Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Earth Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 20 of 20

Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences

Retrieval Of Aerosol Microphysical Properties From Aeronet Photopolarimetric Measurements: 1. Information Content Analysis, Xiaoguang Xu, Jun Wang Dec 2014

Retrieval Of Aerosol Microphysical Properties From Aeronet Photopolarimetric Measurements: 1. Information Content Analysis, Xiaoguang Xu, Jun Wang

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper is the first part of a two-part study that aims to retrieve aerosol particle size distribution (PSD) and refractive index from the multispectral and multiangular polarimetric measurements taken by the new-generation Sun photometer as part of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). It provides theoretical analysis and guidance to the companion study in which we have developed an inversion algorithm for retrieving 22 aerosol microphysical parameters associated with a bimodal PSD function from real AERONET measurements. Our theoretical analysis starts with generating the synthetic measurements at four spectral bands (440, 675, 870, and 1020 nm) with a Unified Linearized …


Understanding And Assessing Climate Change: Implications For Nebraska, Deborah J. Bathke, Robert J. Oglesby, Clinton Rowe, Donald A. Wilhite Sep 2014

Understanding And Assessing Climate Change: Implications For Nebraska, Deborah J. Bathke, Robert J. Oglesby, Clinton Rowe, Donald A. Wilhite

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This report was commissioned by the UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) with the objective of evaluating and summarizing the existing scientific literature related to our changing climate. Scientists from the IANR’s School of Natural Resources and the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences have been the principal contributors to the report under the able leadership of long-time, internationally leading applied climate scientist Professor Don Wilhite. Their efforts have resulted in a timely and seminal reference for state and local policy-makers, government agency leaders, private industry, and indeed all citizens of …


Laurentian Great Lakes Phytoplankton And Their Water Quality Characteristics, Including A Diatom-Based Model For Paleoreconstruction Of Phosphorus, Euan D. Reavie, Adam J. Heathcote, Victoria L. Shaw Chraïbi Aug 2014

Laurentian Great Lakes Phytoplankton And Their Water Quality Characteristics, Including A Diatom-Based Model For Paleoreconstruction Of Phosphorus, Euan D. Reavie, Adam J. Heathcote, Victoria L. Shaw Chraïbi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Recent shifts in water quality and food web characteristics driven by anthropogenic impacts on the Laurentian Great Lakes warranted an examination of pelagic primary producers as tracers of environmental change. The distributions of the 263 common phytoplankton taxa were related to water quality variables to determine taxon-specific responses that may be useful in indicator models. A detailed checklist of taxa and their environmental optima are provided. Multivariate analyses indicated a strong relationship between total phosphorus (TP) and patterns in the diatom assemblages across the Great Lakes. Of the 118 common diatom taxa, 90 (76%) had a directional response along the …


Vadose Zone Lag Time And Potential 21st Century Climate Change Effects On Spatially Distributed Groundwater Recharge In The Semi-Arid Nebraska Sand Hills, N. R. Rossman, Vitaly A. Zlotnik, Clinton Rowe, Jozsef Szilagyi Aug 2014

Vadose Zone Lag Time And Potential 21st Century Climate Change Effects On Spatially Distributed Groundwater Recharge In The Semi-Arid Nebraska Sand Hills, N. R. Rossman, Vitaly A. Zlotnik, Clinton Rowe, Jozsef Szilagyi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Deep drainage of water below plant root zones (potential groundwater recharge) will become groundwater recharge (GR) after a delay (or lag time) in which soil moisture traverses the vadose zone before reaching the water table. Depending on the thickness of the vadose zone, the magnitude of deep drainage, and soil hydraulic properties, lag times will vary broadly, exceeding decades to centuries in semi-arid and arid environments. Yet, studies of future climate change impacts to GR have typically avoided focusing on impacts beyond 100 years and often neglect to consider lag effects caused by the vadose zone. We investigate the effects …


Late Holocene Dune Development And Shift In Dune-Building Winds Along Southern Lake Michigan, Zoran Kilibarda, Ryan Venturelli, Ronald J. Goble Jun 2014

Late Holocene Dune Development And Shift In Dune-Building Winds Along Southern Lake Michigan, Zoran Kilibarda, Ryan Venturelli, Ronald J. Goble

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The youngest dune belt along Lake Michigan’s southern coast evolved through four stages. The first stage began during the Nipissing transgression, ~6.0 ka, and culminated at the Nipissing high, ~4.5 ka. Rising lake levels eroded the lake margins and generated sediment that was transported to southern Lake Michigan, creating the Tolleston barrier beach. The second stage, beginning ~4.5 ka with a rapid lake level fall and continuing to ~3.0 ka, represents a major episode of transgressive parabolic dune field development. Large, simple parabolic dunes, with easterly apices (85–105° azimuth) suggestive of westerly wind formation, developed in a sand belt ~1–2 …


Architecture, Heterogeneity, And Origin Of Late Miocene Fluvial Deposits Hosting The Most Important Aquifer In The Great Plains, Usa, R. Matthew Joeckel, Steve R. Wooden Jr., Jesse T. Korus, Jon Garbisch Jan 2014

Architecture, Heterogeneity, And Origin Of Late Miocene Fluvial Deposits Hosting The Most Important Aquifer In The Great Plains, Usa, R. Matthew Joeckel, Steve R. Wooden Jr., Jesse T. Korus, Jon Garbisch

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Ash Hollow Formation (AHF) of the Ogallala Group is an important sedimentary archive of the emergence of the Great Plains and it contains major groundwater resources. Stratal patterns of constituent alluvial lithofacies demonstrate that the AHF is much more heterogeneous than is commonly assumed. Very fine- to fine-grained sandstone dominate overall, chiefly lithofacies Sm (massive to locally stratified sandstone). Stacked, thin sheets of Sm with accretionary macroform surfaces are common, indicating that many sandstone architectural elements originated as compound-bar deposits in dominantly sand-bed streams. Channel forms are difficult to identify and steep cutbanks are absent. Multiple units of lithofacies …


A 60,000-Year Record Of Hydrologic Variability In The Central Andes From The Hydrogen Isotopic Composition Of Leaf Waxes In Lake Titicaca Sediments, Kyrstin L. Fornace, Konrad A. Hughen, Timothy M. Shanahan, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Paul A. Baker, Sean P. Sylva Jan 2014

A 60,000-Year Record Of Hydrologic Variability In The Central Andes From The Hydrogen Isotopic Composition Of Leaf Waxes In Lake Titicaca Sediments, Kyrstin L. Fornace, Konrad A. Hughen, Timothy M. Shanahan, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Paul A. Baker, Sean P. Sylva

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A record of the hydrogen isotopic composition of terrestrial leaf waxes (δDwax) in sediment cores from Lake Titicaca provides new insight into the precipitation history of the Central Andes and controls of South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) variability since the last glacial period. Comparison of the δDwax record with a 19-kyr δD record from the nearby Illimani ice core supports the interpretation that precipitation δD is the primary control on δDwax with a lesser but significant role for local evapotranspiration and other secondary influences on δDwax. The Titicaca δDwax record con-firms overall wetter conditions in the Central Andes during the …


Lithologic Influences On Groundwater Recharge Through Incised Glacial Till From Profile To Regional Scales: Evidence From Glaciated Eastern Nebraska, John B. Gates, Gregory V. Steele, Paolo Nasta, Jozsef Szilagyi Jan 2014

Lithologic Influences On Groundwater Recharge Through Incised Glacial Till From Profile To Regional Scales: Evidence From Glaciated Eastern Nebraska, John B. Gates, Gregory V. Steele, Paolo Nasta, Jozsef Szilagyi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Variability in sediment hydraulic properties associated with landscape depositional and erosional features can influence groundwater recharge processes by affecting soil-water storage and transmission. This study considers recharge to aquifers underlying river-incised glaciated terrain where the distribution of clay-rich till is largely intact in upland locations but has been removed by alluvial erosion in stream valleys. In a stream-dissected glacial region in eastern Nebraska (Great Plains region of the United States), recharge estimates were developed for nested profile, aquifer, and regional scales using unsaturated zone profile measurements (matric potentials, Cl- and 3H), groundwater tracers (CFC-12 and SF6), …


Toward Enhanced Understanding And Projections Of Climate Extremes Using Physics-Guided Data Mining Techniques, A. R. Ganguly, E. A. Kodra, A. Agrawal, A. Banerjee, S. Boriah, Sn. Chatterjee, So. Chatterjee, A. Choudhary, D. Das, J. Faghmous, P. Ganguli, S. Ghosh, K. Hayhoe, C. J. Hays, W. Hendrix, Q. Fu, J. Kawale, D. Kumar, V. Kumar, W. Liao, S. Liess, R. Mawalagedara, V. Mithal, R. Oglesby, K. Salvi, P. K. Snyder, K. Steinhaeuser, D. Wang, D. Wuebbles Jan 2014

Toward Enhanced Understanding And Projections Of Climate Extremes Using Physics-Guided Data Mining Techniques, A. R. Ganguly, E. A. Kodra, A. Agrawal, A. Banerjee, S. Boriah, Sn. Chatterjee, So. Chatterjee, A. Choudhary, D. Das, J. Faghmous, P. Ganguli, S. Ghosh, K. Hayhoe, C. J. Hays, W. Hendrix, Q. Fu, J. Kawale, D. Kumar, V. Kumar, W. Liao, S. Liess, R. Mawalagedara, V. Mithal, R. Oglesby, K. Salvi, P. K. Snyder, K. Steinhaeuser, D. Wang, D. Wuebbles

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Extreme events such as heat waves, cold spells, floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, and tornadoes have potentially devastating impacts on natural and engineered systems and human communities worldwide. Stakeholder decisions about critical infrastructures, natural resources, emergency preparedness and humanitarian aid typically need to be made at local to regional scales over seasonal to decadal planning horizons. However, credible climate change attribution and reliable projections at more localized and shorter time scales remain grand challenges. Long-standing gaps include inadequate understanding of processes such as cloud physics and ocean–land–atmosphere interactions, limitations of physics-based computer models, and the importance of intrinsic climate system variability …


Snowmelt Onset Over Arctic Sea Ice From Passive Microwave Satellite Data: 1979–2012, A. C. Bliss, M. R. Anderson Jan 2014

Snowmelt Onset Over Arctic Sea Ice From Passive Microwave Satellite Data: 1979–2012, A. C. Bliss, M. R. Anderson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

An updated version (Version 3) of the Snow Melt Onset Over Arctic Sea Ice from SMMR (Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer) and SSM/I-SSMIS (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager-Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder) Brightness Temperatures data set is now available. The data record has been reprocessed and extended to cover the years 1979–2012. From this data set, a statistical summary of melt onset (MO) dates on Arctic sea ice is presented. The mean MO date for the Arctic Region is 13 May (132.5 DOY – day of year) with a standard deviation of ±7.3 days. Regionally, mean MO dates vary from 15 March (73.2 DOY) …


Cenomanian Through Basal Coniacian Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy Of Themancos Shale Reference Section, Mesa Verde National Park, Co, Matthew J. Corbett, David K. Watkins Jan 2014

Cenomanian Through Basal Coniacian Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy Of Themancos Shale Reference Section, Mesa Verde National Park, Co, Matthew J. Corbett, David K. Watkins

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Upper Cenomanian through lower Coniacian calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy is integrated with macrofossil and lithostratigraphic correlations at the reference section for the Mancos Shale in Mesa Verde National Park, CO. Interpretations of key biostratigraphic events and δ13C values from bulk-rock carbonate fit well with the placement of stage boundaries by Leckie et al. (1997) and observations of nannofossil biostratigraphy in equivalent successions in the Western Interior. Tethyan nannofossil zone CC10b brackets the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary between 22.7–27.6m. Anannofossil zonal boundary between CC13 and CC14 is placed at 200.4-201m supporting the existence of an unconformity in the basal Smoky Hill Member …


A Numerical Testbed For Remote Sensing Of Aerosols, And Its Demonstration For Evaluating Retrieval Synergy From A Geostationary Satellite Constellation Of Geo-Cape And Goes-R, Jun Wang, Xiaoguang Xu, Shouguo Ding, Jing Zeng, Robert Spurr, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Michael I. Mishchenko Jan 2014

A Numerical Testbed For Remote Sensing Of Aerosols, And Its Demonstration For Evaluating Retrieval Synergy From A Geostationary Satellite Constellation Of Geo-Cape And Goes-R, Jun Wang, Xiaoguang Xu, Shouguo Ding, Jing Zeng, Robert Spurr, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Michael I. Mishchenko

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

We present a numerical testbed for remote sensing of aerosols, together with a demonstration for evaluating retrieval synergy from a geostationary satellite constellation. The testbed combines inverse (optimal-estimation) software with a forward model containing linearized code for computing particle scattering (for both spherical and non-spherical particles). a kernel-based (land and ocean) surface bi-directional reflectance facility, and a linearized radiative transfer model for polarized radiance. Calculation of gas absorption spectra uses the HITRAN (HIgh-resolution TRANsmission molecular absorption) database of spectroscopic line parameters and other trace species cross-sections. The outputs of the testbed include not only the Stokes 4-vector elements and their …


Daily Area Of Snow Melt Onset On Arctic Sea Ice From Passive Microwave Satellite Observations 1979–2012, Angela C. Bliss, Mark R. Anderson Jan 2014

Daily Area Of Snow Melt Onset On Arctic Sea Ice From Passive Microwave Satellite Observations 1979–2012, Angela C. Bliss, Mark R. Anderson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Variability in snow melt onset (MO) on Arctic sea ice since 1979 is examined by determining the area of sea ice experiencing the onset of melting during the melt season on a daily basis. The daily MO area of the snow and ice surface is determined from passive microwave satellite-derived MO dates for the Arctic Ocean and sub-regions. Annual accumulations of MO area are determined by summing the time series of daily MO area through the melt season. Daily areas and annual accumulations of MO area highlight inter-annual and regional variability in the timing of MO area, which is sensitive …


Dune Formation On Late Holocene Sandy Bay Barriers Along Lake Michigan’S Door Peninsula: The Importance Of Increased Sediment Supply Following The Nipissing And Algoma High Lake-Level Phases, J. Elmo Rawling Iii, Paul R. Hanson Jan 2014

Dune Formation On Late Holocene Sandy Bay Barriers Along Lake Michigan’S Door Peninsula: The Importance Of Increased Sediment Supply Following The Nipissing And Algoma High Lake-Level Phases, J. Elmo Rawling Iii, Paul R. Hanson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This study focuses on the geomorphology and geochronology of dunes formed on three sandy barrier systems at Clark, Europe and Kangaroo Lakes in Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. The Lake Michigan shoreline in the peninsula contains abundant evidence for fluctuations in lake level with paleo-shoreline features that lie up to ~7 m above the present shoreline. Dunes are not very common along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin, but the three bay barriers studied contain beach ridges that were buried by varying depths of eolian sand in the form of low relief sandsheets as well as parabolic and transverse dunes that have …


Prolonged Instability Prior To A Regime Shift, Trisha L. Spanbauer, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kirsty L. Nash, Jeffrey R. Stone Jan 2014

Prolonged Instability Prior To A Regime Shift, Trisha L. Spanbauer, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kirsty L. Nash, Jeffrey R. Stone

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Regime shifts are generally defined as the point of ‘abrupt’ change in the state of a system. However, a seemingly abrupt transition can be the product of a system reorganization that has been ongoing much longer than is evident in statistical analysis of a single component of the system. Using both univariate and multivariate statistical methods, we tested a longterm high-resolution paleoecological dataset with a known change in species assemblage for a regime shift. Analysis of this dataset with Fisher Information and multivariate time series modeling showed that there was a ~2000 year period of instability prior to the regime …


Coastal Geology And Recent Origins For Sand Point, Lake Superior, Timothy G. Fisher, David E. Krantz, Mario R. Castaneda, Walter L. Loope, Harry M. Jol, Ronald J. Goble, Melinda C. Higley, Samantha Dewald, Paul R. Hanson Jan 2014

Coastal Geology And Recent Origins For Sand Point, Lake Superior, Timothy G. Fisher, David E. Krantz, Mario R. Castaneda, Walter L. Loope, Harry M. Jol, Ronald J. Goble, Melinda C. Higley, Samantha Dewald, Paul R. Hanson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sand Point is a small cuspate foreland located along the southeastern shore of Lake Superior within Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising, Michigan. Park managers’ concerns for the integrity of historic buildings at the northern periphery of the point during the rising lake levels in the mid-1980s greatly elevated the priority of research into the geomorphic history and age of Sand Point. To pursue this priority, we recovered sediment cores from four ponds on Sand Point, assessed subsurface stratigraphy onshore and offshore using geophysical techniques, and interpreted the chronology of events using radiocarbon and luminescence dating. Sand Point formed at …


The Emerging Field Of Geogenomics: Constraining Geological Problems With Genetic Data, Paul A. Baker, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Christopher W. Dick, Andrew J. Eckert, Brian K. Horton, Stefano Manzoni, Camila C. Ribas, Carmala N. Garzione, David S. Battisti Jan 2014

The Emerging Field Of Geogenomics: Constraining Geological Problems With Genetic Data, Paul A. Baker, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Christopher W. Dick, Andrew J. Eckert, Brian K. Horton, Stefano Manzoni, Camila C. Ribas, Carmala N. Garzione, David S. Battisti

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The development of a genomics-derived discipline within geology is timely, as a result of major advances in acquiring and processing geologically relevant genetic data. This paper articulates the emerging field of “geogenomics,” which involves the use of large-scale genetic data to constrain geological hypotheses. The paper introduces geogenomics and discusses how hypotheses can be ad-dressed through collaboration between geologists and evolutionary biologists. As an example, geogenomic methods are applied to evaluate competing hypotheses regarding the timing of the Andean uplift, the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, the onset of trans-Amazon drainage, and Quaternary climate variation in the Neotropics.


The Influence Of Basin Morphometry On The Regional Coherence Of Patterns Of Diatom-Inferred Salinity In Lakes Of The Northern Great Plains (Usa), Courtney R. Wigdahl, Jasmine E. Saros, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Jeffery R. Stone, Daniel R. Engstrom Jan 2014

The Influence Of Basin Morphometry On The Regional Coherence Of Patterns Of Diatom-Inferred Salinity In Lakes Of The Northern Great Plains (Usa), Courtney R. Wigdahl, Jasmine E. Saros, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Jeffery R. Stone, Daniel R. Engstrom

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sedimentary diatom profiles from saline lakes are frequently used to reconstruct lakewater salinity as an indicator of drought. However, diatom-inferred salinity (DI-salinity) reconstructions from geographically proximal sites in the Great Plains (USA) have yielded disparate results. This study explores how physical changes in lake habitat resulting from drought may affect climate inferences from salinity reconstructions. Differences in relationships among drought, lake-level change, and diatom community structure over the last century were examined for three saline lakes in the northern Great Plains with dissimilar DI-salinity records. At each site, models were developed relating available planktic:benthic (P:B) habitat area to lake-level change, …


Combining Limnology And Palaeolimnology To Investigate Recent Regime Shifts In A Shallow, Eutrophic Lake, Linda Randsalu-Wendrup, Daniel J. Conley, Jacob Carstensen, Lars-Anders Hansson, Christer Brönmark, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Preetam Choudhary, Joyanto Routh, Dan Hammarlund Jan 2014

Combining Limnology And Palaeolimnology To Investigate Recent Regime Shifts In A Shallow, Eutrophic Lake, Linda Randsalu-Wendrup, Daniel J. Conley, Jacob Carstensen, Lars-Anders Hansson, Christer Brönmark, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Preetam Choudhary, Joyanto Routh, Dan Hammarlund

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

In this study, we demonstrate that an integrated approach, combining palaeolimnological records and limnological monitoring data, can increase our understanding of changing ecological patterns and processes in shallow lakes. We focused on recent regime shifts in shallow Lake Krankesjön, southern Sweden, including the collapse of the clear-water state in 1975 and its subsequent recovery in the late 1980s. We used diatom, hydrocarbon, and biogenic silica sediment records, in concert with limnological data sets on nutrient concentrations, water clarity, chlorophyll-a and water depth, to investigate the shifts. The shift from clear to turbid conditions was abrupt and occurred over 1 to …


Mesoscale Modeling Of Smoke Transport Over The Southeast Asian Maritime Continent: Coupling Of Smoke Direct Radiative Effect Below And Above The Low-Level Clouds, C. Ge, J. Wang, J. S. Reid Jan 2014

Mesoscale Modeling Of Smoke Transport Over The Southeast Asian Maritime Continent: Coupling Of Smoke Direct Radiative Effect Below And Above The Low-Level Clouds, C. Ge, J. Wang, J. S. Reid

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The online-coupled Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) is used to simulate the direct and semi-direct radiative impacts of smoke particles over the Southeast Asian Maritime Continent (MC, 10 S–10 N, 90–150 E) during October 2006 when a significant El Niño event caused the highest biomass burning activity since 1997. With the use of an OC (organic carbon) / BC (black carbon) ratio of 10 in the smoke emission inventory, the baseline simulation shows that the clouds can reverse the negative smoke forcing in cloud-free conditions to a positive value. The net absorption of the …