#environmentaldata — Public Fediverse posts

Saturday Data Dive: Mapping Calgary’s Thermal Fingerprint 🛰️📊

Spent some quality time with GEE, R and Landsat-8/9 data today.

I’ve just finished processing a Median Land Surface Temperature (LST) model for Calgary, covering the entire Summer of 2025. This isn't just a single-day snapshot—it’s a robust composite of many satellite scenes, filtered to show the true intra-urban thermal zones.

Quick Takeaways:
🔹 Surface temperature in some busines area and "heat traps" peaked at over 51.3°C.
🔹 The contrast between our "Cool Islands" and "Extreme Heat Zones" is striking.
🔹 This automated workflow in R allows for a granular look at urban climate resilience that standard reports often miss.

I’m currently finalizing a full breakdown and a community-by-community analysis.
Stay tuned—the detailed article is coming soon!

#Calgary #DataScience #UrbanHeatIsland #RemoteSensing #ClimateResilience #Landsat #RStats #GIS #Sustainability #GEE #EnvironmentalData #Summer2025 #YYC #GreennessOfCalgary #Alberta #Canada

How much does landform position matter for vegetation dynamics across Calgary?

I explored how ΔNDVI (2025-2024) varies across geomorphon classes (summit, ridge, slope, hollow, valley, etc.) using a large spatial dataset (~194k observations).

A few key points from the analysis:
• Non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test shows statistically significant differences between geomorphons
• However, the effect size is moderate (ε² ≈ 0.04)
• Distributions strongly overlap — landform position matters, but it is not a deterministic driver
• Median ΔNDVI tends to be higher in lower landscape positions (hollows, footslopes, valleys), consistent with moisture and accumulation controls

#EnvironmentalData #RemoteSensing #NDVI #LandscapeEcology #Geomorphology #DataAnalysis #RStats
#ReproducibleResearch #Calgary #GreennessOfCalgary #Sentinel2

🛰️ Today I’m sharing one of my favourite large-scale remote sensing experiments:
a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of MODIS composite data for the three central provinces of Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba).

On this map:
- PC1 emphasizes broad ecological zones and vegetation productivity
- PC2 highlights soil and surface moisture differences
- PC3 captures subtle spectral variations — often linked to geology, wetlands, disturbance patterns, or local microclimates

Even though it looks abstract, PCA is a kind of “spectral fingerprint” of the land. It summarises thousands of square kilometres into a single visual structure that shows how the Canadian Prairies and Boreal regions differ and transition into one another.

#RemoteSensing #MODIS #Geospatial #EarthObservation #Rstats #DataVisualization #PCA #SatelliteData #Canada #Alberta #Saskatchewan #Manitoba #EnvironmentalData #GeoDataArt #GeoSpectralArt

🫐 The Blueberry Map Experiment — modelling meets the mountains

In 2022, while living with my family in the Czech Republic, I built a digital map of wild blueberry hotspots in the Jizera Mountains.

At first, it looked like a fun summer project — our neighbors used the map to find the best berry spots and enjoy the landscape.
But behind it was a serious experiment: I tested species distribution modelling (SDM) methods, later adapted for wide-world rare earth element prediction.

Within this “blueberry project” I:
🔹 automated the full spatial workflow in R and QGIS,
🔹 generated geomorphons and other terrain-based predictors,
🔹 built and validated ML models,
🔹 created probability maps and tested them in the field.

✨ What started as a family hobby became a field-tested workflow for predictive geoscience.

#DataScience #MachineLearning #GIS #SpatialModeling #SDM #CzechRepublic #RemoteSensing #Geoscience #RStats #EnvironmentalData #PredictiveMapping #LandscapeEcology #RareEarthElements #CriticalMinerals

🌿 Calgary’s vegetation — satellite comparison (2024 → 2025)

Median NDVI maps from mid-May to mid-September show a clear difference between the two seasons.

In 2025, NDVI values are noticeably higher — vegetation stayed greener and denser for longer.
The wetter summer had a strong effect on canopy productivity across most Calgary communities, especially in parkland and tree-covered zones.

🛰️ Based on Sentinel-2 imagery and R + QGIS processing.

#RemoteSensing #NDVI #UrbanEcology #Calgary #GeospatialAnalysis #GIS #Sentinel2 #EnvironmentalData #DataVisualization #OpenScience #EarthObservation #ClimateImpact #RStats #QGIS

🧠 Full-Stack Science — from raw data to the final PDF

While preparing the new version of my monograph, I realized something funny:
if I listed all the software I used, the “Used software” section would look more like a Linux manual than a scientific appendix.

Because, honestly — everything mattered.
From grep, awk, and apt, to PHREEQC, R, QGIS, and finally LaTeX.

Every single stage — data cleaning, modeling, visualization, mapping, typesetting — I did entirely on my own.
No outsourcing. No “sending for refinement.”
Just a full-stack, open-source workflow — from the first script to the final monograph PDF.

📘 Draft available on Zenodo:
🔗 https://zenodo.org/records/16741148

#OpenScience #IndependentResearch #Geochemistry #Hydrogeology #DataScience #PHREEQC #RStats #QGIS #Linux #LaTeX #EnvironmentalData #GeospatialAnalysis #FullStackResearch #ScientificWorkflow #Zenodo #SvystunovaGully

“If the map does not match the terrain — trust the terrain!”
— Principle of field geoscience

This is how the effective catchment area of the Inhulets River looks within the study region.

The upstream part — above the Karachunivske Reservoir's dam, the outlet of the Saksahan derivative tunnel, and the confluence of the Stara Saksahan River — was excluded from the calculation.

Within the analyzed area, surface runoff is possible only from the highlighted zone.
The rest of the “catchment basin” is hydrologically inactive: runoff is intercepted by ponds, settling tanks, and other anthropogenic landforms.

🌍 The analysis was based on the Copernicus GLO-30 DEM, integrated with hydrological modeling and terrain processing in open-source GIS.

#Hydrology #Geochemistry #InhuletsRiver #GIS #SAGAGIS #QGIS #HydrologicalModeling #RemoteSensing #GeospatialAnalysis #EnvironmentalData #RStats #LandscapeGeochemistry #Copernicus

🌿 Calgary Greenness Dynamics (2024–2025)

Mapping ΔNDVI between the summers of 2024 and 2025 shows how Calgary’s communities changed in their vegetation cover.

🟢 Some areas became noticeably greener this year — likely due to the wetter and milder summer.
🔴 Others show slight declines, possibly linked to construction, soil dryness, or limited tree canopy recovery.

These patterns reveal how different parts of the city respond to seasonal variability — and where future urban greening might have the most impact.

🛰️ Based on Sentinel-2 data and NDVI analysis in R.

#Calgary #NDVI #RemoteSensing #UrbanEcology #DataVisualization #GreennessOfCalgary #EnvironmentalData #GIS #RStats #GeospatialAnalysis #yyc #Alberta #Canada

🌿 Where Calgary Got Greener — and Where It Didn’t?

A quick look at how Calgary’s residential communities changed in greenness (NDVI) between 2024 and 2025.

🟢 Some neighbourhoods show a clear recovery of vegetation — probably thanks to a wetter, milder summer, better soil moisture, or local greening efforts.
🔴 Others stayed stagnant or even lost NDVI — maybe new construction, dry soils, or sparse vegetation played a role.

The bar chart shows Top-5 and Bottom-5 communities by NDVI change. It’s fascinating how uneven the “greening pulse” can be within one city.

📊 Based on Sentinel-2 data, mid-May – mid-September, processed in R.

#Calgary #NDVI #RemoteSensing #UrbanEcology #EnvironmentalData #GIS #Sentinel2 #ClimateImpact #GeospatialAnalysis #DataScience #RStats #OpenData #GreennessOfCalgary #Alberta #Canada

Last week we posted a #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the
Environment Agency #Hydrology service #API about how best to use the API

https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData #FairUse

Last week we posted a #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the
Environment Agency #Hydrology service #API about how best to use the API

https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData #FairUse

Last week we posted a #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the
Environment Agency #Hydrology service #API about how best to use the API

https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData #FairUse

Last week we posted a #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the
Environment Agency #Hydrology service #API about how best to use the API

https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData #FairUse

Last week we posted a #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the
Environment Agency #Hydrology service #API about how best to use the API

https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData #FairUse

Our newest #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the Environment Agency (https://www.linkedin.com/company/environment-agency) #Hydrology service #API

The hydrology archive is a tremendous asset with records from tens of thousands of measurement stations across England, this article talks about how best to use the API https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData [1/5]

Our newest #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the Environment Agency (https://www.linkedin.com/company/environment-agency) #Hydrology service #API

The hydrology archive is a tremendous asset with records from tens of thousands of measurement stations across England, this article talks about how best to use the API https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData [1/5]

Our newest #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the Environment Agency (https://www.linkedin.com/company/environment-agency) #Hydrology service #API

The hydrology archive is a tremendous asset with records from tens of thousands of measurement stations across England, this article talks about how best to use the API https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData [1/5]

Our newest #TechTalk article: Tracking #EnvironmentalData using the Environment Agency (https://www.linkedin.com/company/environment-agency) #Hydrology service #API

The hydrology archive is a tremendous asset with records from tens of thousands of measurement stations across England, this article talks about how best to use the API https://www.epimorphics.com/ea-hydrology-api

#OpenData #RestAPI #DataAPI #DataEngineering #LinkedData #WaterData [1/5]