The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Rhode Island
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3040
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Rhode Island, elevation data are critical for flood risk management, natural resources conservation, coastal zone management, sea level rise and subsidence, agriculture...
Catalog of earthquake hypocenters at Alaskan volcanoes: January 1 through December 31, 2012
James P. Dixon, Scott D. Stihler, John A. Power, Matthew M. Haney, Tom Parker, Cheryl Searcy, Stephanie Prejean
2013, Data Series 789
Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, the Alaska Volcano Observatory located 4,787 earthquakes, of which 4,211 occurred within 20 kilometers of the 33 volcanoes monitored by a seismograph network. There was significant seismic activity at Iliamna, Kanaga, and Little Sitkin volcanoes in 2012. Instrumentation highlights for this year include...
Some like it hot, some not!
Jayne Belnap
2013, Science (340) 1533-1534
Dryland ecosystems cover over 40% of Earth's terrestrial landmass (1). Biocrusts—soil communities consisting of cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichens—can cover up to 70% of the ground in these ecosystems (see the figure, panel A) (2). The crucial role played by these and other very small organisms in nutrient, carbon, and water...
Nest guarding by female Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) at a wind-energy facility near Palm Springs, California
Mickey Agha, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Ethan Wilcox
2013, Southwestern Naturalist (58) 254-257
We observed behavior consistent with nest-guarding in Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) at two nests in a large wind-energy-generation facility near Palm Springs, California, locally known as the Mesa Wind Farm. As researchers approached the nests, female desert tortoises moved to the entrance of their burrows and positioned themselves sideways,...
An automated cross-correlation based event detection technique and its application to surface passive data set
Farnoush Forghani-Arani, Jyoti Behura, Seth S. Haines, Mike Batzle
2013, Geophysical Prospecting (61) 778-787
In studies on heavy oil, shale reservoirs, tight gas and enhanced geothermal systems, the use of surface passive seismic data to monitor induced microseismicity due to the fluid flow in the subsurface is becoming more common. However, in most studies passive seismic records contain days and months of data and...
Water levels in the aquifers of the Nacatoch Sand of southwestern and northeastern Arkansas and the Tokio Formation of southwestern Arkansas, February–March 2011
T.P. Schrader, Kirk D. Rodgers
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5130
The aquifers in the Nacatoch Sand and Tokio Formation in southwestern Arkansas and the Nacatoch Sand in northeastern Arkansas are sources of water for industrial, public supply, domestic, and agricultural uses. Potentiometric-surface maps were constructed from water-level measurements made in 47 wells completed in the Nacatoch Sand and 45 wells...
Infrequent triggering of tremor along the San Jacinto Fault near Anza, California
Tien-Huei Wang, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Duncan Carr Agnew, David D. Oglesby
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 2482-2497
We examine the conditions necessary to trigger tremor along the San Jacinto fault (SJF) near Anza, California, where previous studies suggest triggered tremor occurs, but observations are sparse. We investigate the stress required to trigger tremor using continuous broadband seismograms from 11 stations located near Anza, California. We examine 44...
Modeling volcano growth on the Island of Hawaii: Deep-water perspectives
Peter W. Lipman, Andrew T. Calvert
2013, Geosphere (9) 1348-1383
Recent ocean-bottom geophysical surveys, dredging, and dives, which complement surface data and scientific drilling at the Island of Hawaii, document that evolutionary stages during volcano growth are more diverse than previously described. Based on combining available composition, isotopic age, and geologically constrained volume data for each of the component volcanoes,...
Effects of natural flooding and manual trapping on the facilitation of invasive crayfish-native amphibian coexistence in a semi-arid perennial stream
Lee B. Kats, Gary Bucciarelli, Thomas L. Vandergon, Rodney L. Honeycutt, Evan Mattiasen, Arthur Sanders, Seth P.D. Riley, Jacob L. Kerby, Robert N. Fisher
2013, Journal of Arid Environments (98) 109-112
Aquatic amphibians are known to be vulnerable to a myriad of invasive predators. Invasive crayfish are thought to have eliminated native populations of amphibians in some streams in the semi-arid Santa Monica Mountains of southern California. Despite their toxic skin secretions that defend them from native predators, newts are vulnerable...
Land use planning and wildfire: development policies influence future probability of housing loss
Alexandra D. Syphard, Avi Bar Massada, Van Butsic, Jon E. Keeley
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Increasing numbers of homes are being destroyed by wildfire in the wildland-urban interface. With projections of climate change and housing growth potentially exacerbating the threat of wildfire to homes and property, effective fire-risk reduction alternatives are needed as part of a comprehensive fire management plan. Land use planning represents a...
Assessment of regional change in nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the Central Valley, California, USA, 1950s-2000s
Karen R. Burow, Bryant C. Jurgens, Kenneth Belitz, Neil M. Dubrovsky
2013, Environmental Earth Sciences (69) 2609-2621
A regional assessment of multi-decadal changes in nitrate concentrations was done using historical data and a spatially stratified non-biased approach. Data were stratified into physiographic subregions on the basis of geomorphology and soils data to represent zones of historical recharge and discharge patterns in the basin. Data were also stratified...
Importance of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for aquatic birds
Jonathan Bart, Robert M. Platte, Brad Andres, Stephen Brown, James A. Johnson, William Larned
2013, Conservation Biology (27) 1304-1312
We used data from aerial surveys (1992–2010) of >100,000 km2 and ground surveys (1998–2004) of >150 km2 to estimate the density and abundance of birds on the North Slope of Alaska (U.S.A.). In the ground surveys, we used double sampling to estimate detection ratios. We used the aerial survey data...
Relation between organic-wastewater compounds, groundwater geochemistry, and well characteristics for selected wells in Lansing, Michigan
Sheridan K. Haack, Carol L. Luukkonen
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5139
In 2010, groundwater from 20 Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) production wells was tested for 69 organic-wastewater compounds (OWCs). The OWCs detected in one-half of the sampled wells are widely used in industrial and environmental applications and commonly occur in many wastes and stormwater. To identify factors that...
Accumulation of atmospheric sulfur in some Costa Rican soils
Carleton R. Bern, Alan R. Townsend
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (113)
Sulfur is one of the macronutrient elements whose sources to terrestrial ecosystems should shift from dominance by rock-weathering to atmospheric deposition as soils and underlying substrate undergo progressive weathering and leaching. However, the nature and timing of this transition is not well known. We investigated sources of sulfur to tropical...
Integrating seismic-reflection and sequence-stratigraphic methods to characterize the hydrogeology of the Floridan aquifer system in southeast Florida
Kevin J. Cunningham
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1181
The Floridan aquifer system (FAS) is receiving increased attention as a result of regulatory restrictions on water-supply withdrawals and treated wastewater management practices. The South Florida Water Management District’s Regional Water Availability Rule, adopted in 2007, restricts urban withdrawals from the shallower Biscayne aquifer to pre-April 2006 levels throughout southeast...
New service interface for River Forecasting Center derived quantitative precipitation estimates
David L. Blodgett
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3035
For more than a decade, the National Weather Service (NWS) River Forecast Centers (RFCs) have been estimating spatially distributed rainfall by applying quality-control procedures to radar-indicated rainfall estimates in the eastern United States and other best practices in the western United States to producea national Quantitative Precipitation Estimate (QPE) (National...
Age and condition of juvenile catostomids in Clear Lake Reservoir, California
Summer M. Burdick, Josh Rasmussen
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1188
Executive Summary Although infrequent recruitment of new individuals into the adult spawning populations of Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) limits recovery of these species in Upper Klamath Lake, it is not clear that populations are recruitment limited in Clear Lake Reservoir (hereafter Clear Lake). Specifically, some...
The National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center annual report for 2012
Elda Varela-Acevedo, Robin O'Malley
2013, Circular 1387
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) Climate Science Centers (CSCs) annual report. In 2008, Congress created the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)....
Documentation of the seawater intrusion (SWI2) package for MODFLOW
Mark Bakker, Frans Schaars, Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Alyssa M. Dausman
2013, Techniques and Methods 6-A46
The SWI2 Package is the latest release of the Seawater Intrusion (SWI) Package for MODFLOW. The SWI2 Package allows three-dimensional vertically integrated variable-density groundwater flow and seawater intrusion in coastal multiaquifer systems to be simulated using MODFLOW-2005. Vertically integrated variable-density groundwater flow is based on the Dupuit approximation in which...
Quantifying mineral abundances of complex mixtures by coupling spectral deconvolution of SWIR spectra (2.1-2.4 μm) and regression tree analysis
V.L. Mulder, Michael Plotze, Sytze de Bruin, Michael E. Schaepman, C. Mavris, Raymond F. Kokaly, Markus Egli
2013, Geoderma (207-208) 279-290
This paper presents a methodology for assessing mineral abundances of mixtures having more than two constituents using absorption features in the 2.1-2.4 μm wavelength region. In the first step, the absorption behaviour of mineral mixtures is parameterised by exponential Gaussian optimisation. Next, mineral abundances are predicted by regression tree analysis...
Population ecology of variegate darter (Etheostoma variatum) in Virginia
Jane E. Argentina, Paul L. Angermeier, Eric M. Hallerman
2013, Report
Variegate darters (Etheostoma variatum) were listed as endangered in Virginia in 1992. Reasons for listing included habitat degradation and concerns about current and future impacts of coal mining throughout their Virginia range. Prior to this research, little was known about variegate darter distribution, habitat use, or populations in Virginia. Two...
Trends in concentrations of nitrate and total dissolved solids in public supply wells of the Bunker Hill, Lytle, Rialto, and Colton groundwater subbasins, San Bernardino County, California: Influence of legacy land use
Robert Kent, Matthew K. Landon
2013, Science of the Total Environment (452-453) 125-136
Concentrations and temporal changes in concentrations of nitrate and total dissolved solids (TDS) in groundwater of the Bunker Hill, Lytle, Rialto, and Colton groundwater subbasins of the Upper Santa Ana Valley Groundwater Basin were evaluated to identify trends and factors that may be affecting trends. One hundred, thirty-one public-supply wells...
Pre-flight calibration and initial data processing for the ChemCam laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover
R. C. Wiens, S. Maurice, J. Lasue, O. Forni, R.B. Anderson, S. Clegg, S. Bender, D. Blaney, B.L. Barraclough, A. Cousin, L. DeFlores, D. Delapp, M.D. Dyar, C. Fabre, O. Gasnault, N. Lanza, J. Mazoyer, N. Melikechi, P.-Y. Meslin, H. Newsom, A. Ollila, R. Perez, R. Tokar, D. Vaniman
2013, Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy (82) 1-27
The ChemCam instrument package on the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is the first planetary science instrument to employ laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to determine the compositions of geological samples on another planet. Pre-processing of the spectra involves subtracting the ambient light background, removing noise, removing the electron continuum, calibrating...
Modeling steam pressure under martian lava flows
Colin M. Dundas, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
2013, Icarus (226) 1058-1067
Rootless cones on Mars are a valuable indicator of past interactions between lava and water. However, the details of the lava–water interactions are not fully understood, limiting the ability to use these features to infer new information about past water on Mars. We have developed a model for the pressurization...
Measuring environmental change in forest ecosystems by repeated soil sampling: a North American perspective
Gregory B. Lawrence, Ivan J. Fernandez, Daniel D. Richter, Donald S. Ross, Paul W. Hazlett, Scott W. Bailey, Oiumet, Richard A.F. Warby, Arthur H. Johnson, Henry Lin, James M. Kaste, Andrew G. Lapenis, Timothy J. Sullivan
2013, Journal of Environmental Quality (42) 623-639
Environmental change is monitored in North America through repeated measurements of weather, stream and river flow, air and water quality, and most recently, soil properties. Some skepticism remains, however, about whether repeated soil sampling can effectively distinguish between temporal and spatial variability, and efforts to document soil change in forest...
