Combined global change effects on ecosystem processesin nine U.S. topographically complex areas
Melannie D. Hartman, Jill S. Baron, Holly A. Ewing, Kathleen Weathers
2014, Biogeochemistry (119) 85-108
Concurrent changes in climate, atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, and increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) affect ecosystems in complex ways. The DayCent-Chem model was used to investigate the combined effects of these human-caused drivers of change over the period 1980–2075 at seven forested montane and two alpine watersheds in...
Effects of iron on optical properties of dissolved organic matter
Brett Poulin, Joseph N. Ryan, George R. Aiken
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 10098-10106
Iron is a source of interference in the spectroscopic analysis of dissolved organic matter (DOM); however, its effects on commonly employed ultraviolet and visible (UV–vis) light adsorption and fluorescence measurements are poorly defined. Here, we describe the effects of iron(II) and iron(III) on the UV–vis absorption and fluorescence of solutions...
Monitoring conterminous United States (CONUS) land cover change with Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD)
M.C. Hansen, Alexey Egorov, P.V. Potapov, S.V. Stehman, A. Tyukavina, S.A. Turubanova, David P. Roy, S.J. Goetz, Thomas R. Loveland, J. Ju, A. Kommareddy, Valeriy Kovalskyy, C. Forsyth, T. Bents
2014, Remote Sensing of Environment (140) 466-484
Forest cover loss and bare ground gain from 2006 to 2010 for the conterminous United States (CONUS) were quantified at a 30 m spatial resolution using Web-Enabled Landsat Data available from the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) (http://landsat.usgs.gov/WELD.php). The approach related multi-temporal WELD metrics and expert-derived...
Estuarine removal of glacial iron and implications for iron fluxes to the ocean
Andrew W. Schroth, John Crusius, Ian Hoyer, Robert Campbell
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 3951-3958
While recent work demonstrates that glacial meltwater provides a substantial and relatively labile flux of the micronutrient iron to oceans, the role of high-latitude estuary environments as a potential sink of glacial iron is unknown. Here we present the first quantitative description of iron removal in a meltwater-dominated estuary. We...
Latest Quaternary paleoseismology and evidence of distributed dextral shear along the Mohawk Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane, California
Ryan D. Gold, Richard W. Briggs, Stephen Personius, Anthony J. Crone, Shannon A. Mahan, Stephen Angster
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 5014-5032
The dextral-slip Mohawk Valley fault zone (MVFZ) strikes northwestward along the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada in the northern Walker Lane. Geodetic block modeling indicates that the MVFZ may accommodate ~3 mm/yr of regional dextral strain, implying that it is the highest slip-rate strike-slip fault in the region; however,...
Landsat: Sustaining earth observations beyond Landsat 8
Francis P. Kelly, Thomas M. Holm
2014, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (80) 15-15
The Landsat series of Earth-observing satellites began 41-years ago as a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). For the past 41 years, Landsat satellites and associated U.S. Government ground processing, distribution, and archiving systems...
Science is the first step to siting nuclear waste repositories
Christopher E. Neuzil
2014, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (95) 71-71
As Shaw [2014] notes, U.S. research on shale as a repository host was halted before expending anything close to the effort devoted to studying crystalline rock, salt, and - most notably - tuff at Yucca Mountain. The new political reality regarding Yucca Mountain may allow reconsideration of the decision to...
Structure and seismic hazard of the Ventura Avenue anticline and Ventura fault, California: Prospect for large, multisegment ruptures in the Western Transverse Ranges
Judith Hubbard, John H. Shaw, James F. Dolan, Thomas L. Pratt, Lee J. McAuliffe, Thomas K. Rockwell
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 1070-1087
The Ventura Avenue anticline is one of the fastest uplifting structures in southern California, rising at ∼5 mm/yr. We use well data and seismic reflection profiles to show that the anticline is underlain by the Ventura fault, which extends to seismogenic depth. Fault offset increases with depth, implying that the...
Frictional properties of exhumed fault gouges in DFDP-1 cores, Alpine Fault, New Zealand
Carolyn Boulton, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner, Virginia G. Toy, John Townend, Rupert Southerland
2014, Geophysical Research Letters (41) 356-362
Principal slip zone gouges recovered during the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP-1), Alpine Fault, New Zealand, were deformed in triaxial friction experiments at temperatures, T, of up to 350°C, effective normal stresses, σn′, of up to 156 MPa, and velocities between 0.01 and 3 µm/s. Chlorite/white mica-bearing DFDP-1A blue gouge, 90.62 m sample depth, is...
Uranium–Lead dating, opal
Leonid A. Neymark
2014, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of scientific dating methods
No abstract available....
Equations for calculating hydrogeochemical reactions of minerals and gases such as CO2 at high pressures and temperatures
C.A.J. Appelo, David L. Parkhurst, V.E.A. Post
2014, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (125) 49-67
Calculating the solubility of gases and minerals at the high pressures of carbon capture and storage in geological reservoirs requires an accurate description of the molar volumes of aqueous species and the fugacity coefficients of gases. Existing methods for calculating the molar volumes of aqueous species are limited to...
Decadal-scale variability of diffuse CO2 emissions and seismicity revealed from long-term monitoring (1995–2013) at Mammoth Mountain, California, USA
Cynthia A. Werner, Deborah Bergfeld, Chris Farrar, Michael P. Doukas, Peter J. Kelly, Christoph Kern
2014, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (289) 51-63
Mammoth Mountain, California, is a dacitic volcano that has experienced several periods of unrest since 1989. The onset of diffuse soil CO2 emissions at numerous locations on the flanks of the volcano began in 1989–1990 following an 11-month period of heightened seismicity. CO2 emission rates were measured yearly from 1995...
Development of a generic auto-calibration package for regional ecological modeling and application in the Central Plains of the United States
Yiping Wu, Shuguang Liu, Zhengpeng Li, Devendra Dahal, Claudia J. Young, Gail L. Schmidt, Jinxun Liu, Brian Davis, Terry L. Sohl, Jeremy M. Werner, Jennifer Oeding
2014, Ecological Informatics (19) 35-46
Process-oriented ecological models are frequently used for predicting potential impacts of global changes such as climate and land-cover changes, which can be useful for policy making. It is critical but challenging to automatically derive optimal parameter values at different scales, especially at regional scale, and validate the model performance. In...
Detecting the influence of best management practices on vegetation near ephemeral streams with Landsat data
Matthew B. Rigge, Alexander Smart, Bruce K. Wylie, Kendall de Van Kamp
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 1-8
Various best management practices (BMPs) have been implemented on rangelands with the goals of controlling nonpoint source pollution, reducing the impact of livestock in ecologically important riparian areas, and improving grazing distribution. Providing off-stream water sources to livestock in pastures, cross-fencing, and rotational grazing are common rangeland BMPs that have...
Detecting emergence, growth, and senescence of wetland vegetation with polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data
Alisa L. Gallant, Shannon G. Kaya, Lori White, Brian Brisco, Mark F. Roth, Walter J. Sadinski, Jennifer Rover
2014, Water (6) 694-722
Wetlands provide ecosystem goods and services vitally important to humans. Land managers and policymakers working to conserve wetlands require regularly updated information on the statuses of wetlands across the landscape. However, wetlands are challenging to map remotely with high accuracy and consistency. We investigated the use of multitemporal polarimetric synthetic...
A universal Model-R Coupler to facilitate the use of R functions for model calibration and analysis
Yiping Wu, Shuguang Liu, Wende Yan
2014, Environmental Modelling and Software (62) 65-69
Mathematical models are useful in various fields of science and engineering. However, it is a challenge to make a model utilize the open and growing functions (e.g., model inversion) on the R platform due to the requirement of accessing and revising the model's source code. To overcome this barrier, we...
Evapotranspiration variability and its association with vegetation dynamics in the Nile Basin, 2002–2011
Henok Alemu, Gabriel B. Senay, Armel T. Kaptue, Valeriy Kovalskyy
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 5885-5908
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a vital component in land-atmosphere interactions. In drylands, over 90% of annual rainfall evaporates. The Nile Basin in Africa is about 42% dryland in a region experiencing rapid population growth and development. The relationship of ET with climate, vegetation and land cover in the basin during 2002–2011...
Applying threshold concepts to conservation management of dryland ecosystems: Case studies on the Colorado Plateau
Matthew A. Bowker, Mark E. Miller, Steven L. Garman, Travis Belote
Glenn R. Guntenspergen, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Application of threshold concepts in natural resource decision making
Ecosystems may occupy functionally distinct alternative states, some of which are more or less desirable from a management standpoint. Transitions from state to state are usually associated with a particular trigger or sequence of triggers, such as the addition or subtraction of a disturbance. Transitions are often not linear, rather...
Depositional setting of the hoskinnini member of the Triassic Moenkopi Formation, southeastern Utah
Russell F. Dubiel, Jacqueline E. Huntoon, John D. Stanesco, Stephen T. Hasiotis
2014, Utah Geological Association Publication 43
No abstract available....
Source, conveyance and fate of suspended sediments following Hurricane Irene. New England, USA
Brian Yellen, Jon D. Woodruff, Laura N. Kratz, Steven B. Mabee, Jonathan Morrison, Anna M. Martini
2014, Geomorphology (226) 124-134
Hurricane Irene passed directly over the Connecticut River valley in late August, 2011. Intense precipitation and high antecedent soil moisture resulted in record flooding, mass wasting and fluvial erosion, allowing for observations of how these rare but significant extreme events affect a landscape still responding to Pleistocene glaciation and associated...
Reptilia: Testudines: Emydidae Graptemys gibbonsi - Pascagoula Map Turtle
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen
2014, Book chapter, Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile
The Pascagoula Map Turtle, Graptemys gibbonsi, is a large riverine species that exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism, where females attain a maximum carapace length (CL) of 295 mm and males a maximum of 141 mm (Lovich et al. 2009). Mean adult female CL (248 mm) can be well over twice the...
Red imported fire ants solenopsis invicta cause black-necked stilt himantopus mexicanus nest failure
Thomas V. Riecke, Warren C. Conway, Christopher E. Comer, David A. Haukos, J.A. Moon
2014, Wader Study Group Bulletin (121) 52-53
No abstract available....
Survival of female white-cheeked pintails during brood rearing in Puerto Rico
Marisel Lopez-Flores, J. Brian Davis, Francisco Vilella, Richard M. Kaminski, Jose A. Cruz-Burgos, Joseph D. Lancaster
2014, Caribbean Naturalist (10) 1-12
Anas bahamensis (White-cheeked Pintail) is widely distributed across the Caribbean islands and South America. The species is classified as threatened in Puerto Rico and a species of least concern across most of its range. Little demographic data exist for the species, particularly during the breeding season. During 2000-2002, we radiomarked...
Rocking behavior of an instrumented unique building on the MIT campus identified from ambient shaking data
Mehmet Çelebi, Nafi Toksoz, Oral Buyukozturk
2014, Earthquake Spectra (30) 705-720
A state-of-the-art seismic monitoring system comprising 36 accelerometers and a data-logger with real-time capability was recently installed at Building 54 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Cambridge, MA, campus. The system is designed to record translational, torsional, and rocking motions, and to facilitate the computation of drift between select...
Assessment of lesser prairie-chicken use of wildlife water guzzlers
Clint W. Boal, Philip K. Borsdorf, Trevor S. Gicklhorn
2014, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society (46) 10-18
Man-made water sources have been used as a management tool for wildlife, especially in arid regions, but the value of these water sources for wildlife populations is not well understood. In particular, the value of water as a conservation tool for Lesser Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is unknown. However, this is...
