I am a pragmatic and personable coastal geographer. I strive to complement my technical skills with an excellence in communicative and collaborative qualities. My training has provided me with a grounding in modern GIS and remote sensing technologies, and my experience in research has given me the analytical abilities inherent in applied geomorphological study. I am now fully committed to the research of geospatial applications to regional climate change adaptation.
Short - Provide geospatial services in areas of coastal hazards and adaptation planning.
Long - Work to assist the adaptation of coastal populations to projected climatic change using the powerful decision support provided by geospatial technology.
scott.v.hatcher (at) gmail (dot) com
For the purpose of preservation, as well as to facilitate analysis, some rock carvings made on the face of a cave were scanned at very high resolution using a white-light scanner. The carvings are located on the Chatham Islands, which are a group of islands east of New Zealand. This was done by the Archaeology and Surveying departments of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. My job was to attempt to automate the process of detecting the carvings from the surveying data in order to quickly map their layout on the carving face.
- Age of the rock face carvings: ~300 years
- Total number of individual survey points taken by the scanner: > 100 million
- Poster: Download link
I was involved in a project that aimed to quantify the effect of highly oblique winds in transporting sand over a coastal dune. This coastal dune, located on the southern coast of Dunedin, New Zealand, is adjacent to municipal lands, and is bordered by a large road made of backfill. The project used in situ measurement techniques to quantify the effects of steering and acceleration of the regional winds due to the local topography of the dune.
- Published proceedings: download link
- Maximum measured sand movement: 1200 kg/hr/m^2 (about a bathtub every hour)
The goal of the CanCoast project is to improve upon the existing Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) from Shaw et.al. (1998) using updated information on Geology, Coastline shape, permafrost, and socioeconomic variables. To do this, a GIS with all relevant layers was created, and then a new formula for calculating a vulnerability index was developed.
Assisting coastal planning in the Inuit communities of Northern Labrador (Memorial University, 2012-2013)
The community plans for the Inuit towns within Nunatsiavut, in northern Labrador, rely on planners from Ottawa. This presents challenges when it comes to community assets that are cultural and unmapped. The planners wanted to incorporate this information into community plans, as well as fill in data gaps to do with projected climatic change. A partnership with Memorial University allowed this problem to be tackled.
- Population of Nunatsiavut: 2,160
- Executive summary of project: download link
- Poster: download link
The city of Iqaluit needed an assessment of coastal hazards within Koojesse Inlet, the main inlet servicing the city, in order to incorporate proper planning into its five year plan, as well as it's long-term climate change adaptation plan.
- Published journal article: download link
- Published GSC Open-File report: download link
- Vertical height of tides in Koojesse Inlet: 12.3 m
As part of my final project I attempted a 3D model of a scuba tank underwater using oblqiue photogrammetry. This is very common place now (structure from motion has advanced rapidly since then), but at the time I had a lot of fun diving into new avenues of photogrammetry.
- Depth of water: 3 m
- Camera used: Canon 20D, Sigma 10-22mm lens
- Practical use for a 3D model of a scuba tank: None
Hippalus has retained a seat in those remembered from ancient history as a great navigator. It was he who cleverly began sailing due East once leaving the Gulf of Aden and arriving on the Western coast of India, when all others assumed this would be a suicide mission. His fame even gave his name to monsoon winds that made his feat possible. The evidence we have, however, for his existence is faint, but his story could help elucidate the way mythology shaped the ancient Graeco-Roman world.
- Time of the year the "Hippalus wind blows":
- Distance of the journey from the Gulf of Aden to Mumbai:
- Total number of times Hippalus is mentioned in the primary sources:
- Slideshare presentation link
- Published journal article: download link
I am an amateur photographer, enjoying taking photos of nature and of funny situations. I keep my portfolio on flickr