Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:

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Jim and Susie Aber taking aerial photos using a remote-controlled camera attached to a kite string. Scott County, Kansas, May 2007.

UP IN THE AIR WITH THE ABERS

Jim and Susie Aber have taken photographs all over the state. And I do mean over.

Using trusty kites and a helium blimp, they’ve flown remote-controlled cameras above Kansas, snapping shots of the Flint Hills, Chalk Hills, Red Hills and Blue Hills.

Their cameras have dangled from kite strings above Shoal Creek in the Ozark Plateau, over Woodson County State Fishing Lake in the Chautauqua Hills, above Big Brutus in the Cherokee Lowlands.

Their pictures range from Northeast Kansas, where the Glaciated Region is marked by rugged terrain, to the High Plains where there’s no relief in sight.

You’ll find dozens of aerial photographs in the Abers’ new book: “Kansas Physiographic Regions – Bird’s-eye Views,” recently published by the Kansas Geological Survey.

Both Jim and Susie Aber teach geology at Emporia State University. For about 13 years they’ve used kite aerial photography as part of their research. Kites provide a low-budget way to document the terrain from 100-500 feet above the earth.

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With aerial pictures, they study the land and how it changes over time. For instance, they’ve photographed ephemeral playas in Western Kansas during both dry and wet years.

In the book, the Abers make a few changes to previous physiographic maps. They discuss geology, elevation, and the age of the rocks from east to west. They cover the topography of Kansas and what lies beneath.

What lies beneath is actually what determines the 12 regions.

“Physiographic provinces are defined primarily on the basis of underlying geology and secondarily by topographic conditions, vegetation cover, and human land use,” the Abers write.

Recently I met with Jim and Susie Aber to discuss the book. They are friends; Dave and I helped them fly kites near Spearville and at Dry Lake in Scott County.

Naturally, I asked Jim and Susie to each name their favorite physiographic province – as if a person could have just one.

Because they’re geologists, they lean toward the hilly, rock-laden areas. Jim is interested in the Glaciated Region and Susie has fond childhood memories of the Smoky Hills, but they each settled on, I think, the Flint Hills. In deciding, Susie said, “It’s not just the landscape, but the rocks, and the association of people and happy times.”

“You didn’t ask about favorite counties,” Jim said. “Hodgeman is my favorite. Hodgeman is where a bunch of physiographic regions come together – the Smoky Hills, Blue Hills, the High Plains.”

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Rock City

Ottawa County was Susie’s selection – for its magnificent sandstone concretions at Rock City.

Jim told about a photo shoot at Monument Rocks in the Chalk Buttes province. They couldn’t take pictures until a movie crew had finished filming a scene. But the delay worked out; with the sun lower in the sky, it provided better shadows, making the archway more visible in their photographs.

The 12 physiographic regions come in various shapes and sizes. A large portion of Eastern Kansas (including Emporia) is in the Osage Cuestas province. The Ozark Plateau has only about 55 square miles in the southeast corner. And the Arkansas River Lowlands makes a run across the map, following that river from Colorado to Oklahoma with a big (well, great) bend in Central Kansas.

“While driving, will we know when we’re passing from one region to another?” I asked.

“In some cases, yes,” Jim said. “But most highways are built along the route of least resistance. You have to get onto county roads where the landscape features are closer and more obvious.”

Some of their photos show how humans have altered the terrain. Susie says they hope the book will “Bring awareness to people of how we do impact the landscape.”

This book offers a fresh perspective on the state’s topography – and it gives you permission to look down on Kansas.

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To see photos and learn about kite aerial photography, visit the Abers’ website: http://www.geospectra.net/kite/kaphome.htm

“Kansas Physiographic Regions: Bird’s-eye Views” by James S. and Susan W. Aber is available at the Town Crier Bookstore.

For additional information, check out: Kansas Geological Survey.

Copyright 2009 ~ Cheryl Unruh

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The book.

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The Abers. Scott County, Kansas, May, 2007.

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Click here for more photos – from a November 2008 kite-flying adventure near Spearville.

4 Comments

  1. You guys have a bunch of impressive friends. What interesting people!

    This article triggered a question I’ve had for years. How flat is Kansas really? Eastern Kansas isn’t flat. Going out I-70 to Lucas isn’t flat. I can’t remember how flat it is going West on 54 or 56, and it’s been a few years since I did either one all the way to New Mexico.

    From my own experience and memory (which is not the definitive experience or memory,) Kansas isn’t all that flat, but has a reputation for being flat. Is there truly an actual flat part of Kansas?

  2. It is nice to see the Abers’ work getting some press. Kite aerial photography is a useful scientific method of getting air photos, but it can also be done as a hobby. Google “kite aerial photography” if you want to get into it–as hobbies go, it’s not that terribly expensive, especially if you are handy with tools and like to tinker.

    With regards to Janet’s question, it has been scientifically demonstrated that Kansas is, in fact, flatter than a pancake. 🙂
    http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/kansas.html

  3. I’m more into kites than geology, but really enjoyed your post and pics of your KAP activities. I guess the book is a labour of love – imagery isn’t the easiest thing to sell… Some of the pages on my kite site are devoted to aerial kite photography, although not in any great depth. Hope to do some myself one day, when we start making some much bigger kites.

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