Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Geography (Arts and Sciences)

In this study it was investigated if ecoregion type and hurricane-induced vegetation damage are related to recovery period in landfall areas by observing similar and different intensity hurricanes making landfall in different and similar ecoregions. Understanding of the interaction between hurricane intensity and its effects on vegetation could potentially benefit hurricane management plans and policies by observing the trend in damage and recovery period. To analyze the relation between ecoregion and hurricane, this research analyzed two comparative case studies utilizing remote sensing-based satellite images and geographic information system (GIS) tools. Results from the considered cases indicate that there is not a one-to-one relation between ecoregion type and the damage-recovery pattern of hurricanes. It cannot be generalized that hurricanes would affect vegetation similarly in similar ecoregions or differently in different ecoregions. Rather, it was found that pre-existing conditions associated with local weather and climate events and storm-scale meteorological parameters were playing a more dominant role in the characteristics of the damage footprint on vegetation in the studied cases.

Committee: Jana Houser (Advisor) Subjects: Geographic Information Science; Geography; Remote Sensing