Earth Sciences Commons^™

In Hot Water: Influence Of Multiple Stressors On Thermal Tolerance Of Fathead Minnows Pimephales Promelas, Alexander Engel

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Freshwater aquatic systems around the globe are often subjected to physical, biological, and chemical alterations to support societal needs. The Great Plains contains one of the largest agricultural industries in North America, but its productivity has ecological repercussions for adjacent freshwater ecosystems. Specifically, the dependency on surface water irrigation and application of chemical treatments has altered the thermal and chemical composition of freshwater ecosystems throughout the region. Stressors such as elevated temperatures, altered flow regimes, increased contaminant loads affect the physiology and behavior of fishes and can lead to long-term population effects. We examined thermal tolerance of Fathead minnows Pimephales …

Comprehensive And Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories For Nebraska And The Midwest As Baselines For Climate Change Mitigation, Eric R. Holley

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Climate change is the paramount challenge of today for a sustainable future. Mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is necessary to reduce the associated risks and impacts on society. Using the EPA’s SIT and literature review, comprehensive GHG-emissions inventories were developed for the state of Nebraska over 25 years (1990-2015) and agricultural GHG emissions inventories were developed for the Midwest U.S for one year (2016). Nebraska’s net emissions increased from 56.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMtCO₂e) in 1990 to 87.4 MMtCO₂e in 2016. Agriculture was found to be the sector with the most …

Case Studies Of Colorado Lows And The Impacts On Winter Weather Maintenance, Nathan Rick

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

Winter storms of varying degrees plague the Plains each year, bringing with them ice, snow, wind, and cold temperatures which adversely affect public, commercial, and private transportation alike. The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) adopted a Maintenance Decision Support System (NDOT-MDSS) to aid in their winter weather maintenance practices. NDOT-MDSS ingests data from a variety of numerical weather models as well as real time surface and pavement observations to output both a weather forecast and winter road maintenance recommendation that can be taken into account by NDOT to finalize their maintenance decisions for a specific storm system or road segment. …

Impact Of Streambank Stabilization On Sediment Deposition And Erosion In Central Nebraska Streams, Matthew Russell

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Stabilization projects are increasingly used to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic streambank erosion, yet the effectiveness of these practices has been insufficiently monitored and assessed to date. Sound monitoring practices promote engineered effectiveness, in addition to allowing adjustments in implementation and maintenance to improve practices over time. However, current methods to quickly and efficiently quantify deposition and erosion within a stream continue to be costly and inefficient. Therefore, the objectives of this project were to 1) Measure streambank migration of three reaches at Cedar River in Nebraska, from 1993 to 2006 (pre-stabilization) and from 2006 to 2018 (post-stabilization) using aerial …

Testing A Drone-Based Magnetic Field Surveying System, Erik Jacobson, Irina Filina

UCARE: Research Products

Aeromagnetic surveys are conducted by geoscientists to study subsurface geologic structures, such as faults. This type of survey uses a magnetometer mounted upon an airborne vehicle to collect magnetic field data. Magnetic anomalies are caused by variations in subsurface geology, namely in magnetic properties of subsurface rocks. Jacobson and Filina (2019) reported on the development of a new low cost drone, based magnetic field surveying system by the UNL Geophysics Team. This drone-based magnetic system is capable of collecting high resolution data at low speeds and low altitudes. The current study focuses on testing this system by conducting two flights …

Management Effects On Soil Quality Of The Geary Soil Series In Thayer County, Nebraska, Aime Nishimwe

UCARE: Research Products

The CGIAR reports that around 40% of global crop yield variability is explained by climate. While global food consumption is expected to soar in 2050, the impact of climate change accounts for approximately 5% decrease in crop productivity. FAO estimates a 60% increase in global food demand by 2050, with global population reaching 9.8 billions. Sustainable soil management was also noted to boost agricultural food production by 58%. The evaluation of the impact of different management practices on dynamic soil properties was conducted on Geary silty clay loam, 3 to 7 %, eroded soils, which are mainly used for crop …

Water Scarcity And Fish Imperilment Driven By Beef Production, Brian D. Richter, Dominique Bartak, Peter Caldwell, Kyle Fankel Davis, Peter Debaere, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Tianshu Li, Landon Marston, Ryan Mcmanamay, Mesfin Mekonnen, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Richard R. Rushforth, Tara J. Troy

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify primary causes of river dewatering and explore ways to ameliorate them. We find irrigation of cattle-feed crops to be the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the …

Environmental Activism, Ellen Dexter, Lydia Dexter

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

An after school book club that follows Greta Thunberg's book of speeches No One is Too Small to Make a Difference , as well as uses hands-on activities to teach the importance of environmental activism.

Droughtscape, Spring 2020, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Spring 2020

Exploring How Graduates Of The Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Influence Community Capitals: Two Case Studies, Dakota Staggs

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Natural resources are foundational to any community and so leadership regarding those resources is a key factor to consider in order to understand communities. The vitality and strength of a community, however, is not solely dependent upon the natural resources available to it but depends on the collection of assets and individuals within it. This study sought to understand how individual leaders, graduates of the Nebraska Water Leaders Academy, influence each of the seven community capitals outlined by Flora, Flora, and Gasteyer (2016), and how their individual civic capacity, as defined by Sun and Anderson (2012), contribute to community capacity. …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2019, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The term “groundwater” has come to be all but synonymous with Nebraska. Nearly three-quarters of the total volume of the High Plains Aquifer lies beneath the State. Groundwater maintains our streams, our ecosystems, our people, and our vitally important agricultural economy. Nebraska’s total groundwater resource is vast, yet it is also vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes, necessitating a long-term commitment to wise management through informed decision making. Monitoring, studying, and reporting form the essential basis for such management and, ultimately, for meeting the myriad challenges presented by change.

The personnel of the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) are proud …

Assessment Of An Automated Calibration Of The Sebal Algorithm To Estimate Dry-Season Surface-Energy Partitioning In A Forest–Savanna Transition In Brazil, Leonardo Laipelt, Anderson Luis Ruhoff, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Rafael Henrique Bloedow Kayser, Elisa De Mello Kich, Humberto Ribeiro Da Rocha, Christopher Michael Usher Neale

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) provides a strong connection between surface energy and hydrological cycles. Advancements in remote sensing techniques have increased our understanding of energy and terrestrial water balances as well as the interaction between surface and atmosphere over large areas. In this study, we computed surface energy fluxes using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) algorithm and a simplified adaptation of the CIMEC (Calibration using Inverse Modeling at Extreme Conditions) process for automated endmember selection. Our main purpose was to assess and compare the accuracy of the automated calibration of the SEBAL algorithm using two different sources of meteorological …

A Polarimetric Radar Analysis Of Cold- And Warm-Based Supercells, Timothy J. Gunkel

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

Polarimetric analyses of supercell thunderstorms have been increasingly common within the past decade, since operational polarimetric radar data became available in 2013. Although polarimetric signatures within supercell thunderstorms are well known, few have investigated variability in these signatures in differing environments. Polarimetric signatures can provide vital information regarding the microphysical characteristics and processes in supercell thunderstorms. Specific polarimetric signatures of interest are the differential reflectivity (Z_DR) column, the low-level polarimetrically inferred hail core, and the Z_DR arc. These signatures provide information regarding updraft characteristics, hailfall characteristics, and size sorting processes in the storm- relative inflow. Previous studies …

Evaluation Of The Potential Geological And Socioeconomic Impacts Of The Imminent Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake, Matthew Pritchard

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The Cascadia Subduction Zone on the northwest coast of the United States poses the threat of a devastating megathrust earthquake and subsequent tsunami damaging coastal populations. This paper synthesizes literature to analyze the geologic and socioeconomic effects of this natural disaster, as well as examines the existing warning system infrastructure, and makes recommendations to mitigate the damage. In order to assess the geologic effects of a megathrust earthquake, I investigate the tectonic history, the role of episodic tremor and slip (ETS) in stress buildup, crustal architecture of the subduction zone, and analogous subduction zones such as Chile and Japan. This …

Utilizing Objective Drought Severity Thresholds To Improve Drought Monitoring, Zachary T. Leasor, Steven M. Quiring, Mark D. Svoboda

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is a prominent climatic hazard in the south-central United States. Drought severity is frequently classified using the categories established by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). This study evaluates whether the thresholds for the standardized precipitation index (SPI) used by the USDM accurately classify drought severity. This study uses the SPI based on PRISM precipitation data from 1900 to 2015 to evaluate drought severity in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The results show that the fixed SPI thresholds for the USDM drought categories may lead to a systematic underestimation of drought severity in arid regions. To address this issue, objective drought …

Groundwater Quality In The High Plains Aquifer

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The High Plains aquifer constitutes one of the important aquifers being evaluated.

The High Plains aquifer underlies an area of about 169,000 square miles, which is populated by about 2 million people in parts of eight western states (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, and Wyoming). The aquifer ranks 13th in the Nation as a source of groundwater for …

A Design For A Sustained Assessment Of Climate Forcing And Feedbacks Related To Land Use And Land Cover Change, Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

L and use and land cover change (LULCC) plays an important role in the climate system. Many studies have documented the impacts of LULCC on local, regional, and global climate. The National Climate Assessment Report (Melillo et al. 2014) identifies LULCC as a “cross cutting” issue of future climate change studies. This report, and the previous U.S. Climate Change Science Program strategic plan (2003), noted that land use and land cover (LULC) and its feedback is an important source of uncertainty within the climate system (Melillo et al. 2014). As a result, the report calls for a better understanding of …

Late Cretaceous Stratigraphy And Paleoceanographic Evolution In The Great Australian Bight Basin Based On Results From Iodp Site U1512, K. G. Macleod, Lloyd T. White, Carmine C. Wainman, Mathieu Martinez, Matthew M. Jones, Sietske J. Batenburg, Laurent Riquier, Shannon J. Haynes, David K. Watkins, K. A. Bogus, H.-J. Brumsack, R. Do Monte Guerra, Kirsty M. Edgar, Trine Edvardsen, Dennis Harry, Takashi Hasegawa, R. W. Hobbs, Brian T. Huber, T. Jiang, J. Kuroda, E. Y. Lee, Yong-Xiang Li, Alessandro Maritatai, Lauren K. O'Connor, Maria Rose Petrizzo, Tracy M. Quan, C. Richter, Maria Luisa Garcia Tejada, G. Tagliaro, Erik Wolfgring, Zhaokai Xu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Upper Cretaceous sedimentary sequence at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1512 in the Ceduna Sub-basin of the Great Australian Bight represents a continuous, N 690 m thick interval of black silty clay and claystone spanning the lower Turonian through Lower Campanian (~10 million years). Sediments were deposited in an elongate, ~E-W oriented, ~2500 km long rift system that developed between Australia and Antarctica with an open-ocean connection to the west and a continental bridge to the east. Site U1512 cores provide a unique, continuous record of Late Cretaceous deposition in the Ceduna Sub-basin on the hanging wall of the …

Hydrogeologic Framework And Water Balance Investigation Of Land Near The Gothenburg Canal System, Douglas R. Hallum

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) requested that Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) develop a local hydrogeologic framework and conceptual water budget for a parcel of land near a segment of canal in the Gothenburg Canal System to determine likely sources of ponded surface water that are ephemerally present on the parcel. The study seeks to assess the parcel scale water budget and to better understand the parcel-scale hydrology and hydrogeology. The object of this project is to provide reliable information to NPPD and its customers along a small portion of the canal. Information from this report may influence, or …

Risk And Cost Assessment Of Nitrate Contamination In Domestic Wells, Pongpun Juntakut, Erin M.K. Haacker, Daniel D. Snow, Chittaranjan Ray

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study combines empirical predictive and economics models to estimate the cost of remediation for domestic wells exceeding suggested treatment thresholds for nitrates. A multiple logistic regression model predicted the probability of well contamination by nitrate, and a life cycle costing methodology was used to estimate costs of nitrate contamination in groundwater in two areas of Nebraska. In south-central Nebraska, 37% of wells were estimated to be at risk of exceeding a threshold of 7.5 mg/L as N, and 17% were at risk of exceeding 10 mg/L as N, the legal limit for human consumption in the United States. In …

Mapping The Base Of The High Plains Aquifer Using Borehole Geophysical Logs And Airborne Electromagnetic Surveys In Western Nebraska, Steven S. Sibray, Douglas R. Hallum, Joseph Reedy, Jason Yuill, Thadeus Kuntz

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The project scanned and reviewed data from 15,421 oil and gas well geophysical logs in 13 counties to delineate the base of aquifer and thickness of the High Plains Aquifer (HPA). The data and interpretations from this study can be used in a regional groundwater modeling effort that includes the Western Water Use Management Modeling (WWUMM) and the and the Cooperative Hydrology Study (COHYST) model. The area studied is in the Upper Platte River Basin. The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NeDNR) has designated most of the area as either overappropriated or fully appropriated, where groundwater is managed jointly

by …

Evidence Of Ridge Propagation In The Eastern Gulf Of Mexico From Integrated Analysis Of Potential Fields And Seismic Data, Irina Filina, Mei Liu, Erin Beutel

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Integrated analysis of gravity, magnetic, and seismic data reveals two phases of spreading in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) including two distinct spreading centers, suggesting a major ridge reorganization during the opening of the eastern part of the GOM. Ridge propagation between the two spreading episodes explains the following observations: (1) the drastic asymmetry in the oceanic domain of northeastern GOM, (2) the presence of two distinct crustal zones with dramatically different thickness and physical properties, and (3) the observed seismicity within the oceanic domain that is not aligned with any known tectonic structure. The initial Late Jurassic spreading …

Arjen Y. Hoekstra 1967–2019, Davy Vanham, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ashok K. Chapagain

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Arjen Hoekstra introduced the water footprint in 20021, building on the concept of virtual water Tony Allan to discuss the role of trade in alleviating water scarcity in the Middle East. He thereby opened a new dimension in the debate around fair and sustainable allocation of freshwater resources. He laid the foundations to show the role of indirect water (that is, water used elsewhere to produce goods we consume) in our daily life beyond our direct use for drinking, cooking or washing. The water footprint is an indicator of direct and indirect water use by a producer or consumer, showing …

Swine Slurry Characteristics As Affected By Selected Additives And Disinfectants, Jon Duerschner, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Kent Eskridge, John E. Gilley, Xu Li, Amy M. Schmidt, Daniel D. Snow

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Current swine industry practice is to house animals in confinement facilities which capture and store feces and urine as slurry in pits below the production area. Additives and disinfectants may be introduced into the manure pits. This study was conducted to measure the effects of additives and disinfectants on temporal changes in swine slurry characteristics. Slurry from a commercial swine production facility in southeast Nebraska, USA was collected and transferred to 57 L reactors located within a greenhouse. Selected additives and disinfectants were added to the reactors and physical properties, chemical characteristics, and antibiotic concentrations were monitored for 40 days. …

Anthropogenic Hydrometeorological Changes At A Regional Scale: Observed Irrigation-Precipitation Feedback (1979-2015) In Nebraska, Usa, Jozsef Szilagyi, Trenton Franz

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Long-term tendencies in annual, seasonal, and monthly (March) precipitation, evapotranspiration, and air- and dew-point temperature values were correlated with county-level changes in irrigated area across Nebraska over the 1979–2015 period. A statistically significant linear relationship (slope of − 1.65 ± 0.33 mm/decade per % decadal change in irrigated area, with a correlation coefficient of − 0.47) was found between the trends in annual precipitation and irrigated land area. Precipitation dropped by 1 mm annually if the level in irrigation expansion reached about 8% per decade, while the rest of the state enjoyed about a half-millimeter overall increase in annual precipitation …

Chronology Of Advance And Recession Dynamics Of The Southern Green Bay Lobe Of The Laurentide Ice Sheet, South-Central Wisconsin, Usa, Eric C. Carson, John W. Attig, J. Elmo Rawling Iii, Paul R. Hanson, Stefanie E. Dodge

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

We used a combination of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age estimates, and stratigraphic data from cores collected along the southern margin of the Green Bay Lobe (GBL) of the Laurentide Ice Sheet to provide new information on the timing and dynamics of the end of advance of the GBL and the dynamics of the ice sheet while very near its maximum position. Coring at multiple sites along the margin of the GBL indicate that ice had reached a stable position near its maximum extent by 24.7 ka; that ice advanced several kilometers to the …

Effects Of Surface Heterogeneity Due To Drip Irrigation On Scintillometer Estimates Of Sensible, Latent Heat Fluxes And Evapotranspiration Over Vineyards, Hatim M. E. Geli, José González-Piqueras, Christopher M. U. Neale, Claudio Balbontín, Isidro Campos, Alfonso Calera

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Accurate estimates of sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat fluxes and actual evapotranspiration (ET) are required for monitoring vegetation growth and improved agricultural water management. A large aperture scintillometer (LAS) was used to provide these estimates with the objective of quantifying the effects of surface heterogeneity due to soil moisture and vegetation growth variability. The study was conducted over drip-irrigated vineyards located in a semi-arid region in Albacete, Spain during summer 2007. Surface heterogeneity was characterized by integrating eddy covariance (EC) observations of H, LE and ET; land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data from Landsat …

Assessment Of An Automated Calibration Of The Sebal Algorithm To Estimate Dry-Season Surface-Energy Partitioning In A Forest–Savanna Transition In Brazil, Leonardo Laipelt, Anderson Luis Ruhoff, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Rafael Henrique Bloedow Kayser, Elisa De Mello Kich, Humberto Ribeiro Da Rocha, Christopher Michael Usher Neale

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) provides a strong connection between surface energy and hydrological cycles. Advancements in remote sensing techniques have increased our understanding of energy and terrestrial water balances as well as the interaction between surface and atmosphere over large areas. In this study, we computed surface energy fluxes using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) algorithm and a simplified adaptation of the CIMEC (Calibration using Inverse Modeling at Extreme Conditions) process for automated endmember selection. Our main purpose was to assess and compare the accuracy of the automated calibration of the SEBAL algorithm using two different sources of meteorological …

Treenuts And Groundnuts In The Eat-Lancet Reference Diet: Concerns Regarding Sustainable Water Use, Davy Vanhama, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The EAT-Lancet universal healthy reference diet recommends an increase in the consumption of healthy foods, among which treenuts and groundnuts. Both are, however, water-intensive products, with a large water footprint (WF) per unit of mass and protein and already today contribute to blue water stress in different parts of the world. The envisaged massive required increase in nut production to feed a global population with this reference diet, needs to occur in a water-sustainable way. In this paper, we identify and quantify where current nut production contributes to local blue water stress and discuss options for water-sustainable nut production. We …

Water Productivity Benchmarks: The Case Of Maize And Soybean In Nebraska, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Christopher Michael Usher Neale, Chittaranjan Ray, Haishun Yang

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Water productivity benchmarks for irrigated and rainfed agriculture will provide relevant information to manage scarce water resources and control groundwater level decline. We analyze the temporal and spatial variation of the water productivity (WP) of maize and soybean in Nebraska, with WP defined as harvested crop weight per total evapotranspiration. The results show that WP of both maize and soybean increase from west to east within Nebraska and have increased over the last 25 years, mainly due to the increase in crop yields (land productivity). We derive WP benchmarks for each crop per climate zone. Increasing actual WPs in the …