Other Earth Sciences Commons^™

Evaluating Improvements In Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Using Newly Derived Slope Units, Xinyi Zhang

Honors Capstones

Landslides frequently occur in mountainous regions and remain one of the major natural hazards threatening human safety, infrastructure, and regional development. In areas with steep terrain and intense rainfall, landslide disasters often cause serious economic losses and environmental damage. Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) has been widely used to identify potential landslide prone areas and to support disaster prevention, land management, and hazard mitigation. The accuracy of LSM is strongly influenced by the selection of mapping units.

This study focuses on I-lan County, Taiwan, and applies a newly derived slope unit dataset to evaluate its influence on landslide susceptibility mapping. Using …

A Geospatial Assessment Of Groundwater Salinization In A Multi-Aquifer System: Durango, Mexico, Juan Lopez-Sierra

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Groundwater salinization poses a critical environmental concern for water resource sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions. This study evaluates spatial and temporal patterns of groundwater salinity across the state of Durango, Mexico, using total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), as salinity indicators and nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃–N) as an anthropogenic indicator. Groundwater quality data were obtained from (CONAGUA), a Mexican water agency. To assess salinity variations with respect to time, while minimizing interannual sampling bias, two multi-year sampling periods were selected: 2012-2013, and 2020-2021. Final datasets consisted of 122 wells for 2012–2013 and 131 wells for 2020–2021. The wells were …

Permafrost Microtopography And Active Layer Hydrology In The Western Canadian Arctic, Tobias L. Leonhard

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The growing interest in Arctic regions will likely increase the use of nuclear energy in the Arctic. While this energy source has a high potential to improve economic opportunities in the Arctic, it also increases the release of radioactive material (radionuclides). Radionuclides are already found in the Arctic and are traced back to natural as well as anthropogenic sources. Water is one of the dominant transport vectors for solutes such as radionuclides or other contaminants. Therefore, improving our understanding of Arctic hydrology is important for assessing future environmental risks such as the release of radionuclides. Topographic and microtopographic features are …

Pre-Calibration Of Δ18O For Paleoclimatic Interpretations Using Stalagmites In Cueva Ensueño, Puerto Rico, Gabriel Enrique López Borobia, Ny Riavo G. Voarintsoa, Ricardo Sánchez-Murillo, Pablo Antonio Llerandi Román

International Journal of Speleology

Stalagmites are invaluable archivers of past climate conditions, as their oxygen isotopic composition (δ¹⁸O_c) closely mirrors the isotopic signature of the drip water (δ¹⁸O_w) from which they precipitate. This isotopic relationship is governed by the fractionation factor (1000ln¹⁸α), which is temperature dependent. In this research, we studied 1000ln¹⁸α within Cueva Ensueño, a cave situated in Puerto Rico’s northern karst region, as a step toward calibrating δ¹⁸O_c for paleoclimate interpretations using stalagmites. We collected drip waters, measured their temperature in situ, and sampled carbonates from ten selected stations within the cave. Sampling was conducted in December …

Dream Pilot Project: Analysis Of Groundwater Development At Six Villages In Ethiopia, Lindsay K. Gordon

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This study presents a hydrogeologic assessment of the Distributed Renewable Energy Agriculture Modalities (DREAM) pilot project, an ongoing groundwater development initiative in rural Ethiopia. This project integrates solar-powered groundwater infrastructure across six villages to improve water access, agricultural productivity, and economic stability.

Fourteen production wells were installed at Murche, four at Dalle, and additional test wells at Murche, Dalle, Chefe Kora, and Huluku. Transmissivity values and the number of wells at Murche suggest that local water needs are currently being met. In contrast, fewer wells were drilled at Dalle. This reflects the high cost of well construction relative to yield, …

Land Instability Compounds The Risk Of Sea Level Rise In Alexandria, Egypt, Rejoice Thomas, Sara Zouriq, Shahryar Fazli, Amr Fawzy, Nikolay Grisel Todorov, Surendra Maharjan, Wenzhao Li, Erik Linstead, Daniele Struppa, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The coastal region of Alexandria Governorate in Egypt holds significant strategic importance for trade while being susceptible to extreme weather events. It confronts a dual challenge of the rising sea levels and, as found in this study, land instability. While much attention has been rightly directed towards sea level rise (SLR), the stability of the land warrants equal consideration. Here, a comprehensive analysis of land stability is conducted in Alexandria by measuring Line of Sight (LOS) displacements and assessing their topographical, hydrological, and coastal impacts. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry technique is used to measure the LOS displacements in association with land …

Proceedings Of The 12th Research Symposium At Mammoth Cave National Park, Pat Kambesis Editor, Lee Anne Bledsoe Editor, Ana K. Celis Editor

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Proceedings of the 12th Research Symposium at Mammoth Cave National Park: Celebrating 100 Years of Scientific Research & Resource Management in the Mammoh Cave Region.

Post-Fire Debris Flow Initiation Potential Based On Forensic Analysis Of Debris Flow Occurrence From The 2020 El Dorado Wildfire On Yucaipa Ridge, San Bernardino County California, Seth Clemen D. Saludez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study focuses on the potential debris flow initiation and effect in areas affected by the El Dorado Fire in the Southern San Bernardino Mountains. It uses novel technology combining drone-based photography and LiDAR imaging to create surface models of areas where potential debris flows could initiate, flow, and be deposited. The scans were repeated as geomorphic change occurred through the wet season to document spatial and volumetric changes resulted from the flows. These measurements were combined with traditional fire assessment and observational methods to characterize pertinent conditions.

As we investigated potential debris flow risk in this study area, we …

Modelled Flooding Impacts On Lower Fish River Watershed, Sebastian Loschner

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

This study investigates the impacts of compound flooding in the Lower Fish River watershed, Baldwin County, Alabama, with a focus on the potential effects of sea level rise due to climate change. Coastal flooding, particularly in smaller watersheds, is a growing concern as it results from the interaction of multiple factors, including rainfall, tidal changes, and extreme weather events. Compound flooding, which involves multiple flood drivers, is expected to worsen with climate change, as increased precipitation and rising sea levels create heightened flood risks. However, existing research on compound flooding predominantly focuses on large-scale watersheds, leaving a knowledge gap in …

Reviews And Syntheses: Variable Inundation Across Earth’S Terrestrial Ecosystems, James Stegen, Amy J. Burgin, Michelle H. Busch, Joshua B. Fisher, Joshua Ladau, Jenna Abrahamson, Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Li Li, Xingyuan Chen, Thibault Datry, Nate Mcdowell, Corianne Tatariw, Anna Braswell, Jillian M. Deines, Julia A. Guimond, Peter Regler, Kenton Rod, Edward K. P. Bam, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Inke Forbrich, Kristin L. Jaeger, Teri O'Meara, Tim Scheibe, Erin Seybold, Jon N. Sweetman, Jianqiu Zheng, Daniel C. Allen, Elizabeth Herndon, Beth A. Middleton, Scott Painter, Kevin Roche, Julianne Scamardo, Ross Vander Vorste, Kristin Boye, Ellen Wohl, Margaret Zimmer, Kelly Hondula, Maggi Laan, Anna Marshall, Kaizad F. Patel

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The structure, function, and dynamics of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems are profoundly influenced by how often (frequency) and how long (duration) they are inundated with water. A diverse array of natural and human-engineered systems experience temporally variable inundation whereby they fluctuate between inundated and non-inundated states. Variable inundation spans extreme events to predictable sub-daily cycles. Variably inundated ecosystems (VIEs) include hillslopes, non-perennial streams, wetlands, floodplains, temporary ponds, tidal systems, storm-impacted coastal zones, and human-engineered systems. VIEs are diverse in terms of inundation regimes, water chemistry and flow velocity, soil and sediment properties, vegetation, and many other properties. The spatial and temporal …

Increasing Atmospheric Evaporative Demand Across The Tibetan Plateau And Implications For Surface Water Resources, Shiqin Xu, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, Tom R. Mcvicar, Pierre Gentine, Hylke E. Beck, Joshua B. Fisher, Zhongbo Yu, Ningpeng Dong, Akash Koppa, Matthew F. Mccabe

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The Tibetan Plateau, known as the “Asian water tower,” is a hotspot for complex hydroclimatic changes. We reveal that the previously decreasing atmospheric evaporative demand (Eo) trend at the end of the 20th century has reversed over the last two decades. Although both wind stilling and solar dimming have persisted, their effects on Eo rates have been overshadowed by increasing air temperatures and decreasing relative humidity, leading to a net rise in Eo for 1980−2015. Using the empirical “top-down” Budyko approach, we estimate that across seven sub-catchments draining the Tibetan Plateau, a 10% increase in annual-averaged …

Groundwater Pumping Impacts On Stream Depletion In Humboldt County, Ca: Integrating Analytical Models And Field Data, Andy Hans Heise

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study addresses the significant concern of stream depletion from groundwater pumping in Humboldt County, CA. The objective of this study is to develop an analytical model for estimating stream depletion and integrating field data into model parameters.

The methodology involved conducting a field study near three operating wells by a stream, installing stream gages upstream and downstream of the wells, and recording pumping rates and schedules for two of the wells. The third well’s pumping data was synthetically generated, for privacy concerns of the well owner. The StreamDepletR package was used for estimating depletion rates in a stream in …

Changes In Efficiency And Magnitude Of Recharge Due To Climate Change For Headwater Catchments In The Mountain West, Harrison Mcgillen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Changes to groundwater recharge and stream flow were simulated from downscaled CMIP6 global climate models in a headwater catchment of the Blackfoot River, MT. A calibrated, 3-D, coupled surface and groundwater GSFLOW model, forced with minimum and maximum temperature, and precipitation from a downscaled CMIP6 simulation was used to quantify groundwater recharge and stream flow. The model was calibrated against measured groundwater head and stream flow using observed temperature and precipitation boundary conditions. The calibrated model was then forced with downscaled temperature and precipitation from the CANESM5 model for the SSP245, 370 and 585 scenarios, as well as a manual …

Impacts Of Fire-Driven Vegetation Changes On Evapotranspiration In North American Boreal Forests, Tyler Glen Albrethsen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A growing body of evidence suggests that land cover change could be impacting evapotranspiration (ET) trends more than the direct impacts of climate change (Dashti et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2015). In boreal forests, one of the Earth’s most important carbon sinks (Kang et al., 2006), climate and disturbance-driven land cover change is progressing rapidly, threatening the resilience of conifer-dominated forests (Baltzer et al., 2021; Massey et al., 2023). The spread of deciduous trees and the changing structure of boreal forests likely have large implications for the magnitude and seasonality of ecosystem water fluxes (Young-Robertson et al., 2016). This …

Development Of Decision-Support Tools For Water Resources Management In Coupled Human-Natural Systems, Edgar J. Guerrón Orejuela

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water is an indispensable resource for all forms of life. Water is a cornerstone for economic development, public health, and social well-being. However, increasing water demand and challenges posed by climate change, pollution, population growth, and land use change underscore the urgent need for effective water management strategies. To address these complexities and ensure the sustainable use of water resources, it is imperative to adopt science-based decision-support tools. These tools leverage data, models, and analytical techniques to provide valuable insights and recommendations that guide decision-makers in formulating evidence-based policies and practices.

Effective water management requires a comprehensive understanding of the …

Machine Learning And Geostatistical Approaches For Discovery Of Weather And Climate Events Related To El Niño Phenomena, Sachi Perera

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

El Nino and La Nina are worldwide environmental phenomena brought about by repetitive changes in the water temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Even though the El-Nino impact focuses on a smaller area in the Pacific Ocean near the Equator, these developments have global repercussions, where temperature and precipitation are influenced across the globe, causing droughts and floods simultaneously. In this dissertation, we first derived a drought vulnerability index for the Nile basin, identifying regions with high and low drought risk under ENSO conditions. Next, we evaluated the coherence and periodicity of the ENSO signal to detect its implications on MENA …

Effect Of Biomass Water Dynamics In Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor Observations: A Long-Term Analysis Of Maize–Soybean Rotation In Nebraska, Tanessa Morris

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

The precise measurement of soil water content (SWC) is crucial for effective water resource management. This study utilizes the Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensor (CRNS) for area-averaged SWC measurements, emphasizing the need to consider all hydrogen sources, including the time-variable ones like plant biomass and water content. Chapter 1 presents a background on soil moisture estimation, CRNS technology, and an overview of the study. It discusses various soil moisture measurement techniques, highlights the gap in knowledge addressed by CRNS technology, explains CRNS functionality and advancements, and outlines the study's motivations and methods.

Chapter 2 reports a study conducted near Mead, Nebraska, …

Hydrologic Impact Index For The Pinhoti Hiking Trail, Allie Field

Theses

Author note: The author of this thesis is also published under the name Allie Bobo.

This study aimed to identify flood-prone areas along the Pinhoti Trail and Chinnabee Silent Trail in the Talladega National Forest. Using the Hydrology Flood Index layer that was created using several essential data layers, the research aimed to provide campers, hikers, nature enthusiasts, and trail maintenance teams with information about areas at a higher risk of flash flooding. The Hydrology Flood Index layer rates the risk of flooding on a scale of 1 to 4, with level 1 indicating a low risk of flooding and …

Estimation Of Sugarcane Yield Using Multi-Temporal Sentinel 2 Satellite Imagery And Random Forest Regression, Alireza Taravat, Gebeyehu Abebe, Berhan Gessesse, Tsegaye Tadesse

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Advancements in remote sensing techniques have greatly enhanced crop monitoring and yield estimation, with spectral vegetation indices (VIs) serving as a key component. Our study investigates the use of Sentinel-2 data, notable for its red-edge bands, in estimating sugarcane yield in Ethiopia's Awash Basin. Utilizing 22 VIs from S2 imagery, our approach combines Random Forest (RF) regression with the Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) algorithm to improve the accuracy of sugarcane yield predictions. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the RF-RFE method over traditional RF with full datasets and Stepwise Multiple Regression (SMR). Particularly, VIs focusing on the red-edge spectral …

Migrating Whooping Crane Activity Near U.S. Air Force Bases And Airfields In Oklahoma, David A. Brandt, Aaron T. Pearse, Mark T. Bidwell, John Conkin, Matthew Butler

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo population of Grus americana (Linnaeus, 1758; whooping cranes) migrates through the United States Great Plains, encountering places substantially altered by human activity. Using telemetry data from 2017 to 2022, we investigated whooping crane migration behavior around U.S. Air Force bases in Oklahoma. Our study focused on potential collision risks between whooping cranes and aircraft, a substantial concern for aviation safety. We determined that activity was greatest at Kegelman Air Force Auxiliary Airfield, near whooping crane critical habitat. On average, 61 percent of marked whooping cranes used locations west of Kegelman Air Force Auxiliary Airfield and Vance Air …

From Creek To Ditch And Back Again: The History And Future Of Pattee Creek, Missoula, Montana, Carver Edward Butterfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Pattee Creek was once a free-flowing stream that meandered across the Missoula Valley, but has been channelized, piped, and degraded by logging, mining, agriculture, and urbanization. This thesis used a mixed-method approach to examine the impact of human activities on the Pattee Creek watershed. Beginning with a historical overview, the story of how the creek has been utilized and why it was buried was told. An analysis of historical photos from 1937 to 2019 revealed drastic changes in the land cover of the watershed and the channel of lower Pattee Creek. Developed land increased dramatically, while open land decreased and …

Investigating Drought Response And Paleoclimate Potential Of A New Network Of White Oak Chronologies In Western Kentucky, Usa, Audrey J. Heichelbech, Maegen L. Rochner, Megan Gibson

Undergraduate Research Events

In Kentucky, historic and paleo-climate data are limited, and current understanding of long-term climate change in the state relies on instrumental data spanning only 1895-present. Proxy data are necessary to extend the temporal and spatial span of climate information. One potential proxy source for Kentucky is tree ring data, but currently, only four such datasets are publicly available on the International Tree Ring Data Bank (ITRDB). Archaeological and archival timber sources may help to fill in this gap. In the 1940s, Florence Hawley-Ellis, the first woman dendrochronologist, collected samples of white oak (Quercus alba L.) from four counties in western …

Prevalence, Faunal Composition, And Vertical Distribution Of Bioluminescence In The Pelagic Gulf Of Mexico: Fishes, Crustaceans, Cephalopods And Gelatinous Megaplankton, Devynne M. Brown

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Bioluminescence is the phenomenon of light emission by living organisms. It occurs through a chemical reaction within an organism and serves various purposes. The diversity of bioluminescent capabilities and occurrence in unrelated taxa suggest that bioluminescence has evolved independently numerous times amongst taxa thriving in certain environments. One such environment is the deep ocean, where little to no sunlight penetrates the water column, specifically in the mesopelagic (200-1000 m depth) and bathypelagic (> 1000 m) zones. The mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones have been extensively sampled and well documented in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), one of the few places globally …

Reducing Uncertainty In Sea-Level Rise Prediction: A Spatial-Variability-Aware Approach, Subhankar Ghosh, Shuai An, Arun Sharma, Jayant Gupta, Shashi Shekhar, Aneesh Subramanian

I-GUIDE Forum

Given multi-model ensemble climate projections, the goal is to accurately and reliably predict future sea-level rise while lowering the uncertainty. This problem is important because sea-level rise affects millions of people in coastal communities and beyond due to climate change's impacts on polar ice sheets and the ocean. This problem is challenging due to spatial variability and unknowns such as possible tipping points (e.g., collapse of Greenland or West Antarctic ice-shelf), climate feedback loops (e.g., clouds, permafrost thawing), future policy decisions, and human actions. Most existing climate modeling approaches use the same set of weights globally, during either regression or …

How Is Flash Drought Understood?—Experts’ Definitions And Decision-Makers’ Perceptions, Caily Schwartz, Tonya Haigh, Mark D. Svoboda, Madeline Goebel

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Because flash drought is a relatively new phenomenon in drought research, defining the concept is critical for scientists and decision-makers. Having detrimental impacts on many sectors, it is important to have a consistent definition and understanding of flash drought, between experts and stakeholders, to provide early warning to the community. This study focuses on onset and progression of conditions and demonstrates the difference in flash drought identification for 15 events across six quantitative definitions of flash drought that use the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). Five flash drought events have been studied in the literature while 10 additional events have been …

The Patchwork Governance Of Ecologically Available Water: A Case Study In The Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States, Amanda E. Cravens, Julia B. Goolsby, Theresa Jedd, Deborah J. Bathke, Shelley Crausbay, Ashley E. Cooper, Jason Dunham, Tonya Haigh, Kimberly R. Hall, Michael J. Hayes, Jamie Mcevoy, Rebecca L. Nelson, Markéta Poděbradská, Aaron Ramirez, Elliot Wickham, Dionne Zoanni

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Institutional authority and responsibility for allocating water to ecosystems (“ecologically available water” [EAW]) is spread across local, state, and federal agencies, which operate under a range of statutes, mandates, and planning processes. We use a case study of the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin in southwestern Montana, United States, to illustrate this fragmented institutional landscape. Our goals are to (a) describe the patchwork of agencies and institutional actors whose intersecting authorities and actions influence the EAW in the study basin; (b) describe the range of governance mechanisms these agencies use, including laws, policies, administrative programs, and planning processes; and (c) assess …

Droughtscape, Summer 2023, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Summer 2023

Impact Of Land Use/Cover Change And Slope Gradient On Soil Organic Carbon Stock In Anjeni Watershed, Northwest Ethiopia, Bethel Geremew, Tsegaye Tadesse, Bobe Bedadi, Hero T. Gollany, Kindie Tesfaye, Abebe Aschalew

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Today’s agri-food systems face the triple challenge of addressing food security, adapting to climate change, and reducing the climate footprint by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). In agri-food systems, changes in land use and land cover (LULC) could affect soil physicochemical properties, particularly soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. However, the impact varies depending on the physical, social, and economic conditions of a given region or watershed. Given this, a study was conducted to quantify the impact of LULC and slope gradient on SOC stock and C sequestration rate in the Anjeni watershed, which is a highly populated and …

Evaluating Snow And Ice Cover In Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, Zoe Pitman

Geosciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Evaluating changes in snow and ice cover is an important field for studying climate change and its impacts. This evaluation is commonly done using remote sensing because of its ability to evaluate large areas. The purpose of this study is to determine the reliability of one remote sensing technology, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), by comparing it to in-situ snow and climate data from the weather station at the Austral Center for Scientific Research (CADIC). Data was converted from daily to monthly averages and was sorted into a series of graphs to compare the two data sets. Correlations were …

Droughtscape, Spring 2023, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Spring 2023