Environmental Monitoring Commons^™

Policy And Science Of Geothermal Heat Use At Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica, Joe Alvine

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

My thesis research project deals with the use of geothermal heat in Antarctica. Currently it is not allowed due to article 7 of the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection that placed a 50 moratorium on the exploitation of mineral resources. The US main base in Antarctica, McMurdo Station is currently powered by diesel generators that are inefficient, cause environmental damage, and is expensive to run. By exploring alternative energy options, McMurdo Station can reduce its dependence on non-renewable energy sources. By determining the geothermal potential of McMurdo Station, this project explores the possibilities and benefits that would occur with the …

Improving Ensemble Streamflow Prediction Using Interdecadal/Interannual Climate Variability, Kenneth W. Lamb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The National Weather Service’s (NWS) river forecast centers provide long-term water resource forecasts for the main river basins in the U.S. The NWS creates seasonal streamflow forecasts using an ensemble prediction model called the Extended Streamflow Prediction (ESP) software. ESP creates runoff volume forecasts by taking the current observed soil moisture and snowpack conditions in the basin and applying them to historical temperature and precipitation scenarios. The ESP treats every historic input year as a likely scenario of future basin conditions. Therefore improving the knowledge about how long-term climate cycles impact streamflow can extend the forecast lead time and improve …

Effect Of Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Antecedent Moisture Content On Model-Generated Runoff From An Arid Watershed, William J. Meyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Streams in the arid southwest are typically ephemeral, and stream gages are not commonly available. Consequently, runoff data from storm events is not available, and flood control facility design or other water resource related decisions are based on synthetic hydrographs. In the Mojave Desert region of Southern Nevada, the duration of storm used to develop these synthetic hydrographs is the 6 hour storm. The 6 hour storm is used to simulate high intensity summer storms. Additionally, soils information used in the calculations for these synthetic hydrographs is taken from maps that are generally developed for a broad range of issues …

Algorithms For Remote Estimation Of Chlorophyll-[Alpha] In Coastal And Inland Waters Using Red And Near Infrared Bands, Alexander A. Gilerson, Anatoly Gitelson, Jing Zhou, Daniela Gurlin, Wesley Moses, Ioannis Ioannou, Samir A. Ahmed

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

Remote sensing algorithms that use red and NIR bands for the estimation of chlorophyll-a concentration [Chl] can be more effective in inland and coastal waters than algorithms that use blue and green bands. We tested such two-band and three-band red-NIR algorithms using comprehensive synthetic data sets of reflectance spectra and inherent optical properties related to various water parameters and a very consistent in situ data set from several lakes in Nebraska, USA. The two-band algorithms tested with MERIS bands were R_rs(708)/R_rs(665) and R_rs(753)/R_rs(665). The three-band algorithm with MERIS bands was in the …

Current Status And Long-Term Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Tributaries And Chesapeake Bay Mainstem From 1985 Through 2009, Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane, Suzanne C. Doughten, Frederick A. Hoffman, Raghavendra Kurada

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 …

Isotherms And Kinetics Studies Of Lead Adsorption On Jatropha Seed Husk., Faheem Ahmed Qaid Mohammed

Student Works (2010-2019)

Presence of lead, a heavy metal in the environment has been a serious concern especially with rapid industrialization which has created new uses for lead. The acute toxicity of lead to aquatic Life and humans and the stringent effluent standard to be met by industries as specified by regulatory organizations has necessitated the development of innovative, effective and economical methods for treating lead-bearing wastewater. An adsorption process using an inexpensive adsorbent such as Jatropha seed husk is an attractive option for the removal of lead from wastewater. In this study batch isotherm and kinetic studies were carried out on a …

Report To The Commissioner Of Soil Conservation On The Condition Of The Pastoral Resource Base 2010, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

Western Australia’s rangelands cover 87% of the state and include all but the south west. Pastoral leases, used for grazing of livestock on native vegetation, cover 35% (874,000 km2) of the rangelands, with Unallocated Crown Lands (UCL) and lands vested for conservation and Indigenous purposes making up the balance. There are currently 459 registered pastoral stations (made up of 510 pastoral leases) in Western Australia; there are 159 stations in the Northern Rangelands (Kimberley and Pilbara), 291 stations in the Southern Rangelands, and nine stations in the South West Land Division.

Heavy Metal Concentrations In Water And Surface Sediments Of Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Kentucky, Chad Von Gruenigen, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Heavy metal pollution remains a problem in natural waters, particularly for localities near plausible anthropogenic sources. We assayed the level of heavy metals in surface waters and within surface sediments of Wilgreen Lake, whose watershed drains industrial, urban, and residential areas near Richmond, Kentucky.

Water samples were treated according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocols and digested with trace-metal-grade nitric and hydrochloric acids. Sediment samples were collected with a grab sampler and digested using established EPA procedures with hydrogen peroxide and trace-metal-grade nitric acid. Both water samples and sediment samples were sent to Activation Laboratories for analysis, and were measured …

Patterns Of Heavy Metal Concentration In Core Sediments, Wilgreen Lake, Madison County, Kentucky, Clint Mcmaine, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Elevated levels of cadmium, copper, lead, and nickel were found within the waters of Wilgreen Lake during a preliminary survey in 2007. Accumulation of heavy metals in freshwater systems is a known problem. Heavy metals enter the lake in the dissolved phase or adsorbed onto sediment particles and may be linked to industries within the lake’s watershed. Under certain geochemical conditions such as anoxia, heavy metals may detach from sediment particles and diffuse into overlying lake waters, causing a renewed influx of heavy metals into the ecosystem. We hypothesize that heavy metals should decrease in concentration upcore as a result …

Utilization Of Goes Observation To Evaluate Cloud Prediction By The Wrf, Yun Hee Park

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Land Cover Change Within The Panama Canal Watershed Through The Interpretation Of Aerial Photographs, Casey Calamaio, Zachary Langford

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Walking Box Ranch Planning And Design Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending October 10, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Walking Box Ranch

• UNLV Public Safety is assisting in identifying security methods needed to guarantee safety and security at the ranch after project completion. This effort will involve the assistance of Metro CPTED program officers as design proceeds.
• UNLV IT is determining the extent to which they can assist with networking and technology issues as project design moves forward. They may assist in identifying consultants to hire to assist with technology.
• We have solicited research/education proposals from UNLV faculty for projects to be initiated in the coming year. The goal is to provide seed funding for projects that will expand as the facilities …

Stop Pummeling My Primates: Effects Of Land Use Change On Behaviors Of Papio Anubis Near Lake Manyara National Park In Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania, Hannah Young

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The ever-increasing human population means more land is required for housing and agricultural needs to sustain the growing population. This study involves a group of olive baboons living in and on the boundary of Lake Manyara National Park in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania. They leave the park everyday and travel to surrounding areas. There are three different habitats near the baboons’ exit point of the park, a residential area with houses and some people, an undisturbed area without homes and residents, and an agricultural area, full of farms and the most densely populated area. The object of this study was …

Pesticide Use And Awareness On Pemba Island, Brooke Shorett, Lauren Crask

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Use and awareness of pesticides by 301 farmers on Pemba Island, Tanzania, were surveyed, in order to assess practices and perceptions of pesticide use. Surveys were conducted in both peri-urban farms and rural farms, which were either irrigated or rain-fed. Results showed that while the overwhelming majority of farmers on irrigated fields used pesticides frequently, farmers located in rain-fed irrigation largely farmed without pesticides. Likewise, peri-urban farmers made use of pesticides far more than rural farmers. Of the farmers who did use pesticides, an average of Tsh 17,219 was spent annually on Rogol, Satunil, Dimethoate, Simithion, Thionex and Dursban. Most …

Droughtscape, Fall 2010, Kelly Smith

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

CDC Issues Drought Guidance for Public Health

La Niña May Intensify Drought in South

Recent Workshops and Meetings

East Feels Impacts as Heat Intensifies Drought

New Products

Nicole Wall Co-Facilitates Republican River Basin Task Force

NDMC Climatologist on Ethiopia Team

Extensive Aerosol Optical Properties And Aerosol Mass Related Measurements During Tramp/Texaqs 2006 – Implications For Pm Compliance And Planning, Monica Elizabeth Wright, Dean B. Atkinson, Luke Ziemba, Robert Griffin, Naruki Hiranuma, Sarah D. Brooks, James Flynn, Ryan Perna, Bernhard Rappenglück, Winston Luke, Paul Kelley

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extensive aerosol optical properties, particle size distributions, and Aerodyne quadrupole aerosol mass spectrometer measurements collected during TRAMP/TexAQS 2006 were examined in light of collocated meteorological and chemical measurements. Much of the evident variability in the observed aerosol-related air quality is due to changing synoptic meteorological situations that direct emissions from various sources to the TRAMP site near the center of the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) metropolitan area. In this study, five distinct long-term periods have been identified. During each of these periods, observed aerosol properties have implications that are of interest to environmental quality management agencies. During three of the periods, long …

Trace Metal Concentrations Across Trophic Levels In Cotton Fields Of Xinjiang Province, China, Jessica Quinn

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Trace metals become concentrated in urban and peri-urban soils with the use of agricultural practices and industrial emissions. Fertilizers, liming, sewage sludge, and irrigation water contain metals which accumulate in agricultural fields and pose a risk to humans and wildlife. Coal plants and brickyards release metals into the atmosphere which are deposited on soil and plant surfaces. This research quantifies the concentrations of nine trace metals in three different soil types. A total of 116 rodents were sampled in cotton fields and a desert. Cotton plants and triplicate soil samples were collected with each rodent capture. Soil samples were analyzed …

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 1, 2010 To September 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased by 0.05% over the last quarter. The database now contains 7,669 records.
• Results show an average of 1,060 visits per month, and with an average of 2,597 pages viewed per month.
• Five National Public Lands Day events have been completed.
• The Interagency Volunteer Standard Operations Manual has been updated and revised.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported six volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized 630 volunteers whom contributed 3,686 hours of service.
• Preparations for the volunteer recognition banquet continued.

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 11 adult/juvenile samples from the winter 2009 – spring 2010 sampling. Two manuscripts related to the I-MAP were submitted to the peer-reviewed journal, Aquatic Invasions.

Project 2

• Topics and analyses have been approved for annual report development as prescribed by the Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead and Mohave.
• Content, including links and photos for the front page, four limnology category web pages, and one associated page have been …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quartlerly Progress Report, Period Ending September 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• All milestones and deliverables are on schedule
• Reconnaissance conducted at sites in the Gold Butte during coordinated efforts with USGS
• Annual Project Review Presentation provided to Clark County
• Spring-season mark-recapture at Blue Point Spring completed this quarter
• Fall-season mark-recapture effort initiated

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• This project has been completed and all associated deliverables have been met

Project 3. Peregrine Falcon Monitoring and Evaluation

• This project has been completed and all final report deliverables have been met
• Presentations were given at the Raptor Research Foundation Annual Conference …

Eelgrass Distribution In The Great Bay Estuary For 2009 : Final Report, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

Eelgrass in the Great Bay Estuary in 2009 was once again present only in Great Bay itself and in Portsmouth Harbor. For the second year in a row, there was no eelgrass in Little Bay or in the Piscataqua River. In 2009, there was a continued loss of eelgrass biomass in Great Bay; there has been a 66.4% loss of biomass in Great Bay since 1996 and distribution is 30% less than in 1996. Although eelgrass distribution in Great Bay itself increased between 2008 and 2009, primarily due to continued expansion from natural seeding of bare areas, the Bay’s eelgrass …

Construction Cost Models, Barry Dikeman

Economics and Finance

The following are a series of cost estimate models similar in format to a typical engineer’s estimate that were developed in support of our financial impact assessment report for LD 1725. The models us current material costs, labor costs, and equipment costs for the region to provide a comparative cost analysis of seven culvert replacement scenarios. The models provide information about what the cost impact of LD 1725 would be for typical culvert replacements in Maine. However, due to the inherent restrictions of the cost modeling framework we were not able to include the abundance of variables that would be …

Knowing Your Community: Fostering Biodiversity Awareness In Our Students’ Daily Existence, Tony Cummings Bs, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

There are strong arguments suggesting that developing students’ sensitivity to local biodiversity and conservation issues is as important as emphasizing an understanding of global conservation issues happening in faraway lands (Ehrenfeld, 2009). Many students arrive at a Study Abroad destination, with a good understanding of theory, but with little field experience at home. Environmental educators in Study Abroad are able to use the novelty and grandeur of our exotic destinations to systematically teach students the patterns and processes of ecological and human communities at our sites, while inspiring a sense of place in our students. By immersing students in the …

Algal Biomass Accrual In Relation To Nutrient Availability Along A Longitudinal Gradient In The Upper Green River, Kentucky, Mary Douglas Penick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nutrient limitation in aquatic ecosystems results from a deficiency in nitrogen or phosphorus levels relative to cellular growth needs. Nutrient limitation of freshwater systems is a function of biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors include vascular and nonvascular plant community composition. Abiotic factors include underlying bedrock and land-use activities (e.g. agriculture, septic systems). Nutrient availability directly affects growth, productivity, and community structure of primary producers. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to assess the relationship between ambient algal biomass. and in-stream nutrient levels along the longitudinal course of a river through a transition from weak to well-developed underlying …

Cockatoo Sands Soil Survey : Assessment Of The Potential Irrigation Areas, Kununurra Area, East Kimberley, Henry Smolinski, Kus Kuswardiyanto, Justin Laycock

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Water Erosion Hazard Assessment Of The Lort And Young Rivers Catchment, Karen Holmes, John Andrew Simons, B Marillier, N Callow, Paul Galloway

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Summer 2010, Kelly Smith

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

Upcoming Workshops

Mild Drought Season Likely to Persist

Drought Impacts Intensify in Upper Midwest

Visiting Scientists

North Carolina Takes Drought Monitor Seriously

International Work- Murcia, Spain, June

River Sediment Sampling Methods: Causeway Building And Removal, Dillon Dittmer

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) suspect that causeways have a negative impact on river ecology both when installed and when removed. The Nebraska Department of Roads routinely uses causeways as a tool in the construction and repair of bridges. Although research has not been conducted on the impact of causeway building and removal data has been collected about the impact of dams, causeways, etc. on estuaries. This data is considered subjective and authors often cite sampling methods as a source of error. Currently there are no widely used handheld sampling methods that …

Survey Of Resource Managers Completed On Monitoring And Management Actions For Rare Plants In Arizona And Nevada, Scott R. Abella

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

In a collaborative project with Northern Arizona University and more than 35 resource managers in Arizona and Nevada, we completed a survey of monitoring and management activities that are ongoing in these states for conserving populations of rare plants. We sent questionnaires consisting of 16 questions to as many resource managers as possible in these states and had follow-up conversations with several managers willing to share their perspective on ongoing conservation actions. The findings may be interesting for managers to see what issues and management strategies other managers in the same or different regions are grappling with. Results will be …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending June 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 14 adult/juvenile samples from the fall 2009 – spring 2010 sampling.
• Sampling for the first of two small-scale research projects funded by this task agreement (Abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead) was initiated on June 16, 2010.

Project 2

• Topics and proposed analyses have been drafted for annual report development as prescribed by the Plan.
• A plan for developing and organizing NPS limnology-related web pages has been documented and content has …