SO262 Project

4/10/2008

Each student in the course will prepare a project. 

• Select a military operation, either current or historical, and discuss the physical geography of the region.  This will include climate, landforms, soils,  vegetation, and natural hazards of the region. 
• Briefly discuss the military operation, but concentrate on how the climate and physical landscape affected the battlefield, military planning, and operations.
• The project will be presented as a poster, sized to fit in the display area under the skylights on the lab deck between Michelson and Chauvenet.  Using the Power Point template will insure the poster is the correct size.
• You will not duplicate any of the battles done by students in the fall 2006 semester.
• You will have the following graphics as a minimum:
  • World location map, showing the battle.
  • Satellite image showing the region
  • High resolution air photo or satellite image showing the immediate area of the battle (may be hard to find for a few battles)
  • Map showing elevations in the area, from the SRTM.
  • Climograph, using the standard scales and conventions which allow easy comparisons of climographs for different regions.
  • Graph showing the length of daylight throughout the year.
  • Map showing the military unit positions in the battle or campaign.
• In addition to graphic images, your poster should have a substantial text component to explain the landscape, climate, and the military operation. You can use the maps in the text book to look up the soil, climate, and vegetation classifications in the area around the battlefield, and then discuss the characteristics of those classifications and how they influence military operations.  You should discuss how the battle or operation might have been different if it had occurred during a different time of the year.
• All measurements should be in the metric system (m, km, and °C)

You can get climate information at http://www.worldclimate.com/ to construct a climograph, and MICRODEM has directions on how to do that.

You must insure that your poster is printed before the last day of class.  You should coordinate with MSC well in advance.  They need a week, so with the last day of classes on 28 April, you should get your powerpoint file to them by Monday 4/2l.

To get SRTM topography of your area, with holes filled:

• http://www.ambiotek.com/topoview
• Find the region, and click on the "Data for: srtm_xx_xx"
• Download the DATA tile in zipped GEOTIFF format.  This appears to be an incredibly slow process, even at off hours.
• You may not have to unzip; you can try to open the ZIP file directly in MICRODEM.  If that does not work, unzip first.

Faster option

1. ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/version2/SRTM3
2. Pick the continent you want (the Middle East may not be where you think for example; there is a map in MICRODEM's help file)
3. Pick the file you want.  The one degree cells are named for the SW corner.
4. Download the ZIP file, and it will open directly in MICRODEM.
5. If holes are a problem, see the instructor.

SO262 Home Page

You will not do any of the battles done Fall 2006--Spring 2007, which include:

• Waterloo
• Little Big Horn
• Stalingrad
• Thermoplyae
• Pea Ridge
• Battle of the Bulge
• Iwo Jima
• Chosin Reservoir
• Gettysburg
• Tarawa
• Guadalcanal
• Wake Island
• Operation Market-Garden
• Okinawa