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Please see the attachments.
ERTH/GEOG1060 Homework 4 Instructions
The purpose of this exercise is for you to analyze data on Canadian Natural Disasters
and describe any trend you see. For example, are there fewer hurricanes in Nova Scotia
in the past 30 years than in previous times? Which areas in Canada have the highest
frequencies of tornadoes? Is the number of deaths due to blizzards increasing? We
would also like you to suggest a reason for the trend you see, or suggest why you don’t
see a trend, and try to support your suggestion using information you learned in class or
from another source.
Procedure: On the homework page is a spreadsheet called Question.xls. Open this
spreadsheet in Excel. Find your Dalhousie banner ID in the first column. Next to your
banner ID in the second column is the question you will answer. You can then proceed
to the database to collect the data needed to answer your question.
Go to the following web page for the database:
http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/cdd/index-eng.aspx. Choose to Enter the
Database. You can use either the Geospatial version (which has maps) or the Classic
version (no maps). The maps are not necessary for this exercise.
There you can select one or more provinces (or leave the boxes blank for all), one or
more types of disasters (or all) and one or more date ranges (or all). While some of the
disaster types (such as Biological or Hazardous Chemicals) are not natural disasters, we
will include all types for this assignment. You may sort them in different ways if you
wish. Think first, then choose the data that you will need to answer your question, then
click SEARCH.
A list of the selected disasters should appear with minimal information for each. You
can scan through them to be sure they meet your criteria. To plot your data, you will
need to go through the list of disasters and extract the information by the type of your
question
The questions fall into three types: How does the
1. Type – you will need to count the # of events (disasters, fatalities or evacuations)
for each type.
2. Location – you will need to count the number of events for each province.
3. Time – you will need to count the number of events for each time interval. You
can use the time intervals on the web page, or make up your own if you think
that’s better.
Make up a table with two columns. The first will have a list of the types, locations, or
time intervals. In the second column in the appropriate cell, fill in the count which you
determined from the web database.
Note: you do NOT need to collect any more data from outside this database.
http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/cdd/index-eng.aspx
1. For your submission you need to plot your data using MS Excel or some other
graphing software. Your graph should have two labeled axes. The y-axis
should be the number of events, which is the second column you made above.
The x-axis will be the types, locations or time intervals from the first column.
For example the y-axis might be “Number of hurricanes in Atlantic Canada” and
the x-axis “Time (years)”. The graph should have a title. The font size of the
axis values and title, and the size of the symbols for the data points should be
sufficiently large to be clearly visible. Copy and paste your plot into a word
processor file, or save it separately.
2. Write a brief (approximately 250 words) paragraph describing the data, your
answer to the question and any limitations or conclusions. Describe the trend
you see. Also answer any of these questions that apply to your trend:
a. Why do you think the trend exists?
b. Do you have enough data to be confident that the trend is real?
c. What does the trend predict for the future?
d. If you do not see a trend, then suggest why there is no trend. Save your
paragraph or add it to your word processor file.
3. Print out your answer and graph (preferably on a single sheet of paper) and hand
them in before any class or bring them to the Earth Sciences Department, Room
3006 Life Sciences Centre (for C. Walls’ mailbox). Make sure you put your
name on all submissions.
A “hints for using Excel” document is available on BbLearn.
For the purposes of this assignment, Central Canada includes Ontario (ON) and Quebec
(QC) only. Eastern Canada includes Newfoundland (NL), Nova Scotia (NS), New
Brunswick (NB) and Prince Edward Island (PE) only. Western Canada includes British
Columbia (BC), Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK) and Manitoba (MB). Finally,
Northern Canada includes, the Yukon (YT), Northwest Territories (NT) and Nunavut
(NU). I apologize to anyone who is geographically offended by these divisions, and
plead the necessity for a simple division of the country.
To simplify, Storms (all types) means Storm – Unspecified/Other, Storms and Severe
Thunderstorms and Winter Storms, but not Storm Surge or Tornado. Geological
disasters are Earthquakes, Landslides, Tsunami and Volcanoes. If you disagree with
this you can modify your selection, but explain it in your write-up.
As an example, Charlie’s question is “How does the number of hurricanes vary in time
in Nova Scotia?” He went to the database and checked the box for Hurricane/Typhoon.
Under location, he checked the box for Nova Scotia. He left the time periods blank to
get all events.. He then clicked Search.
The results gave him 14 events (you should get many more!). The dates of the 8 events
were 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 (2), 2007, 2003, 1990 1989, 1971, 1968, 1964, 1962 and
1959. He makes up his table using Time Intervals for the first column because his
question asks how things vary in time:
Time
Interval
# of
events
1900-1909 0
1910-1919 0
1920-1929 0
1930-1939 0
1040-1949 0
1950-1959 1
1960-1969 3
1970-1979 1
1980-1989 1
1990-1999 1
2000-2010 7
His chart looks like:
If you do not like the question that you have been assigned, or if you feel the available
data are insufficient to answer your question, you can choose a different trend to
analyze! It cannot, however, already exist on the list of questions in the Question.xls
file. You should clear your question with Charlie (Charles.Walls@Dal.Ca) before you
spend much time on it.
DUE: 4:00pm, November 28, 2013
mailto:Charles.Walls@Dal.Ca
Hintsfor using Excel
In this assignment, you will use Excel to
organize and plot your data. The
following is a very small subset of the
operations you can perform in Excel.
Getting started
If you’ve never used Excel before, open
a table by double clicking on it, or start
the program and open the file. You will
see a grid of cells. Each can store
information, which can be a number,
text, a date or any other type of data.
The table is really just the same as a
paper data table, with columns of similar
data and rows of specific events.
If you click on a cell, you will see the
complete contents on the line at the top
of the window. You can edit this by
clicking on it and typing; pressing enter,
tab, or one of the arrow keys will save
the edited information in the cell and
move to an adjoining cell.
If you see cells that show ####, then the
column is not wide enough. Click and
drag on the border of the column
heading to increase the column width.
Sorting your data
It isn’t necessary to sort the table; you
can compile your data without doing so.
A table can, however, be sorted in
ascending or descending order by any
column. The order can be numeric or
alphabetic.
First click on any single cell in the table.
At the top of the window on the menu
bar click on Data, then choose Sort from
the menu. Excel should now “select” all
of the data in the table and indicate this
by highlighting all of the cells on the
page. This is important – you don’t
want to mix up the table.
A “Sort” box should now appear. If
your table has a row at the top with
column headings (which the output from
the web page does), check “my data has
headers”.
You can click the “Sort by” pulldown
and choose a column to order your data
by. You may further select more
columns to then sort by clicking “Add
Level”
Click Ok to sort the table. If you have
chosen the disaster type as the sort
column, they will now be grouped
together for easy selection and
compilation. If you sort by date (“year
began”), they will be listed in time order.
This sort procedure is for Excel 2007,
2010 and 2013. In Excel 2003, it looks
just a bit different but functions very
similarly.
Compiling your data
You will need to do some compilation
on your disasters before you plot. For
example, if you are plotting by date, you
will need to decide on a suitable time
interval. You might choose every
decade, every two decades or some other
time interval. You should, if possible,
choose such that most intervals have at
least one disaster. Then count up the
number of disasters, number of fatalities,
etc for each interval. If you are plotting
by type, count up the number of disasters
of each type. If you are plotting by
province or region, count up the number
of disasters for each province or region.
You will; need to create two new
columns in the table. They can be off by
themselves, on a new sheet, or in an
entirely new table. In the left column,
list the intervals, types, province or
regions. In the corresponding row in the
right column, put the number of disasters
you compiled as above. Two examples:
Prov. Hurricanes
NL 7
NS 3
NB 2
PEI 0
QC 11
ON 7
MB 6
SK 8
AB 5
BC 12
YT 0
NWT 3
NU 0
Time Interval Fires
1900-1920 2
1920-1940 7
1940-1960 0
1960-1980 0
1980-2000 6
2000-PRES 3
Click on the top left cell of this new
table, hold down the left mouse button
and drag down and to the right. Keep
dragging to select and highlight all of the
rows and the two columns in the table.
Now you can plot your data. In Excel
2007, 2010 or 2013, choose the Insert
menu. You can then select a type (Line
is good, Column may be better or worse)
and subtype (Line with Markers, or 2D
Column) of chart and your plot will
appear. You can modify most aspects of
the plot by right clicking on it and
choosing an option. You can choose
another chart type if you think it works
better with your data.
In Excel 2003, click the Chart Wizard
button on the standard toolbar at the top
of the screen just underneath the menus.
It looks like a tiny little bar chart. Step 1
of the Chart Wizard will appear.
Select a chart type (Line?) and subtype
(choose one with points joined by lines).
Again, if you want to use another type,
that’s fine as long as it shows your data
clearly. Click Next.
If you have organized your columns as
above, you should now see a preliminary
version of the graph you are about to
make. Click Next.
In this window (the third) you can enter
a descriptive chart title and labels for the
X and y axes. Click next.
Finally, choose the location of the plot
(either will do) and click “finish”. The
chart should appear.
Saving is always important.
You can right click on the border of the
chart near the edge and select Copy.
Click in your Word document where you
are typing the brief description and
choose Edit then Paste. Alternately, you
can just print it out.
Sheet1
| Banner | Question | ||
| B00315674 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Alberta? | ||
| B00315883 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00322117 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Quebec? | ||
| B00326495 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Nova Scotia? | ||
| B00329168 | How does the number of droughts vary in time in Alberta? | ||
| B00329896 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1980 and 1989? | ||
| B00330296 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Ontario? | ||
| B00408346 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Saskatchewan? | ||
| B00491724 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Manitoba? | ||
| B00497745 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1970 and 1979? | ||
| B00511120 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 2000 and 2010? | ||
| B00511734 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Ontario? | * | |
| B00512282 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Nova Scotia? | ||
| B00519908 | How does the number of evacuations due to floods vary in time in Central Canada? | ||
| B00530349 | |||
| B00530489 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in British Columbia? | ||
| B00533743 | How does the number of floods vary in time in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00535942 | How does the number of droughts vary in time in Western Canada? | ||
| B00535949 | How does the number of evacuations due to floods vary in time in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00537422 | How does the total number of wildfires vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00538555 | How does the number of storms (all types) vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00545299 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in British Columbia? | ||
| B00546772 | |||
| B00546813 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00546878 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1990 and 1999? | ||
| B00548845 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Manitoba | ||
| B00548908 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Quebec? | ||
| B00549124 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in British Columbia? | ||
| B00550489 | How does the number of wildfires vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00550530 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in New Brunswick? | ||
| B00550865 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Quebec? | ||
| B00551069 | |||
| B00551559 | |||
| B00552366 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1970 and 1979? | ||
| B00552904 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Saskatchewan? | ||
| B00554151 | How does the number of floods vary in time in Central Canada? | ||
| B00554267 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in New Brunswick? | ||
| B00554436 | |||
| B00554627 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Newfoundland? | ||
| B00555121 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in British Columbia? | ||
| B00555245 | |||
| B00555385 | |||
| B00555957 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Alberta? | ||
| B00556526 | How does the number of fatalities due to floods vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00556799 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1940 and 1959? | ||
| B00557539 | How does the number of evacuations due to floods vary in time in New Brunswick?? | ||
| B00558893 | |||
| B00559046 | |||
| B00559636 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Newfoundland? | ||
| B00559715 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Newfoundland? | ||
| B00559935 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Newfoundland? | ||
| B00560070 | How does the number of fatalities due to floods vary in time in Central Canada? | ||
| B00560223 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Newfoundland? | ||
| B00561546 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Alberta? | ||
| B00562018 | How does the number of evacuations due to wildfires vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00562126 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1960 and 1969? | ||
| B00564974 | How does the number of evacuations due to wildfires vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00566118 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1980 and 1989? | ||
| B00567497 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Nova Scotia? | ||
| B00568270 | |||
| B00568470 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Alberta? | ||
| B00568598 | |||
| B00568609 | |||
| B00568679 | |||
| B00568808 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Quebec? | ||
| B00569127 | |||
| B00569193 | How does the number of fatalities due to storms (all types) vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00569388 | |||
| B00569496 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1960 and 1969? | ||
| B00569723 | How does the number of evacuations due to floods vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00572583 | How does the number of floods vary in time in Ontario? | ||
| B00572626 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1920 and 1939? | ||
| B00573103 | |||
| B00573460 | How does the number of floods vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00573495 | |||
| B00573622 | |||
| B00576120 | |||
| B00577291 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in New Brunswick? | ||
| B00577876 | |||
| B00578348 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in New Brunswick? | ||
| B00578380 | How does the number of fatalities due to geological disasters vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00578385 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1920 and 1939? | ||
| B00578595 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Manitoba? | ||
| B00579411 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Nova Scotia? | ||
| B00580053 | |||
| B00580190 | How does the number of fatalities due to floods vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00580223 | |||
| B00580286 | |||
| B00580573 | |||
| B00581752 | |||
| B00582587 | How does the number of fatalities vary by province in Canada between 1900 and 1919? | ||
| B00582821 | |||
| B00583275 | |||
| B00583320 | How does the number of fatalities due to floods vary in time in New Brunswick?? | ||
| B00583825 | How does the number of fatalities due to storms (all types) vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00584260 | How does the number of evacuations due to floods vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00584497 | |||
| B00586744 | How does the number of evacuations due to storms (all types) vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00587883 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Ontario? | ||
| B00588391 | |||
| B00588781 | How does the number of fatalities due to natural disasters vary in time in Quebec? | ||
| B00590041 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in New Brunswick? | ||
| B00592147 | |||
| B00592233 | |||
| B00592235 | |||
| B00592295 | |||
| B00592611 | How does the total number of floods vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00592684 | |||
| B00592701 | |||
| B00592959 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Ontario? | ||
| B00593184 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Ontario? | ||
| B00594035 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00594765 | |||
| B00595167 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 2000 and 2010? | ||
| B00595427 | |||
| B00595879 | |||
| B00596581 | |||
| B00597131 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00597551 | |||
| B00597691 | |||
| B00597733 | |||
| B00598115 | |||
| B00598792 | |||
| B00599200 | How does the number of fatalities due to geological disasters vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00599210 | |||
| B00599455 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Saskatchewan? | ||
| B00599938 | How does the number of floods vary in time in Western Canada? | ||
| B00600195 | |||
| B00600296 | |||
| B00600928 | |||
| B00601716 | |||
| B00601760 | |||
| B00602033 | |||
| B00602130 | |||
| B00603039 | |||
| B00604183 | |||
| B00604321 | |||
| B00604510 | |||
| B00604576 | |||
| B00605040 | |||
| B00605398 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Alberta? | ||
| B00605429 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Saskatchewan? | ||
| B00605677 | |||
| B00605929 | |||
| B00606679 | |||
| B00606711 | |||
| B00607056 | How does the total number of storms (all types) vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00607796 | |||
| B00607879 | |||
| B00607903 | |||
| B00607973 | |||
| B00608163 | How does the number of evacuations due to storms (all types) vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00608472 | |||
| B00608599 | |||
| B00608644 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in British Columbia? | ||
| B00608645 | |||
| B00608852 | |||
| B00609561 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1900 and 1919? | ||
| B00609872 | How does the number of evacuations due to disasters vary by type in Nova Scotia? | ||
| B00610177 | How does the number of fatalities due to disasters vary by type in Saskatchewan? | ||
| B00610967 | |||
| B00611177 | |||
| B00611889 | |||
| B00612119 | |||
| B00612673 | |||
| B00613708 | |||
| B00614378 | How does the total number of droughts vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00615617 | How does the number of disasters vary by type in Manitoba | ||
| B00615804 | |||
| B00615943 | |||
| B00616132 | |||
| B00616236 | How does the number of droughts vary in time in Canada? | ||
| B00616404 | |||
| B00617130 | How does the total number of geological disasters vary by province in Canada? | ||
| B00618146 | |||
| B00618547 | |||
| B00620569 | How does the number of fatalities due to floods vary in time in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00621447 | |||
| B00621796 | |||
| B00622247 | How does the number of fatalities due to floods vary in time in Western Canada? | ||
| B00622672 | |||
| B00622857 | |||
| B00623277 | |||
| B00624704 | |||
| B00624828 | |||
| B00625008 | |||
| B00625164 | |||
| B00625224 | |||
| B00625261 | |||
| B00625548 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Manitoba | ||
| B00626576 | How does the total number of disasters vary in time in Eastern Canada? | ||
| B00627120 | |||
| B00627249 | |||
| B00627267 | |||
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| B00627867 | |||
| B00628548 | |||
| B00628626 | |||
| B00628821 | |||
| B00628830 | |||
| B00628841 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1990 and 1999? | ||
| B00628845 | |||
| B00628949 | |||
| B00629467 | |||
| B00629629 | |||
| B00629711 | |||
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| B00633851 | |||
| B00634329 | |||
| B00634478 | How does the number of evacuations due to floods vary in time in Western Canada? | ||
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| B00639404 | How does the total number of disasters vary by province in Canada between 1940 and 1959? | ||
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