Quality of surface water in Missouri, Water Year 2016
Miya N. Barr, Katherine A. Bartels
2018, Data Series 1086
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During water year 2016 (October 1, 2015, through September 30, 2016), data presented in this report...
Preliminary evaluation of the hydrogeology and groundwater quality of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and Memphis aquifer at the Tennessee Valley Authority Allen Power Plants, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee
John K. Carmichael, James A. Kingsbury, Daniel Larsen, Scott Schoefernacker
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1097
The hydrogeology, groundwater quality, and potential for hydraulic connection between the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and the Memphis aquifer in the area of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Allen Combined Cycle and Allen Fossil Plants in southwestern Memphis, Tennessee, were evaluated from September through December 2017. The study was...
Bat community response to silvicultural treatments in bottomland hardwood forests managed for wildlife in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley
Loraine P. Ketzler, Christopher E. Comer, Daniel J. Twedt
2018, Forest Ecology and Management (417) 40-48
Silvicultural treatments (e.g., selective timber harvests) that are prescribed to promote wildlife habitat are intended to alter the physical structure of forests to achieve conditions deemed beneficial for wildlife. Such treatments have been advocated for management of bottomland hardwood forests on public conservation lands in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Although...
Quantifying variance across spatial scales as part of fire regime classifications
Scholtz Rheinhardt, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Sherry A. Leis, Joshua J. Picotte, Dirac Twidwell
2018, Ecosphere (9)
The emergence of large‐scale fire classifications and products informed by remote sensing data has enabled opportunities to include variability or heterogeneity as part of modern fire regime classifications. Currently, basic fire metrics such as mean fire return intervals are calculated without considering spatial variance in a management context. Fire return...
Application of electromagnetic induction to develop a precision irrigation framework to facilitate smallholder dry season farming in the Nasia-Kparigu area of northern Ghana
Jeremy M Fontaine, Alexander Percy, Erasmus K Oware, Patience Bosompemaa, Vincent Gbedzi, John W. Lane Jr.
2018, Conference Paper, SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts
Candidate products for operational earthquake forecasting illustrated using the HayWired planning scenario, including one very quick (and not‐so‐dirty) hazard‐map option
Edward H. Field, Kevin R. Milner
2018, Seismological Research Letters (89) 1420-1434
In an effort to help address debates on the usefulness of operational earthquake forecasting (OEF), we illustrate a number of OEF products that could be automatically generated in near‐real time. To exemplify, we use an M">M 7.1...
Juvenile salmonid monitoring following removal of Condit Dam in the White Salmon River Watershed, Washington, 2017
Ian G. Jezorek, Jill M. Hardiman
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1106
Condit Dam, at river kilometer 5.3 on the White Salmon River, Washington, was breached in 2011, and removed completely in 2012, providing anadromous salmonids with the opportunity to recolonize habitat blocked for nearly 100 years. Prior to dam removal, a multi-agency workgroup concluded that the preferred salmonid restoration alternative...
A simple method for partitioning total solar radiation into diffuse/direct components in the United States
Jingjing Fan, Qiang Huang, David M. Sumner, Dingbao Wang
2018, International Journal of Green Energy (15) 497-506
Solar radiation is a major sustainable and clean energy resource, and use of solar radiation is expected to increase. The utilization efficiency of solar energy varies with the relative proportions of the direct and diffuse components that compose total solar radiation and with the slope and aspect of the irradiated...
On the reliability of N‐mixture models for count data
Richard J. Barker, Matthew J. Schofield, William A. Link, John R. Sauer
2018, Biometrics (74) 369-377
N‐mixture models describe count data replicated in time and across sites in terms of abundance N and detectability p. They are popular because they allow inference about N while controlling for factors that influence p without the need for marking animals. Using a capture–recapture perspective, we show that the loss...
A novel technique for precision geometric correction of jitter distortion for the Europa Imaging System and other rolling shutter cameras
Randolph L. Kirk, Makayla Shepherd, Stuart Sides
2018, Conference Paper
We use simulated images to demonstrate a novel technique for mitigating geometric distortions caused by platform motion (“jitter”) as two-dimensional image sensors are exposed and read out line by line (“rolling shutter”). The results indicate that the Europa Imaging System (EIS) on NASA’s Europa Clipper can likely meet its...
Variation in inbreeding rates across the range of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina): Insights from over 30 years of monitoring data
Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig, Eric D. Forsman, Robert G. Anthony, Lowell Diller, Katie M. Dugger, Alan B. Franklin, Tracy L. Fleming, Scott Gremel, Damon B. Lesmeister, Mark Higley, Dale R. Herter, Stan G Sovern
2018, The Auk (135) 821-833
Inbreeding has been difficult to quantify in wild populations because of incomplete parentage information. We applied and extended a recently developed framework for addressing this problem to infer inbreeding rates in Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) across the Pacific Northwest, USA. Using pedigrees from 14,187 Northern Spotted Owls, we...
“Asian carp” is societally and scientifically problematic. Let's replace it
Patrick Kocovsky, Duane Chapman, Song S. Qian
2018, Fisheries (43) 311-316
Bighead Carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus, Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, and Silver Carp H. molitrix are considered invasive species in North America and Europe. In North America, they are typically referred to collectively as “Asian carp”, a reference to their native range. The category “Asian carp” fails to acknowledge the cultural value and...
Map of recently active traces of the Rodgers Creek Fault, Sonoma County, California
Suzanne Hecker, Carolyn E. Randolph Loar
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3410
The accompanying map and digital data identify recently active strands of the Rodgers Creek Fault in Sonoma County, California, interpreted primarily from the geomorphic expression of recent faulting on aerial photography and hillshade imagery derived from airborne lidar data. A recently active fault strand is defined here as having evidence...
Using cluster analysis to compartmentalize a large managed wetland based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes
Ian Hahus, Kati Migliaccio, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Geraldine Klarenberg, Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
2018, Environmental Management (62) 571-583
Hierarchical and partitional cluster analyses were used to compartmentalize Water Conservation Area 1, a managed wetland within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Florida, USA, based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes. Single, complete, average, and Ward’s linkages were tested during the hierarchical cluster analyses,...
Frictional properties and 3-D stress analysis of the southern Alpine Fault, New Zealand
Carolyn Boulton, Nicolas C. Barth, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner, John Townend, Daniel R. Faulkner
2018, Journal of Structural Geology (114) 43-54
New Zealand's Alpine Fault (AF) ruptures quasi-periodically in large-magnitude earthquakes. Paleoseismological evidence suggests that about half of all recognized AF earthquakes terminated at the boundary between the Central and South Westland sections of the fault. There, fault geometry and the polarity of uplift change. The South Westland AF exhibits oblique-normal fault...
An updated method for estimating landslide‐event magnitude
Hakan Tanyas, Kate E. Allstadt, Cees J. van Weston
2018, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (43) 1836-1847
Summary statistics derived from the frequency–area distribution (FAD) of inventories of triggered landslides allows for direct comparison of landslides triggered by one event (e.g. earthquake, rainstorm) with another. Such comparisons are vital to understand links between the landslide‐event and the environmental characteristics of the area affected. This could lead to...
Modeling the distributions of tegu lizards in native and potential invasive ranges
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Mark Hayes, Lee A. Fitzgerald, Amy Yackel, Bryan Falk, Michelle Collier, Lea Bonewell, Page Klug, Sergio Naretto, Robert Reed
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Invasive reptilian predators can have substantial impacts on native species and ecosystems. Tegu lizards are widely distributed in South America east of the Andes, and are popular in the international live animal trade. Two species are established in Florida (U.S.A.) - Salvator merianae (Argentine black and white tegu) and Tupinambis...
Transient coastal landscapes: Rising sea level threatens salt marshes
Ivan Valiela, Javier Lloret, Tynan Bowyer, Simon Miner, David P. Remsen, Elizabeth Elmstrom, Charlotte Cogswell, E. Robert Thieler
2018, Science of the Total Environment (640-641) 1148-1156
Salt marshes are important coastal environments that provide key ecological services. As sea level rise has accelerated globally, concerns about the ability of salt marshes to survive submergence are increasing. Previous estimates of likely survival of salt marshes were based on ratios of sea level rise to marsh platform accretion....
Procedures for using the Horiba Scientific Aqualog® fluorometer to measure absorbance and fluorescence from dissolved organic matter
Angela M. Hansen, Jacob Fleck, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Bryan D. Downing, Travis von Dessonneck, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1096
Advances in spectroscopic techniques have led to an increase in the use of optical measurements (absorbance and fluorescence) to assess dissolved organic matter composition and infer sources and processing. Although optical measurements are easy to make, they can be affected by many variables rendering them less comparable, including by inconsistencies...
Defining the risk landscape in the context of pathogen pollution: Toxoplasma gondii in sea otters along the Pacific Rim
Tristan L. Burgess, M. Tim Tinker, Melissa A. Miller, James L. Bodkin, Michael J. Murray, Justin A. Saarinen, Linda M. Nichol, Shawn E. Larson, Patricia A. Conrad, Christine K. Johnson
2018, Royal Society Open Science (5)
Pathogens entering the marine environment as pollutants exhibit a spatial signature driven by their transport mechanisms. The sea otter (Enhydra lutris), a marine animal which lives much of its life within sight of land, presents a unique opportunity to understand land–sea pathogen transmission. Using a dataset on Toxoplasma gondii prevalence across sea...
Discussion of “Shallow water hydro-sediment-morphodynamic equations for fluvial processes” by Zhixian Cao, Chunchen Xia, Gareth Pender, and Qingquan Liu
Richard M. Iverson
2018, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
The original paper concerns the formulation and use of depth-integrated equations of motion to model the dynamics of shallow flows that entrain or deposit bed material. A recurring theme of the original paper is the authors’ criticism of related theoretical results published by Iverson and Ouyang (<a class="ref...
Survival and cause-specific mortality of translocated female mule deer in southern New Mexico, USA
James W. Cain III, Jana B. Ashling, Stewart Liley
2018, Wildlife Research (45) 325-335
Context: Many mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in New Mexico have failed to recover from previous population declines, while some populations near urban areas have increased, resulting in more frequent human–wildlife conflicts. Translocations were used in an effort to simultaneously reduce an urban mule deer population and augment two low-density populations...
Distinguishing Southern Africa precipitation response by strength of El Niño events and implications for decision-making
Catherine Pomposi, Chris Funk, Shraddhanand Shukla, Tamuka Magadzire
2018, Environmental Research Letters (13)
December–February precipitation in southern Africa during recent El Niño events is studied by distinguishing circulation and precipitation responses during strong and moderate-to-weak events. We find that while both strong and moderate-to-weak El Niño events tend to dry southern Africa, the pattern and magnitude of precipitation anomalies in...
To catch a quake
Elizabeth S. Cochran
2018, Nature Communications (9)
A revolution in seismic detection technology is underway, capturing unprecedented observations of earthquakes and their impacts. These sensor innovations provide real-time ground shaking observations that could improve emergency response following damaging earthquakes and may advance our understanding of the physics of earthquake ruptures....
Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2015, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2014
Terri Arnold, Laura M. Bexfield, MaryLynn Musgrove, Paul E. Stackelberg, Bruce D. Lindsey, James A. Kingsbury, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2018, Data Series 1087
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 502 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (500) were sampled from January through December 2015, and 2 of them were sampled in 2013. The...
