Hydrogeology, Chemical and Microbial Activity Measurement Through Deep Permafrost
R.L. Stotler, S.K. Frape, B.M. Freifeld, B. Holden, T.C. Onstott, T. Ruskeeniemi, E. Chan
2011, Ground Water (49) 348-364
Little is known about hydrogeochemical conditions beneath thick permafrost, particularly in fractured crystalline rock, due to difficulty in accessing this environment. The purpose of this investigation was to develop methods to obtain physical, chemical, and microbial information about the subpermafrost environment from a surface-drilled borehole. Using a U-tube, gas and...
Cumulative effects of restoration efforts on ecological characteristics of an open water area within the Upper Mississippi River
B. R. Gray, W. Shi, J.N. Houser, J. T. Rogala, Z. Guan, J. L. Cochran-Biederman
2011, River Research and Applications (27) 537-549
Ecological restoration efforts in large rivers generally aim to ameliorate ecological effects associated with large-scale modification of those rivers. This study examined whether the effects of restoration efforts-specifically those of island construction-within a largely open water restoration area of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) might be seen at the spatial...
Modifications to existing ground-motion prediction equations in light of new data
G. M. Atkinson, D.M. Boore
2011, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (101) 1121-1135
We compare our recent ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for western North America (WNA; Boore and Atkinson, 2008 [BA08]) and eastern North America (ENA; Atkinson and Boore, 2006 [AB06]; Atkinson, 2008 [A08]) to newly available ground-motion data. Based on these comparisons, we suggest revisions to our GMPEs for both WNA and...
Study on a pattern classification method of soil quality based on simplified learning sample dataset
Jiahua Zhang, S. Liu, Y. Hu, Y. Tian
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings - 4th International Conference on Intelligent Computation Technology and Automation, ICICTA 2011
Based on the massive soil information in current soil quality grade evaluation, this paper constructed an intelligent classification approach of soil quality grade depending on classical sampling techniques and disordered multiclassification Logistic regression model. As a case study to determine the learning sample capacity under certain confidence level and estimation...
Developing effective sampling designs for monitoring natural resources in Alaskan national parks: an example using simulations and vegetation data
William L. Thompson, Amy E. Miller, Dorothy C. Mortenson, Andrea Woodward
2011, Biological Conservation (144) 1270-1277
Monitoring natural resources in Alaskan national parks is challenging because of their remoteness, limited accessibility, and high sampling costs. We describe an iterative, three-phased process for developing sampling designs based on our efforts to establish a vegetation monitoring program in southwest Alaska. In the first phase, we defined a sampling...
Modeling PSInSAR time series without phase unwrapping
L. Zhang, X. Ding, Z. Lu
2011, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (49) 547-556
In this paper, we propose a least-squares-based method for multitemporal synthetic aperture radar interferometry that allows one to estimate deformations without the need of phase unwrapping. The method utilizes a series of multimaster wrapped differential interferograms with short baselines and focuses on arcs at which there are no phase ambiguities....
Using a genetic mixture model to study phenotypic traits: Differential fecundity among Yukon river Chinook Salmon
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, D.F. Evenson, T.H. McLain, Blair G. Flannery
2011, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (140) 235-249
Fecundity is a vital population characteristic that is directly linked to the productivity of fish populations. Historic data from Yukon River (Alaska) Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha suggest that length‐adjusted fecundity differs among populations within the drainage and either is temporally variable or has declined. Yukon River Chinook salmon have been harvested in...
Predicting community responses to perturbations in the face of imperfect knowledge and network complexity
M. Novak, J.T. Wootton, D.F. Doak, M. Emmerson, J. A. Estes, M. T. Tinker
2011, Ecology (92) 836-846
How best to predict the effects of perturbations to ecological communities has been a long-standing goal for both applied and basic ecology. This quest has recently been revived by new empirical data, new analysis methods, and increased computing speed, with the promise that ecologically important insights may be obtainable from...
Calibration of models using groundwater age
Ward E. Sanford
2011, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 13-16
There have been substantial efforts recently by geochemists to determine the age of groundwater (time since water entered the system) and its uncertainty, and by hydrologists to use these data to help calibrate groundwater models. This essay discusses the calibration of models using groundwater age, with conclusions that emphasize what...
Using multi-source satellite data for lake level modelling in ungauged basins: A case study for Lake Turkana, East Africa
N.M. Velpuri, G.B. Senay, K.O. Asante
2011, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions (8) 4851-4890
Managing limited surface water resources is a great challenge in areas where ground-based data are either limited or unavailable. Direct or indirect measurements of surface water resources through remote sensing offer several advantages of monitoring in ungauged basins. A physical based hydrologic technique to monitor lake water levels in ungauged...
U.S. Department of Energy's site screening, site selection, and initial characterization for storage of CO2 in deep geological formations
T.D. Rodosta, J.T. Litynski, S.I. Plasynski, S. Hickman, S. Frailey, L. Myer
2011, Conference Paper, Energy Procedia
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is the lead Federal agency for the development and deployment of carbon sequestration technologies. As part of its mission to facilitate technology transfer and develop guidelines from lessons learned, DOE is developing a series of best practice manuals (BPMs) for carbon capture and storage...
Developing user-friendly habitat suitability tools from regional stream fish survey data
T.G. Zorn, P. Seelbach, M.J. Wiley
2011, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (31) 41-55
We developed user-friendly fish habitat suitability tools (plots) for fishery managers in Michigan; these tools are based on driving habitat variables and fish population estimates for several hundred stream sites throughout the state. We generated contour plots to show patterns in fish biomass for over 60 common species (and for...
Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Maize Productivity in the American Southwest, Part 2: The Chaco Halo, Mesa Verde, Pajarito Plateau/Bandelier, and Zuni Archaeological Regions
L. V. Benson
2011, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (18) 61-109
Chemical and nutrient analyses of 471 soil samples from 161 sites within four archaeological regions (Pajarito Plateau/Bandelier, Zuni, Mesa Verde, and the Chaco Halo) were combined with historical climate data in order to evaluate the agricultural productivity of each region. In addition, maize productivity and field-life calculations were performed using...
Multi-scale temporal and spatial variation in genotypic composition of Cladophora-borne Escherichia coli populations in Lake Michigan
B.D. Badgley, J. Ferguson, A.V. Heuvel, G.T. Kleinheinz, C.M. McDermott, T.R. Sandrin, J. Kinzelman, E.A. Junion, M.N. Byappanahalli, R.L. Whitman, M.J. Sadowsky
2011, Water Research (45) 721-731
High concentrations of Escherichia coli in mats of Cladophora in the Great Lakes have raised concern over the continued use of this bacterium as an indicator of microbial water quality. Determining the impacts of these environmentally abundant E. coli, however, necessitates a better understanding of their ecology. In this study,...
An ecosystem-scale model for the spread of a host-specific forest pathogen in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
J.A. Hatala, M.C. Dietze, R.L. Crabtree, Katherine C. Kendall, D. Six, P.R. Moorcroft
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 1138-1153
The introduction of nonnative pathogens is altering the scale, magnitude, and persistence of forest disturbance regimes in the western United States. In the high-altitude whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) is an introduced fungal pathogen that is...
Monitoring a large volume CO2 injection: Year two results from SECARB project at Denbury’s Cranfield, Mississippi, USA
Susan D. Hovorka, Timothy A. Meckel, Ramon H. Trevino, Jiemin Lu, Jean-Philippe Nicot, Jong-Won Choi, David Freeman, Paul Cook, Thomas M. Daley, Jonathan B. Ajo-Franklin, Barry M. Freifeild, Christine Doughty, Charles R. Carrigan, Doug La Brecque, Yousif K. Kharaka, James J. Thordsen, Tommy J. Phelps, Changbing Yang, Katherine D. Romanak, Tongwei Zhang, Robert M. Holt, Jeffery S. Lindler, Robert J. Butsch
2011, Energy Procedia (4) 3478-3485
The Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) early project in western Mississippi has been testing monitoring tools and approaches to document storage efficiency and storage permanence under conditions of CO2 EOR as well as downdip injection into brine. Denbury Onshore LLC is host for the study and has brought a...
Probabilistic fault displacement hazards for the southern san andreas fault using scenarios and empirical slips
R. Chen, M.D. Petersen
2011, Earthquake Spectra (27) 293-313
We apply a probabilistic method to develop fault displacement hazard maps and profiles for the southern San Andreas Fault. Two slip models are applied: (1) scenario slip, defined by the ShakeOut rupture model, and (2) empirical slip, calculated using regression equations relating global slip to earthquake magnitude and distance along...
Development of a depth-integrated sample arm to reduce solids stratification bias in stormwater sampling
W.R. Selbig, R.T. Bannerman
2011, Water Environment Research (83) 347-357
A new depth-integrated sample arm (DISA) was developed to improve the representation of solids in stormwater, both organic and inorganic, by collecting a water quality sample from multiple points in the water column. Data from this study demonstrate the idea of vertical stratification of solids in storm sewer runoff. Concentrations...
Survival of white-tailed deer neonates in Minnesota and South Dakota
T.W. Grovenburg, C. C. Swanson, C.N. Jacques, R. W. Klaver, T.J. Brinkman, B.M. Burris, C.S. Deperno, J.A. Jenks
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 213-220
Understanding the influence of intrinsic (e.g., age, birth mass, and sex) and habitat factors on survival of neonate white-tailed deer improves understanding of population ecology. During 2002–2004, we captured and radiocollared 78 neonates in eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota, of which 16 died before 1 September. Predation accounted for...
Rangewide phylogeography and landscape genetics of the Western U.S. endemic frog Rana boylii (Ranidae): Implications for the conservation of frogs and rivers
A.J. Lind, P.Q. Spinks, G. M. Fellers, H.B. Shaffer
2011, Conservation Genetics (12) 269-284
Genetic data are increasingly being used in conservation planning for declining species. We sampled both the ecological and distributional limits of the foothill yellow-legged frog, Rana boylii to characterize mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in this declining, riverine amphibian. We evaluated 1525 base pairs (bp) of cytochrome b and ND2 fragments...
Advancing environmental toxicology through chemical dosimetry: External exposures versus tissue residues
L.S. McCarty, P.F. Landrum, S. N. Luoma, J.P. Meador, A.A. Merten, B.K. Shephard, A.P. van Wezelzz
2011, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (7) 7-27
The tissue residue dose concept has been used, although in a limited manner, in environmental toxicology for more than 100 y. This review outlines the history of this approach and the technical background for organic chemicals and metals. Although the toxicity of both can be explained in tissue residue terms,...
A novel member of the family Hepeviridae from cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii)
William Batts, Susan Yun, Ronald Hedrick, James Winton
2011, Virus Research (158) 116-123
Beginning in 1988, the Chinook salmon embryo (CHSE-214) cell line was used to isolate a novel virus from spawning adult trout in the state of California, USA. Termed the cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) virus (CTV), the small, round virus was not associated with disease, but was subsequently found to be...
Connecting the Yakima fold and thrust belt to active faults in the Puget Lowland, Washington
R.J. Blakely, B.L. Sherrod, C.S. Weaver, R.E. Wells, A.C. Rohay, E. A. Barnett, N.E. Knepprath
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (116)
High-resolution aeromagnetic surveys of the Cascade Range and Yakima fold and thrust belt (YFTB), Washington, provide insights on tectonic connections between forearc and back-arc regions of the Cascadia convergent margin. Magnetic surveys were measured at a nominal altitude of 250 m above terrain and along flight lines spaced 400 m...
Multiplets: Their behavior and utility at dacitic and andesitic volcanic centers
W. Thelen, S. Malone, M. West
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (116)
Multiplets, or groups of earthquakes with similar waveforms, are commonly observed at volcanoes, particularly those exhibiting unrest. Using triggered seismic data from the 1980-1986 Mount St. Helens (MSH) eruption, we have constructed a catalog of multiplet occurrence. Our analysis reveals that the occurrence of multiplets is related, at least in...
Adapting generalization tools to physiographic diversity for the united states national hydrography dataset
B.P. Buttenfield, L.V. Stanislawski, C.A. Brewer
2011, Cartography and Geographic Information Science (38) 289-301
This paper reports on generalization and data modeling to create reduced scale versions of the National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD) for dissemination through The National Map, the primary data delivery portal for USGS. Our approach distinguishes local differences in physiographic factors, to demonstrate that knowledge about varying terrain (mountainous, hilly or...
