Measuring gravity currents in the Chicago River, Chicago, Illinois
K. A. Oberg, J. A. Czuba, K. K. Johnson
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the IEEE working conference on current measurement technology
Recent studies of the Chicago River have determined that gravity currents are responsible for persistent bidirectional flows that have been observed in the river. A gravity current is the flow of one fluid within another caused by a density difference between the fluids. These studies demonstrated how acoustic Doppler current...
Regional nitrate and pesticide trends in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California
K.R. Burow, James L. Shelton, N. M. Dubrovsky
2008, Conference Paper, Journal of Environmental Quality
Protection of ground water for present and future use requires monitoring and understanding of the mechanisms controlling long-term quality of ground water. In this study, spatial and temporal trends in concentrations of nitrate and pesticides in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California, were evaluated to determine the...
Dual-RiverSonde measurements of two-dimensional river flow patterns
C.C. Teague, D.E. Barrick, P.M. Lilleboe, Ralph T. Cheng, Paul Stumpner, Jon R. Burau
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the IEEE Working Conference on Current Measurement Technology
Two-dimensional river flow patterns have been measured using a pair of RiverSondes in two experiments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system of central California during April and October 2007. An experiment was conducted at Walnut Grove, California in order to explore the use of dual RiverSondes to measure flow...
Agriculture-related trends in groundwater quality of the glacial deposits aquifer, central Wisconsin
D. A. Saad
2008, Conference Paper, Journal of Environmental Quality
Measuring and understanding trends in groundwater quality is necessary for determining whether changes in land-management practices have an effect on groundwater quality. This paper describes an approach that was used to measure and understand trends using data from two groundwater studies conducted in central Wisconsin as part of the USGS...
Using open hole and cased-hole resistivity logs to monitor gas hydrate dissociation during a thermal test in the mallik 5L-38 research well, Mackenzie Delta, Canada
B.I. Anderson, T. S. Collett, R.E. Lewis, I. Dubourg
2008, Conference Paper, Petrophysics
Gas hydrates, which are naturally occurring ice-like combinations of gas and water, have the potential to provide vast amounts of natural gas from the world's oceans and polar regions. However, producing gas economically from hydrates entails major technical challenges. Proposed recovery methods such as dissociating or melting gas hydrates by...
Evaluation of Landsat-7 SLC-off image products for forest change detection
Michael A. Wulder, Stephanie M. Ortlepp, Joanne C. White, Susan Maxwell
2008, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing (34) 93-99
Since July 2003, Landsat-7 ETM+ has been operating without the scan line corrector (SLC), which compensates for the forward motion of the satellite in the imagery acquired. Data collected in SLC-off mode have gaps in a systematic wedge-shaped pattern outside of the central 22 km swath of the imagery; however,...
Exploration maturity key to ranking search areas
Emil D. Attanasi, Philip A. Freeman
2008, Oil & Gas Journal (106)
The study area of US Geological Survey Circular 1288, the world outside the US and Canada, was partitioned into 44 countries and country groups. Map figures such as Fig. 2 and graphs similar to Figs. 3 and 4 provide a visual summary of maturity of oil and gas exploration. From...
Are hotspots of evolutionary potential adequately protected in southern California?
Amy G. Vandergast, A.J. Bohonak, S.A. Hathaway, J. Boys, Robert N. Fisher
2008, Biological Conservation (141) 1648-1664
Reserves are often designed to protect rare habitats, or "typical" exemplars of ecoregions and geomorphic provinces. This approach focuses on current patterns of organismal and ecosystem-level biodiversity, but typically ignores the evolutionary processes that control the gain and loss of biodiversity at these and other levels (e.g., genetic, ecological). In...
Decadal-scale changes of pesticides in ground water of the United States, 1993-2003
L. M. Bexfield
2008, Conference Paper, Journal of Environmental Quality
Pesticide data for ground water sampled across the United States between 1993-1995 and 2001-2003 by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program were evaluated for trends in detection frequency and concentration. The data analysis evaluated samples collected from a total of 362 wells located in 12 local well networks...
Semantic mediation in the national geologic map database (US)
D. Percy, S. Richard, D. Soller
2008, Conference Paper, AAAI Spring Symposium - Technical Report
Controlled language is the primary challenge in merging heterogeneous databases of geologic information. Each agency or organization produces databases with different schema, and different terminology for describing the objects within. In order to make some progress toward merging these databases using current technology, we have developed software and a workflow...
Radiometric cross-calibration of the Terra MODIS and Landsat 7 ETM+ using an invariant desert site
T. Choi, A. Angal, G. Chander, X. Xiong
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
A methodology for long-term radiometric cross-calibration between the Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat 7 (L7) Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensors was developed. The approach involves calibration of near-simultaneous surface observations between 2000 and 2007. Fifty-seven cloud-free image pairs were carefully selected over the Libyan desert for...
Development of landsat-5 thematic mapper internal calibrator gain and offset table
J. A. Barsi, G. Chander, E. Micijevic, B. L. Markham, Md. O. Haque
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
The National Landsat Archive Production System (NLAPS) has been the primary processing system for Landsat data since U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS) started archiving Landsat data. NLAPS converts raw satellite data into radiometrically and geometrically calibrated products. NLAPS has historically used the Internal Calibrator...
L5 TM radiometric recalibration procedure using the internal calibration trends from the NLAPS trending database
G. Chander, Md. O. Haque, E. Micijevic, J. A. Barsi
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
From the Landsat program's inception in 1972 to the present, the earth science user community has benefited from a historical record of remotely sensed data. The multispectral data from the Landsat 5 (L5) Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor provide the backbone for this extensive archive. Historically, the radiometric calibration procedure for...
Monitoring programs to assess reintroduction efforts: A critical component in recovery
E. Muths, V. Dreitz
2008, Animal Biodiversity and Conservation (31) 47-56
Reintroduction is a powerful tool in our conservation toolbox. However, the necessary follow-up, i.e. long-term monitoring, is not commonplace and if instituted may lack rigor. We contend that valid monitoring is possible, even with sparse data. We present a means to monitor based on demographic data and a projection model...
Decadal-scale changes of nitrate in ground water of the United States, 1988-2004
Michael G. Rupert
2008, Journal of Environmental Quality (37) S240-S248
This study evaluated decadal-scale changes of nitrate concentrations in groundwater samples collected by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program from 495 wells in 24 well networks across the USA in predominantly agricultural areas. Each well network was sampled once during 1988-1995 and resampled once during 2000-2004. Statistical tests of decadal-scale...
MODIS and SeaWIFS on-orbit lunar calibration
Jielun Sun, R.E. Eplee Jr., X. Xiong, T. Stone, G. Meister, C.R. McClain
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
The Moon plays an important role in the radiometric stability monitoring of the NASA Earth Observing System's (EOS) remote sensors. The MODIS and SeaWIFS are two of the key instruments for NASA's EOS missions. The MODIS Protoflight Model (PFM) on-board the Terra spacecraft and the MODIS Flight Model 1 (FM1)...
Radiometric calibration stability and inter-calibration of solar-band instruments in orbit using the moon
T.C. Stone
2008, Conference Paper, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
With the increased emphasis on monitoring the Earth's climate from space, more stringent calibration requirements are being placed on the data products from remote sensing satellite instruments. Among these are stability over decade-length time scales and consistency across sensors and platforms. For radiometer instruments in the solar reflectance wavelength range...
Trends of pesticides and nitrate in ground water of the Central Columbia Plateau, Washington, 1993-2003
L. Frans
2008, Conference Paper, Journal of Environmental Quality
Pesticide and nitrate data for ground water sampled in the Central Columbia Plateau, Washington, between 1993 and 2003 by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program were evaluated for trends in concentration. A total of 72 wells were sampled in 1993-1995 and again in 2002-2003 in three well networks...
NOAA/West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center Pacific Ocean response criteria
P. Whitmore, H. Benz, M. Bolton, G. Crawford, L. Dengler, G. Fryer, J. Goltz, R. Hansen, K. Kryzanowski, S. Malone, D. Oppenheimer, E. Petty, G. Rogers, Jim Wilson
2008, Science of Tsunami Hazards (27) 1-19
New West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC) response criteria for earthquakes occurring in the Pacific basin are presented. Initial warning decisions are based on earthquake location, magnitude, depth, and - dependent on magnitude - either distance from source or precomputed threat estimates generated from tsunami models. The new criteria will...
Visualizing the ground motions of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
A. Chourasia, S. Cutchin, Brad T. Aagaard
2008, Computers & Geosciences (34) 0-0
With advances in computational capabilities and refinement of seismic wave-propagation models in the past decade large three-dimensional simulations of earthquake ground motion have become possible. The resulting datasets from these simulations are multivariate, temporal and multi-terabyte in size. Past visual representations of results from seismic studies have been largely confined...
Transport of water, carbon, and sediment through the Yukon River Basin
Timothy P. Brabets, Paul F. Schuster
2008, Fact Sheet 2008-3005
In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a water-quality study of the Yukon River. The Yukon River Basin (YRB), which encompasses 330,000 square miles in northwestern Canada and central Alaska (fig. 1), is one of the largest and most diverse ecosystems in North America. The Yukon River is more...
Techniques for Monitoring Razorback Sucker in the Lower Colorado River, Hoover to Parker Dams, 2006-2007, Final Report
Gordon A. Mueller, Richard Wydoski, Eric Best, Steve Hiebert, Jeff Lantow, Mark Santee, Bill Goettlicher, Joe Millosovich
2008, Open-File Report 2008-1245
Trammel netting is generally the accepted method of monitoring razorback sucker in reservoirs, but this method is ineffective for monitoring this fish in rivers. Trammel nets set in the current become fouled with debris, and nets set in backwaters capture high numbers of nontarget species. Nontargeted fish composed 97 percent...
Herpetological Monitoring Using a Pitfall Trapping Design in Southern California
Robert Fisher, Drew Stokes, Carlton Rochester, Cheryl Brehme, Stacie Hathaway, Ted Case
2008, Techniques and Methods 2-A5
The steps necessary to conduct a pitfall trapping survey for small terrestrial vertebrates are presented. Descriptions of the materials needed and the methods to build trapping equipment from raw materials are discussed. Recommended data collection techniques are given along with suggested data fields. Animal specimen processing procedures, including toe- and...
M-log A observations for recent large earthquakes
Thomas C. Hanks, W. H. Bakun
2008, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (98) 490-494
Using a magnitude (M)-log area (A) dataset augmented with seven large (M > 7.0) earthquakes occurring since Wells and Coppersmith (1994), this short note assesses the current validity of the bilinear M-log A relations for continental, strike-slip earthquakes proposed by Hanks and Bakun (2002), in particular the L-model scaling at...
Molecular and phenotypic diversity in Chionactis occipitalis (Western Shovel-nosed Snake), with emphasis on the status of C. o. klauberi (Tucson Shovel-nosed Snake).
D.A. Wood, J.M. Meik, A.T. Holycross, Robert N. Fisher, Amy G. Vandergast
2008, Conservation Genetics (9) 1489-1507
Chionactis occipitalis (Western Shovel-nosed Snake) is a small colubrid snake inhabiting the arid regions of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Colorado deserts. Morphological assessments of taxonomy currently recognize four subspecies. However, these taxonomic proposals were largely based on weak morphological differentiation and inadequate geographic sampling. Our goal was to explore evolutionary...
