ERIC FUTERFAS

environmental design - architectural research - material science - ecological analysis - parametric design - sustainability - planning - film photography - 
︎ Bio
︎ efuterfas@berkeley.edu
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︎ Berkeley, CA

ERIC FUTERFAS

Bay Area Remote Sensing Analysis

What
Where
When
For
GIS Analysis
UC Berkeley
2021
LDARCH 110

The bay area is known as a sprawling metropolis among a beautiful collage of nature. These maps help to reveal the interraction and behavior of these realms. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) map shows Landsat 8 data of the temperature readings on the surface of earth while the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index map shows the relative amount of vegetation in each pixel at a 30x30m resolution, evaluated using the Infrared spectrum from satellite. Juxtaposing these two maps helps reveal the dramatic inverse correlation that exists between the presence of vegetation and the temperature of an area. This is reflective of how the urban heat island effect can be combatted with vegetation’s ability to absorb and metabolize radiation, as well as evapotranspiring moisture into the air to cool the ambient termperature.


UC Berkeley finds its property within the Strawberry Canyon Watershed. This map simulates the direction of runoff flow during a rain event according to the slope of the terrain. It also outlines areas of different soils. These soils have different saturation potentials which affect the time it takes for soils to absorb water before runoff is produced along the surface, information that can be used to calculate runoff projections in the event of rain.


This map helps illustrate the overlap of landslide events with geology types. This could be helpful, inconjunction with slope and vegetation data, in predicting the risk of future landslides to either help intervene with preventative measures as well as where might be a safer site for future facility development.