Other Earth Sciences Commons^™

Drought Monitoring: Historical And Current Perspectives, Michael J. Hayes, Mark D. Svoboda, Brian D. Wardlow, Martha C. Anderson, Felix Kogan

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is a normal, recurring feature of climate throughout the world, with characteristics and impacts that can vary from region to region. Figure 1.1 illustrates the regular occurrence of drought within the United States between 1895 and 2010 with approximately 14% of the country, on average (plotted by black dotted line), experiencing severe to extreme drought conditions during any given year. Drought conditions can persist in a region for several years, as occurred in the United States in the 1930s, 1950s, and early 2000s, and tree ring and other proxy records confirm that multiple-year droughts are part of the long-term …

Future Opportunities And Challenges In Remote Sensing Of Drought, Brian D. Wardlow, Martha C. Anderson, Justin Sheffield, Bradley D. Doorn, James P. Verdin, Xiwu Zhan, Matthew Rodell

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The value of satellite remote sensing for drought monitoring was first realized more than two decades ago with the application of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) for assessing the effect of drought on vegetation, as summarized by Anyamba and Tucker (2012, Chapter 2). Other indices such as the Vegetation Health Index (VHI) (Kogan, 1995) were also developed during this time period and applied to AVHRR NDVI and brightness temperature data for routine global monitoring of drought conditions. These early efforts demonstrated the unique perspective that global imagers like AVHRR could provide …

Microwave Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture Science And Applications, Son V. Nghiem, Brian D. Wardlow, David Allured, Mark Svoboda, Doug Lecomte, Matthew Rosencrans, Steven K. Chan, Gregory Neumann

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Soil moisture is a fundamental link between global water and carbon cycles and has major applications in predicting natural hazards such as droughts and floods (National Research Council, 2007). From precipitation data, soil wetness can be estimated by hydrological land-surface models. In the United States, preliminary precipitation data are based on measurements gathered from many active stations nationwide each month, and it takes 3–4 months to assemble final, quality-controlled data. In the western United States, some climate divisions may have no stations reporting in a particular month or may lack first- or second-order stations, and significant blockages by mountains limit …

Drought Triggers And Declarations: Science And Policy Considerations For Drought Risk Management, Linda Courtenay Botterill, Michael J. Hayes

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

This paper explores the value of triggers and declarations in the management of drought, bringing together two disciplinary perspectives, those of the public policy scholar and the climate scientist. These two perspectives highlight the complexity of the development and use of triggers in drought risk management by drawing on the experience of the United States, which has the most sophisticated system of drought triggers in the world, and that of Australia that has the most developed and longest standing national drought policy based on principles of risk management. The paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of triggers in managing drought, …

Sustainable Design Of Complex Industrial And Energy Systems Under Uncertainty, Zheng Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Depletion of natural resources, environmental pressure, economic globalization, etc., demand seriously industrial organizations to ensure that their manufacturing be sustainable. On the other hand, the efforts of pursing sustainability also give raise to potential opportunities for improvements and collaborations among various types of industries.

Owing to inherent complexity and uncertainty, however, sustainability problems of industrial and energy systems are always very difficult to deal with, which has made industrial practice mostly experience based. For existing research efforts on the study of industrial sustainability, although systems approaches have been applied in dealing with the challenge of system complexity, most of them …

Sea-Level History Of Past Interglacial Periods From Uranium-Series Dating Of Corals, Curaçao, Leeward Antilles Islands, Daniel R. Muhs, John M. Pandolfi, Kathleen R. Simmons, R. Randall Schumann

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Curaçao has reef terraces with the potential to provide sea-level histories of interglacial periods. Ages of the Hato (upper) unit of the “Lower Terrace” indicate that this reef dates to the last interglacial period, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5.5. On Curaçao, this high sea stand lasted at least 8000 yr (~126 to ~118 ka). Elevations and age of this reef show that late Quaternary uplift rates on Curaçao are low, 0.026–0.054 m/ka, consistent with its tectonic setting. Ages of ~200 ka for corals from the older Cortalein unit of the Lower Terrace correlate this reef to MIS 7, with paleo-sea …

Soil Genesis On The Island Of Bermuda In The Quaternary: The Importance Of African Dust Transport And Deposition, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn, Joseph M. Prospero, Gary Skipp, Stanley R. Herwitz

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The origin of terra rossa, red or reddish-brown, clay-rich soils overlying high-purity carbonate substrates, has intrigued geologists and pedologists for decades. Terra rossa soils can form from accumulation of insoluble residues during dissolution of the host limestones, addition of volcanic ash, or addition of externally derived, long-range-transported (LRT) aeolian particles. We studied soils and paleosols on high-purity, carbonate aeolianites of Quaternary age on Bermuda, where terra rossa origins have been debated for more than a century. Potential soil parent materials on this island include sand-sized fragments of local volcanic bedrock, the LRT, fine-grained (µm) component of distal loess from the …

East Versus West: Organic Contaminant Differences In Brown Pelican (Pelecanus Occidentalis) Eggs From South Carolina, Usa And The Gulf Of California, Mexico, Stacy S. Vander Pol, Daniel W. Anderson, Patrick G.R. Jodice, Joyce E. Stuckey

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) were listed as endangered in the United States in 1970, largely due to reproductive failure and mortality caused by organochlorine contaminants, such as DDT. The southeast population, P.o. carolinensis, was delisted in 1985, while the west coast population, P.o. californicus, was not delisted until 2009. As fish-eating coastal seabirds, brown pelicans may serve as a biomonitors. Organic contaminants were examined in brown pelican eggs collected from the Gulf of California in 2004 and South Carolina in 2005 using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Contaminants were compared using all individual data as well as …

Strontium Isotope Systematics Of Mixing Groundwater And Oil-Field Brine At Goose Lake In Northeastern Montana, Usa, Zell E. Peterman, Joanna N. Thamke, Kiyoto Futa, Todd M. Preston

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Groundwater, surface water, and soil in the Goose Lake oil field in northeastern Montana have been affected by Cl^- rich oil-field brines during long-term petroleum production. Ongoing multidisciplinary geochemical and geophysical studies have identified the degree and local extent of interaction between brine and groundwater. Fourteen samples representing groundwater, surface water, and brine were collected for Sr isotope analyses to evaluate the usefulness of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in detecting small amounts of brine. Differences in Sr concentrations and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr are optimal at this site for the experiment. Strontium concentrations range from 0.13 to 36.9 mg/L, …

Critique On The Use Of The Standardized Avian Acute Oral Toxicity Test For First Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides, Nimish B. Vyas, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Avian risk assessments for rodenticides are often driven by the results of standardized acute oral toxicity tests without regards to a toxicant’s mode of action and time course of adverse effects. First generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs) generally require multiple feedings over several days to achieve a threshold concentration in tissue and cause adverse effects. This exposure regimen is much different than that used in the standardized acute oral toxicity test methodology. Median lethal dose values derived from standardized acute oral toxicity tests underestimate the environmental hazard and risk of FGARs. Caution is warranted when FGAR toxicity, physiological effects, and pharmacokinetics …

Climate Change And Infectious Disease Dynamics, Raina K. Plowright, Paul C. Cross, Gary M. Tabor, Emily Almberg, Leslie Bienen, Peter J. Hudson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The International Panel on Climate Change has made an unequivocal case that the earth's climate is changing in profound ways, and that human activities are contributing significantly to climate disruption (IPCC 2007). The weight of evidence demonstrates warming global temperatures, changing patterns of precipitation, and increasing climate variability, with more extreme events. Thus, the physical underpinnings of ecology are changing, with pervasive effects on disease dynamics. Interactions among environment, hosts, and pathogens drive disease processes, and climate change will influence every interaction in this triad, directly and indirectly.

Wildlife Toxicology: Environmental Contaminants And Their National And International Regulation, K. Christiana Grim, Anne Fairbrother, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Wildlife toxicology is the study of potentially harmful effects of toxic agents in wild animals, focusing on amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Fish and aquatic invertebrates are not usually included as part of wildlife toxicology since they fall within the field of aquatic toxicology, but collectively both disciplines often provide inSight into one another and both are integral parts of ecotoxicology (Hoffman et al. 2003). It entails monitoring, hypothesis testing, forensics, and risk assessment; encompasses molecular through ecosystem responses and various research venues (laboratory, mesocosm, field); and has been shaped by chemical use and misuse, ecological mishaps, and biomedical research. …

Sorta Situ: The New Reality Of Management Conditions For Wildlife Populations In The Absence Of "Wild" Spaces, Barbara A. Wolfe, Roberto F. Aguilar, A. Alonso Aguirre, Glenn H. Olsen, Evan S. Blumer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The rate of species loss today is approaching catastrophic levels. Scientists project that over the next two decades, more than 1 million species of plants and animals will become extinct. E.O. Wilson has estimated that "the rate ofloss may exceed 50,000 a year, 137 a day ... this rate, while horrendous, is actually the minimal estimate, based on the species/area relationship alone" (Kellert and Wilson 1993, p. 16; Aguirre 2009). Ever-expanding communities, strained natural resources, changes in land use, and other anthropogenic drivers are compromising ecosystems and rapidly changing the landscape and the availability of "wild" spaces.

Agricultural Drought Monitoring In Kenya Using Evapotranspiration Derived From Remote Sensing And Reanalysis Data, Michael T. Marshall, Christopher Funk, Joel Michaelsen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

More than half of the people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than US$ 1.25 per day, and nearly 30% do not receive sufficient nourishment to maintain daily health (UN, 2009a). These figures are expected to rise as a result of the recent global financial crisis that has led to an increase in food prices. Food for Peace (FFP), the program that administers more than 85% of U.S. international food aid, recently reported that the seven largest recipient countries of food aid worldwide are in sub-Saharan Africa (FFP, 2010). In Kenya, the fifth largest recipient of food aid from FFP …

Thermal-Based Evaporative Stress Index For Monitoring Surface Moisture Depletion, Martha C. Anderson, Christopher R. Hain, Brian D. Wardlow, Agustin Pimstein, John R. Mecikalski, William P. Kustas

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The standard suite of indicators currently used in operational drought monitoring reflects anomalous conditions in several major components of the hydrologic budget—representing deficits in precipitation, soil moisture content, runoff, surface and groundwater storage, snowpack, and streamflow. In principle, it is useful to have a diversity of indices because drought can assume many forms (meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socioeconomic), over broad ranges in timescale (weeks to years), and with varied impacts of interest to different stakeholder groups. Farmers, for example, may be principally interested in soil moisture deficits, river forecasters will focus on streamflow fluctuations, and water managers will be concerned …

Droughtscape, Winter 2012, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

Drought Planning for Kansas Ranchers Jan. 21

South Hoping La Niña Dryness Stays Away

2011 Brought Record-Breaking Extent of D4

Reported Impacts Ease as Growing Season Ends

Disaster Planning in Nanjing at Hohai U

Ag, Fire and Water Supply Topped 2011 Impacts

Hurricane Disturbance And Recovery Of Energy Balance, Co2 Fluxes And Canopy Structure In A Mangrove Forest Of The Florida Everglades, Jordan G. Barr, Vic Engel, Thomas J. Smith, José D. Fuentes

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Eddy covariance (EC) estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes and energy balance are examined to investigate the functional responses of a mature mangrove forest to a disturbance generated by Hurricane Wilma on October 24, 2005 in the Florida Everglades. At the EC site, high winds from the hurricane caused nearly 100% defoliation in the upper canopy and widespread tree mortality. Soil temperatures down to −50 cm increased, and air temperature lapse rates within the forest canopy switched from statically stable to statically unstable conditions following the disturbance. Unstable conditions allowed more efficient transport of water vapor and CO₂ from …

Assessment Of Coal Geology, Resources, And Reserves In The Montana Powder River Basin, Jon E. Haacke, David C. Scott, Lee M. Osmonson, James A. Luppens, Paul E. Pierce, Jay A. Gunderson

United States Geological Survey: Publications

The purpose of this report is to summarize geology, coal resources, and coal reserves in the Montana Powder River Basin (MTPRB) assessment area in southeastern Montana. This report represents the fourth assessment area within the Powder River Basin to be evaluated in the continuing U.S. Geological Survey regional coal assessment program.

There are four active coal mines in the MTPRB assessment area: the Spring Creek and Decker Mines, both near Decker; the Rosebud Mine, near Colstrip; and the Absaloka Mine, west of Colstrip. During 2011, coal production from these four mines totaled approximately 36 million short tons (MST). A fifth …

Copper Pellets Simulating Oral Exposure To Copper Ammunition: Absence Of Toxicity In American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), J. Christian Franson, Lesanna L. Lahner, Carol U. Meteyer, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

To evaluate the potential toxicity of copper

(Cu) in raptors that may consume Cu bullets, shotgun

pellets containing Cu, or Cu fragments as they feed on

wildlife carcasses, we studied the effects of metallic Cu

exposure in a surrogate, the American kestrel (Falco

sparverius). Sixteen kestrels were orally administered

5 mg Cu/g body mass in the form of Cu pellets

(1.18–2.00 mm in diameter) nine times during 38 days and

10 controls were sham gavaged on the same schedule. With

one exception, all birds retained the pellets for at least 1 h,

but most (69%) regurgitated pellets during …

Mapping Recent Decadal Climate Variations In Precipitation And Temperature Across Eastern Africa And The Sahel, Christopher Funk, Joel Michaelsen, Michael T. Marshall

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This chapter presents a novel interpolation approach that combines long-term mean satellite observations, station data, and topographic fields to produce grids of climate normals and trends. The approach was developed by the Climate Hazard Group (CHG) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), to support food security analyses for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The resulting FEWS NET Climatology (FCLIM) combines moving window regressions (MWRs) with geostatistical interpolation (kriging). Satellite and topographic fields often exhibit strong local correlations with in situ measurements of air temperature and rainfall. The FCLIM method …

Atmospheric Effects Of Energetic Particle Precipitation In The Arctic Winter 1978-1979 Revisted, L. A. Holt, C. E. Randall, V. L. Harvey, E. E. Remsberg, G. P. Stiller, B. Funke, P. F. Bernath, K. A. Walker

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

[1] The Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) measured polar stratospheric enhancements of NO₂ mixing ratios due to energetic particle precipitation (EPP) in the Arctic winter of 1978–1979. Recently reprocessed LIMS data are compared to more recent measurements from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) and the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) to place the LIMS measurements in the context of current observations. The amount of NO_x (NO + NO₂) entering the stratosphere that has been created by EPP in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (EPP-NO_x) has been quantified …

Standardized Precipitation Index: User Guide, Mark Svoboda, Michael Hayes, Deborah Wood

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Over the years, there has been much discussion on what drought indices should be used in a particular climate and for what application. Many drought definitions and indices have been developed and attempts have been made to provide some guidance on this issue. With this in mind, the Interregional Workshop on Indices and Early Warning Systems for Drought was organized and held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States of America, from 8 to 11 December 2009. It was jointly sponsored by the School of Natural Resources (SNR) of the University of Nebraska, the United States National Drought Mitigation Center …

Gene Transcription In Sea Otters (Enhydra Lutris); Development Of A Diagnostic Tool For Sea Otter And Ecosystem Health, Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Michael Murray, Martin Haulena, Judy Tuttle, William Van Bonn, Lance Adams, James L. Bodkin, Brenda Ballachey, James A. Estes, M. Tim Tinker, Robin Keister, Jeffrey L. Stott

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Gene transcription analysis for diagnosing or monitoring wildlife health requires the ability to distinguish pathophysiological change from natural variation. Herein, we describe methodology for the development of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to measure differential transcript levels of multiple immune function genes in the sea otter (Enhydra lutris); sea otter-specific qPCR primer sequences for the genes of interest are defined. We establish a ‘reference’ range of transcripts for each gene in a group of clinically healthy captive and free-ranging sea otters. The 10 genes of interest represent multiple physiological systems that play a role in immuno-modulation, …

Do Bioclimate Variables Improve Performance Of Climate Envelope Models?, James I. Watling, Stephanie S. Romanach, David N. Bucklin, Carolina Speroterra, Laura A. Brandt, Leonard G. Pearlstine, Frank J. Mazzotti

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Climate envelope models are widely used to forecast potential effects of climate change on species distributions. A key issue in climate envelope modeling is the selection of predictor variables that most directly influence species. To determine whether model performance and spatial predictions were related to the selection of predictor variables, we compared models using bioclimate variables with models constructed from monthly climate data for twelve terrestrial vertebrate species in the southeastern USA using two different algorithms (random forests or generalized linear models), and two model selection techniques (using uncorrelated predictors or a subset of user-defined biologically relevant predictor variables). There …

Global Air Temperature Variability Independent Of Sea-Surface Temperature Influences, Andrew C. Comrie, Gregory J. Mccabe

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Mean global surface air temperature (SAT) and sea surface temperature (SST) display substantial variability on timescales ranging from annual to multi-decadal. We review the key recent literature on connections between global SAT and SST variability. Although individual ocean influences on SAT have been recognized, the combined contributions of worldwide SST variability on the global SAT signal have not been clearly identified in observed data.Weanalyze these relations using principal components of detrended SST, and find that removing the underlying combined annual, decadal, and multi-decadal SST variability from the SAT time series reveals a nearly monotonic global warming trend in SAT since …

Gonadal Abnormalities In Frogs (Lithobates Spp.) Collected From Managed Wetlands In An Agricultural Region Of Nebraska, Usa, Diana M. Papoulias, Matt S. Schwarz, Lourdes Mena

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin (RWB) provides important wetland habitat for North American migratory birds. Concern exists that pesticide and nutrient runoff from surrounding row-crops enters wetlands degrading water quality and adversely affecting birds and wildlife. Frogs may be especially vulnerable. Plains leopard (Lithobates blairi) metamorphs from RWB wetlands with varying concentrations of pesticides were evaluated for a suite of biomarkers of exposure to endocrine active chemicals. Froglets had ovarian dysgenesis, high rates of testicular oocytes, and female-biased sex ratios however, there was no clear statistical association between pesticide concentrations and biomarkers. Data interpretation was hindered because timing and duration …

History And Evaluation Of National-Scale Geochemical Data Sets For The United States, David B. Smith, Steven M. Smith, John D. Horton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Six national-scale, or near national-scale, geochemical data sets for soils or stream sediments exist for the United States. The earliest of these, here termed the ‘Shacklette’ data set, was generated by a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) project conducted from 1961 to 1975. This project used soil collected from a depth of about 20 cm as the sampling medium at 1323 sites throughout the conterminous U.S. The National Uranium Resource Evaluation Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (NUREHSSR) Program of the U.S. Department of Energy was conducted from 1975 to 1984 and collected either stream sediments, lake sediments, or soils at more …

Remote Sensing Of Evapotranspiration For Operational Drought Monitoring Using Principles Of Water And Energy Balance, Gabriel B. Senay, Stefanie Bohms, James P. Verdin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the hydrologic budget because it reflects the exchange of mass and energy between the soil–water–vegetation system and the atmosphere. Prevailing weather conditions influence potential or reference ET through variables such as radiation, temperature, wind, and relativity humidity. In addition to these weather variables, actual ET (ET_a) is also affected by land cover type and condition, as well as soil moisture. The dependence of ET_a on land cover and soil moisture, and its direct relationship with carbon dioxide assimilation in plants, makes it an important variable for monitoring drought, crop yield, …

Development And Application Of Methods Used To Source Prehistoric Southwestern Maize: A Review, Larry Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for more than a few minutes will result in the incongruent and sometimes complete leaching of metals, including strontium (Sr), from the cob. When using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr to determine the location of potential agriculture fields, it is best to either integrate several depth-integrated soil samples or to integrate several …

On Thinning Of Chains In Mcmc, William A. Link, Mitchell J. Eaton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

1. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a simulation technique that has revolutionised the analysis of ecological data, allowing the fitting of complex models in a Bayesian framework. Since 2001, there have been nearly 200 papers using MCMC in publications of the Ecological Society of America and the British Ecological Society, including more than 75 in the journal Ecology and 35 in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

2. We have noted that many authors routinely ‘thin’ their simulations, discarding all but every kth sampled value; of the studies we surveyed with details on MCMC implementation, 40% reported thinning.

3. Thinning …