Coastal fog, climate change, and the environment
Alicia A. Torregrosa, Travis A. O’Brien, Ian C. Faloona
2014, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (95) 473-474
Coastal marine fog, a characteristic feature of climates generated at the eastern boundaries of ocean basins worldwide, evokes different feelings in those who experience it (see Figure 1). Authors and poets use fog to represent mystery, bleakness, and confusion. Film directors seek out fog to shroud scenes in eerie gloominess. Tourists...
Characterizing riverbed sediment using high-frequency acoustics 2: scattering signatures of Colorado River bed sediment in Marble and Grand Canyons
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Matthew A. Kaplinski
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (119) 2692-2710
In this, the second of a pair of papers on the statistical signatures of riverbed sediment in high-frequency acoustic backscatter, spatially explicit maps of the stochastic geometries (length- and amplitude-scales) of backscatter are related to patches of riverbed surfaces composed of known sediment types, as determined by geo-referenced underwater video...
Widespread gas hydrate instability on the upper U.S. Beaufort margin
Benjamin J. Phrampus, Matthew J. Hornbach, Carolyn D. Ruppel, Patrick E. Hart
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 8594-8609
The most climate-sensitive methane hydrate deposits occur on upper continental slopes at depths close to the minimum pressure and maximum temperature for gas hydrate stability. At these water depths, small perturbations in intermediate ocean water temperatures can lead to gas hydrate dissociation. The Arctic Ocean has experienced more dramatic warming...
What do we gain from simplicity versus complexity in species distribution models?
Cory Merow, Matthew J. Smith, Thomas C. Edwards Jr., Antoine Guisan, Sean M. McMahon, Signe Normand, Wilfried Thuiller, Rafael O. Wuest, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Jane Elith
2014, Ecography (37) 1267-1281
Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to explain and predict species ranges and environmental niches. They are most commonly constructed by inferring species' occurrence–environment relationships using statistical and machine-learning methods. The variety of methods that can be used to construct SDMs (e.g. generalized linear/additive models, tree-based models, maximum entropy,...
Using the USGS Seismic Risk Web Application to estimate aftershock damage
Sean M. McGowan, Nicolas Luco
2014, Conference Paper
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Engineering Risk Assessment Project has developed the Seismic Risk Web Application to combine earthquake hazard and structural fragility information in order to calculate the risk of earthquake damage to structures. Enabling users to incorporate their own hazard and fragility information into the calculations will make...
Potential reduction in terrestrial salamander ranges associated with Marcellus shale development
Adrianne B. Brand, Amber N. M. Wiewel, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2014, Biological Conservation (180) 233-240
Natural gas production from the Marcellus shale is rapidly increasing in the northeastern United States. Most of the endemic terrestrial salamander species in the region are classified as ‘globally secure’ by the IUCN, primarily because much of their ranges include state- and federally protected lands, which have been presumed to...
Fate of injected CO2 in the Wilcox Group, Louisiana, Gulf Coast Basin: Chemical and isotopic tracers of microbial–brine–rock–CO2 interactions
Jenna L. Shelton, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Peter D. Warwick, Amelia Lee Zhi Yi
2014, Applied Geochemistry (51) 155-169
The “2800’ sandstone” of the Olla oil field is an oil and gas-producing reservoir in a coal-bearing interval of the Paleocene–Eocene Wilcox Group in north-central Louisiana, USA. In the 1980s, this producing unit was flooded with CO2 in an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project, leaving ∼30% of the injected CO2 in the...
Late Holocene slip rate and ages of prehistoric earthquakes along the Maacama Fault near Willits, Mendocino County, northern California
Carol S. Prentice, Martin C. Larsen, Harvey M. Kelsey, Judith Zachariasen
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 2966-2984
The Maacama fault is the northward continuation of the Hayward–Rodgers Creek fault system and creeps at a rate of 5.7±0.1 mm/yr (averaged over the last 20 years) in Willits, California. Our paleoseismic studies at Haehl Creek suggest that the Maacama fault has produced infrequent large earthquakes in addition to creep. Fault...
Layered hydrothermal barite-sulfide mound field, East Diamante Caldera, Mariana volcanic arc
James R. Hein, Cornel E. J. de Ronde, Randolph A. Koski, Robert G. Ditchburn, Kira Mizell, Yoshihiko Tamura, Robert J. Stern, Tracey Conrad, Osamu Ishizuka, Matthew I. Leybourne
2014, Economic Geology (109) 2179-2206
East Diamante is a submarine volcano in the southern Mariana arc that is host to a complex caldera ~5 × 10 km (elongated ENE-WSW) that is breached along its northern and southwestern sectors. A large field of barite-sulfide mounds was discovered in June 2009 and revisited in July 2010 with...
Carryover effects and climatic conditions influence the postfledging survival of greater sage-grouse
Erik J. Blomberg, James S. Sedinger, Daniel Gibson, Peter S. Coates, Michael L. Casazza
2014, Ecology and Evolution (4) 4488-4499
Prebreeding survival is an important life history component that affects both parental fitness and population persistence. In birds, prebreeding can be separated into pre- and postfledging periods; carryover effects from the prefledging period may influence postfledging survival. We investigated effects of body condition at fledging, and climatic variation, on postfledging...
Characterizing riverbed sediment using high-frequency acoustics 1: spectral properties of scattering
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Matthew A. Kaplinski
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (119) 2674-2691
Bed-sediment classification using high-frequency hydro-acoustic instruments is challenging when sediments are spatially heterogeneous, which is often the case in rivers. The use of acoustic backscatter to classify sediments is an attractive alternative to analysis of topography because it is potentially sensitive to grain-scale roughness. Here, a new method is presented...
Estimating the volcanic emission rate and atmospheric lifetime of SO2 from space: a case study for Kīlauea volcano, Hawai'i
Steffen Beirle, Christoph Hormann, Malouse Penning de Vries, Stefan Dorner, Christoph Kern, Thomas Wagner
2014, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (14) 8309-8322
We present an analysis of SO2 column densities derived from GOME-2 satellite measurements for the Kīlauea volcano (Hawai`i) for 2007–2012. During a period of enhanced degassing activity in March–November 2008, monthly mean SO2 emission rates and effective SO2 lifetimes are determined simultaneously from the observed downwind plume evolution and meteorological wind fields, without...
Impacts of drought and crayfish invasion on stream ecosystem structure and function
Daniel D. Magoulick
2014, River Research and Applications (30) 1309-1317
Drought and seasonal drying can be important disturbance events in many small streams, leading to intermittent or isolated habitats. Many small streams contain crayfish populations that are often keystone or dominant species in these systems. I conducted an experiment in stream mesocosms to examine the effects of drought and potential...
Contaminants of emerging concern in fresh leachate from landfills in the conterminous United States
Jason R. Masoner, Dana W. Kolpin, Edward T. Furlong, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, James L. Gray, Eric A. Schwab
2014, Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts (16) 2335-2354
To better understand the composition of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in landfill leachate, fresh leachate from 19 landfills was sampled across the United States during 2011. The sampled network included 12 municipal and 7 private landfills with varying landfill waste compositions, geographic and climatic settings, ages of waste, waste...
Hidden Markov model for dependent mark loss and survival estimation
Jeffrey L. Laake, Devin S. Johnson, Duane R. Diefenbach, Mark A. Ternent
2014, Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics (19) 522-538
Mark-recapture estimators assume no loss of marks to provide unbiased estimates of population parameters. We describe a hidden Markov model (HMM) framework that integrates a mark loss model with a Cormack–Jolly–Seber model for survival estimation. Mark loss can be estimated with single-marked animals as long as a sub-sample of animals...
Identifying monitoring gaps for amphibian populations in a North American biodiversity hotspot, the southeastern USA
Susan C. Walls
2014, Biodiversity and Conservation (23) 3341-3357
I review the primary literature to ascertain the status of amphibian monitoring efforts in the southeastern USA, a “hotspot” for biodiversity in North America. This effort revealed taxonomic, geographic and ecological disparities in studies of amphibian populations in this region. Of the species of anurans and caudates known to occur...
Anuran site occupancy and species richness as tools for evaluating restoration of a hydrologically-modified landscape
Susan C. Walls, J. Hardin Waddle, William J. Barichivich, Ian A. Bartoszek, Mary E. Brown, J. M. Hefner, Melinda J. Schuman
2014, Wetlands Ecology and Management (22) 625-639
A fundamental goal of wetland restoration is to reinstate pre-disturbance hydrological conditions to degraded landscapes, facilitating recolonization by native species and the production of resilient, functional ecosystems. To evaluate restoration success, baseline conditions need to be determined and a reference target needs to be established that will serve as an...
Relationships between land cover and dissolved organic matter change along the river to lake transition
James H. Larson, Paul C. Frost, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, Clayton J. Williams, Ana M. Morales-Williams, Jonathan M. Vallazza, J. C. Nelson, William B. Richardson
2014, Ecosystems (17) 1413-1425
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) influences the physical, chemical, and biological properties of aquatic ecosystems. We hypothesized that controls over spatial variation in DOM quantity and composition (measured with DOM optical properties) differ based on the source of DOM to aquatic ecosystems. DOM quantity and composition should be better predicted by...
Comprehensive framework for ecological assessment of the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
J. Brian Davis, Elisabeth B. Webb, Richard M. Kaminski, Philip J. Barbour, Francisco Vilella
2014, Southeastern Naturalist (13) G66-G81
Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) established and funded the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative (MBHI), with the goal of improving and increasing wetland habitats on private lands to benefit wintering and migrating waterbirds displaced from...
Soil CO2 emissions as a proxy for heat and mass flow assessment, Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand
S. Bloomberg, Cynthia A. Werner, C.F. Rissmann, A. Mazot, Travis B. Horton, D Gravley, B. Kennedy, C Oze
2014, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (15) 4885-4904
The quantification of heat and mass flow between deep reservoirs and the surface is important for understanding magmatic and hydrothermal systems. Here, we use high-resolution measurement of carbon dioxide flux (φCO2) and heat flow at the surface to characterize the mass (CO2 and steam) and heat released to the atmosphere from...
Cogenetic late Pleistocene rhyolite and cumulate diorites from Augustine Volcano revealed by SIMS 238U-230Th dating of zircon, and implications for silicic magma generation by extraction from mush
Michelle L. Coombs, Jorge A. Vazquez
2014, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (15) 4846-4865
Augustine Volcano, a frequently active andesitic island stratocone, erupted a late Pleistocene rhyolite pumice fall that is temporally linked through zircon geochronology to cumulate dioritic blocks brought to the surface in Augustine's 2006 eruption. Zircon from the rhyolite yield a 238U-230Th age of ∼25 ka for their unpolished rims, and their...
Effects of a dual-pump crude-oil recovery system, Bemidji, Minnesota, USA
Geoffrey N. Delin, William N. Herkelrath
2014, Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation (34) 57-67
A crude-oil spill occurred in 1979 when a pipeline burst near Bemidji, MN. In 1998, the pipeline company installed a dual-pump recovery system designed to remove crude oil remaining in the subsurface at the site. The remediation from 1999 to 2003 resulted in removal of about 115,000 L of crude...
Paleogeomorphology of the early Colorado River inferred from relationships in Mohave and Cottonwood Valleys, Arizona, California and Nevada
Philip Pearthree, Kyle House
2014, Geosphere (10) 1139-1160
Geologic investigations of late Miocene–early Pliocene deposits in Mohave and Cottonwood valleys provide important insights into the early evolution of the lower Colorado River system. In the latest Miocene these valleys were separate depocenters; the floor of Cottonwood Valley was ∼200 m higher than the floor of Mohave Valley. When...
Volcanology: Lessons learned from Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery
Virginie Pinel, Michael P. Poland, Andrew Hooper
2014, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (289) 81-113
Twenty years of continuous Earth observation by satellite SAR have resulted in numerous new insights into active volcanism, including a better understanding of subsurface magma storage and transport, deposition of volcanic materials on the surface, and the structure and development of volcanic edifices. This massive archive of data has resulted...
Ecohydrology of dry regions: storage versus pulse soil water dynamics
William K. Lauenroth, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford
2014, Ecosystems (17) 1469-1479
Although arid and semiarid regions are defined by low precipitation, the seasonal timing of temperature and precipitation can influence net primary production and plant functional type composition. The importance of precipitation seasonality is evident in semiarid areas of the western U.S., which comprise the Intermountain (IM) zone, a region that...
