Special Thanks to Reviewers 2016-2017

Sincere thanks are extended to the people who reviewed manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research during the period of 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017

Special Thanks to Reviewers 2014-2015

Sincere thanks are extended to the people who reviewed manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research during the period of 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015

Special Thanks to Reviewers 2020

Sincere thanks are extended to the individuals who reviewed manuscripts for International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research during the period of 1 January to 31 December 2020

Subbasin Characteristics and Hydrological Response to Anticipated Urbanisation

This study investigated the relationship between the hydrological response of a river basin to anticipated urbanisation and its subbasin characteristics by applying a hydrological model (HSPF) with land use scenarios generated by an urban growth model (LEAM). The hydrological model was set up and run for the Kishwaukee River basin in northeastern Illinois, USA. The results show that the subbasin size and imperviousness were found to be more correlated to runoff changes than slope. However, no basin characteristics have significant relationships with percent changes in any hydrological variables due largely to the effects of upstream subbasins. When the effects of upstream subbasins are excluded, it becomes clear that the subbasin size is negatively correlated with percent changes in total runoff, storm flow and peak flow. The percent change in impervious land is positively related to the percent changes in storm flow and peak flow, but the relationship itself is dependent on the initial imperviousness level. The geographical pattern of the basin response implies that it requires more targeted measures to mitigate negative hydrological impacts

Climate Change and Nighttime Heat Stress: Tales of Two Cities in the U.S. Midwest

This study explores nighttime heat stress in two Midwestern regions in the United States, encompassing the cities of Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Daily minimum temperature data were obtained from the MACAv2-METDATA dataset at a 4-km resolution. Data were downloaded both for the historical (1950- 2005) and RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 4.5 (2006-2099) simulations from 11 global climate models. MODIS land cover data at a 5\u27x5\u27 resolution were used to delineate urban and non-urban areas. Heat stress was indicated by the occurrence of hot nights in two ways. First, the number of days with daily minimum temperatures above 300 K (27°C) was counted to calculate decadal frequency. Second, the 95th percentile of daily minimum temperatures in the historical period was used as a threshold to calculate the duration of hot nights. The study finds that (1) hot nights (\u3e 300 K) are practically non-existent in the historical simulation but are likely to occur typically 2-3 times per decade with the RCP4.5 simulations; (2) the frequency of such events in the future can exceed 25 per decade in urban areas whereas it can be just about 1 per decade in non-urban areas depending on models; and (3) hot nights (\u3e 95th percentile threshold) are likely to last longer in the future simulations. Overall, heat stress is projected to increase both in frequency duration, and the urban heat island effect in terms of heat stress is projected to intensify in the future

Special Thanks to Reviewers 2018-2019

Sincere thanks are extended to the following individuals who reviewed manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research during the period of 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019

Special Thanks to Reviewers 2021-2022

Sincere thanks are extended to the individuals who reviewed manuscripts for International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research during the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2022

Forest Cover Changes in North Korea Since the 1980s

North Korea used to have abundant forest stocks but underwent substantial deforestation and degradation of forest in recent decades. This study examined morphological changes of forest cover in North Korea between the 1980s and 2000s. Land cover data based on Landsat TM imagery were obtained as images from the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Environment. The images were processed and used for the Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis and network analysis. MSPA classified the forest cover into morphological classes such as core, islet, bridge, perforation, edge, loop, and branch. The network analysis identified individual networks of forest, each of which represents a patch of connected forest. The results are summarized as follows: (1) Forest cover sharply decreased between the 1990s and 2000s, particularly in western provinces; (2) Morphological classes indicating forest fragmentation such as islet, branch and edge consistently increased in their fraction to the total area between the 1980s and 2000s; (3) Islet, branch and edge also increased in number during the same period; (4) Forest networks shrank in size and increased in number. Overall, the results demonstrate that deforestation and fragmentation of forest occurred simultaneously in North Korea during the time

Impacts of Climate Change and Urban Expansion on Hydrologic Ecosystem Services in the Milwaukee River Basin

Land use/land cover (LULC) and climate changes could affect water quantity and quality and thus hydrologic ecosystem services (ES). However, studies of these impacts on hydrologic ES are limited by the current methods and techniques. We attempted to find out how the LULC and climate changes impact hydrologic ES at different temporal scales so that decision-makers can easily understand hydrologic ES variations for guiding management plans. In this study, we analyzed the impacts of LULC and climate changes on hydrologic ES in the Milwaukee River basin, USA with a conceptual modeling framework for hydrologic ES. The model framework was applied to a series of climate and urban expansion scenarios. Two hydrologic responses (streamflow and sediment) and three hydrologic ES (water provision index (WPI), flood regulation index (FRI), and sediment regulation index (SRI)) were calculated. Major findings include: (1) Climate change has much larger impacts than LULC at the monthly scale. For example, the impacts of climate change on streamflow were −6 to 9 m3/s whereas those of LULC change were −0.4 to 0.2 m3/s. Also, WPI (ranging from 0 to 1) changed between −0.16 and 0.07 with climate change but between −0.02 and −0.001 with LULC changes. (2) Compared to changes at the annual scale, the results show much larger variabilities as monthly time-series and mean monthly numbers. These findings suggest that the climate change weighs more than the realistic LULC change in term of impacts on hydrologic ES and those impacts can be identified with results at the monthly temporal scale. This approach with the framework and scenarios can better support management planning for decision-makers with detailed results and temporal precision