Mark Fonstad

Mark Alan Fonstad (born September 21, 1973 in Neenah, WI) is an American geographer. He specializes in the physical geography of rivers, the fusion of physical geography with geographic information science, geomorphology, hydrology, and remote sensing. Fonstad is an associate professor in the Department of Geography at Texas State University. His educational training included secondary education at Lourdes Academy (Oshkosh, WI), a B.S. in Geography at the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI), a M.A. in Geography at Ohio University (Athens, OH), and, in 2000, a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ). He is the son of geographer Todd Fonstad and cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad.

Some of Fonstad’s accomplishments include the HAB Transform for converting images of rivers into maps of water depth, the SATS treeline ecotone model, a cellular automata model of instream hydrodynamics (with Jay Parsons), and the Critical Riverbank Conjecture, for which he received (with W. Andrew Marcus) the 2005 G.K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research. His more recent work has focused on the high-resolution remote sensing of river habitats, modeling of river dynamics and ecotones, and work on the upcoming NASA SWOT satellite mission. He also co-organized the 2007 Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium on the subject of Complexity in Geomorphology, and the 2008 European Geosciences Union special sessions on the Remote Sensing of Rivers.

Beginning in January 2010, Mark will become the new Environmental Sciences associate editor of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

CV | Current Research | Publications on the Web | Courses | Fonstad Research Group | Miscellany | Contact Information

Current Research Projects:
The Remote Sensing of Rivers - Current projects are centered around the Texas Hill Country, Yellowstone National Park, and the Willamette Valley of Oregon. We are looking for tools, methods, and applications to inventory river habitats from remote platforms including satellites, airplanes, trikes, blimps,  kites, and poles. Imaging systems range from ordinary digital cameras  and aerial photos to imaging spectrometers. Two-dimensional cellular hydraulics simulations have been developed to aid and extend these observations. The observations are being used to test classical river theories and identify key habitats.


Dynamics of Mountain Streams - Current projects are centered around Yellowstone National Park and the Oregon Coast Range. We are analyzing the spatial and temporal patterns by which mountain streams expend their energy, move sediment and wood, and create unstable geomorphic zones. As these patterns grow, change, and diminish, they produce physical habitate templates for aquatic organisms, another aspect of our observations and simulations.



Ecotone Dynamics - Current projects are centered around Glacier National Park and the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda. We are looking at how mountain ecotones (transitions from one ecosystem to another) react to climate change and other factors, and the sensitivity of ecotones to various internal and external processes. This research combines fieldwork, remote sensing, and numerical simulations such as the SATS treeline ecotone model..



The Beaded Stream - Currently, the project is centered on the Alaska North Slope. I am beginning to study this unusual stream pattern, formed where fluvial processes mix with thermokarst processes in areas of continuous permafrost. I am interested in how the permafrost processes interact with typical fluvial geomorphology and where there are thresholds of change to either pure permafrost forms or pure fluvial forms. These streams slow down meltwater floods and alter arctic stream ecosystems, and they are likely to be very sensitive to climate change in the United States, Canada, and Russia. This research combines fieldwork, remote sensing, and numerical simulations.

NASA's SWOT: Surface Water Ocean Topography - Currently my work is focused on the SWOT surface hydrology group. The satellite under design by NASA and CNES will be a polar-orbiting interferometric radar that will map the existence, elevation, and slope of surface water around the world at the resolution of tens of meters. The mission group and the hydrology subgroup are tasked with taking data that SWOT will (hopefully!) produce and extract hydrologically meaningful information, such as river discharge, floodwave extents and speeds, water volumes, and geomorphically meaningful hydraulics measures.


Publications on the Web:

Murray, A.B. Lazarus, E., Ashton, A., Baas, A., Coco, G., Coulthard, T., Fonstad, M., Haff, P., McNamara, D., Paola, C., Pelletier, J.,
        Reinhardt, L. 2009. Geomorphology, complexity, and the emerging science of the earth’s surface. Geomorphology. 103, pp. 496-505.
Marcus, W.A. and Fonstad, M.A., 2008, Optical remote mapping of rivers at sub-meter resolutions and watershed extents, Earth Surface
        Processes and Landforms, vol. 33, pp. 4-24.
Murray, A.B. and Fonstad, M.A. 2007. Preface: complexity (and simplicity) in landscapes. In Complexity in Geomorphology: Proceedings of
        the 38th International Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium. Murray, A.B. and Fonstad, M.A. (eds). 173-177.
Giordano, A., Lu, Y., Anderson, S.A., Fonstad, M.A., 2007, Wireless mapping, GIS, and learning about the digital divide: a classroom
        experience, Journal of Geography, vol. 106, pp. 285-295.
Parsons, J.A. and Fonstad, M.A., 2007, A geographical cellular automata model of surface water flow, Hydrological Processes, vol. 21,
        no. 16, pp. 2189-2195.
Fonstad, M.A., 2006, Cellular automata as analysis and synthesis engines at the geomorphology-ecology interface, Geomorphology,
        vol. 77, no. 3-4, pp. 217-234.
Anderson, S.J., Fonstad, M.A., Delrieux, C.A. 2006. Satellite image restoration using the VMCA model. XII Congresso Argentino de
        Ciencias de la Computation (Proceedings of the 12th Annual Computer Science Conference).
Conyers, M.M. and Fonstad, M.A., 2005, The unusual channel resistance of the Texas Hill Country and its effect on flood flow
        predictions, Physical Geography, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 379-395.
Fonstad, M.A. and Marcus, W.A., 2005, Remote sensing of stream depths with hydraulically-assisted bathymetry (HAB) models,
        Geomorphology, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 320-339.
Dunham, S., Fonstad, M.A., Anderson, S.A., Czajkowski, K., 2005, Using multi-temporal satellite imagery to monitor the response
        of vegetation to drought in the Great Lakes region, GIScience and Remote Sensing, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 185-201.
Jordan, D.C. and Fonstad, M.A., 2005, Two-dimensional mapping of river bathymetry and power using aerial photography and
        GIS on the Brazos River, Texas, Geocarto, vol 20, no. 3.
Fonstad, M.A., Reichling, J., Van de Grift, J.W., 2005, Design of a new transparent velocity head rod for rapid and precise stream
        velocity measurements, Journal of Geoscience Education, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 44-52.
Legleiter, C.J., Roberts, D.A., Marcus, W.A., Fonstad, M.A., 2004, Optical remote sensing of river channel morphology and in-
        stream habitat: physical basis and feasibility, Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 93, pp. 493-510.
Fonstad, M.A. and Marcus, W.A., 2003, Self-organized criticality in riverbank systems, Annals of the Association of American
        Geographers, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 281-296.
Legleiter, C.J., Lawrence, R.L., Fonstad, M.A., Marcus, W.A., Aspinall, R., 2003, Fluvial response to wildfire in northern
        Yellowstone: a spatially explicit analysis, Geomorphology, vol. 54, no. 3-4, pp. 119-136.
Fonstad, M.A., 2003, Spatial variation in the power of mountain streams in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, USA, Geomorphology,
        vol. 55, no. 1-4, pp. 75-96.

Courses:
Geo 2410: Introduction to Physical Geography  | S 2002 | F 2002 | S 2003 | F 2003 | S 2005 | F 2005 | F 2006
Geo 2426: Fundamentals of GIS  | F 2001
Geo 3325: Geomorphology  | S 2003
Geo 3434: Water Resources Management  | S 2002 | F 2004 | F 2005
Geo 4325: Fluvial Processes  | F 2008
Geo 4412: Digital Remote Sensing  | S 2002 | S 2009
Geo 4430: Field Methods  | S 2004 | S 2005 | S 2007
Geo 5395: Problems in Applied Geography  | F 2001
Geo 5334: Applied Water Resources Management  | F 2003 | F 2006
Geo 5430: Advanced Field Methods  | S 2004 | S 2005 | S 2007
Geo 5370: Modeling in Physical Geography  | S 2004
Geo 7300: Advanced Geographic Research Design  | S 2006 | S 2007
Geo 7313: Environmental Systems Analysis  | F 2004 | F 2008
Geo 7316: Remote Sensing and Environment  | F 2002
Geo 7318: GIS in Environmental Geography  | S 2006
Geo 7364: Geocomputation  | S 2009
Fonstad Research Group:
Jane Heath Atha (Dissertation Advisor, beginning August, 2009)
          The importance of large wood in the fluvial systems of the Oregon Coast Range
Mindy Conyers (Dissertation Advisor, in progress)
          Spatial prediction of channel instability in the Animas River Basin, Colorado
Jacob Maas (Dissertation Advisor, in progress)
          Dam removal in fine sediment systems: geomorphology and ecology
Jay Parsons (Dissertation Advisor, in progress)
          Participatory GIS in landcover and watershed change
C. Andy Day (Dissertation Advisor, in progress)
          Hydrological and climate change across mountainous regions
Delbert Humberson (Thesis Advisor, 2008)
          Applying the Cellular Automata Evolutionary Slope and River (CAESAR) model to a highly erosive reach of the Colorado
          River, Austin, Texas

Jane Heath (Thesis Advisor, 2006)
           Criticality and river instability response to mountain environment control
Jonathan Frodge (Thesis Advisor, 2006)
           Modeling the occurrence of springs and seeps along the Blanco River, Texas using logistic regression
Jason Pinchback (Thesis Advisor, 2005)
           Spatial aspects of water quality management in Austin, Texas
Jay Parsons (Thesis Advisor, 2004)
           A computational cellular automaton for modeling surface water flow within the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Mindy Conyers (Thesis Advisor, 2003)
           A regional evaluation of Manning's roughness estimates in streams of south-central Texas
Susan Dunham (Thesis Advisor, 2003)
           Using multitemporal satellite imagery to monitor the response of vegetation to drought in the Great Lakes region.
David Jordan, (Thesis Advisor, 2002)
           Two-dimensional mapping of river bathymetry and power using aerial photography and GIS on the Brazos River,   
           Texas.

Miscellany:
Texas State Department of Geography
Texas State University
Mountain Studies Institute
That Pancake
I also manage the River Remote Sensing Group on Facebook

Contact Information:
E-mail:  mfonstad@txstate.edu
Phone (with voice mail):  512-245-7809
Department:
    office phone: 512-245-2170
    office fax: 512-245-8353

Mailing address:

     Department of Geography

     Texas State University

     601 University Drive

     San Marcos, TX 78666 USA
Street address:
     Department office:  Room 139 Evans Liberal Arts
     My office:  Room 383 Evans Liberal Arts


The page last updated April 15, 2009
Department of Geography, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666
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