Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Impact Of Drought On Prehistoric Western Native Americans, Larry Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Some droughts that occurred during the so-called Medieval Climate Anomaly (approximately AD 800-1300) appear to have been catalysts for major changes in settlement patterns of two western Native American groups - the Lovelock culture in Nevada’s Great Basin and the Anasazi people of the Four Corners area. Both groups’ subsistence bases were impacted by diminished water supplies associated with prolonged drought, leading to the dispersal of these Native Americans from their former territories.

Tree-ring-based Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) reconstructions by Cook et al. (2004) indicate that over 50% of the western U.S. experienced drought conditions during the middle-12th and …

Grenetic Evidence Of Intercontinental Movement Of Avian Influenza In A Migratory Bird: The Northern Pintail (Anas Acuta), Anson V. Koehler, John M. Pearce, Paul L. Flint, J. Christian Franson, Hon S. Ip

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The role of migratory birds in the movement of the highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza H5N1 remains a subject of debate. Testing hypotheses regarding intercontinental movement of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses will help evaluate the potential that wild birds could carry Asian-origin strains of HP avian influenza to North America during migration. Previous North American assessments of LPAI genetic variation have found few Asian reassortment events. Here, we present results from whole-genome analyses of LPAI isolates collected in Alaska from the northern pintail (Anas acuta), a species that migrates between North America and Asia. Phylogenetic analyses …

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

Nutrient And Carbon Dynamics In The Chesapeake Bay Outflow Plume And Their Effect On The Coastal Ocean Environment, Katherine C. Filippino

OES Theses and Dissertations

Seasonally resolved nutrient and carbon fluxes from estuaries to the coastal ocean are poorly constrained. Nutrient and carbon cycling in highly productive regions like the Chesapeake Bay outflow plume and surrounding coastal environments greatly affect our global understanding of carbon cycling. The overall questions for the research described in this dissertation stem from the need to close global carbon budgets, and obtain a fundamental understanding of nutrient dynamics in a coastal region heavily influenced by seasonality and human impacts.

Within the framework of physical characteristics of the outflow plume and through the characterization of nutrient concentrations, primary productivity rates, and …

Rates Of Carbonate Dissolution In Permeable Sediments Estimated From Porewater Profiles: The Role Of Sea Grasses, David J. Burdige, Richard C. Zimmerman, Xinping Hu

OES Faculty Publications

In this study we estimate sediment carbonate dissolution rates for sandy sea grass sediments on the Bahamas Bank using an inverse pore-water advection/diffusion/reaction model constrained by field observations. This model accounts for sea grass O₂ input to these sediments, and also parameterizes pore-water advection through these permeable sediments as a nonlocal exchange process. The resulting rates of carbonate dissolution are positively correlated with sea grass density, and are comparable with previous rate estimates for Florida Bay sediments. In contrast, the advective uptake of O₂ by these sediments decreased with increasing sea grass density. This suggests that the competing …

Radiocarbon Evidence For The Importance Of Surface Vegetation On Fermentation And Methanogenesis In Contrasting Types Of Boreal Peatlands, J. P. Chanton, P. H. Glaser, L. S. Chasar, David J. Burdige, M. E. Hines, D. I. Seigel, L. B. Tremblay, W. T. Cooper

OES Faculty Publications

We found a consistent distribution pattern for radiocarbon in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and methane replicated across spatial and temporal scales in northern peatlands from Minnesota to Alaska. The ¹⁴C content of DOC is relatively modern throughout the peat column, to depths of 3 m. In sedge-dominated peatlands, the ¹⁴C contents of the products of respiration, CH₄ and DIC, are essentially the same and are similar to that of DOC. In Sphagnum- and woody plant-dominated peatlands with few sedges, however, the respiration products are similar but intermediate between the ¹⁴C contents of …

Co2 Sensitivity Of Southern Ocean Phytoplankton, Philippe D. Tortell, Christopher D. Payne, Yingyu Li, Scarlett Trimborn, Bjorn Rost, Walker O. Smith, Christina Riesselman, Robert B. Dunbar, Peter Sedwick, Giacomo R. Ditullio

OES Faculty Publications

The Southern Ocean exerts a strong impact on marine biogeochemical cycles and global air-sea CO₂ fluxes. Over the coming century, large increases in surface ocean CO₂ levels, combined with increased upper water column temps. and stratification, are expected to diminish Southern Ocean CO₂ uptake. These effects could be significantly modulated by concomitant CO₂-dependent changes in the region's biol. carbon pump. Here we show that CO₂ concentrations affect the physiology, growth and species composition. of phytoplankton assemblages in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Field results from in situ sampling and ship-board incubation experiments demonstrate that inorganic …

Interactions Between Changing Pco2, N2 Fixation, And Fe Limitation In The Marine Unicellular Cyanobacterium Crocosphaera, Fei-Xue Fu, Margaret R. Mulholland, Nathan S. Garcia, Aaron Beck, Mark E. Warner, Sergio A. Sañudo, David A. Hutchins

OES Faculty Publications

We examined the physiological responses of steady-state iron (Fe)-replete and Fe-limited cultures of the biogeochemically critical marine unicellular diazotrophic cyanobacterium Crocosphaera at glacial (19 Pa; 190 ppm), current (39 Pa; 380 ppm), and projected year 2100 (76 Pa; 750 ppm) CO₂ levels. Rates of N₂ and CO₂ fixation and growth increased in step with increasing partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂), but only under Fe- replete conditions. N₂) and carbon fixation rates at 75 Pa CO₂ were 1.4-1.8-fold and 1.2-2.0-fold higher, respectively, relative to those at present day and glacial pCO_{2 …}

Arctic Perennial Ice Cover Over The Last 14 Million Years, Dennis A. Darby

OES Faculty Publications

Knowledge of the long-term history of the perennial ice is an important issue that has eluded study because the Cenozoic core material needed has been unavailable until the recent Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX). Detrital Fe oxide mineral grains analyzed by microprobe from the last 14 Ma (164 m) of the ACEX composite core on the Lomonosov Ridge were matched to circum-Arctic sources with the same mineral and 12-element composition. These precise source determinations and estimates of drift rates were used to determine that these sand grains could not be rafted to the ACEX core site in less than a year. …

Apparent Tolerance Of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes Aura) To The Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Diclofenac, Barnett A. Rattner, Maria A. Whitehead, Grace Gasper, Carol U. Meteyer, William A. Link, Mark A. Taggart, Andrew A. Meharg, Oliver H. Pattee, Deborah J. Pain

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac is extremely toxic to Old World Gyps vultures (median lethal dose ~0.1–0.2 mg/kg), evoking visceral gout, renal necrosis, and mortality within a few days of exposure. Unintentional secondary poisoning of vultures that fed upon carcasses of diclofenac-treated livestock decimated populations in the Indian subcontinent. Because of the widespread use of diclofenac and other cyclooxygenase-2 inhibiting drugs, a toxicological study was undertaken in turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) as an initial step in examining sensitivity of New World scavenging birds. Two trials were conducted entailing oral gavage of diclofenac at doses ranging from 0.08 to …

Quantifying Vertical Mixing In Estuaries, W. Rockwell Geyer, Malcolm E. Scully, David K. Ralston

CCPO Publications

Estuarine turbulence is notable in that both the dissipation rate and the buoyancy frequency extend to much higher values than in other natural environments. The high dissipation rates lead to a distinct inertial subrange in the velocity and scalar spectra, which can be exploited for quantifying the turbulence quantities. However, high buoyancy frequencies lead to small Ozmidov scales, which require high sampling rates and small spatial aperture to resolve the turbulent fluxes. A set of observations in a highly stratified estuary demonstrate the effectiveness of a vessel-mounted turbulence array for resolving turbulent processes, and for relating the turbulence to the …

Setting Targets For Resource Condition In Narrakine Gully And Highbury Catchments, Leon Van Wyk, Gregory Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Land Surface Processes Using Land Surface Models Over The Little River Experimental Watershed, A. K. Sahoo, P. A. Dirmeyer, P. R. Houser, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Three different land surface models (Hydrological improvements to the Simplified version of the Simple Biosphere model (HySSiB), Noah model, and Community Land Model (CLM)) were simulated on the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Land Information System platform at 1-km resolution over the Little River Experimental Watershed, Georgia, and the simulated results were analyzed to address the local-scale land-atmosphere processes. All the three models simulated the soil moisture in space and time realistically. The Noah model produced higher soil moisture whereas the CLM got lower soil moisture with many dry down phases. CLM and HySSiB models were oversensitive to the atmospheric …

Origin And Paleoclimatic Significance Of Late Quaternary Loess In Nebraska: Evidence From Stratigraphy, Chronology, Sedimentology, And Geochemistry, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis Iii, John N. Aleinikoff, John P. Mcgeehin, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Brian D. Marshall, Helen M. Roberts, William C. Johnson, Rachel Benton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is one of the most extensive surficial geologic deposits in mid-continental North America, particularly in the central Great Plains region of Nebraska. Last-glacial-age loess (Peoria Loess) reaches its greatest known thickness in the world in this area. New stratigraphic, geochronologic, mineralogic, and geochemical data yield information about the age and provenance of Peoria Loess, as well as evaluation of recent climate models.

Comparison Of Total Mercury And Methylmercury Cycling At Five Sites Using The Small Watershed Approach, James B. Shanley, M. Alisa Mast, Donald H. Campbell, George R. Aiken, David P. Krabbenhoft, Randall J. Hunt, John F. Walker, Paul F. Schuster, Ann Chalmers, Brent T. Aulenbach, Norman E. Peters, Mark Marvin-Dipasquale, David W. Clow, Martin M. Shafer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The small watershed approach is well-suited but underutilized in mercury research. We applied the small watershed approach to investigate total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in streamwater at the five diverse forested headwater catchments of the US Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program. At all sites, baseflow THg was generally less than 1 ng L^-1 and MeHg was less than 0.2 ng L^-1. THg and MeHg concentrations increased with streamflow, so export was primarily episodic. At three sites, THg and MeHg concentration and export were dominated by the particulate fraction in association with …

Range-Wide Phylogeographic Analysis Of The Spotted Frog Complex (Rana Luteiventris And Rana Pretiosa) In Northwestern North America, W. Chris Funk, Christopher A. Pearl, Hope M. Draheim, Michael J. Adams, Thomas D. Mullins, Susan M. Haig

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The dynamic geological and climatic history of northwestern North America has made it a focal region for phylogeography. We conducted a range-wide phylogeographic analysis of the spotted frog complex (Rana luteiventris and Rana pretiosa) across its range in northwestern North America to understand its evolutionary history and the distribution of clades to inform conservation of R. pretiosa and Great Basin R. luteiventris, candidates for listing under the US Endangered Species Act. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data from a segment of the cytochrome b gene were obtained from 308 R. luteiventris and R. pretiosa from 96 sites. Phylogenetic analysis …

Management And Conservation Note: Conserving Waste Rice For Wintering Waterfowl In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Jennifer P. Kross, Richard M. Kaminski, Aaron T. Pearse

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV), USA, is an internationally important migration and wintering region for North American waterfowl (Reinecke et al. 1989). The Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture (LMVJV) assumes food availability is the primary factor influencing carrying capacity of wintering waterfowl in this region (Reinecke and Loesch 1996). Because much of the MAV was converted from a seasonally flooded bottomland-hardwood ecosystem to a landscape dominated by agriculture, the LMVJV has incorporated estimates of the abundance of agricultural seeds such as rice into habitat conservation plans (Reinecke et al. 1988, Fredrickson et al. 2005). Biologists designed these plans to provide …

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending: December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

• The limnologist position has been announced.
• Project 1: Review of the draft Boulder Basin Adaptive Management Plan is underway.
• Project 2: Development of a white paper expressing the joint needs of the entities involved in Water 2025 projects is being coordinated.
• Project 3: A bibliographic reference spreadsheet organizing literature citations related to quagga and zebra mussel research has been completed.
• Project 4: A comprehensive literature search of Lake Mead limnology is well underway; an Access database has been designed to organize reference citations; and a special collections library at UNLV is being established to house original rare documents and other …

Persistent Near-Bottom Aggregations Of Mesopelagic Animals Along The North Carolina And Virginia Continental Slopes, John V. Gartner Jr., Kenneth J. Sulak, Steve W. Ross, Ann Marie Necaise

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Submersible observations during four missions over the North Carolina and Virginia continental slopes (184–900 m) documented the occurrence of large aggregations of mesopelagic Wshes and macronektonic invertebrates near or on the bottom. Aggregated mesopelagics formed a layer up to tens of meters deep positioned from a few centimeters to 20 m, usually <10 >m, above the substrate. Aggregations were numerically dominated by microvores, notably the myctophid Wsh Ceratoscopelus maderensis and the penaeid shrimp Sergestes arcticus. Consistently present but in relatively lower numbers, were mesopelagic predators, including the paralepidids Notolepis rissoi and Lestidium atlanticum, the eel Nemichthys scolopaceus, the …

Demersal Fishes Associated With Lophelia Pertusa Coral And Hard-Substrate Biotopes On The Continental Slope, Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kenneth J. Sulak, R. Allen Brooks, Kirsten E. Luke, April D. Norem, Michael Randall, Andrew J. Quaid, George E. Yeargin, Jana M. Miller, William M. Harden, John H. Caruso, Steve W. Ross

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The demersal fish fauna of Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) coral reefs and associated hard-bottom biotopes was investigated at two depth horizons in the northern Gulf of Mexico using a manned submersible and remote sampling. The Viosca Knoll fauna consisted of at least 53 demersal fish species, 37 of which were documented by submersible video. On the 325 m horizon, dominant taxa determined from frame-by-frame video analysis included Stromateidae, Serranidae, Trachichthyidae, Congridae, Scorpaenidae, and Gadiformes. On the 500 m horizon, large mobile visual macrocarnivores of families Stromateidae and Serranidae dropped out, while a zeiform microcarnivore assumed importance on reef “Thicket” biotope, …

Droughtscape, Fall 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

Fall 2007 Outlook

Diverse Impacts Reported in Summer of 2007

Decadal Climate Cycles Hold Predictive Potential

Drought Experts Take Roadmap to Congress

NDMC Research Updates

Soil Survey Of The Bettink Dairy Farm, Riverway Road, Northcliffe, Peter J. Tille, Tilwin Westrup

Resource management technical reports

This soil survey of the Bettink dairy farm in Northcliffe, Western Australia aimed to: provide detailed soil descriptions to add to information associated with the environment in which the dairy industry in Western Australia is located; collect soil samples at predetermined standard depths from documented farm locations for nutrient analysis; map soils with similar characteristics based on description and analysis.

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending: October 1, 2007, Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Limnological Studies

• Task Agreement has been formally executed

• Position description and announcement have been drafted for limnologist position

• All projects have been initiated

Sheep Updates 2007 - Part 3, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Riggall, James Hall, Gus Rose, Johan Greeff, John Young, M. Alchin, M. Young, T. Johnson, John Lucy, Martin Staines, Tim Wiley, Rob Grima, Sandra Prosser, Matt Ryan, Geoff Moore, Tony Albertsen, Phil Barrett-Lennard, George Woolston, John Titerington, Sarah Knight, Brianna Peake

Sheep Updates

This session covers seven papers from different authors:

PROFITABILITY

1. Benchmarking demonstrates both the potential and realised productivity gains in the sheep and wool industry, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Riggall and James Hall, ICON Agriculture, Darkan

2. Improving sheep genetics will increase farm profitability, Gus Rose, Johan Greeff Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, John Young Farming Systems Analysis Service, WA

3. Meat, Merinos and making money in WA Pastoral Zone, M. Alchin, M. Young and T. Johnson, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia,

GRAZING

4. Nitrogen - farmers' friend or foe? John Lucy and Martin Staines, Department …

Droughtscape, Summer 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

Summer 07 Outlook

Hayes Named Director of NDMC

NDMC & UN Plan for Drought

Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

Drought Tools Workshops Underway

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum October 10-11, 2007 Portland, Oregon

Droughtscape, Spring 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

2007 Spring Drought Outlook & Winter Summary

VegDRI Expands to 15 States, Refines Views

DroughtScape

State Spotlight: Utah

International Panel Foresees Drought as Part of Climate Change

NIDIS Portal Advancing

The Observation, Modeling, And Retrieval Of Bio-Optical Properties For Coastal Waters Of The Southern Chesapeake Bay, Xiaoju Pan

OES Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to develop an inverse method to retrieve the inherent optical properties (IOPs) and biogeochemical parameters (e.g. chlorophyll a concentration and salinity) appropriate to monitor the water quality and biogeochemical processes from remote sensing of the coastal waters in the southern Chesapeake Bay and coastal Mid-Atlantic Bight region (MAB) dominated by Case 2 waters. For this purpose, knowledge of the relationship between remote sensing reflectance (R_rs) and IOPs and the effect from bottom reflectance on R_rs, is required.

A substantial investigation of IOPs has been conducted for the coastal …

Late Pleistocene Climate Variability And Chemical Weathering In The Goriganga, Higher Central Himalaya, North India, Steven Paul Beukema

Dissertations

Relict lacustrine deposits in the Higher Central Himalaya, India, provide a rich repository of paleoclimate information for the period 16 ka to 11 ka. Stable isotope analysis of deposits near the village of Burfu shows the hydrologic balance between glacial meltwater and monsoon precipitation as source waters for the lake. During the period from 15.5 ka to 14 ka the Burfu lake was largely fed by melting glaciers. A warming event correlated to glacial Meltwater Pulse 1a indicates a sudden increase in carbonate weathering in the region accompanied by a gradual decrease in the ratio of glacial meltwater/monsoon precipitation feeding …

Frequency Of Sublethal Injury In A Deepwater Ophiuroid, Ophiacantha Bidentata, An Important Component Of Western Atlantic Lophelia Reef Communities, R. Allen Brooks, Martha S. Nizinski, Steve W. Ross, Kenneth J. Sulak

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The occurrence and relative abundance of tissue (arm) regeneration in the ophiuroid, Ophiacantha bidentata (Retzius), was examined in individuals collected primarily among colonies of the deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa off the southeastern United States. Seven deep-water coral sites (384–756 m), located between Cape Lookout, NC, and Cape Canaveral, FL, were sampled in June 2004 using a manned submersible. The presence of regenerative tissue was evaluated by visual inspection of each individual ophiuroid, and the proportion of regenerating arms per individual was examined relative to size of individual, geographic location, and depth of collection. Ophiacantha bidentata, the dominant brittle star collected, …

Crop Updates 2007 - Farming Systems, David Jeffries, A. Loi, B. J. Nutt, Clinton K. Revell Dr, Yvette Oliver, Michael Robertson, Bill Bowden, Kit Leake, Ashley Bonser, Ian Maling, Bindi Isbister, Garren Knell, Alison Slade, David Stephens, Michael Meuleners, David Beard, Nicolyn Short, Rob Grima, Ingrid Richardson, Ruhi Ferdowsian, Geoff Bee, David Evans, Bob Gilkes, Senthold Asseng, Jim Dixon, Felicity Byrne, Mike Ewing, Dennis Van Gool, Louise Barton, Ralf Kiese, David Gatter, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Renee Buck, Christoph Hinz, Daniel Murphy, Cameron Weeks, Meredith Fairbanks, John Peirce, Brad Rayner, Sandy White, Paul Damon, Qifa Ma, Zed Rengel, Ed Barrett-Lennard, Meir Altman, Tracey M. Gianatti, Lindsay Bell, Ben Webb, Caroline Peek, Paul Sanford, Paul Blackwell, Glen Riethmuller, Darshan Sharma, Mike Collins, Frank D'Emden, David Hall, G. P. Manango, D. L. Steverson, Vanessa Stewart, Julie Roche, Peter Rutherford, Imma Farre, Ian Foster, Stephen Charles, Frances Hoyle, N. Milton, M. Osman, L. K. Abbott, W. R. Cookson, S. Darmawanto, Rob Sands, David Mccarthy, Paul Carmody, J. Russell, J. Eyres, G. Fosbery, A. Roe, Phil Nichols, Andrew Bathgate, Anne Wilkins

Crop Updates

This session covers forty papers from different authors:

1. Quality Assurance and industry stewardship, David Jeffries, Better Farm IQ Manager, Cooperative Bulk Handling

2. Sothis: Trifolium dasyurum (Eastern Star clover), A. Loi, B.J. Nutt and C.K. Revell, Department of Agriculture and Food

3. Poor performing patches of the paddock – to ameliorate or live with low yield? Yvette Oliver¹, Michael Robertson¹, Bill Bowden², Kit Leake³and Ashley Bonser³, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems¹, Department of Food and Agriculture², Kellerberrin Farmer³

4. What evidence is there that …