Chuck Sutherland

A coastline or a shoreline is something that can only be measured with a measurable degree of accuracy. As the measure of accuracy changes, so does the length of the coastline / shoreline. In other words, if I take a yardstick, a ruler, and 30' length of rope to measure the shore, I get three different answers. Each is correct, when stated with what was used to make the measurement. This is a counterintuitive outcome. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) should be able to quite easily measure the length of lines, right? The problem lies within the analysis itself. I can only tell where the shoreline of Dale Hollow Lake is based on known described layers of data with measured limitations. If I artificially inflate those limitations (in this example, I'm increasing distance between vertices) and record the change in shoreline, one can see how the shoreline decreases as the measure of accuracy decreases (distance between vertices increases, shoreline decreases). Same is t...

The Caverns, or as cavers know it, Big Mouth Cave, is a music venue in Grundy County, Tennessee. I made my second trip there this last weekend to photograph the beginning of the survey of the cave by Sewannee Mountain Grotto members, Kyle Lassiter, Kristine Ebrey, Sue Milburn, and Martha G. Bryant. I attempted to recreate my photos from the first trip in 2015, and I include those for comparison. 2015/11/21 2020/06/14

What follows is a list of equipment that I use (and is pictured above) to photograph caves. Caving equipment is not itemized. Each component of this is very important and serves a purpose. Pelican cases are necessary to protect your equipment from mud, water, and impacts. Taking a camera caving without having some form of protection like a Pelican Case is a sure way to find yourself replacing your camera and lens sooner rather than later. It's a small investment with a big return. The flashes and transmitter are important because there is no light save for what you bring in a cave. Having multiple off camera flashes allows the photographer to compose the scene as they like. Other lighting options also work, but none work as well for capturing people or dynamic movement. Flashbulbs also will work to do this, and depending on what bulbs one uses can have amazing output. The problem is that they are one use items. The advantage is that you can shoot at f/11 underground. The ...

I've been doing more hiking lately, and as I'm getting back into it I'm finding that I am needing to rethink me solutions. Caving gear camera gear is heavy, and it has to be to protect one's equipment. But in a scenario where you're hiking, you have the luxury of losing some weight. This is what I've been carrying lately for when I'm hiking: Let's explore each of these items. First, there's the Canon EOS M6 Body. This is my camera. The next two items Canon EF-s 10-18MM and Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 are both lenses. The 10-18mm lens is my workhorse. It can shoot macros, and it is perfect for expansive landscape photography. It's nearly fisheye, but you'll find that it doesn't have the gimmicky feel that a fisheye lens does. The polarizer is for this lens. The polarizer lets me reduce glares and reflections, which makes taking photos of water, or anything wet so much better. It will darken the sky as well, creating deeper blue colors with...

March 3rd, 2020 a deadly tornado touched down in Putnam County, Tennessee. It's 8.2 mile path destroyed more than 100 homes and left a normally happy community heartbroken and distraught. A week on, this is an analysis of what happened using GIS data and aerial imagery. How do we get to the above map? The track was provided by National Weather Service (NWS). The track buffer was made using attribute data provided by NWS. NWS update for Putnam County Tornado Regions affected: Putnam County, City of Baxter, City of Cookeville Max Rating: EF-4 Max Winds: 175 mph Path Length: 8.2 miles Path Width: 500 yards Time on the ground: 8 min Forward speed: 65 mph Buildings destroyed: 100 Road Crossings: 35 Affected Area (500 yard buffer of tornado path) Buildings within affected area: 1,812 Landuse: Land use / Land cover Acres Percent Agriculture 1,220.34 38.78% Commercial 194.65 6.18% Industrial 56.76 1.80% Public/Semi-Public Uses 113.28 3.60% R...

One month ago my house was partially destroyed by a wind storm . Or perhaps it was a tornado. I've been displaced and living with my brother since. I've not been able to see my girlfriend due to the COVID-19 epidemic. It sure feels like the end of the world. So I decided to test my suspicions that disasters seem to be happening more frequently of late. Using Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) data regarding Disaster Declarations for States and Counties I started looking at the Upper Cumberland Region as a way to focus my analysis. The Upper Cumberland's worst years previously for disasters were 2003 and 2005 where there were a total of 17 declared disasters in the region. At the time I calculated it, we were exactly 114 days into 2020 and we had already declared 32 disasters. In less than a third of the time, we had declared nearly double the disasters. So I calculated the frequency to determine that we were in fact experiencing disasters at a rate 5....

The Twin Arches are a large pair of arches formed along a ridge just inside Scott County, Tennessee. They are topped by an erosion resistant rock now being called the Rockcastle Sandstone. Below that is the Fentress Formation, which tends to weather more rapidly. These arches both formed by a process of excavation where the cliff lines are receding on either side of a ridge towards one another. The base of the cliff weathers more rapidly than the top, creating large rock shelters. Eventually the rock shelters on either side of the ridge intersected one another creating an arch. The arch continues to grow and one day, sometime long from now, it will fail.

Some photos from around Putnam County this morning. It's a bad situation for lots of people. Homes and lives have been lost. I feel nothing but sorrow today. These were the most painful photos I've ever taken. If you feel moved to provide assistance, donations, or anything at all, please email helpnow@putnamcountytn.gov. They will coordinate with you. While Governor Lee's declaration of a state of emergency will help allocate funds to help those in need, it won't be a quick process. We need good neighbors to help. Stay safe y'all.

Stages of a cleanup Identify an illegal dump site or graffiti ridden location Secure landowner permission Build your team Build partnerships Set a date Gather volunteers Resolve legal and logistic issues Contact the media Obtain supplies Execute the cleanup Conduct a post-cleanup analysis Identify an illegal dump site or graffiti ridden location It may be that you already know a place that needs to be cleaned. If you don't talk with local officials and folks who spend time outside. Someone can point you to a place in need. Knowing where to clean is only part of the process though. You need to know whose property you would be working on. If you're in Tennessee, you can use the Tax Assessor webpage to explore who owns what. Alternately your friendly neighborhood GIS professional can help you get at this information. Secure landowner permission You'll want to reach out to the landowner early on in planning to make sure they are fine with you proceeding. ...