Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Trending @ Rwu Law: Julia Wyman's Post: The Threat Of Marine Debris 12-13-2016, Julia Wyman

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Modern Fair-Weather And Storm Sediment Transport Around Ship Island, Mississippi: Implications For Coastal Habitats And Restoration Efforts, Eve Rettew Eisemann

Master's Theses

The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain is experiencing accelerated sea level rise, decreased sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. These three factors drive unprecedented rates of morphology change and ecosystem reduction. All islands in the chain have experienced land loss on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s. In 1969, Hurricane Camille impacted as a Category 5, breaching Ship Island, and significantly reduced viable seagrass habitat. Hurricane Katrina impacted as a Category 3 in 2005, further widening Camille Cut. To better understand the sustainability of these important islands and the ecosystems they support, sediment …

Town Of Colonial Beach State Of The Beach Data Summary Report, Donna A. Milligan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Christine A. Wilcox

Reports

The Town of Colonial Beach occupies a peninsula between the Potomac River and Monroe Bay (Figure 1). Approximately 2.5 miles of the shoreline is publicly-owned. Two areas on the Potomac River have been enhanced as recreational beaches for swimming and sunbathing. Central Beach extends about 1,650 feet south of the Town Pier and is the main recreational beach. North Central Beach extends about 1,450 feet north of the Town Pier Colonial Avenue. Castlewood Beach is south of Central Beach near the entrance to Monroe Bay. It has about 1,150 feet of sandy beach.

Resource Assessment Report Western Rock Lobster Resource Of Western Australia, Simon De Lestang, Nick Caputi, Jason How

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

The western rock lobster Panulirus cygnus (George) is taken by commercial and recreational fishers throughout its geographic range along the lower west coast of Western Australia. The main commercial fishery for P. cygnus is the West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery (WCRLMF), which is Australia’s largest single-species fishery, currently worth about $400 million annually. Western rock lobster provides the basis for the economies of a number of coastal towns and also supports a recreational fishery.

Umphlett Qci Dec 2016, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Personnel Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Drought Conditions

Large Fires Impact Region

Heavy Rains Bring Flooding to Montana

Isolated Impacts to Agriculture

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Soil Moisture Conditions

Predicting Post-Fire Change In West Virginia, Usa From Remotely-Sensed Data, Michael Strager P. Strager, Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, Aaron E. Maxwell

Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources

Prescribed burning is used in West Virginia, USA to return the important disturbance process of fire to oak and oak-pine forests. Species composition and structure are often the main goals for re-establishing fire with less emphasis on fuel reduction or reducing catastrophic wildfire. In planning prescribed fires land managers could benefit from the ability to predict mortality to overstory trees. In this study, wildfires and prescribed fires in West Virginia were examined to determine if specific landscape and terrain characteristics were associated with patches of high/moderate post-fire change. Using the ensemble machine learning approach of Random Forest, we determined that …

Benchmark Levels For The Consumptive Water Footprint Of Crop Production For Different Environmental Conditions: A Case Study For Winter Wheat In China, La Zhuo, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Meeting growing food demands while simultaneously shrinking the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production is one of the greatest societal challenges. Benchmarks for the WF of crop production can serve as a reference and be helpful in setting WF reduction targets. The consumptive WF of crops, the consumption of rainwater stored in the soil (green WF), and the consumption of irrigation water (blue WF) over the crop growing period varies spatially and temporally depending on environmental factors like climate and soil. The study explores which environmental factors should be distinguished when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of crops. …

Identifying Groundwater - Dependent Wetlands Of The Broome Sandstone Aquifer In The La Grange Groundwater Area, Nicholas Wright, Richard J. George Dr, Robert Paul, Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

This report identifies wetlands that are likely to be dependent on the Broome Sandstone aquifer within the La Grange groundwater allocation area. The Broome Sandstone aquifer is the dominant groundwater resource in the area. With potential agricultural growth of this area, it is necessary to understand, monitor and manage the aquifer and its dependent wetlands. This report describes how we created a watertable surface that was used to identify wetlands and to determine which of the previously mapped wetlands are likely to be sourced from the Broome Sandstone aquifer. A watertable surface was created from 148 points taken from bore …

Prince George County Shoreline Management Plan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Donna A. Milligan, Christine A. Wilcox, Marcia Berman, Tamia Rudnicky, Karinna Nunez, Sharon A. Killeen

Reports

Much of Prince George County’s shoreline is suitable for a “Living Shoreline” approach to shoreline management. The Commonwealth of Virginia has adopted policy stating that Living Shorelines are the preferred alternative for erosion control along tidal waters in Virginia (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi‐bin/legp504.exe?111+ful+CHAP0885+pdf). The policy defines a Living Shoreline as …”a shoreline management practice that provides erosion control and water quality benefits; protects, restores or enhances natural shoreline habitat; and maintains coastal processes through the strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural and organic materials.” The key to effective implementation of this policy at the local level is understanding what …

The Prairie Post Quarterly Newsletter Of The High Plains Regional Climate Center- October 2016, Natalie Umphlett, Jamie Lahowetz, Crystal J. Stiles

HPRCC Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Message from the interim director........................................1

Staff spotlight...........................1

Stakeholder engagement activities......................................2

Product highlight....................3

Partnership spotlight.............3

AWDN information.................4

Update on regional climate conditions..................................4

Regional news..........................5

Recent and upcoming travel and activities.............................6

Droughtscape- Fall 2016, National Drought Mitigation Center

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

CONTENTS

NDMC welcome two to team ...... 2

Third quarter drought summary: Drought still spreading ................ 3

Third quarter drought impacts: It was a hot, dry summer ........... 5

Drought management framework for Africa approved...................... 7

MENA region update................... 9

US Virgin Islands one step closer to its own drought monitor ........ 10

Montana looks to improve watershed resilience ................. 13

Tournament tackles hazards.....14

Web tool will help officials make drought-related decisions ......... 17

Dry Horizons launches ............. 17

Gloucester County Shoreline Management Plan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Donna A. Milligan, Christine A. Wilcox, Marcia Berman, Tamia Rudnicky, Karinna Nunez, Sharon A. Killeen

Reports

With approximately 85 percent of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline privately owned, a critical need existsto increase awareness of erosion potential and the choices available for shore stabilization that maintainsecosystem services at the land-water interface. The National Academy of Science published a report thatspotlights the need to develop a shoreline management framework (NRC, 2007). It suggests that improvingawareness of the choices available for erosion control, considering cumulative consequences of erosionmitigation approaches, and improving shoreline management planning are key elements to minimizingadverse environmental impacts associated with mitigating shore erosion.
Actions taken by waterfront property owners to stabilize the shoreline can affect the …

Prioritizing Investment In Residential Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy: A Case Study For The U.S. Midwest, Robert J. Brecha, Austin Mitchell, Kevin P. Hallinan, J. Kelly Kissock

J. Kissock

Residential building energy use is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and in the United States represents about 20% of total energy consumption. A number of previous macro-scale studies of residential energy consumption and energy-efficiency improvements are mainly concerned with national or international aggregate potential savings. In this paper we look into the details of how a collection of specific homes in one region might reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, with particular attention given to some practical limits to what can be achieved by upgrading the existing residential building stock. Using a simple model of residential, single-family home …

Umphlett Qci Sept 2016, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Personnel Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Streamflow Conditions

Challenging Season for Bird Breeding

Mixed Impacts to Agriculture this Summer

Unprecedented Fish Kill on Yellowstone River

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Soil Moisture Conditions

Measurement Of The Ocean Economy From National Income Accounts To The Sustainable Blue Economy, Charles S. Colgan

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

The widespread efforts to incorporate the economic values of oceans into national income accounts have reached a stage where coordination of national efforts is desirable. A symposium held in 2015 began this process by bringing together representatives from ten countries. The symposium concluded that a definition of core ocean industries was possible but beyond that core the definition of ocean industries is in flux. Better coordination of ocean income accounts will require addressing issues of aggregation, geography, partial ocean industries, confidential, and imputation is also needed. Beyond the standard national income accounts, a need to incorporate environmental resource and ecosystem …

Shoreline Evolution: Prince George County, Virginia Upper Chippokes Creek, James And Appomattox River Shorelines, Donna A. Milligan, Christine Wilcox, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

Prince George County is situated between on the James River between Upper Chippokes Creek and the Appomattox Rivers (Figure 1). Because the County’s shoreline is continually changing, determining where the shoreline was in the past, how far and how fast it is moving, and what factors drive shoreline change will help define where the shoreline will be going in the future. These rates and patterns of shore change along Chesapeake Bay’s estuarine shores will differ through time as winds, waves, tides and currents shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments.

The purpose of this report is to …

The Prairie Post Quarterly Newsletter Of The High Plains Regional Climate Center- July 2016, Natalie Umphlett, Bill Sorensen, Jamie Lahowetz, Crystal J. Stiles

HPRCC Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Message from the interim director........................................1

Staff spotlight...........................1

Research update......................2

Product highlight....................3

Partnership spotlight.............3

AWDN information.................4

Update on regional climate conditions..................................4

Outreach/engagement.........5

Recent and upcoming travel and activities.............................6

Drougthscape- Summer 2016, National Drought Mitigation Center

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

CONTENTS

NDMC adds two employees....... 2

Second quarter drought summary: Drought slowly spreading........... 3

Second quarter drought impacts: Drought intensifies across US.............5

First comprehensive drought

indices guidebook released........... 7

Drought Impact Reporter updates increase usability............. 9

Create a custom DIR view........... 10

Drought center co-leads MENA region project............. 11

McCook, Nebraska, tackles drought resilience.................. 12

Arizona groups improve public lands drought planning................ 15

NDMC founder Don Wilhite retires............... 18

Prioritizing Investment In Residential Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy: A Case Study For The U.S. Midwest, Robert J. Brecha, Austin Mitchell, Kevin P. Hallinan, J. Kelly Kissock

Kevin Hallinan

Residential building energy use is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and in the United States represents about 20% of total energy consumption. A number of previous macro-scale studies of residential energy consumption and energy-efficiency improvements are mainly concerned with national or international aggregate potential savings. In this paper we look into the details of how a collection of specific homes in one region might reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, with particular attention given to some practical limits to what can be achieved by upgrading the existing residential building stock. Using a simple model of residential, single-family home …

Modeling Of Soybean Under Present And Future Climates In Mozambique, Manuel António Dina Talacuece, Flávio Barbosa Justino, Rafael De Ávila Rodrigues, Milton Edgar Pereira Flores, Jéssica Garcia Nascimento, Eduardo Eduardo Santos

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study aims to calibrate and validate the generic crop model (CROPGRO-Soybean) and estimate the soybean yield, considering simulations with different sowing times for the current period (1990–2013) and future climate scenario (2014–2030). The database used came from observed data, nine climate models of CORDEX (Coordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment)-Africa framework and MERRA (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications) reanalysis. The calibration and validation data for the model were acquired in field experiments, carried out in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 growing seasons in the experimental area of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Angónia, Mozambique. The yield …

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (Ebfm) Risk Assessment Of The Western Australian Silver-Lipped Pearl Oyster (Pinctada Maxima) Industry, K. L. Travaille, R. Jones, B Wise

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Western Australian silver-lipped pearling (Pinctada maxima) industry and the outcomes from the 2015 ecological risk assessment of this industry. The P. maxima pearling industry has been operating in Western Australia since the 1880s, initially harvesting pearl oysters for mother-of-pearl production.

Automated Household Tracking System, James Triola

Honors Theses

The past few years have seen the highest recorded amount of waste produced in America. Despite several options of responsible wasting, landfills are still bearing the brunt of waste deposits. Although recycling is a common practice, it is still not accomplished with maximum efficiency, and composting is even less common in areas where it is not legally mandated. Food scraps and byproducts that could otherwise have been broken down in proper composting methods continue to pile up in landfills where they breakdown into methane gas. Although there is no easy answer to the complex problem that is consumer waste, the …

Umphlett Qci June 2016, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Personnel Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Snowpack and Streamflow

Limited Frost Damage to Crops this Spring

Wet Conditions Cause Mixed Impacts

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook

The Use Of Semi-Structured Interviews For The Characterisation Of Farmer Irrigation Practices, Jimmy O’Keeffe, Wouter Buytaert, Ana Mijic, N. Brozovic, Rajiv Sinha

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

For the development of sustainable and realistic water security, generating information on the behaviours, characteristics, and drivers of users, as well as on the resource itself, is essential. In this paper we present a methodology for collecting qualitative and quantitative data on water use practices through semi-structured interviews. This approach facilitates the collection of detailed information on actors’ decisions in a convenient and cost-effective manner. Semi-structured interviews are organised around a topic guide, which helps lead the conversation in a standardised way while allowing sufficient opportunity for relevant issues to emerge. In addition, they can be used to obtain certain …

How 5-Day Weather Patterns And Buoyancy Regulation Impact Algal Community Assemblage, Roberta Brunkalla

Student Research Symposium

The purpose of this study is to model how 5-day weather patterns and algal buoyancy regulation influence the competition between two bloom forming cyanobacteria species in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Sudden changes in weather patterns can quickly impact lake thermal structure, which can rapidly influence the competition between buoyancy regulating cyanobacteria. By modeling competition, I hope to address how altered climate would shift the competitive advantage to toxin forming cyanobacteria. I plan on accomplishing this by coupling a one-dimensional hydrodynamic and algal competition model, with lake specific physiological parameters. A sensitivity test of the model could reveal dramatic shifts in …

Gaur (Bos Gaurus) Abundance, Distribution, And Habitat Use Patterns In Kuiburi National Park, Southwestern Thailand, Supatcharee Tanasarnpaiboon

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Population status of gaur (Bos gaurus), a wild cattle, in most habitats where they are present, is still unknown. As the use of camera traps in wildlife studies are widespread, I developed photographic individual identification procedures and utilized encounter histories of gaur individuals from camera trap data to estimate gaur abundance and density using the spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis. The study was conducted at Kuiburi National Park, southwestern Thailand, comprised of dry evergreen forest, moist evergreen forest, and man-modified secondary forest during November 2013- January 2015. I conducted 71 direct observations in a savannah-like habitat area to observe …

Initial Wetland Hydrology And Vegetation Composition In Predicted Wetlands Adjacent To Lake Naconiche, Nacogdoches County, Texas, Amy L. Urbanovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plans for the construction of Lake Naconiche, located in northern Nacogdoches County, included a monitoring project to demonstrate at least 176 acres of land adjacent to the lake would be converted into wetlands. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the creation of wetlands around the lake and establish a benchmark of vegetation composition and condition for future comparison. Eight locations, placed where the majority of wetlands were expected to form, were chosen for monitoring from the shoreline at 348 feet above mean sea level (ft MSL) to the county fee take line at 357 ft MSL.

Shallow groundwater …

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Hydrogeology, Aquifer Properties And Groundwater Chemistry, D L. Bennett, John Andrew Simons, Richard J. George Dr, Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

Cockatoo Sands are recognised as potentially suitable for irrigated agriculture because they are generally well drained and not subject to waterlogging or inundation. These characteristics allow them to be cultivated and prepared for planting various crops during the wet and dry seasons of northern Australia. Expanding agricultural production onto the Cockatoo Sands around Kununurra will increase opportunities for agriculture by increasing the overall scale of agriculture, allowing year-round agricultural enterprise, new crops and new market opportunities.

DAFWA has assessed the soil characteristics and agriculturally suitable areas of Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas near Kununurra. Potential …

Mapping Evapotranspiration With High-Resolution Aircraft Imagery Over Vineyards Using One- And Two-Source Modeling Schemes, Ting Xia, William P. Kustas, Martha C. Anderson, Joseph G. Alfieri, Feng Gao, Lynn Mckee, John H. Prueger, Hatim M.E. Geli, C.M.U. Neale, Luis Sanchez, Maria Mar Alsina, Zhongjing Wang

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Thermal and multispectral remote sensing data from low-altitude aircraft can provide high spatial resolution necessary for sub-field ( 10 m) and plant canopy (1 m) scale evapotranspiration (ET) monitoring. In this study, highresolution (sub-meter-scale) thermal infrared and multispectral shortwave data from aircraft are used to map ET over vineyards in central California with the two-source energy balance (TSEB) model and with a simple model having operational immediate capabilities called DATTUTDUT (Deriving Atmosphere Turbulent Transport Useful To Dummies Using Temperature). The latter uses contextual information within the image to scale between radiometric land surface temperature (TR) values representing hydrologic limits of …

The Prairie Post Quarterly Newsletter Of The High Plains Regional Climate Center- April 2016, Natalie A. Umphlett, Bill Sorensen, Jamie Lahowetz, Crystal J. Stiles

HPRCC Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Message from the interim director........................................1

Staff spotlight...........................1

Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador Program............2

Tribal work highlight..............2

Product highlight....................3

Partnership spotlight.............3

AWDN information.................4

Update on regional climate conditions..................................4

Outreach/engagement.........5

Recent and upcoming travel and activities.............................6