Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Study To Evaluate Future Ash Beneficial Use, Corina Maria Aldea, Gil M. Haines, Matt Bishop

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Field And Laboratory Methods To Demonstrate Monitored Natural Attenuation For Coal Combustion Product Constituents In Groundwater, Jim Redwine, Masa Kanematsu, Kristi Mitchell, Dimitri Vlassopoulos

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Addressing Public Fear With Facts—Tva Coal Ash Fact Sheets, Melissa Hedgecoth, Lisa Jn Bradley, Rock Vitale, Neil Carriker

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Six Years Of Service, Supply, And Success: Processing Harvested Ccr From Impoundments, William Fedorka, P.E.

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Developing Single Use Deposits Of Coal Derived Fly Ash As A National Resource, Nigel Cooke

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

The Possibility Of A Land Bridge Across Nebraska In Mississippian Time, E. C. Reed

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Meteorological Characteristics Of Fog Events In Korean Smart Cities And Machine Learning Based Visibility Estimation, Jaemin Kim, Seung Hee Kim, Hyun Woo Seo, Yi Victor Wang, Yun Gon Lee

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

To address various urban issues such as fine dust, traffic congestion, and water shortage caused by rapid urbanization, a national pilot Smart City is planned in two Korean cities, Sejong and Busan. As weather data is crucial for improving the environment and operating future transportation while constructing a smart city, preparing for future weather disasters by analyzing the characteristics of various meteorological phenomena in the planned development area is necessary. This study analyzed the fog generation characteristics for the period of 2016–2020 at the automatic weather system sites of the Korea Meteorological Administration in Sejong and Busan, and the characteristics …

Comment Letter For: Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoons System – Fourth Quarter 2021 (Dated March 30, 2022), Nikia Greene

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Biochar Production Methods And Biomass Types On Lead Removal From Aqueous Solution, Paola Granados, Sergio Mireles, Engil Isadora Pujol Pereira, Chu-Lin Cheng, James Jihoon Kang

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Biochar has proven its potential in removing heavy metal ions from water. The objective of this study was to evaluate locally obtained biomass feedstocks for biochar production and their efficiency as a sorbent for aqueous lead (Pb²⁺) removal. The biomass feedstocks consisted of avocado seed, avocado peel, grapefruit peel, and brown seaweed, which represent agricultural and marine biomasses. The biochar materials were produced in two different methods: (1) a laboratory tube furnace at 300 °C and (2) a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) biochar maker, “BioCharlie Log”. The biochars were characterized for selected physicochemical properties, and batch adsorption tests with 10 …

Comment Letter For: Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoons System – Fourth Quarter 2021 (Dated March 30, 2022), Nikia Greene

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Murphy Scale: A Locational Equivalent Intensity Scale For Hazard Events, Yi Victor Wang, Antonia Sebastian

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

Empirical cross-hazard analysis and prediction of disaster vulnerability, resilience, and risk requires a common metric of hazard strengths across hazard types. In this paper, the authors propose an equivalent intensity scale for cross-hazard evaluation of hazard strengths of events for entire durations at locations. The proposed scale is called the Murphy Scale, after Professor Colleen Murphy. A systematic review and typology of hazard strength metrics is presented to facilitate the delineation of the defining dimensions of the proposed scale. An empirical methodology is introduced to derive equivalent intensities of hazard events on a Murphy Scale. Using historical data on …

Advancing Our Understanding Of Green Roofs With Samantha Hartzell, Samantha Hartzell

PDXPLORES Podcast

Green roofs provide a variety of benefits including increasing stormwater retention, lowering cooling costs and mitigating the urban heat island effect. However, the ecosystem services provided by green roofs vary by vegetation choice and environmental conditions.

Assistant Professor Samantha Hartzell is an ecohydrologist whose research focuses on developing technologies to improve green roof designs, inform vegetation selection, and better understand the value of green roofs.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Factors Influencing Conservation Knowledge: A Survey Of Residents In The United States, Samantha Helgeson, Amanda Fasching, Ashley Kneemueller, Anna Sher

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Basic principles have been established for visitors of national and state parks, but some visitors may be more aware of conservation practices than others. To understand visitor awareness, this study investigated three factors that influence the general public’s understanding of the Leave No Trace (LNT) conservation ethic: natural areas visitation, state of residence, and media consumption. Each of the factors showed statistically significant impacts on awareness of LNT, supporting our hypotheses that this knowledge will increase with a higher frequency of park visits and media consumption, and that region of residence will also impact LNT knowledge.

Citizen Science Across Two Centuries Reveals Phenological Change Among Plant Species And Functional Groups In The Northeastern Us, Kerissa Battle, Anna Duhon, Conrad R. Vispo, Theresa M. Crimmins, Todd Rosenstiel, Lilas L. Armstrong-Davies, Catherine De Rivera

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

1. Understanding the breadth and complexity of changes in phenology is limited by the availability of long-term historical data sets with broad geographic range.
2. We compare a recently discovered historical data set of plant phenology observations collected across the state of New York (1826–1872) to contemporary volunteer-contributed observations (2009–2017) to evaluate changes in plant phenology between time periods. These multi-site, multi-taxa phenology data matched with temperature data uniquely extend historical observations back in time prior to the major atmospheric effects of the Industrial Revolution.
3. The majority of the 36 trees, shrubs and forbs that comprised our analysable data set flowered and …

Draft Final 2021 Unreclaimed Sites Investigation: Xrf To Laboratory Correlation And Regression Analyses Procedure, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Mapping The Impact Of A Trailway System On The Amount Of Trash Present Within Two, Lillian Smith

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Transportation of debris within water systems is a prominent occurrence which has been linked to natural and artificial processes including wind, rain, and littering. This pilot study established methods to determine if a trail system is a good implementation to achieve recreation and connectivity goals laid out in the City of Lynchburg’s Tyreeanna & Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Plan. Blackwater Creek watershed, which contains an established trail system, and Fishing Creek watershed, containing a non-established trail system, were the two locations where this study’s methods were conducted. Use of the Virginia GIS Open Access Portal was essential in delineating the boundary …

The Relationship Between Urban Heat Islands And Redline Districts, Emily Cornwell

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

As climate change worsens and the world attempts to find solutions to global changes, it is important to identify how climate change will affect individual communities. Climate resilience tactics aim to protect vulnerable populations against environmental harms, such as excess heat. Historically, communities of color face forms of environmental racism. One example of structural racism includes the loans given out by the Home Owners Loan Corporation during the 1940s which “redlined” certain communities of color by refusing to give these neighborhoods loans and rated these areas undesirable for loaners. Urban heat islands occur in residential, densely populated areas with lots …

Effects Of Precipitation On Groundwater Level In An Urban Watershed, Andrew Golladay

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Groundwater is an important aspect of a watershed, as it is a reservoir for the storage of water. It both releases water to the surface in dry periods and absorbs excess water in wet periods. Precipitation provides surface water that is then absorbed to replenish groundwater. The specific purpose of this research was to determine the recharge rate of the water table after a rainfall event, with a goal to also develop a framework or long-term monitoring of the water table along an urban stream in Lynchburg, Virginia, and to establish baseline groundwater data before a dam is removed from …

Loggerhead Shrike Detectability And Occurrence In Coastal South Carolina Urban Areas, Michelle Krauser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Grassland birds, such as the loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), are threatened by extensive land-use change, including urbanization. Loggerhead shrikes have been declining since the early 1900s and are rare or extirpated in portions of their former range. Obtaining reliable population estimates of loggerhead shrikes is important to identify demographic trends and ensure conservation decisions are based on an accurate assessment of their current status. Imperfect detection, or the inability to detect every shrike during a survey, can result in biased population estimates. Estimating detection probability is labor-intensive and requires assumptions that are difficult to satisfy in most field studies. Understanding …

Nutrient Restoration Of A Large, Impounded, Ultra-Oligotrophic Western River To Recover Declining Native Fishes, Ryan S. Hardy, Tyler J. Ross, Kevin N. Mcdonnell, Michael C. Quist, Charlie Holderman, Bryan S. Stevens

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Declines in many fish populations in large, western rivers have been primarily attributed to the anthropogenic reduction of nutrient inputs and subsequent impacts to the food web. The largest known river fertilization program was implemented starting in 2005 on the Kootenai River in northern Idaho to restore resident fisheries. Annual electrofishing surveys were conducted at multiple sites in Idaho and Montana before and during nutrient addition to evaluate assemblage and population-level responses. Although few responses in fish assemblage structure were observed, the addition of liquid ammonium polyphosphate fertilizer (3 μg/L) to the Kootenai River increased fish abundance and biomass over …

The Fierce Green Fire: Vol. 12 Issue 18, Wofford College. Department Of Environmental Studies

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

The Nature Of Environmental Planning In The Carnué Land Grant, Desiree Loggins

Geography ETDs

In 1819, the Spanish Crown established Cañón de Carnué land grant as a buffer between the colonial settlement of Albuquerque and raids from Plains Apache and other nomadic tribal nations. Upon entering the U.S. period of Manifest Destiny, Carnué land grant heirs lost much of the land they stewarded as a collective to the Cibola National Forest. While the state generates laws and policies that complicate the prioritization of subsistence land uses by land grant communities, Carnué’s presence is felt as grantees reform relationships to their environment and assert their personal stake in stewardship and care. I argue that Carnué’s …

Rooted In The Earth: An Igbo Sacramental Nature Of The Universe, A Model For Igbo Christian Ecological Ethics, Kenneth Oguzie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The contemporary Igbo society faces a lot of challenges. These include political, religious, and moral crises. These crises affect the environment in many ways. They threaten the peace and harmony of the Igbo society. As a result, it touches on faith. The Igbo society holds a holistic view of life. Whatever affects one aspect of life affects the other areas. Ecologically, various factors are responsible for the crises. These include changes in lifestyle from the traditional way of living to modern style of life with its penchant on consumerism. Also, colonialism and its lingering residues, civil unrests, politics, population growth, …

Quantifying The Economic Impact Of Conservation Policy Changes Utilizing Precision Agriculture Tools, Kyle Stanley Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Farm Bill is a multi-billion-dollar federal legislation reenacted every five years to provide funding towards crop protection, nutrition, environmental protection, and other important focuses. The largest conservation program within the Farm Bill is the Conservation Reserve Program, which encompasses many conservation practices such as CP-33: habitat buffers for upland birds. Conservation implementation through the Farm Bill relies on voluntary producer enrollment in exchange for a rental fee to not farm enrolled land for a set time. I used yield data collected across six years from 36 agricultural fields in Humphreys and Holmes counties, Mississippi, USA, and a …

Circular Economy And The Potential For Extended Producer Responsibility Policies, Erin Quinn

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This thesis was developed based on an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Policy briefing I created during my internship at RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment) during the summer of 2021. This project expands upon the work created during the internship. It examines the connection between circular economy and EPR policies, as well as how they can create effective strategies for waste reduction and recycling in the U.S. It demonstrates how the current linear economic system under which the U.S operates and its connection to single-stream recycling are inefficient at best. The thesis then describes how a circular economy (CE) …

Impact Of Climate Oscillations/Indices On Hydrological Variables In The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer., Meena Raju

Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA) is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the United States. The main objectives of this research are to identify long term trends and change points in hydrological variables (streamflow and rainfall), to assess the relationship between hydrological variables, and to evaluate the influence of global climate indices on hydrological variables. Non-parametric tests, MMK and Pettitt’s tests were used to analyze trend and change points. PCC and Streamflow elasticity analysis were used to analyze the relationship between streamflow and rainfall and the sensitivity of streamflow to rainfall changes. PCC and MLR analysis …

Evaluating Soil Health Changes Following Cover Crop And No-Till Integration Into A Soybean (Glycine Max) Cropping System In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Alexandra Gwin Firth

Theses and Dissertations

The transition of natural landscapes to intensive agricultural uses has resulted in severe loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), increased CO₂ emissions, river depletion, and groundwater overdraft. Despite negative documented effects of agricultural land use (i.e., soil erosion, nutrient runoff) on critical natural resources (i.e., water, soil), food production must increase to meet the demands of a rising human population. Given the environmental and agricultural productivity concerns of intensely managed soils, it is critical to implement conservation practices that mitigate the negative effects of crop production and enhance environmental integrity. In the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) region of Mississippi, USA, …

Use Of Consumer Grade Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (Suas) For Mapping Storm Damage In Forested Environments, James Dewey Cox

Theses and Dissertations

Storm damages to forested environments pose significant challenges to landowners, land managers, and conservationists alike. Damage scope and scale assessments can be difficult, costly, and time consuming with conventional pedestrian survey techniques. Consumer grade sUAS technology offers an efficient, cost-effective way to accurately assess storm damage in small to moderate sized survey areas (less than 10 km²). Data were collected over a 0.195 km² area of damaged timber within the Kisatchie National Forest in Central Louisiana using a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone. Collected imagery was processed into an orthomosaic using Agisoft Metashape Professional with a resulting ground sampling distance …

Photocatalytic Degradation Of Organic Contaminants By Titania Particles Produced By Flame Spray Pyrolysis, Noah Babik

Theses and Dissertations

Advanced oxidation of organic pollutants with TiO2 photocatalysts is limited due to the wide bandgap of TiO2, 3.2 eV, which requires ultraviolet (UV) radiation. When nanosized TiO2 is modified by carbon doping, charge recombination is inhibited and the bandgap is narrowed, allowing for efficient photodegradation under visible light. Here, we propose a flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) technique to create TiO2. The facile process of FSP has been successful in preparing highly crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles. Using the same procedure to deposit TiO2 onto biochar, the photocatalyst was doped by the carbonaceous material. The morphology, crystalline and electronic structure of the FSP …

Exploring The Impact Of End-User Engagement On The Diffusion And Adoption Of A Climate Resilience Tool In The Gulf Of Mexico, Renee C. Collini

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change-related hazards negatively impact ecosystems, economies, and quality of life. Significant resources have been invested in data collection and research with the goal of enhanced understanding and capacity to predict future conditions in order to mitigate or adapt to intensifying hazard risk. The expansive production of climate science has generated a necessary complimentary enterprise dedicated to enhancing decision-makers’ understanding of and access to climate science as it is essential for future societal and ecological well-being. Though the aim of these many tools is to support resilient decision-making in the face of climate change, professionals report an underutilization of climate …