Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment 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, …

Nitrogen Partitioning And Transport Through A Subalpine Lake Measured With An Isotope Tracer, Dave M. Epstein, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Michelle A. Baker

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

We used a stable isotope tracer to measure nitrogen (N) assimilation and transfer through Bull Trout Lake, a 0.3-km2 mountain lake in Idaho, specifically to explore the relative importance of pelagic and benthic producers. was added into the inflow stream above the lake during spring runoff and the resulting mass of tracer was measured within the various ecosystem compartments, including the outflow stream. Although a portion of the moved through the lake quickly due to a low hydraulic residence time during the addition, the tracer was also assimilated rapidly by seston in the water column and at a slower rate …

A Synoptic Perspective Of The Record 1-2 May 2010 Mid-South Heavy Precipitation Event, Joshua D. Durkee, Lee Campbell, Kyle Berry, Dustin Jordan, Gregory Goodrich, Rezaul Mahmood, Stuart Foster

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

During 1–2 May 2010, a series of strong thunderstorms led to 41, 57, and 43 tornado, severe wind, and severe hail reports, respectively, across portions of the southern United States. In addition to severe weather, these storms also distributed recordsetting rainfall amounts across the mid-South region, which contributed to historic flooding across portions of central and western Kentucky and Tennessee (Fig. 1). This heavy precipitation event was sampled by multiple surface observational networks, including (but not limited to) 48 research-grade automated stations from the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet .org), first-order automated stations from the National Weather Service (NWS; www.ncdc.noaa.gov /oa/ncdc.html), and …

The Feasibility Of Switchgrass For Biofuel Production, Rob Mitchell, Kenneth P. Vogel, Daniel R. Uden

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Switchgrass research has been conducted cooperatively by the US Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska since the mid-1930s, with a primary focus on bioenergy since 1990 at several institutions. Progress has been made in switchgrass breeding and genetics, molecular genetics, establishment, fertility management, production economics, production energetics, harvest and storage management, ecosystem services and ethanol yield. A complete field-validated biomass production system has been developed for the Midwest and Central Plains. Even with favorable economic and sustainability results from field trials, switchgrass for bioenergy has not been adopted on a large scale. Lack of adoption is likely due …

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 …

Energy Of The Future: Nuclear Energy, Najla Zogheib

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Energy of the Future: Nuclear Energy

Nebraska’S Secret, Shea Winkler

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Nebraska’s Secret

Thorium; Fuel For Thought?, Miles Wynn

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Thorium; Fuel for Thought?

How Wind Energy May Be The Next Big Thing, Erinn Richert

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

How Wind Energy May Be the Next Big Thing

“A Portfolio Of Dreams: Clean Energy As An Investment”, Eric Holley

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

“A Portfolio of Dreams: Clean Energy as an Investment”

Indoor Climate-Control, Joseph Komenda

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Indoor Climate-control

From Invader To Income, Tatiana Height

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

From Invader to Income

Is A Carbon Tax The Answer?, Sarah Gardels

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Is A Carbon Tax the Answer?

Bottled Disaster, Alex Arneson

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Bottled Disaster

Green Crude: Energy For The New Climate Era, Tobias Burnham

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Green Crude: Energy for the New Climate Era

Producing Biofuels Without Raising The Food Price, Lais Speranza

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Producing Biofuels without Raising the Food Price

Why We Need Cafe Standards Or A Higher Gasoline Tax, Celeste Wanner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Why We need CAFE Standards or a Higher Gasoline Tax

Africa's Next Step, Kyle Pierce

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Africa's Next step

Integrating Green Energy, Kent Gunderson

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Integrating Green Energy

There Is No Planet B, Lukas Mullins

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

There is No Planet B

Nuclear Power Option, Kyle Mclaughlin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Nuclear Power Option

Weighing The Merits Of Corn Ethanol, Christopher Fulk

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Weighing the Merits of Corn Ethanol

Portfolio Planning For Planet Earth, Alexandra Brown

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Portfolio Planning for Planet Earth

The Energy Independence And Security Act Mandates Biofuel Diversity, Hannah Janda

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The Energy Independence and Security Act Mandates Biofuel Diversity

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

A Review Of National Msw Generation Assessments In The United States, David J. Tonjes, Krista L. Greene

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated in very large quantities (probably, between 200 and 400 million tonnes per year) in the United States (US). MSW is generated at millions of places and there is no one precise, general definition for MSW that is generally applied, despite US Environmental Protection Agency efforts. As an element of both commerce and politics, reporting may be framed towards particular ends. Therefore, the two best known assessments of the quantity of US MSW production differ by approximately 50%. The assessors understand some of the reasons for the differences, but our analysis suggests that there are …

Population Estimate Of Chinese Mystery Snail (Bellamya Chinensis) In A Nebraska Reservoir, Noelle M. Chaine, Craig R. Allen, Kent A. Fricke, Danielle M. Haak, Michelle L. Hellman, Robert A. Kill, Kristine T. Nemec, Kevin L. Pope, Nicholas A. Smeenk, Bruce J. Stephen, Daniel R. Uden, Kody M. Unstad, Ashley E. Vanderham

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The Chinese mystery snail (Bellamya chinensis) is an aquatic invasive species in North America. Little is known regarding this species’ impacts on freshwater ecosystems. It is believed that population densities can be high, yet no population estimates have been reported. We utilized a mark-recapture approach to generate a population estimate for Chinese mystery snail in Wild Plum Lake, a 6.47-ha reservoir in southeast Nebraska. We calculated, using bias-adjusted Lincoln-Petersen estimation, that there were approximately 664 adult snails within a 127 m² transect (5.2 snails/m²). If this density was consistent throughout the littoral zone (depth) of …