Cassandra (Coombs) Runyon E - mail: cass@cofc.edu Phone: (843) 953 - 8279 Areas of Interest: Planetary Geology, Remote Sensing, GIS, Geomorphology, Volcanology

Current Projects:

• Remote Sensing of the Lowcountry Wetlands
• Campus Director, South Carolina Space Grant Consortium
• Santee Cooper GIS Lab Manager
• Director of NASA S.E.R.C.H. (South Eastern Regional Clearing House)

Recent Publications:

• Alsup D.L., C.R. Coombs (1998) A study of plant distribution changes in abandoned rice fields within freshwater estuaries, Georgetown-Horry Counties, South Carolina. Proceedings First International Conference on Geospatial Information in Agriculture and Forestry. Submitted.
• Coombs C.R., C.C. Allen, B.R. Hawke (1998) Evaluation of Aristarchus Plateau as a Future Lunar Base Site. Proceedings Space ë98 Conference, pp. 608-615.
• Jensen J., C.R. Coombs, D.E. Porter, B. Jones, D. White (1997) Extraction of Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina Alterniflora) biomass and leaf area index parameters from high resolution imagery. Geocarto, In press.

Articles in press:

• White, D.L., Porter, D.E., Coombs, C., Jensen, J., and D. Edwards. (1998) A Comparison of Techniques for Estimating Aboveground Biomass in a Coastal Estuary. Submitted to Estuaries.

Articles submitted:

• Gaddis L.R., B.R. Hawke, M.S. Robinson, C.R. Coombs (1998) Compositional Analysis of Small Lunar Pyroclastic Deposits Using Clementine Multispectral Data. Submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets.
• Vilas, F., Jensen E.A., Domingue D.L., L.A. McFadden, C.R. Coombs, W.W. Mendell (1998) Phyllosilicates near the lunar south pole. Submitted to Science.

Articles in preparation:

• Chose J., C.R. Coombs, D.E. Porter, J. Jensen (1998) Parameters affecting creek bank erosion in Murrells Inlet and North Inlet, South Carolina.
• Coombsc C.R., Allen J.J., Taylor G.J., Lindstrom M.L. (1999) Using Hands-on workshops to reach students of all ages.

Abstracts:

• Alsup D.L. and C.R. Coombs (1997) A study of plant distribution change in abandoned rice fields in Georgetown-Horry Counties, South Carolina, First International Conference on Geospatial Information in Agriculture and Forestry.
• Chose J.R. and C.R. Coombs (1997) Parameters influencing creek bank erosion in two South Carolina tidal salt marshes. S.C. Acad. Sciences, Clemson, SC. March 1998.
• Chose J.R. and C.R. Coombs (1997) Creek bank erosion of the tidal salt marshes of Murrells Inlet and North Inlet, South Carolina. Conference on Southeast Coastal Ocean Research. Savannah, GA. April 1998.
• C.R. Coombs; J.L. Meisburger, J.W. Nettles (1998) Another Look at Taurus Littrow: An Interactive GIS Database. New Views of the Moon, LPI, Houston, TX, September, 1998.
• Coombs C.R., C.C. Allen, B.R. Hawke (1998) Exploring Aristarchus Plateau as a potential lunar base site. Space '98, Albuquerque, NM, May, 1998.
• Coombs C.R. (1998) Modeling Coastal Ecosystem Health Using Advanced Techniques of Remote Sensing and GIS SERUG '98, Charleston, SC, October 19 - 23, 1998.
• Coombs C.R. (1997) Aristarchus Plateau: A future lunar base site. Lunar and Planetary Science XXVIII, pp. 255-256.
• Coombs C.R., T. A. Docal, E.J. Dasch, M. Colgan (1997) Space Science and Education: A Collaboration to Enhance Lifelong Learning. In, Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX.
• Gaddis L.R., C. Rosanova, B.R. Hawke, C. R. Coombs, M. Robinson, and J. Sable (1998) Integrated multispectral and geophysical datasets: A global view of lunar pyroclastic deposits. New Views of the Moon, LPI, pp. 19-20 September, 1998.
• Gaddis L.R., C. Rosanova, T. Hare, B.R. Hawke, C.R. Coombs and M. Robinson (1997) Small lunar pyroclastic deposits: A new global perspective. In, Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX.
• Rosanova C., L.R. Gaddis, T. Hare, C.R. Coombs, B.R. Hawke, and M. Robinson (1998) Characterization of ìnewî pyroclastic deposits on the Moon with Clementine data. In, Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, on CD ROM.
• Smailbegovic A., C.R. Coombs (1998) Another Small Step: Contact Light - Virtual Lunar Field Trip CD-ROM. In Lunar and PlanetarAy Science XXIX, on CD-ROM.
• Vilas F., E. A. Jensen, D.L. Domingue, L.A. McFadden, C.R. Coombs (1998) An unusual photometric signature detected on lunar complex crater rims at the South Pole. In, Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, on CD-ROM.

Student Group Projects:

• Exploring the Solar System: A Hand's On Approach
• KidSat/Earth Cam
• Reduced Gravity Flight Experiment
• Contact Light: An Interactive Educational CD ROM
• SCURV - South Carolina Underwater Research Vehicle
• Bank Erosion along South Carolina waterways.
• Constructing an interactive GIS database of Antarctic Meteorites

Recent Student Presentations:

Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, TX March 15-20, 1999

• Nettles J., C.R. Coombs, C. Evans, Use of Space Shuttle Imagery to analyze mudflow patterns at Mount Pinatubo, Phillipines. In, Lunar and Planetary Science XXX, on CD-ROM.

SECOR '98, Savannah, GA April 1998

• Alsup D.L. and C.R. Coombs, Using GIS and remote sensing to determine successional variation in abandoned rice fields in coastal South Carolina.
• Chose J.R. and C.R. Coombs, Creek bank erosion of the tidal salt marshes of Murrells Inlet and North Inlet, South Carolina. Conference on Southeast Coastal Ocean Research. Savannah, GA. April 1998.

First International Conference on Geospatial Information in Agriculture and Forestry , Orlando, FL June, 1998

• Alsup D.L. and C.R. Coombs A study of plant distribution change in abandoned rice fields in Georgetown-Horry Counties, South Carolina.

Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, TX March 17-23, 1998

• Smailbegovic A., C.R. Coombs (1998) Another Small Step: Contact Light Virtual Lunar Fieldtrip CD-ROM. In Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, on CD-ROM.

SERUG '98, Charleston, SC Oct. 10-23, 1998.

• Anthony C., Historic hurricane tracks that have hit North Carolina.
• Chose J. ,Tidal creek bank erosion in Murrells Inlet, SC. (oral)
• Daugomah, J., Natural and Anthropogenic Factors Affecting Spatial Palaeomonities pugio Population Abundance in Murrells and North Inlet, SC. (oral)
• Guelfo, J., E., VanderHorst, B. Davis (1998) S.A.F.E.S. (Student Assiocation For Educational Safety). (oral and poster)
• Harris, A., Accessibility of handicapped persons to the Old Santee Canal State Park. (poster)
• Hulin, A., Endangered Red-Cockaided woodpecker's foraging and nesting habitat. (poster)
• Seaman R., The use of a GIS to model spatial patterns of ambient nest temperatures and sex ratios for a population of American alligators (Alligators Mississippiensis) in coastal South Carolina. (poster)

Courses Taught:

• Geol 101 / 101L - Dynamic Earth
• Geol 206 - Plantery Geology
• Geol 225 - Geomorphology
• Geol 314 - Introduction to Remote Sensing
• Geol 442 - Geological Applications of Remote Sensing
• Geol 449 - Geographic Information Systems

Links:

• S.E.R.C.H.
• NASA
• SC Space Grant
• M.E.S.

Last Updated: June 2, 2006