Geomechanical analysis of initial stage of gas production from interbedded hydrate-bearing sediment
Jeen-Shang Lin, Shun Uchida, Evgeniy Myshakin, Yongkoo Seol, Jonny Rutqvist, Ray Boswell, William F. Waite, Junbong Jang, Timothy S. Collett
2017, Conference Paper
Geomechanical stability of marine hydrate reservoirs during gas production by depressurization is the focus of this study. The reservoir considered here consists of thin hydrate rich sandy layers interbedded with mud layers. Because of the input parameter uncertainties involved, it is prudent from a geomechanical perspective to estimate the likely...
Geology of Kasatochi Volcano, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Christopher J. Nye, William E. Scott, Owen K Neill, Christopher F. Waythomas, Cheryl E. Cameron, Andrew T. Calvert
2017, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Professional Report 123
Kasatochi is a small, isolated island volcano in the center of the Aleutian Island chain. It consists of a roughly circular cone ~3 km in diameter with a lake-filled central crater that is 1.2 km in diameter and extends from the highest point on the island to sea level. The...
Geophysical characterization of seismic station sites in the United States – The importance of a flexible, multi-method approach
Antony Martin, Alan Yong, William J. Stephenson, J. Boatwright, John Diehl
2017, Conference Paper
Noninvasive geophysical site characterization methods were used in two recent projects to obtain shear-wave velocity (VS) profiles to a minimum depth of 30 m and the time-averaged VS of the upper 30 meters (VS30) at seismic station sites. These projects include the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded...
Natural inquirer: The citizen science edition
Shonte Jenkins
2017, Book
People across the world are helping scientists collect data to answer important research questions. Learn how citizens are getting involved in science, from counting birds and lionfish to reporting earthquakes. All Over the Map, Citizen Science System, Device-ive Science, Invasion of the Song Snatcher, and Lion In Wait....
Preface: The lunar reconnaissance orbiter
John W Keller, Lisa R. Gaddis, Noah E. Petro, Oded Aharonson
2017, Icarus (298) 1-1
When the call for papers for a special issue of Icarus devoted to analysis of data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission was announced in March 2015 we envisioned a single issue with only a possibility of a second. We certainly were gratified by the response from within and outside...
Evidence that recent warming is reducing upper Colorado River flows
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock, Gregory T. Pederson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Stephanie A. McAfee
2017, Earth Interactions (21) 1-14
The upper Colorado River basin (UCRB) is one of the primary sources of water for the western United States, and increasing temperatures likely will elevate the risk of reduced water supply in the basin. Although variability in water-year precipitation explains more of the variability in water-year UCRB streamflow than water-year...
CO2 cycle
Timothy N. Titus, Shane Byrne, Anthony Colaprete, Francois Forget, Timothy I. Michaels, Thomas H. Prettyman
2017, Book chapter, The atmosphere and climate of Mars
This chapter discusses the use of models, observations, and laboratory experiments to understand the cycling of CO2 between the atmosphere and seasonal Martian polar caps. This cycle is primarily controlled by the polar heat budget, and thus the emphasis here is on its components, including solar and infrared radiation, the...
Attaching transmitters to waterbirds using one versus two subcutaneous anchors: Retention and survival trade-offs
Tyler Lewis, Daniel Esler, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Rian D. Dickson, Eric M. Anderson, Joseph R. Evenson, Jerry W. Hupp, Paul L. Flint
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 691-700
A major challenge of wildlife telemetry is choosing an attachment technique that maximizes transmitter retention while minimizing negative side effects. For waterbirds, attachment of transmitters with subcutaneous anchors has been an effective and well-established technique, having been used on >40 species. This method was recently modified to include a second...
Spatial data analytics on heterogeneous multi- and many-core parallel architectures using python
Jason R. Laura, Sergio J. Rey
2017, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of GIS
Parallel vector spatial analysis concerns the application of parallel computational methods to facilitate vector-based spatial analysis. The history of parallel computation in spatial analysis is reviewed, and this work is placed into the broader context of high-performance computing (HPC) and parallelization research. The rise of cyber infrastructure and its manifestation...
Foundations of translational ecology
Carolyn A. F. Enquist, Stephen T. Jackson, Gregg M. Garfin, Frank W. Davis, Leah R. Gerber, Jeremy Littell, Jennifer L. Tank, Adam Terando, Tamara U. Wall, Benjamin S. Halpern, J. Kevin Hiers, Toni L. Morelli, Elizabeth McNie, Nathan L. Stephenson, Matthew A. Williamson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Laurie Yung, Mark W. Brunson, Kimberly R. Hall, Lauren M. Hallett, Dawn M. Lawson, Max A. Moritz, Koren R. Nydick, Amber Pairis, Andrea J. Ray, Claudia M. Regan, Hugh D. Safford, Mark W. Schwartz, M. Rebecca Shaw
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (15) 541-550
Ecologists who specialize in translational ecology (TE) seek to link ecological knowledge to decision making by integrating ecological science with the full complement of social dimensions that underlie today's complex environmental issues. TE is motivated by a search for outcomes that directly serve the needs of natural resource managers and...
A wideband magnetoresistive sensor for monitoring dynamic fault slip in laboratory fault friction experiments
Brian D. Kilgore
2017, Sensors (17) 1-29
A non-contact, wideband method of sensing dynamic fault slip in laboratory geophysical experiments employs an inexpensive magnetoresistive sensor, a small neodymium rare earth magnet, and user built application-specific wideband signal conditioning. The magnetoresistive sensor generates a voltage proportional to the changing angles of magnetic flux lines, generated by differential motion...
Importance of fishing as a segmentation variable in the application of a social worlds model
Larry M. Gigliotti, Loren Chase
2017, Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science (96) 58-76
Market segmentation is useful to understanding and classifying the diverse range of outdoor recreation experiences sought by different recreationists. Although many different segmentation methodologies exist, many are complex and difficult to measure accurately during in-person intercepts, such as that of creel surveys. To address that gap in the literature, we...
Documenting mudstone heterogeneity by use of principal component analysis of X-ray diffraction and portable X-ray fluorescence data: A case study in the Triassic Shublik Formation, Alaska North Slope
Adam Boehlke, Katherine J. Whidden, William Benzel
2017, Conference Paper, SEPM-AAPG Research Conference
Determining the chemical and mineralogical variability within fine-grained mudrocks poses analytical challenges but is potentially useful for documenting subtle stratigraphic differences in physicochemical environments that may influence petroleum reservoir properties and behavior. In this study, we investigate the utility of combining principal component analysis (PCA) of X-ray diffraction (XRD) data...
Developing enterprise tools and capacities for large-scale natural resource monitoring: A visioning workshop
Jennifer M. Bayer, Jake Weltzin, Rebecca A. Scully
2017, Report
In October 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership (PNAMP, www.pnamp.org), convened a 30-person workshop, https://www.pnamp.org/event/5509, to identify and prioritize development of enterprise systems for programs that monitor the status and trends of species populations and their terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats....
Crustal permeability
Steven E. Ingebritsen, Tom Gleeson
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 2221-2224
Permeability is the dominant parameter in most hydrogeologic studies. There is abundant evidence for dynamic variations in permeability in time as well as space, and throughout the crust. Whether this dynamic behavior should be included in quantitative models depends on the problem at hand....
Overview of avian toxicity studies for the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment
Steven J. Bursian, C. R. Alexander, Dave Cacela, Fred L. Cunningham, Karen M. Dean, Brian S. Dorr, Christine K. Ellis, Celine A.J. Godard-Codding, Christopher G. Guglielmo, Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, Kendall E. Harr, Katherine A. Healy, Michael J. Hooper, Katherine E. Horak, John P. Isanhart, Lisa V. Kennedy, Jane E. Link, Ivan Maggini, John K. Moye, Christina R. Perez, Chris A. Pritsos, Susan A. Shriner, Kinberly A. Trust, Peter L. Tuttle
2017, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (146) 4-10
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 establishes liability for injuries to natural resources because of the release or threat of release of oil. Assessment of injury to natural resources resulting from an oil spill and development and implementation of a plan for the restoration, rehabilitation, replacement or acquisition of natural...
Earthquake Early Warning ShakeAlert System: Testing and certification platform
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Monica D. Kohler, Douglas D. Given, Stephen Guiwits, Jennifer Andrews, Men-Andrin Meier, Mohammad Ahmad, Ivan Henson, J. Renate Hartog, Deborah Smith
2017, Seismological Research Letters (89) 108-117
Earthquake early warning systems provide warnings to end users of incoming moderate to strong ground shaking from earthquakes. An earthquake early warning system, ShakeAlert, is providing alerts to beta end users in the western United States, specifically California, Oregon, and Washington. An essential aspect of the earthquake early warning system...
Comment on linking the sex difference in PCB concentrations of fish to release of eggs at spawning: Time to jettison the dogma
Charles P. Madenjian
2017, Oceanography & Fisheries (5)
For the past 20 years or so, a commonly used explanation in the scientific literature for higher polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in male fish than in female fish has been that females lose a high proportion of their PCB body burden by releasing eggs at spawning time, and therefore the...
Methane- and dissolved organic carbon-fueled microbial loop supports a tropical subterranean estuary ecosystem
D. Brankovits, John W. Pohlman, H. Niemann, M.B. Leigh, M.C. Leewis, K. W. Becker, T.M. Iliffe, Alvarez. F., M.F. Lehmann, B. Phillips
2017, Nature Communications (8) 1-12
Subterranean estuaries extend inland into density-stratified coastal carbonate aquifers containing a surprising diversity of endemic animals (mostly crustaceans) within a highly oligotrophic habitat. How complex ecosystems (termed anchialine) thrive in this globally distributed, cryptic environment is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that a microbial loop shuttles methane and dissolved organic carbon...
How many Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis are on Midway Atoll? Methods for monitoring abundance after reintroduction
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Jeffrey Hatfield
2017, Wildfowl (67) 60-71
Wildlife managers often request a simple approach to monitor the status of species of concern. In response to that need, we used eight years of monitoring data to estimate population size and test the validity of an index for monitoring accurately the abundance of reintroduced, endangered Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis....
Earthquake early Warning ShakeAlert system: West coast wide production prototype
Monica D. Kohler, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Douglas D. Given, Stephen Guiwits, Doug Neuhauser, Ivan Hensen, J. Renate Hartog, Paul Bodin, Victor Kress, Stephen Thompson, Claude Felizardo, Jeff Brody, Rayo Bhadha, Stan Schwarz
2017, Seismological Research Letters (89) 99-107
Earthquake early warning (EEW) is an application of seismological science that can give people, as well as mechanical and electrical systems, up to tens of seconds to take protective actions before peak earthquake shaking arrives at a location. Since 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey has been working in collaboration with...
Quake warnings, seismic culture
Richard M. Allen, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Tom Huggins, Scott Miles, Diego Otegui
2017, Science (358) 1111-1111
Since 1990, nearly one million people have died from the impacts of earthquakes. Reducing those impacts requires building a local seismic culture in which residents are aware of earthquake risks and value efforts to mitigate harm. Such efforts include earthquake early warning (EEW) systems that provide seconds to minutes notice...
Detrital zircon geochronology of quartzose metasedimentary rocks from parautochthonous North America, east-central Alaska
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, James V. Jones III, John N. Aleinikoff, James K. Mortensen
2017, Lithosphere (9) 927-952
We report eight new U-Pb detrital zircon ages for quartzose metasedimentary rocks from four lithotectonic units of parautochthonous North America in east-central Alaska: the Healy schist, Keevy Peak Formation, and Sheep Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist in the northern Alaska Range, and the Butte assemblage in the northwestern Yukon-Tanana...
A Bayesian-based system to assess wave-driven flooding hazards on coral reef-lined coasts
S. G. Pearson, Curt D. Storlazzi, A. R. van Dongeren, M. F. S. Tissier, A. J. H. M. Reniers
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (122) 10099-10117
Many low-elevation, coral reef-lined, tropical coasts are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, sea level rise, and wave-induced flooding. The considerable morphological diversity of these coasts and the variability of the hydrodynamic forcing that they are exposed to make predicting wave-induced flooding a challenge. A process-based wave-resolving hydrodynamic model...
A statistical method to predict flow permanence in dryland streams from time series of stream temperature
Ivan Arismendi, Jason B. Dunham, Michael Heck, Luke Schultz, David Hockman-Wert
2017, Water (9) 1-13
Intermittent and ephemeral streams represent more than half of the length of the global river network. Dryland freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to changes in human-related water uses as well as shifts in terrestrial climates. Yet, the description and quantification of patterns of flow permanence in these systems is challenging...
