Data-driven modeling of surface temperature anomaly and solar activity trends
Michael J. Friedel
2012, Environmental Modelling and Software (37) 217-232
A novel two-step modeling scheme is used to reconstruct and analyze surface temperature and solar activity data at global, hemispheric, and regional scales. First, the self-organizing map (SOM) technique is used to extend annual modern climate data from the century to millennial scale. The SOM component planes are used to...
A historical estimate of apparent survival of American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) in Virginia
Erica Nol, Sean P. Murphy, Michael D. Cadman
2012, Waterbirds (35) 631-635
Using mark-recapture models, apparent survival was estimated from older banding and re-sighting data (1978–1983) of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) nesting on beaches and in salt marshes of coastal Virginia, USA. Oystercatchers nesting in salt marshes exhibited higher apparent survival (0.94 ±0.03) than birds nesting on beaches (0.81 ±0.06), a difference...
Predicting the geographic distribution of a species from presence-only data subject to detection errors
Robert M. Dorazio
2012, Biometrics (68) 1303-1312
Several models have been developed to predict the geographic distribution of a species by combining measurements of covariates of occurrence at locations where the species is known to be present with measurements of the same covariates at other locations where species occurrence status (presence or absence) is unknown. In the...
Late Quaternary sedimentological and climate changes at Lake Bosumtwi Ghana: new constraints from laminae analysis and radiocarbon age modeling
Timothy M. Shanahan, J. Warren Beck, Jonathan T. Overpeck, Nicholas P. McKay, Jeffrey S. Pigati, John A. Peck, Christopher A. Scholz, Clifford W. Heil Jr., John W. King
2012, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (361-362) 49-60
The Lake Bosumtwi sediment record represents one of the longest and highest-resolution terrestrial records of paleoclimate change available from sub-Saharan Africa. Here we report a new sediment age model framework for the last ~ 45 cal kyr of sedimentation using a combination of high-resolution radiocarbon dating, Bayesian age-depth modeling and...
Characterization of previously unidentified lunar pyroclastic deposits using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) data
J. Olaf Gustafson, James F. Bell, Lisa R. Gaddis, B. Ray Hawke, Thomas A. Giguere
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (117)
We used a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) global monochrome Wide-angle Camera (WAC) mosaic to conduct a survey of the Moon to search for previously unidentified pyroclastic deposits. Promising locations were examined in detail using LROC multispectral WAC mosaics, high-resolution LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images, and Clementine multispectral (ultraviolet-visible...
Assessing consumption of bioactive micro-particles by filter-feeding Asian carp
Nathan R. Jensen, Jon J. Amberg, James A. Luoma, Liza R. Walleser, Mark P. Gaikowski
2012, Journal of Aquaculture Research & Development (3)
Silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (SVC) and bighead carp H. nobilis (BHC) have impacted waters in the US since their escape. Current chemical controls for aquatic nuisance species are non-selective. Development of a bioactive micro-particle that exploits filter-feeding habits of SVC or BHC could result in a new control tool. It...
Design and development of linked data from the National Map
E. Lynn Usery, Dalia E. Varanka
2012, Semantic Web (3) 371-384
The development of linked data on the World-Wide Web provides the opportunity for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to supply its extensive volumes of geospatial data, information, and knowledge in a machine interpretable form and reach users and applications that heretofore have been unavailable. To pilot a process to take...
Why the 2002 Denali fault rupture propagated onto the Totschunda fault: implications for fault branching and seismic hazards
David P. Schwartz, Peter J. Haeussler, Gordon G. Seitz, Timothy E. Dawson
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (117)
The propagation of the rupture of the Mw7.9 Denali fault earthquake from the central Denali fault onto the Totschunda fault has provided a basis for dynamic models of fault branching in which the angle of the regional or local prestress relative to the orientation of the main fault and branch...
Annual accumulation over the Greenland ice sheet interpolated from historical and newly compiled observation data
Dayong Shen, Yuling Liu, Shengli Huang
2012, Geografiska Annaler, Series A: Physical Geography (94) 377-393
The estimation of ice/snow accumulation is of great significance in quantifying the mass balance of ice sheets and variation in water resources. Improving the accuracy and reducing uncertainty has been a challenge for the estimation of annual accumulation over the Greenland ice sheet. In this study, we kriged and analyzed...
A graphical method to evaluate predominant geochemical processes occurring in groundwater systems for radiocarbon dating
Liang-Feng Han, Niel Plummer, Pradeep Aggarwal
2012, Chemical Geology (318-319) 88-112
A graphical method is described for identifying geochemical reactions needed in the interpretation of radiocarbon age in groundwater systems. Graphs are constructed by plotting the measured 14C, δ13C, and concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon and are interpreted according to specific criteria to recognize water samples that are consistent with a...
A terrestrial lidar-based workflow for determining three-dimensional slip vectors and associated uncertainties
Peter O. Gold, Eric Cowgill, Oliver Kreylos, Ryan D. Gold
2012, Geosphere (8) 431-442
Three-dimensional (3D) slip vectors recorded by displaced landforms are difficult to constrain across complex fault zones, and the uncertainties associated with such measurements become increasingly challenging to assess as landforms degrade over time. We approach this problem from a remote sensing perspective by using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and 3D...
Water-resources data for the United States: water year 2012
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2012, Water Data Report 2012
Water resources data are published annually for use by engineers, scientists, managers, educators, and the general public. These archival products supplement direct access to current and historical water data provided by NWISWeb. Beginning with Water Year 2006, annual water data reports are available as individual electronic Site Data Sheets for...
Anisotropic path modeling to assess pedestrian-evacuation potential from Cascadia-related tsunamis in the US Pacific Northwest
Nathan J. Wood, Mathew C. Schmidtlein
2012, Natural Hazards (62) 275-300
Recent disasters highlight the threat that tsunamis pose to coastal communities. When developing tsunami-education efforts and vertical-evacuation strategies, emergency managers need to understand how much time it could take for a coastal population to reach higher ground before tsunami waves arrive. To improve efforts to model pedestrian evacuations from tsunamis,...
Resolving hyporheic and groundwater components of streambed water flux
Aditi S. Bhaskar, Judson W. Harvey, Eric J. Henry
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
Hyporheic and groundwater fluxes typically occur together in permeable sediments beneath flowing stream water. However, streambed water fluxes quantified using the thermal method are usually interpreted as representing either groundwater or hyporheic fluxes. Our purpose was to improve understanding of co-occurring groundwater and hyporheic fluxes using streambed temperature measurements and...
Holocene behavior of the Brigham City segment: implications for forecasting the next large-magnitude earthquake on the Wasatch fault zone, Utah
Stephen F. Personius, Christopher B. DuRoss, Anthony J. Crone
2012, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (102) 2265-2281
The Brigham City segment (BCS), the northernmost Holocene‐active segment of the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ), is considered a likely location for the next big earthquake in northern Utah. We refine the timing of the last four surface‐rupturing (~Mw 7) earthquakes at several sites near Brigham City (BE1, 2430±250; BE2, 3490±180;...
Physical controls and predictability of stream hyporheic flow evaluated with a multiscale model
Susa H. Stonedahl, Judson W. Harvey, Joel Detty, Antoine Aubeneau, Aaron I. Packman
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
Improved predictions of hyporheic exchange based on easily measured physical variables are needed to improve assessment of solute transport and reaction processes in watersheds. Here we compare physically based model predictions for an Indiana stream with stream tracer results interpreted using the Transient Storage Model (TSM). We parameterized the physically...
Minimum distribution of subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the US Beaufort Sea continental shelf
Laura L. Brothers, Patrick E. Hart, Carolyn D. Ruppel
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
Starting in Late Pleistocene time (~19 ka), sea level rise inundated coastal zones worldwide. On some parts of the present-day circum-Arctic continental shelf, this led to flooding and thawing of formerly subaerial permafrost and probable dissociation of associated gas hydrates. Relict permafrost has never been systematically mapped along the 700-km-long...
Relationship between mid-water trawling effort and catch composition uncertainty in two large lakes (Huron and Michigan) dominated by alosines, osmerids, and coregonines
David M. Warner, Randall M. Claramunt, Jeffrey S. Schaeffer, Daniel L. Yule, Tom R. Hrabik, Bernie Peintka, Lars G. Rudstam, Jeffrey D. Holuszko, Timothy P. O’Brien
2012, Fisheries Research (123-124) 62-69
Because it is not possible to identify species with echosounders alone, trawling is widely used as a method for collecting species and size composition data for allocating acoustic fish density estimates to species or size groups. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, data from midwater trawls are commonly used for such...
Modeling species invasions in Ecopath with Ecosim: an evaluation using Laurentian Great Lakes models
Brian J. Langseth, Mark Rogers, Hongyan Zhang
2012, Ecological Modelling (247) 251-261
Invasive species affect the structure and processes of ecosystems they invade. Invasive species have been particularly relevant to the Laurentian Great Lakes, where they have played a part in both historical and recent changes to Great Lakes food webs and the fisheries supported therein. There is increased interest in understanding...
Impact disruption and recovery of the deep subsurface biosphere
Charles S. Cockell, Mary A. Voytek, Aaron L. Gronstal, Kai Finster, Julie D. Kirshtein, Kieren Howard, Joachim Reitner, Gregory S. Gohn, Ward E. Sanford, J. Wright Horton Jr., Jens Kallmeyer, Laura Kelly, David S. Powars
2012, Astrobiology (12) 231-246
Although a large fraction of the world's biomass resides in the subsurface, there has been no study of the effects of catastrophic disturbance on the deep biosphere and the rate of its subsequent recovery. We carried out an investigation of the microbiology of a 1.76 km drill core obtained from the...
Assessing sloth bears as surrogates for carnivore conservation in Sri Lanka
Shyamala Ratnayeke, Frank T. van Manen
2012, Ursus (23) 206-217
Bears are large, charismatic mammals whose presence often garners conservation attention. Because healthy bear populations typically require large, contiguous areas of habitat, land conservation actions often are assumed to benefit co-occurring species, including other mammalian carnivores. However, we are not aware of an empirical test of this assumption. We used...
Bathythermal habitat use by strains of Great Lakes- and Finger Lakes-origin lake trout in Lake Huron after a change in prey fish abundance and composition
Roger A. Bergstedt, Ray L. Argyle, Charles C. Krueger, William W. Taylor
2012, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (141) 263-274
A study conducted in Lake Huron during October 1998–June 2001 found that strains of Great Lakes-origin (GLO) lake trout Salvelinus namaycush occupied significantly higher temperatures than did Finger Lakes-origin (FLO; New York) lake trout based on data from archival (or data storage) telemetry tags that recorded only temperature. During 2002...
Using stable isotopes to test for trophic niche partitioning: a case study with stream salamanders and fish
Adam J. Sepulveda, Winsor H. Lowe, Peter P. Marra
2012, Freshwater Biology (57) 1399-1409
1. Stream salamanders and fish often co-occur even though fish prey on and outcompete salamanders. However, the mechanisms that allow palatable salamanders to coexist with fish are unknown. 2. We tested mechanisms in the field that promote coexistence between Idaho giant salamanders (Dicamptodon aterrimus) and stream salmonid fishes in headwater streams. Previous research...
Factors influencing geographic patterns in diversity of forest bird communities of eastern Connecticut, USA
Robert J. Craig, Robert W. Klaver
2012, Ecography (36) 599-609
At regional scales, the most important variables associated with diversity are latitudinally-based temperature and net primary productivity, although diversity is also influenced by habitat. We examined bird species richness, community density and community evenness in forests of eastern Connecticut to determine whether: 1) spatial and seasonal patterns exist in diversity,...
High-frequency remote monitoring of large lakes with MODIS 500 m imagery
Ian M. McCullough, Cynthia S. Loftin, Steven A. Sader
2012, Remote Sensing of Environment (124) 234-241
Satellite-based remote monitoring programs of regional lake water quality largely have relied on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) owing to its long image archive, moderate spatial resolution (30 m), and wide sensitivity in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, despite some notable limitations such as temporal resolution (i.e., 16 days), data pre-processing...
