Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Calibrating Human Attention As Indicator: Monitoring #Drought In The Twittersphere, Kelly Smith, Andrew Tyre, Zhenghong Tang, Michael Hayes, Adnan Akyuz

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

State climatologists and other expert drought observers have speculated about the value of monitoring Twitter for #drought and related hashtags. This study statistically examines the relationships between the rate of tweeting using #drought and related hashtags, within states, accounting for drought status and news coverage of drought. We collected and geolocated tweets, 2017–18, and used regression analysis and a diversity statistic to explain expected and identify unexpected volumes of tweets. This provides a quantifiable means to detect state-weeks with a volume of tweets that exceeds the upper limit of the prediction interval. To filter out instances where a high volume …

Droughtscape, Fall 2020, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Fall 2020

Trace Metals And The Environment: Studying The Behaviour Of Iceland’S Glacially Sourced Trace Metals, Owen Bailey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Trace metal contamination in marine ecosystems is a problem for every trophic level, from zooplankton up to humans. The mobility and uptake availability of these metals depend on such environmental parameters as salinity, temperature, and pH, among others. To explore the effects of varying parameters on dissolved metal behaviour, I studied the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, into which the Breidamerkurjökull glacier deposits trace metals from volcanic ash through glacial melt. In this study I develop and follow a sampling procedure to analyze trace metal concentrations in the lagoon, while additionally discussing the behaviour and impact of trace metals, focusing on cadmium, …

Water Quality Assessment In The Occurrence Of Acanthaster Spp. (Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish, Cots) On Coral Reefs In Menjangan Island, Bali, Indonesia, Novia Arinda Pradisty, Eghbert Elvan Ampou, Rizki Hanintyo

Makara Journal of Science

Aquatic stressors are known to cause biological impairment that can result in biodiversity loss in several Marine Protected Areas (MPA), including in Menjangan Island, West Bali National Park. The objectives of this study were to correlate the changes in water quality parameters with the biological effect of Crown-of-Thorns starfish (CoTS) population dynamics and to assess the most applicable parameters for continuous environmental monitoring. Field observations and surveys were conducted three times in 2017, during the wet season, dry season and season transition, in order to assess the effect of seasonal variability. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was performed to determine the relationship …

Assessment Of Switchgrass-Based Bioenergy Supply Using Gis-Based Fuzzy Logic And Network Optimization In Missouri (U.S.A.), Gia Nguyen, Erik Lyttek, Pankaj Lal, Taylor Wieczerak, Pralhad Burli

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Bioenergy has been globally recognized as one of the sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. An assured supply of biomass feedstocks is a crucial bottleneck for the bioenergy industry emanating from uncertainties in land-use changes and future prices. Analytical approaches deriving from geographical information systems (GIS)-based analysis, mathematical modeling, optimization analyses, and empirical techniques have been widely used to evaluate the potential for bioenergy feedstock. In this study, we propose a three-phase methodology integrating fuzzy logic, network optimization, and ecosystem services assessment to estimate potential bioenergy supply. The fuzzy logic analysis uses multiple spatial criteria to identify suitable biomass cultivating regions. …

Tidal Wetland Inundation And Vegetation Phenology From Space: A Synthesis Of Approaches For Characterizing Ecological Status And Inundation Dynamics In Tidal Wetlands With Remote Sensing Observations, Brian T. Lamb

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on the monitoring and characterization of tidal marshes using remote sensing-based approaches. Chapter 1 introduces the topics of wetland ecology and remote sensing. Chapters 2-4 are the main research chapters of the dissertation covering the topics of tidal marsh mapping, tidal marsh vegetation characterization, and assessment of tidal marsh inundation patterns. Chapter 5 summarizes the preceding chapters and highlights future research directions.

The primary research objective of Chapter 2 is the mapping and study of tidal marshes of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. This chapter also features a thematic focus on the evaluation of various forms of …

Using Cold War-Era Satellite Imagery To Inform Historic Land Cover Classification, Nicholas Hamp-Adams

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Trend Of Thornthwaite's Aridity Index (Ai) At Atakpame (Togo), Komlan Koudahe

International Programs

Drought can severely affect agricultural production potential, destroying the local economy and creating famine. Data were collected (1990 to 2014) from the Meteorological Department of Togo. Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) varied with two peaks obtained on March 28 (5.84mm) and on November 17 (4.87mm). There was water deficit in all years except 2005 and 2007. Also, there was non-significant increasing trend of aridity index (AI). Specific actions should target efficient water management in Atakpame.

The Source Detection Of 28 September 2018 Sulawesi Tsunami By Using Ionospheric Gnss Total Electron Content Disturbance, Jann-Yenq Liu, Chi-Yen Lin, Yuh-Ing Chen, Tso-Ren Wu, Meng-Ju Chung, Tien-Chi Liu, Yu-Lin Tsai, Loren C. Chang, Chi-Kuang Chao, Dimitar Ouzounov, Katsumi Hattori

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The 28 September 2018 magnitude Mw7.8 Palu, Indonesia earthquake (0.178° S, 119.840° E, depth 13 km) occurred at 10:02 UTC. The major earthquake triggered catastrophic liquefaction, landslides, and a near-field tsunami. The ionospheric total electron content (TEC) derived from records of 5 ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers is employed to detect tsunami traveling ionospheric disturbances (TTIDs). In total, 15 TTIDs have been detected. The ray-tracing and beamforming techniques are then used to find the TTID source location. The bootstrap method is applied in order to further explore the possible location of the tsunami source based on results of …

Using Climate To Explain And Predict West Nile Virus Risk In Nebraska, Kelly Helm Smith, Andrew J. Tyre, Jeff Hamik, Michael J. Hayes, Yuzhen Zhou, Li Dai

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

We used monthly precipitation and temperature data to give early warning of years with higher West Nile Virus (WNV) risk in Nebraska. We used generalized additive models with a negative binomial distribution and smoothing curves to identify combinations of extremes and timing that had the most influence, experimenting with all combinations of temperature and drought data, lagged by 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months. We fit models on data from 2002 through 2011, used Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) to select the best‐fitting model, and used 2012 as out‐of‐sample data for prediction, and repeated this process for each successive year, …

The Post-Wildfire Impact Of Burn Severity And Age On Black Carbon Snow Deposition And Implications For Snow Water Resources, Cascade Range, Washington, Ted M. Uecker, Susan D. Kaspari, Keith N. Musselman, S. Mckenzie Skiles

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Wildfires in the snow zone affect ablation by removing forest canopy, which enhances surface solar irradiance, and depositing light absorbing particles [LAPs, such as black carbon (BC)] on the snowpack, reducing snow albedo. How variations in BC deposition affects post-wildfire snowmelt timing is poorly known and highly relevant to water resources. We present a field-based analysis of BC variability across five sites of varying burn age and burn severity in the Cascade Range, Washington State, United States. Single particle soot photometer (SP2) analyses of BC snow concentrations were used to assess the impact of BC on snow albedo, and radiative …

The Legacy Of Mining In Southwest Missouri: Past And Present Conditions Of The Tri-State Mining District, Anastasia M C Mcclanahan

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The historic Tri-State Mining District (TSMD) of southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma has a history of lead and zinc mining that extended over a hundred years. During the district’s peak production period, the TSMD was one of the world’s largest producers of lead and zinc. The mining activities in the TSMD produced economic growth that supported the local communities and were essential to the victory of the Allied Forces during World War I and World War II. Beginning in the 1920s, the mining activities in the district slowly began to cease due to depletion of metal ores and …

A Geochemical And Statistical Investigation Of The Big Four Springs Region In Southern Missouri, Jordan Jasso Vega

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Big Four Springs region hosts four major first-order magnitude springs in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. These springs are Big Spring (Carter County, MO), Greer Spring (Oregon County, MO), Mammoth Spring (Fulton County, AR), and Hodgson Mill Spring (Ozark County, MO). Based on historic dye traces and hydrogeological investigations, these springs drain an area of approximately 1500 square miles and collectively discharge an average of 780 million gallons of water per day. The rocks from youngest to oldest that are found in Big Four Springs region are the Cotter and Jefferson City Dolomite (Ordovician), Roubidoux Formation (Ordovician), Gasconade Dolomite …

Field Measurements Of Bed-Load Transport Distances Using Painted Sediment Tracers In An Urban Stream In The Missouri Ozarks, Kristen E. Breckenridge

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Predictions of bed-load mobility and transport in stream channels are useful for restoration and management purposes. This study uses native gravel tracers to determine transport distances for bed-load in an urban stream in the Ozark Highlands. The objectives of this project are to: (i) determine downstream transport distances of painted tracers of different sizes over a range of flow conditions; (ii) evaluate the influence of channel morphology and thalweg location on transport; and (iii) compare field results to those predicted by mobility equations. The study site is located on South Creek, which drains Springfield, Missouri. The study reach is 132 …

Phosphorus Variability In The Area Of Influence Of The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, Peter Mates

LSU Master's Theses

Man-made levees along the lower Mississippi River prevent delivery of sediment from building and maintaining Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. The Mid-Barataria sediment diversions is designed to reintroduce Mississippi River water, sediment, and nutrients into the sediment-starved Barataria Basin. Phosphorus (P) is an important macronutrient for regulating primary production in coastal marine ecosystems. Wetlands can serve as a sink or source for phosphorus to the overlying water column through various retention and release processes, dependent on concentration. Louisiana coastal systems can be phosphorus limited due to much higher concentrations of bioavailable Nitrogen in river water. The high soluble molar N:P ( >50:1) …

Monitoring Residual Soil Moisture And Its Association To The Long-Term Variability Of Rainfall Over The Upper Blue Nile Basin In Ethiopia, Getachew Ayehu, Tsegaye Tadesse, Berhan Gessesse

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Monitoring soil moisture and its association with rainfall variability is important to comprehend the hydrological processes and to set proper agricultural water use management to maximize crop growth and productivity. In this study, the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) soil moisture product was applied to assess the dynamics of residual soil moisture in autumn (September to November) and its response to the long-term variability of rainfall in the Upper Blue Nile Basin (UBNB) of Ethiopia from 1992 to 2017. The basin was found to have autumn soil moisture (ASM) ranging from 0.09–0.38 m³/m³, …

Droughtscape, Summer 2020, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Summer 2020

Earthworm Dynamics In Tallgrass Prairies In The Ozark Highlands Region Of Northwest Arkansas, Carlee Hensley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tallgrass prairie was a historic and is presently a unique and endangered natural ecosystem throughout the Ozark Highlands region in the mid-southern United States. Tallgrass prairies have been disturbed for agricultural production and/or urban expansion; thus, as a result, efforts have been undertaken to reclaim areas previously used for agricultural production to mitigate the loss of tallgrass prairies. Limited research exists on earthworm dynamics in mounded tallgrass prairies or prairie restorations, particularly in the Ozark Highlands region of northwest Arkansas. The objectives of this study were to i) evaluate the effects of soil moisture regime (SMR; aquic and udic), landscape …

Long-Term Ndvi And Recent Vegetation Cover Profiles Of Major Offshore Island Nesting Sites Of Sea Turtles In Saudi Waters Of The Northern Arabian Gulf, Rommel H. Maneja, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Joshua J. Dagoy, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Abdullajid U. Basali, Khaled A. Al-Abdulkader, Ronald A. Loughland, Mohamed A. Qurban

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Vegetation is an important ecological component of offshore islands in the Arabian Gulf (AG), which maintains long-term resilience of these islands. This is achieved by influencing sediment retention and moisture acquisition via condensation during periods of high humidity and by providing a variety of microhabitats for island fauna. The resilience of offshore islands’ ecosystems in the Saudi waters is important because they host the largest number of nesting hawksbill and green turtles in the AG. This study defines the characteristics and the long-term trends in vegetation cover of the offshore islands used by sea turtles as nesting grounds in the …

Great Basin Paleoclimate And Aridity Linked To Artic Warming And Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperature, Matthew S. Lachniet, Yemane Asmerom, Victor Polyak, Rhawn Denniston

Geoscience Faculty Research

The arid southwestern United States is susceptible to sustained droughts that impact water resources and economic activity for millions of residents. Previous work has not systematically investigated the structure, timing, and possible forcings of Holocene Great Basin sub‐orbital hydroclimate changes, impeding our ability to understand the potential future controls on Southwestern aridity. The objective of this paper is to constrain the potential forcings on Holocene aridity and temperature, via comparison of new high‐resolution speleothem data, an Aridity Index synthesizing hydroclimate records, and linkages of Southwestern paleoclimate to other regions. The high‐resolution data from Leviathan Cave provide a paleoclimate record since …

Seasonal Transport Of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon And Total Alkalinity Across The Louisiana Shelf, Michelle M. Anderson

LSU Master's Theses

Rivers and wetlands are a major source of terrestrial derived carbon for coastal ocean margins. Unfortunately, Louisiana’s wetlands are threatened by ongoing high rates of erosion, deterioration, and unprecedented rates of river water discharge that changes seasonally, leading to a net loss of terrestrial carbon into the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM). There exists a current lack of understanding about the distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TAlk) within the shallowest regions of the Louisiana shelf. Even less is known about how the transport of DIC alters seasonally with changes in river outflow and shelf currents. Quantifying …

Combined Use Of Sentinel‐1 Sar And Landsat Sensors Products For Residual Soil Moisture Retrieval Over Agricultural Fields In The Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia, Getachew Ayehu, Tsegaye Tadesse, Berhan Gessesse, Yibeltal Yigrem, Assefa M. Melesse

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of sentinel‐1 SAR sensor products and the contribution of soil roughness parameters to estimate volumetric residual soil moisture (RSM) in the Upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin, Ethiopia. The backscatter contribution of crop residue water content was estimated using Landsat sensor product and the water cloud model (WCM). The surface roughness parameters were estimated from the Oh and Baghdadi models. A feed‐forward artificial neural network (ANN) method was tested for its potential to translate SAR backscattering and surface roughness input variables to RSM values. The model was trained for three inversion …

The Effect Of Soil Ph On Phosphorus Content Of Clover Pasture, David Weaver, Robert Summers, David Rogers, Peta Richards

Resource management technical reports

Testing of pasture soils from 2009 to 2018, as part of DPIRD’s Whole Farm Nutrient Mapping (WFNM) project in the coastal catchments of south-west Western Australia (WA), indicated that soil pH was so low it could be limiting plant access to nutrients. Observations by some farmers who had been involved in the soil testing were that lime application had not increased pasture production, even when pH_Ca (pH measured in calcium chloride) tests indicated that phosphorus (P) should become more available by increasing soil pH. Farmers also wanted to know if they needed to apply more P than soil testing …

A Hydrometeorological Assessment Of The Historic 2019 Flood Of Nebraska, Iowa, And South Dakota, Paul Xavier Flanagan, Rezaul Mahmood, Natalie Umphlett, Erin M.K. Haacker, Chittaranjan Ray, Bill Sorensen, Martha Shulski, Crystal J. Stiles, David Pearson, Paul Fajman

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

During early 2019, a series of events set the stage for devastating floods in eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, and southeastern South Dakota. When the floodwaters hit, dams and levees failed, cutting off towns, while destroying roads, bridges, and rail lines, further exacerbating the crisis. Lives were lost and thousands of cattle were stranded. Estimates indicate that the cost of the flooding has topped $3 billion as of August 2019, with this number expected to rise.

After a warm and wet start to winter, eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, and southeastern South Dakota endured anomalously low temperatures and record-breaking snowfall. By March …

Characterizing Surface Water From Space With Microwave Remote Sensing: Advancing Conventional And Emerging Approaches, Katherine Jensen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extent and dynamics of land surface inundation vary tremendously across the globe. Accurate spatial representation of terrestrial surface water is of critical importance for management and conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services associated with freshwater. Furthermore, surface water maps representing dynamic characteristics of inundated areas are also valuable for the development of wetland inventories and to assess the role of wetlands as major natural sources of methane to the atmosphere. Despite the importance of these environments in global processes and to current and future climate, the extent and dynamics of global wetlands remain poorly characterized and modeled.

The …

Storm Surges In The Bohai Sea: The Role Of Waves And Tides, Yuanyi Li, Huan Feng, Guillaume Vigouroux, Dekui Yuan, Guangyu Zhang, Xiaodi Ma, Kun Lei

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A storm surge is a complex phenomenon in which waves, tide and current interact. Even though wind is the predominant force driving the surge, waves and tidal phase are also important factors that influence the mass and momentum transport during the surge. Devastating storm surges often occur in the Bohai Sea, a semi-enclosed shallow sea in North China, due to extreme storms. However, the effects of waves on storm surges in the Bohai Sea have not been quantified and the mechanisms responsible for the higher surges that affect part of the Bohai Sea have not been thoroughly studied. In this …

Space And Depth-Resolved Naturally Occurring Toxic Groundwater Species In Bangladesh And Rwanda: Origination And Risk Analysis, Kenneth Hamilton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Access to safe potable water is a necessity for all. Groundwater is a commonly relied upon drinking water source for many areas around the world. This is especially true for communities in high density, rural settings. Such is the case for populations near Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, and in the Bugesera region of Rwanda. Sediment and groundwater contamination, through toxic dissolved species, represents a significant public health risk to exposed populations. Tropical soils, such as the soil profiles in Bangladesh and Rwanda, often contain higher concentrations of heavy metals (Rieuwerts, 2007). Additionally, nitrate from fertilizers, are widely used on the soils …

A Comparison Of Fuel Reduction Methods For Wildfire Risk Management And Climate Change Resiliency In Mixed Conifer Forests In The Sierra Nevada, Heather Navle

Master's Projects and Capstones

Wildfires in the mixed conifer forests of California’s Sierra Nevada have been a common and natural disturbance for thousands of years, historically occurring every 3 to 30 years. The flora and fauna of the mixed conifer forest have evolved to depend on low to moderate severity wildfires for reproduction, foraging, and habitat. However, the Sierra Nevada has experienced dramatic environmental changes over the past ~150 years as a result of three main factors: wildfire suppression, climate change, and habitat loss. Because of the threat wildfires pose to human lives, property and timber harvest, they have been suppressed to an extent …

Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

Building Adaptive Capacity In Tribal Communities Of The Missouri River Basin To Manage Drought And Climate Extremes: A Case Study From The Wind River Indian Reservation, Crystal J. Stiles, Natalie Umphlett, Mitch Cottenoir

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Native American peoples of the Northern and Central Plains have long endured harsh climate conditions, such as floods and droughts, and they possess valuable traditional knowledges that have enhanced their resilience to these extreme events. However, in recent times, limited capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing climate combined with a lack of resources have increased tribes’ vulnerability to climate extremes and their associated impacts. In response, a number of projects have been developed to assist tribes with their self-identified climate- and drought-related needs, particularly in the context of on-reservation decision-making. In this case study, we present an engagement strategy …