Life Sciences Commons^™

Modeling Wind-Induced Waves In The Salish Sea, Zhaoqing Yang, Wei-Cheng Wu, Taiping Wang, Guillaume Mauger, Ruby Leung

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

There have been on-going efforts for increasing coastal resilience to the risk of coastal inundation as a result of sea-level rise in Washington. Accurate coastal risk projection depends on detailed and accurate information of sea level rise, including waves and storm surge induced by windstorms. This paper presents a modeling study simulating wind-induced waves in the Salish Sea. A nested-grid modeling approach was used to provide accurate and robust model simulations at various scales. The NOAA NCEP’s WaveWatch III (WW3) model is configured at global and regional scales with wind forcing obtained from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR). For …

An Integrated Environmental And Human Systems Modeling Framework For Puget Sound Restoration Planning, Robert Mckane, Jonathan Halama, Paul Bryce Pettus, Bradley Barnhart, Allen Brookes, Kevin Djang, Tarang Khangaonkar, Isaac Kaplan, Christopher James Harvey, Emily Howe, Phillip S. Levin, Michael W. Schmidt, Raphael Girardin

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Local, state, federal, tribal and private stakeholders have committed significant resources to restoring Puget Sound’s terrestrial-marine ecosystem. Though jurisdictional issues have promoted a fragmented approach to restoration planning, there is growing recognition that a more coordinated systems-based restoration approach is needed to achieve recovery goals. This presentation describes our collaborative effort to develop and apply an integrated environmental and human systems modeling framework for the Puget Sound Basin, inclusive of all marine and land areas (1,020 and 12,680 sq. mi.). Our goal is to establish a whole-basin systems modeling framework that dynamically simulates biophysical interactions and transfers (water, nutrients, contaminants, …

Big Sharks In The Salish Sea: Combining Passive Acoustics With The Salish Sea Model To Predict Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus Griseus) Presence, Alli Cramer, Steve Katz, Kelly Andrews, Daniel H. Thornton

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Examination of species-environment relationships that determine broad-scale distribution patterns is a key focus of ecological research. Characterizing animal-habitat associations in the marine environment is particularly challenging given the opacity of the ocean, and addressing this question in marine systems has consequently lagged behind terrestrial systems. In this project, we have leveraged existing data on locations of a large marine predator, the Sixgill Shark, Hexanchus griseus, and linked that with the PNNL’s Salish Sea Model over the domain of shark movement in Puget Sound, Washington state. Twenty-nine Sixgill sharks were tracked from 2005-2009 across 130 hydrophone receivers with tags that reported …

A Modeling Study Of Storm Surge In The Salish Sea, Zhaoqing Yang, Taiping Wang, Ian Miller

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Pacific Northwest coasts are subject to the threat of coastal inundation as a result of storm surge. This snapshot presentation provides an overview of a modeling study of storm surge in the Salish Sea using a high resolution coastal hydrodynamic model. A series of historical storm surge events were identified based on non-tidal residual (NTR) water levels observed at Seattle tide gage. Model simulations corresponding to selected storm surge events were conducted. The Salish Sea storm surge model was validated with both observed tidal and NTR data at NOAA tide gauges in the Salish Sea. Sensitivity analysis on the …

Modeling Gross Primary Production Of Midwest Maize And Soybean Croplands With Satellite And Gridded Weather Data, Gunnar Malek-Madani

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The gross primary production (GPP) metric is useful in determining trends in the terrestrial carbon cycle. Models that determine GPP utilizing the light use efficiency (LUE) approach in conjunction with biophysical parameters that account for local weather conditions and crop specific factors are beneficial in that they combine the accuracy of the biophysical model with the versatility of the LUE model. One such model developed using in situ data was adapted to operate with remote sensing derived leaf area index (LAI) data and gridded weather datasets. The model, known as the Light Use Efficiency GPP Model (EGM), uses a four …

The Costs Of Photorespiration To Food Production Now And In The Future, Berkley J. Walker, Andy Vanloocke, Carl J. Bernacchi, Donald R. Ort

Andy VanLoocke

Photorespiration is essential for C3 plants but operates at the massive expense of fixed carbon dioxide and energy. Photorespiration is initiated when the initial enzyme of photosynthesis, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase (Rubisco), reacts with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide and produces a toxic compound that is then recycled by photorespiration. Photorespiration can be modeled at the canopy and regional scales to determine its cost under current and future atmospheres. A regional-scale model reveals that photorespiration currently decreases US soybean and wheat yields by 36% and 20%, respectively, and a 5% decrease in the losses due to photorespiration would be worth approximately …

Robust Modeling And Predictions Of Greenhouse Gas Fluxes From Forest And Wetland Ecosystems, Khandker S. Ishtiaq

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The land-atmospheric exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) are major drivers of global warming and climatic changes. The greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes indicate the dynamics and potential storage of carbon in terrestrial and wetland ecosystems. Appropriate modeling and prediction tools can provide a quantitative understanding and valuable insights into the ecosystem carbon dynamics, while aiding the development of engineering and management strategies to limit emissions of GHGs and enhance carbon sequestration. This dissertation focuses on the development of data-analytics tools and engineering models by employing a range of empirical and semi-mechanistic approaches to robustly …

Toward “Optimal” Integration Of Terrestrial Biosphere Models, Christopher R. Schwalm, Deborah N. Huntzinger, Joshua B. Fisher, Anna M. Michalak, Kevin Bowman, Philippe Ciais, Robert Cook, Bassil El-Masri, Daniel Hayes, Maoyi Huang, Akihiko Ito, Atul Jain, Anthony W. King, Hiumin Lei, Junjie Liu, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, Jaifu Mao, Shushi Peng, Benjamin Poulter, Daniel Ricciuto, Kevin Schaefer, Xiaoying Shi, Bo Tao, Hanqin Tian, Weile Wang, Yaxing Wei, Jia Yang, Ning Zeng

Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu

Multimodel ensembles (MME) are commonplace in Earth system modeling. Here we perform MME integration using a 10-member ensemble of terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) from the Multiscale synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP). We contrast optimal (skill based for present-day carbon cycling) versus naïve (“one model-one vote”) integration. MsTMIP optimal and naïve mean land sink strength estimates (−1.16 versus −1.15 Pg C per annum respectively) are statistically indistinguishable. This holds also for grid cell values and extends to gross uptake, biomass, and net ecosystem productivity. TBM skill is similarly indistinguishable. The added complexity of skill-based integration does not materially change …

Computer Modeling The Incursion Patterns Of Marine Invasive Species, Matthew W. Johnston

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Not Available.

Water And Energy Balance Response Of A Riparian Wetland To The Removal Of Phragmites Australis, Phillip Mykleby

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

Vegetation and climate both play integral roles in water availability, particularly for arid to semi-arid regions. Changes in these variables can lead to extreme shortages in water for regions that rely on water for crop irrigation (i.e., the Great Plains). The objective of this study is to evaluate the impacts of vegetation on water availability in the Republican River basin in central Nebraska. Decreases in streamflow have been observed in the river basin for many years and, as a result, an invasive riparian plant species (Phragmites australis) is being removed in an effort to reduce evapotranspiration and reclaim …

Slides: Groundwater Declines, Climate Change And Approaches To Adaptation, Katharine Jacobs

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Katharine Jacobs, Director of the Arizona Water Institute, University of Arizona

37 slides

Slides: Water Needs And Strategies For A Sustainable Future, Shaun Mcgrath

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Shaun McGrath, Program Director, Western Governors’ Association

25 slides

Diurnal Variation In The Basal Emission Rate Of Isoprene, Jennifer L. Funk, Clive G. Jones, Christine J. Baker, Heather M. Fuller, Christian P. Giardina, Manuel T. Lerdau

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Isoprene is emitted from numerous plant species and profoundly influences tropospheric chemistry. Due to the short lifetime of isoprene in the atmosphere, developing an understanding of emission patterns at small time scales is essential for modeling regional atmospheric chemistry processes. Previous studies suggest that diurnal fluctuations in isoprene emission may be substantial, leading to inaccuracies in emission estimates at larger scales. We examined diurnal patterns in the basal emission rate of isoprene in red oak (Quercus rubra), eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus saligna) and the influence of light and temperature on the magnitude of these diurnal patterns. Maximum …

Understanding The Success And Failure Of Oyster Populations: The Importance Of Sampled Variables And Sample Timing, Thomas M. Soniat, Eric N. Powell, Eileen E. Hofmann, John M. Klinck

CCPO Publications

One of the primary obstacles to understanding why some oyster populations are successful and others are not is the complex interaction of environmental variables with oyster physiology and with such population variables as the rates of recruitment and juvenile mortality. A numerical model is useful in investigating how population structure originates out of this complexity. We have monitored a suite of environmental conditions over an environmental gradient to document the importance of short time-scale variations in such variables as food supply, turbidity, and salinity. Then, using a coupled oyster disease population dynamics model, we examine the need for short rime-scale …

Modeling Plankton Community Structure Under Environmental Forcing On The Southeastern United States Continental Shelf, Andrew Glenn Edward Haskell

OES Theses and Dissertations

A system of coupled ordinary differential equations was developed to investigate the time-dependent behavior of phytoplankton, copepod, and doliolid populations associated with upwelling features on the outer southeastern U.S. continental shelf. Model equations describe the interactions of nitrate, ammonium, two phytoplankton size fractions, five copepod developmental stages, doliolids, and a detrital pool. Model dynamics are based primarily upon data obtained from field and laboratory experiments made for southeastern U.S. continental shelf plankton populations. Numerous simulations were performed to investigate the effects of environmental variability on the temporal distribution of the structure of resident plankton populations. Variations on a reference simulation, …