Department of Geography and Environmental studies

MSc in GIS and remote sensing

Geo-statistics (GeIS- 516) _Assignment one

Date posted: April 25, 2020 Due date: May 2, 2020

Email for submission: darajjeelikisa@gmail.com
Name: ___________________________________ID:____________________

General Directions: This is individual assignment. Every student has to attempt all questions
related to chapter one and two. In case any question it is possible to post on telegram for further
discussion
NB: Your answer should be neat and precise, not more than the space provided.

1. Explain the difference between geo-statistical and deterministic methods of interpolation;

describe for each an interpolation technique that can be use and a type of real-world
problems it is suitable for. (2 pts) Deterministic interpolation techniques create surfaces from measured points, based
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on either the extent of similarity (inverse distance weighted) or the degree of
smoothing (radial basis functions). Geostatistical interpolation techniques (kriging)
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utilize the statistical properties of the measured points.

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2. What do we mean by spatially random? Illustrate your answer by identifying and describing
the three figures below. Write distribution type of each figure in the box provided under each
figure and give illustration on the space provided (3 pts)

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3. The following figure is taken from Box 6.1 from Burrough and McDonnell Chapter 6.
Considering this box answer the questions followed. Demonstrate your works with
procedures and explanations of the result. (3 pts)

4.1 Calculate the variance

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4.2 Calculate the covariance

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4.3 Is the variable spatially correlated? Is there any limitation to calculate covariance? If so
what? Motivate your answer.
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5 A forester wants to assess the relationship of tree height and trunk diameter from
Afromontane forest of Yirga Chefe district located in Gedeo zone. In order to undertake his
objectives he collected the values of eight observation data. The data collected is presented in
the table below.

Calculate the correlation coefficient (r) and determine what relationship exists between your
variables. Demonstrate your answer plotting your variable tree height on the Y-axis and trunk
diameter on the X-axis (4 pts)

Observati Tree Trunk

on point height (y) Diameter (x)
1 35 8
2 49 9
3 27 7
4 33 6
5 60 13
6 21 7
7 45 11
8 51 12

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6 A high accumulation of lead at the lower valley of Awash can be harmful to people, animals,
crops and various materials. Each time the river flooded the area; polluted sediments were
deposited on the river banks. The pollutants may constrain the land use in these areas.
Similarly, the local authorities decided that those parts of the area where the lead
concentration is above the threshold of 85 mg/kg may not be used as camping grounds. The
main pollutant is assumed to be usage of fertilizer by local households for irrigation purpose.
Ethiopian environmental authority developed a procedure for measuring contamination level
of soil from randomly selected households in the area. Suppose the distribution of Pb can be
adequately modeled by normal distribution with a mean of 75 mg/kg and standard deviation
of 15 mg/kg. Use two probability tables (Table 1 and 2) from An Introduction to Statistical
Methods and Data Analysis Book. This text book was sent with chapter one and two lecture
notes on March 20, 2020 (5 pts)

6.1 Find the probability that randomly selected households can produce soil contamination
levels less than 50 mg/kg?

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6.2 What is the probability that the randomly selected farmers can produce emission levels
greater than 85 mg/kg?

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6.3 What is the probability that the randomly selected households can emit lead
concentration levels between 50 and 85 mg/kg?

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7 Briefly describe the following geo-statistical/statistical terms.(3 pts)

Geostatistical terms Description

1. Normality

2. Outliers

3. Spatio-temporal
authocorrelation