Understanding Remote Connections: A Gentle Introduction to Telecoupling, Metacoupling, and the Telecoupling Toolbox

February 21, 2023 9:00 am (Central Time)

Recorded VCO

Abstract

The telecoupling framework is a holistic and integrated approach to thinking about human-nature interactions within and between distant systems by designating and understanding the causes, effects and agents within each system and by examining the flows between these systems. In this virtual consulting office (VCO), we guide the audience through the evolution of an idea: from coupled human-natural systems, to telecoupling, and, lastly, metacoupling. In order to study such systems and provide a quantitative perspective to analyze the complicated integrations, we developed a telecoupling toolbox which packages the most commonly used analytical geoprocessing functions in the telecoupling framework. We also demonstrate an example of how the Telecoupling Toolbox can be run locally through ArcGIS.

Speakers

Nan Jia

Michigan State University

Nan earned her BS in Geographic Information Science at the Jilin University, and her MS in Geo-Spatial Information at the University of Maryland. She aims to use GIS and RS technologies on studying complex integrations between society and natural systems, such as global food trade, human mobility, and inequality. Currently, Nan focuses on unrevealing the tele-, peri- and focal- impacts of global soybean trade in the context of polycrisis (e.g., climate change, COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine conflict) under the metacoupling framework.

Nick Manning