Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Loess Records, Daniel R. Muhs, Stephen R. Cattle, Onn Crouvi, Denis-Didier Rousseau, Jimin Sun, Marcelo A. Zárate

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is aeolian sediment, dominated by silt-sized particles, that is identifiable in the field as a distinct sedimentary body. It covers a significant portion of the land surface of the Earth and as such constitutes one of the most important archives of long-term dust deposition. Large tracts of loess cover Europe, Asia, South America, and North America, and smaller loess bodies are found covering parts of Africa, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Australia. Loess thickness, particle size, and carbonate content decrease downwind from sources, trends that are powerful tools for reconstructing paleowinds. Many loess sections consist of relatively thick …

Evidence Of Repeated Wildfires Prior To Human Occupation On San Nicolas Island, California, Jeffrey S. Pigati, John P. Mcgeehin, Gary L. Skipp, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Understanding how early humans on the California Channel Islands might have changed local fire regimes requires a baseline knowledge of the frequency of natural wildfires on the islands prior to human occupation. A sedimentary sequence that was recently discovered in a small canyon on San Nicolas Island contains evidence of at least 24 burn events that date to between ~37 and 25 ka (thousands of calibrated ¹⁴C years before present), well before humans entered North America. The evidence includes abundant macroscopic charcoal, blackened sediments, and discrete packages of oxidized, reddish-brown sediments that are similar in appearance to sedimentary features …

Cosee Ocean Inquiry Group Report: Opportunities For Creating Lifelong Ocean Science Literacy, Paul Boyle, Vince Breslin, Lisa Craig Brisson, John Fraser, Alan J. Friedman, Katie Gardner, Sarah Schoedinger, Jerry Schubel, Steve Uzzo, Steven Yalowitz

School for the Environment General Publications

This Inquiry Group Report for the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Ocean Communities in Education And Social Networks (COSEE OCEAN) provides a fresh look at how broader ocean science literacy can be developed, especially through less-recognized channels such as opportunistic learning, the private and “third” sectors, and the enormously varied activities under the heading of informal science education. The 10 authors of this report (see Contributors section) have been working together for two years to find and review a range of issues and resources for current and potential ocean science literacy providers, both professional and volunteer.

Several chapters provide …

Two-Source Energy Balance Model To Calculate E, T, And Et: Comparison Of Priestley-Taylor And Penman-Monteith Formulations And Two Time Scaling Methods, Paul D. Colaizzi, Nurit Agam, Judy A. Tolk, Steven R. Evett, Terry A. Howell, Prasanna H. Gowda, Susan A. O'Shaughnessy, William P. Kustas, Martha C. Anderson

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The two-source energy balance (TSEB) model calculates the energy balance of the soil-canopy-atmosphere continuum, where transpiration is initially determined by the Priestley-Taylor equation. The TSEB was revised recently using the Penman-Monteith equation to replace the Priestley-Taylor formulation, thus better accounting for the impact of large and varying vapor pressure deficits (VPD) typical of advective, semiarid climates. This study is a comparison of the Priestley- Taylor and Penman-Monteith versions of the TSEB (termed TSEB-PT and TSEB-PM, respectively). Evaporation (E), transpiration (T), and evapotranspiration (ET) calculated by the TSEB-PT and TSEB-PM versions were compared to measurements obtained with microlysimeters, sap flow gauges, …

Coupling Of Pre-Monsoon Tropical Cyclones With The Monsoon Onset In Myanmar, B. O. Fosu, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The pre-monsoon tropical cyclone (TC) activity and the monsoon evolution in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) are both influenced by the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO), but the two do not always occur in unison. This study examines the conditions that allow the MJO to modulate the monsoon onset in Myanmar and TC activity concurrently. Using the APHRODITE gridded precipitation and the ERA-Interim reanalysis datasets, composite evolutions of monsoon rainfall and TC genesis are constructed for the period of 1979–2010. It is found that the MJO exhibits a strong interannual variability in terms of phase and intensity, which in some years modulate …

Obama Climate Plan, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

States have been the policy leaders in establishing programs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants in the US through state renewable energy programs and energy efficiency programs. However, US global warming policy may have turned an important corner during the Obama administration. In the US the two largest sources of GHG emissions are motor vehicles and coal-fired power plants. Significantly reducing US GHG emissions would require addressing these two issues. The Obama climate plan does so. The most contentious issue is reducing GHG emissions from existing power plants. But states will be able to do so through …

Annual Sea-Air Co2 Fluxes In The Bering Sea: Insights From New Autumn And Winter Observations Of A Seasonally Ice-Covered Continental Shelf, Jessica N. Cross, Jeremy T. Mathis, Karen E. Frey, Catherine E. Cosca, Seth L. Danielson, Nicholas R. Bates, Richard A. Feely, Taro Takahashi, Wiley Evans

Geography

High-resolution data collected from several programs have greatly increased the spatiotemporal resolution of pCO2(sw) data in the Bering Sea, and provided the first autumn and winter observations. Using data from 2008 to 2012, monthly climatologies of sea-air CO2 fluxes for the Bering Sea shelf area from April to December were calculated, and contributions of physical and biological processes to observed monthly sea-air pCO2 gradients (ΔpCO2) were investigated. Net efflux of CO2 was observed during November, December, and April, despite the impact of sea surface cooling on ΔpCO2. Although the Bering Sea was believed to be a moderate to strong atmospheric …

Sea-Ice Melt Co2-Carbonate Chemistry In The Western Arctic Ocean: Meltwater Contributions To Air-Sea Co2 Gas Exchange, Mixed-Layer Properties And Rates Of Net Community Production Under Sea Ice, N. R. Bates, R. Garley, K. E. Frey, K. L. Shake, J. T. Mathis

Geography

The carbon dioxide (CO2)-carbonate chemistry of sea-ice melt and co-located, contemporaneous seawater has rarely been studied in sea-ice-covered oceans. Here, we describe the CO2-carbonate chemistry of sea-ice melt (both above sea-ice as "melt ponds" and below sea-ice as "interface waters") and mixed-layer properties in the western Arctic Ocean in the early summer of 2010 and 2011. At 19 stations, the salinity (∼0.5 to <6.5), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; ∼20 to <550 μmol kg-1) and total alkalinity (TA; ∼30 to <500 μmol kg-1) of above-ice melt pond water was low compared to the co-located underlying mixed layer. The partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in these melt ponds was highly variable (∼<10 to >1500 μatm) with the majority of melt ponds acting as potentially strong sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. The pH of melt pond waters was also highly variable ranging from mildly acidic (6.1 to 7) to slightly …

Tropical Pacific Influence On The Source And Transport Of Marine Aerosols To West Antarctica, Alison S. Criscitiello, Sarah B. Das, Kristopher B. Karnauskas, Matthew J. Evans, Karen E. Frey, Ian Joughin, Eric J. Steig, Joseph R. Mcconnell, Brooke Medley

Geography

The climate of West Antarctica is strongly influenced by remote forcing from the tropical Pacific. For example, recent surface warming over West Antarctica reflects atmospheric circulation changes over the Amundsen Sea, driven by an atmospheric Rossby wave response to tropical sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Here, it is demonstrated that tropical Pacific SST anomalies also influence the source and transport of marine-derived aerosols to theWest Antarctic Ice Sheet. Using records from four firn cores collected along the Amundsen coast of West Antarctica, the relationship between sea ice-modulated chemical species and large-scale atmospheric variability in the tropical Pacific from 1979 to …

Unintended Outcomes Of Farmers' Adaptation To Climate Variability: Deforestation And Conservation In Calakmul And Maya Biosphere Reserves, Claudia Rodriguez-Solorzano

Dartmouth Scholarship

Minimizing the impact of climate change on farmer livelihoods is crucial, but adaptation efforts may have unintended consequences for ecosystems, with potential impacts on farmers’ welfare. Unintended outcomes of climate adaptation strategies have been widely discussed, however, empirical exploration has been neglected. Grounded in scholarship on climate adaptation, environmental governance, social–ecological systems, and land-use change, this paper studies whether farmers’ climate adaptation contributes to deforestation or forest conservation. The paper draws on interviews with 353 farmers from 46 communities in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Mexico and Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Farmers in the area of study have implemented adaptation …

Characterization Of The Atmospheric Effects On The Transmission Of Thermal Radiation, Mohamed E. Hanafy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Atmospheric scattering plays a crucial rule in degrading the performance of electro optical imaging systems operating in the visible and infra-red spectral bands, and hence limits the quality of the acquired images, either through reduction of contrast or increase of image blur. The exact nature of light scattering by atmospheric media is highly complex and depends on the types, orientations, sizes and distributions of particles constituting these media, as well as wavelengths, polarization states and directions of the propagating radiation. Here we follow the common approach for solving imaging and propagation problems by treating the propagating light through atmospheric media …

Modeling Dynamics Of Ozone And Nitrogen Oxides At Summit, Greenland With A 1-D Process-Scale Model, Keenan Anton Murray

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This work presents a 1-D process scale model used to investigate the chemical dynamics and temporal variability of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and ozone (O₃) within and above snowpack at Summit, Greenland for March-May 2009 and estimates surface exchange of NO_x between the snowpack and surface layer in April-May 2009. The model assumes the surface of snowflakes have a Liquid Like Layer (LLL) where aqueous chemistry occurs and interacts with the interstitial air of the snowpack. Model parameters and initialization are physically and chemically representative of snowpack at Summit, Greenland and model results are compared to …

Assessing Optimal Set Of Implemental Physical Parameterization Schemes In A Multi-Physics Land Surface Model Using Genetic Algorithm, S. Hong, X. Yu, S. K. Park, Y.-S. Choi, Boksoon Myoung

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Optimization of land surface models has been challenging due to the model complexity and uncertainty. In this study, we performed scheme-based model optimizations by designing a framework for coupling "the micro-genetic algorithm" (micro-GA) and "the Noah land surface model with multiple physics options" (Noah-MP). Micro-GA controls the scheme selections among eight different land surface parameterization categories, each containing 2–4 schemes, in Noah-MP in order to extract the optimal scheme combination that achieves the best skill score. This coupling framework was successfully applied to the optimizations of evapotranspiration and runoff simulations in terms of surface water balance over the Han River …

Horizontal Divergence Of Typhoon-Generated Gravity Waves In The Upper Troposphere And Lower Stratosphere (Utls) And Its Influence On Typhoon Evolution, Seung Hee Kim, H.-Y. Chun, W. Jang

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The characteristics of horizontal divergence induced by typhoon-generated gravity waves (HDTGWs) and the influence of HDTGW on typhoon evolution are investigated based on the simulation results of Typhoon Saomai (2006) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The power spectral density of HDTGW shows dominant powers at horizontal wavelengths of 20-30 km and at periods of less than 1 h. This is associated with gravity waves generated by vigorous convective clouds in an inner core region of the typhoon. However, the domain-averaged HDTGW in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere had a spectral peak at 24 h, which is …

Effects Of Crop Residue Burning On Aerosol Properties, Plume Characteristics, And Long-Range Transport Over Northern India, D. G. Kaskaoutis, S. Kumar, D. Sharma, Ramesh P. Singh, S. K. Kharol, M. Sharma, A. K. Singh, Atinderpal Singh, D. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Aerosol emissions from biomass burning are of specific interest over the globe due to their strong radiative impacts and climate implications. The present study examines the impact of paddy crop residue burning over northern India during the postmonsoon (October-November) season of 2012 on modification of aerosol properties, as well as the long-range transport of smoke plumes, altitude characteristics, and affected areas via the synergy of ground-based measurements and satellite observations. During this period, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images show a thick smoke/hazy aerosol layer below 2-2.5 km in the atmosphere covering nearly the whole Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). The air …

Numerical Simulation Of “An American Haboob”, A. Vukovic, M. Vujadinovic, G. Pejanovic, J. Andric, M. J. Kumjian, V. Djurdjevic, M. Dacic, Anup K. Prasad, Hesham El-Askary, B. C. Paris, S. Petkovic, W. Sprigg, S. Nickovic

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

A dust storm of fearful proportions hit Phoenix in the early evening hours of 5 July 2011. This storm, an American haboob, was predicted hours in advance because numerical, land–atmosphere modeling, computing power and remote sensing of dust events have improved greatly over the past decade. High-resolution numerical models are required for accurate simulation of the small scales of the haboob process, with high velocity surface winds produced by strong convection and severe downbursts. Dust productive areas in this region consist mainly of agricultural fields, with soil surfaces disturbed by plowing and tracks of land in the high Sonoran Desert …

Metr 341: Synoptic Meteorology—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Project, Matthew S. Van Den Broeke

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Synoptic meteorology is foundational to atmospheric science, and it is critical that students strengthen their ability to think critically and independently in this course. Anecdotal evidence from teaching similar courses, and from education literature in the physical sciences, has pointed to the value of problem solving using data from real events. This inquiry project allowed further investigation of optimal instructional methods for this particular course, and led to the qualitative and partially quantified conclusion that hands-on in-class activities seem to support the most significant learning gains. In addition, this project led to the conclusion that a high degree of peer …

Wetlands And Greenhouse Gas Fluxes: Causes And Effects Of Climate Change – A Meta-Analysis, Robert E. Ventura

Pomona Senior Theses

Climate change is one of the largest problems facing this generation. Anthropogenically caused increases of greenhouse gas emissions is a significant culprit to this problem. Although the obvious problems such as cars, industry, and urbanism garnish a significant amount of the criticism, natural sources such as wetlands are also beginning to contribute to this issue. This is becoming increasingly significant as wetlands shift from being sinks of greenhouse gases to becoming sources as various anthropogenic impacts, including global warming itself, begin to affect the health of the wetlands. The aim of this project is to look at four common types …

A Molecular-Level Approach For Characterizing Water-Insoluble Components Of Ambient Organic Aerosol Particulates Using Ultrahigh-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, A. S. Willoughby, A. S. Wozniak, Patrick G. Hatcher

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The chemical composition of organic aerosols in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by human emissions. The effect these have on the environment, human health, and climate change is determined by the molecular nature of these chemical species. The complexity of organic aerosol samples limits the ability to study the chemical composition, and therefore the associated properties and the impacts they have. Many studies have addressed the watersoluble fraction of organic aerosols and have had much success in identifying specific molecular formulas for thousands of compounds present. However, little attention is given to the water-insoluble portion, which can contain most of …

Retrievals Of Carbonyl Fluoride (Cof₂) From Ace-Fts And Mipas Spectra And Their Comparison With Slimcat Ctm Calculations, Jeremy Harrison, Shaomin Cai, Anu Dudhia, Martyn Chipperfield, Chris Boone, Peter Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The majority of fluorine in the atmosphere has resulted from the anthropogenic emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Most tropospheric fluorine is present in its emitted 'organic' form due to the molecules having long lifetimes. At the top of the stratosphere most of the fluorine is present as the 'inorganic' product HF, which, due to its extreme stability, is an almost permanent reservoir of stratospheric fluorine. The second most abundant stratospheric 'inorganic' fluorine reservoir is carbonyl fluoride (COF₂). The major sources of COF₂ are from the atmospheric degradation of CFC-12 (CCl₂F₂), which is now banned under the …

Holocene Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction From Mexico's Pacific Coast-A Paleotempestological Investigation, Thomas Bianchette

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the paleoenvironments of four lagoons from Mexico’s Pacific coast, with the aim of retrieving sediment deposition from storm surge events to determine long-term tropical cyclone (TC) records. Lagoons Agua Dulce, Boquita, Mitla, and Nuxco are located along a 700 km stretch in states Jalisco and Guerrero. Roughly 70 meters of sediment were collected and subjected to multiple proxies, including loss-on ignition, a microfossil survey, and geochemical analysis. Nuxco’s dynamism is caused by intense and prolonged rainfall (largely from TCs), responsible for increasing water level, opening the tidal inlet, and draining the site (termed “blowouts”). High amounts of …

Airborne Measurements Of Aerosols And Carbon Dioxide During A Prescribed Fire Experiment At A Boreal Forest Site, Aki Virkkula, Toivo Pohja, Pasi Aalto, Petri Keronen, Siegfried Schobesberger, Craig Clements, Tuukka Petäjä, Juha Nikmo, Markku Kulmala

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

During a prescribed fire experiment, CO2 and particle number concentrations, light scattering and absorption coefficients were measured from a Cessna 172 airplane. Peak number concentrations were (3 ± 1) x 106 cm–3 and they decreased faster than what can be explained by coagulation alone. The single-scattering albedo of particles grew from the values of 0.4 ± 0.1 closest to the emissions to the values of 0.8 ± 0.1 at the distance of 400 m from the emissions. The mean Ângström exponent of absorption, 1.70 ± 0.24, is in line with the published spectral absorption values of wood-smoke aerosol. The estimated …

Tybee Island: Historic Homes And Flood Insurance Rates, Nicolette Pistone, Annie Williams, Erica Carter

Georgia Municipal Association Practicum (2013-2022)

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Predation Upon The Long-Spined Sea Urchin Diadema Antillarum By The Spotted Spiny Lobster Panulirus Guttatus, Meredith D. Kintzing, Mark J. Butler Iv

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Sea urchins, important herbivores in marine ecosystems, are strongly impacted by both the direct and indirect effects of predation, and the long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum is no exception. Once abundant on Caribbean coral reefs, D. antillarum populations were decimated by disease in the early 1980s, and only where their natural predators have been over-fished has D. antillarum recovery been observed. Spiny lobsters (Palinuridae) are predators of sea urchins, and although there are several species of spiny lobster in the Caribbean, only the spotted spiny lobster Panulirus guttatus is restricted to coral reefs where D. antillarum dwells. We investigated the …

Long-Range Propagation, Interaction, And Dissipation Of Small-Scale Gravity Waves In The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere, Christopher J. Heale

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A 2-D nonlinear, compressible numerical model [Snively and Pasko, 2008] is used in conjunction with ray-theory to investigate the long-range propagation, dissipation and interaction of small-scale gravity waves in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region. The research in this thesis is made up of three distinct studies which build upon each other. The first investigates the thermospheric dissipation of three gravity wave packets representing: (1) A quasi-monochromatic packet, (2) A monochromatic, steady state wave, and (3) A spectrally broad packet, as well as an initial condition specified packet. It is found that dissipation due to molecular viscosity and …

Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Blooms In South Louisiana Estuaries : A Synthesis Of Field Research, Management Implications, And Outreach, Emily Anne Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Estuaries are biologically productive and important habitats for several fisheries. However, human intervention has separated many estuaries from their needed freshwater source and the commonly used solution is to use diversions to regulate the flow. This episodic increase in nutrients into estuaries has sometimes led to the formation of freshwater cyanobacteria HABs (CyanoHABs). The goal of this dissertation was to look at a field research study of phytoplankton bloom dynamics; management implications for cyanobacteria entering estuaries; and an outreach effort in relation to residents knowledge about cyanobacteria and algae. The first study compared the phytoplankton bloom dynamics, specifically CyanoHABs, in …

Effects Of Storm Surge And Nutrient Loading On Coastal Wetland Soil Processes: Implications For Ecosystem Function, Morgan Mckee

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal Louisiana is at risk from increases in salinity from storm surge and nutrient loading from the Mississippi River. Increased salinity causes plant death, decreases in microbial productivity, and shifts in biogeochemical processes. Eutrophication is linked to shifts in plant communities and changes in wetland biogeochemical properties. We hypothesized that 1) storm surge would increase soil porewater salinity and decrease extractable ammonium (NH4), and 2) long-term nutrient loading would decrease soil extracellular enzyme activity and increase total nutrients. Intact soil cores from two sites in the Wax Lake Delta were continually flooded with 35 g L-1 salt water for 1, …

Temporal Variability Of Particulate Organic Carbon Fluxes In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Somiddho Bosu

LSU Master's Theses

There is limited data of Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) export from the Northern Gulf of Mexico and this work presents the first estimation of the efficiency of the “biological pump” in this region. In oligotrophic oceans like the Gulf of Mexico, POC is the main source of particles and POC flux is the key mechanism for the removal of particle reactive contaminants and pollutants from upper ocean water column. Particle-reactive, the naturally occurring radionuclides are useful tracers of the sinking flux of organic matter from the surface to the deep ocean. The disequilibrium between natural radioisotope pair 238U-234Th as well …

Did A Submarine Landslide Contribute To The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami?, David R. Tappin, Stephan T. Grilli, Jeffrey C. Harris, Robert J. Geller, Timothy Masterlark, James T. Kirby, Fengyan Shi, Gangfeng Ma, K.K.S. Thingbaijam, P. Martin Mai

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Many studies have modeled the Tohoku tsunami of March 11, 2011 as being due entirely to slip on an earthquake fault, but the following discrepancies suggest that further research is warranted. (1) Published models of tsunami propagation and coastal impact underpredict the observed runup heights of up to 40. m measured along the coast of the Sanriku district in the northeast part of Honshu Island. (2) Published models cannot reproduce the timing and high-frequency content of tsunami waves recorded at three nearshore buoys off Sanriku, nor the timing and dispersion properties of the waveforms at offshore DART buoy #21418. (3) …

Osmb Final Report: Task 3. Containment Strategies For Eurasian Watermilfoil Infested Central Or Lakes, Vanessa Morgan, Mark Sytsma

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

In recent years, public awareness of aquatic invasive species (AIS) has increased considerably in Oregon and elsewhere in the western U.S.. News articles, boat inspection stations and AIS permit programs have drawn attention to the threat of aquatic invasive species, especially animals like zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis), and New Zealand mudsnails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). However, invasive aquatic plants are also capable of causing severe impacts and may similarly be transferred between waterbodies on boats, trailers or other equipment. Heavy infestations can hinder recreational use by motorized and non-motorized boats, snag fishing lines, threaten the safety of swimmers …