Operational thermal remote sensing and lava flow monitoring at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Matthew R. Patrick, James P. Kauahikaua, Tim R. Orr, Ashley G. Davies, Michael S. Ramsey
2016, Geological Society of London Special Publications (426) 489-503
Hawaiian volcanoes are highly accessible and well monitored by ground instruments. Nevertheless, observational gaps remain and thermal satellite imagery has proven useful in Hawai‘i for providing synoptic views of activity during intervals between field visits. Here we describe the beginning of a thermal remote sensing programme at the US Geological...
Can you hear me now? Range-testing a submerged passive acoustic receiver array in a Caribbean coral reef habitat
Thomas H. Selby, Kristen M. Hart, Ikuko Fujisaki, Brian J. Smith, Clayton J Pollock, Zandy M Hillis-Star, Ian Lundgren, Madan K. Oli
2016, Ecology and Evolution (6) 4823-4835
Submerged passive acoustic technology allows researchers to investigate spatial and temporal movement patterns of many marine and freshwater species. The technology uses receivers to detect and record acoustic transmissions emitted from tags attached to an individual. Acoustic signal strength naturally attenuates over distance, but numerous environmental variables also affect the...
Spatial database for a global assessment of undiscovered copper resources: Chapter Z in Global mineral resource assessment
Connie L. Dicken, Pamela Dunlap, Heather L. Parks, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Michael L. Zientek
Michael L. Zientek, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Kathleen M. Johnson, editor(s)
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-Z
As part of the first-ever U.S. Geological Survey global assessment of undiscovered copper resources, data common to several regional spatial databases published by the U.S. Geological Survey, including one report from Finland and one from Greenland, were standardized, updated, and compiled into a global copper resource database. This integrated collection...
The PRISM4 (mid-Piacenzian) paleoenvironmental reconstruction
Harry J. Dowsett, Aisling M. Dolan, David Rowley, Robert Moucha, Alessandro Forte, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Matthew Pound, Ulrich Salzmann, Marci M. Robinson, Mark Chandler, Kevin M. Foley, Alan M. Haywood
2016, Climate of the Past (12) 1519-1538
The mid-Piacenzian is known as a period of relative warmth when compared to the present day. A comprehensive understanding of conditions during the Piacenzian serves as both a conceptual model and a source for boundary conditions as well as means of verification of global climate model experiments. In...
Eruptive history of Mammoth Mountain and its mafic periphery, California
Wes Hildreth, Judy Fierstein
2016, Professional Paper 1812
This report and accompanying geologic map portray the eruptive history of Mammoth Mountain and a surrounding array of contemporaneous volcanic units that erupted in its near periphery. The moderately alkaline Mammoth eruptive suite, basaltic to rhyodacitic, represents a discrete new magmatic system, less than 250,000 years old, that followed decline...
GIS methodology for geothermal play fairway analysis: Example from the Snake River Plain volcanic province
Jacob DeAngelo, John W. Shervais, Jonathan M. Glen, Dennis L. Nielson, Sabodh Garg, Patrick Dobson, Erika Gasperikova, Eric Sonnenthal, Charles Visser, Lee M. Liberty, Drew Siler, James P. Evans, Sean Santellanes
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings, 41st Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering
Play fairway analysis in geothermal exploration derives from a systematic methodology originally developed within the petroleum industry and is based on a geologic and hydrologic framework of identified geothermal systems. We are tailoring this methodology to study the geothermal resource potential of the Snake River Plain and surrounding region. This...
Research on Golden-winged Warblers: Recent progress and current needs
Henry M. Streby, Roland W. Rohrbaugh, David A. Buehler, David E. Andersen, Rachel Vallender, David I. King, Tom Will
2016, Book chapter, Golden-winged Warbler ecology, conservation, and habitat management (Studies in Avian Biology, volume 49)
Considerable advances have been made in knowledge about Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) in the past decade. Recent employment of molecular analysis, stable-isotope analysis, telemetry-based monitoring of survival and behavior, and spatially explicit modeling techniques have added to, and revised, an already broad base of published knowledge. Here, we synthesize findings...
Potential corrosivity of untreated groundwater in the United States
Kenneth Belitz, Bryant C. Jurgens, Tyler D. Johnson
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5092
Corrosive groundwater, if untreated, can dissolve lead and other metals from pipes and other components in water distribution systems. Two indicators of potential corrosivity—the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) and the Potential to Promote Galvanic Corrosion (PPGC)—were used to identify which areas in the United States might be more susceptible to...
Sediment acoustic index method for computing continuous suspended-sediment concentrations
Mark N. Landers, Timothy D. Straub, Molly S. Wood, Marian M. Domanski
2016, Techniques and Methods 3-C5
Suspended-sediment characteristics can be computed using acoustic indices derived from acoustic Doppler velocity meter (ADVM) backscatter data. The sediment acoustic index method applied in these types of studies can be used to more accurately and cost-effectively provide time-series estimates of suspended-sediment concentration and load, which is essential for informed solutions...
Recent trends in the nonfuel minerals industry of Iran
Sinan Hastorun, Karine M. Renaud, Graham W. Lederer
2016, Circular 1421
Summary In response to the recent removal of international sanctions on Iran, including the lifting of “secondary” sanctions by the United States on investment into and trade with Iran, the U.S. Geological Survey National Minerals Information Center compiled and analyzed available information on the current state of Iran’s nonfuel minerals industry....
High spatio-temporal resolution observations of crater-lake temperatures at Kawah Ijen volcano, East Java, Indonesia
Jennifer L. Lewicki, Corentin Caudron, Vincent van Hinsberg, George Hilley
2016, Bulletin of Volcanology (78)
The crater lake of Kawah Ijen volcano, East Java, Indonesia, has displayed large and rapid changes in temperature at point locations during periods of unrest, but measurement techniques employed to-date have not resolved how the lake’s thermal regime has evolved over both space and time. We applied a novel approach...
Using Cape Sable seaside sparrow distribution data for water management decision support
James M. Beerens, Stephanie S. Romanach
2016, Report, Report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis; hereafter sparrow) is endemic to south Florida and a key indicator species of marl prairie, the most diverse freshwater community in the Florida Everglades. Marl prairie habitat is shaped by intermediate levels of disturbances such as flooding, drying, and fire, which maintain...
M≥7 Earthquake rupture forecast and time-dependent probability for the Sea of Marmara region, Turkey
Maura Murru, Aybige Akinci, Guiseppe Falcone, Stefano Pucci, Rodolfo Console, Thomas E. Parsons
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research (121) 2679-2707
We forecast time-independent and time-dependent earthquake ruptures in the Marmara region of Turkey for the next 30 years using a new fault-segmentation model. We also augment time-dependent Brownian Passage Time (BPT) probability with static Coulomb stress changes (ΔCFF) from interacting faults. We calculate Mw > 6.5 probability from 26 individual...
Demography of an apex predator at the edge of its range: impacts of changing sea ice on polar bears in Hudson Bay
Nicholas J. Lunn, Sabrina Servanty, Eric V. Regehr, Sarah J. Converse, Evan S. Richardson, Ian Stirling
2016, Ecological Applications (26) 1302-1320
Changes in the abundance and distribution of wildlife populations are common consequences of historic and contemporary climate change. Some Arctic marine mammals, such as the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), may be particularly vulnerable to such changes due to the loss of Arctic sea ice. We evaluated the impacts of environmental...
Density-dependent home-range size revealed by spatially explicit capture–recapture
M.G. Efford, Deanna K. Dawson, Y.V. Jhala, Q. Qureshi
2016, Ecography (39) 676-688
The size of animal home ranges often varies inversely with population density among populations of a species. This fact has implications for population monitoring using spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) models, in which both the scale of home-range movements σ and population density D usually appear as parameters, and both may...
Composition and structure of the shallow subsurface of Ceres revealed by crater morphology
Michael T. Bland, Carol A. Raymond, Paul M. Schenk, Roger R. Fu, Thomas Kneisl, Jan Hendrick Pasckert, Harald Hiesinger, Frank Preusker, Ryan S. Park, Simone Marchi, Scott King, Julie C. Castillo-Rogez, Christopher T. Russell
2016, Nature Geoscience (9) 538-542
Before NASA’s Dawn mission, the dwarf planet Ceres was widely believed to contain a substantial ice-rich layer below its rocky surface. The existence of such a layer has significant implications for Ceres’s formation, evolution, and astrobiological potential. Ceres is warmer than icy worlds in the outer Solar System and, if...
Detection, prevalence, and transmission of avian hematozoa in waterfowl at the Arctic/sub-Arctic interface: co-infections, viral interactions, and sources of variation.
Brandt W. Meixell, Todd W. Arnold, Mark S. Lindberg, Matthew M. Smith, Andrew M. Ramey, Jonathan A. Runstadler
2016, Parasites & Vectors (9)
Background: The epidemiology of avian hematozoa at high latitudes is still not well understood, particularly in sub-Arctic and Arctic habitats, where information is limited regarding seasonality and range of transmission, co-infection dynamics with parasitic and viral agents, and possible fitness consequences of infection. Such information is important as climate warming...
Geologic map of the Murray Quadrangle, Newton County, Arkansas
Mark R. Hudson, Kenzie J. Turner
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3360
This map summarizes the geology of the Murray quadrangle in the Ozark Plateaus region of northern Arkansas. Geologically, the area is on the southern flank of the Ozark dome, an uplift that has the oldest rocks exposed at its center, in Missouri. Physiographically, the Murray quadrangle is within the Boston...
Forecasting the relative influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on polar bears
Todd C. Atwood, Bruce G. Marcot, David C. Douglas, Steven C. Amstrup, Karyn D. Rode, George M. Durner, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Effective conservation planning requires understanding and ranking threats to wildlife populations. We developed a Bayesian network model to evaluate the relative influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors, and their mitigation, on the persistence of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Overall sea ice conditions, affected by rising global temperatures, were the most...
Identifying bird and reptile vulnerabilities to climate change in the southwestern United States
James R. Hatten, J. Tomasz Giermakowski, Jennifer A. Holmes, Erika M. Nowak, Matthew J. Johnson, Kirsten E. Ironside, Charles van Riper III, Michael Peters, Charles Truettner, Kenneth L. Cole
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1085
Current and future breeding ranges of 15 bird and 16 reptile species were modeled in the Southwestern United States. Rather than taking a broad-scale, vulnerability-assessment approach, we created a species distribution model (SDM) for each focal species incorporating climatic, landscape, and plant variables. Baseline climate (1940–2009) was characterized with Parameter-elevation...
Identifying Kittlitz's Murrelet nesting habitat in North America at the landscape scale
Jonathan J. Felis, Michelle L. Kissling, Robb S.A. Kaler, Leah A. Kenney, Matthew J. Lawonn
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 323-333
The Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a small, non-colonial seabird endemic to marine waters of Alaska and eastern Russia that may have experienced significant population decline in recent decades, in part because of low reproductive success and terrestrial threats. Although recent studies have shed new light on Kittlitz's Murrelet nesting...
Biogeochemical controls of uranium bioavailability from the dissolved phase in natural freshwaters
Marie Noele Croteau, Christopher C. Fuller, Daniel J. Cain, Kate M. Campbell, George R. Aiken
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 8120-8127
To gain insights into the risks associated with uranium (U) mining and processing, we investigated the biogeochemical controls of U bioavailability in the model freshwater speciesLymnaea stagnalis (Gastropoda). Bioavailability of dissolved U(VI) was characterized in controlled laboratory experiments over a range of water hardness, pH, and in the presence of complexing...
External quality assurance project report for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network, 2013–14
Gregory A. Wetherbee, RoseAnn Martin
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5069
The U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Quality Systems operated five distinct programs to provide external quality assurance monitoring for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s (NADP) National Trends Network and Mercury Deposition Network during 2013–14. The National Trends Network programs include (1) a field audit program to evaluate sample contamination and...
A goodness-of-fit test for occupancy models with correlated within-season revisits
Wilson Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine, Thomas J. Rodhouse
2016, Ecology and Evolution (6) 5404-5415
Occupancy modeling is important for exploring species distribution patterns and for conservation monitoring. Within this framework, explicit attention is given to species detection probabilities estimated from replicate surveys to sample units. A central assumption is that replicate surveys are independent Bernoulli trials, but this assumption becomes untenable when ecologists serially...
Implications of climate change for wetland-dependent birds in the Prairie Pothole Region
Valerie Steen, Susan K. Skagen, Cynthia P. Melcher
2016, Wetlands (36) 445-459
The habitats and food resources required to support breeding and migrant birds dependent on North American prairie wetlands are threatened by impending climate change. The North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) hosts nearly 120 species of wetland-dependent birds representing 21 families. Strategic management requires knowledge of avian habitat requirements and...
