Use of upscaled elevation and surface roughness data in two-dimensional surface water models
J.D. Hughes, J.D. Decker, C.D. Langevin
2011, Advances in Water Resources (34) 1151-1164
In this paper, we present an approach that uses a combination of cell-block- and cell-face-averaging of high-resolution cell elevation and roughness data to upscale hydraulic parameters and accurately simulate surface water flow in relatively low-resolution numerical models. The method developed allows channelized features that preferentially connect large-scale grid cells at...
A Markov decision process for managing habitat for Florida scrub-jays
Fred A. Johnson, David R. Breininger, Brean W. Duncan, James D. Nichols, Michael C. Runge, B. Ken Williams
2011, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (2) 234-246
Florida scrub-jays Aphelocoma coerulescens are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to loss and degradation of scrub habitat. This study concerned the development of an optimal strategy for the restoration and management of scrub habitat at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which contains one of the few...
Improvement in precipitation-runoff model simulations by recalibration with basin-specific data, and subsequent model applications, Onondaga Lake Basin, Onondaga County, New York
William F. Coon
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5203
Water-resource managers in Onondaga County, New York, are faced with the challenge of improving the water quality of Onondaga Lake, which has the distinction of being one of the most contaminated lakes in the United States. To assist in this endeavor, during 2003-07 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation...
Twitter earthquake detection: Earthquake monitoring in a social world
Paul S. Earle, Daniel C. Bowden, Michelle R. Guy
2011, Annals of Geophysics (54) 708-715
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is investigating how the social networking site Twitter, a popular service for sending and receiving short, public text messages, can augment USGS earthquake response products and the delivery of hazard information. Rapid detection and qualitative assessment of shaking events are possible because people begin sending...
Tumor prevalence and biomarkers of genotoxicity in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) in Chesapeake Bay tributaries
Alfred E. Pinkney, John C. Harshbarger, Natalie K. Karouna-Renier, Kathryn Jenko, Lennart Balk, Halldora Skarphedinsdottir, Birgitta Liewenborg, Michael A. Rutter
2011, Science of the Total Environment (410-411) 248-257
We surveyed four Chesapeake Bay tributaries for skin and liver tumors in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus). We focused on the South River, where the highest skin tumor prevalence (53%) in the Bay watershed had been reported. The objectives were to 1) compare tumor prevalence with nearby rivers (Severn and Rhode)...
Trout piscivory in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon: Effects of turbidity, temperature, and fish prey availability
Michael D. Yard, Coggins Jr., Colden V. Baxter, Glenn E. Bennett, Josh Korman
2011, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (140) 471-486
Introductions of nonnative salmonids, such as rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and brown trout Salmo trutta, have affected native fishes worldwide in unforeseen and undesirable ways. Predation and other interactions with nonnative rainbow trout and brown trout have been hypothesized as contributing to the decline of native fishes (including the endangered...
Transient groundwater chemistry near a river: Effects on U(VI) transport in laboratory column experiments
Jun Yin, Roy Haggerty, Deborah L. Stoliker, Douglas B. Kent, Jonathan D. Istok, Janek Greskowiak, John M. Zachara
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
In the 300 Area of a U(VI)-contaminated aquifer at Hanford, Washington, USA, inorganic carbon and major cations, which have large impacts on U(VI) transport, change on an hourly and seasonal basis near the Columbia River. Batch and column experiments were conducted to investigate the factors controlling U(VI) adsorption/desorption by changing...
Trace and minor element variations and sulfur isotopes in crystalline and colloform ZnS: Incorporation mechanisms and implications for their genesis
Katharina Pfaff, Alan Koenig, Thomas Wenzel, Ian Ridley, Ludwig H. Hildebrandt, David L. Leach, Gregor Markl
2011, Chemical Geology (286) 118-134
Various models have been proposed to explain the formation mechanism of colloform sphalerite, but the origin is still under debate. In order to decipher influences on trace element incorporation and sulfur isotope composition, crystalline and colloform sphalerite from the carbonate-hosted Mississippi-Valley Type (MVT) deposit near Wiesloch, SW Germany, were investigated...
Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea home range and habitat use during the non-breeding season in Assam, India
T. Namgail, John Y. Takekawa, B. Sivananinthaperumal, G. Areendran, P. Sathiyaselvam, T. Mundkur, T. Mccracken, S. Newman
2011, Wildfowl (61) 182-193
India is an important non-breeding ground for migratory waterfowl in the Central Asian Flyway. Millions of birds visit wetlands across the country, yet information on their distribution, abundance, and use of resources is rudimentary at best. Limited information suggests that populations of several species of migratory ducks are declining due...
Tidal Boundary Conditions in SEAWAT
Ann E. Mulligan, Christian Langevin, Vincent Post
2011, Ground Water (49) 866-879
SEAWAT, a U.S. Geological Survey groundwater flow and transport code, is increasingly used to model the effects of tidal motion on coastal aquifers. Different options are available to simulate tidal boundaries but no guidelines exist nor have comparisons been made to identify the most effective approach. We test seven methods...
The role of demographic compensation theory in incidental take assessments for endangered species
Conor P. McGowan, Mark R. Ryan, Michael C. Runge, Joshua J. Millspaugh, Jean Fitts Cochrane
2011, Biological Conservation (144) 730-737
Many endangered species laws provide exceptions to legislated prohibitions through incidental take provisions as long as take is the result of unintended consequences of an otherwise legal activity. These allowances presumably invoke the theory of demographic compensation, commonly applied to harvested species, by allowing limited harm as long as the...
The present and future role of coastal wetland vegetation in protecting shorelines: Answering recent challenges to the paradigm
Keryn B. Gedan, Matthew L. Kirwan, Eric Wolanski, Edward B. Barbier, Brian R. Silliman
2011, Climatic Change (106) 7-29
For more than a century, coastal wetlands have been recognized for their ability to stabilize shorelines and protect coastal communities. However, this paradigm has recently been called into question by small-scale experimental evidence. Here, we conduct a literature review and a small meta-analysis of wave attenuation data, and we find...
Nest survival of American Coots relative to grazing, burning, and water depths
Jane E. Austin, Deborah A. Buhl
2011, Avian Conservation and Ecology (6) 1-14
Water and emergent vegetation are key features influencing nest site selection and success for many marsh-nesting waterbirds. Wetland management practices such as grazing, burning, and water-level manipulations directly affect these features and can influence nest survival. We used model selection and before-after-control-impact approaches to evaluate the effects of water depth...
The influence of the Atlantic Warm Pool on the Florida panhandle sea breeze
Vasubandhu Misra, Lauren Moeller, Lydia Stefanova, Steven Chan, James J. O’Brien, Thomas J. Smith III, Nathaniel Plant
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (116)
In this paper we examine the variations of the boreal summer season sea breeze circulation along the Florida panhandle coast from relatively high resolution (10 km) regional climate model integrations. The 23 year climatology (1979–2001) of the multidecadal dynamically downscaled simulations forced by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–Department...
Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation and agricultural crops: Knowledge gain and knowledge gap after 40 years of research
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation
The focus of this chapter was to summarize the advances made over last 40+ years, as reported in various chapters of this book, in understanding, modeling, and mapping terrestrial vegetation using hyperspectral remote sensing (or imaging spectroscopy) using sensors that are ground-based, truck-mounted, airborne, and spaceborne. As we have seen...
Advances in hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation and agricultural croplands
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete, editor(s)
2011, Book, Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation
Recent advances in hyperspectral remote sensing (or imaging spectroscopy) demonstrate a great utility for a variety of land monitoring applications. It is now possible to be diagnostic in sensing species and plant communities using remotely sensed data and to do so in a direct and informed manner using modern tools...
Hydrostratigraphic interpretation of test-hole and geophysical data, Upper Loup River Basin, Nebraska, 2008-10
Christopher M. Hobza, Theodore H. Asch, Paul A. Bedrosian
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1289
Nebraska's Upper Loup Natural Resources District is currently (2011) participating in the Elkhorn-Loup Model to understand the effect of various groundwater-management scenarios on surface-water resources. During Phase 1 of the Elkhorn-Loup Model, a lack of subsurface geological information in the Upper Loup Natural Resources District, hereafter referred to as the...
Trends in lake chemistry in response to atmospheric deposition and climate in selected Class I wilderness areas in Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, 1993-2009
M. Alisa Mast, George P. Ingersoll
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5123
In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Air Resource Management, began a study to evaluate long-term trends in lake-water chemistry for 64 high-elevation lakes in selected Class I wilderness areas in Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming during 1993 to 2009. The...
Pathogenic bacteria and microbial-source tracking markers in Brandywine Creek Basin, Pennsylvania and Delaware, 2009-10
Joseph W. Duris, Andrew G. Reif, Leif E. Olson, Heather E. Johnson
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5164
The City of Wilmington, Delaware, is in the downstream part of the Brandywine Creek Basin, on the main stem of Brandywine Creek. Wilmington uses this stream, which drains a mixed-land-use area upstream, for its main drinking-water supply. Because the stream is used for drinking water, Wilmington is in need of...
Potential climate change effects on water tables and pyrite oxidation in headwater catchments in Colorado
Richard M. Webb, M. Alisa Mast, Andrew H. Manning, David W. Clow, Donald H. Campbell
C. Nicholas Medley, Glenn Patterson, Melanie J. Parker, editor(s)
2011, Conference Paper, Observing, studying, and managing for change - Proceedings of the Fourth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5169
A water, energy, and biogeochemical model (WEBMOD) was constructed to simulate hydrology and pyrite oxidation for the period October 1992 through September 1997. The hydrologic model simulates processes in Loch Vale, a 6.6-km² granitic watershed that drains the east side of the Continental Divide. Parameters describing pyrite oxidation were derived...
Editor’s message: Groundwater modeling fantasies - Part 2, down to earth
Clifford I. Voss
2011, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 1455-1458
Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art. (Frédéric Chopin, a musician and composer, quoted in If Not God, Then What? by Fost 2007)Despite the dubious developments...
Editor’s message: Groundwater modeling fantasies - Part 1, adrift in the details
Clifford I. Voss
2011, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 1281-1284
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it. …Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. (Epigrams in Programming by Alan Perlis, a computer scientist; Perlis 1982).A doctoral student creating a groundwater model of a regional aquifer put individual...
Evaluating the potential for remote bathymetric mapping of a turbid, sand-bed river: 1. Field spectroscopy and radiative transfer modeling
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Brandon T. Overstreet
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
Remote sensing offers an efficient means of mapping bathymetry in river systems, but this approach has been applied primarily to clear-flowing, gravel bed streams. This study used field spectroscopy and radiative transfer modeling to assess the feasibility of spectrally based depth retrieval in a sand-bed river with a higher suspended...
An evaluation of the Bayesian approach to fitting the N-mixture model for use with pseudo-replicated count data
S.G. Toribo, B. R. Gray, S. Liang
2011, Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation (82) 1135-1143
The N-mixture model proposed by Royle in 2004 may be used to approximate the abundance and detection probability of animal species in a given region. In 2006, Royle and Dorazio discussed the advantages of using a Bayesian approach in modelling animal abundance and occurrence using a hierarchical N-mixture model. N-mixture...
The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth
David M. J. S. Bowman, Jennifer Balch, Paulo Artaxo, William J. Bond, Mark A. Cochrane, Carla M. D'Antonio, Fay H. Johnston, Ruth DeFries, Jon E. Keeley, Meg A. Krawchuk, Christian A. Kull, Michelle Mack, Max A. Moritz, Stephen Pyne, Christopher I. Roos, Andrew C. Scott, Navjot S. Sodhi, Thomas W. Swetnam
2011, Journal of Biogeography (38) 2223-2236
Humans and their ancestors are unique in being a fire‐making species, but ‘natural’ (i.e. independent of humans) fires have an ancient, geological history on Earth. Natural fires have influenced biological evolution and global biogeochemical cycles, making fire integral to the functioning of some biomes. Globally, debate rages about the impact...
