The violence associated with the Syrian revolution continues to escalate as recent reports have indicated that Bashar Al-Assad's forces have begun to use SCUD missiles in attempts to drive back rebel forces in the area near the Syrian Capital. SCUD missiles are infamous for their use by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf War. Equally as infamous are the U.S. produced Patriot Missile systems that are designed to eliminate surface-to-surface missile attacks. Recent reports have indicated that American, German, and Dutch patriot missile battalions have been sent to Turkey to eliminate the risk to the Turkish …

Buffers have many applications for users of GIS. A buffer is a polygon that is drawn at specified distances around a set of point, line, or polygon features. Buffers are often used to indicate the proximity of a feature to other surrounding features. For example, school officials in one community wanted to know which schools were within 500 yards of parks due to increased reports of students skipping school in those locations. There are different types of buffers, but the most common method is the Uniform Width Buffer. This method identifies areas that are specific distances from a set of …

There was a large (7.6) earthquake yesterday in Costa Rica. The earthquake signaled tsunami warnings in the region, but fortunately there was no tsunami. So far there have been three deaths reported. In the past 40 years Costa Rica has experienced more than 30 earthquakes of 6.0 magnitude or higher. So, needless to say Costa Ricans are accustomed to these types of events. The purpose of this post is two-fold. The first purpose is to draw people's attention to the major geologic event that occurred in Costa Rica yesterday. The second purpose is to show a couple quick …

Recent reports have indicated that North Korea is planning a nuclear weapons test in the near future. The possibility of this test has been confirmed by multiple governments including South Korea and the United States. According to this article by the Associated Press North Korea successfully performed two nuclear test in 2006 and 2009. The nuclear tests have come under scrutiny by the United States and other countries. The discovery of the nuclear test came through observations made by satellite imagery of the test site location. Take a look at this article's satellite imagery. Simultaneously, North Korea is also planning …

There was a large earthquake today near East Prairie, Missouri that was measured as a magnitude 4.0. According to the USGS the quake was felt by people in at least nine surrounding states.The earthquake was located near the New Madrid Fault line. The Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) located in Memphis, Tennessee works continuously to provide information about the seismic activity in the area surrounding the New Madrid Fault line. Their website provides a lot of information about the science behind detecting and analyzing earthquake activity. Additionally, their website provides free maps and data to explore …