Improving national-scale invasion maps: Tamarisk in the western United States
Catherine S. Jarnevich, P. Evangelista, Thomas J. Stohlgren, Jeffrey T. Morisette
2011, Western North American Naturalist (71) 164-175
New invasions, better field data, and novel spatial-modeling techniques often drive the need to revisit previous maps and models of invasive species. Such is the case with the at least 10 species of Tamarix, which are invading riparian systems in the western United States and expanding their range throughout...
Scaling earthquake ground motions for performance-based assessment of buildings
Y.-N. Huang, A.S. Whittaker, N. Luco, R.O. Hamburger
2011, Journal of Structural Engineering (137) 311-321
The impact of alternate ground-motion scaling procedures on the distribution of displacement responses in simplified structural systems is investigated. Recommendations are provided for selecting and scaling ground motions for performance-based assessment of buildings. Four scaling methods are studied, namely, (1) geometric-mean scaling of pairs of ground motions, (2) spectrum...
Rating curve estimation of nutrient loads in Iowa rivers
G.A. Stenback, W.G. Crumpton, K. E. Schilling, M.J. Helmers
2011, Journal of Hydrology (396) 158-169
Accurate estimation of nutrient loads in rivers and streams is critical for many applications including determination of sources of nutrient loads in watersheds, evaluating long-term trends in loads, and estimating loading to downstream waterbodies. Since in many cases nutrient concentrations are measured on a weekly or monthly frequency, there is...
Modal-pushover-based ground-motion scaling procedure
Erol Kalkan, Anil K. Chopra
2011, Journal of Structural Engineering (137) 298-310
Earthquake engineering is increasingly using nonlinear response history analysis (RHA) to demonstrate the performance of structures. This rigorous method of analysis requires selection and scaling of ground motions appropriate to design hazard levels. This paper presents a modal-pushover-based scaling (MPS) procedure to scale ground motions for use in a nonlinear...
Impacts of Land-Cover Change on Suspended Sediment Transport in Two Agricultural Watersheds
K. E. Schilling, T.M. Isenhart, J.A. Palmer, C.F. Wolter, J. Spooner
2011, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (47) 672-686
Suspended sediment is a major water quality problem, yet few monitoring studies have been of sufficient scale and duration to assess the effectiveness of land-use change or conservation practice implementation at a watershed scale. Daily discharge and suspended sediment export from two 5,000-ha watersheds in central Iowa were monitored over...
Independent effects of temperature and precipitation on modeled runoff in the conterminous United States
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
A water‐balance model is used to simulate time series of water‐year runoff for 4 km × 4 km grid cells for the conterminous United States during the 1900–2008 period. Model outputs are used to examine the separate effects of precipitation and temperature on runoff variability. Overall, water‐year runoff has increased...
Cold-climate slope deposits and landscape modifications of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, Eastern USA
Wayne L. Newell, B.D. Dejong
2011, Geological Society Special Publication (354) 259-276
The effects of Pleistocene cold-climate geomorphology are distributed across the weathered and eroded Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain uplands from the Wisconsinan terminal moraine south to Tidewater Virginia. Cold-climate deposits and landscape modifications are superimposed on antecedent landscapes of old, weathered Neogene upland gravels and Pleistocene marine terraces that had been built...
Assessing forest vulnerability and the potential distribution of pine beetles under current and future climate scenarios in the Interior West of the US
P.H. Evangelista, S. Kumar, Thomas J. Stohlgren, N.E. Young
2011, Forest Ecology and Management (262) 307-316
The aim of our study was to estimate forest vulnerability and potential distribution of three bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) under current and projected climate conditions for 2020 and 2050. Our study focused on the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis), and pine engraver (Ips pini). This study...
Pore networks in continental and marine mudstones: Characteristics and controls on sealing behavior
J.E. Heath, T.A. Dewers, B.J.O.L. McPherson, R. Petrusak, T.C. Chidsey, A.J. Rinehart, P.S. Mozley
2011, Geosphere (7) 429-454
Mudstone pore networks are strong modifiers of sedimentary basin fluid dynamics and have a critical role in the distribution of hydrocarbons and containment of injected fluids. Using core samples from continental and marine mudstones, we investigate properties of pore types and networks from a variety of geologic environments, together with...
Evaluation of a black-footed ferret resource utilization function model
D.A. Eads, J.J. Millspaugh, Dean E. Biggins, D.S. Jachowski, T.M. Livieri
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 1155-1163
Resource utilization function (RUF) models permit evaluation of potential habitat for endangered species; ideally such models should be evaluated before use in management decision‐making. We evaluated the predictive capabilities of a previously developed black‐footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) RUF. Using the population‐level RUF, generated from ferret observations at an adjacent yet...
Constraints on the long-period moment-dip tradeoff for the Tohoku earthquake
V.C. Tsai, Gavin P. Hayes, Z. Duputel
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
Since the work of Kanamori and Given (1981), it has been recognized that shallow, pure dip‐slip earthquakes excite long‐period surface waves such that it is difficult to independently constrain the moment (M0) and the dip (δ) of the source mechanism, with only the product M0 sin(2δ) being well constrained. Because of this,...
Process-based modeling of tsunami inundation and sediment transport
A. Apotsos, G. Gelfenbaum, B. Jaffe
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (116)
The infrequent and unpredictable nature of tsunamis precludes the use of field experiments to measure the hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes that occur. Instead, these processes are often approximated from laboratory, numerical, and theoretical studies or inferred from observations of the resultant sediment deposits. Here Delft3D, a three-dimensional numerical model,...
Thorium abundances of basalt ponds in South Pole-Aitken basin: Insights into the composition and evolution of the far side lunar mantle
Justin Hagerty, D. J. Lawrence, B. R. Hawke
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (116) 1-23
Imbrian-aged basalt ponds, located on the floor of South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, are used to provide constraints on the composition and evolution of the far side lunar mantle. We use forward modeling of the Lunar Prospector Gamma Ray Spectrometer thorium data, to suggest that at least five different and distinct...
Nitrogen uptake by the shoots of smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora
T. J. Mozdzer, M. Kirwan, K. J. McGlathery, J. C. Zieman
2011, Marine Ecology Progress Series (433) 43-52
The smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora is the foundation species in intertidal salt marshes of the North American Atlantic coast. Depending on its elevation within the marsh, S. alterniflora may be submerged for several hours per day. Previous ecosystem-level studies have demonstrated that S. alterniflora marshes are a net sink for nitrogen (N), and that removal of...
The indication of Martian gully formation processes by slope-area analysis
Susan J. Conway, Matthew R. Balme, John B. Murray, Martin C. Towner, Chris Okubo, Peter M. Grindrod
2011, Geological Society Special Publication (356) 171-201
The formation process of recent gullies on Mars is currently under debate. This study aims to discriminate between the proposed formation processes - pure water flow, debris flow and dry mass wasting - through the application of geomorphological indices commonly used in terrestrial geomorphology. High-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of...
Mapping rice areas of South Asia using MODIS multitemporal data
M.K. Gumma, A. Nelson, P.S. Thenkabail, A.N. Singh
2011, Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (5)
Our goal is to map the rice areas of six South Asian countries using moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) time-series data for the time period 2000 to 2001. South Asia accounts for almost 40% of the world's harvested rice area and is also home to 74% of the population that lives...
Adaptive finite volume methods with well-balanced Riemann solvers for modeling floods in rugged terrain: Application to the Malpasset dam-break flood (France, 1959)
D.L. George
2011, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids (66) 1000-1018
The simulation of advancing flood waves over rugged topography, by solving the shallow-water equations with well-balanced high-resolution finite volume methods and block-structured dynamic adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), is described and validated in this paper. The efficiency of block-structured AMR makes large-scale problems tractable, and allows the use of accurate and...
Structure of the San Fernando Valley region, California: implications for seismic hazard and tectonic history
V.E. Langenheim, T. L. Wright, D. A. Okaya, R.S. Yeats, G. S. Fuis, K. Thygesen, H. Thybo
2011, Geosphere (7) 528-572
Industry seismic reflection data, oil test well data, interpretation of gravity and magnetic data, and seismic refraction deep-crustal profiles provide new perspectives on the subsurface geology of San Fernando Valley, home of two of the most recent damaging earthquakes in southern California. Seismic reflection data provide depths to Miocene–Quaternary horizons;...
Proactive aquatic ecotoxicological assessment of room-temperature ionic liquids
K. J. Kulacki, D. T. Chaloner, James H. Larson, D. M. Costello, M. A. Evans-White, K. M. Docherty, R. J. Bernot, M. A. Brueseke, C. F. Kulpa, G. A. Lamberti
2011, Current Organic Chemistry (15) 1918-1927
Aquatic environments are being contaminated with a myriad of anthropogenic chemicals, a problem likely to continue due to both unintentional and intentional releases. To protect valuable natural resources, novel chemicals should be shown to be environmentally safe prior to use and potential release into the environment. Such proactive assessment is...
Tsunami inundation and sediment transport in a sediment-limited embayment on American Samoa
A. Apotsos, G. Gelfenbaum, B. Jaffe, Sebastian Watt, B. Peck, M. Buckley, A. Stevens
2011, Earth-Science Reviews (107) 1-11
Field observations and numerical simulations are used to explore tsunami inundation and sediment transport in an embayment (Fagafue Bay) on the north side of Tutuila, American Samoa during the 29 September 2009 South Pacific tsunami. Field observations of the nearshore bathymetry and topography, tsunami flow depth and sediment deposition, and...
Early in-flight detection of SO2 via Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy: A feasible aviation safety measure to prevent potential encounters with volcanic plumes
L. Vogel, B. Galle, C. Kern, Granados H. Delgado, V. Conde, P. Norman, S. Arellano, O. Landgren, P. Lubcke, Nieves J.M. Alvarez, Gonzales L. Cardenas, U. Platt
2011, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions (4) 2827-2881
Volcanic ash constitutes a risk to aviation, mainly due to its ability to cause jet engines to fail. Other risks include the possibility of abrasion of windshields and potentially serious damage to avionic systems. These hazards have been widely recognized 5 since the early 1980s, when volcanic ash provoked several...
Infectious diseases: Surveillance, genetic modification and simulation
H. L. Koh, S.Y. Teh, D. L. De Angelis, J. Jiang
2011, Conference Paper, WIT Transactions on the Built Environment
Infectious diseases such as influenza and dengue have the potential of becoming a worldwide pandemic that may exert immense pressures on existing medical infrastructures. Careful surveillance of these diseases, supported by consistent model simulations, provides a means for tracking the disease evolution. The integrated surveillance and simulation program is essential...
Multiphase-flow numerical modeling of the 18 May 1980 lateral blast at Mount St. Helens, USA
T.E. Ongaro, C. Widiwijayanti, A.B. Clarke, Barry Voight, A. Neri
2011, Geology (39) 535-538
Volcanic lateral blasts are among the most spectacular and devastating of natural phenomena, but their dynamics are still poorly understood. Here we investigate the best documented and most controversial blast at Mount St. Helens (Washington State, United States), on 18 May 1980. By means of three-dimensional multiphase numerical simulations we...
Sea ice loss enhances wave action at the Arctic coast
I. Overeem, R. Scott Anderson, C.W. Wobus, Gary D. Clow, Frank E. Urban, N. Matell
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
Erosion rates of permafrost coasts along the Beaufort Sea accelerated over the past 50 years synchronously with Arctic‐wide declines in sea ice extent, suggesting a causal relationship between the two. A fetch‐limited wave model driven by sea ice position and local wind data from northern Alaska indicates that the exposure...
Effects of black bear relocation on elk calf recruitment at Great Smoky Mountains National Park
J. Yarkovich, J. D. Clark, J.L. Murrow
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 1145-1154
Previous research from 2001 to 2006 on an experimentally released elk (Cervus elaphus) population at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP or Park) indicated that calf recruitment (i.e., calves reaching 1 yr of age per adult female elk) was low (0.306, total SE = 0.090) resulting in low or negative population growth...
