Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Aggregation Of Microplastics By Enhancing Extracellular Polymeric Substance Production In Pseudoalteromonas Sp. Ncimb 2021 To Improve Removal Efficiencies In Environmental Matrices, Janelle L. Mercer

All Theses

Microplastics (MP) are ubiquitous in the natural environment and are a growing threat due to their small size and durability. Plastics are released into the environment through improper waste management, wastewater treatment outfalls, industrial spills, agricultural runoff, and landfills. These particles breakdown into secondary MP through degradation pathways. MP, less than 5 mm, require intricate removal techniques from water systems. Filtration techniques, though viable and effective, have implementation constraints due to high cost, maintenance demands, and filter fouling. By integrating coagulation and flocculation processes prior to filtration, MP removal efficiencies can increase, while minimizing operational challenges during filtration. Extracellular polymeric …

2026 August - Tennessee Climate Snapshot, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

No abstract provided.

2026 August - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

Hi All,

The main weather stories in Tennessee for August 2026 included a strong heat wave that impacted the state in the middle of the month, and severe storms that caused a major power outage in the Memphis area, as well as a derecho event that impacted the northeast corner of the state.

The first event to impact Tennessee this month was the derecho on August 11, which moved through the northeast corner of Tennessee and produced some tree and powerline damage. The following week a heat wave impacted the state bringing high temperatures across the state, with 11 weather …

Reconstruction Of Copepod Populations In Sierra Nevada Lakes Using The Diatom Fragilaria Cyclopum, Rorie Reisner

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Copepods are one of the most abundant types of zooplankton, and their populations are often a vital part of the food chain, but their past populations cannot be estimated from lake sediments because their exoskeleton usually does not fossilize. Gull Lake is a glacial lake located in the subalpine region of the Sierra Nevada, California, which stands out due to the presence of the diatom Fragilaria cyclopum, which is rarer in diatom assemblages. Fragilaria cyclopum exclusively grows on copepods in lakes. Diatoms have an opaline silica skeleton that often fossilizes in lake sediments, so we can use this relationship with …

Too Hot To Work? Exploring The Average And Seasonal Effects Of Temperature Variability In The Philippine Labour Market, Paolo R. Magnata, Maire Carroline Magante

Economics Department Faculty Publications

Using temperature and employment data covering 16 regions from Q3 2003 to Q1 2022, this study examined the average and seasonal effects of temperature on year-on-year employment growth in the Philippines. Average effects are insignificant while seasonal effects are heterogeneous. During the dry and cool season (Q1), higher temperatures are associated with a temporary 0.0397% increase in employment growth. In contrast, higher temperatures in the dry and hot season (Q2) are associated with a persistent decrease of 0.1361% while higher temperatures during the wet and hot season (Q3) are associated with a persistent increase of 0.1450%, which is primarily driven …

Dynamics, Characteristics, And Sinking Velocities Of Small, Gel-Like Ocean Particles (24–1000 Μm): Insights From Shadowgraph Imaging And Turbulence Modeling, Huanqing Huang

OES Theses and Dissertations

Particle concentration and sinking velocity control the export flux and transfer efficiency of the biological carbon pump, and are therefore key parameters in ocean biogeochemical models. Gel-like particles form an important part of the particulate organic carbon pool, but their contribution is difficult to quantify because they are fragile and nearly transparent to conventional optical instruments. Here, a focused shadowgraph imaging system (FoSI) was applied to marine gel research to examine the ecological significance, distribution, and transport of gel-like particles along a transect from the Azores to the upwelling region off northwest Africa.

A new image processing protocol was developed …

Unsupervised Learning For Minimum Error Adaptive Sampling Of Atmospheric Vertical Temperature Profiles, Alejandro Medina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) collect atmospheric data on fixed schedules, and endurance limits make blind searching costly. This thesis develops an unsupervised representation that summarizes a multi-decade radiosonde archive into a compact library of atmospheric states, giving a UAS an expectation of the column before it flies. The method standardizes both axes of a profile against the sounding's own surface conditions, which makes the representation independent of season and of station elevation. Applied to 27,270 soundings from Norman, Oklahoma, over the lowest 1.5 km of the atmosphere, 12 representative profiles reconstruct the record to within 1.0 °C of mean absolute …

Leveraging Deep Learning Recurrence And Attention Mechanisms For Flood Forecasting And Assessment, Elnaz Heidari

All Dissertations

Predicting how much water will flow in rivers and streams is important for managing floods, water supply, and the environment. Traditionally, government agencies have used complex models, such as the National Water Model (NWM), which simulate how much water moves through landscapes using physical laws and real-world data. However, recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have enabled new ways to make these predictions. This research explored whether AI-based models could predict river discharge more accurately. These AI models learn patterns from past data instead of relying only on physical rules. To find out how well they work, the AI models …

Transformative Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation Policy Analysis In Medan City, Citra Tatius, Mega Anggraeni, Wiwandari Handayani, Rukuh Setiadi

Cities and Urban Development Journal

Background: Climate change is not only a global challenge but also a strategic issue of development in Indonesia. The Medan City Government has implemented various mitigation and adaptation efforts, yet it continues to produce greenhouse gas emissions and is exposed to climate change impacts. A transformative approach in mitigation and adaptation is needed to enable systemic change to comprehensively address climate change from its root causes.

Aims: This paper aims to elaborate on the extent to which mitigation and adaptation policies in Medan City can fulfill the principles of transformative climate actions.

Methods: Data collection for climate profiles and mitigation …

2026 July 30 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Spatial Heterogeneity And Temporal Trends Of California Extreme Heat Using High-Resolution Earth System Model Simulations, Eleni Konstantelos

Master's Theses

Extreme heat threatens California’s diverse landscapes and populations through intensifying and geographically shifting patterns. This study examined the temporal trend and spatial heterogeneities of California’s extreme heat for 1994–2015. The analysis was based on the fully coupled Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2), specifically its 25-km regionally refined configuration. While the Desert/Inland region exhibited the highest number of days ≥ 35 °C and the highest heatwave severity, Central Valley showed the fastest increase in the number of days ≥ 35 °C and heatwave events, as well as the fastest increases of days exceeding various heat index thresholds over …

2026 July 23 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Global Performance Of Remote Sensing-Based And Reanalysis-Driven Models To Estimate Open Water Evaporation, Júlia Brusso Rossi, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Leonardo Laipelt, Bruno Comini De Andrade, Joshua B. Fisher, Justin L. Huntington, Christopher Pearson, R. Iestyn Woolway, Roseilson Vale, Júlio Tota, Gabriel B. Senay, Huilin Gao, Anderson Ruhoff

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Evaporation plays an essential role in the water cycle, influencing local and regional climates while directly impacting water availability in lakes. However, directly measuring evaporation over water bodies remains challenging due to the high costs of installing and maintaining the required in situ instrumentation. Although several remote sensing algorithms have been providing evaporation estimates, the lack of a global validation hinders our understanding of their relative uncertainties and performances across different regions. Here, we analyze the performance of a suite of models that leverage satellite data and meteorological reanalysis to estimate evaporation over lakes worldwide. We compare 3 remote sensing‐based …

Career: New Insights Into The Ancient Carbon Cycle From Siliceous Deep-Sea Sediments, Donald Penman

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

2026 July 16 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flash Following Intense Negative Return Stroke Observed With Bimap‐3d, Daniel P. Jensen, David M. Smith, Xuan-Min Shao, Jeff L. Lapierre, Jeffrey M. Chaffin

Faculty Publications

We report ground‐based observations of a terrestrial gamma‐ray flash (TGF) associated with a strong negative cloud‐to‐ground lightning strike (‐CG) which occurred near Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, USA. Gamma photons were detected by the Terrestrial High‐energy Observations of Radiation (THOR) instrument, developed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, which has been hosted at LANL since 2022. Simultaneous measurements were also made with the 3‐Dimensional Broadband Interferometric Mapping and Polarization (BIMAP‐3D) system, which includes 3D lightning mapping, two fast antennas, and an additional plastic scintillator. Additional field change waveforms were obtained from the Earth Networks Total Lightning …

Toward The Significance Of Crevasse Orientation In Low And High Crevassed Regions On The Kennicott Glacier, Alaska, Usa, Claire A. Sturm

DePaul Discoveries

Supraglacial landforms serve as potential indicators of underlying bedrock morphology and glacier dynamics. The distribution and morphology of crevasses are closely associated with stress fields and ice-flow regimes, representing processes of stable glaciers, in contrast to their reduced occurrence in stagnant or receding ice masses. The orientation and density of crevasses influence a glacier’s ability to absorb solar energy, as they facilitate movement of meltwater down to subglacial rivers. Beyond the meltwater acting as a lubricant for basal sliding, the slope of the bedrock further impacts the local velocity and ice deformation of a glacier. The study of ice-fracturing mechanics …

Clearing The Air: Tracking Spatial And Temporal Pm2.5 Variability Along A Biking Transect In Chicago, Beau R. Rass

DePaul Discoveries

Fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) poses significant risks to human health and disproportionately affects marginalized communities in urban environments (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021; Tessum et al., 2021). Using low-cost mobile sensors, this study explored spatiotemporal PM₂.₅ concentration patterns along a north–south transect of Halsted Street in Chicago. A 2B Technologies Portable Aerosol Monitor (PAM) mounted on a bicycle was used to continuously record PM₂.₅ concentrations with associated GPS coordinates at approximately two-second intervals during 16 sampling events between 08-12-2025 and 10-05-2025. PM₂.₅ concentrations did not differ significantly among the South Side, West Loop, and North Side regions, contrary to the …

Ecological Footprint Assessment, Santina Benincasa

Open Educational Resources

This handout guides students through a structured ecological footprint assessment using the online Footprint Calculator. By following a series of steps—selecting their location, entering detailed lifestyle information, and reviewing personalized results—students evaluate how many planets would be required if everyone lived with their same resource consumption patterns. The activity prompts learners to identify the largest contributors to their footprint, quantify their impact in global hectares, and explore scenario-based changes that could reduce their environmental demand. Through reflection, students consider how everyday human behaviors influence Earth’s productive capacity and resource availability. Overall, the exercise encourages critical thinking about sustainability and personal …

2026 July 9 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Mapping And Diagnosing Local Climate Zones For Urban Heat Assessment And Planning In Tropical Cities, Inuwa Sani Sani, Adi Wibowo

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Rapid urbanization and rising heat risk are intensifying thermal stress and environmental degradation in tropical cities. This study applies the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) framework to examine how urban morphology influences land surface temperature (LST) and to support evidence-based urban planning and climate adaptation in Makassar, Indonesia. We hypothesized that compact built LCZs (1–3) exhibit significantly higher LST than vegetated LCZs (A–G). Landsat 8 OLI and MODIS LST datasets (2013–2023) were processed in Google Earth Engine to evaluate decade-long urban development and thermal dynamics. LCZs were classified using a Random Forest (RF) model trained with approximately 100 manually digitized polygons …

2026 July 2 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Crustal Structure Of The Vøring Plateau And Vøring Spur From Joint Refraction And Reflection Travel-Time Tomography, Anika Nawar Mayeesha

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

Crustal architecture of the Vøring Plateau and Vøring Spur in the mid-Norwegian continental margin remains debated because the geophysical data in the area do not uniquely constrain whether the crust is continental, oceanic, or transitional. This study reanalyzes wide-angle ocean-bottom seismometer data from Profile 11-03 across the Vøring passive continental margin using joint travel-time tomography of crustal refractions and Moho reflections. A total of 6,760 first-arrival picks and 542 PmP picks from sixteen instruments were inverted for P-wave velocity and reflector depth. Three starting models were inverted independently to test sensitivity to the initial crustal configuration. The first two used …

Observing System Simulation Experiments To Investigate Impacts Of Deep-Tropospheric Uas Flights On Forecasts, Kenneth Alexander Swan

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

Uncrewed aircraft systems have emerged as a promising option to address meteorological gaps in observations in the lower troposphere. With recent advancements, UAS may be able to address gaps aloft in areas that lack coverage from radiosondes and commercial aircraft. UAS have shown the potential to significantly benefit NWP forecasts from profiles in the lowest 2 km AGL, but the impact of UAS profiles to the tropopause has yet to be quantified. Additionally, the impacts of hazardous flying conditions that UAS would encounter need to be addressed to guide future UAS capabilities. To address these questions, we designed an observing …

2026 July - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

Hi All,

Heavy rains, flooding, and a few heat waves defined the month of July across Tennessee. The rainfall continued to improve drought conditions across the state but flooding impacted many areas, including parts of East Tennessee on July 12th with Cocke County reporting six landslides and infrastructure damage in many locations. A strong heatwave impacted the state during the first week of July and another heatwave impacted western TN in late July.

Mean temperatures for July 2026 were above the NOAA 1991-2020 climate normals for the month across Tennessee, with most areas of West and Middle Tennessee averaging 1-2°F …

2026 July - Tennessee Climate Snapshot, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

No abstract provided.

Synoptic Conditions Favoring Tropical Cyclone-Enhanced Southwest Monsoon High Precipitation Events In The Philippines, Alwin Andriel L. Bathan, Lyndon Mark P. Olaguera, Faye Abigail T. Cruz, Jose Ramon T. Villarin, John A. Manalo, Jun Matsumoto

SOSE Affiliate: Manila Observatory

The interaction of tropical cyclones (TCs) with the southwest monsoon frequently causes heavy precipitation events (HPEs) and widespread flooding across the Philippines. Despite their substantial socio-economic impacts, the synoptic conditions that favor these events remain insufficiently understood, underscoring the need for systematic investigation to help improve forecasting and risk assessment. Lag composite analysis of daily rainfall records and reanalysis data from July to September for the period 1981–2023 shows that HPEs are more likely to occur when: (1) enhanced monsoon westerlies are present over the tropical Indian Ocean for at least nine days before the HPE, (2) a TC passes …

Statistical Evaluation Of A New Orleans Historic Rainfall Dataset (1840–1893), Arielle C. Filostrat

LSU Master's Theses

This study evaluates the climatic credibility of a newly identified historical rainfall dataset for New Orleans, Louisiana, spanning 1840–1893. The New Orleans Historical Dataset (NOHD) is compared to a modern observational record from the Audubon rain gauge (1893–2024) to determine whether nineteenth-century rainfall observations are consistent with known precipitation behavior in the region. Establishing the reliability of early records is critical for extending climatological baselines and improving understanding of long-term rainfall variability.

Historical rainfall observations were first evaluated through archival review using the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal and other nineteenth-century meteorological records to verify notable rainfall events. Daily …

Hydroclimatic Whiplash Across The Contiguous United States: Characterizing Wet–Dry Transitions In Pdsi And Phdi, James Lam, Thomas Christopher Piechota

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Hydroclimatic whiplash, characterized by rapid transitions between wet and dry conditions, poses a growing challenge for water resource management and ecosystem stability. However, the spatial and statistical characteristics of wet–dry transitions across the contiguous United States are not fully understood. This study analyzed Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and Palmer Hydrological Drought Index (PHDI) records from 344 NOAA climate divisions spanning 1895–2024. Whiplash was defined as a transition between severe drought and severe wetness within 12-month rolling windows. Statistical descriptors including lag-1 autocorrelation, variance, and skewness were evaluated for whiplash and non-whiplash windows to assess differences between them. Whiplash hotspots …

Examining Nitrate Concentrations In Rainwater In The Marine Boundary Layer In St. Petersburg, Sam Irvine, Anson Kirsch, Ben Lloyd '25, Yasin Elshorbany, James Ivey

Student Research

Harmful algae blooms (HABs) are a common, natural phenomenon that occur in bodies of water. Karenia brevis is an algae species where, in excess, it can result in red tide events which deplete nutrients in the area, impacting aquatic life and releasing toxic gasses. Past research shows that K. brevis can grow through nutrient absorption in response to excess nitrate in water. This project sought to examine whether nitrates from rainfall are responsible for creating an increase in nitrogen concentrations in the water surrounding St. Petersburg which can lead to algae bloom growth. Results showed that rainwater has higher concentrations …