Optimizing earthquake early warning alert distance strategies using the July 2019 Mw6.4 and Mw7.1 Ridgecrest, California, earthquakes
Jessie Kate Saunders, Brad T. Aagaard, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Sarah E. Minson
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 1872-1886
The ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system aims to alert people who experience modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) IV+ shaking during an earthquake using source estimates (magnitude and location) to estimate median‐expected peak ground motions with distance, then using these ground motions to determine median‐expected MMI and thus the extent of MMI...
Changes in climate and land cover affect seasonal streamflow forecasts in the Rio Grande headwaters
Colin A. Penn, David W. Clow, Graham A. Sexstone, Sheila F. Murphy
2020, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (56) 882-902
Seasonal streamflow forecast bias, changes in climate, snowpack, and land cover, and the effects of these changes on relations between basin‐wide snowpack, SNOw TELemetry (SNOTEL) station snowpack, and seasonal streamflow were evaluated in the headwaters of the Rio Grande, Colorado. Results indicate that shifts in the seasonality of precipitation and...
The impact of sediment supply on the initiation and magnitude of runoff-generated debris flows
Hui Tang, Luke A. McGuire, Jason W. Kean, Joel B. Smith
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
Rainfall intensity‐duration (ID) thresholds are commonly used to assess the potential for runoff‐generated debris flows, but the sensitivity of these thresholds to sediment supply, which can change rapidly with time, is relatively unexplored. Furthermore, debris flows often self‐organize into distinct surges, but the factors controlling the magnitude and frequency of...
Felsic melt and gas mobilisation during magma solidification: An experimental study at 1.1 kbar
Mattia Pistone, Lukas Baumgartner, Florence Begue, Paul A. Jarvis, Elias Bloch, Martin Robyr, Othmar Muntener, Thomas W. Sisson, Jon D. Blundy
2020, Frontiers in Earth Science (8)
Melt and gas transfer processes are essential to the formation and growth of the Earth’s crust and for sustaining volcanic activity. These processes also play a major role in magma fractionation at shallow depths (<10 km) where magmas stall rheologically and solidify. In this scenario, the conditions of melt and...
Repeatable source, path, and site effects from the 2019 Ridgecrest M7.1 earthquake sequence
Grace Alexandra Parker, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, John Rekoske, Eric M. Thompson
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 1530-1548
We use a large instrumental dataset from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence (Rekoske et al., 2019, 2020) to examine repeatable source‐, path‐, and site‐specific ground motions. A mixed‐effects analysis is used to partition total residuals relative to the Boore et al. (2014;...
Observations on the structure of Surtsey
James G. Moore, Marie D. Jackson
2020, Surtsey Research (14) 33-45
Comparison of investigations of the 1979 and 2017 cored boreholes coupled with continued observations of the dynamic surface of Surtsey has modified our concepts of the subsurface structure of the volcano. A geometrical analysis of the 2017 vertical and inclined cores indicates that near-surface layering dips westerly, indicating that the...
Corrigendum to "A remote sensing-based model of tidal marsh aboveground carbon stocks for the conterminous United States" [ISPRS J. Photogram. Rem. Sens.139 (2018) 255-271]
Kristin B. Byrd, Laurel Ballanti, Nathan Thomas, Dung Nguyen, James Holmquist, Marc Simard, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
2020, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (166) 63-67
The authors regret that two thirds of the San Francisco Bay biomass data included in the Landsat random forest models were not scaled to the proper units of grams per square meter. This error affects the Landsat-only models in the article, which are models #1-4 shown in Table 6. The...
Use of whole blood samples preserved in DNA lysis buffer for serological detection of avian malaria in Hawaiian forest birds
Carter T. Atkinson
2020, Report
Recent detections of avian malarial parasites in native and non-native forest birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge and reports of epidemic transmission of the disease in high elevation habitats as well as controversy over accuracy of the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) diagnostic test that was being used led to...
Source model for Sabancaya volcano constrained by DInSAR and GNSS surface deformation observation
Gregorio Boixart, Luis Cruz, Rafael Miranda, Pablo Euillades, Leonardo Euillades, Maurizio Battaglia
2020, Remote Sensing (12)
Sabancaya is the most active volcano of the Ampato-Sabancaya Volcanic Complex (ASVC) in southern Perú and has been erupting since 2016. The analysis of ascending and descending Sentinel-1 orbits (DInSAR) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) datasets from 2014 to 2019 imaged a radially symmetric inflating area,...
Fish and habitat assessment in Rock Creek, Klickitat County, southeastern Washington, 2018
Jill M. Hardiman
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1051
Executive SummaryNative steelhead (anadromous form of rainbow trout [Oncorhynchus mykiss]) and bridgelip sucker (Catostomus columbianus) were historically used by the Kah-miltpah (Rock Creek) Band for sustenance, trade, and traditional practices in Rock Creek, a tributary to the Columbia River in southeastern Washington State. Rock Creek flows south to the Columbia...
Incorporating spatial synchrony in the status assessment of a threatened species with multivariate analysis
Edward Stowe, Seth J. Wenger, Mary Freeman, Byron J. Freeman
2020, Biological Conservation (248)
Spatial synchrony—correlated abundance fluctuations among distinct populations—is associated with increased extinction risk but is not a component of widely-used extinction risk assessments (e.g., IUCN Red List, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Species Status Assessment). Alongside traditional viability metrics (i.e., the number of populations, their spatial extent, the status of each...
Nowcasting methods for determining microbiological water quality at recreational beaches and drinking-water source waters
Donna S. Francy, Amie M.G. Brady, Jessica R. Cicale, Harrison D Dalby, Erin A. Stelzer
2020, Journal of Microbiological Methods (175)
Nowcasts are tools used to provide timely and accurate water-quality assessments of threats to drinking-water and recreational resources from fecal contamination or cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms. They use mathematical models and techniques to provide near-real-time estimates of fecal-indicator bacteria (FIB) and cyanotoxin concentrations. Techniques include logic-based thresholds, decision trees (built...
Geometric controls on megathrust earthquakes
Steven M. Plescia, Gavin P. Hayes
2020, Geophysical Journal International (222) 1270-1282
The role of subduction zone geometry in the nucleation and propagation of great-sized earthquake ruptures is an important topic for earthquake hazard, since knowing how big an earthquake can be on a given fault is fundamentally important. Past studies have shown subducting bathymetric features (e.g. ridges, fracture zones, seamount...
Survival estimates for the invasive American bullfrog
Paige E. Howell, Erin L. Muths, Brent H. Sigafus, Blake R. Hossack
2020, Amphibia-Reptilia (41) 559-564
American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) are significant invaders in many places and can negatively impact native species. Despite their impact and wide distribution, little is known about their demography. We used five years of capture mark-recapture data to estimate annual apparent survival of post-metamorphic bullfrogs in a population on the Buenos...
The Moon as a climate-quality radiometric calibration reference
Thomas C. Stone, Hugh H. Kieffer, Constantine Lukashin, Kevin Turpie
2020, Remote Sensing (12) 1837-1853
On-orbit calibration requirements for a space-based climate observing system include long-term sensor response stability and reliable inter-calibration of multiple sensors, both contemporaneous and in succession. The difficulties with achieving these for reflected solar wavelength instruments are well known. The Moon can be considered a diffuse reflector of sunlight, and its...
Rock strength properties of granitic rocks in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California
Brian D. Collins, Federica Sandrone, Laurent Gastaldo, Greg M. Stock, Michel Jaboyedoff
2020, Data Series 1126
Yosemite National Park, located in the central part of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, is a glacially carved landscape filled with iconic rock formations such as Cathedral Peak, El Capitan, and Half Dome. Igneous rocks, consisting primarily of variations of granite, granodiorite, and tonalite, make up the majority of the bedrock...
Occurrence and geochemistry of lead-210 and polonium-210 radionuclides in public-drinking-water supplies from principal aquifers of the United States
Zoltan Szabo, Paul E. Stackelberg, Charles A. Cravotta III
2020, Environmental Science Technology (54) 7236-7249
On the basis of lifetime cancer risks, lead-210 (210Pb) and polonium-210 (210Po) ≥ 1.0 and 0.7 pCi/L (picocuries per liter), respectively, in drinking-water supplies may pose human-health concerns. 210Pb and 210Po were detected at concentrations greater than these thresholds at 3.7 and 1.5%,...
Fishing for food: Quantifying recreational fisheries harvest in Wisconsin lakes
Holly Embke, Beard Jr., Abigail Lynch, Vander Zanden
2020, Fisheries Magazine (45) 647-655
Recreational fisheries have high economic worth, valued at US$190 billion globally. An important, but underappreciated, secondary value of recreational catch is its role as a source of food. This contribution is poorly understood due to difficulty in estimating recreational harvest at spatial scales beyond a single...
Timescales and processes of methane hydrate formation and breakdown, with application to geologic systems
Carolyn D. Ruppel, William F. Waite
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth (125)
Gas hydrate is an ice-like form of water and low molecular weight gas stable at temperatures of roughly -10ºC to 25ºC and pressures of ~3 to 30 MPa in geologic systems. Natural gas hydrates sequester an estimated one-sixth of Earth’s methane and are found primarily in deepwater marine sediments on...
Streambed scour of salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) redds in the South Fork Tolt River, King County, Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Elizabeth Ablow, Derek Marks
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5044
Prior to emergence as fry, salmonid embryos incubating within gravel nests called “redds” are vulnerable to substrate mobilization and lowering of the streambed, a process termed “streambed scour,” during floods. Water managers regulating discharge in salmonid-bearing rivers need information about the magnitude of discharge during which the scour of substrate...
Subspecies differentiation in an enigmatic chaparral shrub species
Yi Huang, Glen R. Morrison, Alan Brelsford, Janet Franklin, Diana D Jolles, Jon Keeley, V Thomas Parker, Natalie Saavedra, Andrew C Sanders, Thomas Stoughton, Gregory A. Wahlert, Amy Litt
2020, American Journal of Botany (107) 923-940
PremiseDelimiting biodiversity units is difficult in organisms in which differentiation is obscured by hybridization, plasticity, and other factors that blur phenotypic boundaries. Such work is more complicated when the focal units are subspecies, the definition of which has not been broadly explored in the era of modern...
Hyperpigmented melanistic skin lesions of smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu from the Chesapeake Bay watershed
Vicki S. Blazer, Kelsey T. Young, Geoffrey D. Smith, Adam Sperry, Luke R. Iwanowicz
2020, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (139) 199-212
Hyperpigmented melanistic skin lesions (HPMLs) of smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu are observed in the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers, Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA. Routine, nonlethal population surveys were conducted at 8 sites on the mainstem Susquehanna River and 9 on the Juniata River, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, between 2012 and 2018,...
Legacy and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in tree swallows along an agricultural to industrial gradient: Maumee River, OH
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Paul M. Dummer, Sandra L. Schultz, Chi Yen Tseng, Natalie Karouna-Renier, Cole W. Matson
2020, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (39) 1936-1952
Exposure to multiple classes of contaminants, both legacy and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), were assessed in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) tissue and diet samples from 6 sites along the Maumee River, Ohio, USA, to understand both exposure and possible effects of exposure to those CECs for which there are...
Safe work practices for working with wildlife
Tegwin Taylor, Danielle Buttke
Katherine L. D. Richgels, Samantha E.J. Gibbs, Margaret A. Wild, editor(s)
2020, Techniques and Methods 15-C2
Most wildlife biologists, technicians, and veterinarians complete their tasks safely and uneventfully every day. However, some significant risks exist in this line of work, and injuries, illnesses, and accidental deaths among wildlife workers do occur. Aviation accidents (airplane and helicopter), drownings, and car and truck accidents are the most common...
Drought early warning and forecasting
Chris Funk, Shraddhanand Shukla
2020, Book
Drought risk management involves three pillars: drought early warning, drought vulnerability and risk assessment, and drought preparedness, mitigation, and response. This book collects in one place a description of all the key components of the first pillar, and describes strategies for fitting these pieces together. The best modern drought early...