Prof.Dr.habil. Barbara Theilen-Willige from the Institute of Applied Geosciences, Technische Universität Berlin, was sent by Senior Experten Service/SES to the Department of Geographical Information Science, Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada, as visiting professor from 17 November to 9 December 2017.
She has done several lectures on Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) for Natural Hazards. She also has initiated the very first draft of scientific paper on Agung volcano which is actually erupting, as well as another draft on Floods and Landslides due to Cempaka Cyclone which was occurring during her stay period. Besides that, she created a positive atmosphere to our department by bringing a new insight related to scientific research and collaboration.
Prof.Dr.habil. Barbara Theilen-Willige shared her valuable experience on recent natural hazards to our Faculty and to our young students. She was able to obtain various data shortly after the natural disasters had occurred. Other than that, her outstanding technical skills on RS and GIS is highly appreciated.
The public lectures were held in the Building of Klinik Lingkungan dan Mitigasi Bencana (KLMB), room E601, Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Each lecture was attended by more than 45 participants. Prof. Barbara explained the use of Remote Sensing data and Geographic Information System for researches on natural disasters. Some examples were shown, such as spatial distribution of tsunami vulnerability in Aceh, West Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta Special Region. The data also allowed to investigate the ancient traces of tsunamis. Morphometric map was constructed through Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine the tsunami prone area.
The morphometric mapping could also be done to find out the accumulated flow map under the sea level using open access data, such as SRTM. This information was useful for improving the understanding of tsunami wave formation process. Another example of the use of open access satellite imagery was the identification of tsunami wave characteristics at Japan in 2011. Prof. Barbara also provides brief examples of the use of open access data related to remote sensing to study affected areas by earthquakes, fractures, landslides, soil erosion.