Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

From Debate To Design: Issues In Clean Energy And Climate Change Law And Policy, Leslie Parker, Jennifer Ronk, Rachel Maxwell, Bradford Gentry, Marijn Wilder, James Cameron

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

A report on the work of the REIL Network 2007-2008

Sustainability In A Time Of Climate Change: Developing An Intensive Research Framework For The Platte River Basin And The High Plains Proceedings From The 2008 Climate Change Workshop, Monica Norby, Ashley Washburn

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

Proceedings from the 2008 Climate change Workshop, Nebraska Sandhills, May 19-22, 2008. Hosted by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the U.S. Geological Survey

An Environmental Justice Analysis: Superfund Sites And Surrounding Communities In Illinois, Angela Maranville, Tih-Fen Ting, Yang Zhang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Is there an association between Superfund sites and the socioeconomic makeup of the surrounding communities? This research analyzes the current economic and racial demographics of Illinois counties that contain Superfund sites. Specifically, variables that are indicators of environmental injustice are analyzed; e.g. race, median household income, and home ownership. Since the inception of the environmental justice movement in the late 1980s, studies have been conducted nationally and at state levels in Michigan, California, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina (i.e. Cutter 2006; Mohai & Saha 2006; Pastor et al. 2004; Anderton et al. 1997; Bevc et al. 2007; Bowen et …

Effects And Response Of Dual Phase Extraction (Dpe) Remediation On The Former Sun City Soco Gas Station, Travis Winter Meier

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to target three zones for both soil and groundwater remediation. It is the intent that by targeting the source areas of the contamination with remedial processes that consequently the continued introduction and dispersal of the hydrocarbon compounds will be prevented. The former Sun City SoCo gas station has large amounts of hydrocarbon compounds present in the soil and upper groundwater aquifer located beneath the site.

Drainage Benchmarking In The Northern Agricultural Region : Landholder Survey, Alison Beattie, Angela Stuart-Street

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Sampling Of Malodorous Compounds In Air Using Stir Bar Sorbtive Extraction, John H. Loughrin, Nanh Lovanh, Arturo I. Quintanar, Rezaul Mahmood

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Twisters, (poly)‐dimethylsiloxane‐coated magnetic stir bars, were used to measure compounds typical of swine manure malodor in air. In initial experiments, a time to achieve equilibrium was determined by preloading the stir bars with ten compounds with a range of volatilities and polarities and then monitoring their loss. The rate of loss was dependent on compound volatility, and the time for equilibrium to be attained varied widely, from 22 min for phenol to 210 min for skatole. To test whether the Twisters would respond linearly over a range of concentrations, the stir bars were placed in vented jars with solutions of …

Evaluation Of Modis Ndvi And Ndwi For Vegetation Drought Monitoring Using Oklahoma Mesonet Soil Moisture Data, Yingxin Gu, Eric Hunt, Brian Wardlow, Jeffrey B. Basara, Jesslyn F. Brown, James P. Verdin

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The evaluation of the relationship between satellitederived vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index and normalized difference water index) and soil moisture improves our understanding of how these indices respond to soil moisture fluctuations. Soil moisture deficits are ultimately tied to drought stress on plants. The diverse terrain and climate of Oklahoma, the extensive soil moisture network of the Oklahoma Mesonet, and satellitederived indices from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provided an opportunity to study correlations between soil moisture and vegetation indices over the 2002–2006 growing seasons. Results showed that the correlation between both indices and the fractional water index …

The Vegetation Drought Response Index (Vegdri): A New Integrated Approach For Monitoring Drought Stress In Vegetation, Jesslyn F. Brown, Brian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Michael Hayes, Bradley C. Reed

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The development of new tools that provide timely, detailed-spatial-resolution drought information is essential for improving drought preparedness and response. This paper presents a new method for monitoring drought-induced vegetation stress called the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI). VegDRI integrates traditional climate-based drought indicators and satellite-derived vegetation index metrics with other biophysical information to produce a 1 km map of drought conditions that can be produced in near-real time. The initial VegDRI map results for a 2002 case study conducted across seven states in the north-central United States illustrates the utility of VegDRI for improved large-area drought monitoring.

Lead Concentration Of Soils In Sorby Hills Area Of Proposed M2 Irrigation Area, East Kimberley, Edward (Ted) Arnold Griffin, Noel R. Schoknecht, Ross Brennan, Jane Speijers, Dave Allen, Mike Freeman

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Technology-Aided Participative Methods In Environmental Assessment: An International Perspective, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

Provisions for citizen involvement in the assessment of potential environmental effects of certain plans, programmes and projects are present in current legislation. An international survey revealed that public participation is common practice in European and some other countries worldwide. However, a number of issues are observed to affect public involvement in EIA/SEA processes and expert opinion differs when evaluating the effectiveness of existing participative methods. Results suggest that technology-aided methods can improve traditional participation processes. In particular, GIS has the potential to increase community knowledge and enhance involvement by communicating information more effectively. Variable accessibility to technology and data quality …

Ua66/1/5 Icset - Institute For Combustion Science & Environmental Technology, Wku Ogden College Of Science & Engineering

WKU Administration Documents

History and overview of the work of the WKU Institute for Combustion Science & Environmental Technology through 2008.

Droughtscape, Winter 2008, Kelly Smith

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

Now Up & On-Line:

Winter 2008 Outlook and Oct.-Dec. ’07 Summary

NDMC Experts Serve as Resource for Media

Drought Hits Ag and Urban Interests in 2007

Climatological Summary of Drought in 2007

NDMC Welcomes Data Miner Bo Zhang

New Grant Awards

Palaeomagnetism Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, F. Florindo, L. Jovane, B. Lum, C. Ohneiser, L. Sagnotti, E. Strada, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We conducted initial palaeomagnetic studies on cores from site AND-2A (77°45.488’S, 165°16.605’E, ~383.57 metres water depth). A total of 813 samples were collected that span from the top of the section down to the base at 1138.54 metres below sea floor (mbsf). Samples were collected every one or two metres down the core, with paired (pilot) samples being collected about every ten to twenty metres to allow us to assess the demagnetisation behaviour of the samples using either alternating field (AF) or thermal demagnetisation. With the exception of only a few intervals, AF demagnetisation was observed to resolve a characteristic …

Preliminary Integrated Chronostratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, J. Crampton, G. Di Vincenzo, Christopher R. Fielding, F. Florindo, M. Hannah, D. M. Harwood, S. Ishman, K. Johnson, L. Jovane, Richard Levy, B. Lum, M. C. Marcano, S. Mukasa, C. Ohneiser, M. P. Olney, C. Riesselman, L. Sagnotti, C. Stefano, E. Strada, M. Taviani, E. Tuzzi, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, M. Zattin, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We use all available chronostratigraphic constraints – biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, radioisotopic dates, strontium-isotope stratigraphy, and correlation of compositional and physical properties to well-dated global or regional records – to construct a preliminary age model for ANDRILL SMS Project’s AND-2A drillcore (77°45.488’S, 165°16.605’E, 383.57 m water depth). These diverse chronostratigraphic constraints are consistent with each other and are distributed throughout the 1138.54 m-thick section, resulting in a well-constrained age model. The sedimentary succession comprises a thick early and middle Miocene section below 224.82 mbsf and a condensed middle/late Miocene to Recent section above this. The youngest sediments are Brunhes age (<0.781 Ma), as confirmed by a radioisotopic age of 0.691±0.049 Ma at 10.23 mbsf and the occurrence of sediments that have normal magnetic polarity down to ~31.1 mbsf, which is interpreted to be the Brunhes/Matuyama reversal (0.781 Ma). The upper section is punctuated by disconformities resulting from both discontinuous deposition and periods of extensive erosion typical of sedimentary environments at the margin of a dynamic ice sheet. Additional breaks in the section may be due to the influence of tectonic processes. The age model incorporates several major hiatuses but their precise depths are still somewhat uncertain, as there are a large number of erosional surfaces identified within the stratigraphic section. One or more hiatuses, which represent a total 7 to 8 million years of time missing from the sedimentary record, occur between about 50 mbsf and the base of Lithostratigraphic Unit (LSU) 3 at 122.86 mbsf. Similarly, between about 145 mbsf and the base of LSU 4 at 224.82 mbsf, one or more hiatuses occur on which another 2 to 3 million years of the sedimentary record is missing. Support for the presence of these hiatuses comes from a diatom assemblage that constrains the age of the core from 44 to 50 mbsf to 2.06-2.84 Ma, two radioisotopic dates (11.4 Ma) and a Sr‑isotope date (11.7 Ma) that indicate the interval from 127 to 145 mbsf was deposited between 11.4 and 11.7 Ma, and three diatom occurrence datums from between 225.38 and 278.55 mbsf that constrain the age of this upper part of Lithostratigraphic Unit (LSU) 5 to 14.29 - 15.89 Ma. Below the boundary between LSU 5 and 6 sedimentation was relatively continuous and rapid and the age model is well-constrained by 9 diatom datums, seven ^{40 …}

Physical Properties Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Gavin B. Dunbar, C. Atkins, D. Magens, F. Niessen, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Whole-core measurements of Wet Bulk Density (WBD), compressional (P)-wave velocity (Vp), and Magnetic Susceptibility were measured at a sampling interval of 1 or 2 centimetres (cm) throughout the AND-2A drill core for initial core characterisation and on-site correlation with seismic modeling to predict target-reflector depth. Measurements were made using a GEOTEK (Multi-Sensor-Core-Logger MSCL). Density and velocity standards were measured together with core runs of 3-6 metres (m) (and occasionally up to 18 m) throughout the entire depth range to monitor data quality. Drift of the magnetic susceptibility sensor was also monitored and corrected where necessary. These physical properties show a …

Operations Overview For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, T. Falconer, A. Pyne, D. Wilson, Richard Levy, S. Nielsen, S. Petrushak, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the austral spring of 2007-08, a 1138 metre (m)-long rock and sediment core (ANDRILL [AND]-2A) was recovered from beneath the land-fast sea-ice in southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) in 384 m of water. A custom-built drilling system comprising an UDR-1200 rig, jack-up platform, hot water drill, sea riser, and diamond-bit wireline coring string was set up on the sea-ice approximately 32 kilometres (km) from Scott Base (NZ) and McMurdo Station (USA). The drilling system employed technology developed to handle challenging environmental conditions, including drilling from an 8 metre-thick sea-ice ‘platform’ that moved both laterally and vertically, tidal currents, and high …

Sedimentology And Stratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Christopher R. Fielding, C. B. Atkins, K. N. Bassett, G. H. Browne, G. B. Dunbar, B. D. Field, Tracy D. Frank, L. A. Krissek, K. S. Panter, S. Passchier, S. F. Pekar, S. Sandroni, F. Talarico, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the 2007 – 2008 austral spring season, the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project recovered a core 1138 metres long (AND-2A) from a location in the southern McMurdo Sound near the Dailey Islands. This core contains a range of lithologies, including various types of terrigenous clastic diamictite, conglomerate and breccia, sandstone and mudrocks, volcanic lava, pyroclastic and reworked volcanic sedimentary rocks, and diatomite. The succession is divided into fourteen lithostratigraphic units (LSUs), two of which (LSUs 1 and 8) are further subdivided into three and four sub-units, respectively, based on changes in abundance of lithologies. Thirteen lithofacies are recognized, ranging …

Background To The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, F. Talarico, Richard Levy

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the austral spring of 2007, the Southern McMurdo (SMS) Project recovered a 1138.54 meter long drill core (AND-2A) from a 8.5 m thick floating seaice platform (~8.5 meters thick) over approximately 380 meters of water (77°45.488S; 165°16.613E) (Fig. 1). This demonstrated the ANDRILL Program’s continuing success in recovering high quality marine and glacimarine sedimentary drill core (> 98% core recovery) from high latitude ice-covered areas. A primary goal of the SMS Project, the second drillhole
of the McMurdo Sound Portfolio (Harwood et al., 2006), was to recover an Antarctic marine sediment record depositied during the middle Miocene, which has …

Explanatory Notes For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, Richard Levy, G. Acton, Christopher R. Fielding, K. Panter, T. Paulsen, F. Sangiorgi, F. Talarico, M. Taviani, V. Willmott, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

This Explanatory Notes section complements and supports four other documents, which collectively describe the process and procedures of scientific investigations employed during the ANDRILL SMS Project: (1) ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project - Scientific Prospectus (ANDRILL contribution 5 - Harwood et al., 2005); (2) a Science Plan summary of SMS Project research compiled from research proposals of Science Team menbers (available on the SMS Project ‘Science Drive’ – Harwood et al., 2007); (3) SMS Project Science Logistics Implementation Plan (SLIP) - draft documents developed and distributed to SMS team members prior to deployment; (4) Operations overview – Falconer et al., …

Late Cenozoic Climate History Of The Ross Embayment From The And-1b Drill Hole: Culmination Of Three Decades Of Antarctic Margin Drilling, T. R. Naish, R. D. Powell, Peter J. Barrett, R. H. Levy, S. Henrys, G. S. Wilson, L. A. Krissek, F. Niessen, M. Pompilio, J. Ross, R. Scherer, F. Talarico, A. R. Pyne, Andrill-Mis Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Because of the paucity of exposed rock, the direct physical record of Antarctic Cenozoic glacial history has become known only recently and then largely from offshore shelf basins through seismic surveys and drilling. The number of holes on the continental shelf has been small and largely confined to three areas (McMurdo Sound, Prydz Bay, and Antarctic Peninsula), but even in McMurdo Sound, where Oligocene and early Miocene strata are well cored, the late Cenozoic is poorly known and dated. The latest Antarctic geological drilling program, ANDRILL, successfully cored a 1285-m-long record of climate history spanning the last 13 m.y. from …

Petrologic And Geochemical Composition Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, K. Panter, F. Talarico, K. Bassett, P. Del Carlo, B. Field, T. Frank, S. Hoffmann, G. Kuhn, L. Reichelt, S. Sandroni, M. Taviani, L. Bracciali, G. Cornamusini, H. Von Eynatten, S. Rocchi, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The compositional record of the AND-2A drillcore is examined using petrological, sedimentological, volcanological and geochemical analysis of clasts, sediments and pore waters. Preliminary investigations of basement clasts (granitoids and metasediments) indicate both local and distal sources corresponding to variable ice-volume and ice-flow directions. Low abundance of sedimentary clasts (e.g., arkose, litharenite) suggests reduced contributions from sedimentary covers while intraclasts (e.g., diamictite, conglomerate) attest to intrabasinal reworking. Volcanic material includes pyroclasts (e.g., pumice, scoria), sediments and lava. Primary and reworked tephra layers occur within the Early Miocene interval (1093 to 640 metres below sea floor). …

Palaeontological Characterisation And Analysis Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, M. Taviani, M. Hannah, D. M. Harwood, S. E. Ishman, K. Johnson, M. Olney, C. Riesselman, E. Tuzzi, A. G. Beu, S. Blair, V. Cantarelli, A. Ceregato, S. Corrado, B. Mohr, S. H.H. Nielson, D. Persico, S. Petrushak, J. I. Raine, S. Warny, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The palaeontological yield of the 1138.54 metre-long AND-2A sedimentary rock core provides unique documentation of Neogene environments in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Especially important is the biological legacy of the climatically crucial ‘mild’ middle Miocene phase. Diatom-bearing units provide key information for stratigraphic intervals never previously recovered from locations proximal to the Antarctic continent and constrain the age model for the AND-2A core. Benthic calcareous (and agglutinated) foraminifera were present at many levels; remarkable is the occurrence of planktonic taxa only seldom found in the Neogene nearshore record of the Ross Sea region. The sporadic occurrence of calcareous …

Downhole Measurements In The And-2a Borehole, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, T. Wonik, T. Grelle, D. Handwerger, R. D. Jarrard, A. Mckee, T. Patterson, T. Paulsen, S. Pierdominici, D. R. Schmitt, H. Schröder, M. Speece, T. J. Wilson, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Under the framework of the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) Project successful downhole experiments were conducted in the 1138.54 metre (m)-deep AND-2A borehole. Wireline logs successfully recorded were: magnetic susceptibility, spectral gamma ray, sonic velocity, borehole televiewer, neutron porosity, density, calliper, geochemistry, temperature and dipmeter. A resistivity tool and its backup both failed to operate, thus resistivity data were not collected. Due to hole conditions, logs were collected in several passes from the total depth at ~1138 metres below sea floor (mbsf) to ~230 mbsf, except for some intervals that were either inaccessible due to bridging or were shielded by …

Management Plan 2008-2012

National Invasive Species Council

The 2008–2012 National Invasive Species Management Plan (2008 Plan) is the first revision of the 2001 Plan, as mandated by EO 13112. This document will direct Federal efforts (including overall strategy and objectives) to prevent, control and minimize invasive species and their impacts within the next five fiscal years (2008 through 2012). If necessary, it may be updated more frequently to reflect changes in circumstances, agency plans and priorities. NISC member agencies, ISAC members, NISC staff, stakeholders and other experts have provided input in drafting this revision, which replaces the 2001 Plan.

The 2008 Plan is focused upon five “Strategic …

Year 2008 Annual Summary Report On The Use Of Common Carp Pituitary In Field Efficacy Trials, Bonnie Johnson

National Invasive Species Council

Spawning aids such as common carp pituitary (CCP), luteinizing hormonereleasing hormone analogue, and human chorionic gonadotropin are routinely used in fisheries programs to induce gamete maturation in fish to enhance fish propagation programs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of CCP under the Compassionate Investigational New Animal Drug (INAD) Exemption #8391 for the purpose of gathering efficacy data to support a new animal drug approval for CCP. During calendar year 2008 (CY08), 16 INAD trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of CCP to induce gamete maturation in a variety of fish species. Trials involved 3,738 …

Current Status And Long-Term Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Tributaries And Chesapeake Bay Mainstem From 1985 Through 2006, Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

The period prior to the implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program was characterized by a marked decline in the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay. The disappearance of submerged aquatic vegetation in certain regions of the Bay, declines in the abundance of some commercially and recreationally important species, increases in the incidence of low dissolved oxygen events, changes in the Bay's food web, and other ecological problems have been related to the deteriorating water quality (e.g. USEPA, 1982,1983;Officer et al.,1984; Orth and Moore, 1984). The results of concentrated research efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s stimulated the …

Using Biosolids To Enhance Phytoremediation Of Oil-Contaminated Soil, Heather N. Markway, Duane C. Wolf, Kaaron J. Davis, Edward E. Gbur

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

While the plant rhizosphere and associated microbial processes have been shown to amplify the degradation rate of chemical residues in soils, phytoremediation can be a slow process. The objective of this greenhouse study was to determine if the addition of biosolids as an organic soil amendment would enhance growth of plants in oil-contaminated soil and thus potentially increase effectiveness of phytoremediation. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) or sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf (Piper)) was grown in a Captina silt loam (finesilty, siliceous, mesic Typic Fragiudults) contaminated with 5% crude oil (v/w) and amended with 24 g biosolids/kg soil. …

Andrill’S Education And Outreach Programme 2005‑2008: Mis And Sms Project Activities During The 4th Ipy, L. T. Huffman, Richard Levy, Laura Lacy, D. M. Harwood, M. Berg, M. Cattadori, J. Diamond, J. Dooley, L. Dahlman, R. Frisch-Gleason, J. Hubbard, R. Lehmann, K. Mankoff, V. Miller, K. Pound, F. R. Rack, G. Scotto Di Clemente, A. Seigmund, J. Thomson, E. Trummel, R. Williams, Andrill-Mis Science Team, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

A key goal of the ANDRILL programme’s education and outreach (E&O) activities was to engage the public in, and inform it about, our scientific endeavour to uncover the behavior of Antarctica’s ice sheets over the past 20 million years. We recognized that a critical component of ANDRILL’s research effort was to ensure that our motivation, methods, and results were conveyed to non-experts in a clear and understandable manner. This effort benefited from several factors: a synergy between scientists and educators generated by the 4^th International Polar Year (IPY); the allure of the Antarctic region as one of Earth’s few …

The Application Of Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation To The 2010 Winter Olympic Games Venue And Infastructure Development, Daniel Melbourne Patterson Kellar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a tool which aims to make developments better by identifying, avoiding, and mitigating potential negative environmental impacts of projects and other action. With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games being held in the Vancouver to Whistler (sea-to-sky) corridor many developments have been initiated and EIA has played a role in 2010 site construction. Using case study analysis, legislative and literature reviews as well as open-ended interviews with key participants, stakeholders, and partners in the environmental impact assessment process, this study investigated the application of Canada’s and British Columbia’s environmental impact assessment legislations to the 2010 Olympic …

Climate Change And Freshwater Resources, Robert H. Abrams, Noah D. Hall, Bret B. Stuntz

Journal Publications

Earth's climate is warming. This is the unequivocal conclusion of climate scientists. Despite the complexities of climatology, certain consistent trends emerge with implications for water availability: as the world gets warmer, it will experience increased regional variability in precipitation, with more frequent heavy precipitation events and more susceptibility to drought. These simple facts will have a profound impact on freshwater resources throughout the United States, as the warmer climate will reduce available water supplies and increase water demand. Unfortunately, current water law and policy are not up to the new challenges of climate change and resulting pressures on freshwater resources. …