Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Of Manatees, Mangroves, And The Mississippi River: Is There An Estuarine Signature For The Gulf Of Mexico?, R. Eugene Turner

Faculty Publications

Important parameters of estuarine variability include morphology, flushing times, nutrient loading rates, and wetland: water ratios. This variability both reflects and disguises underlying relationships between the physics and biology of estuaries, which this comparative analysis seeks to reveal, using the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) estuaries as a starting point. A question used to focus this analysis is: are the GOM estuaries unique? The GOM receives the Mississippi River, a uniquely large, world-class river, which dominates the freshwater and nutrient inflows to the GOM continental shelf, whose margins include 35 major estuarine systems. These GOM estuaries have 28% and 41% of …

Trachelomonas Spp. And Other Euglenophyceae Taxa In A Southeastern Virginia Lake, Harold G. Marshall

Virginia Journal of Science

Trachelomonas species from Lake Kilby, a reservoir lake in southeastern Virginia are described with supportive electron micrographs. The most abundant Trachelomonas species wereT. hispida and T. volvocina. Other members of the Euglenophyceae occurring in this lake are identified.

Ice Storm Damage To Virginia Coastal Plain Forests During The Christmas 1998 Ice Storm, Peter Elstner, Stewart Ware

Virginia Journal of Science

On December 23-25, 1998, a major ice storm struck southeastern Virginia. The storm-deposited glaze ice felled trees and limbs, causing a power outage and highway blockage. Between February and April, 1999, we recorded occurrence, severity, and type of damage to trees over 2.5 cm dbh in nine mostly gently sloping plots in Matoaka Woods at the College of William and Mary. Frequency and severity of damage varied with species and with size of trees. Canopy damage occurred in 75% of large Fagus grandifolia trees, but in only 6% of small Sassafras albidum stems. As a group, small (2.5 to 15 …

Circulation, Vol. 8, No. 1, Center For Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University, Ann E. Gargett

CCPO Circulation

Spring 2001 issue of CCPO Circulation featuring article "Remarks from a New Arrival: Dr. Ann Gargett"

The Implications Of The Target-Area Hypothesis On The Population Dynamics Of The Spotted Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Guttatus, Denice N. Robertson

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The target-area hypothesis, based on the theory of island biogeography, predicts that larger islands are more effective at intercepting passive immigrants. Most marine invertebrates have meroplanktonic larvae and open population dynamics, so immigration to populations in isolated benthic habitats is primarily by pelagic larval recruits. Thus, recruitment to isolated habitat “islands” may be more continuous and predictable on large islands than on small ones. Consequently, populations on large islands should not only be larger than those on small islands, but should also have more evenly distributed size structures. These differences in size structure among populations in isolated habitats of differing …

Morphostatic Long-Term Hypsometric Analysis Of Coastal Bay Environments: Hog Island Bay, Virginia, Kathleen Marie Overman

OES Theses and Dissertations

Sea level has been rising at a variable rate since the end of the last glaciation approximately 18,000 years ago. As the transgressing sea inundates the shore areas a series of landform state changes occur in coastal regions. One such change of state in a coastal paleo-river channel is from an estuary into a coastal lagoon. At large temporal intervals (thousands of years) the hypsometry of a coastal lagoon varies as a result of sea level rise due to these changes of state. Using a morphostatic technique, the time period in which an estuary transforms into a coastal lagoon can …

A Comparison Of Phytoplankton Communities In Lake Prince And The Western Branch Reservoir, Suffolk, Virginia, Cara Marie Muscio

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Lake Prince and the Western Branch Reservoir are two eutrophic bodies of water located in Suffolk, Virginia. Lake Prince and its two small tributaries join the Western branch via a constructed spillway. This lake system is a source of water for the surrounding municipalities, and a recreational area for community citizens. In the past, these bodies of water had repeated incidents of low oxygen and nuisance algal blooms, particularly cyanobacteria species. As a result aerators have been installed in the main body of both Lake Prince and the Western Branch Reservoir. In addition, a pipeline has been installed from North …

Coherent Differential Absorption Lidar For Combined Measurement Of Wind And Trace Atmospheric Gases, Grady James Koch

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A lidar system was developed for making combined range-resolved measurements of wind speed and direction, water vapor concentration, and carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. This lidar combines the coherent Doppler technique for wind detection and the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique to provide a multifunctional capability. DIAL and coherent lidars have traditionally been thought of and implemented as separate instruments, but the research reported here has shown a demonstration of combining the coherent and DIAL techniques into a single instrument using solid-state lasers. The lasers used are of Ho:Tm:YLF, which operates at a wavelength of 2 μm. This wavelength …

Mitigation Of Water Vapor Interference For Infrared Polarization-Modulated Gas Filter Correlation Radiometry, David K. Lockwood

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Gas filter correlation radiometry (GFCR) is a high-resolution, high-specificity technique for sensing gaseous species. A variation of absorption spectroscopy, GFCR has a long-proven record on orbital platforms for quantitative measurements of atmospheric constituents, as well as common usage in ground-based sensing applications. PMGFCR (Polarization-modulated GFCR) is a recent refinement of the technique with several advantages over the traditional method, including reducing the number of photodetectors required, increased sensitivity, and elimination of moving parts.

To date, no infrared remote sensors have successfully measured nitric oxide (NO) in vehicle exhaust due to spectral overlap by strong water vapor (H₂O_{v …}

Climatology And Modeling Of Quasi-Monochromatic Atmospheric Gravity Waves Observed Over Urbana Illinois, J. H. Hecht, R. L. Walterscheid, Michael P. Hickey Ph.D., S. J. Franke

Publications

From analyzing nine months of airglow imaging observations of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) over Adelaide, Australia (35°S) [Walterscheid et al., 1999] have proposed that many of the quasi-monochromatic waves seen in the images were primarily thermally ducted. Here are presented 15 months of observations, from February 1996 to May 1997, for AGW frequency and propagation direction from a northern latitude site, Urbana Illinois (40°N). As Adelaide, Urbana is geographically distant from large orographic features. Similar to what was found in Adelaide, the AGWs seem to originate from a preferred location during the time period around summer solstice. In …

An Approach To Parameterization Of The Oceanic Turbulent Boundary Layer In The Western Pacific Warm Pool, Alexander Soloviev, Roger Lukas, Peter Hacker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Vertical profiles of zonal velocity and the dissipation rate ε of the turbulent kinetic energy obtained during the Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) are analyzed in the context of planetary boundary layer relationships previously derived from atmospheric measurements. The presence of a barrier layer and the striking effect of increased dimensionless shear and ε at the bottom of the surface mixed layer of the ocean, features often observed in the western Pacific warm pool area, are consistent with the boundary layer laws. The gradient Richardson number Ri is found to be a convenient parameter for scaling the …

Evolution Of Cloud-To-Ground Lightning Discharges In Tornadic Thunderstorms, Wendy L. Seaman

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force operations are directly impacted by weather on a daily basis. Erroneous forecasts negatively impact mission readiness and consequently cost the government time, in terms of wasted man-hours, and money. Advanced forecast lead-time could make a difference to minimize loss to both USAF personnel and assets. This study examined lightning data from 64 storm events from 1995-2000 in search of unique lightning signatures indicative of tornadic activity. Overall flash rates, percentage of positive flashes, positive and negative peak currents and multiplicity for each case were separated into two categories based on tornado intensity and season of occurrence. Based on …

Determination Of Nutrient Loads In Upper Moore's Creek 2000, M. A. Nelson, W. L. Cash, K. F. Steele

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Marine Mammals Of The Gulf Of Mexico, Edward O. Keith

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Determination Of The Pollutant Loads In The Kings River Near Berryville, Thomas S. Soerens, Marc A. Nelson

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

An automatic sampler and a U.S. Geological Swvey (USGS) gauging station were established in 1998 and water quality sampling was begun in 1999 on the Kings River near Benyville, Arkansas. Continuous stage and discharge measurements and frequent water quality sampling have been used to determine pollutant concentrations and loads in t11e river. In addition, ten samples were taken by Arkansas Water Resources Center (A WRC) concurrently with USGS samples in order to assess whether A WRC and USGS samples can be compared. This report presents the results from the sampling and analysis for January 1, I999 to December 31, 1999. …

The Effects Of Buffer And Temperature Feedback On The Oceanic Uptake Of Co2, Chuixiang Yi, Peng Gong, Ming Xu, Ye Qi

Publications and Research

The feedback between climate and carbon cycle systems is critical to the prediction of future CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere and the capacity of the oceans to take up CO₂ from the atmosphere. We calculated the magnitudes of the potential feedback between the increase of atmospheric CO₂ concentration, the carbonate chemistry of the oceans (via a buffer factor), and the global temperature. We find that the magnitude of the buffer feedback depends strongly on the level of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the oceans and increases rapidly with the increase of the atmospheric CO …

Spectral And Temporal Characterization Of High Temperature Events, William F. Bagby

Theses and Dissertations

The remote observations of the temporal and spectral characteristics of the infrared (IR) emissions from exploding ordnance have been correlated with explosion conditions. A Bomem MR-154 Fourier Transform Interferometer with two detectors, InSb and HgCdTe, was used to record spectra in the 1.3 - 20 micrometers range. Data was collected at spectral resolutions of 16/cm and 4/cm, and temporal resolutions of 0.045 sand 0.123 5, respectively. The data files range in size from 900 Kilobytes to several Megabytes. These are reduced to 2-dimensional representations of temporal features that are less than 100 Kilobytes. The data analysis indicates the possibility of …

Analyzing The Effects Of Meteorology On Radar Measured Index Of Refraction Structure Parameter, Jeffrey W. Budai

Theses and Dissertations

Forecasting optical turbulence is essential for the Air Force's Airborne Laser program to optimize placement of aircraft. To find bow meteorology affects C_n², the intensity of turbulence in the index of refraction, case studies of synoptically interesting times are first chosen. Correlation coefficients are then computed between radar measured C_n² and meteorological quantities. The potential for mechanically turbulent activity is looked at. In the analysis of this work, six meteorological features were found likely to affect C_n². Two features associated with affecting potential refractivity, and thus C_n², are jets …

Atmospheric Conditions Associated With Lightning During Snow And Ice Events, Randall J. Haeberle

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to find the atmospheric mechanisms associated with lightning in snow and ice events. The specific mechanisms that were examined were low-level wind shear, upper level divergence, surface temperature, low-level temperature, the -10 ° C level, and precipitable water. A chi-squared dependency test showed the strong association of low-level wind shear to each precipitation type (snow, sleet/freezing rain, rain) in two separate studies. Surface temperature appeared to have a relationship to lightning in all precipitation categories, while no significant relationship to lightning in all precipitation categories, while no significant relationship was found with upper level …

Validation And Assessment Of Dmsp Electron Temperatures In The Topside Ionosphere, Bradford S. Green

Theses and Dissertations

Geomagnetic disturbances in the near earth space environment can adversely affect numerous military and Department of Defense (DoD) systems and operations. To improve the prediction accuracy of such disturbances, the next generation of space environment forecast models aims to automatically ingest real-time ionospheric measurements. This research validates and assesses one such measurement - the Defense Military Satellite Program (DMSP) measured electron temperature (T_e). DMSP T_e data were validated against near simultaneous incoherent scatter radar (ISR) T_e measurements from Millstone Hill, MA and Sondrestrom, Greenland between Winter 1996 and Summer 2000. Of the 37 Millstone and six …

Validation And Characterization Of Ionospheric Densities Measured By Dmsp, Herbert L. Keyser

Theses and Dissertations

Future models of the thermosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere system will require near real-time assimilation of ionospheric parameters to specify% and forecast these regions One of the current sensors that will be used in the GAIM model is the DMSP SSIES. Knowledge of the SSIES's reliability and data characteristics is key to using the data when relying on automated processes to ingest the data. To validate the DMSP value, the DMSP-measured density is compared to ground-based ISR measurements from solar minimum to solar maximum. The DMSP data are compared to data from the ISRs located at the Millstone Hill Observatory in Massachusetts and Sondrestrom …

Analysis Of Cloud-To-Ground Lightning Clusters With Radar Composite Imagery, Rhonda B. Scott

Theses and Dissertations

The most recent research conducted at the Air Force Institute of Technology involved studying a large volume of lightning data without coupling radar imagery (Parsons 2000). Parsons finding could not be acted on because no individual storms were studied. The primary goal of this research is to determine whether the techniques used by Parsons can be applied to storms by examining the radar imagery and lightning data. This research used the methodology applied to lightning data by Parsons and radar imagery to determine whether the location of lightning clusters were located near storms. A composite reflectivity radar image was generated …

Gravity Wave Propagation Directions Inferred From Satellite Observations Including Smearing Effects, Jason S. Brown, Michael P. Hickey Ph.D.

Publications

We simulate space-based, sublimb viewing observations of airglow brightness fluctuations caused by atmospheric gravity wave interactions with the O2 atmospheric airglow, and we demonstrate that because of the geometry associated with such observations, the brightness fluctuations observed for the optically thick 0–0 band emission will always appear stronger for waves traveling toward the observer (the satellite). The effect should be most noticeable for waves having relatively small vertical wavelengths (∼10 km) and horizontal wavelengths of 50 km or greater. For waves of short (∼100 km) horizontal wavelength, the brightness fluctuation anisotropy with respect to viewing direction may also be evident …

Assessment Of The Effects Of Entrainment And Wind Shear On Nuclear Cloud Rise Modeling, Daniel E. Zalewski

Theses and Dissertations

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to construct, during a two-week period, an X-Band Radar (XBR) on Shemya, AK. Wind speeds must not, at any time during the construction, exceed a 25 knot limit set by the MDA for lifting the massive dome panels into place. The goal of this research was to explore the possibilities of long-range forecasts to determine the feasibility of predicting any upcoming two-week windows of opportunity, well in advance, that will ensure the successful completion of constructing the XBR on Shemya. In order to reach this goal, the following objectives were achieved; (1) a climatological …

Development Of Predictors For Cloud-To-Ground Lightning Activity Using Atmospheric Stability Indices, Kenneth C. Venzke

Theses and Dissertations

A detailed examination was performed on several commonly applied atmospheric stability indices and lightning activity from 1993 to 2000 to determine the indices usefulness as predictive tools for determining cloud-to-ground lightning activity. Predetermined radii of 50 nautical miles around upper-air stations in the Midwest U.S. were used for the lightning summaries. Also explored is an improvement upon the commonly accepted thresholds of the stability indices as general thunderstorm indicators. An improvement was found and new threshold ranges were developed for relating stability index values to lightning occurrence. Traditional statistical regression methods failed to find a significant predictive relationship. By examining …

Investigation Of Gravity Waves Via The Rotational Temperature Of Hydroxyl Nightglow, Erin C. Willingham

Theses and Dissertations

Measurement of the vibration and rotation bands of mesospheric hydroxyl radicals (OH) has been conducted during the past two decades using ground-based and space-based interferometers to take temperature and wind measurements from 70-100km in altitude. Gravity waves that pass through the mesosphere can be measured by determining the variance over time of the rotational temperature of the OH emissions. Several attempts were made to take spectrum measurements of the nightglow from hydroxyl radicals in the mesosphere using a custom hardware configuration that included a telescope and grating monochrometer optimized for the visible and near infrared. Quantifying gravity wave activity was …

Analysis Of Cloud-Free Line-Of-Sight Probability Calculations, Joseph J. Golemboski Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Cloud-free line-of-sight probabilities were calculated using two separate methods. The first was a variation of a method developed by the Rand Corporation in 1972. In it, CFLOS probabilities were calculated using empirical data based on five years of photograms taken over Columbia, Missouri and forecasted cloud amounts rather than climatological values. The second was a new approach using the Cloud Scene Simulation Model developed by Phillips Laboratory. Cloud scenes were generated using forecasted cloud fields, meteorological inputs, and thirty random numbers. Water content files were produced and processed through a follow-on program to determine the extinction coefficients at each grid …

Simulating Wet Deposition Of Radiocesium From The Chernobyl Accident, Aaron M. Kinser

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident of 1986, a cesium-137 deposition dataset was assembled. Most of the airborne Chernobyl cesium was wet deposited, either via interception by falling raindrops or via absorption into cloud droplets destined to become raindrops. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian rated Transport (HYSPLIT) model, developed at Air Resources Laboratory, is used to simulate the transport and deposition of Chernobyl cesium-137. A cloud base parameterization modification is tested and appears to slightly improve the accuracy of one HYSPLIT simulation of daily Chernobyl cesium-137 deposition over the course of the accident at isolated European sites, and …

Secular Variations Of Oi 5577 Å Airglow In The Mesopause Region Induced By Transient Gravity Wave Packets, Michael P. Hickey Ph.D., R. L. Walterscheid

Publications

We employ a 2-dimensional, time-dependent, fully nonlinear model of minor species in the mesopause region and our Spectral Full-Wave Model to simulate the response of minor species and the OI 5577 Å airglow to a gravity wave packet in the mesopause region. Gravity waves affect the time-averaged distribution of minor species in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region through constituent fluxes induced by violation of the non-acceleration conditions due to wave transience and dissipation. In addition, wave perturbed chemistry can induce a flux of chemically active species. Simulations are performed with nominal values of eddy diffusion coefficients in the …

Demonstration Of Best Management Practices For The Protection And Improvement Of The Soil And Water Resources In The Arkansas Delta, M. A. Henslee, W. H. Baker, S. D. Carroll, J. L. Farris, S. D. Davis, C. D. Milam, J. L. Pierce

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

This report is the compilation of a multi~year project that was directed at identifying the impact and possible mitigation solutions of non-point pollution from row crop agriculture in a watershed in the Arkansas Delta. The first part of the project involved an inventory of the condition of the major streams that make up the study watershed. The remainder of the project was focused at demonstrating and reporting best management nutrient and sediment runoff control practices (BMP) that could be implemented. The final assessment of the demonstration work is a GIS analysis that provides an overview of the effectiveness of these …