Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Investigation Of The Properties Of Acid- Contaminated Sediment And Its Effect On Contaminant Mobility, Awmna K. Rana

Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

The Savannah River Site (SRS), is a hazardous waste management facility responsible for nuclear storage and remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater. Underground vitrified clay pipes were used to transport acid radioactive effluents to the basins and allowed to evaporate and seep into the underlying soil. Over time the acidic nature of the basin influent caused mobilization of metals and radionuclides resulting in localized groundwater contaminant plumes. The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of prolonged contact between soil and the acidic waste stream and more specifically, the change in specific surface area and pore distribution …

Cruise Data For Neuston Net And Paired Bongo Net Tows From 48 Stations In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico From R/V Blazing Seven Cruises Lf2016a And Lf2016b, June-July 2016, Jay R. Rooker, R.J. David Wells

DEEPEND Datasets

Shelf and slope waters in the Deep Water Horizon oil spill (DWHOS) area are known to serve as critical spawning, nursery, and foraging habitat of several important oceanic species including billfishes (e.g. blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish), tunas (bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna), and other pelagic taxa (swordfish, dolphinfishes). The aim of this component was to further investigate potential ecological effects of the DWHOS on pelagic fishes during the early life period. Larval fishes were sampled from 48 stations in the northern Gulf of Mexico and cruise data was collected at each site including latitude/longitude, date, time and environmental data (sea …

Presence/Absence And Density Data For Epipelagic Tows From 48 Stations In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico From R/V Blazing Seven Cruises Lf2015a And Lf2015b June 2015 And July 2015, Jay R. Rooker, R.J. David Wells

DEEPEND Datasets

Larval catch data after the oil spill is being used to improve our understanding of the causes of temporal variability as it relates to the Deep Water Horizon oil spill (DWHOS). Bongo and neuston net tows were conducted at 48 stations in both June and July, 2015 in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Cruise data collected at each site included latitude/longitude, date, time and environmental data (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen). The occurrence and density of selected epipelagic (e.g., billfishes, tunas, dolphinfishes, flyingfishes) and deep pelagic (e.g., lanternfishes, bristlemouths, marine hatchetfishes) fish larvae were quantified and are being used to extend …

Heart Lake Monitoring Project 2016 Final Report, Jocelyn Wensloff, Robin A. Matthews, Joan Vandersypen

Heart Lake

Heart Lake is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Anacortes off of Heart Lake Road. There are six inlet streams that flow into southeastern side this 61.4 acre lake (0.248 km2). Heart Lake is separated into two basins and has a total shoreline length of 1.64 miles (2.645 km). The western basin is slightly larger and deeper that the eastern basin, but the maximum depth and average depth of the lake is only 5.8 and 2.7 meters, respectively.

Heart Lake is part of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands and is a popular recreational destination. Activities on the lake …

Distribution And Condition Of Stony Corals In The Veracruz Reef System National Park: A Management Perspective, Mauricio López Padierna

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The Veracruz Reef System (VRS) is located in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. It is comprised of 28 coral reefs in various stages of development and conservation. They are protected under the Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano National Park created in 1992. There are many threats to the reefs of the VRS, including the Port and city of Veracruz, which hosts half a million inhabitants and Mexico’s oldest active port. The inhabitants of Veracruz have used reef resources for thousands of years, as evidenced in archaeological sites on Sacrificios island, and constructions throughout the city, most notably in the San …

Influence Of Internal Variability On Population Exposure To Hydroclimatic Changes, Justin S. Mankin, Daniel Viviroli, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Radley M. Horton, Jason E. Smerdon, Noah S. Diffenbaugh

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Future freshwater supply, human water demand, and people’s exposure to water stress are subject to multiple sources of uncertainty, including unknown future pathways of fossil fuel and water consumption, and ‘irreducible’ uncertainty arising from internal climate system variability. Such internal variability can conceal forced hydroclimatic changes on multi-decadal timescales and near-continental spatial-scales. Using three projections of population growth, a large ensemble from a single Earth system model, and assuming stationary per capita water consumption, we quantify the likelihoods of future population exposure to increased hydroclimatic deficits, which we define as the average duration and magnitude by which evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation …

Sustainable Development Through Urban Agriculture, Eric R. R. Weaver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This document includes three completed publications to represent Urban Agriculture as a ideal solution to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The first publication (Weaver, 2017a) provided in Chapter Two examines the stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) modelling parameters for the current EPA Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) as the first step to developing Urban Agriculture BMPs. The second publication (Weaver, 2015) provided in Chapter Three highlights how many high-rated scholars have identified agriculture as a critical driver for the planetary systems impacts we find with community development. The third publication (Weaver, 2017b) provided in Chapter Four breaks down a completely …

The Giving Trees: The (Un)Sustainability Of Palm Oil In Indonesia, Amber Rosche

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Palm oil is the main source of cooking oil for much of Africa, Asia and Brazil. Due to the increasingly high demand for palm oil, countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have cleared millions of acres of tropical rainforests to create space for oil palm plantations. This deforestation has led to extreme environmental and social concerns such as the burning of peatlands, the endangerment of a number of species, including the Sumatran Tiger, rhinos and orangutans, and the displacement of native populations. Indonesia is the world’s largest consumer and producer of palm oil, producing almost half of the world’s supply …

Nutrient And Phytoplankton Dynamics On The Inner Shelf Of The Eastern Bering Sea, Calvin W. Mordy, Allan H. (Allan Houston) Devol, Lisa B. Eisner, Nancy Kachel, Carol A. Ladd, Michael W. Lomas, Peter Proctor, Raymond Nicholas Sambrotto, David Shull, Phyllis Jean Stabeno, Eric Wisegarver

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

In the Bering Sea, the nitrogen cycle near Nunivak Island is complicated due to limited nutrient replenishment across this broad shelf, and substantial nitrogen loss through sedimentary processes. While diffusion at the inner front may periodically support new production, the inner shelf in this region is generally described as a regenerative system. This study combines hydrographic surveys with measurements of nitrogen assimilation and benthic fluxes to examine nitrogen cycling on the inner shelf, and connectivity between the middle and inner shelves of the southern and central Bering Sea. Results establish the inner shelf as primarily a regenerative system even in …

The Firece Green Fire: Vol. 7 Issue 19, Wofford College Environmental Studies Program

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

Stormsense Project: Forecasting Flooding From Storm Surge, Rain, And Tide, Jon Derek Loftis, David R. Forrest, Kyle Spencer

Presentations

The objective of StormSense is to enhance the capability of communities to prepare and respond to the disastrous impacts of sea level rise and coastal flooding in ways that are replicable, scalable, measurable, and make a comparable difference worldwide. The StormSense Project is an inundation forecasting research initiative partially funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to advance the field of emergency preparedness for flooding resulting from storm surge, rain, and tides. The scope of the project encompasses the interests of coastal local governments wishing to enhance their emergency preparedness via a network of 'Internet of Things' (IoT)-enabled …

Geographic Variation Of Cirques On Iceland: Factors Influencing Cirque Morphology, Heather A. Ipsen, Rachael E. Grube, Jessica F. Lee, Sarah M. Principato

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Cirques are one of the most common glacial landforms in alpine settings. They also provide important paleoclimate information (e.g. Meierding 1984; Evans 2006). The purpose of this study is to fill in gaps in the climate record of Iceland by conducting a quantitative analysis of cirques in three regions in Iceland: Tröllaskagi, the East Fjords, and Vestfirðir. Iceland, located in the center of the North Atlantic Ocean, contains many small glaciers, in addition to large ice caps. The glaciers on Iceland are particularly sensitive to variations in oceanic and atmospheric circulation (Andresen et al. 2005; Geirsdóttir et al., 2009; Ólafsdóttir …

Abundance And Habitat Preferences Of Introduced Muscovy Ducks (Cairina Moschata), Jacqueline Marie Perry Cahanin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Muscovy ducks are native only to Central and South America, Mexico, and parts of southern Texas and are considered invasive in some areas outside of their native range. Although they have been introduced worldwide, they remain largely unstudied. The primary focus of this study was to relate Muscovy duck abundance to habitat characteristics of wetlands in Tampa, Florida. Muscovy abundance was measured using point count methods at 21 wetland sites that occur within an eight km radius of the University of South Florida’s main campus. Habitat features at these sites were assessed using field methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) …

Sources To Seafood: Mercury Pollution In The Marine Environment, Celia Y. Chen, Charles T. Driscoll, Kathleen F. Lambert, Robert P. Mason, Laurie R. Rardin, Catherine V. Schmitt, N. S. Serrell, Elsie M. Sunderland

Catherine Schmitt

In 2010, the Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program at Dartmouth College brought together a group of 50 scientists and policy stakeholders to form C-MERC, the Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative. The goal was to review current knowledge—and knowledge gaps—relating to a global environmental health problem, mercury contamination of the world’s marine fish. C-MERC participants attended two workshops over a two-year period, and in 2012 C-MERC authors published a series of peer-reviewed papers in the journals Environmental Health Perspectives and Environmental Research that elucidated key processes related to the inputs, cycling, and uptake of mercury in marine ecosystems, effects …

Adrift In A Sea Of Information About Sustainable Seafood: The Maine Consumer Perspective, Catherine V. Schmitt

Catherine Schmitt

The desire for a sustainable seafood industry that protects the environment and the future of fishing is certainly of interest to consumers, but even here there are conflicting standards, as Catherine Schmitt explores in this article.

How Changing Climate Created Mount Desert Island, Catherine Schmitt

Catherine Schmitt

Acadia is a national park, the first place in eastern U.S. to receive such designation, because of its scenery. Diverse and exposed geology forms the foundation for Acadia’s beauty, but the landscape of today is the result of climate changes over millennia. Climate influences include a land surface worked by glaciers, and diverse flora and fauna as a result of the island’s position on the coast, within a transition zone between temperate ecosystems to the south and the boreal north.

New Constraints On The Timing And Pattern Of Deglaciation In The Húnaflói Bay Region Of Northwest Iceland Using Cosmogenic 36ca Dating And Geomorphic Mapping, Amanda N. Houts, Joseph M. Licciardi, Sarah M. Principato, Susan H. Zimmerman, Robert C. Finkel

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Understanding the evolution and timing of changes in ice sheet geometry and extent in Iceland during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent deglaciation continues to stimulate much active research. Though many previous studies have advanced our knowledge of Icelandic ice sheet history preserved in marine and terrestrial settings (e.g., Andrews et al., 2000; Norðdahl et al., 2008), the timing of ice margin retreat remains largely unknown in several key regions. Recently published 36Cl surface exposure ages of bedrock surfaces and moraines in the West Fjords (Brynjólfsson et al., 2015) contribute important progress in establishing more precise age control of …

Environmental Applications Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems In Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, And Procedures For Chemical, Biological, Radiological, And Nuclear Reconnaissance And Surveillance, Brandon B. Barnes

Theses and Dissertations

Small unmanned aircraft systems can be used for a variety of environmental applications. SUAS under 50 kg have the most utility at the tactical level and benefit from the research and development of systems currently being manufactured. Integrating chemical sensors into these systems can enhance Multi-service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Reconnaissance and Surveillance. Considering the advantages and disadvantages in the fundamental science of twelve detection technologies, four types of sensors emerged as candidates for SUAS integration. Using specifications from commercial-off-the-shelf sensors, these four detection technologies (Electrochemical, Metal Oxide Semiconductor, Photoionization, and Catalytic Bead) were …

The Impacts Of Climate Change And Anthropogenic Processes On Permafrost Soils And Usaf Infrastructure Within Northern Tier Bases, Alexander J. Graboski

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense is planning over $552M in military construction on Eielson Air Force Base within the next three fiscal years. Although many studies have been conducted on permafrost and climate change, the future of our climate as well as any impacts on permafrost soils, remains unclear. This research focused on future climate predictions to determine likely scenarios for the United States Air Force’s Strategic Planners to consider. The most recent 2013 International Panel on Climate Change report predicts a 2.2ºC to 7.8ºC temperature rise in Arctic regions by the end of the 21st Century in the Representative Concentration …

Adsorption Of Perfluorinated Compounds From Post-Emergency Response Wastewater, Christopher T. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the efficacy of granular activated carbon (GAC) as a method to treat water impacted with aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) after a firefighting response. Bench-top experiments were conducted and compared to field scale adsorber performance removing mg/L concentrations of PFAS in water contaminated with Military Specification AFFF. Batch tests compared four adsorbents, and determined Calgon F600 GAC and Rembind Plus mixed carbon media had the greatest perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) capacities. Additional batch isotherm experiments using AFFF and higher PFOS concentrations (mg/L) indicated larger amounts of GAC are required (>30mg/L) for effective removal. Full-scale testing simulated an …