH4Cl and organic polymers; biological
wastewater treatment.
To learn more about this
project click here.
***********
|
|
Florida GAP Analysis Project
The
Florida Gap Analysis Project (GAP) is creating data layers and models for
the natural resource managers developing regional policies that influence
the maintainence of biological diversity in Florida. A primary objective of our
effort is to conduct an analysis of potential terrrestrial vertebrate,
butterfly, skipper, and ant species richness in Florida in relation to
existing reserves and managed areas, and to identify areas of high species
richness or unique species concentrations not within existing reserves;
i.e., "gaps" in the existing network of conservation lands.
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/coop/gap/
|
BACK TO SMITH WEBPAGE
|
