Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Deep Subsurface Drip Irrigation Using Coal-Bed Sodic Water: Part Ii. Geochemistry, Carleton R. Bern, George N. Breit, Richard W. Healy, John W. Zupancic

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Waters with low salinity and high sodium adsorption ratios (SARs) present a challenge to irrigation because they degrade soil structure and infiltration capacity. In the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, such low salinity (electrical conductivity, EC 2.1 mS cm⁻¹) and high-SAR (54) waters are co-produced with coal-bed methane and some are used for subsurface drip irrigation (SDI). The SDI system studied mixes sulfuric acid with irrigation water and applies water year-round via drip tubing buried 92 cm deep. After six years of irrigation, SAR values between 0 and 30 cm depth (0.5–1.2) are only slightly increased over non-irrigated …

Geochemical Evidence For Seasonal Controls On The Transportation Of Holocene Loess, Matanuska Valley, Southern Alaska, Usa, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn, Gary Skipp, John P. Mcgeehin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is a widespread Quaternary deposit in Alaska and loess accretion occurs today in some regions, such as the Matanuska Valley. The source of loess in the Matanuska Valley has been debated for more than seven decades, with the Knik River and the Matanuska River, both to the east, being the leading candidates and the Susitna River, to the west, as a less favorable source. We report here new stratigraphic, mineralogic, and geochemical data that test the competing hypotheses of these river sources. Loess thickness data are consistent with previous studies that show that a source or sources lay to …

Retrospective: Adjusting Contaminant Concentrations In Bird Eggs To Account For Moisture And Lipid Loss During Their Incubation, Barnett A. Rattner, Stanley N. Wiemeyer, Lawrence J. Blus

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

By the 1960s, research and monitoring efforts on chlorinated

pesticide residues in tissues of wildlife were well

underway in North America and Europe. Conservationists

and natural resource managers were attempting to resolve

whether pesticide exposure and accumulated residues were

related to population declines in several species of predatory

and scavenging birds (e.g., bald eagle Haliaeetus

leucocephalus, peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus, brown

pelican Pelecanus occidentalis and osprey Pandion haliaetus).

The avian egg was a favored sampling matrix even

before the realization that eggshell thinning was linked to

population declines (Ratcliffe 1967; Hickey and Anderson

1968) and that the …

Component Greenhouse Gas Fluxes And Radiative Balance From Two Deltaic Marshes In Louisiana: Pairing Chamber Techniques And Eddy Covariance, Ken W. Krauss, Guerry O. Holm Jr., Brian C. Perez, David E. Mcwhorter, Nicole Cormier, Rebecca F. Moss, Darren J. Johnson, Scott C. Neubauer, Richard C. Raynie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Coastal marshes take up atmospheric CO₂ while emitting CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O. This ability to sequester carbon (C) is much greater for wetlands on a per area basis than from most ecosystems, facilitating scientific, political, and economic interest in their value as greenhouse gas sinks. However, the greenhouse gas balance of Gulf of Mexico wetlands is particularly understudied. We describe the net ecosystem exchange (NEE_c) of CO₂ and CH₄ using eddy covariance (EC) in comparison with fluxes of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O using …

Mapping Marginal Croplands Suitable For Cellulosic Feedstock Crops In The Great Plains, United States, Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Growing cellulosic feedstock crops (e.g., switchgrass) for biofuel is more environmentally sustainable than cornbased ethanol. Specifically, this practice can reduce soil erosion and water quality impairment from pesticides and fertilizer, improve ecosystem services and sustainability (e.g., serve as carbon sinks), and minimize impacts on global food supplies. The main goal of this study was to identify high-risk marginal croplands that are potentially suitable for growing cellulosic feedstock crops (e.g., switchgrass) in the US Great Plains (GP). Satellitederived growing season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, a switchgrass biomass productivity map obtained from a previous study, US Geological Survey (USGS) irrigation and crop …

Evaluating Methods To Establish Habitat Suitability Criteria: A Case Study In The Upper Delaware River Basin, Usa, H. S. Galbraith, C. J. Blakeslee, J. C. Cole, C. A. Talbert, K. O. Maloney

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Defining habitat suitability criteria (HSC) of aquatic biota can be a key component to environmental flow science. HSC can be developed through numerous methods; however, few studies have evaluated the consistency of HSC developed by different methodologies. We directly compared HSC for depth and velocity developed by the Delphi method (expert opinion) and by two primary literature meta-analyses (literature- derived range and interquartile range) to assess whether these independent methods produce analogous criteria for multiple species (rainbow trout, brown trout, American shad, and shallow fast guild) and life stages. We further evaluated how these two independently developed HSC affect calculations …

Evaluating Land Cover Influences On Model Uncertainties—A Case Study Of Cropland Carbon Dynamics In The Mid-Continent Intensive Campaign Region, Zhengpeng Li, Shuguang Liu, Xuesong Zhang, Tristram O. West, Stephen M. Ogle, Naijun Zhou

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

tQuantifying spatial and temporal patterns of carbon sources and sinks and their uncertainties acrossagriculture-dominated areas remains challenging for understanding regional carbon cycles. Character-istics of local land cover inputs could impact the regional carbon estimates but the effect has not beenfully evaluated in the past. Within the North American Carbon Program Mid-Continent Intensive (MCI)Campaign, three models were developed to estimate carbon fluxes on croplands: an inventory-basedmodel, the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model, and the General Ensemble biogeo-chemical Modeling System (GEMS) model. They all provided estimates of three major carbon fluxes oncropland: net primary production (NPP), net ecosystem production (NEP), and …

Processes Contributing To Resilience Of Coastal Wetlands To Sea-Level Rise, Camille L. Stagg, Ken W. Krauss, Donald R. Cahoon, Nicole Cormier, William H. Conner, Christopher M. Swarzenski

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The objectives of this study were to identify processes that contribute to resilience of coastal wetlands subject to rising sea levels and to determine whether the relative contribution of these processes varies across different wetland community types. We assessed the resilience of wetlands to sea-level rise along a transitional gradient from tidal freshwater forested wetland (TFFW) to marsh by measuring processes controlling wetland elevation. We found that, over 5 years of measurement, TFFWs were resilient, although some marginally, and oligohaline marshes exhibited robust resilience to sea-level rise. We identified fundamental differences in how resilience is maintained across wetland community types, …

Conserving California Condors In The 1980s, Noel F.R. Snyder

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

By the late 1970s, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) was in serious trouble, with probably no more than about 30 birds left in existence, all in a mountainous region just north of Los Angeles that is vegetated mainly in chaparral and grasslands. All estimates of population size and trends offered since the early condor studies by Carl Koford in the 1930s and 1940s indicated a continuing decline toward extinction, and it appeared that few years were left before the species would be gone (see Koford, 1953; Wilbur, 1978). Evidently, the conservation steps that had been taken, including the …

Patuxent’S American Black Duck Studies From Chesapeake Bay To Maine And Beyond, Jerry R. Longcore

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The information in this chapter draws on published literature and unpublished reports written by staff members of the U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent), during its 75-year history. Reports by Bureau of Biological Survey (Biological Survey) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) personnel are included because the research entity currently known as Patuxent was formerly administered by these agencies. Some of the cited reports were prepared by USFWS scientists while they were not working at Patuxent. Literature resulting from work at other Federal and State agencies and private and academic institutions that influenced research at Patuxent on …

The Migratory Bird And Habitat Research Laboratory And The Accelerated Research Program, Richard A. Coon

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) housed two important programs that were not supervised through the office of the Director of Patuxent during the 1960s and 1970s. Although they received administrative support from Patuxent, they were supervised from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) headquarters in Washington, D.C. One, the Migratory Bird Populations Station (MBPS), was established in 1961; the other, the Migratory Bird and Habitat Research Laboratory (MBHRL), was established in 1972 (Perry, 2004). This chapter briefly discusses MBPS and how some of its functions were transferred to MBHRL when this new laboratory was created.

Amino Acid Specific Stable Nitrogen Isotope Values In Avian Tissues: Insights From Captive American Kestrels And Wild Herring Gulls, C.E. Hebert, B.N. Popp, K.J. Fernie, C. Ka’Apu-Lyons, B.A. Rattner, N. Wallsgrove

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Through laboratory and field studies, the utility of amino acid compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis (AA-CSIA) in avian studies is investigated. Captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) were fed an isotopically characterized diet and patterns in δ15N values of amino acids (AAs) were compared to those in their tissues (muscle and red blood cells) and food. Based upon nitrogen isotope discrimination between diet and kestrel tissues, AAs could mostly be categorized as source AAs (retaining baseline δ15N values) and trophic AAs (showing 15N enrichment). Trophic discrimination factors based upon the source (phenylalanine, Phe) and trophic (glutamic acid, Glu) AAs were 4.1 (muscle) …

Non-Linear Responses Of Glaciated Prairie Wetlands To Climate Warming, W. Carter Johnson, Brett Werner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The response of ecosystems to climate warming is likely to include threshold events when small changes in key environmental drivers produce large changes in an ecosystem. Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are especially sensitive to climate variability, yet the possibility that functional changes may occur more rapidly with warming than expected has not been examined or modeled. The productivity and biodiversity of these wetlands are strongly controlled by the speed and completeness of a vegetation cover cycle driven by the wet and dry extremes of climate. Two thresholds involving duration and depth of standing water must be exceeded …

Pranked By Audubon: Constantine S. Rafinesque’S Description Of John James Audubon’S Imaginary Kentucky Mammals, Neal Woodman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The North American naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque spent much of the year 1818 engaged in a solo journey down the Ohio River Valley to explore parts of what was then the western United States. Along the way, he visited a number of fellow naturalists, and he spent more than a week at the Henderson, Kentucky, home of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. During the succeeding two years, Rafinesque published descriptions of new species that resulted from his expedition, including eleven species of fishes that eventually proved to have been invented by Audubon as a prank on the credulous naturalist. …

Amino Acid Specific Stable Nitrogen Isotope Values In Avian Tissues: Insights From Captive American Kestrels And Wild Herring Gulls, C.E. Hebert, B.N. Popp, K.J. Fernie, C. Ka’Apu-Lyons, B.A. Rattner, N. Wallsgrove

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Through laboratory and field studies, the utility of amino acid compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis (AA-CSIA) in avian studies is investigated. Captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) were fed an isotopically characterized diet and patterns in δ15N values of amino acids (AAs) were compared to those in their tissues (muscle and red blood cells) and food. Based upon nitrogen isotope discrimination between diet and kestrel tissues, AAs could mostly be categorized as source AAs (retaining baseline δ15N values) and trophic AAs (showing 15N enrichment). Trophic discrimination factors based upon the source (phenylalanine, Phe) and trophic (glutamic acid, Glu) AAs were 4.1 (muscle) …

Non-Linear Responses Of Glaciated Prairie Wetlands To Climate Warming, W. Carter Johnson, Brett Werner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The response of ecosystems to climate warming is likely to include threshold events when small changes in key environmental drivers produce large changes in an ecosystem. Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are especially sensitive to climate variability, yet the possibility that functional changes may occur more rapidly with warming than expected has not been examined or modeled. The productivity and biodiversity of these wetlands are strongly controlled by the speed and completeness of a vegetation cover cycle driven by the wet and dry extremes of climate. Two thresholds involving duration and depth of standing water must be exceeded …

Pranked By Audubon: Constantine S. Rafinesque’S Description Of John James Audubon’S Imaginary Kentucky Mammals, Neal Woodman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The North American naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque spent much of the year 1818 engaged in a solo journey down the Ohio River Valley to explore parts of what was then the western United States. Along the way, he visited a number of fellow naturalists, and he spent more than a week at the Henderson, Kentucky, home of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. During the succeeding two years, Rafinesque published descriptions of new species that resulted from his expedition, including eleven species of fishes that eventually proved to have been invented by Audubon as a prank on the credulous naturalist. …

Optical Properties And Bioavailability Of Dissolved Organic Matter Along A Flow-Path Continuum From Soil Pore Waters To The Kolyma River Mainstem, East Siberia, Karen E. Frey, William V. Sobczak, Paul J. Mann, Robert M. Holmes

Geography

The Kolyma River in northeast Siberia is among the six largest Arctic rivers and drains a region underlain by vast deposits of Holocene-aged peat and Pleistocene-aged loess known as yedoma, most of which is currently stored in ice-rich permafrost throughout the region. These peat and yedoma deposits are important sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to inland waters that in turn play a significant role in the transport and ultimate remineralization of organic carbon to CO2 and CH4 along the terrestrial flow-path continuum. The turnover and fate of terrigenous DOM during offshore transport largely depends upon the composition and amount …

Assessing The Utility Of Imaging Radar For Identifying White Sand Vegetation Structure, Jessica Rosenqvist

Dissertations and Theses

White sand vegetation communities are wide spread across South America; found in Peru, Venezuela, Brazilian Amazon and Guyana. They are distributed in patches ranging from <1 km2 to greater than tens of square kilometers and their origins and locations are still not well understood. The communities are related to a variety of factors (soil type, flooding, nutrient content and fire); hence a precise definition for the ecosystem is still not fully defined. Nevertheless, the result of these variations creates a unique environment for endemic plant and animal species to thrive. Furthermore, analysis of these areas has been very scattered and identification of local white sand areas (<1 km2) have not been accomplished. In addition, identification of these locations has currently only used optical satellite imagery (Landsat, MODIS). Hence, in this project, we have attempted to use synthetic aperture radar to create a classification system to locate the white sand vegetation systems. The goal is to be able to apply this method to identify white sand vegetation distribution across South America. The region of focus for this thesis has been in Aracá, a large white sand area located in Brazil in the State of Amazonas. Due to the lack of ground reference data, a classified map by Capurucho et al. (2013), generated using Landsat data, was used as a comparison and reference. JAXA’s ALOS-1 PALSAR (L-band), ESA’s Sentinel-1A (C-band) and NASA’s SRTM sensors were used for land classification. As microwave signals penetrate clouds and haze, the advantage of using sensors with this wavelength allows for an unobstructed coverage of the landscape all year round. Different combinations of polarizations and wavelengths were used during the analysis to try and separate the white sand vegetation from water and terra firme forest. The resulting classification images showed a 30% agreement with the classification map by Capurucho et al. It is important to note, that this number is in fact an agreement percentage as the map used was a classification image and coarse in resolution (due to the lack of reference data). Therefore, this value does not imply a bad classification. Future work will include time-series data, precise ground reference points and data from other sensors such as ALOS-2 PALSAR, to improve the classification accuracy.

Evidence For The Drainage Of A Superglacial Lake As The Source Of Seismic Waves Recorded At A Regional Distance, Erik J. Orantes

Dissertations and Theses

Surface melting during the summer leads to the formation of lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet surface, known as supraglacial lakes. Some of these lakes drain through cracks in their beds and release the water into the ice sheet. Previous studies suggest that some of the water reaches the bedrock, enabling basal sliding, which could potentially increase glacial discharge (Sundal et al., 2009). Das et al. (2008) showed that supraglacial lake drainage can be accompanied by seismic activity, but little work has been done on the regional detection of such waves. The present study analyzes seismic data for the period …

Trade-Offs Between Three Forest Ecosystem Services Across The State Of New Hampshire, Usa: Timber, Carbon, And Albedo, David A. Lutz, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Mackenzie B. Murphy, Mark E. Borsuk

Dartmouth Scholarship

Forests are more frequently being managed to store and sequester carbon for the purposes of climate change mitigation. Generally, this practice involves long-term conservation of intact mature forests and/or reductions in the frequency and intensity of timber harvests. However, incorporating the influence of forest surface albedo often suggests that long rotation lengths may not always be optimal in mitigating climate change in forests characterized by frequent snowfall. To address this, we investigated trade-offs between three ecosystem services: carbon storage, albedo-related radiative forcing, and timber provisioning. We calculated optimal rotation length at 498 diverse Forest Inventory and Analysis forest sites in …

Evaluating The Biogeochemical Functioning Of A Constructed Fen On The Post-Mining Landscape Of Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Fort Mcmurray, Alberta, Canada, Felix C. Nwaishi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Peatlands have a unique biogeochemical function, characterized by an imbalance between the rates of biomass accumulation and decomposition. These characteristics facilitate the ability of peatlands to support the sequestration of nutrients and carbon. In disturbed peatlands, these functions are compromised. Thus, reclamation targets amongst other key functions, the recovery of biogeochemical functioning. These functions could serve as a measure of recovery to conditions that are present in natural analogues. This thesis examines the recovery of microbially-mediated nutrient transformation processes in a fen peatland that was constructed on a post-mining landscape in the Athabasca oil sands region, Fort McMurray, Alberta. The …

Development And Evaluation Of A Multi-Year Fractional Surface Water Data Set Derived From Active/Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Data, Ronny Schroeder, Kyle C. Mcdonald, Bruce D. Chapman, Katherine Jensen, Erika Podest, Zachary D. Tessler, Theodore J. Bohn, Reiner Zimmermann

Publications and Research

The sensitivity of Earth’s wetlands to observed shifts in global precipitation and temperature patterns and their ability to produce large quantities of methane gas are key global change questions. We present a microwave satellite-based approach for mapping fractional surface water (FW) globally at 25-km resolution. The approach employs a land cover-supported, atmospherically-corrected dynamic mixture model applied to 20+ years (1992–2013) of combined, daily, passive/active microwave remote sensing data. The resulting product, known as Surface WAter Microwave Product Series (SWAMPS), shows strong microwave sensitivity to sub-grid scale open water and inundated wetlands comprising open plant canopies. SWAMPS’ FW compares favorably (R2 …

Umphlett Qci 2015, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Late Hard Freeze

Late Freezes Extended Growing Season

Warm Fall Delays Bird Migrations

Monitoring Water Resources Across the Basin

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Validation Of The Global Distribution Of Co2 Volume Mixing Ratio In The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere From Saber, L. Rezac, Y. Jian, J. Yue, J. M. Russell Iii, A. Kutepov, R. Garcia, K. Walker, P. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on board the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite has been measuring the limb radiance in 10 broadband infrared channels over the altitude range from ~ 400 km to the Earth's surface since 2002. The kinetic temperatures and CO₂ volume mixing ratios (VMRs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been simultaneously retrieved using SABER limb radiances at 15 and 4.3 μm under nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) conditions. This paper presents results of a validation study of the SABER CO₂ VMRs obtained with a two-channel, self-consistent …

Hydrology-Biology Response Relationships In The Ozark Highlands, Dustin Thomas Lynch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I examined flow-ecology relationships among stream communities in the Ozark Highlands, USA. I sampled fish, crayfish, and benthic macroinvertebrates during two consecutive summers, including a drought year (2012) and a flood year (2013). Biological response variables related to community structure were assessed via two different statistical methods: an Information Theoretic approach relating response variables to a priori selected predictor variables incorporating hydrology, habitat, geomorphology, and water quality, and canonical ordination using forward selection to relate these same response variables to a large assortment of hydrologic metrics. In addition to assessing metrics related to predicted natural flow, flow alteration at gaged …

8000 Years Of Environmental Evolution Of Barrier–Lagoon Systems Emplaced In Coastal Embayments (Nw Iberia), Rita González-Villanueva, Marta Pérez-Arlucea, Susana Costas, Roberto Bao, Xose L. Otero, Ronald J. Goble

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The rocky and indented coast of NW Iberia is characterized by the presence of highly valuable and vulnerable, small and shallow barrier– lagoon systems structurally controlled. The case study was selected to analyse barrier–lagoon evolution based on detailed sedimentary architecture, chronology, geochemical and biological proxies. The main objective is to test the hypothesis of structural control and the significance at regional scale of any highenergy event recorded. This work is also aimed at identifying general patterns and conceptualizing the formation and evolution of this type of coastal systems. The results allowed us to establish a conceptual model of Holocene evolution …

A Bat-Guano-Derived Δ15N And Δ13C Record Of Paleoenvironmental Change: Zidită Cave, Romania, Daniel Martin Cleary

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Because nitrogen isotopes are fractionated along the soil-plant-insect-bat-guano pathway, it may be possible to reconstruct environmental and climatic changes reflected in the nitrogen isotopic composition of guano. A 1.5-m core of bat guano from Zidită Cave (western Romania) provides a record of climatic and anthropogenic influence on the regional nitrogen cycle and paleoenvironmental controls on nitrogen transforming processes. Increasing and decreasing trends of nitrogen isotopic composition (δ¹⁵N values) correspond well with changes in the influence of farming practices, deforestation, and forest expansion. These influences likely had a significant effect on the openness of the nitrogen cycle, resulting in …

Characteristics Of Sediment Transport At Selected Sites Along The Missouri River, 2011–12, David L. Rus, Joel M. Galloway, Jason S. Alexander

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Extreme flooding in the Missouri River in 2011, followed by a year of more typical streamflows in 2012, allowed the sediment-transport regime to be compared between the unprecedented conditions of 2011 and the year immediately following the flooding. As part of a cooperative effort between the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, this report follows up USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5006 by comparing sediment transport between years and among sampling sites spanning the Garrison Segment in North Dakota, the Gavins Point Segment downstream from Lewis and Clark Lake, and a part of the …

The Vulnerability Of Indo-Pacific Mangrove Forests To Sea-Level Rise, Catherine E. Lovelock, Donald R. Cahoon, Daniel A. Friess, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Ken W. Krauss, Ruth Reef, Kerrylee Rogers, Megan L. Saunders, Frida Sidik, Andrew Swales, Neil Saintilan, Le Xuan Thuyen, Tran Triet

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sea-level rise can threaten the long-term sustainability of coastal communities and valuable ecosystems such as coral reefs, salt marshes and mangroves^1,2. Mangrove forests have the capacity to keep pace with sea-level rise and to avoid inundation through vertical accretion of sediments, which allows them to maintain wetland soil elevations suitable for plant growth³. The Indo- Pacific region holds most of the world’s mangrove forests⁴, but sediment delivery in this region is declining, owing to anthropogenic activities such as damming of rivers⁵. This decline is of particular concern because the Indo-Pacific region is …