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Physical Geography Field Trip Abroad

2026-07-03T02:58:45Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs: /* June */

The field trip has a three-yearly rotation, so different field trips take place to different regions with different professors.

2026: prof. Verstraeten, Almeria (Spain)

2025: prof. Kervyn, Massif Central/Chaine des Puys/Ardeche

2024: prof. Vanmaercke, Moldavian Plateau / Eastern Romania

2023: prof. Verstraeten, Spain

The exam is oral; you get some preparation time for random questions. It is open book, so you get to take the excursion guide and the compiled notes.

= 2026: Spain =

=== June ===

==== 17/06/2026 ====
Each group got a selection of pictures (4-7 more or less, which you had to locate), than a picture of a rambla or gully with plants.

Group 1:

# Locate these pictures on the map, describe the evolution of the environment since the 19th century, what are the drivers, what is the impact ( hydro - and geomorphological)?
## Cerro pistolas: serres
## Vague picture of the surrounding terraces around Lucainena de Torres (without the furnaces)
## Minero San Diego, Rodalquilar
## Mojacar, hotel

=> He expects mostly the link between these places and processes, not a separate summary

2. A picture with a lot of different plants in the Rambla Honda: How do you explain the distribution of these vegetation, which processes cause these? Why is there more vegetation in the rambla / which types / characteristics, identify Anthyllis shrubs in the picture, Do you see any stipa grasses (why only here and not on the rest of the terraces)
Group 2:
# Locate the photos and explain, based on the photos and/or images from the field trip guide, what the main erosion and sedimentation processes are: are these driven by humans or are they natural on a scale of 1000 km²? These were the photo's:
## Puentes dam
## Check dam (clear-water effect explanation)
## Rambla Salada
## Rambla Belerda
## Guadix basin (gully)
## Tabernas badlands (travertine dam partially visible)
# You were given a photo of a rambla with different types of vegetation; explain which vegetation you see and why it occurs there. Also indicate the temporal and spatial changes of the vegetation in a semi-arid ecosystem (Tamarix, Oleander, and Stipa grass).
# A common question regarding the task (without preparation) is linking the task to the larger context of the excursion. The task regarding alluvial fans had a question regarding whether this alluvial fan was not included in the analysis: what type of fan is this? Could this change in the future (linking the alluvial fan to the incision in the Tabernas basin which could cause a relative base level drop and thus trigger an incising alluvial fan in the future).
Group 4:

# Four pictures: compare the incision/erosion in different basins
## Capture point Río Aguas - Rio de los Feos
## Badlands in Tabernas basin
## Bank gully Rio Santiago
## Canyon of Rio GorPicture of rambla, abandoned terraces and hillslope: taken east of Lucainena

# Explain the temporal and spatial distribution of plants.

==== 23/06/2026 ====
some of the same pictures as the first exam day.

# 7 pictures with some of the same location but another angle
#* Tabernas badlands view on the mesas
#* tabernas badlands vie on the flattened surfaces
#* playa torre garcia
#* second picture of close up of the rounded pebbles and calcrete
#* top of the sierra cabrera, rambla de los feos
#* other side (last stop of day 6) with the red surface in de verte
#* picture of the valley from the travertine on day 7, very green and there were orchids, we did not really see this but you can find the picture on his strava-
#* Rambla near lucainena had to explain the different plants in and around the rambla

= 2025: France =
You always got two questions from this set: (sorry, some are dutch, but i dont have the time or energy to translate them myself; google is your friend) There might be some doubles in here depending on who wrote it down and how well they remembered:

# What are factors causing badlands formation? How would you stop badlands from eroding further?
# Morphology of the Ardèche's course: what processes/lithologies influence it? What types of valley forms do you encounter in different regions?
# Why is the Ardèche so susceptible to flash floods when compared to, for example, the Allier? How would you reconstruct historical floods on centennial and millennial timescales?
# What type of material can you find under the volcanic rocks in the different formations we saw?
# Name three different knickpoints we saw or whose influence we saw (doesnt need to exist anymore), discuss their formation and how you would estimate their retreat rate.
# What were the three monogenetic morphology types we saw and compre them in terms of composition, eruption type, and hazard
# You are a hazard risk manager on the ardeche what types of hazards are there and how would you assess the risk and how would you minimize it
# 3 ways of lake forming a lake and where you can find them
# different types of erutions explain everything you know
# Explain the meandering flow of the Ardèche, and the presence of its deep gorges around the Saint-Remeze plateau. Link this with the formation of caves.
# Some deposits observed in the field were interpreted to result from phreato-magmatic eruptions. Describe what are the main characteristics of the deposit and the volcano morphology that can lead to that interpretation. Highlight how deposits from a phreato-magmatic eruption can vary within a single volcano and relate it to the evolution of the eruption dynamics.
# Zet de volgende evenementen in chronologische volgorde. Geef voor elk aan wat de ruimtelijke omvang ervan is en hoe men deze kan dateren.
# The Chaîne des Puys and the Limagne fault became a UNESCO World heritage site in 2018, and the Chauvet cave in 2014. Explain what this means and what are the arguments that were put forward in these applications. Explain what challenges these sites are facing for their preservation and their touristic valorization.
# Waarom zijn de gorges in het Saint-Remeze plateau zo diep, hoe zijn ze gevormd en wanneer? Bespreek de verschillende fases.
# 2 stops bespreken die bewijs vormen voor uplift plioceen-pleistoceen en hoe we de rate van uplift daar konden bepalen
# bespreek op verschillende ruimtelijke schalen de typische vorm van het kalksteenplateau in saint remèze
# Alle knickpoints die we hebben gezien (beke een curveball) - noem er 4
# De vulkanen in de Chaîne des Puys komen voort uit dezelfde magmaserie. Verklaar hoe deze serie is geëvolueerd om te zorgen voor de grote variëteit aan vulkanen in het gebied. Geef ook aan hoe deze evolutie mogelijk is. Leg vervolgens uit hoe het mogelijk is dat de verschillende types vulkanen net langs elkaar kunnen gevormd worden. Leg ook het verband uit tussen de invloed van de magmatische serie op het type uitbarsting.
# ... there's more but you get the idea right

Dynamics and Modelling of Glacial Systems

2026-06-13T20:29:05Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs: /* June */

Oral exam with written preparation for 4 theoretical questions from the course material. Also an oral exam with the assistant with questions about theory / methods / assumptions / results of practicals.

The exam takes 1hr 30minutes: 30' for preparation of the theory, 30' oral questioning on the theory, 30' on-the-spot questions about the practicals

= 2024-2025 =

=== June ===
'''Theory'''

Theory worked with 4 series: (on day 1)

''Series A''

- Give the components of the energy balance of the surface of an ice sheet and explain them. How can we model these components and what assumptions do we use to do so?

- Explain using cases how gravity can invoke a horizontal flow in an ice sheet

- Surging glaciers: what are they? What is the proposed mechanism for the Variegated glacier in Alaska?

- What would be the effects of Greenland melting on relative sea levels in the near- and far-field? What mechanisms would drive this?

''Series B''

- explain different crevasse forms and patterns using their stresses

- explain link between basal pressure and sliding velocity, how can basal pressure be measured???

- what is the role climate regimes on specific mass balance gradient with elevation

- explain lagrangian and eulerian approaches to date ice, differences and advantages

''Series C''

- pdd paradox: why does it work when it shouldn't

- hydr gradient and subglacial lakes

- If you wanted to find the oldest ice in Antarctica, where and how would you go looking?

- Polythermal glaciers: structures (met grafiekje of ni?)

''Series D''

- WAIS - MISI?

- kut vialov rotvraag

- polarized light - why use it and why do some crystals appear black?

- subglacial drainage patterns & link to surging

''Series E''

1. Leg proces uit van sneeuw naar ijs, namen fasen

2. Why do ice shelfs flow and how do they deform, even with a horizontal surface.

3. Iets met hoe temperatuur reconstrueren met boreholes, dus wat kan de temperatuur van zo’n ice core ons vertellen over het verleden.

4. Iets van relative sea level change, hoe de dikte van icesheets uit het verleden gereconstrueerd kan worden. En wat de grootste uncertainty’s zijn.

Day 2:

Serie A:

# Length change glacier due to sudden climatic event
# Simple shear stress for plane flow is een special case of glens flow law. what is the name of this approximation (shallow ice approx) -
# Surging glaciers (terug die ene gletsjer als voorbeeld)
# Wat als AIS helemaal smelt. wat gebeurd er near and far? what mechanisms are responsible? '''Practical'''

Questions possible on all three practicals + the numerics. This part sucked ass - you needed to know formulas by heart that you didnt even need to know for the theoretical part. Examples of questions:

- Give the mass balance profile for Antarctica & Greenland

--> how would it change with a different ice albedo?

- give the energy balance equation's ablation component we used, with units, and explain

- what scheme did we use to calculate slopes? give formula+name+how big is the error?

- cfl condition - how to ensure stability?

- random ass graphs from the reports, without axes or labels: what is displayed here? what should the axes labels be? (these really fucking sucked)

= 2022-2023 =
'''Reeks 1'''

# Glaciers experience gravitational flow. How does it come that they flow horizontally if gravity is a vertical component? Explain schematically how gravitational processes can induce a horizontal flow of a glacier.
# How does the length of a glacier react to a sudden change? how can we calculate the new length? How can we calculate the volume response time?

* Why is the mass balance a function of x? b(x)?
* Why do we have a negative sign in the formula: ; if we increasing the length? This is because (=smb at the terminus) is negative.

# What are surging glaciers? Which mechanical process is dominant for the surging of the variegated glacier (Alaska);

* you had to explain that during a surge, it causes high pressure whereby the subdrainage systems (more specifically the channels) get closed off whereby it takes much more time to drain.

# Explain how the relative sea level would change, when the whole Greenland ice sheet would melt, in near and far regions? What are the main mechanisms causing this

* What is geoidal-eustasy, and what is hydro-eustasy?

'''Reeks 2'''

# Why is the West Antarctic ice shelf unstable? Will it collapse? Describe the instability of the WAIS invoking the concept of a 'flowline'.

* He also asked why it is stable with a normal slope.

# How does climate affect the specific mass balance of glaciers?
# Why do glaciologists use polarised light?

* You also needed to explain why a crystal appears black: this is when the c-axis is parallel to the vertical polarizer
* Explaining Schmidt diagram further and you had to show with your pen on the diagram how each crystal is oriented (in the middle of the diagram, pen was perpendicular to the dot)

# Which subdrainage systems do you have under an ice sheet? How do they influence surging?

* He asked why the drainage system changes exactly (due to increasing ice overburden pressure)

'''Reeks 3'''

# Explain the surface energy balance by the fluxes. Which is the most dominant? How did we model this?
# What is the dynamic response time of sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets? Why do (East-) Antarctica and Greenland have different response times?
# How can we date ice cores? There was also something like, describing both numerical and analytical approaches

* He shifted the question towards the Lagrangian-Eulirian techniques, their pros and cons, and an example of Kohler ice core we discussed in class (2 biases that it has)

# Explain regelation. Has it a significant impact on basal sliding?

'''Reeks 4'''

# How is a simplified case of the hydraulic potential calculated and which assumptions do you make to come to this solution? How does this relate to the capacity of a glacier to store water below the ice?

* Under which circumstances can water be hold on in subglacial lakes

# Explain why the PDD model is paradoxical and how it is possible that it is still a good approximation?
# What are polythermal glaciers? What types are there and explain all processes that determine their temperature distribution?
# What conditions do you need for an ice core to contain old ice at a reasonable resolution? Where would you find such conditions?

'''WPO – Exam'''

# First assignment (we had Antarctic ice sheet):

* Draw the SMB over the entire profile of the ice sheet
* How is an ice sheet constructed?
* Why does the Antarctic ice sheet not build up infinitely long if we only have an accumulation zone à this is because of the boundary condition
* What are the boundary conditions

# Second assignment, still the Antarctic ice sheet

* Draw the temperature distribution along the ice divide.
* What are the boundary conditions
* Where does vertical advection play a dominant role à draw the temperature profile at the divide if there was only vertical advection and when there would be no vertical advection
* How can we assess the accuracies of the different schemes?
* Which variables did we change and what are the effects?
* What is internal diffusion?
* How does the temperature distribution look like when you have a larger SMB

# Third assignment (Morteratsch glacier)

* How did we derive the precipitation and temperature along the glacier if we only knew it for one point/altitude?
* What is p-ratio
* Give the surface energy balance
* How does the energy balance profile look like across a year when a year starts in October and ends in September
* What determines the albedo?
* What are the constants and variables in this energy balance?

'''2019-2020'''

1. What components are in the surface energy balance of the earth? Give the expression + how are the different elements determined/modelled? What assumptions have to made in modelling?

2. What is relative sea level change + underlying factors? Give examples. What can lead to uncertainty when modelling?

3. How can the temperature of the ice in a bore hole tell you something on the pas climate?

4. Explain regelation

'''2017 - 2018'''

'''Series A'''

1. Explain the different components of the surface energy balance.

2. How does an ice shelf flow? When is it in equilibrium?

3. How to derive past climate information from an ice core?

4. Explain regelation.

'''Series B'''

1. How does the length of a glacier react to a sudden change? how can we calculate the new length? How can be we calculate the volume response time?

2. Explain the different modes of crevasses.

3. What are the different processes that lead to the transition of snow to ice?

4. What are balance velocities? How are these calculated? What input data are needed? What are patterns of balance velocities in Antarctica and Greenland.

'''Series C'''

1. What is the influence of the water pressure on the basal sliding of a glacier?

2. Explain the Positive Degree Day Model, why is it paradoxal?

3. Explain the different types of polythermal glaciers.

4. Eulerian vs. Lagrange

'''Series D'''

1. Describe the instability of the WAIS invoking the concept of a 'flowline'.

2. What are 2 non-climatological biases from the Kohnen ice core? What are their magnitues?

3. Describe how the assumption of perfect plasticity can be used to derive a surface profile for an ice shelf. Why is this not realistic?

4. Why do glaciologists research thin ice layers under polarised light? Discuss the mechanism and what physical properties can be derived from it?

'''2015 - 2016'''

'''10/6'''

09 AM-10.30 AM

1. How does the lenght of a glacier react to a sudden change? how can we calculate the new length? How can be we calculate the volume response time?

2. How can we reconstruct and model the ice load on the land with the relative sea-level changes? Explain how these models work, what the imputs are and what the highest uncertainty in these reconstructions.

3. What are the different processes that lead to the transition of snow to ice?

4. What are balance velocities? How are these calculated? What input data are needed? What are patterns of balance velocities in Antarctica and Greenland.

11.00 AM - 12.30 AM (same questions as 2013-2014 reeks 2)

1. Energy Balance

2. How measure tempeature differences from the past in ice cores?

3. Dilatation

4. Langrangian vs Eulerian

14.00AM-15.30 AM

1. Describe the instability of the WAIS invoking the concept of a 'flowline'.

2. What are dynamic response times for sea ice, glaciers and ice sheet? Why is there a difference between Greenland and Antarctica?

3. Describe how the assumption of perfect plasticity can be used to derive a surface profile for an ice shelf. Why is this not realistic?

4. Why do glaciologists research thin ice layers under polarised light? Discuss the mechanism and what physical properties can be derived from it?

'''17/6'''

1. 3 modes van crevasses (spleten) + uitleggen

2. Wat zijn de effecten van de eustatische zeeniveau na volledig smelting van Antarctica? Wat zijn de hoofdmechanismen van dit?

1. Explain the depth-age relation in ice cores? Discuss the 2 different approaches. What is the problem with one of them? Is the approach suitable to derive ages from the GRIP ice core? Why (not) ? (bij die laatste vraag moet je bijvertellen dat de accumulation niet constant is, tijdens de ijstijden was deze minder, waardoor een afwijking ontstaat).

2. The PDD approaches mass balance of a glacier with temperature. Seen the surface energy balance of a glacier this is a paradox. Explain.

3. What are polythermal glaciers? Give all the possible kinds. (All 6 figures) and explain. Where do they occur?

4. How does water pressure influence basal sliding? How do we apply this in a flow law?

1. What are the main type of subglacial drainage systems? Why are they important regarding surging glaciers?

2. Describe/Derive the Vialov solution for ice thickness. Which assumptions are made? Is it realistic?

3. The mass balance is dependent on the climate. Why? Explain why the mass balance gradient will change if the same glacier was located in a warmer climate.

4. What are 2 non-climatological biases for the Kohnen station. What is their magnitude?

'''Practicum'''

Exercise 1 (ice flow): How did the ice sheet evolve from zero ice thickness to steady state, draw this? When is ice flow large enough (i.e. what variables control it)? What parameters did we change in the practicum and how is the ice sheet profile affected?

Exercise 3 (mass balance): Discuss the simple energy model. Which variables control it? Which parameters did we change in the exercise to evaluate model sensitivity? Draw the cumulative mass balance and how did a change in transmissivity, snow albedo and ice albedo affect the evolution during the year? Was there a trend in MB noticed over the years and is this different at higher vs. lower elevation on the ice sheet?

- how does the ice sheet builds up on the bedrock (first assignment: starts in accumulation zone and when big enough, flows towards ablation zone)

- assigment 3: how do we acccount for ablation? Explain effect of albedo, transmittance of atmosphere... How does PDD works and why?

'''2014 - 2015'''

1. Discuss 2 analytical methods that describe the relation between the depth and the age of an ice core. What are their assumptions and restrictions? Do both methods work well?

2. Explain PDD model and why does this work?

3. What is the relation between the sliding speed of a glacier and the pressure of the basal water.

4. Discuss the climatological and physical differences between Greenland and Antarctica, and when were both ice sheets permanent?

'''2013 - 2014'''

1. What is the stress deviator tensor? Why is this used?

2. Discuss 2 analytical methods that describe the relation between the depth and the age of an ice core. What are their assumptions and restrictions? Do both methods work well?

3. What is the relation between the sliding speed of a glacier and the pressure of the basal water.

4. Discuss the climatological and physical differences between Greenland and Antarctica.

Starting from when are both icecaps permanent?

1. Dilatation

2. Langrangian vs Eulerian

3. How to measure temperature differences from the past in ice cores

4. Energy balance of the ice sheet (You had to give ALL the formulas!)

'''Previous years:'''

1. Describe 2 methods to determine the thickness of ice sheets in depth. On which assumptions

are they based?

2. Discuss the climatological and physical differences between Greenland and Antarctica.

Starting from when are both icecaps permanent?

3. Explain the hydraulic potential, completely. What are the assumptions? How does water flow

in a glacier. Something about subglacial lakes …

4. Explain hydrate clathrate.

5. Why do we observe thin slices under the microscope? What physical processes can be

determined from that?

6. Something about the bore hole (from the last chapter). What non-climatological corrections

need to be taken into account and what are their magnitude?

7. Explain the Vialov solution. What assumptions were made and how are those realistic?

Discuss also the zero-order solution.

8. Discuss the physical parameters that form the hexagonal structures in ice crystals.

9. Until what depth are seasonal temperature variations visible in the ice profiles? What is the lag

time between the peak in temperature’s optimum and the peak of the perturbation in the ice?

10. What is “regelatie” (refreeze in dutch) and discuss the effect of ice flow.

11. Discuss all the stresses that occur on an object in 3D + drawing. How many components are

there? How many of those components are independent?

12. How does water pressure influence basal sliding? How do we apply this in a flow law?

13. How can we reconstruct the ice load on the land with the relative sea-level changes? Give

some mechanisms that control the relative sea-level change on a specific place. Draw a few

graphs from several places. What is the highest uncertainty for this kind of reconstructions?

14. Something about the “complete plasticity” and the profile of an ice shelf. Why is this

assumption not correct?

15. What are the most important subglacial drainage systems and what is their role in the dynamic

of surges?

16. What is dilatation? What is this for ice?

17. What is local mass balance? How can it be measured thanks to stakes? (give formulas and

explain, based on what principle, …)

18. Something about simple shear…

19. What is depth hoar ? What are the physical properties and how does it arise ?

20. What should we except regarding relative sea-level rise in the far field and near field for the

melting of Antarctica ? (explain all kinds of isostasy and eustasy)

21. Explain the hydraulic potential. How is this used in the glaciology? What are the assumptions

to use hydraulic potential? How can it be used to explain the occurrence of subglacial lakes?

22. What is the stress deviator tensor? Why is this used?

23. What 2 non-climatological biases can be distinguished for the dating of ice core in Kohnen?

24. Why do glaciologists research thin ice layers under polarised light?

25. Discuss 2 analytical methods that describe the relation between the depth and the age of an

ice core. What are their assumptions and restrictions? Do both methods work well?

26. Give all components that indicate the stress in one point in 3D. Give all components in the

right place on a sketch. How many independent components are there?

27. What is the relation between the sliding speed of a glacier and the pressure of the basal

water.

28. Explain the energy balance at the surface of a glacier. How can this be parameterized?

29. Explain Lagrange and Eulerian + possible problems.

30. What is the response time for ice sheets, glaciers and sea-ice? Give formulas and the

comparison between Greenland and Antarctica.

Natural Risk Management

2026-06-08T12:07:34Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs:

The exam used to be oral, but is written since 2025.

''Professor Kervyn is very friendly on the exam. There are a lot of possible questions, you have to pick two questions from a stack of at least 40 questions. The assistant checks whether the questions you took are not too much alike. He keeps asking side questions that are increasingly detailed, even if you already showed that you know your stuff, he will keep asking. He tells afterwards if it was ok or not. You also get the points from the assignments, which is nice :)''

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== 2026 ==

=== June ===

# Explain these concepts in detail and give an example if needed: Root causes of disaster, Annual Average Loss, risk transfer, intensity.
# Define the concept of vulnerability and explain how you would assess the variation of population vulnerability at local or regional scale. Specify the data, methods and types of outputs of such vulnerability assessment
#What is preparedness, what are 5 essential steps to increase the preparedness of a community and give an example of when a hazard occured and they were not enough prepared.
# a. Based on a case Study (group assignment or others), explain how the 4 priorities of the Sendai Framework for DRR could be translated into practical actions to reduce the impact of a similar event in the future. b. what are main policies implemented by UNDRR (?).

== 2025 ==

=== June ===

==== 03/06/2025 ====

# Explain these concepts in detail and give an example if needed: exposure, risk transfer, social vulnerability index, return period of a Hazard 2.
# Explain 4 underlying pressures that increase the vulnerabilty of explain with a case study
# What is preparedness, what are 5 essential steps to increase the preparedness of a community and give an example of when a hazard occured and they were not enough prepared
# From your own case study: which actors are important, and why is it possible that conflict arise?

==== 20/06/2025 ====

# Explain these concepts in detail and give an example if needed: root causes of disaster, Sendai framework for drr, intensity, early warning system.
# What is the risk equation. Define each component and give a risk where each component is present and how you could decrese the risk per component.
# You have to make your own quantitative risk assessment: give each step, say what data and methods to use and give the output.
# In making vulnerability indexes, what are the key points, assumptions and critique.

== 2021 ==

=== June ===

==== 23/06/2021 ====

# Explain and give example: pressure and release model
# Scientific/objective risk assessment and risk perception might lead to different evaluation of the risk. Explain the methodology followed by a scientific risk assessment. Describe, using examples, which factors can contribute to the difference between the perceived and the scientifically-estimated risk?

# Based on a case Study (group assignment or others), explain how the 4 priorities of the Sendai Framework for DRR could be translated into practical actions to reduce the impact of a similar event in the future
# Vulnerability is a complex concept that is challenging to apply in practice. Define the concept of vulnerability and explain how you would assess the variation of population vulnerability at national to continental scale. Specify the data, methods and types of outputs of such vulnerability assessment

==== 10/06/2021 ====

# Underlying factors contribute to the increase of vulnerability. Explain this based upon a case study and explain this with 4 underlying factors (dynamic pressures)
# What is preparedness? What are necessary steps to enhance preparedness (or something similar)? Can you explain using past disasters what can go wrong?

# About the DPR-model
# Explain the spatial scale of the EmDAT database

# The occurrence of disasters can be interpreted using different paradigms. Using the example of the Corona crisis or another disaster discussed in class, explain how different paradigms would lead to different interpretations of the main causes of the disaster and lead to the prioritization of different risk reduction measures.
# Explain risk management based on a case study that you can choose.

== 2020 ==
This exam was open book because of covid.

==== 15/06/2020 ====

# The occurrence of disasters can be interpreted using different paradigms. Using the example of the Corona crisis or another disaster discussed in class, explain how different paradigms would lead to different interpretations of the main causes of the disaster and lead to the prioritization of different risk reduction measures.
# Vulnerability is a complex concept that is challenging to apply in practice. Define the concept of vulnerability and explain how you would assess the variation of population vulnerability at national to continental scale. Specify the data, methods and types of outputs of such vulnerability assessment.

# Based on a Case Study (group assignment or others), explain how the 4 priorities of the Sendai Framework for DRR could be translated into practical actions to reduce the impact of a similar event in the future
# Explain risk assessment with an example. Explain all phases and what data you would use.
# ''Scientific/objective risk assessment'' and ''risk perception'' might lead to different evaluation of the risk. Explain the methodology followed by a scientific risk assessment. Describe, using examples, which factors can contribute to the difference between the perceived and the scientifically-estimated risk?
# Explain the concept of vulnerability and give 2 ways of assessing it.

== 2019 ==

* In the last 50 years of disaster analysis, different paradigms were used. Discuss at least three of those paradigms and explain them with a case study. How do they cause conflicts? Oral question: to what paradigm does the Sendai Framework belong?
* What are the possible actors in a crisis management? How does this lead to conflicts? What are solutions? (this was mainly about the discussions sessions. (There was not really a right or wrong answer, you just had to speculate and discuss a little bit).
* Explain risk assessment with an example. Explain all phases and what data you would use.
* Explain at least three ways to research vulnerability (inductive,...)
* What is the methodolody used by EM-DAT as described by CRED?
* Land tenure and land transactions can have an important influence on risk of households. Explain with the case study. (guest lecture about landslides in Uganda)

== 2018 ==

* What is the follow-up of the Hyogo framework? What are the differences between this and the Hyogo framework? What does this framework represent and what are its key priorities? Link disaster paradigms with these frameworks and their priorities.
* What is the use of data in the risk management cycle? Apply to earthquakes.
* What should be done in order to create a reliable disaster dataset? Take the method from CRED as a reference. What are challenges and limitations concerning the creation of such a dataset? Why is it usefull to create such a dataset?
* Underlying factors contribute to the increase of vulnerability. Explain this based upon a case study and explain this with 4 underlying factors (dynamic pressures).

== 2017 ==

* Give the definition of Risk and give the equation. Explain all the factors in the equation. Give an example of an hazard/disaster and link this to every factor. Give examples. How can one reduce risk --> all the factors.
* Give all stakholders involved in crisis management. What are the difficulties? How can these be solved?
* You're risk manager of a country, how would you work? (Risk assesment)
* Sendai Priorities?
* risk transfer?
* vulnerability and his components
* acces to resources
* pressure and release model
* preparedness
* What is the function of the european crisis centre, do they have a budget?
* Risk assesment
* EM-Dat
* Explain what factors other than hazard characteristics can influence a household's vulnerability using the access to resources model & explain using an example (suggested was: landslides in Uganda??)
* Discuss 4 approaches to assess/characterise vulnerability. I was talking about VCA and SoVI but he wanted me to tell him about the paper by Hinkel (2011): deductive, inductive, ... etc

== 2016 ==

# Explain Magnitude, Intensity and frequeny and link these concepts. What is the Return period and how can this be calculated for floods.
# Explain the different steps of riks assesment and apply this on a cyclone or earthquake.Which data do you need?

== 2015 ==

* What are 'natural hazards'? How are they categorized in the EM-DAT? How can you categorize different natural hazards in general? Compare 2 different hazards (temporal, spatial, magnitude, frequency,...)
* What methodology can you use to make a hazard database? Explain for the EM-DAT (inclusion criteria). What are the limitations and challenges of such an approach?
* What is the definition of vulnerability? What are its 4 components? Explain with some examples.
* What are the 4 paradigms of hazards? Explain with examples.
* What is a disaster? On what basis does EM-DAT define an event as a disaster? Why do we use natural hazards, but not natural disasters?
* Suppose that you have yearly peak discharges of a certain river. How to calculate the probability that a flood will happen? Explain this numerical and graphical. What are the limitations of such an approach?

== 2014 ==

* What is preparedness? What are necessary steps to enhance preparedness (or something similar)? Can you explain using past disasters what can go wrong?
* There are several paradigms of disasters/disaster risk reduction in the 20th century. Compare these and apply three of these on a disaster: what would be the difference in outcome? (again, not literally this question, but something like this.)
* What is the definition of natural hazards? Which type and classification is used by EM-DAT? What are the properties of hazards and explain this by using 2 strongly different type of hazards.
* What is VCA and where is used? How is a VCA carried out? Which methods and tools do they use? Give 3 examples for a specific type of hazard.
* How can we assess the probability of hazards? Explain both numerically and graphically how you would quantify the probability and the return interval of floods, based on data of yearly peak discharge. Highlight the limiting assumption of this method.
* What is risk transfer? What forms does it take? What are the possible perverse effects of this? What can be done to divert risk transfer in a method for DRR? (side question: what are Cat Stocks or something like that? --> Cat bonds probably?)
* Beschreef wat er verstaan wordt onder 'prepardness' en welke zaken om 'prepardness' te verminderen. Toon dit ook aan met een voorbeeld
* Geef de 'numbers' rondom disaster (zie hoofdstuk 2). aantal casualties, cost etc.. en door welke factoren worden deze wijzigingen verklaard?
* Give the definition of Risk and give the equation. Explain all the factors in the equation. Give an example of an hazard/disaster and link this to every factor. Give examples. How can one reduce risk --> all the factors.
* Define disaster. On what basis does EM-DAT define an event as disaster. What are other possibilities/thresholds to do so? Why do we speak of natural hazard but not natural disaster?

== Year unknown ==

* What is exposure? How can it be quantified? What can be done to reduce it?
* Why is exposure still high in hazard-prone areas?
* Did the number of disasters increased or decreased, and what about the other caracteristics (number affected, deaths, damage)?
* Why did they in- or decreased?
* Risk Management cycle: define and explain all the elements, give examples.
* Scientific Risk Assessement: give the different steps and explain? how differs risk perception? What are the influencing factors?
* Extra question: Who is responsible for risk management in Belgium? how is risk management reflected on policy level (-> municipal, provincial and federal)
* Wat is risk? Geef vergelijking van risk. Bespreek alle individuele termen met een voorbeeld, en geef bij elke term ook aan wat je kan doen om de risk te verlagen.
* Wat zijn de drie administratieve niveaus waarop een crisis kan worden behandeld?
* Wat bepaalt op welk niveau er gewerkt wordt of de overgang naar een ander niveau?
* Hoe pakt het Crisis Centrum een crisis op federaal niveau aan, welke verschillende stappen worden ondernomen?
* Risk assessment, wat is het/ hoe werkt het? Leg uit aan de hand van een voorbeeld, namelijk een aardbevingsgevoelig en een cycloongevoelig gebied.
* Belgisch crisiscentrum; structuur? Acties? Wat doen ze voor/tijdens crisis?
* Definition of preparedness, and the steps of it in community, and give the examples of the flaw of it.
* Different paradigms and their different conclusions.
* Social vulnerability en SoVI uitleggen
* Risk assesment. Wat zijn de stappen, wat zijn de producten. Toepassen op aardbeving of cyclone

Advanced Earth Observation Techniques

2026-01-24T21:03:28Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs:

{{Infobox|data2=Canters Frank|data3=Lectures|data4=Oral exam and PRAC report|data6=3|header1=Courses and exams|header5=Background|headerstyle=background:lightgrey|label2=Prof|label3=Courses|label4=Examination|label6=Credits|label7=When?|data7=1st semester|label8=ECTS|data8=[https://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/syllabi/e/G0I91BE.htm KU Leuven] [https://caliweb.vub.be/index.php?page=course-offer&id=011568&anchor=1&target=pr&year=2324&language=en&output=html VUB]|title=Course Information}}

''[ORAL] Prof. Canters is very friendly during the exam. He lets you explain everything and doesn't really look at your notes. He asks many additional questions until you get stuck.''

== 2026 ==

=== January ===
20/01/2026

# Regression trees.
## Explain how a regression tree is built.
## Explain why it is different to Stepwise regression trees and how do they make decisions?
## Explain Priem et al. (2019). How did they use map-based and library-based for training data? Give advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.
# Texture
## Explain how a GLCM is constructed with a numerical example.
## Two second order texture meaures given (entropy and contrast). What texture measures do they represent?
## How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use?
# Region based approaches
## Explain what metrics you can use.
## Give an example of a metric in each category and explain how it can help in discerning different types of LU.
## What are the advantages of a region-based approach when compared to a kernel-based approach?

== 2025 ==
Written exam due to miscommunications at the faculties

=== January ===
11/01/2025

# LSMA
## Explain linear spectral unmixing and the principles behind it.
## What is MESMA and why does it improve on LSMA?
## How does MESME select the most appropriate model to unmix a given pixel?
# Semivariogram
## Explain in detail how a semi-variogram is constructed and how you can use it in spectral mixture analysis.
## How can you use a semivariogram to construct GLCMs?
# Metrics used in LU classification from a LC classification. (Vanderhaegen en Canters, Walde)
## Explain, with a drawing, the principles of patch-based metrics, profile-based metrics and graph-based metrics in LU classification from LC within given regions.
## Give an example of a metric in each category and explain how it can help in discerning different types of LU.
## What are the advantages of a region-based approach when compared to a kernel-based approach?

== 2023 ==
''(oral again, 2 questions per person)''

=== Januari ===

==== 16 januari ====

# MESMA
#* Explain MESMA. Explain why this is better than linear SMA.
#* Explain the two approaches how Degerickx et al. (2019) used LiDAR data to improve the performance of MESMA.
#* Which one did improve MESMA the most?
# SPARK
#* Explain SPARK.
#* Explain the disadvantages and advantages towards region based.

# Textures:
#* What is the difference between first order and second order texture measures?
#* Explain how a GLCM is constructed with a numerical example.
#* Two second order texture meaures given (entropy and contrast). What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use?
# Regression
#* Explain Priem et al. (2019). How did they use map-based and library-based for training data?
#* Give the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.

== 2022 ==

# MESMA
#* Explain MESMA in detail.
#* Explain the two approaches how Degerickx et al. (2019) used LiDAR data to improve the performance of MESMA. (WASMA should not be explained) How does the accuracy change?
#* Degerickx et al. (2019) first performed their analysis on a simulated APEX image before doing this on the actual APEX image. Why did they do this? What are the advantages of first performing the analysis on a simulated APEX image?
# Textures
#* Work out a simple numerical example to explain how a grey-level co-occurence matrix is created.
#* Two second order texture measures formulas are given. What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use? (contrast & entropy)
#* Explain how we can determine the optimal window size when we want to classify our image based on second-order texture measures.

== 2021 ==

* Explain SPARK and OSPARK
* Explain how Degerickx et al. used Lidar in 2 ways fro improving the performance of MESMA (explanation of WASMA not needed)
* Explain regression trees. When do you use this?

== 2019 ==

* Explain LSMA, what are the assumptions? What is the differences with MESMA? What are the advantages?
* How did Canters and Priemer (2016) use LIDAR to improve their classification. What shadow masks were used?
* Explain the concept of regression trees (Example of the powerpoint is given). When do you expect this to work better than a normal regression approach?
* How are graphs used to infer Land Use from Land Cover? Explain how Walde et al. used graphs in their approach. Explain their case study, methodology and the most important conclusions.

== 2017 ==

* Song (given figure of Ikonos and Landsat ETM+), explain formulas and explain influence of the background reflectance of non-vegetation
* How can you account for uncertainty in the ground truth data? (expand diagonal OR fuzzy error matrix).

== 2016 ==

* Discuss the semi-variogram (with the use of the figure in the course). Wherefore is this used?
* What difficulties do you experience when using Landsat images to generate land cover classes (impervious, soil, vegetation). What does Wu (2004) uses? Discuss LMSA. How is the accuracy assessed (Extra questions: the difference between MAE and RMSE, what metric is highest?(RMSE looks at more outliers, What is the spatial resolution of the orthopotos? (3 cells)).
* Discuss the fuzzy error matrix. Why is it used. OR: How can you account for uncertainty in the ground trhuth data? (--> fuzzy matrices)
* Explain Song. (dat mag adhv figuur slide 1.16) en leg uit hoe Song verklaart waarom de achtergrond reflectance een invloed heeft bij dit model
* Explain LSMA. Which assumptions are there made for LSMA.
* Explain the technique used by Van de Voorde et Al.. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of this technique.
* GLCM, explain it. Give an numerical example. There are formulas given of entropy and contrast (only formulas, no explanation), explain the formulas.
* Discuss paper of Canters. What method did he use?

== 2015 ==

* Song: bespreek (dat mag adhv figuur slide 1.16) en leg uit hoe Song verklaart waarom de achtergrond reflectance een invloed heeft bij dit model (of zoiets).
* Gegeven: 2 texture formules (het waren de 'contrast' en 'entropy' formules, maar dat stond er niet bij...) vraag: Wat is een GLCM en hoe wordt deze geconstrueerd? Toon met een numerisch voorbeeld. Wat is het voordeel van deze measures tov first order texture measures? Hoe werken de gegeven texture measures (leg uit mbv de formule) en hoe kun je ze gebruiken om agriculture van urban te gaan onderscheiden. Wat zijn de moeilijkheden bij het werken met texture?
* Bespreek de verschillende manieren om een medium resolution land cover map om te vormen naar een land use map. Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen van kernel-based en region-based approaches?

== 2014 ==

* Leg SMA volledig uit: hoe werkt het, wat zijn de voordelen, wat zijn de veronderstellingen. Welke problemen kan je hebben met SMA als je werkt met Landsat? Wat is het VIS-model? Bespreek de methode van Lu en Weng (2004)
* Gegeven: 2 texture formules (het waren de 'contrast' en 'entropy' formules, maar dat stond er niet bij...) vraag: Wat is een GLCM en hoe wordt deze geconstrueerd? Toon met een numerisch voorbeeld. Hoe werken de gegeven texture measures en hoe kun je ze gebruiken om agriculture van urban te gaan onderscheiden. wat zijn de voordelen van het werken met texture, en wat zijn de moeilijkheden
** bijvraag: wanneer zou je opteren om directioneel i.p.v. omnidirectioneel te werken?

== 2008 ==

* Bespreek de opbouw van een GLCM? Waarvoor wordt deze textuurmaat gebruikt? Wat is het voordeel van 2e orde textuurmaten ten opzichte van eerste orde textuurmaten? Hoe verklaar je de nauwkeurigheid die bekomen wordt bij het toepassen van textuurmaten?
* Bespreek het VIS -model. Wat zijn de problemen die gerelateerd zijn met het gebruik van het VIS model en hoe zou je die problemen oplossen?
* Verklaar de werking van MLP. Wat zijn de voordelen t.o.v. maximum likelihood? Wat zijn de nadelen van MLP?
* Leg uit wat een semi-variogram komt doen bij remote sensing.
* Postclassificatie change detection.
* Emperical line calibration + vb.
* Leg het principe van lineaire unmixing uit. wat zijn de voorwaarden voor deze methode?
* Beschrijf de voor en nadelen van pixelgebaseerde classificatie tov object-oriented classificatie

Advanced Earth Observation Techniques

2026-01-24T21:03:18Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs: /* Januay */

{{Infobox|data2=Canters Frank|data3=Lectures|data4=Oral exam and PRAC report|data6=3|header1=Courses and exams|header5=Background|headerstyle=background:lightgrey|label2=Prof|label3=Courses|label4=Examination|label6=Credits|label7=When?|data7=1st semester|label8=ECTS|data8=[https://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/syllabi/e/G0I91BE.htm KU Leuven] [https://caliweb.vub.be/index.php?page=course-offer&id=011568&anchor=1&target=pr&year=2324&language=en&output=html VUB]|title=Course Information}}

''[ORAL] Prof. Canters is very friendly during the exam. He lets you explain everything and doesn't really look at your notes. He asks many additional questions until you get stuck.''

== 2026 ==

=== Januay ===
20/01/2026

# Regression trees.
## Explain how a regression tree is built.
## Explain why it is different to Stepwise regression trees and how do they make decisions?
## Explain Priem et al. (2019). How did they use map-based and library-based for training data? Give advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.
# Texture
## Explain how a GLCM is constructed with a numerical example.
## Two second order texture meaures given (entropy and contrast). What texture measures do they represent?
## How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use?
# Region based approaches
## Explain what metrics you can use.
## Give an example of a metric in each category and explain how it can help in discerning different types of LU.
## What are the advantages of a region-based approach when compared to a kernel-based approach?

== 2025 ==
Written exam due to miscommunications at the faculties

=== January ===
11/01/2025

# LSMA
## Explain linear spectral unmixing and the principles behind it.
## What is MESMA and why does it improve on LSMA?
## How does MESME select the most appropriate model to unmix a given pixel?
# Semivariogram
## Explain in detail how a semi-variogram is constructed and how you can use it in spectral mixture analysis.
## How can you use a semivariogram to construct GLCMs?
# Metrics used in LU classification from a LC classification. (Vanderhaegen en Canters, Walde)
## Explain, with a drawing, the principles of patch-based metrics, profile-based metrics and graph-based metrics in LU classification from LC within given regions.
## Give an example of a metric in each category and explain how it can help in discerning different types of LU.
## What are the advantages of a region-based approach when compared to a kernel-based approach?

== 2023 ==
''(oral again, 2 questions per person)''

=== Januari ===

==== 16 januari ====

# MESMA
#* Explain MESMA. Explain why this is better than linear SMA.
#* Explain the two approaches how Degerickx et al. (2019) used LiDAR data to improve the performance of MESMA.
#* Which one did improve MESMA the most?
# SPARK
#* Explain SPARK.
#* Explain the disadvantages and advantages towards region based.

# Textures:
#* What is the difference between first order and second order texture measures?
#* Explain how a GLCM is constructed with a numerical example.
#* Two second order texture meaures given (entropy and contrast). What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use?
# Regression
#* Explain Priem et al. (2019). How did they use map-based and library-based for training data?
#* Give the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.

== 2022 ==

# MESMA
#* Explain MESMA in detail.
#* Explain the two approaches how Degerickx et al. (2019) used LiDAR data to improve the performance of MESMA. (WASMA should not be explained) How does the accuracy change?
#* Degerickx et al. (2019) first performed their analysis on a simulated APEX image before doing this on the actual APEX image. Why did they do this? What are the advantages of first performing the analysis on a simulated APEX image?
# Textures
#* Work out a simple numerical example to explain how a grey-level co-occurence matrix is created.
#* Two second order texture measures formulas are given. What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use? (contrast & entropy)
#* Explain how we can determine the optimal window size when we want to classify our image based on second-order texture measures.

== 2021 ==

* Explain SPARK and OSPARK
* Explain how Degerickx et al. used Lidar in 2 ways fro improving the performance of MESMA (explanation of WASMA not needed)
* Explain regression trees. When do you use this?

== 2019 ==

* Explain LSMA, what are the assumptions? What is the differences with MESMA? What are the advantages?
* How did Canters and Priemer (2016) use LIDAR to improve their classification. What shadow masks were used?
* Explain the concept of regression trees (Example of the powerpoint is given). When do you expect this to work better than a normal regression approach?
* How are graphs used to infer Land Use from Land Cover? Explain how Walde et al. used graphs in their approach. Explain their case study, methodology and the most important conclusions.

== 2017 ==

* Song (given figure of Ikonos and Landsat ETM+), explain formulas and explain influence of the background reflectance of non-vegetation
* How can you account for uncertainty in the ground truth data? (expand diagonal OR fuzzy error matrix).

== 2016 ==

* Discuss the semi-variogram (with the use of the figure in the course). Wherefore is this used?
* What difficulties do you experience when using Landsat images to generate land cover classes (impervious, soil, vegetation). What does Wu (2004) uses? Discuss LMSA. How is the accuracy assessed (Extra questions: the difference between MAE and RMSE, what metric is highest?(RMSE looks at more outliers, What is the spatial resolution of the orthopotos? (3 cells)).
* Discuss the fuzzy error matrix. Why is it used. OR: How can you account for uncertainty in the ground trhuth data? (--> fuzzy matrices)
* Explain Song. (dat mag adhv figuur slide 1.16) en leg uit hoe Song verklaart waarom de achtergrond reflectance een invloed heeft bij dit model
* Explain LSMA. Which assumptions are there made for LSMA.
* Explain the technique used by Van de Voorde et Al.. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of this technique.
* GLCM, explain it. Give an numerical example. There are formulas given of entropy and contrast (only formulas, no explanation), explain the formulas.
* Discuss paper of Canters. What method did he use?

== 2015 ==

* Song: bespreek (dat mag adhv figuur slide 1.16) en leg uit hoe Song verklaart waarom de achtergrond reflectance een invloed heeft bij dit model (of zoiets).
* Gegeven: 2 texture formules (het waren de 'contrast' en 'entropy' formules, maar dat stond er niet bij...) vraag: Wat is een GLCM en hoe wordt deze geconstrueerd? Toon met een numerisch voorbeeld. Wat is het voordeel van deze measures tov first order texture measures? Hoe werken de gegeven texture measures (leg uit mbv de formule) en hoe kun je ze gebruiken om agriculture van urban te gaan onderscheiden. Wat zijn de moeilijkheden bij het werken met texture?
* Bespreek de verschillende manieren om een medium resolution land cover map om te vormen naar een land use map. Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen van kernel-based en region-based approaches?

== 2014 ==

* Leg SMA volledig uit: hoe werkt het, wat zijn de voordelen, wat zijn de veronderstellingen. Welke problemen kan je hebben met SMA als je werkt met Landsat? Wat is het VIS-model? Bespreek de methode van Lu en Weng (2004)
* Gegeven: 2 texture formules (het waren de 'contrast' en 'entropy' formules, maar dat stond er niet bij...) vraag: Wat is een GLCM en hoe wordt deze geconstrueerd? Toon met een numerisch voorbeeld. Hoe werken de gegeven texture measures en hoe kun je ze gebruiken om agriculture van urban te gaan onderscheiden. wat zijn de voordelen van het werken met texture, en wat zijn de moeilijkheden
** bijvraag: wanneer zou je opteren om directioneel i.p.v. omnidirectioneel te werken?

== 2008 ==

* Bespreek de opbouw van een GLCM? Waarvoor wordt deze textuurmaat gebruikt? Wat is het voordeel van 2e orde textuurmaten ten opzichte van eerste orde textuurmaten? Hoe verklaar je de nauwkeurigheid die bekomen wordt bij het toepassen van textuurmaten?
* Bespreek het VIS -model. Wat zijn de problemen die gerelateerd zijn met het gebruik van het VIS model en hoe zou je die problemen oplossen?
* Verklaar de werking van MLP. Wat zijn de voordelen t.o.v. maximum likelihood? Wat zijn de nadelen van MLP?
* Leg uit wat een semi-variogram komt doen bij remote sensing.
* Postclassificatie change detection.
* Emperical line calibration + vb.
* Leg het principe van lineaire unmixing uit. wat zijn de voorwaarden voor deze methode?
* Beschrijf de voor en nadelen van pixelgebaseerde classificatie tov object-oriented classificatie

Advanced Earth Observation Techniques

2026-01-24T21:01:02Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs:

{{Infobox|data2=Canters Frank|data3=Lectures|data4=Oral exam and PRAC report|data6=3|header1=Courses and exams|header5=Background|headerstyle=background:lightgrey|label2=Prof|label3=Courses|label4=Examination|label6=Credits|label7=When?|data7=1st semester|label8=ECTS|data8=[https://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/syllabi/e/G0I91BE.htm KU Leuven] [https://caliweb.vub.be/index.php?page=course-offer&id=011568&anchor=1&target=pr&year=2324&language=en&output=html VUB]|title=Course Information}}

''[ORAL] Prof. Canters is very friendly during the exam. He lets you explain everything and doesn't really look at your notes. He asks many additional questions until you get stuck.''

== 2026 ==

=== Januay ===
20/01/2026

# Regression trees. explain why it is different to Stepwise regression trees and how do they make decisions? Explain Priem et al. (2019). How did they use map-based and library-based for training data? Give advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.
# Explain how a GLCM is constructed with a numerical example. Two second order texture meaures given (entropy and contrast). What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use?
# Region based approaches, explain. Give an example of a metric in each category and explain how it can help in discerning different types of LU. What are the advantages of a region-based approach when compared to a kernel-based approach?

== 2025 ==
Written exam due to miscommunications at the faculties

=== January ===
11/01/2025

# LSMA
## Explain linear spectral unmixing and the principles behind it.
## What is MESMA and why does it improve on LSMA?
## How does MESME select the most appropriate model to unmix a given pixel?
# Semivariogram
## Explain in detail how a semi-variogram is constructed and how you can use it in spectral mixture analysis.
## How can you use a semivariogram to construct GLCMs?
# Metrics used in LU classification from a LC classification. (Vanderhaegen en Canters, Walde)
## Explain, with a drawing, the principles of patch-based metrics, profile-based metrics and graph-based metrics in LU classification from LC within given regions.
## Give an example of a metric in each category and explain how it can help in discerning different types of LU.
## What are the advantages of a region-based approach when compared to a kernel-based approach?

== 2023 ==
''(oral again, 2 questions per person)''

=== Januari ===

==== 16 januari ====

# MESMA
#* Explain MESMA. Explain why this is better than linear SMA.
#* Explain the two approaches how Degerickx et al. (2019) used LiDAR data to improve the performance of MESMA.
#* Which one did improve MESMA the most?
# SPARK
#* Explain SPARK.
#* Explain the disadvantages and advantages towards region based.

# Textures:
#* What is the difference between first order and second order texture measures?
#* Explain how a GLCM is constructed with a numerical example.
#* Two second order texture meaures given (entropy and contrast). What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use?
# Regression
#* Explain Priem et al. (2019). How did they use map-based and library-based for training data?
#* Give the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.

== 2022 ==

# MESMA
#* Explain MESMA in detail.
#* Explain the two approaches how Degerickx et al. (2019) used LiDAR data to improve the performance of MESMA. (WASMA should not be explained) How does the accuracy change?
#* Degerickx et al. (2019) first performed their analysis on a simulated APEX image before doing this on the actual APEX image. Why did they do this? What are the advantages of first performing the analysis on a simulated APEX image?
# Textures
#* Work out a simple numerical example to explain how a grey-level co-occurence matrix is created.
#* Two second order texture measures formulas are given. What texture measures do they represent? How can we use these measures to differentiate agricultural from urban land use? (contrast & entropy)
#* Explain how we can determine the optimal window size when we want to classify our image based on second-order texture measures.

== 2021 ==

* Explain SPARK and OSPARK
* Explain how Degerickx et al. used Lidar in 2 ways fro improving the performance of MESMA (explanation of WASMA not needed)
* Explain regression trees. When do you use this?

== 2019 ==

* Explain LSMA, what are the assumptions? What is the differences with MESMA? What are the advantages?
* How did Canters and Priemer (2016) use LIDAR to improve their classification. What shadow masks were used?
* Explain the concept of regression trees (Example of the powerpoint is given). When do you expect this to work better than a normal regression approach?
* How are graphs used to infer Land Use from Land Cover? Explain how Walde et al. used graphs in their approach. Explain their case study, methodology and the most important conclusions.

== 2017 ==

* Song (given figure of Ikonos and Landsat ETM+), explain formulas and explain influence of the background reflectance of non-vegetation
* How can you account for uncertainty in the ground truth data? (expand diagonal OR fuzzy error matrix).

== 2016 ==

* Discuss the semi-variogram (with the use of the figure in the course). Wherefore is this used?
* What difficulties do you experience when using Landsat images to generate land cover classes (impervious, soil, vegetation). What does Wu (2004) uses? Discuss LMSA. How is the accuracy assessed (Extra questions: the difference between MAE and RMSE, what metric is highest?(RMSE looks at more outliers, What is the spatial resolution of the orthopotos? (3 cells)).
* Discuss the fuzzy error matrix. Why is it used. OR: How can you account for uncertainty in the ground trhuth data? (--> fuzzy matrices)
* Explain Song. (dat mag adhv figuur slide 1.16) en leg uit hoe Song verklaart waarom de achtergrond reflectance een invloed heeft bij dit model
* Explain LSMA. Which assumptions are there made for LSMA.
* Explain the technique used by Van de Voorde et Al.. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of this technique.
* GLCM, explain it. Give an numerical example. There are formulas given of entropy and contrast (only formulas, no explanation), explain the formulas.
* Discuss paper of Canters. What method did he use?

== 2015 ==

* Song: bespreek (dat mag adhv figuur slide 1.16) en leg uit hoe Song verklaart waarom de achtergrond reflectance een invloed heeft bij dit model (of zoiets).
* Gegeven: 2 texture formules (het waren de 'contrast' en 'entropy' formules, maar dat stond er niet bij...) vraag: Wat is een GLCM en hoe wordt deze geconstrueerd? Toon met een numerisch voorbeeld. Wat is het voordeel van deze measures tov first order texture measures? Hoe werken de gegeven texture measures (leg uit mbv de formule) en hoe kun je ze gebruiken om agriculture van urban te gaan onderscheiden. Wat zijn de moeilijkheden bij het werken met texture?
* Bespreek de verschillende manieren om een medium resolution land cover map om te vormen naar een land use map. Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen van kernel-based en region-based approaches?

== 2014 ==

* Leg SMA volledig uit: hoe werkt het, wat zijn de voordelen, wat zijn de veronderstellingen. Welke problemen kan je hebben met SMA als je werkt met Landsat? Wat is het VIS-model? Bespreek de methode van Lu en Weng (2004)
* Gegeven: 2 texture formules (het waren de 'contrast' en 'entropy' formules, maar dat stond er niet bij...) vraag: Wat is een GLCM en hoe wordt deze geconstrueerd? Toon met een numerisch voorbeeld. Hoe werken de gegeven texture measures en hoe kun je ze gebruiken om agriculture van urban te gaan onderscheiden. wat zijn de voordelen van het werken met texture, en wat zijn de moeilijkheden
** bijvraag: wanneer zou je opteren om directioneel i.p.v. omnidirectioneel te werken?

== 2008 ==

* Bespreek de opbouw van een GLCM? Waarvoor wordt deze textuurmaat gebruikt? Wat is het voordeel van 2e orde textuurmaten ten opzichte van eerste orde textuurmaten? Hoe verklaar je de nauwkeurigheid die bekomen wordt bij het toepassen van textuurmaten?
* Bespreek het VIS -model. Wat zijn de problemen die gerelateerd zijn met het gebruik van het VIS model en hoe zou je die problemen oplossen?
* Verklaar de werking van MLP. Wat zijn de voordelen t.o.v. maximum likelihood? Wat zijn de nadelen van MLP?
* Leg uit wat een semi-variogram komt doen bij remote sensing.
* Postclassificatie change detection.
* Emperical line calibration + vb.
* Leg het principe van lineaire unmixing uit. wat zijn de voorwaarden voor deze methode?
* Beschrijf de voor en nadelen van pixelgebaseerde classificatie tov object-oriented classificatie

Introduction to Remote Sensing

2026-01-09T08:06:10Z

Gaelle Fronhoffs: /* 2026 */

== 2026 ==

=== January ===

# Explain NDVI. Why can it be used to map biomes. Which sensors can be used to map this biomes (spectral + spatial characteristics)? What is off-nadir viewing. What are the advantages and the disadvantages?
# Explain descision trees. Explain the principle of inductive learning and how automation via inductive learning improves descision trees. Explain different criteria to split nodes. How are these criteria defined?
# What is Multidate composite image change detection? Explain the difference between supervised and unsupervised.
{{Infobox|data2=Canters Frank|data3=Lectures|data4=50% on written exam; 50% on reports|data6=3|header1=Courses and exams|header5=Background|headerstyle=background:lightgrey|label2=Prof|label3=Courses|label4=Examination|label6=Credits|label7=When?|data7=1st semester|label8=ECTS|data8=[https://caliweb.vub.be/?page=course-offer&id=006507&anchor=1&target=pr&year=2324&language=en&output=html Link]|title=Course Information}}

== 2025 ==

=== January ===

# Radiometric calibration
## What is a spectralon, and how is it used to perform in-field measurements?
## Empirical line method: explain the principle in image calibration
## What are Pseudo-Invariant Features (PIFs)? What kind of characteristics should they have?
# MLP
## Explain the structure of and training mechanisms in MLP, in detail
## What are some advantages and disadvantages in using MLP when compared to ML classification?
## What is "overtraining"? Explain how you can counter this in MLP classification
# Post-classification change detection
## Explain the three methods of post-classification change detection
## Advantages/disadvantages of each
## Explain what influences the accuracies of each method
# No how are you :(

== 2024 ==
=== January ===

# Explain NDVI. Why can it be used to map biomes. Which sensors can be used to map this biomes (spectral + spatial characteristics)?
# What is off-nadir viewing. What are the advantages and the disadvantages?
# Explain Multiple Layer Perceptron in detail. What are the (dis)advantages compared to Maximum Likelihood? What is 'overtraining' and how would you solve this for a MLP?
# What is Multidate composite image change detection? Explain the difference between supervised and unsupervised.
# How are you?

== 2023 ==

=== January ===

==== 12/01/2023 ====

# Explain the Radiometric Empirical line calibration method. When is this method used and when not? Explain the importance of PIFs (Pseudo-Invariant Features) in this method.
# Explain Maximum Likelihood classification. (Principles, when to use, ...) Use these figures from a case study to explain the pitfalls of the methods (see Figure from 2018-2019).
# Explain all post-classification change detection methods. What are the assumptions you make for each method?

==== 13/01/2023 ====

# Explain MLP. What are the (dis)advantages in comparison with a maximum likelihood classifier? How can you avoid overtraining? + advantages and disadvanteges.
# Explain NDVI and how this measure can be used to map biomes on a global scale. Give examples of sensors that can be used to measure the NDVI globally on a daily basis (give spatial and spectral characteristics).
# Explain all post-classification change detection methods. What are the assumptions you make for each method? Is atmospheric/radiometric correction required for these methods? Why (not)?

== 2022 ==

# Explain the Radiometric Empirical line calibration method. When is this method used and when not? Explain the importance of PIFs (Pseudo-Invariant Features) in this method.
# Explain descision trees. Explain the principle of inductive learning and how automation via inductive learning improves descision trees. Explain different criteria to split nodes. How are these criteria defined?
# Explain the Random Forest algorithm. Why is RF usually better than a single descision tree?
# Explain all post-classification change detection methods. What are the assumptions you make for each method? Is atmospheric/radiometric correction required for these methods? Why (not)?

== 2021 ==

# Explain Maximum Likelihood classification. (Principles, when to use, ...) Use these figures from a case study to explain the pitfalls of the methods (see Figure from 2018-2019).
# Explain NDVI and how this measure can be used to map biomes on a global scale. Give examples of sensors that can be used to measure the NDVI globally on a daily basis (give spatial and spectral characteristics).
# Explain all post-classification change detection methods. What are the assumptions you make for each method? Is atmospheric/radiometric correction required for these methods? Why (not)?

== 2019 ==
Series 3:

# Explain Maximum Likelihood classification. (Principles, when to use, ...) Use these figures from a case study to explain the pitfalls of the methods.
# What are along-track off-nadir and off-track off-nadir image acquisition? Give applications and (dis)advantages for both.

== 2018 ==
Series 2:

# Explain the different methods of post-classification. Compare the techniques and give their advantages/disadvantages.
# Explain how a confusion matrix is constucted. Give all the validations that you can calculate based on this confusion matrix. An image is classified by two different classifiers. How can I whether one classifier is significantly better than the other one?

Additional questions:

* Does your data require radiometric correction for image differencing? Why haven't we done that in the practicals? What would be the influence on the Gaussian shape of these values?
* What is the assumption you need to make for the cross correlation change detection method to work well?
* What is the range of values for the Kappa index, what does a Kappa of 0 mean?
* When will there be a large difference between PCC and Kappa?

== 2017 ==

# How monitor vegetation on global scale.
# Explain decision tree

# MLP
# Emperical line calibration

== 2016 ==
Series 2:

# Explain the different methods of post-classification. Compare the techniques and give their advantages/disadvantages.
# Explain how a confusion matrix is constucted. Give all the validations that you can calculate based on this confusion matrix. An image is classified by two different classifiers. How can I whether one classifier is significantly better than the other one?

== 2015 ==

=== January ===

==== 26/01/2015 ====

# Wat zijn off-track en along-track image acquisition? Geef aan bij welke toepassingen deze best gebruikt worden. Wat zijn de nadelen van off-nadir image acquisition?
# Beschrijf de werking van een MLP? Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen vergeleken met een maxlike classifier? Hoe kan je overtraining vermijden?
# Geef alle methoden van postclassificatie change detection en hun voor- en nadelen.

== 2014 ==

=== January ===

==== 20/01/2014 ====
Reeks 1:

# Maximumlikelihood classificatie en de a priori probabilities uitleggen + 2 figuren (slide 2.16 en 2.17) onderaan gegeven waar hij dan wat bijvragen over stelde
# Wat zijn "pointable" sensors? Geef voorbeelden van deze sensoren. Voordelen en nadelen? Wat is het meest efficiënte gebruik hiervan?

Reeks 2:

# Bespreek alle mogelijke methoden van post-classificatie change detection
# Leg alle soorten resolutie uit en mogelijke trade-offs.

Reeks 3:

# Beschrijf de werking van een MLP? Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen vergeleken met een maxlike classifier? Hoe kan je overtraining vermijden?
# Leg empirical line calibration uit. Hoe zou je dit uitvoeren, wat voor data heb je hier voor nodig? Is dit noodzakelijk voor elke analyse van een satelliet beeld? (bonus: toepassing uitleggen bij land cover CHANGE detection)

== 2013 ==

# Maximumlikelihood classificatie en de a priori probabilities uitleggen + 2 figuren (slide 2.16 en 2.17) onderaan gegeven waar hij dan wat bijvragen over stelde
# Wat zijn "pointable" sensors? Geef voorbeelden van deze sensoren. Voordelen en nadelen? Wat is het meest efficiënte gebruik hiervan?

# verschillende soorten resolutie uitleggen
# post-classificatie methodes voor change detectie uitleggen

# Geef alle methoden van postclassificatie change detection en hun voor- en nadelen.
# Bespreek spectrale, temporale, spatiale en radiometrische resolutie. Geef telkens voorbeelden van hoge en lage resolutie. Leg de trade-off tussen de verschillende resoluties uit en geef voorbeelden van wanneer welke combinaties nuttig zijn.

# Bespreek de maximum likelihood classifier. Leg a priori probability uit en bespreek de figuren op slide 2.16 en 2.17.
# Wat zijn 'pointable sensors'? Geef enkele voorbeelden van zulke sensoren? Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen? Voor welke toepassingen kunnen ze gebruikt worden?

# Bespreek Multi-Layer Perceptron. Hoe vermijd je overtraining. Vergelijk met maximum likelihood.
# Bespreek de empirische lijn methode. Is calibratie altijd noodzakelijk?

# Het gebruik van de valse kleurencomposiet en de PCA bij kwalitatieve change detection uitleggen.
# Bespreek de Decision tree classifier. Wat zijn de voordelen ten opzichte van de maxlike? (Bespreek hierbij zeker uw inductive learning system uitgebreid!

# Hoe bepaalt ge de top van uw piramide bij inductive learning? Wat is de evaluatiemethode/criteria van uw opsplitsing?
# Op welke basis wordt uw inductive learning getoetst?

# Geef een eigen benaming voor de beelden van stable components en variable components (met verschilbeelden en veranderingbeelden ging hij wel akkoord)
# Op aangeven van eigen redenering: Wat is het specifieke voordeel en dus verschil tussen a-priori stratificatie bij maxlike en hierarchy inwerking door inductive learning?

== 2012 ==

# wat zijn "pointable" sensors? geeft voorbeelden van deze sensoren. voordelen en nadelen? wat is het meest efficiënte gebruik hiervan?
# werking MLP uitleggen. voordelen tov. MaxLike? wat is overtraining en hoe dit vermijden?
# geeft de verschillende soorten van post-classificatie om aan change detection te doen. Vermeld bij elke methode de voor-en nadelen.

# Uitleggen wat spectrale,spatial,temporele en radiometrische resolutie is. En de trade-offs bij sensoren.
# Maximumlikelihood classifier gedetailleerd uitleggen. De a priori probabilities uitleggen. Plus de figuren op slde 2.16 en 2.17.
# Het gebruik van de valse kleurencomposiet en de PCA bij kwalitatieve change detection uitleggen.

== 2011 ==
Reeks 1:

# Bespreek MLP. (werking, voor- en nadelen tov MLC, overtraining)
# Bespreek de empirical line method. Is die correctie altijd noodzakelijk?

Reeks 3:

# Hoe werkt de Maximum Likelihood Classifier? Wat zijn de vereisten voor een Maximum Likelihood Classifier? Wat zijn a priori probabilities? Hoe moet je die bepalen? Wat zijn de voor- en nadelen ervan? En dan stonden er ook die figuurkes op slides 2.16 en 2.17 bij (er stond niet in de vraag dat ge die figuren moest uitleggen, maar tijdens het examen vroeg hij daar natuurlijk wel zeer uitgebreid achter).
# Wat zijn 'pointable sensors'? Geef enkele voorbeelden van zulke sensoren? Wat zijn de voordelen en nadelen? Voor welke toepassingen kunnen ze gebruikt worden?

Reeks 4:

# Bespreek alle types van postclassification change detection, geef ook telkens de voor en nadelen
# leg uit: spectrale, spatiale, temporele, radiometrische resolutie. geef telkens voordelen van hoge resoluties, leg trade-off uit en geef voorbeelden van wanneer welke combinaties nuttig zijn

+ hele hoop bijvragen

Reeks 5:

# Bespreek de Decision tree classifier. Wat zijn de voordelen ten opzichte van de maxlike? (Bespreek hierbij zeker uw inductive learning system uitgebreid!)
# Hoe dragen a) false colour composite images en b) PCA bij tot een qualitatieve change detection?

4 bijvragen:

* Hoe bepaalt ge de top van uw piramide bij inductive learning? Wat is de evaluatiemethode/criteria van uw opsplitsing?
* Op welke basis wordt uw inductive learning getoetst?
* Geef een eigen benaming voor de beelden van stable components en variable components (met verschilbeelden en veranderingbeelden ging hij wel akkoord)
* Op aangeven van eigen redenering: Wat is het specifieke voordeel en dus verschil tussen a-priori stratificatie bij maxlike en hierarchy inwerking door inductive learning?

== 2010 ==
Reeks 1

# MLP: hoe werkt het, wat zijn de voordelen tov ML en wat zijn er nadelen? leg overtraining uit en hoe los je het op?
# keuzetekst uitleggen, idem zoals kasper: doelstelling, methodologie, resultaten, conclusie

(examenvragen van persoon na mij):

# pixelbased vs objectbased (voor - en nadelen)

Reeks 2

# Semi-variogram uitleggen + verband met remote sensing (ook de figuur van no, low density en high density vegetation)
# Alles (doel, methodologie, resultaten en discussie) van keuzepaper uitleggen.