Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Droughtscape, Fall 2021, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Fall 2021

Underground Burning Of Jharia Coal Mine (India) And Associated Surface Deformation Using Insar Data, Jungrack Kim, Shih-Yuan Lin, Ramesh P. Singh, Chen-Wei Lan, Hye-Won Yun

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The underground burning in the Jharia coal mine (JCM) in India is a highly devastating environmental hazard inducing various adverse consequences. In the present study, we carried out time series analyses based on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and land surface temperature (LST) to study the environmental risk. First, a permanent scatterer (PS) time series analysis using Sentinel-1 images over three years was performed to detect the spatio-temporal distribution of ground deformation. Comparison of ground thermal anomaly clearly delineated the subsidence spots associated with the oxygen supply to combustion areas. On the contrary, few deformations were mapped showing pronounced uplift …

Recurrent Pattern Of Extreme Fire Weather In California, Rackhun Son, S-Y Simon Wang, Seung Hee Kim, Hyungjun Kim, Jee-Hoon Jeong, Jin-Ho Yoon

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Historical wildfire events in California have shown a tendency to occur every five to seven years with a rapidly increasing tendency in recent decades. This oscillation is evident in multiple historical climate records, some more than a century long, and appears to be continuing. Analysis shows that this 5–7 year oscillation is linked to a sequence of anomalous large-scale climate patterns with an eastward propagation in both the ocean and atmosphere. While warmer temperature emerges from the northern central Pacific to the west coast of California, La Niña pattern develops simultaneously, implying that the lifecycle of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation …

Chamoli Disaster: Pronounced Changes In Water Quality And Flood Plains Using Sentinel Data, Sansar Raj Meena, Akshansa Chauhan, Kushanav Bhuyan, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The Himalayan rivers are vulnerable to devastating flooding caused by landslides and outbreak of glacial lakes. On 7 February 2021, a deadly disaster occurred near the Rishi Ganga Hydropower Plant in the Rishi Ganga River, killing more than 100 people. During the event, a large volume of debris and broken glacial fragments flooded the Rishi Ganga River and washed away the Rishi Ganga Hydropower plant ongoing project. This study presents the impact of the Chamoli disaster on the water quality of Rishi Ganga River in upstream near Tapovan and Ganga River in downstream near Haridwar through remote sensing data. Five …

Impacts Of Oil And Gas Wastes On Landfill Leachate, Sewage Treatment Plants, And The Environment, Lauren Badertscher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Between January 2011 and March 2021 oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania produced

305,637,795 barrels of liquid waste and 6,992,957 tons of solid waste with the majority from

Marcellus Shale unconventional wells. This waste is not considered hazardous and over 89% of

the solid waste generated by unconventional and conventional oil and gas extraction has been

disposed of in landfills over the past decade. This study examined trends in the quantity of waste

produced and methods of disposal. Landfills accepting this waste were identified and their

general method of leachate treatment, using onsite facilities or offsite at wastewater treatment

plants, …

A Typology Of Drought Decision Making: Synthesizing Across Cases To Understand Drought Preparedness And Response Actions, Amanda E. Cravens, Jen Henderson, Jack Friedman, Nina Burkardt, Ashley E. Cooper, Tonya Haigh, Michael Hayes, Jamie Mcenvoy, Stephanie Paladino, Adam K. Wilke, Hailey Wilmer

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is an inescapable reality in many regions, including much of the western United States. With climate change, droughts are predicted to intensify and occur more frequently, making the imperative for drought management even greater. Many diverse actors – including private landowners, business owners, scientists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and managers and policymakers within tribal, local, state, and federal government agencies – play multiple, often overlapping roles in preparing for and responding to drought. Managing water is, of course, one of the most important roles that humans play in both mitigating and responding to droughts; but, focusing only on “water managers” …

Net Geochemical Release Of Base Cations From 25 Forested Watersheds In The Catskill Region Of New York, Sara C. Nieman, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Chemical weathering of minerals is the principal mechanism by which base cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺, and Na⁺) are released and acidity is neutralized in soils, bedrock and drainage waters. Quantifying the release of base cations from watershed soils is therefore crucial for the calculation of “critical loads” of atmospheric acidity to forest ecosystems. We used a mass-balance approach to estimate the rate of release of base cations in 25 headwater catchments in the Catskill region of New York, an area historically subject to high inputs of acid deposition. In 2010-2013, total net …

An Integrative Model For Soil Biogeochemistry And Methane Processes: I. Model Structure And Sensitivity Analysis, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Xiaofeng Xu, Xiaoying Shi, Yihui Wang, Xia Song, Christopher W. Schadt, Natalie A. Griffiths, Jiafu Mao, Jeffrey M. Warren, Peter E. Thornton, Jeff Chanton, Jason K. Keller, Scott D. Bridgham, Jessica Gutknecht, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Adrien Finzi, Randall Kolka, Paul J. Hanson

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Environmental changes are anticipated to generate substantial impacts on carbon cycling in peatlands, affecting terrestrial-climate feedbacks. Understanding how peatland methane (CH₄) fluxes respond to these changing environments is critical for predicting the magnitude of feedbacks from peatlands to global climate change. To improve predictions of CH₄ fluxes in response to changes such as elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and warming, it is essential for Earth system models to include increased realism to simulate CH₄ processes in a more mechanistic way. To address this need, we incorporated a new microbial-functional group-based CH₄ module into the Energy …

Final 2021 Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) School Soil Sampling Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) Submittal #2 (Covering Highland View Christian School, Hillcrest Elementary, Kennedy Elementary, Silver Bow Montessori, & West Elementary), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final 2021 Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) School Soil Sampling Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) Submittal #1 (Covering Ramsay Elementary School), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Summer 2021, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Summer 2021

Snow Covered With Dust After Chamoli Rockslide: Inference Based On High-Resolution Satellite Data, Sansar Raj Meena, Kushanav Bhuyan, Akshansha Chauhan, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The high-resolution multi-temporal PlanetScope image of 7 February 2021 clearly shows the fall of a large part of the Nanda Ghunti glacier (Uttarakhand) down in the base of the valley from a height of about 2000 m. The recorded seismic signals at the local seismic networks, close to the Joshimath station, show the occurrence of the fall of the first glacier block followed by another block which corresponds to the seismic signal recorded the second time. The timings of signals recorded from the seismic station are related to the visual sign of local dust in the valley after the fall …

Development Of A Flash Drought Intensity Index, Jason A. Otkin, Yafang Zhong, Eric D. Hunt, Jordan I. Christian, Jeffrey B. Basara, Hanh Nguyen, Matthew C. Wheeler, Trent W. Ford, Andrew Hoell, Mark Svoboda, Martha C. Anderson

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Flash droughts are characterized by a period of rapid intensification over sub-seasonal time scales that culminates in the rapid emergence of new or worsening drought impacts. This study presents a new flash drought intensity index (FDII) that accounts for both the unusually rapid rate of drought intensification and its resultant severity. The FDII framework advances our ability to characterize flash drought because it provides a more complete measure of flash drought intensity than existing classification methods that only consider the rate of intensification. The FDII is computed using two terms measuring the maximum rate of intensification (FD_INT) and average drought …

Water Quality Threats, Perceptions Of Climate Change And Behavioral Responses Among Farmers In The Ethiopian Rift Valley, Tewodros R. Godebo, Marc A. Jeuland, Christopher J. Paul, Dagnachew L. Belachew, Peter G. Mccornick

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

This work aims to assess water quality for irrigated agriculture, alongside perceptions and adaptations of farmers to climate change in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). Climate change is expected to cause a rise in temperature and variability in rainfall in the region, reducing surface water availability and raising dependence on groundwater. The study data come from surveys with 147 farmers living in the Ziway–Shala basin and water quality assessments of 162 samples from groundwater wells and surface water. Most groundwater samples were found to be unsuitable for long term agricultural use due to their high salinity and sodium adsorption ratio, …

Biotransformation Of Doxycycline By Brevundimonas Naejangsanensis And Sphingobacterium Mizutaii Strains, Ting He, Jianguo Bao, Yifei Leng, Daniel D. Snow, Shuqiong Kong, Tong Wang, Xu Li

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

The fate of doxycycline (DC), a second generation tetracycline antibiotic, in the environment has drawn increasing attention in recent years due to its wide usage. Little is known about the biodegradability of DC in the environment. The objective of this study was to characterize the biotransformation of DC by pure bacterial strains with respect to reaction kinetics under different environmental conditions and biotransformation products. Two bacterial strains, Brevundimonas naejangsanensis DD1 and Sphingobacterium mizutaii DD2, were isolated from chicken litter and characterized for their biotransformation capability of DC. Results show both strains rely on cometabolism to biotransform DC with tryptone as …

Wildfires: Vegetation Recovery And The Potential For Future Fires, Moses Okonkwo

LSU Master's Theses

Analysis of satellite imagery combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), often allows for observing the increasing changes in land cover dynamics. These changes are often on a macro scale buoyed by natural hazards such as wildfires. This study examines the vegetation recovery dynamics by using multispectral data and also gleaned insight in the applications of Hyperspectral satellite imagery in the study of vegetation dynamics. Both Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) (multispectral) and the Earth-Observing One (EO-1) (hyperspectral) data are freely available; however the former has a limited spatial and temporal coverage. The relationship between vegetation recovery, elevation, aspect and …

Comparison Of Methods For Estimating Carbon Evasion And Export Associated With A Coal Mine Discharge, Kyle Lee, Dorothy J. Vesper

Presentations

The evasion of CO2 from terrestrial waters plays a role in the global cycling of carbon but there are few datasets that have an accurate accounting of the flux. It has been shown that discharges from coal mines can have elevated concentrations of CO2 due to sulfuric acid-driven dissolution of carbonate rock. In this study, we compared three methods for calculating the export dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and the evaluation of CO2 from an abandoned-mine discharge in West Virginia. In Method #1, the source flux is calculated from the discharge and the concentrations at the portal. In Method #2, the …

Quantifying The Contribution Of Solid Precipitates To The Total Alkalinity In A Coal-Mine Discharge, Lili Lei, Dorothy Vesper

Presentations

Flocculates and precipitates from coal mine drainage (CMD) are an integral part of the geochemical setting in mining-impacted streams. The precipitates may be very small, amorphous, and, depending on their chemistry, play a role in the storage and release of alkalinity. To evaluate the potential impact of CMD-solids on alkalinity, we conducted various tests using model and natural solids. Laboratory measurements of alkalinity are operationally defined by a titration to a fixed pH. When the solid-solution mixtures were tested using the standard alkalinity measurement method, no alkalinity could be detected; however, a possible reason for that was that the standard …

Changes In Tropospheric Ozone Associated With Strong Earthquakes And Possible Mechanism, Feng Jing, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The index of ozone anomaly (IOA) has been proposed to detect changes in tropospheric ozone associated with strong earthquakes. The tropospheric ozone prior and after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake has been analyzed using IOA. Atmospheric infrared sounder ozone volume mixing ratio (O3 VMR) at different pressure levels (600, 500, 400, 300, 200 hPa) for an 18-year period 2003–2020 has been considered to identify the unique behavior associated with the strong earthquakes. Our results show distinct enhancement in tropospheric ozone occurred 5 d (7 May 2008) prior to the main event and distributed along the Longmenshan fault zone. An enhancement in …

Multi-Dimensional Drought Assessment In Abbay/Upper Blue Nile Basin: The Importance Of Shared Management And Regional Coordination Efforts For Mitigation, Yared Bayissa, Semu Moges, Assefa Melesse, Tsegaye Tadesse, Anteneh Z. Abiy, Abeyou Worqlul

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is one of the least understood and complex natural hazards often characterized by a significant decrease in water availability for a prolonged period. It can be manifested in one or more forms as meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and/or socio-economic drought. The overarching objective of this study is to demonstrate and characterize the different forms of droughts and to assess the multidimensional nature of drought in the Abbay/ Upper Blue Nile River (UBN) basin and its national and regional scale implications. In this study, multiple drought indices derived from in situ and earth observation-based hydro-climatic variables were used. The meteorological drought …

An Integrated Approach For The Assessment And Monitoring Of Land Deformation In The Riyadh City And Its Surroundings For Identifying The Controlling Factors, Abdulaziz Ibrahim Aljammaz

Dissertations

An integrated approach (remote sensing, field, geodesy, geology, and hydrogeology) was conducted to assess and monitor land deformation at Riyadh city and its surroundings. Two settings were investigated. The first, Jinadriyah area (1.5 km²), an urban area located east of Riyadh city, was selected to assess deformation associated with urbanization over desert lands. The second location was Al Kharj area (19,790 km²) to the south of Riyadh city, a reclaimed desert land that was selected to assess the deformation associated with agricultural groundwater extraction from fossil aquifers. My investigations revealed high subsidence rates (up to -30 …

Removal Of Carbamazepine Onto Modified Zeolitic Tuff In Different Water Matrices: Batch And Continuous Flow Experiments, Othman A. Al-Mashaqbeh, Diya A. Alsafadi, Layal Z. Alsalhi, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Daniel D. Snow

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is the most frequently detected pharmaceutical residues in aquatic environments effluent by wastewater treatment plants. Batch and column experiments were conducted to evaluate the removal of CBZ from ultra-pure water and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent using raw zeolitic tuff (RZT) and surfactant modified zeolite (SMZ). Point zero net charge (pHpzc), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) were investigated for adsorbents to evaluate the physiochemical changes resulted from the modification process using Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA-Br). XRD and FTIR showed that the surfactant modification of RZT has created an amorphous surface with new alkyl …

Drought-Induced Biomass Burning As A Source Of Black Carbon To The Central Himalaya Since 1781 Ce As Reconstructed From The Dasuopu Ice Core, Joel D. Barker, Susan Kaspari, Paulo Gabrielli, Anna Wegner, Emilie Beaudon, M. Roxana Sierra-Hernández, Lonnie Thompson

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Himalayan glaciers are melting due to atmospheric warming, with the potential to limit access to water for more than 25 % of the global population that resides in these glacier meltwater catchments. Black carbon has been implicated as a factor that is contributing to Himalayan glacier melt, but its sources and mechanisms of delivery to the Himalayas remain controversial. Here, we provide a 211-year ice core record spanning 1781–1992 CE for refractory black carbon (rBC) deposition from the Dasuopu glacier ice core that has to date provided the highest-elevation ice core record (7200 m). We report an average rBC concentration …

A Foray Into Laboratory Scale Soil Incubations With Corn Stover And High Lignin Fermentation Byproduct, Michelle Wang

ENGS 88 Honors Thesis (AB Students)

As the production of biofuels increases to meet the demands of a growing low carbon economy, questions of sustainability surrounding its feedstock and waste streams have become increasingly relevant. In the biofuel production process, crop residues like corn stover are harvested from the field and converted to biofuels leaving generating a residue called high lignin fermentation byproduct (HLFB). From extensive process modelling in the literature, it is suggested that HLFB should be either combusted to fuel auxiliary conversion processes or returned to the soil in place of the crop residues that were harvested. Currently, there is little literature testing the …

Characterization Of Uranium, Lead, And Rare Earth Element Pollution In Natural Soils And Sediments, Hope Rasmussen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metals in the environment add to the global burden of pollution, negatively impacting public health and ecosystem resilience. This study included projects regarding uranium (U), lead (Pb), and rare earth elements (REE) in natural samples, due to their known toxicity, ubiquity, and relevance in context to recent pollution trends. The first project focused on testing the potential of using a hydroxyapatite product as a remediation solution for U-contaminated groundwater and soil at an EPA Superfund site. The results showed that the U was sequestered in a highly crystalline mineral form within the solids, guiding the EPA to specify the …

Droughtscape, Spring 2021, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Spring 2021

Investigating Decadal Changes Of Multiple Hydrological Products And Land-Cover Changes In The Mediterranean Region For 2009–2018, Wenzhao Li, Sachi Perera, Erik Linstead, Rejoice Thomas, Hesham El-Askary, Thomas Piechota, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Land-cover change is a critical concern due to its climatic, ecological, and socioeconomic consequences. In this study, we used multiple variables including precipitation, vegetation index, surface soil moisture, and evapotranspiration obtained from different satellite sources to study their association with land-cover changes in the Mediterranean region. Both observational and modeling data were used for climatology and correlation analysis. Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) were used to extract surface soil moisture and evapotranspiration data. Intercomparing the results of FLDAS and GLDAS suggested that FLDAS data had better …

Exploring Viirs Continuity With Modis In An Expedited Capability For Monitoring Drought-Related Vegetation Conditions, Trenton D. Benedict, Jesslyn F. Brown, Stephen P. Boyte, Daniel M. Howard, Brian A. Fuchs, Brian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Kirk A. Evenson

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Vegetation has been effectively monitored using remote sensing time-series vegetation index (VI) data for several decades. Drought monitoring has been a common application with algorithms tuned to capturing anomalous temporal and spatial vegetation patterns. Drought stress models, such as the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI), often use VIs like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The EROS expedited Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrora-diometer (eMODIS)-based, 7-day NDVI composites are integral to the VegDRI. As MODIS satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua) approach mission end, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) presents an alternate NDVI source, with daily collection, similar band passes, and …

Exploring Viirs Continuity With Modis In An Expedited Capability For Monitoring Drought-Related Vegetation Conditions, Trenton D. Benedict, Jesslyn F. Brown, Stephen P. Boyte, Daniel M. Howard, Brian A. Fuchs, Brian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Kirk A. Evenson

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Vegetation has been effectively monitored using remote sensing time-series vegetation index (VI) data for several decades. Drought monitoring has been a common application with algorithms tuned to capturing anomalous temporal and spatial vegetation patterns. Drought stress models, such as the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI), often use VIs like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The EROS expedited Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrora-diometer (eMODIS)-based, 7-day NDVI composites are integral to the VegDRI. As MODIS satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua) approach mission end, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) presents an alternate NDVI source, with daily collection, similar band passes, and …

The Drought Monitor Comes Of Age, Brad Rippey, Brian Fuchs, David Simeral, Deborah J. Bathke, Richard R. Heim Jr., Mark Svoboda

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The 20th century featured immense scientific discoveries and advances. Astrophysics gained Einstein’s life-altering theory of relativity, opening the door to nuclear weaponry and the mind-bending Big Bang theory. The medical field achieved stunning success in suppressing or vanquishing a host of deadly diseases, including polio and smallpox. And through advances in computing technology, meteorological forecasting moved from back-of-the-envelope calculations to supercomputers. However, drought monitoring fell behind the curve of scientific advancement. Not until 1965, when the United States Department of Commerce published Wayne C. Palmer’s “Research Paper No. 45: Meteorological Drought,” was there even a complex mathematical definition of drought. …