Digital Commons Network^™

Near-Surface Atmospheric Response To Simulated Changes In Land-Cover Vegetation Fraction, And Soil Moisture Over Western Kentucky, Ronnie Leeper

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A series of land-use-land-cover-change (LULCC) based sensitivity experiments, including changes in vegetation type, fractional vegetation (FV), and soil moisture (SM), over Western Kentucky were conducted to investigate atmospheric response to land-use. The choice of land-use for this study was chosen in the context of Western Kentucky’s historical LULCC. For this study, vegetation types considered were grassland, forest, and bare soil with further variations in FV for grassland and forest at 25, 50, 75, and 100 % and systematic increases and decreases in volumetric SM of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 m3 m-3. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first assessment …

Esperance Area Acid Sulfate Soil Hazard Mapping, Paul Galloway, Simon Clarendon

Resource management technical reports

This project created a regional scale (1:100 000) acid sulfate soil (ASS) hazard map for the Lake Warden and Esperance town areas, using a combination of existing soil-landscape mapping information and elevation data, supported by field observations and laboratory data from 18 soil cores and 29 additional borelogs with descriptive information useful for identifying ASS and potential ASS materials. All data gathered during this project used common standards and protocols developed in Australia for identifying and mapping ASS materials. The project extends the mapping for acid sulfate soil in the region, complementing existing maps compiled for other parts of the …

Impact Of Hillslope-Scale Organization Of Topography, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature, And Vegetation On Modeling Surface Microwave Radiation Emission, Alejandro N. Flores, Valeriy Y. Ivanov, Dara Entekhabi, Rafael L. Bras

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microwave radiometry will emerge as an important tool for global remote sensing of near-surface soil moisture in the coming decade. In this modeling study, we find that hillslopescale topography (tens of meters) influences microwave brightness temperatures in a way that produces bias at coarser scales (kilometers). The physics underlying soil moisture remote sensing suggests that the effects of topography on brightness temperature observations are twofold: 1) the spatial distribution of vegetation, moisture, and surface and canopy temperature depends on topography and 2) topography determines the incidence angle and polarization rotation that the observing sensor makes with the local land surface. …

Holocene History Of The East Antarctic Ice Sheet Environmental Magnetic Record From Mac. Robertson Land, Kenneth R. Kacperowski Jr.

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

A 24-m jumbo-piston core containing a 14 ka Holocene-Late Pleistocene sedimentary record was collected from Mac.Robertson Land during United States Antarctic Program cruise NBP01-01. This study uses environmental magnetism to trace the Holocene history of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), which is generally thought of as stable since it is grounded above sea level. Magnetic analyses are used to identify periods of terrigenous sedimentation from the EAIS, for example ice rafted debris layers or meltwater pulses. Terrigenous material contains magnetic minerals, which we expect to stand out from the dominantly biosiliceous sediment deposited along the East Antarctic Margin. Magnetic …

Continuous Profiles Of Electromagnetic Wave Velocity And Water Content In Glaciers: An Example From Bench Glacier, Alaska, Usa, John H. Bradford, Joshua Nichols, T. Dylan Mikesell, Joel T. Harper

Geosciences Faculty Publications

We conducted two-dimensional continuous multi-offset georadar surveys on Bench Glacier, south-central Alaska, USA, to measure the distribution of englacial water. We acquired data with a multi channel 25 MHz radar system using transmitter-receiver offsets ranging from 5 to 150 m. We towed the radar system at 5-10 kmh^-1 with a snow machine with transmitter/receiver positions established by geodetic-grade kinematic deferentially corrected GPS (nominal 0.5 m trace spacing). For radar velocity analyses, we employed reflection tomography in the pre-stack depth-migrated domain to attain an estimated 2% velocity uncertainty when averaged over three to five wavelengths. We estimated water content from …

An Integrated Crop- And Soil-Based Strategy For Variable-Rate Nitrogen Management In Corn, Darrin F. Roberts

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nitrogen (N) management in cereal crops has been the subject of considerable research and debate for several decades. Historic N management practices have contributed to low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Low NUE can be caused by such things as poor synchronization between soil N supply and crop demand, uniform application rates of fertilizer N to spatially variable landscapes, and failure to account for temporally variable influences on soil N supply and crop N need. Active canopy reflectance sensors and management zones (MZ) have been studied separately as possible plant- and soil-based N management tools to increase NUE. Recently, some have …

Apparent Weekly And Daily Earthquake Periodicities In The Western United States, Ali Hadi Atef, Kelly H. Liu, Stephen S. Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Analysis of apparent seismicity rate (ASR) using magnitude ≥1 earthquakes located in the western United States confirmed the existence of prominent spectral peaks with periods of 1 and 7 days. The number of recorded earthquakes on Sundays for the duration of 1963-2008 is about 5% higher than that on weekdays, and, more significantly, there is a 9% increase of ASR in the early morning compared with that in the middle of the days. Significant similarities in the spatial distributions of the weekly and daily variations suggest that the two types of variations have the same sources and both originate from …

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint (Slides With Audio) (Large File! To Speed Up Download, Right-Click On "Download" Link To Save To Own Pc.), Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This presentation sets out the very basics of ‘sustainability’, although a definition of sustainability is not attempted. Some of the very basics are the context in which the Earth and humankind exist in space and time, the Earth’s climate, the Earth’s population and humankind’s options and choices. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’. The author also argues that, in addressing the challenges that humankind faces, globally concerted effort …

Solar Variability And Climate Processes: The Influence Of Fluctuating Solar Spectral Irradiance On Differential Surface Heating As A Function Of Soil Geochemistry And Radiation Absorption Characteristics, Susan Wahl

Theses and Dissertations

The influence of solar variability on climate has received increasing attention. Much of the research has dealt with fluctuating ultraviolet radiation and its effects in the stratosphere; decadal signatures in cloud cover and their relationship to cosmic rays; and correlations of surface air temperature with various proxies (e.g., sunspot numbers; 10Be from ice cores and marine sediments). Much of the research has focused on changing solar radiation within the upper atmosphere and the propagating effects into the troposphere. However, there is a missing component involving differential surface heating as a function of soil composition and corresponding spectral radiation absorption properties …

Serotonin Immunoreactive Cells And Nerve Fibers In The Mucosa Of The Rat Stomach, A P Gesase

Tanzania Journal of Science

The current study has showed the morphological features of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) immunoreactivity in the pyloric mucosa of the rat stomach. The immunoreactive elements included the endocrine cells, mast cells and mucosal nerve fibers in the lamina propria. The immunopositive endocrine cells were oval in shape and located mostly in the basal part of the gastric glands. The cell contained a central non-staining area and the peripheral staining zone. The mast cells stained homogenously and appeared to be oval-round in shape. They were located in the upper, middle and basal parts of the mucosa. Serotonin immunoreactive nerve fibers with varicosities were …

Morphological Features Of Tyrosine Hydroxylase Immunoreactive Cells In The Mouse Islets Of Langerhans, A P Gesase, Y -I Satoh

Tanzania Journal of Science

The current immunohistochemical study used the antibody against tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) to observe the immunoreactive elements in the mouse pancreas. The results indicated the presence of immunoreactive nerve fibers and endocrine cells. The immunopositive nerve fibers appeared as thick and thin bundles; thick bundles were seen to run along the blood vessels giving out fine fibers to the wall. Varicose nerve fibers were seen in the islets of Langerhans and also in close association with the exocrine endpieces. The TH immunoreactive cells were oval-round in shape and some showed the central non-staining area and the dense staining peripheral zone. More …

Moment Release Rate Of Cascadia Tremor Constrained By Gps, Ana C. Aguiar, Timothy I. Melbourne, Craig W. Scrivner

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

A comparison of GPS and seismic analyses of 23 distinct episodic tremor and slip events, located throughout the Cascadia subduction zone over an 11-year period, yields a highly linear relationship between moment release, as estimated from GPS, and total duration of nonvolcanic tremor, as summed from regional seismic arrays. The events last 1–5 weeks, typically produce ~5 mm of static forearc deformation, and show cumulative totals of tremor that range from 40 to 280 h. Moment released by each event is estimated by inverting GPS-measured deformation, which is sensitive to all rates of tremor-synchronous faulting, including aseismic creep, for total …

Dynamics Of Wind-Driven Upwelling And Relaxation Between Monterey Bay And Point Arena: Local-, Regional-, And Gyre-Scale Controls, James M. Pringle, Edward P. Dever

Earth Sciences

In north and central California, equatorward winds drive equatorward flows and the upwelling of cold dense water over the shelf during the midspring and summer upwelling season. When the winds temporarily weaken, the upwelling flows between Point Reyes and Point Arena "relax,'' becoming strongly poleward over the shelf. Analytical and numerical models are used to describe the effect of alongshore variability of winds, bathymetry, and basin-scale pressure gradients on the strength of upwelling and its relaxation. Alongshore winds weaken to the south of Point Reyes, and the shelf becomes narrower from Point Reyes to Monterey Bay. Both of these lead …

Options For Achieving And Maintaining Low Salinity In Agricultural Dams, Tilwin Westrup

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Modeling Stormwater Pollutant Transport In A Karst Region--Bowling Green, Kentucky, Allison H. Ross

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The management of stormwater runoff is a particular challenge for communities in karst regions. Most guidelines for compliance with regulations for stormwater monitoring and mapping pertain to non-karst environments. It can be argued that effective stormwater management is even more essential to karst regions because stormwater receives little or no natural filtration as it is transferred through conduits in the subsurface and the buildup of pollutants underneath can be detrimental to community and environmental health if not effectively mitigated. Because of the limited resources available to determine how stormwater runoff carries potential pollutants across the surface before being transferred to …

Are “Quantitative” Pits Still Necessary At Hubbard Brook?, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Summer 2009, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum, 2009

El Niño Could Bring Wet Winter After Hot Summer

Around the World

Agriculture Hit Hard in California, Texas

Predictable Patterns in Missouri River Basin?

Seeking Low-Flow Effects in Colorado, Southeast

VegDRI Began Coast-to-Coast Coverage in May

Strain Rate Patterns From Dense Gps Networks, Matthias Hackl, Rocco Malservisi, Shimon Wdowinski

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The knowledge of the crustal strain rate tensor provides a description of geodynamic processes such as fault strain accumulation, which is an important parameter for seismic hazard assessment, as well as anthropogenic deformation. In the past two decades, the number of observations and the accuracy of satellite based geodetic measurements like GPS greatly increased, providing measured values of displacements and velocities of points. Here we present a method to obtain the full continuous strain rate tensor from dense GPS networks. The tensorial analysis provides different aspects of deformation, such as the maximum shear strain rate, including its direction, and the …

Grades 4-5 Volume And Capacity, Caitlin Portanova

Science

This is a science lesson for grades four through five on volume and capacity. Through this lesson, students will be able to understand what capacity and volume are and how to measure them, as well as how to distinguish which one they are measuring. The lesson is tiered in three levels based on ability. Within each tier the student will complete a shape contract where they choose tasks based on interest and ability.

Characterization And Quantification Of Ground Heat Flux For Late Season Shallow Snow, Aurele Lamontagne

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Increasing populations, rapid land use changes, and climate change in mountainous areas have stressed water resources and reduced available water from snowpacks. In anticipation of warmer temperatures, receding snowlines, and increasing water demands, water managers will need detailed snowmelt energy and water balance information from the margin as transitional snow replaces deeper snowpacks. Patchy shallow snow, found at transitional snow elevations, has a distinct energy balance that includes local advection and short wave radiation penetration of snow less than 10 cm deep. Solar penetration to the soil surface provides a heat source that can be absorbed by the soil and …

Internal Structure And Geochronology Of The Gerrei Unit In The Flumendosa Area, Variscan External Nappe Zone, Sardinia, Italy, Ashley V. Dack

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

To investigate the stratigraphy and structural evolution of the Variscan Orogen of the External Nappe Zone, Sardinia, Italy, field work and geochronologic analyses were combined to assess both regional and orogen scale issues. Geologic mapping, structural analysis, and sampling in the Flumendosa area coupled with high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology were used to determine the duration of Ordovician magmatic activity and the structural evolution of the Variscan Orogen.

To constrain the duration of magmatism for the Flumendosa area, U-Pb ID/TIMS zircon analyses were performed on samples from a lower volcanic flow of the Ordovician Volcanic Unit and an upper, syn to …

Reactivity And Chemical Characterization Of Dissolved Organic Matter In An Estuary, Hussain A. Abdulla

OES Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹³C-NMR) data to quantify the changes of major chemical compound classes in high molecular weight (HMW, >1kDa) DOM isolated along a transect from Great Dismal Swamp through the Elizabeth River/Chesapeake Bay system to the coastal Atlantic Ocean off Virginia, USA. Results show that both carboxylic acids and aromatic compounds are lost along the transect, while amide, and carbohydrate moieties could have a mid-transect source.

Addressing the seasonal and spatial changes in the chemical composition of high molecular weight DOM using C/N ratio and δ^{13 …}

Geologic Storage Of Sour Co2 From A Natural Gas-Processing Plant – A Commercial Demonstration, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about the Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) and Spectra Energy-led demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to manage the CO₂ emissions of natural gas processing facilities. Describes the project, research objectives, and intended schedule. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

Paragneiss Zircon Geochronology And Trace Element Geochemistry, North Qaidam Hp/Uhp Terrane, Western China, Chris G. Mattinson, Joseph L. Wooden, Jian-Xin Zhang, D. K. Bird

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

In the southeastern part of the North Qaidam terrane, near Dulan, paragneiss hosts minor peridotite and UHP eclogite. Zircon geochronology and trace element geochemistry of three paragneiss samples (located within a ∼3 km transect) indicates that eclogite-facies metamorphism resulted in variable degrees of zircon growth and recrystallization in the three samples. Inherited zircon core age groups at 1.8 and 2.5 Ga suggest that the protoliths of these rocks may have received sediments from the Yangtze or North China cratons. Mineral inclusions, depletion in HREE, and absence of negative Eu anomalies indicate that zircon U-Pb ages of 431 ± 5 Ma …

Temporal Geophysical Signatures From Contaminant-Mass Remediation, Vukenkeng Che-Alota, Estella A. Atekwana, Eliot A. Atekwana, William August Sauck, D. Dale Werkema

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We have previously documented changes in bulk electrical conductivity, self-potential (SP), and ground-penetrating-radar (GPR) reflections in a field setting caused by biogeochemical transformations of hydrocarbon-contaminated media. These transformations are associated with hydrocarbon biodegradation. The results of surface geophysical surveys acquired in 1996, 2003, and 2007 document changes in geophysical signatures associated with removing hydrocarbon mass in the contaminated zone. Initial investigations in 1996 showed that relative to background, the contaminated area was characterized by higher bulk electrical conductivity, positive SP anomaly, and attenuated GPR reflections. Repeated surveys in 2003 and 2007 over the contaminated area showed that in 2007, the …

The Effects Of Chronic Mercuric Chloride Ingestion In Female Sprague–Dawley Rats On Fertility And Reproduction, J.C. Heath, Y. Abdelmageed, T.D. Braden, A.C. Nichols, D.A. Steffy

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Thirty-days-old female rats were chronically exposed, for 60 days, to 1or 2 mg/kg/day of mercuric chloride or an equivalent volume of water, via gavage. At 90 days of age they were mated with unexposed males. At approximately day 13 of gestation necropsies were performed on the females. Data were collected on the number of implantations and non-viable implantations in the uterus. No physical signs of Hg intoxication were seen except in weight gain. There were significantly fewer implantations in the high HgCl2 group, with significantly more non-viable implantations in the low and high HgCl2 groups, compared to controls. Lower levels …

Field Evidence Of A Negative Correlation Between Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity And Soil Carbon In A Sandy Soil, Tiejun Wang, David A. Wedin, Vitaly A. Zlotnik

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Soil organic matter (SOM) is generally assumed to be positively correlated with saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS). However, recent studies of pedotransfer functions suggest a possible negative KS-SOM relationship that still needs independent verification. Our field KS study of sandy soils in a semiarid region provides such in situ evidence of a negative KS-SOM relationship, which is nonlinear and is strongest at the lowest levels of soil carbon (<0.1%). A regression analysis also shows that soil carbon is an important factor for explaining KS in those soils. The likely reason for the observed negative KS-SOM relationship is a reduced wettability caused by SOM, which is believed to outweigh the impacts of any increase in KS caused by soil aggregation. The low SOM content and large particle size of sand may explain the limited effect of SOM on soil aggregation processes in the examined soils.

Markov Chain Estimation Of Avian Seasonal Fecundity, Matthew A. Etterson, Richard S. Bennett, Eric L. Kershner, Jeffery W. Walk

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Avian seasonal fecundity is of interest from evolutionary, ecological, and conservation perspectives. However, direct estimation of seasonal fecundity is difficult, especially with multi-brooded birds, and models representing the renesting and quitting processes are usually required. To explore the consequences of modeling decisions on inference about avian seasonal fecundity, we generalize previous Markov chain (MC) models of avian nest success to formulate two different MC models of avian seasonal fecundity that represent two different ways to model renesting decisions and breeding cessation. We parameterize both Markov chains (regular and absorbing) for two species (Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, and Dickcissel, Spiza …

Seismic Observations Of Transient Subglacial Water-Flow Beneath Macayeal Ice Stream, West Antarctica, J. Paul Winberry, Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Richard B. Alley

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

New seismic observations of harmonic tremors beneath MacAyeal Ice Stream, West Antarctica are reported. Each of the two tremor events that we recorded during a six week period had sustained arrival of 3 Hz energy for approximately 10 minutes. During that time the source location migrated a few kilometers. The harmonic nature of the tremors is interpreted as the result of resonance in subglacial water-filled cracks and conduits. The duration, monochromatic nature, and movement of the tremor indicate that the source mechanism is likely flow in the subglacial water system resulting from the discharge from a small subglacial lake. Our …

Evolution Of Minesoils At A Coal Waste Pile: A Case Study From Rosice-Oslavany (Czech Republic), Martin Ivanov, Jiri Faimon, Petr Jarmara, Lubomir Pesak

Studia UBB Geologia

Mine soil development at abandoned coal waste pile (Kukla-Václav Nosek mine, Oslavany) represents a possibility to study initial stages of pedogenetic process. Seven soil profiles were uncovered by digging pits at the base and on the slopes and top of the waste pile. Several conclusions concerning soil development at waste pile are possible on the basis of soil profiles description and basic chemistry: 1. Intensive humification was the main pedogenetic process in the initial stages of mine soil evolution at the Kukla waste pile. There is no translocation of clay minerals even in the soil profiles evolving for about 60 …