Other Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Stage And Discharge Prediction From Documentary Time-Lapse Imagery, Kenneth W. Chapman, Troy E. Gilmore, Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Christian D. Chapman, Aaron R. Mittelstet, John E. Stranzl Jr.

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Imagery from fixed, ground-based cameras is rich in qualitative and quantitative information that can improve stream discharge monitoring. For instance, time-lapse imagery may be valuable for filling data gaps when sensors fail and/or during lapses in funding for monitoring programs. In this study, we used a large image archive (> 40,000 images from 2012 to 2019) from a fixed, ground-based camera that is part of a documentary watershed imaging project (https://plattebasintimelapse.com/). Scalar image features were extracted from daylight images taken at one-hour intervals. The image features were fused with United States Geological Survey stage and discharge data as …

Wetland Soil Development Along Salinity And Hydrogeomorphic Gradients In Active And Inactive Deltaic Basins Of Coastal Louisiana, Amanda Fontenot

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal wetlands provide an abundance of ecosystem services that benefit society, such as essential habitat for commercial species, storm protection, nutrient cycling, and carbon storage. Louisiana faces rapid rates of relative sea level rise (natural subsidence and eustatic sea levels) that threaten wetland survival, which are amplified by a reduction of riverine sediment input. An important determining factor of marsh survival is the formation of wetland platform elevation, known as vertical accretion, which is determined by several processes including sediment deposition & erosion, below ground biomass (BGB) productivity, decomposition of organic matter, shallow & deep subsidence, and soil compaction. Feldspar …

A Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory For Nebraska: Livestock And Coal Loom Large, Eric R. Holley, Adam Liska

Adam Liska Papers

Mitigation of climate change requires the systematic identification and cataloging of emissions sources at city, state, and national levels. In this study, an inventory of annual greenhouse gas emissions from the state of Nebraska was created based on industry data, and emissions inventories were completed each year from 1990 to 2016. Nebraska’s net emissions were found to increase from 56.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MMtCO₂e) in 1990 to 87.4 MMtCO₂e in 2016. Agriculture was found to be the sector with the most emissions (36 MMtCO₂e) followed by electricity generation (21 MMtCO …

Evaluation Of Snow And Streamflow In The National Water Model With Analysis Using Machine Learning, Engela Sthapit

Dissertations and Theses

Snow has great influence on land-atmosphere interactions and snowmelt from the mountains is a vital water source for downstream communities dependent on snow fed lakes, rivers and streams. This study explored the snow and streamflow prediction capabilities of process-based numerical prediction and data-driven machine learning models.

The overall goal of this study was to understand the deficiencies in the NOAA’s National Water Model (NWM) to represent snow, subsequently streamflow, and recognize the areas where it could be improved for future model developments. The goal was also to evaluate if the recent advancements in machine learning techniques is useful for predicting …

Data Fusion And Synergy Of Active And Passive Remote Sensing; An Application For Freeze Thaw Detections, Zahra Sharifnezhadazizi

Dissertations and Theses

There has been a recent evolvement in the field of remote sensing after increase of number satellites and sensors data which could be fused to produce new data and products. These efforts are mainly focused on using of simultaneous observations from different platforms with different spatial and temporal resolutions. The research dissertation aims to enhance the synergy use of active and passive microwave observations and examine the results in detection land freeze and thaw (FT) predictions. Freeze thaw cycles particularly in high-latitude regions have a crucial role in many applications such as agriculture, biogeochemical transitions, hydrology and ecosystem studies. The …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Drought Projections For Nebraska, Adam Liska

Adam Liska Papers

This lecture will focus on three issues. The first is a presentation of data from the first greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the State of Nebraska, which will be published in the coming weeks. In 2016, emissions from beef cattle made up 23% of net state emissions, and coal for electricity made up 23.7% of net state emissions. The second issue to be addressed are the impacts of the 2012 drought on agriculture in Nebraska and the region. The drought of 2012 indicates that future droughts in the 21^st century in the region can be a dominant influence on …

Analysis Of The Vertical Movement Of Active Gnss Stations As A Result Of Semidiurnal Tides, Rose Pearson, Eugen Niculae

Conference papers

Ireland is subject to the constant effects and influence of semidiurnal tides. Western coastal regions are exposed to tidal ranges up to and exceeding five metres, consequentially introducing varied water volumes with temporal intervals. In addition, the Earth is elastic in composition, resulting in morphing and warping at the hands of celestial and oceanic forces.

This study looked at Online Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service to accurately monitor the vertical movement of coastal lands. In addition, GNSS Static Post-processing was conducted to discern which method of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) processing is best for detecting VLM (vertical land …

Fabricación De Morteros Reforzados Para Recubrimiento Con Fibras Extraídas Del Pseudotallo De La Planta De Plátano (Musa Paradisiaca) Mezclados Con Cenizas De Procesos Agroindustriales, Laura Natalia Galeano Sarmiento

Ingeniería Civil

Debido a la alta demanda de materiales en la industria de la construcción, en este proyecto de investigación se planteó el uso de fibras vegetales como alternativa de materia prima para el reforzamiento de morteros. En este caso, se evaluó la viabilidad de añadir fibras extraídas del pseudotallo de la planta de plátano Musa Paradisiaca, y cenizas volantes. Se describieron diferentes aplicaciones de otros proyectos similares para el uso de reforzamientos con fibras vegetales en la construcción, además de referir el proceso de cultivo, extracción de la fibra y tratamiento.

Se fabricaron morteros fibroreforzados a los cuales se les realizaron …

Model And Data, Equilibrium Of Self-Formed, Single-Thread, Sand-Bed Rivers, Enrica Viparelli, Esther C. Eke

Faculty Publications

This submission contains the following files, also uploaded as Supplementary Information for the manuscript Equilibrium of self-formed, single-thread, sand-bed rivers submitted after major revisions to the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Excel file with embedded macro Equilibrium_calculator.xlxm, contains the solver of the analytical model presented in the manuscript.

Excel file Equilibrium_results.xlxs contains model data used to generate the plots.

Morphodynamics Of Transgressive Coastal Systems: Modeling Allogenic And Autogenic Response To Sea Level Rise, Storms, And Changes In Sediment Supply, Kevin C. Hanegan

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Barrier islands are widespread and typically enclose landward basins connected to the ocean through tidal inlets. Low energy in the basin enables fine sediment accumulation and salt marsh formation. Sea Level Rise (SLR) causes loss of marshes due to their low elevations and inundation sensitivity. Both long-term trends in sediment supply due to SLR and episodic transfers of sediment due to storms are important to the sustainability of marshes and tidal basins. The trajectory of deltas, including the Mississippi River Delta (MRD), are also impacted by sediment supply. The redistribution of sediments (autogenic reorganization) within transgressive systems will determine their …

Climate Change And Market-Based Insurance Feedbacks, Eric R. Holley, Adam Liska, Cory Walters, Geoffrey C. Friesen, Michael Hayes, Max J. Rudolph, Donald A. Wilhite

Adam Liska Papers

Climatic events have accounted for 91% of $1.05 trillion in insured costs for global catastrophic events from 1980 to 2016. Costs are driven by socio-economic development and increased frequency and severity of climatic disasters driven by climate change. Government policies to reduce systemic risk (e.g., cap-and-trade, carbon tax) have been a predominant approach for mitigation and adaptation. Alternatively, market-based incentives for climate change adaptation and mitigation already operate via the insurance industry to lessen impacts on society. Insurance feedbacks include changes in 1) premiums and insurance policies, 2) non-coverage, and 3) policy making and litigation. Alongside government policies, insurance feedbacks …

Advancement Of Predictive Modeling Of Zeta Potentials (Ζ) In Metal Oxide Nanoparticles With Correlation Intensity Index (Cii), Andrey A. Toropov, Natalia Sizochenko, Alla P. Toropova, Danuta Leszczynska, Jerzy Leszczynski

Articles

It was expected that index of the ideality of correlation (IIC) and correlation intensity index (CII) could be used as possible tools to improve the predictive power of the quantitative model for zeta potential of nanoparticles. In this paper, we test how the statistical quality of quantitative structure-activity models for zeta potentials (ζ, a common measurement that reflects surface charge and stability of nanomaterial) could be improved with the use of these two indexes. Our hypothesis was tested using the benchmark data set that consists of 87 measurements of zeta potentials in water. We used quasi-SMILES molecular representation to take …

The Fluxnet2015 Dataset And The Oneflux Processing Pipeline For Eddy Covariance Data, Gilberto Pastorello, Timothy Arkebauer, Dave P. Billesbach, Anatoly Gitelson, Adam Liska, Andrew Suyker, Elizabeth Walter-Shea, More Than 200 Other

Adam Liska Papers

The FLUXNET2015 dataset provides ecosystem-scale data on CO2, water, and energy exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and other meteorological and biological measurements, from 212 sites around the globe (over 1500 site-years, up to and including year 2014). These sites, independently managed and operated, voluntarily contributed their data to create global datasets. Data were quality controlled and processed using uniform methods, to improve consistency and intercomparability across sites. The dataset is already being used in a number of applications, including ecophysiology studies, remote sensing studies, and development of ecosystem and Earth system models. FLUXNET2015 includes derived-data products, such as …

Numerical Modeling Of Wave Dynamics And Sediment Transport Near The Mississippi Birdfoot Delta And Barataria Estuary, Soroush Sorourian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Barataria Basin is a large estuarine system in Southeastern Louisiana, connected to the Gulf of Mexico through a number of inlets, the most important of which is the Barataria Pass. This research examines, during April-June 2010 including both cold front passage and calm summer-time wind regimes, the wave dynamics in this basin and in its major inlets, morphological evolution near the Barataria Pass, and the budgeting and dispersal of the Mississippi River sediment in the birdfoot delta region. An unstructured grid, terrain following, high resolution coupled FVCOM-SWAVE-SED model is employed and validated in this study. The numerical model results …

Modeled Affinity Constants For Phosphorus Adsorption And Desorption Due To Saltwater Intrusion, Yasemin Taşcı

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is important to understand the processes that regulate phosphorus (P) fluxes to coastal environments, because P is an important nutrient in coastal ecosystems. Phosphorus adsorbs to the surface of minerals in sediment and bedrock, and an influx of seawater can cause some of that P to desorb, raising the P concentration of ambient water. Although seawater-induced P desorption is thought to be an important source of P to coastal environments, the chemical reactions that underlie it have not been established. Previous work provides some relevant surface reactions and associated affinity constants between various aqueous P species and the surface …

Modeled And Measured Ecosystem Respiration In Maize–Soybean Systems Over 10 Years, Ming Zhan, Adam Liska, Anthony Nguy-Robertson, Andrew E. Suyker, Matthew P. Pelton, Haishun Yang

Adam Liska Papers

Crop residue is an abundant resource for the potential production of biofuels, but a better understanding of its use on net carbon emissions must be developed to mitigate climate change. This analysis combines two established crop growth models (Hybrid-Maize and SoySim) with a simple soil and crop residue respiration model to estimate daily ecosystem respiration (ERe) from maize and soybean; ERe was estimated to be the sum of CO₂ emissions from the oxidation of the growing crop, crop residue, and soil organic carbon (SOC). Model-estimated CO₂ fluxes from irrigated continuous maize and irrigated maize–soybean cropping systems in eastern …

Water, Energy, And Carbon Footprints Of Bioethanol From The U.S. And Brazil, Mesfin Mekonnen, Thiago L. Romanelli, Chittaranjan Ray, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Adam Liska, Christopher M. U. Neale

Adam Liska Papers

Driven by biofuel policies, which aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase domestic energy supply, global production and consumption of bioethanol have doubled between 2007 and 2016, with rapid growth in corn-based bioethanol in the U.S. and sugar cane-based bioethanol in Brazil. Advances in crop yields, energy use efficiency in fertilizer production, biomass-to-ethanol conversion rates, and energy efficiency in ethanol production have improved the energy balance and GHG emission reduction potential of bioethanol. In the current study, the water, energy, and carbon footprints of bioethanol from corn in the U.S. and sugar cane in Brazil were assessed. The …

Season-Ahead Forecasting Of Water Storage And Irrigation Requirements – An Application To The Southwest Monsoon In India, Arun Ravindranath, Naresh Devineni, Upmanu Lall, Paulina Concha Larrauri

Publications and Research

Water risk management is a ubiquitous challenge faced by stakeholders in the water or agricultural sector. We present a methodological framework for forecasting water storage requirements and present an application of this methodology to risk assessment in India. The application focused on forecasting crop water stress for potatoes grown during the monsoon season in the Satara district of Maharashtra. Pre-season large-scale climate predictors used to forecast water stress were selected based on an exhaustive search method that evaluates for highest ranked probability skill score and lowest root-mean-squared error in a leave-one-out cross-validation mode. Adaptive forecasts were made in the years …

Adam J. Liska: Curriculum Vitae, Adam Liska

Adam Liska Papers

Associate Professor, George Dempster Smith Chair of Industrial Ecology, Departments of Biological Systems Engineering and Agronomy & Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 236 L.W. Chase Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0726, Ph: (402) 472-8744, e-mail: aliska2@unl.edu

Ph.D. 2003 Biology (magna cum laude), Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology & Genetics, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Hawai'i Wildlife Fund V. County Of Maui, Lowell J. Chandler

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Hawai’i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, the Ninth Circuit held that the plain language of the Clean Water Act provides jurisdiction over indirect discharges of pollutants from a point source into groundwater that is shown to be connected to navigable waters. The court found that studies confirmed pollutants entering the Pacific Ocean were fairly traceable to the County of Maui’s sewage disposal wells. In affirming the district court’s ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that Maui County violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into a navigable water without the required permit. The court also concluded the …

Multiple Drivers Of Seasonal Change In Pri: Implications For Photosynthesis 2. Stand Level, Anatoly A. Gitelson, John A. Gamon, Alexei E. Solovchenko

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

The goal of this study was to explore the relationships between stand-level photochemical reflectance index (PRI) and canopy structure/ pigment pools, as well as light use efficiency (LUE) of photosynthetically active vegetation focusing on seasonal or ontogenetic time frames. PRI was originally designed as a means of assessing the xanthophyll cycle and LUE over short (e.g. diurnal) time frames, and few studies have explored the drivers of PRI over longer, seasonal time frames, particularly in crops having different photosynthetic pathways or canopy structures. Consequently, our purpose was to understand and quantify the drivers of PRI responses over seasonal time scales …

Improved 2d And 3d Resistivity Surveys Using Buried Electrodes And Optimized Arrays: The Multi-Electrode Resistivity Implant Technique (Merit), Henok Gidey Kiflu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a novel resistivity method called Multi-Electrode resistivity technique (MERIT) that is used for high resolution imaging of complex geologic features at depth and near the edges of survey lines. The MERIT electrodes are especially shaped and designed to be self-driven using a robust-direct push technique. Measurements are taken using optimized arrays that are generated using a modified version of the “Compare-R” optimization algorithm. This work focused on both two-dimensional (MERIT2D) and three-dimensional (MERIT3D) applications of the buried array and show the relevance of the additional information gained by the addition of deep electrodes especially in sites with …

A Method Of Mapping Sinkhole Susceptibility Using A Geographic Information System: A Case Study For Interstates In The Karst Counties Of Virginia, Alexandra L. Todd, Lindsay Ivey-Burden

Sinkhole Conference 2015

Karst terrain is landscape underlain by limestone that has been chemically dissolved by acidic groundwater, producing subsurface voids that pose risks for sinkholes if the overlaying soils can no longer support their own weight and collapse. The western counties of Virginia are heavy in karst due to their natural, geographic boundary of the western Ridge Province and the eastern Blue Ridge Mountain Range. As a result, the Commonwealth of Virginia Hazard Mitigation Plan recommends that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) develop a method to determine the roadways and regions most susceptible to experiencing sinkholes, in an effort to reduce …

The Simulation & Evaluation Of Surge Hazard Using A Response Surface Method In The New York Bight, Michael H. Bredesen

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric features, such as tropical cyclones, act as a driving mechanism for many of the major hazards affecting coastal areas around the world. Accurate and efficient quantification of tropical cyclone surge hazard is essential to the development of resilient coastal communities, particularly given continued sea level trend concerns. Recent major tropical cyclones that have impacted the northeastern portion of the United States have resulted in devastating flooding in New York City, the most densely populated city in the US. As a part of national effort to re-evaluate coastal inundation hazards, the Federal Emergency Management Agency used the Joint Probability Method …

Identification Of Groundwater Sources For Municipal Wells Using Geochemical Data On The Platte Alluvial Aquifer And Underlying Limestone At The Lincoln Water Well Field Near Ashland Nebraska, Juanita Cruz Torres

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alluvial aquifer systems where pumping of municipal wells induces recharge from the adjacent river are the primary source of water for many cities. The city of Lincoln, NE has a primary water source in an alluvial aquifer adjacent to the Platte River. The Lincoln Water System manages the stream/aquifer system by using integrated models for a better understanding during periods of high stress such as a drought. The integrated models set the limestone aquifer as an impermeable boundary to understand the alluvial aquifer system without having a secondary water source. The limestone aquifer is permeable and the purpose of this …

Interpolating Beach Profile Data Using Linear And Non-Linear Functions, Lance Calloway Croft

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Beach and nearshore surveys are conducted in a variety of ways, the most commonly used being the level-and-transit method; because it is inexpensive, time conducive and highly accurate. Specifically, beach surveys are conducted to better understand cross-shore, long-shore sediment transport processes, as well as to quantify volume changes, which are used to evaluate beach performance. In this study, a section of the beach on Sand Key, FL was surveyed using rod-and-transit. In addition to the commonly used linear data analysis, a non-linear analysis was conducted using NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines).

Survey data was collected within a short time window …

Hydrogeological And Thermal Sustainability Of Geothermal Borehole Heat Exchangers, S. Emad Dehkordi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Assessment of the current approach taken by guidelines and design methods of vertical closed loop heat exchangers shows that often groundwater flow is either disregarded or is not methodically incorporated. The state of scientific research in this arena reveals that overlooking the groundwater flow in the design procedure may not always be a correct assumption. The significance of advective heat transport compared to conduction is defined by the groundwater flux or Darcy velocity which heavily depends on the hydraulic conductivity of the ground, followed by the hydraulic gradient which has a relatively limited range. A sensitivity analysis on ground and …

Climate Change And Hydrological Risks Related To Railway Infrastructure In Northern Regions, Barry A. Palynchuk Phd

Barry A. Palynchuk PhD

In this paper, the authors discuss the possible consequences of global warming on northern hydrology and their impacts on railway drainage infrastructure. How can we change actual design approaches, methods and standards to adapt, to reduce vulnerability and to improve resilience to climate change? Under current climate conditions, snow, ice and permafrost play a dominant role in the water balance in cold regions. Three areas can be distinguished: regions of continuous permafrost, regions of discontinuous permafrost and permafrost-free regions. To predict the potential climate change impacts on each region, the spatial analog and the climate variability analog approaches can be …

Water Demand And Allocation In The Mara River Basin, Kenya/Tanzania In The Face Of Land Use Dynamics And Climate Variability, Shimelis B. Dessu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mara River Basin (MRB) is endowed with pristine biodiversity, socio-cultural heritage and natural resources. The purpose of my study is to develop and apply an integrated water resource allocation framework for the MRB based on the hydrological processes, water demand and economic factors. The basin was partitioned into twelve sub-basins and the rainfall runoff processes was modeled using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) after satisfactory Nash-Sutcliff efficiency of 0.68 for calibration and 0.43 for validation at Mara Mines station. The impact and uncertainty of climate change on the hydrology of the MRB was assessed using SWAT and …

Optimized Correlation Of Geophysical And Geotechnical Methods In Sinkhole Investigations: Emphasizing On Spatial Variations In West-Central Florida, Henok Gidey Kiflu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Sinkholes and sinkhole-related features in West-Central Florida (WCF) are commonly identified using geotechnical investigations such as standard penetration test (SPT) borings and geophysical methods such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Geophysical investigation results can be used to locate drilling and field testing sites while geotechnical investigation can be used to ground truth geophysical results. Both methods can yield complementary information. Geotechnical investigations give important information about the type of soil, groundwater level and presence of low-density soils or voids at the test location, while geophysical investigations like GPR surveys have better spatial coverage and …