Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Combined Assimilation Of Satellite Precipitation And Soil Moisture: A Case Study Using Trmm And Smos Data, Liao-Fan Lin, Ardeshir M. Ebtehaj, Alejandro N. Flores, Satish Bastola, Rafael L. Bras

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a framework that enables simultaneous assimilation of satellite precipitation and soil moisture observations into the coupled Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Noah land surface model through variational approaches. The authors tested the framework by assimilating precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and soil moisture data from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite. The results show that assimilation of both TRMM and SMOS data can effectively improve the forecast skills of precipitation, top 10-cm soil moisture, and 2-m temperature and specific humidity. Within a 2-day time window, impacts of precipitation data assimilation on …

Acoustic And Seismic Fields Of Hydraulic Jumps At Varying Froude Numbers, Timothy J. Ronan, Jonathan M. Lees, T. Dylan Mikesell, Jacob F. Anderson, Jeffrey B. Johnson

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mechanisms that produce seismic and acoustic wavefields near rivers are poorly understood because of a lack of observations relating temporally dependent river conditions to the near-river seismoacoustic fields. This controlled study at the Harry W. Morrison Dam (HWMD) on the Boise River, Idaho, explores how temporal variation in fluvial systems affects surrounding acoustic and seismic fields. Adjusting the configuration of the HWMD changed the river bathymetry and therefore the form of the standing wave below the dam. The HWMD was adjusted to generate four distinct wave regimes that were parameterized through their dimensionless Froude numbers (Fr) and …

Using Isotopes To Constrain Water Flux And Age Estimates In Snow-Influenced Catchments Using The Starr (Spatially Distributed Tracer-Aided Rainfall–Runoff) Model, Pertti Ala-Aho, Doerthe Tetzlaff, James P. Mcnamara, Hjalmar Laudon, Chris Soulsby

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Tracer-aided hydrological models are increasingly used to reveal fundamentals of runoff generation processes and water travel times in catchments. Modelling studies integrating stable water isotopes as tracers are mostly based in temperate and warm climates, leaving catchments with strong snow influences underrepresented in the literature. Such catchments are challenging, as the isotopic tracer signals in water entering the catchments as snowmelt are typically distorted from incoming precipitation due to fractionation processes in seasonal snowpack.

We used the Spatially distributed Tracer-Aided Rainfall– Runoff (STARR) model to simulate fluxes, storage, and mixing of water and tracers, as well as estimating water ages …

Assessing A Multi-Platform Data Fusion Technique In Capturing Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Heterogeneous Dryland Ecosystems In Topographically Complex Terrain, Peter J. Olsoy, Jessica Mitchell, Nancy F. Glenn, Alejandro N. Flores

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Water-limited ecosystems encompass approximately 40% of terrestrial land mass and play a critical role in modulating Earth’s climate and provisioning ecosystem services to humanity. Spaceborne remote sensing is a critical tool for characterizing ecohydrologic patterns and advancing the understanding of the interactions between atmospheric forcings and ecohydrologic responses. Fine to medium scale spatial and temporal resolutions are needed to capture the spatial heterogeneity and the temporally intermittent response of these ecosystems to environmental forcings. Techniques combining complementary remote sensing datasets have been developed, but the heterogeneous nature of these regions present significant challenges. Here we investigate the capacity of one …

Lidar Aboveground Vegetation Biomass Estimates In Shrublands: Prediction, Uncertainties And Application To Coarser Scales, Aihua Li, Shital Dhakal, Nancy F. Glenn, Lucas P. Spaete

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our study objectives were to model the aboveground biomass in a xeric shrub-steppe landscape with airborne light detection and ranging (Lidar) and explore the uncertainty associated with the models we created. We incorporated vegetation vertical structure information obtained from Lidar with ground-measured biomass data, allowing us to scale shrub biomass from small field sites (1 m subplots and 1 ha plots) to a larger landscape. A series of airborne Lidar-derived vegetation metrics were trained and linked with the field-measured biomass in Random Forests (RF) regression models. A Stepwise Multiple Regression (SMR) model was also explored as a comparison. Our results …

A Machine Learning Approach To Estimation Of Downward Solar Radiation From Satellite-Derived Data Products: An Application Over A Semi-Arid Ecosystem In The U.S., Qingtao Zhou, Alejandro Flores, Nancy F. Glenn, Reggie Walters, Bangshuai Han

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Shortwave solar radiation is an important component of the surface energy balance and provides the principal source of energy for terrestrial ecosystems. This paper presents a machine learning approach in the form of a random forest (RF) model for estimating daily downward solar radiation flux at the land surface over complex terrain using MODIS (MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) remote sensing data. The model-building technique makes use of a unique network of 16 solar flux measurements in the semi-arid Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed and Critical Zone Observatory, in southwest Idaho, USA. Based on a composite RF model built on daily observations …

Regional Sensitivities Of Seasonal Snowpack To Elevation, Aspect, And Vegetation Cover In Western North America, Nancy F. Glenn

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

In mountains with seasonal snow cover, the effects of climate change on snowpack will be constrained by landscape-vegetation interactions with the atmosphere. Airborne lidar surveys used to estimate snow depth, topography, and vegetation were coupled with reanalysis climate products to quantify these interactions and to highlight potential snowpack sensitivities to climate and vegetation change across the western U.S. at Rocky Mountain (RM), Northern Basin and Range (NBR), and Sierra Nevada (SNV) sites. In forest and shrub areas, elevation captured the greatest amount of variability in snow depth (16–79%) but aspect explained more variability (11–40%) in alpine areas. Aspect was most …

Spreading Rate-Dependent Variations In Crystallization Along The Global Mid-Ocean Ridge System, V. Dorsey Wanless, Mark D. Behn

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate crustal accretion at mid-ocean ridges by combining crystallization pressures calculated from major element contents in mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) glasses and vapor-saturation pressures from melt inclusions and MORB glasses. Specifically, we use established major element barometers and pressures estimated from 192 fractional crystallization trends to calculate crystallization pressures from >9000 MORB glasses across the global range of mid-ocean ridge spreading rates. Additionally, we estimate vapor-saturation pressures from >400 MORB glasses from PETDB and >400 olivine-hosted melt inclusions compiled from five ridges with variable spreading rates. Both major element and vapor-saturation pressures increase and become more variable with decreasing …

Coupling Biophysical Processes And Water Rights To Simulate Spatially Distributed Water Use In An Intensively Managed Hydrologic System, Bangshuai Han, Shawn G. Benner, John P. Bolte, Kellie B. Vache, Alejandro N. Flores

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Humans have significantly altered the redistribution of water in intensively managed hydrologic systems, shifting the spatiotemporal patterns of surface water. Evaluating water availability requires integration of hydrologic processes and associated human influences. In this study, we summarize the development and evaluation of an extensible hydrologic model that explicitly integrates water rights to spatially distribute irrigation waters in a semi-arid agricultural region in the western US, using the Envision integrated modeling platform. The model captures both human and biophysical systems, particularly the diversion of water from the Boise River, which is the main water source that supports irrigated agriculture in this …

Modeling The Isotopic Evolution Of Snowpack And Snowmelt: Testing A Spatially Distributed Parsimonious Approach, Pertti Ala-Aho, Doerthe Tetzlaff, James P. Mcnamara, Hjalmar Laudon

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Use of stable water isotopes has become increasingly popular in quantifying water flow paths and travel times in hydrological systems using tracer-aided modeling. In snow-influenced catchments, snowmelt produces a traceable isotopic signal, which differs from original snowfall isotopic composition because of isotopic fractionation in the snowpack. These fractionation processes in snow are relatively well understood, but representing their spatiotemporal variability in tracer-aided studies remains a challenge. We present a novel, parsimonious modeling method to account for the snowpack isotope fractionation and estimate isotope ratios in snowmelt water in a fully spatially distributed manner. Our model introduces two calibration parameters that …

Volcanic Initiation Of The Eocene Heart Mountain Slide, Wyoming, Usa, Mark D. Schmitz

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Eocene Heart Mountain slide of northwest Wyoming covers an area of as much as 5000 km² and includes allochthonous Paleozoic carbonate and Eocene volcanic rocks with a run-out distance of as much as 85 km. Recent geochronologic data indicated that the emplacement of the slide event occurred at ∼48.9 Ma, using laser ablation inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) extracted fromU-Pb zircon ages frombasal layer and injectite carbonate ultracataclasite (CUC). We now refine that age with U-Pb results from a lamprophyre diatreme that is temporally and spatially related to the CUC injectites. The ages for the lamprophyre zircons are …

Aerodynamic Roughness Length Estimation With Lidar And Imaging Spectroscopy In A Shrub-Dominated Dryland, Aihua Li, Wenguang Zhao, Jessica J. Mitchell, Nancy F. Glenn, Matthew J. Germino, Joel B. Sankey, Richard G. Allen

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The aerodynamic roughness length (Z_0m) serves an important role in the flux exchange between the land surface and atmosphere. In this study, airborne lidar (ALS), terrestrial lidar (TLS), and imaging spectroscopy data were integrated to develop and test two approaches to estimate Z_0m over a shrub dominated dryland study area in south-central Idaho, USA. Sensitivity of the two parameterization methods to estimate Z_0m was analyzed. The comparison of eddy covariance-derived Z_0m and remote sensing-derived Z_0m showed that the accuracy of the estimated Z_0m heavily depends on the estimation model and the representation of …

Identifying Irrigated Areas In The Snake River Plain, Idaho: Evaluating Performance Across Composting Algorithms, Spectral Indices, And Sensors, Eric W. Chance, Kelly M. Cobourn, Valerie A. Thomas, Blaine C. Dawson, Alejandro N. Flores

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

There are pressing concerns about the interplay between agricultural productivity, water demand, and water availability in semi-arid to arid regions of the world. Currently, irrigated agriculture is the dominant water user in these regions and is estimated to consume approximately 80% of the world’s diverted freshwater resources. We develop an improved irrigated land-use mapping algorithm that uses the seasonal maximum value of a spectral index to distinguish between irrigated and non-irrigated parcels in Idaho’s Snake River Plain. We compare this approach to two alternative algorithms that differentiate between irrigated and non-irrigated parcels using spectral index values at a single date …

Bridging The Gap Between The Foreland And Hinterland I: Geochronology And Plate Tectonic Geometry Of Ordovician Magmatism And Terrane Accretion On The Laurentian Margin Of New England, Paul M. Karabinos, Francis A. Macdonald, James L. Crowley

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

U-Pb dates on magmatic and detrital zircon from samples in the hinterland of the Taconic orogen place new constraints on the timing and plate tectonic geometry of terrane accretion and magmatic arc activity. The Moretown terrane, a Gondwanan-derived exotic block, extends from the Rowe Schist-Moretown Formation contact in the west to the Bronson Hill arc in the east. Arc-related plutonic and volcanic rocks formed above an east-dipping subduction zone under the western leading edge of the Moretown terrane from approximately 500 to 475 Ma, until collision with hyperextended distal fragments of Laurentia, represented by the Rowe Schist, at 475 Ma. …

Bridging The Gap Between The Foreland And Hinterland Ii: Geochronology And Tectonic Setting Of Ordovician Magmatism And Basin Formation On The Laurentian Margin Of New England And Newfoundland, Francis A. Macdonald, Paul M. Karabinos, James L. Crowley, Eben B. Hodgin, Peter W. Crockford, John W. Delano

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ordovician strata of the Mohawk Valley and Taconic allochthon of New York and the Humber margin of Newfoundland record multiple magmatic and basin-forming episodes associated with the Taconic orogeny. Here we present new U-Pb zircon geochronology and whole rock geochemistry and neodymium isotopes from Early Paleozoic volcanic ashes and siliciclastic units on the northern Appalachian margin of Laurentia. Volcanic ashes in the Table Point Formation of Newfoundland and the Indian River Formation of the Taconic allochthon in New York yield dates between 466.16 ± 0.12 and 464.20 ± 0.13 Ma. Red, bioturbated slate of the Indian River Formation record a …

Inference Of Soil Hydrologic Parameters From Electronic Soil Moisture Records, David G. Chandler, Mark S. Seyfried, James P. Mcnamara, Kyotaek Hwang

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soil moisture is an important control on hydrologic function, as it governs vertical fluxes from and to the atmosphere, groundwater recharge, and lateral fluxes through the soil. Historically, the traditional model parameters of saturation, field capacity, and permanent wilting point have been determined by laboratory methods. This approach is challenged by issues of scale, boundary conditions, and soil disturbance. We develop and compare four methods to determine values of field saturation, field capacity, plant extraction limit (PEL), and initiation of plant water stress from long term in-situ monitoring records of TDR-measured volumetric water content (Θ). The monitoring sites represent a …

Evidence Of Erosional Self-Channelization Of Pyroclastic Density Currents Revealed By Ground-Penetrating Radar Imaging At Mount St. Helens, Washington (Usa), Andrew C. Gase, Brittany D. Brand, John H. Bradford

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The causes and effects of erosion are among the least understood aspects of pyroclastic density current (PDC) dynamics. Evidence is especially limited for erosional self-channelization, a process whereby PDCs erode a channel that confines the body of the eroding flow or subsequent flows. We use ground-penetrating radar imaging to trace a large PDC scour and fill from outcrop to its point of inception and discover a second, larger PDC scour and fill. The scours are among the largest PDC erosional features on record, at >200 m wide and at least 500 m long; estimated eroded volumes are on the order …

Household Preparedness Motivation In Lahar Hazard Zones: Assessing The Adoption Of Preparedness Behaviors Among Laypeople And Response Professionals In Communities Downstream From Mount Baker And Glacier Peak (Usa) Volcanoes, Kimberley A. Corwin, Brittany D. Brand, Monica L. Hubbard, David M. Johnston

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the number of people living at risk from volcanic hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest grows, more detailed studies of household preparedness in at-risk communities are needed to develop effective mitigation, response, and recovery plans. This study examines two aspects of preparedness behavior motivation in the Skagit Valley (WA), which is at risk from Mount Baker and Glacier Peak lahars. First, we examine the influence of perceived response-efficacy, protective response costs, self-efficacy, and ascription of responsibility on preparedness. Results indicate few respondents believe high perceived protective response costs, low perceived response-efficacy, or low perceived protection responsibility prevent them from …

Rain Or Snow: Hydrologic Processes, Observations, Prediction, And Research Needs, James P. Mcnamara

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The phase of precipitation when it reaches the ground is a first-order driver of hydrologic processes in a watershed. The presence of snow, rain, or mixed-phase precipitation affects the initial and boundary conditions that drive hydrological models. Despite their foundational importance to terrestrial hydrology, typical phase partitioning methods (PPMs) specify the phase based on near-surface air temperature only. Our review conveys the diversity of tools available for PPMs in hydrological modeling and the advancements needed to improve predictions in complex terrain with large spatiotemporal variations in precipitation phase. Initially, we review the processes and physics that control precipitation phase as …

Biotic Changes Around The Radioisotopically Constrained Carboniferous-Permian Boundary In The Boskovice Basin (Czech Republic), Stanislav Oplustil, Jakub Jirásek, Mark Schmitz, Dalibor Matýsek

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presented is an analysis of vegetation patterns across the Carboniferous-Permian boundary in continental setting constrained for the first time in Europe and North America by high-precision U-Pb radioisotopic dating. The analysis is performed on the fossil record of the Boskovice Basin (Czech Republic), a Late Palaeozoic half-graben having ~ 5 km of cumulative thickness. It is dominantly a red bed succession containing numerous grey, mostly lacustrine horizons bearing fairly rich fossil floras and faunas of Late Pennsylvanian to Cisuralian age. U-Pb geochronology on single zircon crystals separated from a volcanic tuff near the top of the Rosice-Oslavany Formation, in the …

Laser Ultrasound Observations Of Mechanical Property Variations In Ice Cores, Thomas Dylan Mikesell, Kasper Van Wijk, Larry Thomas Otheim, Hans-Peter Marshall, Andrei Kurbatov

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The study of climate records in ice cores requires an accurate determination of annual layering within the cores in order to establish a depth-age relationship. Existing tools to delineate these annual layers are based on observations of changes in optical, chemical, and electromagnetic properties. In practice, no single technique captures every layer in all circumstances. Therefore, the best estimates of annual layering are produced by analyzing a combination of measurable ice properties. We present a novel and complimentary elastic wave remote sensing method based on laser ultrasonics. This method is used to measure variations in ultrasonic wave arrival times and …