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Ghaffari, Alireza (Ali)

Ghaffari, Alireza (Ali)

Postdoctoral Fellow in Adaptive Watershed Management and Agent-Based Modeling
BSc (Agriculture Engineering-Soil Science) Tehran University-Iran, MSc (Water Resource Survey) ITC-The Netherlands, PhD (Physical Geography) Nottingham University-United Kingdom

Email: aghaffar@yorku.ca

Areas of Academic Interest

  • Applied research on Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS);
  • Spatial modeling;
  • Physical geography (Watershed Management and Hydrological modeling);
  • Spatial decision support systems (SDSS);
  • Natural resources and environmental spatial/temporal modeling;
  • Land use/Land cover change detection and mapping;
  • Emergency response and disaster management;
  • Floodplain mapping and soil erosion modeling;
  • Application of geographical information to study of health, disease, and health care;
  • Detecting and mapping toxic elements in soil and water bodies.

I recently joined to the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) at York University to investigate Global Warming Potential (GWP) reductions associated with full transition to organic agriculture using Agent-based modeling approaches. The study uses alternative futures and GIS methodologies to identify the potential land use and watershed quality impacts of a transition to organic farming. We are taking an Agent-based Modeling approach to examining organic adoption and environmental impacts, modeling complexity from the bottom up and using scenario analysis to understand patterns in land use change. In summary, by evaluating the GWP reductions associated with widespread conversion to organic agriculture, it will be possible to determine the environmental value added associated with the transition process which will help with branding Canadian food products as environmentally sustainable. The work will be communicated to organizations doing branding of environmentally sustainable foods, including those in the Organic Federation of Canada network, Local Food Plus, and units of AAFC responsible for branding Canadian food.

Other positions/affiliations

  • Part time instructor, Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU), Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Select publications

Asgary, A., Ghaffari, A., and Jason, L., (2010), Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Structural Fire Incidents and Their Causes: Case of Toronto, Fire Safety Journal, 45, p44–57.

Asgary, A., Ghaffari, A., Kong, A., (2009), Enhancing Emergency Response to Oil and Gas Pipelines Incidents using a Fuzzy JESS Method, Thirtieth Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing, Jun 22-25, Alberta, Canada.

Asgary, A., Kong, A., Ghaffari, A., (2009), Use of Web-services for Emergency Response to Oil and Gas Pipeline incidents, Thirtieth Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing, Jun 22-25, Alberta, Canada.

Wahadj, R., Karimi, S., Adl, M., Ghaffari, A., Onagh, A., Mohammadnejad, Sh. (2007), Evaluation of Landscape Structure in Eram Park Using GIS. International Journal of Environmental Research, 1(3), p 258-263.

Ghaffari, A., Cheng, Q. (2007), GIS base Multi Criteria Analysis to evaluate land degradation in Southern Italy. Proceedings of Geomathematics and GIS Analysis of Resources, Environment and Hazards, Aug. 26-31, Beijing, China.

Ghaffari, A., Priestnall, G., Clarke, M. (2006), Artificial neural networks and decision tree classifier performance on medium resolution ASTER data to detect gully networks in southern Italy. Proceedings of Electronic Imaging, Jan. 15–19, San Jose, California USA.

Ghaffari, A., Clarke, M.L., Mather, P., Priestnall, G. (2006), Remote Sensing of Gully Networks: The Application of ASTER Imagery in Southern Italy. Proceedings of the 14th Conference of the International Soil Conservation Organisation (ISCO), May 14-19, Marrakech, Morocco.