Porphyry copper assessment of northeast Asia: Far East Russia and northeasternmost China: Chapter W in Global mineral resource assessment
Mark J. Mihalasky, Stephen Ludington, Dmitriy V. Alexeiev, Thomas P. Frost, Thomas D. Light, Deborah A. Briggs, Jane M. Hammarstrom, John C. Wallis, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Andre Panteleyev
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-W
The U.S. Geological Survey assesses resources (mineral, energy, water, environmental, and biologic) at regional, national, and global scales to provide science in support of land management and decision making. Mineral resource assessments provide a synthesis of available information about where mineral deposits are known and suspected to be in the...
Curiosity’s robotic arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI): Characterization and calibration status
Kenneth S. Edgett, Michael A. Caplinger, Justin N. Maki, Michael A. Ravine, F. Tony Ghaemi, Sean McNair, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Brian M. Duston, Reg G. Wilson, R. Aileen Yingst, Megan R. Kennedy, Michelle E. Minitti, Aaron J. Sengstacken, Kimberley D. Supulver, Leslie J. Lipkaman, Gillian M. Krezoski, Marie J. McBride, Tessa L. Jones, Brian E. Nixon, Jason K. Van Beek, Daniel J. Krysak, Randolph L. Kirk
2015, MSL MAHLI Technical Report 0001
MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) is a 2-megapixel, Bayer pattern color CCD camera with a macro lens mounted on a rotatable turret at the end of the 2-meters-long robotic arm aboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity. The camera includes white and longwave ultraviolet LEDs to illuminate targets at night....
Estimating population size for Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.) with spatial capture-recapture models based on genotypes from one field sample
Pierre Mollet, Marc Kery, Beth Gardner, Gilberto Pasinelli, J. Andrew Royle
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-16
We conducted a survey of an endangered and cryptic forest grouse, the capercaillie Tetrao urogallus, based on droppings collected on two sampling occasions in eight forest fragments in central Switzerland in early spring 2009. We used genetic analyses to sex and individually identify birds. We estimated sex-dependent detection probabilities and population...
Improved rapid magnitude estimation for a community-based, low-cost MEMS accelerometer network
Angela Chung, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Anna E. Kaiser, Carl M. Christensen, Battalgazi Yildirim, Jesse F. Lawrence
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 1314-1323
Immediately following the Mw 7.2 Darfield, New Zealand, earthquake, over 180 Quake‐Catcher Network (QCN) low‐cost micro‐electro‐mechanical systems accelerometers were deployed in the Canterbury region. Using data recorded by this dense network from 2010 to 2013, we significantly improved the QCN rapid magnitude estimation relationship. The previous scaling relationship (Lawrence...
Encapsulating model complexity and landscape-scale analyses of state-and-transition simulation models: an application of ecoinformatics and juniper encroachment in sagebrush steppe ecosystems
Michael S. O’Donnell
2015, AIMS Environmental Science (2) 464-493
State-and-transition simulation modeling relies on knowledge of vegetation composition and structure (states) that describe community conditions, mechanistic feedbacks such as fire that can affect vegetation establishment, and ecological processes that drive community conditions as well as the transitions between these states. However, as the need for modeling larger and more...
Geochemistry of magnetite from porphyry Cu and skarn deposits in the southwestern United States
Patrick Nadoll, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Richard A. LeVeille, Alan E. Koenig
2015, Mineralium Deposita (50) 493-515
A combination of petrographic observations, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and statistical data exploration was used in this study to determine compositional variations in hydrothermal and igneous magnetite from five porphyry Cu–Mo and skarn deposits in the southwestern United States, and igneous magnetite from the unmineralized, granodioritic...
Running a network on a shoestring: the Global Invasive Species Information Network
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Annie Simpson, James J Graham, Gregory J. Newman, Chuck T. Bargeron
2015, Management of Biological Invasions (6) 137-146
The Global Invasive Species Information Network (GISIN) was conceptualized in 2004 to aggregate and disseminate invasive species data in a standardized way. A decade later the GISIN community has implemented a data portal and three of six GISIN data aggregation models in the GISIN data exchange Protocol, including invasive species...
The role of benefit transfer in ecosystem service valuation
Leslie A. Richardson, John Loomis, Timm Kroeger, Frank Casey
2015, Ecological Economics (115) 51-58
The demand for timely monetary estimates of the economic value of nonmarket ecosystem goods and services has steadily increased over the last few decades. This article describes the use of benefit transfer to generate monetary value estimates of ecosystem services specifically. The article provides guidance for conducting such benefit transfers...
Two tickets to paradise: multiple dispersal events in the founding of hoary bat populations in Hawai'i
Amy L. Russell, Corinna A. Pinzari, Maarten J. Vonhof, Kevin J. Olival, Frank Bonaccorso
2015, PLoS ONE (6) 1-13
The Hawaiian islands are an extremely isolated oceanic archipelago, and their fauna has long served as models of dispersal in island biogeography. While molecular data have recently been applied to investigate the timing and origin of dispersal events for several animal groups including birds, insects, and snails, these questions have...
Framework for a hydrologic climate-response network in New England
Robert M. Lent, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Robert W. Dudley, Luther Schalk
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1062
Many climate-related hydrologic variables in New England have changed in the past century, and many are expected to change during the next century. It is important to understand and monitor these changes because they can affect human water supply, hydroelectric power generation, transportation infrastructure, and stream and riparian ecology. This...
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Salt Point, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Nadine E. Golden, Stephen R. Hartwell, Mercedes D. Erdey, H. Gary Greene, Guy R. Cochrane, Rikk G. Kvitek, Michael W. Manson, Charles A. Endris, Bryan E. Dieter, Janet Watt, Lisa M. Krigsman, Ray W. Sliter, Erik N. Lowe, John L. Chinn
Samuel Y. Johnson, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1098
In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Repeated count surveys help standardize multi-agency estimates of American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) abundance
Nathan J. Hostetter, Beth Gardner, Sara H. Schweitzer, Ruth Boettcher, Alexandra L. Wilke, Lindsay Addison, William R. Swilling, Kenneth H. Pollock, Theodore R. Simons
2015, The Condor (117) 354-363
The extensive breeding range of many shorebird species can make integration of survey data problematic at regional spatial scales. We evaluated the effectiveness of standardized repeated count surveys coordinated across 8 agencies to estimate the abundance of American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) breeding pairs in the southeastern United States. Breeding season...
Velocity bias induced by flow patterns around ADCPs and associated deployment platforms
David S. Mueller
2015, Conference Paper
Velocity measurements near the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) are important for mapping surface currents, measuring velocity and discharge in shallow streams, and providing accurate estimates of discharge in the top unmeasured portion of the water column. Improvements to ADCP performance permit measurement of velocities much closer (5 cm) to...
Measurements of the initiation of post-wildfire runoff during rainstorms using in situ overland flow detectors
John A. Moody, Richard G. Martin
2015, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (40) 1043-1056
Overland flow detectors (OFDs) were deployed in 2012 on a hillslope burned by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon fire near Boulder, Colorado, USA. These detectors were simple, electrical resistor-type instruments that output a voltage (0–2·5 V) and were designed to measure and record the time of runoff initiation, a signal proportional...
Changes in total phosphorus concentration in the Red River of the North Basin, 1970-2012
Karen R. Ryberg, F. Adnan Akyuz, Wei Lin
2015, Conference Paper, ASABE/CSBE North Central Intersectional Meeting Papers
The Red River of the North drains much of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota and flows north into Manitoba, Canada, ultimately into Lake Winnipeg; therefore, water quality is an International concern. With increased runoff in the past few decades, phosphorus flux (the amount of phosphorus transported by the river)...
Suspended-sediment transport and storage: A demonstration of acoustic methods in the evaluation of reservoir management strategies for a small water-supply reservoir in western Colorado
Cory A. Williams, Rodney J. Richards, Kent L. Collins
2015, Conference Paper
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and local stakeholder groups are evaluating reservoir-management strategies within Paonia Reservoir. This small reservoir fills to capacity each spring and requires approximately half of the snowmelt-runoff volume from its sediment-laden source waters, Muddy Creek. The U.S. Geological Survey is currently conducting high-resolution (15-minute data-recording...
Risk management of El Chichón and Tacaná Volcanoes: Lessons learned from past volcanic crises: Chapter 8
Servando De la Cruz-Reyna, Robert I. Tilling
2015, Book chapter, Active Volcanoes of Chiapas (Mexico): El Chichón and Tacaná
Before 1985, Mexico lacked civil-protection agencies with a mission to prevent and respond to natural and human-caused disasters; thus, the government was unprepared for the sudden eruption of El Chichón Volcano in March–April 1982, which produced the deadliest volcanic disaster in the country’s recorded history (~2,000 fatalities). With the sobering...
The influence of Tamarix ramosissima defoliation on population movements of the northern tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata) within the Colorado Plateau: Chapter 18
Levi R. Jamison, Charles van Riper III, Dan W. Bean
2015, Book chapter, The Colorado Plateau VI: Science and Management at the Landscape Scale
The northern tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda carinulata) was introduced to the Colorado Plateau within the Colorado River Basin in 2004, in an effort to control invasive/exotic tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima) plants. Since release, there has been rapid beetle colonization and subsequent defoliation of tamarisk along the Colorado River corridor. We collected plant...
The challenges of remote monitoring of wetlands
Alisa L. Gallant
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 10938-10950
Wetlands are highly productive and support a wide variety of ecosystem goods and services. Various forms of global change impose compelling needs for timely and reliable information on the status of wetlands worldwide, but several characteristics of wetlands make them challenging to monitor remotely: they lack a single, unifying land-cover...
Using monitoring and modeling to define the hazard posed by the reactivated Ferguson rock slide, Merced Canyon, California
Jerome V. De Graff, Alan J. Gallegos, Mark E. Reid, Richard G. Lahusen, Roger P. Denlinger
2015, Natural Hazards (76) 769-789
Rapid onset natural disasters such as large landslides create a need for scientific information about the event, which is vital to ensuring public safety, restoring infrastructure, preventing additional damage, and resuming normal economic activity. At the same time, there is limited data available upon which to base reliable scientific responses....
Updating the USGS seismic hazard maps for Alaska
Charles Mueller, Richard W. Briggs, Robert L. Wesson, Mark D. Petersen
2015, Quaternary Science Reviews (113) 39-47
The U.S. Geological Survey makes probabilistic seismic hazard maps and engineering design maps for building codes, emergency planning, risk management, and many other applications. The methodology considers all known earthquake sources with their associated magnitude and rate distributions. Specific faults can be modeled if slip-rate or recurrence information is available....
Decision support system for optimally managing water resources to meet multiple objectives in the Savannah River Basin
Edwin A. Roehl Jr., Paul Conrads
2015, Journal of South Carolina Water Resources (2) 16-23
Managers of large river basins face conflicting demands for water resources such as wildlife habitat, water supply, wastewater assimilative capacity, flood control, hydroelectricity, and recreation. The Savannah River Basin, for example, has experienced three major droughts since 2000 that resulted in record low water levels in its reservoirs, impacting dependent...
Measuring storm tide and high-water marks caused by Hurricane Sandy in New York: Chapter 2
Amy E. Simonson, Riley Behrens
2015, Book chapter, Learning from the Impacts of Superstorm Sandy
In response to Hurricane Sandy, personnel from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) deployed a temporary network of storm-tide sensors from Virginia to Maine. During the storm, real-time water levels were available from tide gages and rapid-deployment gages (RDGs). After the storm, USGS scientists retrieved the storm-tide sensors and RDGs and...
Nutrient attenuation in rivers and streams, Puget Sound Basin, Washington
Rich W. Sheibley, Christopher P. Konrad, Robert W. Black
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5074
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are important for aquatic ecosystem health. Excessive amounts of nutrients, however, can make aquatic ecosystems harmful for biota because enhanced growth and decay cycles of aquatic algae can reduce dissolved oxygen in the water. In Puget Sound marine waters, low dissolved oxygen concentrations are...
Total dissolved gas and water temperature in the lower Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, water year 2014
Heather M. Bragg, Matthew W. Johnston
2015, Open-File Report 2014-1237
Significant Findings An analysis of total-dissolved-gas (TDG) and water-temperature data collected at eight fixed monitoring stations on the lower Columbia River in Oregon and Washington in water year 2014 indicated the following: All 81 TDG sensor laboratory checks that were performed after field deployment were within plus or minus (±) 0.5-percent saturation...
