This project supports the 41st Annual Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium (BGS) in Columbia, South Carolina in October 2010. The project will facilitate participation of junior scientists and graduate students (including under-represented groups), conference logistics, travel support for invited speakers and publication of a proceedings volume. The BGS is widely recognized as a leading international conference concerned with various topics in geomorphology.
The theme of the 2010 BGS, Geospatial Technologies and Geomorphological Mapping, set by co-organizers of the conference Dr. Allan James from the University of South Carolina, Dr. Stephen Walsh from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and Dr. Michael Bishop at the University of Nebraska-Omaha will address theories and applications of modern mapping technology and geospatial analyses to geomorphic science. This BGS will provide a scientific basis for understanding the immediate goals and potential of modern digital geomorphic mapping (DGM). DGM provides insights into geomorphic systems including recognition of causality, process mechanics, historical reconstructions through change detection, multi-scale analysis and modeling, and assessments of energy and matter fluxes. This BGS will review the theoretical basis of DGM, new data sources, optical and non-optical remote sensing systems, information-extraction technologies, image fusing for enhancement and classification, spatial modeling, and analytical approaches (e.g. tool boxes). It will review developments in landform genesis, external forcings, process dynamics, and feedback mechanisms. By taking a broad approach to modern geomorphic mapping, this BGS will seek to anticipate and facilitate a new generation of geomorphic mapping and geospatial analytical capabilities. This broad view of geomorphic 'mapping' will examine the potential for incorporating modern interactive database technologies such as spatial decision support systems and web-based mapping and explore concepts such as multi-scale analyses and modern data storage, dissemination, and visualization strategies.
This BGS will be the first conference on geomorphology that addresses the fields of geomorphic mapping and geospatial technology as an integrated theme. Technological advances in remote sensing, geographic information technologies, and numerical modeling of surface processes have revolutionized the field of geomorphology and call for a symposium for the evaluation and dissemination of information. Geoscientists are not always aware of the capabilities and limitations of new technologies, data sets, and methodologies, so interpretations and reliabilities of new developments will be addressed. New methods also permit Earth scientists to go beyond traditional mapping and modeling of the Earth surface. Papers and posters will provide a broad new synthesis and integration of a rapidly growing field that spans subfields within and beyond geomorphology. Invited papers by leading scientists will be reviewed and published in a proceedings volume prior to the meeting and in a special issue of the journal, Geomorphology. A graduate seminar will be taught at USC during the semester of the BGS to involve students in critical evaluations of the papers, and the organization and hosting of the meeting.
