Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Lake Samish Water Monitoring Project 2007 Final Report, Robin A. Matthews, Joan Vandersypen

Lake Samish

This report is a revised version of the 2006 Final Report by Matthews, et al., and contains most of the original text, updated figures, and additional discussion of the new data collected from July 2006 through June 2007.

Lake Samish is a valuable aquatic resource, providing public access for boating, fishing, swimming, picnicking, and other water and lakeshore activities. Residents around the lake enjoy outstanding views of both the lake and its surrounding watershed, and the lake serves as a water supply for many of the lakeshore residents. Lake Samish is located in the Washington State Department of Ecology’s water …

Improved Photometric Calibrations For Red Stars Observed With The Sdss Photometric Telescope, James R. A. Davenport, John J. Bochanski, Kevin R. Covey, Suzanne L. Hawley, Andrew A. West, Doanld P. Schneider

Physics & Astronomy

We present a new set of photometric transformations for red stars observed with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) 0.5 m Photometric Telescope (PT) and the SDSS 2.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. Nightly PT observations of US Naval Observatory standards are used to determine extinction corrections and calibration terms for SDSS 2.5 m photometry. Systematic differences between the PT and native SDSS 2.5 m ugriz photometry require conversions between the two systems which have previously been undefined for the reddest stars. By matching ~43,000 stars observed with both the PT and SDSS 2.5 m, …

Mapping Russian Forest Biomass With Data From Satellites And Forest Inventories, Richard A. Houghton, David Butman, Andrew Godard Bunn, Olga N. Krankina, Peter Schlesinger, Thomas A. Stone

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The forests of Russia cover a larger area and hold more carbon than the forests of any other nation and thus have the potential for a major role in global warming. Despite a systematic inventory of these forests, however, estimates of total carbon stocks vary, and spatial variations in the stocks within large aggregated units of land are unknown, thus hampering measurement of sources and sinks of carbon. We mapped the distribution of living forest biomass for the year 2000 by developing a relationship between ground measurements of wood volume at 12 sites throughout the Russian Federation and data from …

Responses Of The Circumpolar Boreal Forest To 20th Century Climate Variability, Andrea H. Lloyd, Andrew Godard Bunn

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

We examined relationships between tree ring-width and climate at 232 sites around the circumpolar boreal forest to explore variability in two types of response to temperature: a browning response characterized by inverse correlations between growth and temperature, and a greening response characterized by positive correlations between growth and temperature. We used moving-window correlation analysis for eight 30-year time windows, lagged by 10 years, to characterize the climate response at each site from 1902 to 2002. Inverse growth responses to temperature were widespread, occurring in all species, all time periods, and in nearly all geographic areas. The frequency of the browning …

The Planet, 2007, Fall, Page A. Buono, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Elongation Factor G Stabilizes The Hybrid-State Conformation Of The 70s Ribosome, P. Clint Spiegel, Dmitri N. Ermolenko, Harry F. Noller

Chemistry Faculty and Staff Publications

Following peptide bond formation, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and messenger RNA (mRNA) are translocated through the ribosome, a process catalyzed by elongation factor EF-G. Here, we have used a combination of chemical footprinting, peptidyl transferase activity assays, and mRNA toeprinting to monitor the effects of EF-G on the positions of tRNA and mRNA relative to the A, P, and E sites of the ribosome in the presence of GTP, GDP, GDPNP, and fusidic acid. Chemical footprinting experiments show that binding of EF-G in the presence of the non-hydrolyzable GTP analog GDPNP or GDP·fusidic acid induces movement of a deacylated tRNA from …

Northern High-Latitude Ecosystems Respond To Climate Change, Andrew Godard Bunn, Scott J. Goetz, John S. Kimball, Ke Zhang

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The northern high latitudes are an area of particular importance to global climate change. As a system dependent on freezing conditions, the top of the planet contains vast amounts of carbon in biomass, soils, and permafrost that have the potential to interact with the atmosphere through the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and cryosphere. If released en masse, this carbon would greatly exacerbate the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Over the past 2 years, a growing body of research has provided evidence of substantial but idiosyncratic environmental changes, with some surprising aspects, across the region. This article reviews some recent …

Linkage Disequilibrium In Wild Mice, Cathy C. Laurie, Deborah A. Nickerson, Amy D. Anderson, Bruce S. Weir, Robert J. Livingston, Matthew D. Dean, Kimberly L. Smith, Eric E. Schadt, Michael W. Nachman

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Crosses between laboratory strains of mice provide a powerful way of detecting quantitative trait loci for complex traits related to human disease. Hundreds of these loci have been detected, but only a small number of the underlying causative genes have been identified. The main difficulty is the extensive linkage disequilibrium (LD) in intercross progeny and the slow process of fine-scale mapping by traditional methods. Recently, new approaches have been introduced, such as association studies with inbred lines and multigenerational crosses. These approaches are very useful for interval reduction, but generally do not provide single-gene resolution because of strong LD extending …

Channel Width Response To Differential Uplift, Colin B. Amos, Douglas W. Burbank

Geology Faculty Publications

The role of channel width and slope adjustments to differential uplift in rivers within actively deforming terrains remains contentious. Here high‐resolution topographic surveying of formerly antecedent outwash channels demonstrates marked changes in channel width as a primary response to differential uplift. For five Late Quaternary alluvial paleochannels crossing small folds along the active Ostler fault zone of southern New Zealand, nearly continuous measurements of paleochannel width and concomitant incision reveal abrupt narrowing of widths toward minimum values at channel positions coincident with the initial uplift. When the magnitude of differential uplift is sufficiently small, narrowing alone permits these channels to …

Lake Whatcom Monitoring Project 2005/2006 Report, Robin A. Matthews, Michael Hilles, Joan Vandersypen, Robert J. Mitchell, Geoffrey B. Matthews

Lake Whatcom Annual Reports

This report is part of an on-going series of annual reports and special project reports that document the Lake Whatcom monitoring program. This work is conducted by the Institute for Watershed Studies and other departments at Western Washington University.

The major objective of this program is to provide long-term baseline water quality monitoring in Lake Whatcom and selected tributaries. Each section contains brief explanations about the water quality data, along with discussions of patterns observed in Lake Whatcom.

Restoration Of Rivers Used For Timber Floating: Effects On Riparian Plant Diversity, James M. Helfield, Samantha Capon, Christer Nilsson, Roland Jansson, Daniel Palm

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Fluvial processes such as flooding and sediment deposition play a crucial role in structuring riparian plant communities. In rivers throughout the world, these processes have been altered by channelization and other anthropogenic stresses. Yet despite increasing awareness of the need to restore natural flow regimes for the preservation of riparian biodiversity, few studies have examined the effects of river restoration on riparian ecosystems. In this study, we examined the effects of restoration in the Ume River system, northern Sweden, where tributaries were channelized to facilitate timber floating in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Restoration at these sites involved the …

Perturbations Of Roots Under Linear Transformations Of Polynomials, Branko Ćurgus, Vania Mascioni

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Let P_n be the complex vector space of all polynomials of degree at most n. We give several characterizations of the linear operators T:P_n→P_n for which there exists a constant C > 0 such that for all nonconstant f∈P_n there exist a root u of f and a root v of Tf with |u−v|≤C. We prove that such perturbations leave the degree unchanged and, for a suitable pairing of the roots of f and Tf, the roots are never displaced by more than a uniform constant independent on f. We show that such "good" operators T …

The Planet, 2007, Spring, Shawn C. Query, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Sculpin Presence On Benthic Macroinvertebrate Abundances In Chuckanut Creek, Washington, Sam Stoner

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Sculpins are one of the most abundant fishes in Pacific coastal streams and lakes, but they remain understudied despite potentially significant impacts to stream ecology. The poor swimming ability of sculpins limits their range by inhibiting passage of barriers passable to other fishes. Sculpins are voracious eaters and feed primarily on stream invertebrates. By sampling invertebrates in reaches of stream above and below a sculpin barrier, this study examined the impact sculpin presence had on the stream invertebrate community. Invertebrates were sampled in riffles using a Serber sampler (n = 4). The results showed that the presences of sculpins had …

Zwitterionic Self-Assembly Of L-Methionine Nanogratings On The Ag(111) Surface, Andreas Riemann, Agustin Schiffrin, Willi Auwarter, Yan Pennec, Alex Weber-Bargioni, Albano Cossaro, Alberto Morgante, Johannes V. Barth

Physics & Astronomy

The engineering of complex architectures from functional molecules on surfaces provides new pathways to control matter at the nanoscale. In this article, we present a combined study addressing the self-assembly of the amino acid L-methionine on Ag(111). Scanning tunneling microscopy data reveal spontaneous ordering in extended molecular chains oriented along high-symmetry substrate directions. At intermediate coverages, regular biomolecular gratings evolve whose periodicity can be tuned at the nanometer scale by varying the methionine surface concentration. Their characteristics and stability were confirmed by helium atomic scattering. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy data reveal that the L-methionine chaining is …

Volcanic Eruptions At East Pacific Rise Near 9°50'N, James P. Cowen, Brooke Love, Brian Glazier, Daniel J. Fornari, Timothy M. (Timothy Mitchell) Shank, S. Adam Soule, Alexander Treusch, Kyle R. Pomranig, R. Chadwick Holmes, Maya Tolstoy, Edward T. Baker

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Evidence for recent volcanic eruptions along the fast spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR) crest near 9°50'N spanning about 4 to 5 months of activity was discovered in April and May 2006 as a result of studies related to the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Ridge2000 (R2K) program. In April, during routine recovery and redeployment of ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) at the EPR R2K Integrated Study Site (ISS) near 9°50'N, eight of 12 OBS could not be recovered [Tolstoy et al, 2006]. Anomalous turbidity and temperature structure in the water column along the ridge axis confirmed scientists' suspicions that the OBS were …

Geomorphic Constraints On Listric Thrust Faulting: Implications For Active Deformation In The Mackenzie Basin, South Island, New Zealand, Colin Amos, Douglas W. Burbank, David C. Nobes, Stuart A. L. Read

Geology Faculty Publications

Deformed fluvial terraces preserved over active thrust-related folds record the kinematics of folding as fault slip accumulates on the underlying thrust. In the Mackenzie Basin of southern New Zealand, the kinematics revealed by folded fluvial terraces along the active Ostler and Irishman Creek fault zones are inconsistent with traditional models for thrust-related folding in which spatially uniform rock uplift typically occurs over planar fault ramps. Instead, warped and tilted terraces in the Mackenzie are characterized by broad, continuous backlimbs and abrupt forelimbs and suggest folding through progressive limb rotation. By relating this pattern of surface deformation to the underlying thrust …

An Unexpected Limit Of Expected Values, Branko Ćurgus, Robert I. Jewett

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Let t⩾0. Select numbers randomly from the interval [0,1] until the sum is greater than t . Let α(t) be the expected number of selections. We prove that α(t)=e^t for 0⩽t⩽1. Moreover, . This limit is a special case of our asymptotic results for solutions of the delay differential equation f^′(t)=f(t)-f(t-1) for t>1. We also consider four other solutions of this equation that are related to the above selection process.

On A Convex Operator For Finite Sets, Branko Ćurgus, Krzysztof Kołodziejczyk

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Let S be a finite set with m elements in a real linear space and let be a set of m intervals in . We introduce a convex operator which generalizes the familiar concepts of the convex hull, , and the affine hull, , of S . We prove that each homothet of that is contained in can be obtained using this operator. A variety of convex subsets of with interesting combinatorial properties can also be obtained. For example, this operator can assign a regular dodecagon to the 4-element set consisting of the vertices and the orthocenter of an equilateral …

Excess Silica In Omphacite And The Formation Of Free Silica In Eclogite, H. W. Day, Sean R. Mulcahy

Geology Faculty Publications

Silica lamellae in eclogitic clinopyroxene are widely interpreted as evidence of exsolution during decompression of eclogite. However, mechanisms other than exsolution might produce free silica, and the possible mechanisms depend in part on the nature and definition of excess silica. ‘Excess’ silica may occur in both stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric pyroxene. Although the issue has been debated, we show that all common definitions of excess silica in non-stoichiometric clinopyroxene are internally consistent, interchangeable, and therefore equivalent. The excess silica content of pyroxene is easily illustrated in a three-component, condensed composition space and may be plotted directly from a structural formula unit …

Precursory Seismicity Associated With Frequent, Large Ice Avalanches On Iliamna Volcano, Alaska, Usa, Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach, Christian Huggel

Geology Faculty Publications

Since 1994, at least six major (volume >106m3 ) ice and rock avalanches have occurred on Iliamna volcano, Alaska, USA. Each of the avalanches was preceded by up to 2 hours of seismicity believed to represent the initial stages of failure. Each seismic sequence begins with a series of repeating earthquakes thought to represent slip on an ice–rock interface, or between layers of ice. This stage is followed by a prolonged period of continuous ground-shaking that reflects constant slip accommodated by deformation at the glacier base. Finally the glacier fails in a large avalanche. Some of the events appear to …

The Planet, 2007, Winter, Shawn C. Query, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Pleistocene Brawley And Ocotillo Formations: Evidence For Initial Strike-Slip Deformation Along The San Felipe And San Jacinto Fault Zones, Southern California, Stefan M. Kirby, Susanne U. Janecke, Rebecca J. Dorsey, Bernard A. Housen, Victoria E. Langenheim, Kristin A. Mcdougall, Alexander N. Steely

Geology Faculty Publications

We examine the Pleistocene tectonic reorganization of the Pacific–North American plate boundary in the Salton Trough of southern California with an integrated approach that includes basin analysis, magnetostratigraphy, and geologic mapping of upper Pliocene to Pleistocene sedimentary rocks in the San Felipe Hills. These deposits preserve the earliest sedimentary record of movement on the San Felipe and San Jacinto fault zones that replaced and deactivated the late Cenozoic West Salton detachment fault. Sandstone and mudstone of the Brawley Formation accumulated between ∼1.1 and ∼0.6–0.5 Ma in a delta on the margin of an arid Pleistocene lake, which received sediment from …

Characteristics And Processes Of Degradation On Normal Fault Scarps In Basalt, Central Oregon And Northern California, Kelsay Davis

WWU Graduate School Collection

Normal faults that break the surface create scarps. Scarps in alluvium degrade predictably so that time since formation can be inferred from scarp profile, however, scarps in jointed bedrock, such as basalt, do not degrade according to previous models. Understanding the processes involved in degradation of scarps in jointed basalt may lead to the formation of a degradation model.

I use survey data and statistical analyses from 36 scarps in central Oregon and northern California, to determine the characteristics that play a dominant role in scarp degradation in jointed basalt. These data indicate that scarp facing direction, column height, and …

Quantifying The Glacial Meltwater Component Of Streamflow In The Middle Fork Nooksack River, Whatcom County, Wa, Using A Distributed Hydrology Model, Carrie B. Donnell

WWU Graduate School Collection

Glacial meltwater is a vital component of rivers and streams in glaciated regions such as the Pacific Northwest, and can be critical for municipal water supplies, power generation, and habitat issues. The Middle Fork of the Nooksack River is fed by meltwater from Deming Glacier on Mount Baker, WA. The City of Bellingham has been diverting water from the Middle Fork since 1962 to supplement the water supply, and to maintain water quality in Lake Whatcom, the water source for the city. Because of regulations, water is only diverted when the Middle Fork exceeds minimum acceptable streamflow. A concern for …

Petrographic Signature For The Whidbey Formation, Jonathan Peterson

WWU Graduate School Collection

The late Pleistocene Whidbey Formation occupies a region on and around Whidbey Island, Washington, that received both northern-derived glacial sediments and eastern-derived nonglacial sediments. Distinguishing between glacial outwash and nonglacial sediments of the Whidbey Formation and the younger Olympia beds has been problematic where stratigraphic sections are incomplete. For the Whidbey Formation, discontinuous deposits of sand, clay, peat and silt that stem from meandering streams on floodplains have not been fully characterized, petrographically. Recent documentation (Dragovich and others, 2005) of dacitic channel and lahar-runout facies on northern Whidbey Island spurred petrographic analysis of various sands from across the whole region …

Shelter Competition Between Native Signal Crayfish And Non-Native Red Swamp Crayfish In Pine Lake, Sammamish, Washington: The Role Of Size And Sex, Karl W. Mueller

WWU Graduate School Collection

Freshwater crayfish (Decapoda) communities worldwide are becoming increasingly similar from location to location by the intentional or accidental introduction of North American crayfishes. The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii, Cambaridae), which is native to the south-central United States and northeastern Mexico, is the most widely introduced crayfish in the world. It was first discovered in Pine Lake, Sammamish, Washington in 2000. The results of a 2005 baseline survey of the crayfish in Pine Lake suggested that the red swamp crayfish was displacing the native signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus, Astacidae). One mechanism through which non-native crayfishes displace native species is competitive …

Application Of A Nitrate Fate And Transport Model To The Abbotsford-Sumas Aquifer, Whatcom County, Washington, Margo A. Burton

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer is a shallow, unconfined aquifer located in an agriculturally intensive area in northwestern Washington and southwestern British Columbia. Due to aquifer characteristics and surface land use, the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer has had a history of nitrate contamination from non-point sources. As such, nutrient managers are interested in predictive tools to evaluate management strategies. I assessed the effectiveness of a GIS based nitrate fate and transport model developed specifically for the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer by Almasri and Kaluarachchi (2004) as a predictive tool for nutrient management. This model couples four sub-models that collectively estimate nutrient loading, predict soil-nitrogen dynamics (NLEAP), …

Applicability Of The Nlos Model For Predictions Of Soil Water Movement And Nitrogen Transport In An Agricultural Soil, Agassiz, Bc, Heather R. Hirsch

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer is a shallow, unconfined aquifer in northern Whatcom County, WA and southern British Columbia, Canada that is contaminated with nitrates due to agricultural land use. Currently, conservation managers rely on Post-Harvest Soil Nitrate Tests (PHSNTs) to predict nitrate leaching potential to the aquifer. However, these tests have limitations as an assessment tool because of their inaccuracy. Therefore, US and Canadian government agencies are considering the NLEAP on STELLA (NLOS) leaching model as an additional tool for assessing nutrient management strategies. NLOS is an adaptation of the Nitrogen Leaching and Economic Analysis Package (NLEAP) model. I examined the …

Oblique Photogrammetric Analysis Of Dome Growth At Mount St. Helens Volcano, 2004 – 2007, Angela K. Diefenbach

WWU Graduate School Collection

This project is an oblique photogrammetric survey of the 2004-2007 dome-building eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano with two primary objectives: (1) to evaluate the potential of a new rapid and low-cost technique to create digital elevation models (DEMs) and subsequently calculate dome volumes and extrusion rates at Mount St. Helens; and (2) to attempt to understand mechanics associated with lava dome extrusion and collapse by analyzing volumetric and extrusion rate measurements in the context of dome height measurements, seismicity data, and migration of the locus of dome growth.

The new method uses sets of oblique aerial photographs, acquired from …