Sample records for united states surface

  1. Memorandum of Understanding on Surface Coal Mining Operations Resulting in Placement of Excess Spoil Fills in the Waters of the United States

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    MOU on Surface Coal Mining Operations establishes a process for improving coordination in the review of permit applications required for surface coal mining and reclamation in waters of the United States

  2. Illustrated surface mining methods

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1979-01-01

    This manual provides a visual synopsis of surface coal mining methods in the United States. The manual presents various surface mining methods and techniques through artist renderings and appropriate descriptions. The productive coal fields of the United States were divided into four regions according to geology and physiography. A glossay of terminology is included. (DP)

  3. Comparison of cropland and forest surface temperatures across the conterminous United States

    Treesearch

    James D. Wickham; Timothy G. Wade; Kurt H. Riitters

    2012-01-01

    Global climate models (GCM) investigating the effects of land cover on climate have found that replacing extra-tropical forest with cropland promotes cooling. We compared cropland and forest surface temperatures across the continental United States in 16 cells that were approximately 1◦ × 2◦ using 1 km2 MODIS land surface...

  4. Comparison of cropland and forest surface temperatures across the conterminous United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    Global climate models (GCM) investigating the effects of land cover on climate have found that replacing extra-tropical forest with cropland promotes cooling. We compared cropland and forest surface temperatures across the continental United States in 16 cells that were approxim...

  5. DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC WASTEWATER CONTAMINANTS BETWEEN WATER AND SEDIMENT IN SURFACE WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants have been determined in the surface waters of Europe and the United States. A preliminary report of substantially higher concentrations of pharmaceuticals in sediment suggests that bottom sediment ...

  6. Estimated Water Flows in 2005: United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Smith, C A; Belles, R D; Simon, A J

    2011-03-16

    Flow charts depicting water use in the United States have been constructed from publicly available data and estimates of water use patterns. Approximately 410,500 million gallons per day of water are managed throughout the United States for use in farming, power production, residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Water is obtained from four major resource classes: fresh surface-water, saline (ocean) surface-water, fresh groundwater and saline (brackish) groundwater. Water that is not consumed or evaporated during its use is returned to surface bodies of water. The flow patterns are represented in a compact 'visual atlas' of 52 state-level (all 50 states inmore » addition to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) and one national water flow chart representing a comprehensive systems view of national water resources, use, and disposition.« less

  7. Estimating the impact of the 2004 Alaskan forest fires on episodic particulate matter pollution over the eastern United States through assimilation of satellite-derived aerosol optical depths in a regional air quality model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mathur, Rohit

    2008-09-01

    During the summer of 2004, extensive wildfires burned in Alaska and western Canada; the fires were the largest on record for Alaska. Smoke from these fires was observed over the continental United States in satellite images, and a variety of chemical tracers associated with the fires were sampled by aircrafts deployed during the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation field experiment. Several recent studies have quantified the impacts of the long-range transport of pollution associated with these fires on tropospheric CO and O3 levels over the eastern United States. This study quantifies the episodic impact of this pollution transport event on surface-level fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations over the eastern United States during mid-July 2004, through the complementary use of remotely sensed, aloft, and surface measurements, in conjunction with a comprehensive regional atmospheric chemistry-transport model. A methodology is developed to assimilate MODIS aerosol optical depths in the model to represent the impacts of the fires. The resultant model predictions of CO and PM2.5 distributions are compared extensively with corresponding surface and aloft measurements. On the basis of the model calculations, a 0.12Tg enhancement in tropospheric PM2.5 mass loading over the eastern United States is estimated on 19 July 2004 due to the fires. This amount is significantly larger (approximately a factor of 8) than the total daily anthropogenic fine particulate matter emissions for the continental United States. Analysis of measured and modeled PM2.5 surface-level concentrations suggests that the transport of particulate matter pollution associated with the fires resulted in a 24-42 % enhancement in median surface-level PM2.5 concentrations across the eastern United States during 19-23 July 2004.

  8. Development of a fire weather index using meteorological observations within the Northeast United States

    Treesearch

    Michael J. Erickson; Joseph J. Charney; Brian A. Colle

    2016-01-01

    A fire weather index (FWI) is developed using wildfire occurrence data and Automated Surface Observing System weather observations within a subregion of the northeastern United States (NEUS) from 1999 to 2008. Average values of several meteorological variables, including near-surface temperature, relative humidity, dewpoint, wind speed, and cumulative daily...

  9. Quantifying Power Grid Risk from Geomagnetic Storms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Homeier, N.; Wei, L. H.; Gannon, J. L.

    2012-12-01

    We are creating a statistical model of the geophysical environment that can be used to quantify the geomagnetic storm hazard to power grid infrastructure. Our model is developed using a database of surface electric fields for the continental United States during a set of historical geomagnetic storms. These electric fields are derived from the SUPERMAG compilation of worldwide magnetometer data and surface impedances from the United States Geological Survey. This electric field data can be combined with a power grid model to determine GICs per node and reactive MVARs at each minute during a storm. Using publicly available substation locations, we derive relative risk maps by location by combining magnetic latitude and ground conductivity. We also estimate the surface electric fields during the August 1972 geomagnetic storm that caused a telephone cable outage across the middle of the United States. This event produced the largest surface electric fields in the continental U.S. in at least the past 40 years.

  10. Sectoral contributions to surface water stress in the coterminous United States

    Treesearch

    K. Averyt; J. Meldrum; P. Caldwell; G. Sun; S. McNulty; A. Huber-Lee; N. Madden

    2013-01-01

    Here, we assess current stress in the freshwater system based on the best available data in order to understand possible risks and vulnerabilities to regional water resources and the sectors dependent on freshwater. We present watershed-scale measures of surface water supply stress for the coterminous United States (US) using the water supply stress index (WaSSI) model...

  11. Treatability of U.S. wood species with pigment emulsified creosote

    Treesearch

    Douglas M. Crawford; Rodney C. De Groot; John B. Watkins; Harry Greaves; Karl J. Schmalzl; T. L. Syers

    2000-01-01

    Since the 1920s creosote has been used extensively in the United States for treatment of construction timbers, poles, and posts. However, creosote has the tendency to exude or bbleedc from some treated commodities, producing a tar-like covered surface. In the United States, creosote-treated products exhibiting cleaner dried surfaces and a reduced tendency to bleed have...

  12. An Environmental Unit for the Social Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kroll, Claudia J.

    Based on the inquiry method of learning, this instructional unit attempts to encourage students to discover for themselves the facts, problems, values, conflicts, and potential solutions of an environmental issue. Specifically, it deals with surface mining in the United States, with special focus on surface mining in Illinois. Materials and…

  13. Estimated use of water in the United States in 2010

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Maupin, Molly A.; Kenny, Joan F.; Hutson, Susan S.; Lovelace, John K.; Barber, Nancy L.; Linsey, Kristin S.

    2014-01-01

    In 2010, more than 50 percent of the total withdrawals in the United States were accounted for by 12 States. California accounted for about 11 percent of the total withdrawals and 10 percent of freshwater withdrawals in the United States, predominantly for irrigation. Texas accounted for about 7 percent of total withdrawals, predominantly for thermoelectric power, irrigation, and public supply. Florida accounted for 18 percent of the total saline-water withdrawals in the United States, mostly from surface-water sources for thermoelectric power. Oklahoma and Texas accounted for about 70 percent of the total saline groundwater withdrawals in the United States, mostly for mining.

  14. Modern fire regime resembles historical fire regime in a ponderosa pine forest on Native American land

    Treesearch

    Amanda B. Stan; Peter Z. Fule; Kathryn B. Ireland; Jamie S. Sanderlin

    2014-01-01

    Forests on tribal lands in the western United States have seen the return of low-intensity surface fires for several decades longer than forests on non-tribal lands. We examined the surface fire regime in a ponderosa pinedominated (Pinus ponderosa) forest on the Hualapai tribal lands in the south-western United States. Using fire-scarred trees, we inferred temporal (...

  15. Surface water supply of the United States, 1907-8, Part III. Ohio River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1910-01-01

    This volume contains results of flow measurements made on certain streams in the United States. The work was performed by the water-resources branch of the United States Geological Survey, either independently or in cooperation with organizations mentioned herein. These investigations are authorized by the organic law of the Geological Survey (Stat. L., vol. 20, p. 394)...

  16. Attribution of Trends and Variability in Surface Ozone over the United States

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Strode, Sarah; Cooper, Owen; Damo, Megan; Logan, Jennifer; Rodriquez, Jose; Strahan, Susan; Witte, Jacquie

    2013-01-01

    Concentrations of tropospheric ozone, a greenhouse gas and air pollutant, are impacted by changes in precursor emissions as well meteorology and influx from the stratosphere. Observations show a decreasing trend in summertime surface ozone at rural stations in the eastern United States, while some western stations show increasing trends, particularly in springtime. We use the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) global chemical transport model to investigate the roles of precursor emission changes, meteorological variability, and stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) in explaining observed trends in surface ozone from rural sites in the United States from 1991-2010. The model's interannual variability shows significant correlations with observations from many of the surface sites. We also compare the simulated ozone to ozonesonde data for several locations with sufficiently long records. We compare a simulation with time-dependent precursor emissions, including emission reductions over the United States and Europe and increases over Asia, to a simulation with fixed emissions to quantify the impact of changing emissions on the surface trends. The simulation with varying emissions reproduces much of the east-west difference in summertime ozone over the U.S., although it generally underestimates the negative trend in the East. In contrast, the fixed-emission simulation shows increasing ozone at both eastern and western sites. We will discuss possible causes of this behavior, including long-range transport and STE.

  17. Sensitivity of June Near-Surface Temperatures and Precipitation in the Eastern United States to Historical Land Cover Changes Since European Settlement

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Strack, John E.; Pielke, Roger A.; Steyaert, Louis T.; Knox, Robert G.

    2008-01-01

    Land cover changes alter the near surface weather and climate. Changes in land surface properties such as albedo, roughness length, stomatal resistance, and leaf area index alter the surface energy balance, leading to differences in near surface temperatures. This study utilized a newly developed land cover data set for the eastern United States to examine the influence of historical land cover change on June temperatures and precipitation. The new data set contains representations of the land cover and associated biophysical parameters for 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992, capturing the clearing of the forest and the expansion of agriculture over the eastern United States from 1650 to the early twentieth century and the subsequent forest regrowth. The data set also includes the inferred distribution of potentially water-saturated soils at each time slice for use in the sensitivity tests. The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System, equipped with the Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Feedback (LEAF-2) land surface parameterization, was used to simulate the weather of June 1996 using the 1992, 1920, 1850, and 1650 land cover representations. The results suggest that changes in surface roughness and stomatal resistance have caused present-day maximum and minimum temperatures in the eastern United States to warm by about 0.3 C and 0.4 C, respectively, when compared to values in 1650. In contrast, the maximum temperatures have remained about the same, while the minimums have cooled by about 0.1 C when compared to 1920. Little change in precipitation was found.

  18. Sensitivity of June near‐surface temperatures and precipitation in the eastern United States to historical land cover changes since European settlement

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Strack, John E.; Pielke, Roger A.; Steyaert, Louis T.; Knox, Robert G.

    2008-01-01

    Land cover changes alter the near surface weather and climate. Changes in land surface properties such as albedo, roughness length, stomatal resistance, and leaf area index alter the surface energy balance, leading to differences in near surface temperatures. This study utilized a newly developed land cover data set for the eastern United States to examine the influence of historical land cover change on June temperatures and precipitation. The new data set contains representations of the land cover and associated biophysical parameters for 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992, capturing the clearing of the forest and the expansion of agriculture over the eastern United States from 1650 to the early twentieth century and the subsequent forest regrowth. The data set also includes the inferred distribution of potentially water‐saturated soils at each time slice for use in the sensitivity tests. The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System, equipped with the Land Ecosystem‐Atmosphere Feedback (LEAF‐2) land surface parameterization, was used to simulate the weather of June 1996 using the 1992, 1920, 1850, and 1650 land cover representations. The results suggest that changes in surface roughness and stomatal resistance have caused present‐day maximum and minimum temperatures in the eastern United States to warm by about 0.3°C and 0.4°C, respectively, when compared to values in 1650. In contrast, the maximum temperatures have remained about the same, while the minimums have cooled by about 0.1°C when compared to 1920. Little change in precipitation was found.

  19. The influence of surface versus free-air decoupling on temperature trend patterns in the western United States

    Treesearch

    N.C. Pepin; C. Daly; J. Lundquist

    2011-01-01

    We analyzed temperature trends from 460 GHCNv2 weather stations in the western United States for 1948¨C2006 to determine whether the extent of decoupling of surface temperatures from the free atmosphere influences past change. At each location we derived monthly indices representative of anticyclonicity using NCEP/NCAR 700 hPa reanalysis pressure fields. The number of...

  20. Turbulent Structure Under Short Fetch Wind Waves

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-12-01

    1970) developed the LFT utilizing the concurrent measurement of sea surface elevation (η) and the near surface velocities to isolate the wave...Layers and Air-Sea Transfer program by making very high spatial resolution profile measurements of the 3-D velocity field into the crest-trough...distribution is unlimited TURBULENT STRUCTURE UNDER SHORT FETCH WIND WAVES Michael J. Papa Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy B.S., United States Naval

  1. Surface water supply of the United States, 1907-8, Part IV. St. Lawrence River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1910-01-01

    This volume contains results of flow measurements made on certain streams in the United States. The work was performed by the water-resources branch of the United States Geological Survey, either independently or in cooperation with organizations mentioned herein. These investigations are authorized by the organic law of the Geological Survey (Stat. L., vol. 20, p. 394)...

  2. The Relation of El Nino Southern Oscillation to Winter Tornado Outbreaks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robinson Cook, A. D.; Schaefer, J. T.

    2007-12-01

    Winter tornado activity (January, February, and March) between 1950 and 2003 was analyzed to determine the possible effect of seasonally averaged sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the ENSO phase, on the location and strength of tornado outbreaks in the United States. Tornado activity was gauged through analyses of tornadoes occurring on tornado days (a calendar day featuring 6 or more tornadoes within the contiguous United States) and strong and violent tornado days (a calendar day featuring 5 or more tornadoes rated F-2 and greater within the contiguous United States). The tornado days were then stratified according to warm (37 tornado days, 14 violent days), cold (51 tornado days, 28 violent days), and neutral (74 tornado days, 44 violent days) winter ENSO phase. It is seen that during winter periods of neutral tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures, there is a tendency for United States tornado outbreaks to be stronger and more frequent than they are during winter periods of anomalously warm tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (El Nino). During winter periods with anomalously cool Pacific sea surface temperatures (La Nina), the frequency and strength of United States tornado activity lies between that of the neutral and El Nino phase. ENSO related shifts in the preferred location of tornado activity are also observed. Historically, during the neutral phase, tornado outbreaks typically occurred from central Oklahoma and Kansas eastward through the Carolinas. During cold phases, tornado outbreaks have typically occurred in a zone stretching from southeastern Texas northeastward into Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. During anomalously warm phases activity was mainly limited to the Gulf Coast States including central Florida. The data are statistically and synoptically analyzed to show that they are not only statistically significant, but also meteorologically reasonable.

  3. Phosphorus solubility of agricultural soils: a surface charge and phosphorus-31 NMR speciation study

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    We investigated ten soils from six states in United States to determine the relationship between potentiometric titration derived soil surface charge and Phosphorus-31 (P) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) speciation with the concentration of water-extractable P (WEP). The surface charge value at the...

  4. ESTIMATING AND PROJECTING IMPERVIOUS COVER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Urban/suburban land constitutes the fastest growing land use class in the Southeastern United States. Predominant development practices increase impervious surface--areas preventing infiltration of water into the underlying soil. Uncontrolled increase of impervious areas (roads,...

  5. ESTIMATING AND PROJECTING IMPERVIOUS COVER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Urban/suburban land use constitutes the fastest growing land use class in the Southeastern United States. Predominant development practices increase impervious surface--areas preventing infiltration of water into the underlying soil. Uncontrolled increase of impervious areas (ro...

  6. Improving Simulations of Fine Dust Surface Concentrations over the Western United States by Optimizing the Particle Size Distribution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhang, Li; Kok, Jasper F.; Henze, Daven

    2013-06-28

    To improve estimates of remote contributions of dust to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the western United States, new dust particle size distributions (PSDs) based upon scale-invariant fragmentation theory (Kok_PSD) with constraints from in situ measurements (IMP_PSD) are implemented in a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Compared to initial simulations, this leads to reductions in the mass of emitted dust particles with radii <1.8 mm by 40%-60%. Consequently, the root-mean-square error in simulated fine dust concentrations compared to springtime surface observations in the western United States is reduced by 67%-81%. The ratio of simulated fine to coarse PM mass is alsomore » improved, which is not achievable by reductions in total dust emissions. The IMP_PSD best represents the PSD of dust transported from remote sources and reduces modeled PM2.5 concentrations up to 5 mg/m3 over the western United States, which is important when considering sources contributing to nonattainment of air quality standards. Citation: Zhang, L., J. F. Kok, D. K. Henze, Q. Li, and C. Zhao (2013), Improving simulations of fine dust surface concentrations over the western United States by optimizing the particle size distribution, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 3270-3275, doi:10.1002/grl.50591.« less

  7. Surface water supply of the United States, 1907-8, Part II. South Atlantic Coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1909-01-01

    This volume contains results of flow measurements made on certain streams in the United States. The work was performed by the water-resources branch of the United States Geological Survey, either independently or in cooperation with organizations mentioned herein. These investigations are authorized by the organic law of the Geological Survey (Stat. L., vol. 20, p. 394)...

  8. Evidence of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation driving multi-decadal variability of summertime surface air quality in the eastern United States: Implications for air quality management in the coming decades

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shen, L.; Mickley, L. J.

    2016-12-01

    Atlantic sea surface temperatures have a significant influence on the summertime meteorology and air quality in the eastern United States. In this study, we investigate the effect of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) on two key air pollutants, surface ozone and PM2.5, over the eastern United States. The shift of AMO from cold to warm phase increases surface air temperatures by 0.5 K across the East and reduces precipitation, resulting in a warmer and drier summer. By applying observed, present-day relationships between these pollutants and meteorological variables to a variety of observations and historical reanalysis datasets, we calculate the impacts of AMO on U.S. air quality. Our study reveals a multidecadal variability in mean summertime (JJA) maximum daily 8-hour (MDA8) ozone and surface PM2.5 concentrations in the eastern United States. In one-half cycle ( 30 years) of the AMO from negative to positive phase with constant anthropogenic emissions, JJA MDA8 ozone concentrations increase by 1-3 ppbv in the Northeast and 2-5 ppbv in the Great Plains; JJA PM2.5 concentrations increase by 0.8-1.2 μg m-3 in the Northeast and Southeast. The resulting impact on mortality rates is 4000 excess deaths per half cycle of AMO. We suggest that a complete picture of air quality management in coming decades requires consideration of the AMO influence.

  9. A farm pond water irrigation management system in Mid-South United States

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    In the mid-southern United States, though most states receive more than 1000 mm of annual precipitation, only 20% irrigation is from surface water in this region. The majority of rainfall occurs in fall, winter and spring, but water deficit still exists during crop critical growing season from May t...

  10. Agrichemicals in surface water and birth defects in the United States

    PubMed Central

    Winchester, Paul D; Huskins, Jordan; Ying, Jun

    2009-01-01

    Objectives: To investigate if live births conceived in months when surface water agrichemicals are highest are at greater risk for birth defects. Methods: Monthly concentrations during 1996–2002 of nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides were calculated using United States Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment data. Monthly United States birth defect rates were calculated for live births from 1996 to 2002 using United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention natality data sets. Birth defect rates by month of last menstrual period (LMP) were then compared to pesticide/nitrate means using logistical regression models. Results: Mean concentrations of agrichemicals were highest in April–July. Total birth defects, and eleven of 22 birth defect subcategories, were more likely to occur in live births with LMPs between April and July. A significant association was found between the season of elevated agrichemicals and birth defects. Conclusion: Elevated concentrations of agrichemicals in surface water in April–July coincided with higher risk of birth defects in live births with LMPs April–July. While a causal link between agrichemicals and birth defects cannot be proven from this study an association might provide clues to common factors shared by both variables. PMID:19183116

  11. Handbook of solar energy data for south-facing surfaces in the United States. Volume 2: Average hourly and total daily insolation data for 235 localities. Alaska - Montana

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, J. H.

    1980-01-01

    Average hourly and daily total insolation estimates for 235 United States locations are presented. Values are presented for a selected number of array tilt angles on a monthly basis. All units are in kilowatt hours per square meter.

  12. The impact of reforestation in the northeast United States on precipitation and surface temperature

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clark, Allyson

    Since the 1920s, forest coverage in the northeastern United States has recovered from disease, clearing for agricultural and urban development, and the demands of the timber industry. Such a dramatic change in ground cover can influence heat and moisture fluxes to the atmosphere, as measured in altered landscapes in Australia, Israel, and the Amazon. In this study, the impacts of recent reforestation in the northeastern United States on summertime precipitation and surface temperature were quantified by comparing average modern values to 1950s values. Weak positive (negative) relationships between reforestation and average monthly precipitation and daily minimum temperatures (average daily maximum surface temperature) were found. There was no relationship between reforestation and average surface temperature. Results of the observational analysis were compared with results obtained from reforestation scenarios simulated with the BUGS5 global climate model. The single difference between the model runs was the amount of forest coverage in the northeast United States; three levels of forest were defined - a grassland state, with 0% forest coverage, a completely forested state, with approximately 100% forest coverage, and a control state, with forest coverage closely resembling modern forest coverage. The three simulations were compared, and had larger magnitude average changes in precipitation and in all temperature variables. The difference in magnitudes between the model simulations observations was much larger than the difference in the amount of reforestation in each case. Additionally, unlike in observations, a negative relationship was found between average daily minimum temperature and amount of forest coverage, implying that additional factors influence temperature and precipitation in the real world that are not accounted for in the model.

  13. Perchlorate Data for Streams and Groundwater in Selected Areas of the United States, 2004

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kalkhoff, Stephen J.; Stetson, Sarah J.; Lund, Kris D.; Wanty, Richard B.; Linder, Gregory L.

    2010-01-01

    This report presents data collected as part of a reconnaissance study to evaluate the occurrence of perchlorate in rivers and streams and in shallow aquifers in selected areas of the United States. Perchlorate, a component in rocket fuels, fireworks, and some explosives is soluble in water and persists in soils and water for long periods. It is biologically active at relatively low-levels in the environment, and has been identified as an endocrine-disrupting chemical. The purpose of this reconnaissance was to determine the occurrence of perchlorate in agricultural areas of the Midwestern and North-Central United States and in arid Central and Western parts of the United States. Samples were collected from 171 sites on rivers and streams and 146 sites from wells during the summer and early fall of 2004. Samples were collected from surface-water sites in 19 states and from wells in 5 states. Perchlorate was detected in samples collected in 15 states and was detected in 34 of 182 samples from rivers and streams and in 64 of 148 groundwater samples at concentrations equal to or greater than 0.4 micrograms per liter. Perchlorate concentrations were 1.0 micrograms per liter or greater in surface-water samples from seven states and in groundwater samples in four states. Only one surface-water and one groundwater sample had concentrations greater than 5.0 micrograms per liter. Perchlorate concentrations in followup samples collected from 1 to 3 months after the initial sample were unchanged at four of five stream sites.

  14. Geomorphic Processes and Remote Sensing Signatures of Alluvial Fans in the Kun Lun Mountains, China

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Farr, Tom G.; Chadwick, Oliver A.

    1996-01-01

    The timing of alluvial deposition in arid and semiarid areas is tied to land-surface instability caused by regional climate changes. The distribution pattern of dated deposits provides maps of regional land-surface response to past climate change. Sensitivity to differences in surface roughness and composition makes remote sensing techniques useful for regional mapping of alluvial deposits. Radar images from the Spaceborne Radar Laboratory and visible wavelength images from the French SPOT satellite were used to determine remote sensing signatures of alluvial fan units for an area in the Kun Lun Mountains of northwestern China. These data were combined with field observations to compare surface processes and their effects on remote sensing signatures in northwestern China and the southwestern United States. Geomorphic processes affecting alluvial fans in the two areas include aeolian deposition, desert varnish, and fluvial dissection. However, salt weathering is a much more important process in the Kun Lun than in the southwestern United States. This slows the formation of desert varnish and prevents desert pavement from forming. Thus the Kun Lun signatures are characteristic of the dominance of salt weathering, while signatures from the southwestern United States are characteristic of the dominance of desert varnish and pavement processes. Remote sensing signatures are consistent enough in these two regions to be used for mapping fan units over large areas.

  15. Relaxation of Actinide Surfaces: An All Electron Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Atta-Fynn, Raymond; Dholabhai, Pratik; Ray, Asok

    2006-10-01

    Fully relativistic full potential density functional calculations with a linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbitals basis (LAPW + lo) have been performed to investigate the relaxations of heavy actinide surfaces, namely the (111) surface of fcc δ-Pu and the (0001) surface of dhcp Am using WIEN2k. This code uses the LAPW + lo method with the unit cell divided into non-overlapping atom-centered spheres and an interstitial region. The APW+lo basis is used to describe all s, p, d, and f states and LAPW basis to describe all higher angular momentum states. Each surface was modeled by a three-layer periodic slab separated by 60 Bohr vacuum with four atoms per surface unit cell. In general, we have found a contraction of the interlayer separations for both Pu and Am. We will report, in detail, the electronic and geometric structures of the relaxed surfaces and comparisons with the respective non-relaxed surfaces.

  16. Twentieth Century Regional Climate Change During the Summer in the Central United States Attributed to Agricultural Intensification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alter, Ross E.; Douglas, Hunter C.; Winter, Jonathan M.; Eltahir, Elfatih A. B.

    2018-02-01

    Both land use changes and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have significantly modified regional climate over the last century. In the central United States, for example, observational data indicate that rainfall increased, surface air temperature decreased, and surface humidity increased during the summer over the course of the twentieth century concurrently with increases in both agricultural production and global GHG emissions. However, the relative contributions of each of these forcings to the observed regional changes remain unclear. Results of both regional climate model simulations and observational analyses suggest that much of the observed rainfall increase—as well as the decrease in temperature and increase in humidity—is attributable to agricultural intensification in the central United States, with natural variability and GHG emissions playing secondary roles. Thus, we conclude that twentieth century land use changes contributed more to forcing observed regional climate change during the summer in the central United States than increasing GHG emissions.

  17. Metals Fate And Transport Modelling In Streams And Watersheds: State Of The Science And USEPA Workshop Review

    EPA Science Inventory

    Metals pollution in surface waters from point and non-point sources (NPS) is a widespread problem in the United States and worldwide (Lofts et al., 2007; USEPA, 2007). In the western United States, metals associated with acid mine drainage (AMD) from hardrock mines in mou...

  18. Managing Disaster in the Ionian Sea: Planning and Optimizing Logistics for Disaster Relief Operations for the Island of Kefalonia

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-06-01

    surface directly (vertically) above the hypocenter (United States Geological Survey , 2009). A graphical depiction of epicenter and hypocenter appears...to their focal depth: shallow (70-300 km), intermediate (70-300 km), and deep (300-700 km) (United States Geological Survey , 1989a). The concepts of...magnitude (Mb), and moment magnitude (MW) scales (Papazachos & Papazachou, 2003, p. 39; United States Geological Survey , 2009c). All these measurement

  19. METHODOLOGY TO ESTABLISH WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS ON THE U.S. COUNTY LEVEL

    EPA Science Inventory

    The United States Geological Survey (USGS) collects water quality data at approximately 1.5 million sites in the United States (US) for both surface water and ground water locations. These data are provided publicly through the National Water Information System (NWIS) web interfa...

  20. The First United States Microgravity Laboratory

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Powers, C. Blake (Editor); Shea, Charlotte; Mcmahan, Tracy; Accardi, Denise; Mikatarian, Jeff

    1991-01-01

    The United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) is one part of a science and technology program that will open NASA's next great era of discovery and establish the United States' leadership in space. A key component in the preparation for this new age of exploration, the USML-1 will fly in orbit for extended periods, providing greater opportunities for research in materials science, fluid dynamics, biotechnology, and combustion science. The major components of the USML-1 are the Crystal Growth Furnace, the Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment (STDCE) Apparatus, and the Drop Physics Module. Other components of USML-1 include Astroculture, Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project, Protein Crystal Growth, Space Acceleration Measurement System, Solid Surface Combustion Experiment, Zeolite Crystal Growth and Spacelab Glovebox provided by the European Space Agency.

  1. Increased salinization of fresh water in the northeastern United States

    PubMed Central

    Kaushal, Sujay S.; Groffman, Peter M.; Likens, Gene E.; Belt, Kenneth T.; Stack, William P.; Kelly, Victoria R.; Band, Lawrence E.; Fisher, Gary T.

    2005-01-01

    Chloride concentrations are increasing at a rate that threatens the availability of fresh water in the northeastern United States. Increases in roadways and deicer use are now salinizing fresh waters, degrading habitat for aquatic organisms, and impacting large supplies of drinking water for humans throughout the region. We observed chloride concentrations of up to 25% of the concentration of seawater in streams of Maryland, New York, and New Hampshire during winters, and chloride concentrations remaining up to 100 times greater than unimpacted forest streams during summers. Mean annual chloride concentration increased as a function of impervious surface and exceeded tolerance for freshwater life in suburban and urban watersheds. Our analysis shows that if salinity were to continue to increase at its present rate due to changes in impervious surface coverage and current management practices, many surface waters in the northeastern United States would not be potable for human consumption and would become toxic to freshwater life within the next century. PMID:16157871

  2. Increased salinization of fresh water in the Northeastern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kaushal, S.S.; Groffman, P.M.; Likens, G.E.; Belt, K.T.; Stack, W.P.; Kelly, V.R.; Band, L.E.; Fisher, G.T.

    2005-01-01

    Chloride concentrations are increasing at a rate that threatens the availability of fresh water in the northeastern United States. Increases in roadways and deicer use are now salinizing fresh waters, degrading habitat for aquatic organisms, and impacting large supplies of drinking water for humans throughout the region. We observed chloride concentrations of up to 25% of the concentration of seawater in streams of Maryland, New York, and New Hampshire during winters, and chloride concentrations remaining up to 100 times greater than unimpacted forest streams during summers. Mean annual chloride concentration increased as a function of impervious surface and exceeded tolerance for freshwater life in suburban and urban watersheds. Our analysis shows that if salinity were to continue to increase at its present rate due to changes in impervious surface coverage and current management practices, many surface waters in the northeastern United States would not be potable for human consumption and would become toxic to freshwater life within the next century. ?? 2005 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

  3. Students Using Multimodal Literacies to Surface Micronarratives of United States Immigration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghiso, Maria Paula; Low, David E.

    2013-01-01

    This article explores how immigrant students in the United States utilise multimodal literacy practices to complicate dominant narratives of American national identity--narratives of facile assimilation, meritocracy and linear trajectories. Such ideologies can be explicitly evident in curricular materials or can be woven more implicitly into…

  4. SURFACE AND LIGHTNING SOURCES OF NITROGEN OXIDES OVER THE UNITED STATES: MAGNITUDES, CHEMICAL EVOLUTION, AND OUTFLOW

    EPA Science Inventory

    We use observations from two aircraft during the ICARTT campaign over the eastern United States and North Atlantic during summer 2004, interpreted with a global 3-D model of tropospheric chemistry (GEOS-Chem) to test current understanding of regional sources, chemical evolution...

  5. ASSESSING WATER QUALITY CHANGES IN THE LAKES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES USING SEDIMENT DIATOMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Diatom assemblages were selected as indicators of lake condition and to assess historical lake water quality changes in 257 lakes in the northeastern United States. The "top" (surface sediments, present-day) and "bottom" (generally from >30 cm deep, representing historical condit...

  6. Monitoring the Condition of the Estuaries of the United States: The National Coastal Assessment Experience

    EPA Science Inventory

    Coastal waters in the United States include estuaries, bays, sounds, coastal wetlands, coral reefs, intertidal zones, mangrove and kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and coastal ocean and upwelling areas (i.e. deep water rising to surface). These coastal areas encompass a wide diver...

  7. Effect of land cover change on snow free surface albedo across the continental United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    Land cover changes (e.g., forest to grassland) affect albedo, and changes in albedo can influence radiative forcing (warming, cooling). We empirically tested albedo response to land cover change for 130 locations across the continental United States using high resolution (30 m-&t...

  8. A STUDY OF PERSISTENT ELEVATED POLLUTION EPISODES IN THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    To examine chemical transformation within stagnant air masses and the atmospheric processes acting upon such air masses, the U.S.E.P.A. sponsored a study in the summer of 1980 in the northeastern United States. Ten research aircraft and several mobile and stationary surface monit...

  9. IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE ON UV EXPOSURE IN COASTAL SHELF REGIONS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Global change has a variety of impact on UV exposure in coastal shelf regions of the southeastern United States. Changes in solar UV reaching the water surface have been caused by human alterations of atmospheric composition such as depletion of the ozone layer.

  10. Regional and national significance of biological nitrogen fixation by crops in the United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    Background/Questions/Methods Biological nitrogen fixation by crops (C-BNF) represents one of the largest anthropogenic inputs of reactive nitrogen (N) to land surfaces around the world. In the United States (US), existing estimates of C-BNF are uncertain because of incomplete o...

  11. Multisite evaluation of environmental cleanliness of high-touch surfaces in intensive care unit patient rooms.

    PubMed

    Hopman, Joost; Donskey, Curtis J; Boszczowski, Icaro; Alfa, Michelle J

    2018-05-23

    The efficacy of discharge cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces of intensive care unit patient rooms in Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States was evaluated and the effect of an educational intervention was determined. Significant site-to-site differences in cleaning regimens and baseline cleanliness levels were observed using ATP levels, colony-forming units, and reflective surface marker removal percent pass rates. An educational intervention that includes rapid feedback of the ATP measurements could significantly improve the quality of the cleaning and disinfection regimens. Copyright © 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Identification of the Parameters of Menétrey -Willam Failure Surface of Calcium Silicate Units

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Radosław, Jasiński

    2017-10-01

    The identification of parameters of Menétrey-Willamsurface made of concrete, masonry or autoclaved aerated concrete is not complicated. It is much more difficult to identify failure parameters of masonry units with cavities. This paper describes the concept of identifying the parameters of Menétrey-Willam failure surface (M-W-3) with reference to masonry units with vertical cavities. The M-W-3 surface is defined by uniaxial compressive strength fc, uniaxial tensile strength ft and eccentricity of elliptical function e. A test stand was built to identify surface parameters. It was used to test behaviour of masonry units under triaxial stress and conduct tests on whole masonry units in the uniaxial state. Results from tests on tens of silicate masonry units are presented in the Haigh-Westergaard (H-W) space. Statistical analyses were used to identify the shape of surface meridian, and then to determine eccentricity of the elliptical function.

  13. Multi-scale Landscape Factors Influencing Stream Water Quality in the State of Oregon

    EPA Science Inventory

    Enterococci bacteria are used to indicate the presence of human and/or animal fecal materials in surface water. In addition to human influences on the quality of surface water, a cattle grazing is a widespread and persistent ecological stressor in the Western United States. Cattl...

  14. Historic surface faulting in continental United States and adjacent parts of Mexico

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonilla, M.G.

    1967-01-01

    This report summarizes geometric aspects of approximately 35 instances of historic faulting of the ground surface in the continental United States and adjacent parts of Mexico. This information is of immediate importance in the selection and evaluation of sites for vital structures such as nuclear power plants. The data are presented in a table and graphs which show the quantitative relations between various aspects of the faulting. Certain items in the table that are uncertain, poorly known, or not in the published literature are briefly described in the text.

  15. NHDPlusHR: A national geospatial framework for surface-water information

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Viger, Roland; Rea, Alan H.; Simley, Jeffrey D.; Hanson, Karen M.

    2016-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey is developing a new geospatial hydrographic framework for the United States, called the National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlusHR), that integrates a diversity of the best-available information, robustly supports ongoing dataset improvements, enables hydrographic generalization to derive alternate representations of the network while maintaining feature identity, and supports modern scientific computing and Internet accessibility needs. This framework is based on the High Resolution National Hydrography Dataset, the Watershed Boundaries Dataset, and elevation from the 3-D Elevation Program, and will provide an authoritative, high precision, and attribute-rich geospatial framework for surface-water information for the United States. Using this common geospatial framework will provide a consistent basis for indexing water information in the United States, eliminate redundancy, and harmonize access to, and exchange of water information.

  16. Hidden Hazards of Radon: Scanning the Country for Problem Locations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gundersen, Linda C. S.

    1992-01-01

    Describes the geology of the radon problem in the United States and suggests how homeowners can cope with the radio active gas. Vignettes illustrate how and where radon is produced beneath the earth's surface, testing sites and procedures for radon in houses, and locations for potential radon problems across the United States. (MCO)

  17. Map of surficial deposits and materials in the eastern and central United States (east of 102 degrees West longitude)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fullerton, David S.; Bush, Charles A.; Pennell, Jean N.

    2003-01-01

    This data set contains surficial geologic units in the Eastern and Central United States, as well as a glacial limit line showing the position of maximum glacial advance during various geologic time periods. The geologic units represent surficial deposits and other surface materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, such as soils, alluvium, and glacial deposits. These surface materials are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmented and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of a continent. This data set and the printed map produced from it, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geologic Investigation Series I-2789, were based on 31 published maps in the USGS's Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States map series (USGS Miscellaneous Investigations Series I-1420). The data were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale, to be viewed as a digital map at 1:2,000,000 nominal scale and to be printed as a conventional paper map at 1:2,500,000 scale.

  18. Effects of El Niño on summertime ozone air quality in the eastern United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shen, L.; Mickley, L. J.

    2017-12-01

    We investigate the effect of El Nino on maximum daily 8-hour average (MDA8) surface ozone over the eastern United States in summer (June-August, JJA) from 1980 to 2016. El Nino can influence the extra-tropical climate through the propagation of stationary waves, leading to (1) a low-pressure anomaly in the western Atlantic, which reduces transport of moist, clean air from the ocean into the mid- and southern Atlantic states, and (2) intensified southerly flow in the South Central states, which conversely enhances flux of moist, clean air into this region. El Nino can also trigger greater subsidence, reduced precipitation, and increased surface solar radiation in the mid- and southern Atlantic States. As a result, every standard deviation increase in the Nino 1+2 index is associated with an increase of 1-2 ppbv ozone in the Atlantic States and a decrease of 0.5-2 ppbv ozone in the South Central states. On average, models participating in the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project have difficulties capturing the El Nino influence on summertime weather in the eastern United States, implying that the freely running chemistry-climate models also cannot simulate the ozone variability related to El Nino.

  19. GRAZING POTENTIAL INDEX (GPI) AND SURFACE WATER QUALITY IN THE STATE OF OREGON: I. LIKELIHOOD OF ANIMAL PATHOGENIC PRESENCE USING ENTEROCOCCI

    EPA Science Inventory

    Cattle grazing is a widespread and persistent ecological stressor in the Western United States. Cattle impact surface water quality by introducing nutrients and bacteria and indirectly damaging stream banks or removing vegetation cover leading to increased sediment loads and incr...

  20. Preliminary results of the North American Soil Geochemical Landscapes Project, northeast United States and Maritime Provinces of Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Grunsky, Eric C.; Smith, David B.; Friske, Peter W.B.; Woodruff, Laurel G.

    2009-01-01

    The results of a soil geochemical survey of the Canadian Maritime provinces and the northeast states of the United States are described. The data presented are for the <2-mm fraction of the surface layer (0-5 cm depth) and C horizons of the soil. Elemental determinations were made by ICP-MS following two digestions, aqua regia (partial dissolution) and a strong 4-acid mixture (near-total dissolution). The preliminary results show that Hg and Pb exhibit elevated abundances in the surface layer, while As and Ni exhibit abundances that can be attributed to the geological provenance of the soil parent materials.

  1. Modelling surface-water depression storage in a Prairie Pothole Region

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hay, Lauren E.; Norton, Parker A.; Viger, Roland; Markstrom, Steven; Regan, R. Steven; Vanderhoof, Melanie

    2018-01-01

    In this study, the Precipitation-Runoff Modelling System (PRMS) was used to simulate changes in surface-water depression storage in the 1,126-km2 Upper Pipestem Creek basin located within the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, USA. The Prairie Pothole Region is characterized by millions of small water bodies (or surface-water depressions) that provide numerous ecosystem services and are considered an important contribution to the hydrologic cycle. The Upper Pipestem PRMS model was extracted from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Hydrologic Model (NHM), developed to support consistent hydrologic modelling across the conterminous United States. The Geospatial Fabric database, created for the USGS NHM, contains hydrologic model parameter values derived from datasets that characterize the physical features of the entire conterminous United States for 109,951 hydrologic response units. Each hydrologic response unit in the Geospatial Fabric was parameterized using aggregated surface-water depression area derived from the National Hydrography Dataset Plus, an integrated suite of application-ready geospatial datasets. This paper presents a calibration strategy for the Upper Pipestem PRMS model that uses normalized lake elevation measurements to calibrate the parameters influencing simulated fractional surface-water depression storage. Results indicate that inclusion of measurements that give an indication of the change in surface-water depression storage in the calibration procedure resulted in accurate changes in surface-water depression storage in the water balance. Regionalized parameterization of the USGS NHM will require a proxy for change in surface-storage to accurately parameterize surface-water depression storage within the USGS NHM.

  2. Monitoring surface-water quality in Arizona: the fixed-station network

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Tadayon, Saeid

    2000-01-01

    Arizona is an arid State in which economic development is influenced largely by the quantity and quality of water and the location of adequate water supplies. In 1995, surface water supplied about 58 percent of total withdrawals in Arizona. Of the total amount of surface water used in 1995, about 89 percent was for agriculture, 10 percent for public supply, and 1 percent for industrial supply (including mining and thermoelectric; Solley and others, 1998). As a result of rapid population growth in Arizona, historic agricultural lands in the Phoenix (Maricopa County) and Tucson (Pima County) areas are now being developed for residential and commercial use; thus, the amount of water used for public supply is increasing. The Clean Water Act was established by U.S. Congress (1972) in response to public concern about water-pollution control. The act defines a process by which the United States Congress and the citizens are informed of the Nation’s progress in restoring and maintaining the quality of our waters. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is the State-designated agency for this process and, as a result, has developed a monitoring program to assess water quality in Arizona. The ADEQ is required to submit a water-quality assessment report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) every 2 years. The USEPA summarizes the reports from each State and submits a report to the Congress characterizing water quality in the United States. These reports serve to inform Congress and the public of the Nation’s progress toward the restoration and maintenance of water quality in the United States (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, 1998).

  3. 76 FR 53981 - New Postal Product

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-30

    ... Parcel Post (Air CP), Surface Parcel Post (Surface CP) and Express Mail Service (EMS) in the United States is functionally equivalent to the agreement to deliver inbound Air CP, Surface CP and EMS in the... competitive services in the China Post 2011 Agreement include rates for Air CP, Surface CP, and EMS, requires...

  4. 30 CFR 948.30 - State-Federal Cooperative Agreement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... INTERIOR PROGRAMS FOR THE CONDUCT OF SURFACE MINING OPERATIONS WITHIN EACH STATE WEST VIRGINIA § 948.30...) between the State of West Virginia (State) acting by and through the Governor, and the United States... operations on Federal lands within that State. This Agreement provides for such regulation within West...

  5. 30 CFR 948.30 - State-Federal Cooperative Agreement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... INTERIOR PROGRAMS FOR THE CONDUCT OF SURFACE MINING OPERATIONS WITHIN EACH STATE WEST VIRGINIA § 948.30...) between the State of West Virginia (State) acting by and through the Governor, and the United States... operations on Federal lands within that State. This Agreement provides for such regulation within West...

  6. 30 CFR 948.30 - State-Federal Cooperative Agreement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... INTERIOR PROGRAMS FOR THE CONDUCT OF SURFACE MINING OPERATIONS WITHIN EACH STATE WEST VIRGINIA § 948.30...) between the State of West Virginia (State) acting by and through the Governor, and the United States... operations on Federal lands within that State. This Agreement provides for such regulation within West...

  7. 30 CFR 948.30 - State-Federal Cooperative Agreement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... INTERIOR PROGRAMS FOR THE CONDUCT OF SURFACE MINING OPERATIONS WITHIN EACH STATE WEST VIRGINIA § 948.30...) between the State of West Virginia (State) acting by and through the Governor, and the United States... operations on Federal lands within that State. This Agreement provides for such regulation within West...

  8. Big game habitat use in southeastern Montana

    Treesearch

    James G. MacCracken; Daniel W. Uresk

    1984-01-01

    The loss of suitable, high quality habitat is a major problem facing big game managers in the western United States. Agricultural, water, road and highway, housing, and recreational development have contributed to loss of natural big game habitat (Wallmo et al. 1976, Reed 1981). In the western United States, surface mining of minerals has great potential to adversely...

  9. The Impact of Iodide-Mediated Ozone Deposition and Halogen Chemistry on Surface Ozone Concentrations Across the Continental United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    The air quality of many large coastal areas in the United States is affected by the confluence of polluted urban and relatively clean marine airmasses, each with distinct atmospheric chemistry. In this context, the role of iodide-mediated ozone (O3) deposition over seawater and m...

  10. Water quality impacts of forest fires

    Treesearch

    Tecle Aregai; Daniel Neary

    2015-01-01

    Forest fires have been serious menace, many times resulting in tremendous economic, cultural and ecological damage to many parts of the United States. One particular area that has been significantly affected is the water quality of streams and lakes in the water thirsty southwestern United States. This is because the surface water coming off burned areas has resulted...

  11. From the ground up: groundwater, surface water runoff, and air as pathogen routes for food contamination

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Foodborne infectious disease transmission of 31 pathogen types is estimated to account for 9.4 million illnesses, 56,000 hospitalizations, and 1,300 deaths in the United States annually (Scallan et al. 2011). The economic costs from foodborne illness in the United States are more than $50 billion pe...

  12. 49 CFR 575.104 - Uniform tire quality grading standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... on a pavement surface. (B) Mount each tire on a rim of design or measuring rim width specified for... importation into the United States by the tire's manufacturer of tires of the same design and size as the tire... domestic purchase or importation into the United States by a brand name owner of tires of the same design...

  13. 49 CFR 575.104 - Uniform tire quality grading standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... on a pavement surface. (B) Mount each tire on a rim of design or measuring rim width specified for... importation into the United States by the tire's manufacturer of tires of the same design and size as the tire... domestic purchase or importation into the United States by a brand name owner of tires of the same design...

  14. 49 CFR 575.104 - Uniform tire quality grading standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... on a pavement surface. (B) Mount each tire on a rim of design or measuring rim width specified for... importation into the United States by the tire's manufacturer of tires of the same design and size as the tire... domestic purchase or importation into the United States by a brand name owner of tires of the same design...

  15. 49 CFR 575.104 - Uniform tire quality grading standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... on a pavement surface. (B) Mount each tire on a rim of design or measuring rim width specified for... importation into the United States by the tire's manufacturer of tires of the same design and size as the tire... domestic purchase or importation into the United States by a brand name owner of tires of the same design...

  16. 49 CFR 575.104 - Uniform tire quality grading standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... on a pavement surface. (B) Mount each tire on a rim of design or measuring rim width specified for... importation into the United States by the tire's manufacturer of tires of the same design and size as the tire... domestic purchase or importation into the United States by a brand name owner of tires of the same design...

  17. Riparian trees and aridland streams of the southwestern United States: An assessment of the past, present, and future

    Treesearch

    D. Max Smith; Deborah M. Finch

    2016-01-01

    Riparian ecosystems are vital components of aridlands within the southwestern United States. Historically, surface flows influenced population dynamics of native riparian trees. Many southwestern streams has been altered by regulation, however, and will be further affected by greenhouse warming. Our analysis of stream gage data revealed that decreases in...

  18. Observations and interpretation of fundamental mode Rayleigh wavefields recorded by the Transportable Array (USArray)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pollitz, F.F.

    2008-01-01

    Broadband recordings of the dense Transportable Array (TA) in the western United States provide unparalleled detailed images of long-period seismic surface wavefields. With 400 stations spanning most of the western United States, wavefronts of fundamental mode Rayleigh waves may be visualized coherently across the array at periods ???40 s. In order to constrain the Rayleigh wave phase velocity structure in the western United States, I assemble a data set of vertical component seismograms from 53 teleseismic events recorded by the TA from April 2006 to October 2007. Complex amplitude spectra from these recordings at peni ods 27-100 s are interpreted using the multiplane wave tomographic method of Friederich and Wielandt (1995) and Pollitz (1999). This analysis yields detailed surface wave phase velocity and three-dimensional shear wave velocity patterns across the North American plate boundary zone, elucidating the active processes in the highly heterogeneous western U.S. upper mantle.

  19. Pharmaceuticals in Surface Waters and Potential Transfer to Irrigated Food Crops

    EPA Science Inventory

    A number of pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters across the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of selected pharmaceuticals (macrolidic antibiotics and pseudoephedrine) and illicit drugs (methamphetamine, Ecstasy) in surface wat...

  20. PHARMACEUTICALS IN WASTE STREAMS AND SURFACE WATERS OF THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN

    EPA Science Inventory

    A number of pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters across the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of selected pharmaceuticals (macrolidic antibiotics and pseudoephedrine) and illicit drugs (methamphetamine and Ecstasy) in surface ...

  1. CAUSES: Diagnosis of the Summertime Warm Bias in CMIP5 Climate Models at the ARM Southern Great Plains Site

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Chengzhu; Xie, Shaocheng; Klein, Stephen A.; Ma, Hsi-yen; Tang, Shuaiqi; Van Weverberg, Kwinten; Morcrette, Cyril J.; Petch, Jon

    2018-03-01

    All the weather and climate models participating in the Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface project show a summertime surface air temperature (T2 m) warm bias in the region of the central United States. To understand the warm bias in long-term climate simulations, we assess the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5, with long-term observations mainly from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program Southern Great Plains site. Quantities related to the surface energy and water budget, and large-scale circulation are analyzed to identify possible factors and plausible links involved in the warm bias. The systematic warm season bias is characterized by an overestimation of T2 m and underestimation of surface humidity, precipitation, and precipitable water. Accompanying the warm bias is an overestimation of absorbed solar radiation at the surface, which is due to a combination of insufficient cloud reflection and clear-sky shortwave absorption by water vapor and an underestimation in surface albedo. The bias in cloud is shown to contribute most to the radiation bias. The surface layer soil moisture impacts T2 m through its control on evaporative fraction. The error in evaporative fraction is another important contributor to T2 m. Similar sources of error are found in hindcast from other Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface studies. In Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project simulations, biases in meridional wind velocity associated with the low-level jet and the 500 hPa vertical velocity may also relate to T2 m bias through their control on the surface energy and water budget.

  2. Gasoline tax as a corrective tax: Estimates for the United States, 1970-1991

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Haughton, J.; Sarkar, S.

    1996-12-01

    The debate over the appropriate level of gasoline taxes in the United States (US) surfaces every few years. For every gallon of gasoline tax collected 14.1 cents was for the federal government and 17.6 cents on average for state governments, far less than $2.30 per gallon collected in Western Europe. The author offers estimates of benefits gained by taxing at various levels. 42 refs., 4 tabs.

  3. Riparian shrub buffers reduce surface water pollutant loads

    Treesearch

    W. A. Geyer; C. Barden; K. Mankin; D. Devlin

    2003-01-01

    Surface water resources in Kansas often contain concentrations of pesticides, nutrients, and sediments that are of concern to local citizens. The United States Geological Survey reported in 1999 that 97 percent of streams and 82 percent of lakes in Kansas would not fully support all uses as designated by state statutes (U.S. Geological Survey 1999). Bacteria and...

  4. Study Paths, Riemann Surfaces, and Strebel Differentials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buser, Peter; Semmler, Klaus-Dieter

    2017-01-01

    These pages aim to explain and interpret why the late Mika Seppälä, a conformal geometer, proposed to model student study behaviour using concepts from conformal geometry, such as Riemann surfaces and Strebel differentials. Over many years Mika Seppälä taught online calculus courses to students at Florida State University in the United States, as…

  5. An approach for mapping large-area impervious surfaces: Synergistic use of Landsat-7 ETM+ and high spatial resolution imagery

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Yang, Limin; Huang, Chengquan; Homer, Collin G.; Wylie, Bruce K.; Coan, Michael

    2003-01-01

    A wide range of urban ecosystem studies, including urban hydrology, urban climate, land use planning, and resource management, require current and accurate geospatial data of urban impervious surfaces. We developed an approach to quantify urban impervious surfaces as a continuous variable by using multisensor and multisource datasets. Subpixel percent impervious surfaces at 30-m resolution were mapped using a regression tree model. The utility, practicality, and affordability of the proposed method for large-area imperviousness mapping were tested over three spatial scales (Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Richmond, Virginia, and the Chesapeake Bay areas of the United States). Average error of predicted versus actual percent impervious surface ranged from 8.8 to 11.4%, with correlation coefficients from 0.82 to 0.91. The approach is being implemented to map impervious surfaces for the entire United States as one of the major components of the circa 2000 national land cover database.

  6. Tree and forest effects on air quality and human health in the United States

    Treesearch

    David J. Nowak; Satoshi Hirabayashi; Allison Bodine; Eric Greenfield

    2014-01-01

    Trees remove air pollution by the interception of particulate matter on plant surfaces and the absorption of gaseous pollutants through the leaf stomata. However, the magnitude and value of the effects of trees and forests on air quality and human health across the United States remains unknown. Computer simulations with local environmental data reveal that trees and...

  7. 75 FR 20859 - Notice of Realty Action, Independence National Historical Park, Pennsylvania and Valley Forge...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-21

    ... County, Pennsylvania. The United States will convey fee simple title to INDE Tract 01-182 by virtue of a... described in paragraph I above, the United States will acquire fee simple title to the surface and mineral... require. For a period of 45 days from the date of this notice, interested parties may submit written...

  8. Soils of Israel and Their Similarity to Soils of the United States.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-01-01

    Negev , with various sites in the southwestern United States. Comparison is made on the basis of agricultural maps because of the general availability of...genesis. For example, the surface soil within and around the Negev desert is classified as loess (deposited by the wind). Those in the southwestern...11 The Negev ---------------------------------------------------------- 12 SOILS OF ISRAEL--GENERAL

  9. Combined effects of heat waves and droughts on avian communities across the conterminous United States

    Treesearch

    Thomas P. Albright; Anna M. Pidgeon; Chadwick D. Rittenhouse; Murray K. Clayton; Brian D. Wardlow; Curtis H. Flather; Patrick D. Culbert; Volker C. Radeloff

    2010-01-01

    Increasing surface temperatures and climatic variability associated with global climate change are expected to produce more frequent and intense heat waves and droughts in many parts of the world. Our goal was to elucidate the fundamental, but poorly understood, effects of these extreme weather events on avian communities across the conterminous United States....

  10. Geospatiotemporal data mining in an early warning system for forest threats in the United States

    Treesearch

    F.M. Hoffman; R.T. Mills; J. Kumar; S.S. Vulli; W.W. Hargrove

    2010-01-01

    We investigate the potential of geospatiotemporal data mining of multi-year land surface phenology data (250 m Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in this study) for the conterminous United States as part of an early warning system to identify threats to forest ecosystems. Cluster...

  11. Tree and impervious cover in the United States

    Treesearch

    David J. Nowak; Eric J. Greenfield

    2012-01-01

    Using aerial photograph interpretation of circa 2005 imagery, percent tree canopy and impervious surface cover in the conterminous United States are estimated at 34.2% (standard error (SE) = 0.2%) and 2.4% (SE = 0.1%), respectively. Within urban/community areas, percent tree cover (35.1%, SE = 0.4%) is similar to the national value, but percent impervious cover is...

  12. Surface transportation vulnerability assessment : general distribution version

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-10-25

    The United States possesses an effective and efficient surface transportation infrastructure that : promotes both the well-being of its citizens as well as important economic and national security : goals. The level of security afforded this infrastr...

  13. Using geochemical and statistical tools to identify irrigated areas that might contain high selenium concentrations in surface water

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Naftz, David L.

    1996-01-01

    Irrigated agriculture has a long history in the Western United States, beginning with Native American Indians. After passage of the Reclamation Act of 1902, the United States Government began building and subsidizing irrigation projects to foster settlement and development of the arid and semi-arid areas of the Western United States (National Research Council, 1989). Precipitation in the mountainous areas of the West (fig. 1) is stored in reservoirs and used for irrigation of farmland. With the development of irrigated agriculture, unforeseen environmental problems have occurred.

  14. Information needs to support state and local transportation decision making into the 21st century

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-03-01

    The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) established new requirements for data development and dissemination that have had an impact on federal, state, and local transportation planning processes across the United States. ...

  15. CAUSES: On the Role of Surface Energy Budget Errors to the Warm Surface Air Temperature Error Over the Central United States

    DOE PAGES

    Ma, H. -Y.; Klein, S. A.; Xie, S.; ...

    2018-02-27

    Many weather forecast and climate models simulate warm surface air temperature (T 2m) biases over midlatitude continents during the summertime, especially over the Great Plains. We present here one of a series of papers from a multimodel intercomparison project (CAUSES: Cloud Above the United States and Errors at the Surface), which aims to evaluate the role of cloud, radiation, and precipitation biases in contributing to the T 2m bias using a short-term hindcast approach during the spring and summer of 2011. Observations are mainly from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains sites. The present study examines the contributions ofmore » surface energy budget errors. All participating models simulate too much net shortwave and longwave fluxes at the surface but with no consistent mean bias sign in turbulent fluxes over the Central United States and Southern Great Plains. Nevertheless, biases in the net shortwave and downward longwave fluxes as well as surface evaporative fraction (EF) are contributors to T 2m bias. Radiation biases are largely affected by cloud simulations, while EF bias is largely affected by soil moisture modulated by seasonal accumulated precipitation and evaporation. An approximate equation based upon the surface energy budget is derived to further quantify the magnitudes of radiation and EF contributions to T 2m bias. Our analysis ascribes that a large EF underestimate is the dominant source of error in all models with a large positive temperature bias, whereas an EF overestimate compensates for an excess of absorbed shortwave radiation in nearly all the models with the smallest temperature bias.« less

  16. CAUSES: On the Role of Surface Energy Budget Errors to the Warm Surface Air Temperature Error Over the Central United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, H.-Y.; Klein, S. A.; Xie, S.; Zhang, C.; Tang, S.; Tang, Q.; Morcrette, C. J.; Van Weverberg, K.; Petch, J.; Ahlgrimm, M.; Berg, L. K.; Cheruy, F.; Cole, J.; Forbes, R.; Gustafson, W. I.; Huang, M.; Liu, Y.; Merryfield, W.; Qian, Y.; Roehrig, R.; Wang, Y.-C.

    2018-03-01

    Many weather forecast and climate models simulate warm surface air temperature (T2m) biases over midlatitude continents during the summertime, especially over the Great Plains. We present here one of a series of papers from a multimodel intercomparison project (CAUSES: Cloud Above the United States and Errors at the Surface), which aims to evaluate the role of cloud, radiation, and precipitation biases in contributing to the T2m bias using a short-term hindcast approach during the spring and summer of 2011. Observations are mainly from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains sites. The present study examines the contributions of surface energy budget errors. All participating models simulate too much net shortwave and longwave fluxes at the surface but with no consistent mean bias sign in turbulent fluxes over the Central United States and Southern Great Plains. Nevertheless, biases in the net shortwave and downward longwave fluxes as well as surface evaporative fraction (EF) are contributors to T2m bias. Radiation biases are largely affected by cloud simulations, while EF bias is largely affected by soil moisture modulated by seasonal accumulated precipitation and evaporation. An approximate equation based upon the surface energy budget is derived to further quantify the magnitudes of radiation and EF contributions to T2m bias. Our analysis ascribes that a large EF underestimate is the dominant source of error in all models with a large positive temperature bias, whereas an EF overestimate compensates for an excess of absorbed shortwave radiation in nearly all the models with the smallest temperature bias.

  17. CAUSES: On the Role of Surface Energy Budget Errors to the Warm Surface Air Temperature Error Over the Central United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ma, H. -Y.; Klein, S. A.; Xie, S.

    Many weather forecast and climate models simulate warm surface air temperature (T 2m) biases over midlatitude continents during the summertime, especially over the Great Plains. We present here one of a series of papers from a multimodel intercomparison project (CAUSES: Cloud Above the United States and Errors at the Surface), which aims to evaluate the role of cloud, radiation, and precipitation biases in contributing to the T 2m bias using a short-term hindcast approach during the spring and summer of 2011. Observations are mainly from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains sites. The present study examines the contributions ofmore » surface energy budget errors. All participating models simulate too much net shortwave and longwave fluxes at the surface but with no consistent mean bias sign in turbulent fluxes over the Central United States and Southern Great Plains. Nevertheless, biases in the net shortwave and downward longwave fluxes as well as surface evaporative fraction (EF) are contributors to T 2m bias. Radiation biases are largely affected by cloud simulations, while EF bias is largely affected by soil moisture modulated by seasonal accumulated precipitation and evaporation. An approximate equation based upon the surface energy budget is derived to further quantify the magnitudes of radiation and EF contributions to T 2m bias. Our analysis ascribes that a large EF underestimate is the dominant source of error in all models with a large positive temperature bias, whereas an EF overestimate compensates for an excess of absorbed shortwave radiation in nearly all the models with the smallest temperature bias.« less

  18. ALTERNATIVE URBANIZATION SCENARIOS FOR AN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHED: DESIGN CRITERIA, SOCIAL CONSTRAINTS, AND EFFECTS ON GROUNDWATER AND SURFACE WATER SYSTEMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Agricultural landscapes are being urbanized throughout the United States, resulting in the degradation of aquatic systems. Fundamental changes in watershed hydrology result from the construction of impervious surfaces (roofs, streets, sidewalks). As impervious surface area ...

  19. Mapping and modeling the biogeochemical cycling of turf grasses in the United States.

    PubMed

    Milesi, Cristina; Running, Steven W; Elvidge, Christopher D; Dietz, John B; Tuttle, Benjamin T; Nemani, Ramakrishna R

    2005-09-01

    Turf grasses are ubiquitous in the urban landscape of the United States and are often associated with various types of environmental impacts, especially on water resources, yet there have been limited efforts to quantify their total surface and ecosystem functioning, such as their total impact on the continental water budget and potential net ecosystem exchange (NEE). In this study, relating turf grass area to an estimate of fractional impervious surface area, it was calculated that potentially 163,800 km2 (+/- 35,850 km2) of land are cultivated with turf grasses in the continental United States, an area three times larger than that of any irrigated crop. Using the Biome-BGC ecosystem process model, the growth of warm-season and cool-season turf grasses was modeled at a number of sites across the 48 conterminous states under different management scenarios, simulating potential carbon and water fluxes as if the entire turf surface was to be managed like a well-maintained lawn. The results indicate that well-watered and fertilized turf grasses act as a carbon sink. The potential NEE that could derive from the total surface potentially under turf (up to 17 Tg C/yr with the simulated scenarios) would require up to 695 to 900 liters of water per person per day, depending on the modeled water irrigation practices, suggesting that outdoor water conservation practices such as xeriscaping and irrigation with recycled waste-water may need to be extended as many municipalities continue to face increasing pressures on freshwater.

  20. Asphalt surface treatment practice in southeastern United States.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-07-01

    It costs less to maintain roads in good condition than in poor condition. Pavement preservation is a set of : activities to extend pavement life, improve safety, and meet road user expectations. Surface treatments are : pavement preservation treatmen...

  1. Terrorism in surface transportation

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-06-01

    The topic for this symposium was selected to help satisfy the increased need for awareness of and preparedness for possible terrorism attacks on the surface transportation systems within the United States and the world. A group of experts was assembl...

  2. Observed Reduction In Surface Solar Radiation - Aerosol Forcing Versus Cloud Feedback?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liepert, B.

    The solar radiation reaching the ground is a key parameter for the climate system. It drives the hydrological cycle and numerous biological processes. Surface solar radi- ation revealed an estimated 7W/m2 or 4% decline at sites worldwide from 1961 to 1990. The strongest decline occurred at the United States sites with 19W/m2 or 10%. Increasing air pollution and hence direct and indirect aerosol effect, as we know today can only explain part of the reduction in solar radiation. Increasing cloud optical thick- ness - possibly due to global warming - is a more likely explanation for the observed reduction in solar radiation in the United States. The analysis of surface solar radiation data will be shown and compared with GCM results of the direct and indirect aerosol effect. It will be argued that the residual declines in surface solar radiation is likely due to cloud feedback.

  3. CAMx Ozone Source Attribution in the Eastern United States using Guidance from Observations during DISCOVER-AQ Maryland

    PubMed Central

    Goldberg, Daniel L.; Vinciguerra, Timothy P.; Anderson, Daniel C.; Hembeck, Linda; Canty, Timothy P.; Ehrman, Sheryl H.; Martins, Douglas K.; Stauffer, Ryan M.; Thompson, Anne M.; Salawitch, Ross J.; Dickerson, Russell R.

    2018-01-01

    A Comprehensive Air-Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) version 6.10 simulation was assessed through comparison with data acquired during NASA’s 2011 DISCOVER-AQ Maryland field campaign. Comparisons for the baseline simulation (CB05 chemistry, EPA 2011 National Emissions Inventory) show a model overestimate of NOy by +86.2% and an underestimate of HCHO by −28.3%. We present a new model framework (CB6r2 chemistry, MEGAN v2.1 biogenic emissions, 50% reduction in mobile NOx, enhanced representation of isoprene nitrates) that better matches observations. The new model framework attributes 31.4% more surface ozone in Maryland to electric generating units (EGUs) and 34.6% less ozone to on-road mobile sources. Surface ozone becomes more NOx-limited throughout the eastern United States compared to the baseline simulation. The baseline model therefore likely underestimates the effectiveness of anthropogenic NOx reductions as well as the current contribution of EGUs to surface ozone. PMID:29618849

  4. CAMx Ozone Source Attribution in the Eastern United States using Guidance from Observations during DISCOVER-AQ Maryland.

    PubMed

    Goldberg, Daniel L; Vinciguerra, Timothy P; Anderson, Daniel C; Hembeck, Linda; Canty, Timothy P; Ehrman, Sheryl H; Martins, Douglas K; Stauffer, Ryan M; Thompson, Anne M; Salawitch, Ross J; Dickerson, Russell R

    2016-03-16

    A Comprehensive Air-Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) version 6.10 simulation was assessed through comparison with data acquired during NASA's 2011 DISCOVER-AQ Maryland field campaign. Comparisons for the baseline simulation (CB05 chemistry, EPA 2011 National Emissions Inventory) show a model overestimate of NO y by +86.2% and an underestimate of HCHO by -28.3%. We present a new model framework (CB6r2 chemistry, MEGAN v2.1 biogenic emissions, 50% reduction in mobile NO x , enhanced representation of isoprene nitrates) that better matches observations. The new model framework attributes 31.4% more surface ozone in Maryland to electric generating units (EGUs) and 34.6% less ozone to on-road mobile sources. Surface ozone becomes more NO x -limited throughout the eastern United States compared to the baseline simulation. The baseline model therefore likely underestimates the effectiveness of anthropogenic NO x reductions as well as the current contribution of EGUs to surface ozone.

  5. Robust Representation of Integrated Surface-subsurface Hydrology at Watershed Scales

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Painter, S. L.; Tang, G.; Collier, N.; Jan, A.; Karra, S.

    2015-12-01

    A representation of integrated surface-subsurface hydrology is the central component to process-rich watershed models that are emerging as alternatives to traditional reduced complexity models. These physically based systems are important for assessing potential impacts of climate change and human activities on groundwater-dependent ecosystems and water supply and quality. Integrated surface-subsurface models typically couple three-dimensional solutions for variably saturated flow in the subsurface with the kinematic- or diffusion-wave equation for surface flows. The computational scheme for coupling the surface and subsurface systems is key to the robustness, computational performance, and ease-of-implementation of the integrated system. A new, robust approach for coupling the subsurface and surface systems is developed from the assumption that the vertical gradient in head is negligible at the surface. This tight-coupling assumption allows the surface flow system to be incorporated directly into the subsurface system; effects of surface flow and surface water accumulation are represented as modifications to the subsurface flow and accumulation terms but are not triggered until the subsurface pressure reaches a threshold value corresponding to the appearance of water on the surface. The new approach has been implemented in the highly parallel PFLOTRAN (www.pflotran.org) code. Several synthetic examples and three-dimensional examples from the Walker Branch Watershed in Oak Ridge TN demonstrate the utility and robustness of the new approach using unstructured computational meshes. Representation of solute transport in the new approach is also discussed. Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC0500OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for the United States Government purposes.

  6. The United States Flag Stands On The Surface Of Mars

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1996-12-12

    The flag of the United States stands on the surface of Mars. It is mounted on the housing of NASA's Viking 1's nuclear power system. Also seen are the U.S. Bicentennial symbol and a student designed Viking emblem. The bright flat surface near the center is the seismometer container. This picture was taken on July 23 at about 2:30 p.m. Mars time. The view is west of the spacecraft and includes a series of low hills. The blocky hill in the center appears to be part of a crater rim. The dark, rocky stripes may be material ejected from the crater. The light areas are dune-like and may be accumulations of windblown sand or dust. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00388

  7. Land-atmosphere interactions over the continental United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zeng, Xubin

    This paper briefly discusses four suggested modifications for land surface modeling in climate models. The impact of the modifications on climate simulations is analyzed with the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS) land surface model. It is found that the modifications can improve BATS simulations. In particular, the sensitivity of BATS to the prescribed value of physical root fraction which cannot be observed from satellite remote sensing or field experiments is improved. These modifications significantly reduce the excessive summer land surface temperature over the continental United States simulated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model (CCM2) coupled with BATS.more » A land-atmosphere interaction mechanism involving energy and water cycles is proposed to explain the results. 9 refs., 1 fig.« less

  8. A review of basin morphology and pool hydrology of isolated ponded wetlands: implications for seasonal forest pools of the northeastern United States

    Treesearch

    Robert T. Brooks; Robert T. Brooks

    2005-01-01

    Seasonal forest pools (SFPs) are geographically- and hydrologically- isolated ponded wetlands, in that they are topographically isolated from other surface waters. SFPs occur commonly throughout the temperate forests of the eastern United States and adjacent Canada. SFPs are ephemeral in occurrence, typically drying annually. The regular drying of SFPs excludes fish...

  9. Aircrew Sizing Survey 2011

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-10-01

    Resource JSF Joint Strike Fighter JPATS Joint Primary Aircraft Training System USMC United States Marine Corps USAF United States Air Force LIST...Surface Anthropometry Resource (CAESAR) was developed for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The ACSS was intended to replace the JSF-CAESAR...an aircrew sample was made in 2003 by Hudson et al. They extracted a subset, named JSF CAESAR (Joint Strike Fighter), from the Civilian American and

  10. Do contrails significantly reduce daily temperature range?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hong, Gang; Yang, Ping; Minnis, Patrick; Hu, Yong X.; North, Gerald

    2008-12-01

    One of the most visible anthropogenic phenomena in the atmosphere is the occurrence of contrails. The direct effects of contrails on surface temperature are investigated on the basis of the data sets for the cloud cover and surface temperature over the conterminous United States for the period 1971-2001. It is shown that the increase of the average daily temperature range (DTR) over the United States during the three-day grounding period of 11-14 September 2001 cannot be attributed to the absence of contrails, a subject was debated in several previous studies. The present analysis suggests that the DTR is attributed to the change of low cloudiness.

  11. Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hutson, Susan S.; Barber, Nancy L.; Kenny, Joan F.; Linsey, Kristin S.; Lumia, Deborah S.; Maupin, Molly A.

    2004-01-01

    Estimates of water use in the United States indicate that about 408 billion gallons per day (one thousand million gallons per day, abbreviated Bgal/d) were withdrawn for all uses during 2000. This total has varied less than 3 percent since 1985 as withdrawals have stabilized for the two largest uses?thermoelectric power and irrigation. Fresh ground-water withdrawals (83.3 Bgal/d) during 2000 were 14 percent more than during 1985. Fresh surface-water withdrawals for 2000 were 262 Bgal/d, varying less than 2 percent since 1985. About 195 Bgal/d, or 48 percent of all freshwater and saline-water withdrawals for 2000, were used for thermoelectric power. Most of this water was derived from surface water and used for once-through cooling at power plants. About 52 percent of fresh surface-water withdrawals and about 96 percent of saline-water withdrawals were for thermoelectric-power use. Withdrawals for thermoelectric power have been relatively stable since 1985. Irrigation remained the largest use of freshwater in the United States and totaled 137 Bgal/d for 2000. Since 1950, irrigation has accounted for about 65 percent of total water withdrawals, excluding those for thermoelectric power. Historically, more surface water than ground water has been used for irrigation. However, the percentage of total irrigation withdrawals from ground water has continued to increase, from 23 percent in 1950 to 42 percent in 2000. Total irrigation withdrawals were 2 percent more for 2000 than for 1995, because of a 16-percent increase in ground-water withdrawals and a small decrease in surface-water withdrawals. Irrigated acreage more than doubled between 1950 and 1980, then remained constant before increasing nearly 7 percent between 1995 and 2000. The number of acres irrigated with sprinkler and microirrigation systems has continued to increase and now comprises more than one-half the total irrigated acreage. Public-supply withdrawals were more than 43 Bgal/d for 2000. Public-supply withdrawals during 1950 were 14 Bgal/d. During 2000, about 85 percent of the population in the United States obtained drinking water from public suppliers, compared to 62 percent during 1950. Surface water provided 63 percent of the total during 2000, whereas surface water provided 74 percent during 1950. Self-supplied industrial withdrawals totaled nearly 20 Bgal/d in 2000, or 12 percent less than in 1995. Compared to 1985, industrial self-supplied withdrawals declined by 24 percent. Estimates of industrial water use in the United States were largest during the years from 1965 to 1980, but during 2000, estimates were at the lowest level since reporting began in 1950. Combined withdrawals for self-supplied domestic, livestock, aquaculture, and mining were less than 13 Bgal/d for 2000, and represented about 3 percent of total withdrawals. California, Texas, and Florida accounted for one-fourth of all water withdrawals for 2000. States with the largest surface-water withdrawals were California, which had large withdrawals for irrigation and thermoelectric power, and Texas, which had large withdrawals for thermoelectric power. States with the largest ground-water withdrawals were California, Texas, and Nebraska, all of which had large withdrawals for irrigation.

  12. Water balance model for mean annual hydrogen and oxygen isotope distributions in surface waters of the contiguous United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bowen, Gabriel J.; Kennedy, Casey D.; Liu, Zhongfang; Stalker, Jeremy

    2011-12-01

    The stable H and O isotope composition of river and stream water records information on runoff sources and land-atmosphere water fluxes within the catchment and is a potentially powerful tool for network-based monitoring of ecohydrological systems. Process-based hydrological models, however, have thus far shown limited power to replicate observed large-scale variation in U.S. surface water isotope ratios. Here we develop a geographic information system-based model to predict long-term annual average surface water isotope ratios across the contiguous United States. We use elevation-explicit, gridded precipitation isotope maps as model input and data from a U.S. Geological Survey monitoring program for validation. We find that models incorporating monthly variation in precipitation-evapotranspiration (P-E) amounts account for the majority (>89%) of isotopic variation and have reduced regional bias relative to models that do not consider intra-annual P-E effects on catchment water balance. Residuals from the water balance model exhibit strong spatial patterning and correlations that suggest model residuals isolate additional hydrological signal. We use interpolated model residuals to generate optimized prediction maps for U.S. surface water δ2H and δ18O values. We show that the modeled surface water values represent a relatively accurate and unbiased proxy for drinking water isotope ratios across the United States, making these data products useful in ecological and criminal forensics applications that require estimates of the local environmental water isotope variation across large geographic regions.

  13. Assimilation of Satellite-Derived Precipitation into the Regional Atmospheric Model System (RAMS): Its Impacts on the Weather and Hydrology in the Southwest United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yi, H.; Gao, X.; Sorooshian, S.

    2002-05-01

    As one aspect of the study of interactions between the atmosphere, vegetation, soil, and hydrology, there has been on going efforts to assimilate soil moisture data using coupled and uncoupled land surface-atmosphere hydrology models. The assimilation of soil moisture is expected to have influence due to its vital function in regulating runoff, partitioning latent and sensible heat, and through determining groundwater recharge. Soil moisture can provides long-term memory or persistence of the surface boundary condition, influencing large-scale atmospheric circulation over subsequent intervals. Now that the application of satellite remote sensing has become obvious to provide input parameters associated with land surface processes to the numerical models, this study utilizes remotely sensed precipitation data, PERSIANN (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks) to assimilate soil moisture and other soil surface characteristics. Compared to the other earlier modeling experiments of seasonal or interannual temporal scale in continental or global spatial scale, this study investigates short term predictability in regional scale with the southwest United States as a study area, which has unique metrological and geographical features that provide special difficulties for mesoscale modeling. Research objectives are to assimilate the PERSIANN precipitation data into the mesoscale model for model initialization, examine the influence and memory of model precipitation errors on the land surface and atmospheric processes, and thereby study the short term predictability of meteorology and hydrology in the Southwest United States.

  14. High performance computing to support multiscale representation of hydrography for the conterminous United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stanislawski, Larry V.; Liu, Yan; Buttenfield, Barbara P.; Survila, Kornelijus; Wendel, Jeffrey; Okok, Abdurraouf

    2016-01-01

    The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) for the United States furnishes a comprehensive set of vector features representing the surface-waters in the country (U.S. Geological Survey 2000). The high-resolution (HR) layer of the NHD is largely comprised of hydrographic features originally derived from 1:24,000-scale (24K) U.S. Topographic maps. However, in recent years (2009 to present) densified hydrographic feature content, from sources as large as 1:2,400, have been incorporated into some watersheds of the HR NHD within the conterminous United States to better support the needs of various local and state organizations. As such, the HR NHD is a multiresolution dataset with obvious data density variations because of scale changes. In addition, data density variations exist within the HR NHD that are particularly evident in the surface-water flow network (NHD flowlines) because of natural variations of local geographic conditions; and also because of unintentional compilation inconsistencies due to variations in data collection standards and climate conditions over the many years of 24K hydrographic data collection (US Geological Survey 1955).

  15. Effects of El Niño on Summertime Ozone Air Quality in the Eastern United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shen, Lu; Mickley, Loretta J.

    2017-12-01

    We investigate the effect of El Niño on maximum daily 8 h average surface ozone over the eastern United States in summer during 1980-2016. El Niño can influence the extratropical climate through the propagation of stationary waves, leading to (1) reduced transport of moist, clean air into the middle and southern Atlantic states and greater subsidence, reduced precipitation, and increased surface solar radiation in this region, as well as (2) intensified southerly flow into the south central states, which here enhances flux of moist and clean air. As a result, each standard deviation increase in the Niño 1 + 2 index is associated with an increase of 1-2 ppbv ozone in the Atlantic states and a decrease of 0.5-2 ppbv ozone in the south central states. These influences can be predicted 4 months in advance. We show that U.S. summertime ozone responds differently to eastern-type El Niño events compared to central-type events.

  16. Terrorism in surface transportation : a symposium

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-06-01

    The topic for this symposium was selected to help satisfy the increased need for awareness of and preparedness for possible terrorism attacks on the surface transportation systems within the United States and the world. A group of experts was assembl...

  17. A 16-year time series of 1 km AVHRR satellite data of the conterminous United States and Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Eidenshink, Jeff

    2006-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a 16-year time series of vegetation condition information for the conterminous United States and Alaska using 1 km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. The AVHRR data have been processed using consistent methods that account for radiometric variability due to calibration uncertainty, the effects of the atmosphere on surface radiometric measurements obtained from wide field-of-view observations, and the geometric registration accuracy. The conterminous United States and Alaska data sets have an atmospheric correction for water vapor, ozone, and Rayleigh scattering and include a cloud mask derived using the Clouds from AVHRR (CLAVR) algorithm. In comparison with other AVHRR time series data sets, the conterminous United States and Alaska data are processed using similar techniques. The primary difference is that the conterminous United States and Alaska data are at 1 km resolution, while others are at 8 km resolution. The time series consists of weekly and biweekly maximum normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) composites.

  18. Potential Implications of Approaches to Climate Change on the Clean Water Rule Definition of "Waters of the United States".

    PubMed

    Faust, Derek R; Moore, Matthew T; Emison, Gerald Andrews; Rush, Scott A

    2016-05-01

    The 1972 Clean Water Act was passed to protect chemical, physical, and biological integrity of United States' waters. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers codified a new "waters of the United States" rule on June 29, 2015, because several Supreme Court case decisions caused confusion with the existing rule. Climate change could affect this rule through connectivity between groundwater and surface waters; floodplain waters and the 100-year floodplain; changes in jurisdictional status; and sea level rise on coastal ecosystems. Four approaches are discussed for handling these implications: (1) "Wait and see"; (2) changes to the rule; (3) use guidance documents; (4) Congress statutorily defining "waters of the United States." The approach chosen should be legally defensible and achieved in a timely fashion to provide protection to "waters of the United States" in proactive consideration of scientifically documented effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems.

  19. Regional Warming from Aerosol Removal over the United States: Results from a Transient 2010-2050 Climate Simulation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mickley, L. J.; Leibensperger, E. M.; Jacob, D. J.; Rind, D.

    2012-01-01

    We use a general circulation model (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies GCM 3) to investigate the regional climate response to removal of aerosols over the United States. We perform a pair of transient 2010e2050 climate simulations following a scenario of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, with and without aerosols over the United States and with present-day aerosols elsewhere. We find that removing U.S. aerosol significantly enhances the warming from greenhouse gases in a spatial pattern that strongly correlates with that of the aerosol. Warming is nearly negligible outside the United States, but annual mean surface temperatures increase by 0.4e0.6 K in the eastern United States. Temperatures during summer heat waves in the Northeast rise by as much as 1e2 K due to aerosol removal, driven in part by positive feedbacks involving soil moisture and low cloud cover. Reducing U.S. aerosol sources to achieve air quality objectives could thus have significant unintended regional warming consequences.

  20. Geoelectric Hazard Maps for the Continental United States

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Love, Jeffrey J.; Pulkkinen, Antti; Bedrosian, Paul A.; Jonas, Seth; Kelbert, Anna; Rigler, Joshua E.; Finn, Carol A.; Balch, Christopher C.; Rutledge, Robert; Waggle, Richard M.

    2016-01-01

    In support of a multiagency project for assessing induction hazards, we present maps of extreme-value geoelectric amplitudes over about half of the continental United States. These maps are constructed using a parameterization of induction: estimates of Earth surface impedance, obtained at discrete geographic sites from magnetotelluric survey data, are convolved with latitude-dependent statistical maps of extreme-value geomagnetic activity, obtained from decades of magnetic observatory data. Geoelectric amplitudes are estimated for geomagnetic waveforms having 240 s sinusoidal period and amplitudes over 10 min that exceed a once-per-century threshold. As a result of the combination of geographic differences in geomagnetic activity and Earth surface impedance, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes span more than 2 orders of magnitude and are an intricate function of location. For north-south induction, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes across large parts of the United States have a median value of 0.26 Vkm; for east-west geomagnetic variation the median value is 0.23 Vkm. At some locations,once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes exceed 3 Vkm.

  1. Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States

    PubMed Central

    Ouellette, Karli J; de Linage, Caroline; Famiglietti, James S

    2013-01-01

    [1] Accurate estimation of the characteristics of the winter snowpack is crucial for prediction of available water supply, flooding, and climate feedbacks. Remote sensing of snow has been most successful for quantifying the spatial extent of the snowpack, although satellite estimation of snow water equivalent (SWE), fractional snow covered area, and snow depth is improving. Here we show that GPS observations of vertical land surface loading reveal seasonal responses of the land surface to the total weight of snow, providing information about the stored SWE. We demonstrate that the seasonal signal in Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC) GPS vertical land surface position time series at six locations in the western United States is driven by elastic loading of the crust by the snowpack. GPS observations of land surface deformation are then used to predict the water load as a function of time at each location of interest and compared for validation to nearby Snowpack Telemetry observations of SWE. Estimates of soil moisture are included in the analysis and result in considerable improvement in the prediction of SWE. Citation: Ouellette, K. J., C. de Linage, and J. S. Famiglietti (2013), Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States, Water Resour. Res., 49, 2508–2518, doi:10.1002/wrcr.20173. PMID:24223442

  2. Winning the Peace: Institutionalizing Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the United States Military

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-06-15

    dental and veterinary care; the construction of rudimentary surface transportation systems and public facilities; and...rather than at the tactical unit level. Provided that this change occurs, the entire calculus of the PRT could correspondingly change. Assuming that

  3. Surface Water Investigations in Afghanistan: A Summary of Activities from 1952 to 1969. Appendix 5: End of Tour Report. United States Operations Mission to Afghanistan; International Cooperation Administration, Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1966-05-01

    Royal Government of Afghanistan under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development. 18 appendices. 15. SUBJECT TERMS...village leaders; third, the transfer to Kob-ol of Kr. Chulan Shell t;ho, altliou^o. a ’ . S* graduate engineer (at AID espenoe), has no interest in

  4. Using simulated historical time series to prioritize fuel treatments on landscapes across the United States: The LANDFIRE prototype project

    Treesearch

    Robert E. Keane; Matthew Rollins; Zhi-Liang Zhu

    2007-01-01

    Canopy and surface fuels in many fire-prone forests of the United States have increased over the last 70 years as a result of modern fire exclusion policies, grazing, and other land management activities. The Healthy Forest Restoration Act and National Fire Plan establish a national commitment to reduce fire hazard and restore fire-adapted ecosystems across the USA....

  5. Bifurcation of the Yellowstone plume driven by subduction-induced mantle flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kincaid, C.; Druken, K. A.; Griffiths, R. W.; Stegman, D. R.

    2013-05-01

    The causes of volcanism in the northwestern United States over the past 20 million years are strongly contested. Three drivers have been proposed: melting associated with plate subduction; tectonic extension and magmatism resulting from rollback of a subducting slab; or the Yellowstone mantle plume. Observations of the opposing age progression of two neighbouring volcanic chains--the Snake River Plain and High Lava Plains--are often used to argue against a plume origin for the volcanism. Plumes are likely to occur near subduction zones, yet the influence of subduction on the surface expression of mantle plumes is poorly understood. Here we use experiments with a laboratory model to show that the patterns of volcanism in the northwestern United States can be explained by a plume upwelling through mantle that circulates in the wedge beneath a subduction zone. We find that the buoyant plume may be stalled, deformed and partially torn apart by mantle flow induced by the subducting plate. Using plausible model parameters, bifurcation of the plume can reproduce the primary volcanic features observed in the northwestern United States, in particular the opposite progression of two volcanic chains. Our results support the presence of the Yellowstone plume in the northwestern United States, and also highlight the power of plume-subduction interactions to modify surface geology at convergent plate margins.

  6. Aerosol loading in the Southeastern United States: reconciling surface and satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ford, B.; Heald, C. L.

    2013-04-01

    We investigate the seasonality in aerosols over the Southeastern United States using observations from several satellite instruments (MODIS, MISR, CALIOP) and surface network sites (IMPROVE, SEARCH, AERONET). We find that the strong summertime enhancement in satellite-observed aerosol optical depth (factor 2-3 enhancement over wintertime AOD) is not present in surface mass concentrations (25-55% summertime enhancement). Goldstein et al. (2009) previously attributed this seasonality in AOD to biogenic organic aerosol; however, surface observations show that organic aerosol only accounts for ~35% of PM2.5 mass and exhibits similar seasonality to total PM2.5. The GEOS-Chem model generally reproduces these surface aerosol measurements, but under represents the AOD seasonality observed by satellites. We show that seasonal differences in water uptake cannot sufficiently explain the magnitude of AOD increase. As CALIOP profiles indicate the presence of additional aerosol in the lower troposphere (below 700 hPa), which cannot be explained by vertical mixing; we conclude that the discrepancy is due to a missing source of aerosols above the surface in summer.

  7. Modeling the Effects of Irrigation on Land Surface Fluxes and States over the Conterminous United States: Sensitivity to Input Data and Model Parameters

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Leng, Guoyong; Huang, Maoyi; Tang, Qiuhong

    2013-09-16

    Previous studies on irrigation impacts on land surface fluxes/states were mainly conducted as sensitivity experiments, with limited analysis of uncertainties from the input data and model irrigation schemes used. In this study, we calibrated and evaluated the performance of irrigation water use simulated by the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) against observations from agriculture census. We investigated the impacts of irrigation on land surface fluxes and states over the conterminous United States (CONUS) and explored possible directions of improvement. Specifically, we found large uncertainty in the irrigation area data from two widely used sources and CLM4 tended to producemore » unrealistically large temporal variations of irrigation demand for applications at the water resources region scale over CONUS. At seasonal to interannual time scales, the effects of irrigation on surface energy partitioning appeared to be large and persistent, and more pronounced in dry than wet years. Even with model calibration to yield overall good agreement with the irrigation amounts from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), differences between the two irrigation area datasets still dominate the differences in the interannual variability of land surface response to irrigation. Our results suggest that irrigation amount simulated by CLM4 can be improved by (1) calibrating model parameter values to account for regional differences in irrigation demand and (2) accurate representation of the spatial distribution and intensity of irrigated areas.« less

  8. Assimilation of Gridded GRACE Terrestrial Water Storage Estimates in the North American Land Data Assimilation System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kumar, Sujay V.; Zaitchik, Benjamin F.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Rodell, Matthew; Reichle, Rolf; Li, Bailing; Jasinski, Michael; Mocko, David; Getirana, Augusto; De Lannoy, Gabrielle; hide

    2016-01-01

    The objective of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) is to provide best available estimates of near-surface meteorological conditions and soil hydrological status for the continental United States. To support the ongoing efforts to develop data assimilation (DA) capabilities for NLDAS, the results of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) DA implemented in a manner consistent with NLDAS development are presented. Following previous work, GRACE terrestrial water storage (TWS) anomaly estimates are assimilated into the NASA Catchment land surface model using an ensemble smoother. In contrast to many earlier GRACE DA studies, a gridded GRACE TWS product is assimilated, spatially distributed GRACE error estimates are accounted for, and the impact that GRACE scaling factors have on assimilation is evaluated. Comparisons with quality-controlled in situ observations indicate that GRACE DA has a positive impact on the simulation of unconfined groundwater variability across the majority of the eastern United States and on the simulation of surface and root zone soil moisture across the country. Smaller improvements are seen in the simulation of snow depth, and the impact of GRACE DA on simulated river discharge and evapotranspiration is regionally variable. The use of GRACE scaling factors during assimilation improved DA results in the western United States but led to small degradations in the eastern United States. The study also found comparable performance between the use of gridded and basin averaged GRACE observations in assimilation. Finally, the evaluations presented in the paper indicate that GRACE DA can be helpful in improving the representation of droughts.

  9. Surface water records of New Mexico, water year 1961

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1962-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1961 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of New Mexico are given in this report. For convenience there are also included for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey, under the direction of W. L. Heckler, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report marks the beginning of a new method of presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there has been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in New Mexico were contained in Parts 7, 8, and 9 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports On a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey watersupply paper at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of conterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  10. Surface water records of Indiana, 1962

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1962-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1962 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of Indiana are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the direction of Malcolm D. Hale, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report marks the beginning of a new method of presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U.S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in Indiana were contained in Parts 3A, 4 and 5 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of coterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  11. Surface water records of Indiana, 1963

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1963-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1963 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of Indiana are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the direction of Malcolm D. Hale, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report marks the beginning of a new method of presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U.S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in Indiana were contained in Parts 3A, 4 and 5 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of coterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  12. Surface water records of Indiana, 1964

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1964-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1964 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of Indiana are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the direction of Malcolm D. Hale, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report marks the beginning of a new method of presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U.S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in Indiana were contained in Parts 3A, 4 and 5 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of coterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  13. Surface water records of Indiana, 1961

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1961-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1961 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of Indiana are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the direction of Malcolm D. Hale, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report marks the beginning of a new method of presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U.S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in Indiana were contained in Parts 3A, 4 and 5 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of coterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  14. Camx Ozone Source Attribution in the Eastern United States Using Guidance from Observations During DISCOVER-AQ Maryland

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldberg, Daniel L.; Vinciguerra, Timothy P.; Anderson, Daniel C.; Hembeck, Linda; Canty, Timothy P.; Ehrman, Sheryl H.; Martins, Douglas K.; Stauffer, Ryan M.; Thompson, Anne M.; Salawitch, Ross J.; hide

    2016-01-01

    A Comprehensive Air-Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) version 6.10 simulation was assessed through comparison with data acquired during NASA's 2011 Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) Maryland field campaign. Comparisons for the baseline simulation (Carbon Bond 2005 (CB05) chemistry, Environmental Protection Agency 2011 National Emissions Inventory) show a model overestimate of NOy by +86.2% and an underestimate of HCHO by -28.3%. We present a new model framework (Carbon Bond 6 Revision 2 chemistry (CB6r2), Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) version 2.1 biogenic emissions, 50% reduction in mobile NOx, enhanced representation of isoprene nitrates) that better matches observations. The new model framework attributes 31.4% more surface ozone in Maryland to electric generating units (EGUs) and 34.6% less ozone to on-road mobile sources. Surface ozone becomes more NOx limited throughout the eastern United States compared to the baseline simulation. The baseline model therefore likely underestimates the effectiveness of anthropogenic NOx reductions as well as the current contribution of EGUs to surface ozone.

  15. Publications of the Western Earth Surface Processes Team 2006

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Powell, Charles L.; Stone, Paul

    2007-01-01

    The Western Earth Surface Processes Team (WESPT) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts geologic mapping, earth-surface process investigations, and related topical earth science studies in the western United States. This work is focused on areas where modern geologic maps and associated earth-science data are needed to address key societal and environmental issues such as ground-water quality, landslides and other potential geologic hazards, and land-use decisions. Areas of primary emphasis in 2006 included southern California, the San Francisco Bay region, the Mojave Desert, the Colorado Plateau region of northern Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest. The team has its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and maintains smaller field offices at several other locations in the western United States. This compilation gives the bibliographical citations for 123 new publications, most of which are available online using the hyperlinks provided.

  16. Near-surface soil carbon, carbon/nitrogen ratio,and tree species are tightly linked across northeastern United States watersheds

    Treesearch

    Donald S. Ross; Scott W. Bailey; Gregory B. Lawrence; James B. Shanley; Guinevere Fredriksen; Austin E. Jamison; Patricia A. Brousseau

    2011-01-01

    Forest soils hold large stores of carbon, with the highest concentrations in the surface horizons. In these horizons, both the total C mass and the C/N ratio may respond more rapidly to changes in tree species than lower horizons. We measured C and C/N ratios in the Oa or A horizon from 12 watersheds at 8 established forested research sites in the northeastern United...

  17. Surface runoff and tile drainage transport of phosphorus in the midwestern United States.

    PubMed

    Smith, Douglas R; King, Kevin W; Johnson, Laura; Francesconi, Wendy; Richards, Pete; Baker, Dave; Sharpley, Andrew N

    2015-03-01

    The midwestern United States offers some of the most productive agricultural soils in the world. Given the cool humid climate, much of the region would not be able to support agriculture without subsurface (tile) drainage because high water tables may damage crops and prevent machinery usage in fields at critical times. Although drainage is designed to remove excess soil water as quickly as possible, it can also rapidly transport agrochemicals, including phosphorus (P). This paper illustrates the potential importance of tile drainage for P transport throughout the midwestern United States. Surface runoff and tile drainage from fields in the St. Joseph River Watershed in northeastern Indiana have been monitored since 2008. Although the traditional concept of tile drainage has been that it slowly removes soil matrix flow, peak tile discharge occurred at the same time as peak surface runoff, which demonstrates a strong surface connection through macropore flow. On our research fields, 49% of soluble P and 48% of total P losses occurred via tile discharge. Edge-of-field soluble P and total P areal loads often exceeded watershed-scale areal loadings from the Maumee River, the primary source of nutrients to the western basin of Lake Erie, where algal blooms have been a pervasive problem for the last 10 yr. As farmers, researchers, and policymakers search for treatments to reduce P loading to surface waters, the present work demonstrates that treating only surface runoff may not be sufficient to reach the goal of 41% reduction in P loading for the Lake Erie Basin. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  18. The Application of Optimum Value Engineering Design and Construction Techniques to the United States Navy’s Housing Construction Contract Request for Proposal.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-05-01

    thick asphalt pavement and a unit cost of $10/sy for subbase, binder and wearing courses (22), the following costs can be considered: Road Width Cofts...on exposed surfaces, whereas concrete and asphalt absorb and then transmit heat. This is the same rationale used in selecting a white roof over a...Surfaces Item Avg±L !9PRe± M! Trees 80 Grass Lawn i11 Wall Surface 130 ... Asphalt 160 (From Energy Efficient Site Desgn) What constitutes a good site

  19. Back-Up Generator Facility and Associated Project Environmental Assessment Dyess Air Force Base, Texas

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-07-01

    waste, or solid waste management would be expected with implementation of the no-action alternative. Soils and Water. Impacts to soils and water...resources would be negligible. Construction would disturb about 2.5 acres, but best management practices such as silt fencing and soil surface watering...Intergovernmental Coordination for Environmental Planning tpy U.S. tons per year United States IWMP Integrated Waste Management Plan USACE United States

  20. Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; forest structure and fire hazard fact sheet 06: Guide to fuel treatments in dry forests of the Western United States: assessing forest structure and fire hazard

    Treesearch

    Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

    2005-01-01

    The Guide to Fuel Treatments analyzes a range of potential silvicultural thinnings and surface fuel treatments for 25 representative dry-forest stands in the Western United States. The guide provides quantitative guidelines and visualization for treatment based on scientific principles identified for reducing potential crown fires. This fact sheet identifies the...

  1. Forests, Water and People: Drinking water supply and forest lands in the Northeast and Midwest United States, June 2009

    Treesearch

    Martina Barnes; Albert Todd; Rebecca Whitney Lilja; Paul Barten

    2009-01-01

    Forests are critically important to the supply of clean drinking water in the Northeast and Midwest portion of the United States. In this part of the country more than 52 million people depend on surface water supplies that are protected in large part by forested lands. The public is generally unaware of the threats to their water supplies or the connection between...

  2. Modeling of Surface Thermodynamics and Damage Thresholds in the IR and THz Regime

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-01-01

    Conference on Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells [18th] Held in San Jose, California on January 22-24, 2007 To order the complete compilation report...United States; c Air Force Reasearch Lab, Human Effectivness Directorate Optical Branch, 2624 Louis Bauer Drive, San Antonio, TX, United States...equation (radial and axial) in a biological system construct. Tissues are represented as multi-layer structures, with optical and thermal properties

  3. Analysis of the Diurnal Cycle and Cloud Effects on the Surface Radiation Budget of the SURFRAD Network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Long, C. N.; Augustine, J. A.; McComiskey, A. C.

    2017-12-01

    The NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Monitoring Division (GMD) operates a network of seven surface radiation budget sites (SURFRAD) across the continental United States. The SURFRAD network was established in 1993 with the primary objective to support climate research with accurate, continuous, long-term measurements of the surface radiation budget over the United States and is a major contributor to the WMO international Baseline Surface Radiation Network. The data from the SURFRAD sites have been used in many studies including trend analyses of surface solar brightening (Long et al, 2009; Augustine and Dutton, 2013; Gan et al., 2015). These studies have focused mostly on long term aggregate trends. Here we will present results of studies that take a closer look across the years of the cloud influence on the surface radiation budget components partitioned by seasonal and diurnal analyses, and using derived quantities now available from the SURFRAD data archive produced by the Radiative Flux Analysis value added processing. The results show distinct differences between the sites surface radiative energy budgets and cloud radiative effects due to their differing climates and latitudinal locations.

  4. Aerosol loading in the Southeastern United States: reconciling surface and satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ford, B.; Heald, C. L.

    2013-09-01

    We investigate the seasonality in aerosols over the Southeastern United States using observations from several satellite instruments (MODIS, MISR, CALIOP) and surface network sites (IMPROVE, SEARCH, AERONET). We find that the strong summertime enhancement in satellite-observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) (factor 2-3 enhancement over wintertime AOD) is not present in surface mass concentrations (25-55% summertime enhancement). Goldstein et al. (2009) previously attributed this seasonality in AOD to biogenic organic aerosol; however, surface observations show that organic aerosol only accounts for ∼35% of fine particulate matter (smaller than 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter, PM2.5) and exhibits similar seasonality to total surface PM2.5. The GEOS-Chem model generally reproduces these surface aerosol measurements, but underrepresents the AOD seasonality observed by satellites. We show that seasonal differences in water uptake cannot sufficiently explain the magnitude of AOD increase. As CALIOP profiles indicate the presence of additional aerosol in the lower troposphere (below 700 hPa), which cannot be explained by vertical mixing, we conclude that the discrepancy is due to a missing source of aerosols above the surface layer in summer.

  5. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Siekhaus, W. J.; Teslich, N. E.; Weber, P. K.

    Depleted uranium that included carbide inclusions was sputtered with 30-keV gallium ions or 16-kev cesium ions to depths much greater than the ions’ range, i.e. using steady-state sputtering. The recession of both the uranium’s and uranium carbide’s surfaces and the ion corresponding fluences were used to determine the steady-state target sputtering yields of both uranium and uranium carbide, i.e. 6.3 atoms of uranium and 2.4 units of uranium carbide eroded per gallium ion, and 9.9 uranium atoms and 3.65 units of uranium carbide eroded by cesium ions. The steady state surface composition resulting from the simultaneous gallium or cesium implantationmore » and sputter-erosion of uranium and uranium carbide were calculated to be U₈₆Ga₁₄, (UC)₇₀Ga₃₀ and U₈₁Cs₉, (UC)₇₉Cs₂₁, respectively.« less

  6. Effects of soot-induced snow albedo change on snowpack and hydrological cycle in western United States based on Weather Research and Forecasting chemistry and regional climate simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qian, Yun; Gustafson, William I.; Leung, L. Ruby; Ghan, Steven J.

    2009-02-01

    Radiative forcing induced by soot on snow is an important anthropogenic forcing affecting the global climate. In this study we simulated the deposition of soot aerosol on snow and the resulting impact on snowpack and the hydrological cycle in the western United States. A year-long simulation was performed using the chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem) to determine the soot deposition, followed by three simulations using WRF in meteorology-only mode, with and without the soot-induced snow albedo perturbations. The chemistry simulation shows large spatial variability in soot deposition that reflects the localized emissions and the influence of the complex terrain. The soot-induced snow albedo perturbations increase the surface net solar radiation flux during late winter to early spring, increase the surface air temperature, and reduce the snow accumulation and spring snowmelt. These effects are stronger over the central Rockies and southern Alberta, where soot deposition and snowpack overlap the most. The indirect forcing of soot accelerates snowmelt and alters stream flows, including a trend toward earlier melt dates in the western United States. The soot-induced albedo reduction initiates a positive feedback process whereby dirty snow absorbs more solar radiation, heating the surface and warming the air. This warming causes reduced snow depth and fraction, which further reduces the regional surface albedo for the snow-covered regions. For a doubled snow albedo perturbation, the change to surface energy and temperature is around 50-80%; however, snowpack reduction is nonlinearly accelerated.

  7. Climatic variability of near-surface turbulent kinetic energy over the United States: implications for fire-weather predications

    Treesearch

    Warren E. Heilman; Xindi Bain

    2013-01-01

    Recent research suggests that high levels of ambient near-surface atmospheric turbulence are often associated with rapid and sometimes erratic wildland fire spread that may eventually lead to large burn areas. Previous research has also examined the feasibility of using near-surface atmospheric turbulent kinetic energy (TKEs) alone or in...

  8. A Continental United States High Resolution NLCD Land Cover – MODIS Albedo Database to Examine Albedo and Land Cover Change Relationships

    EPA Science Inventory

    Surface albedo influences climate by affecting the amount of solar radiation that is reflected at the Earth’s surface, and surface albedo is, in turn, affected by land cover. General Circulation Models typically use modeled or prescribed albedo to assess the influence of land co...

  9. Innovation in environmental streamlining and project delivery : the Oregon State Bridge Delivery Program.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-01-01

    Surface transportation planning in the United States has become a complex system of intergovernmental planning : and environmental compliance requirements over the past several decades. As a result, the process from planning : stage to project implem...

  10. Multi-Modal Traveler Information System - VMS/HAR State-of-the-Practice

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-05-30

    The Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee (GCM) Corridor is one of the four "Priority Corridors" established by the United States Congress in the Inter-Modal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). These corridors have been selected for special federal trans...

  11. Estimated use of water in the United States in 1995

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Solley, Wayne B.; Pierce, Robert R.; Perlman, Howard A.

    1998-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to present consistent and current water-use estimates by state and water-resources region for the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. Estimates of water withdrawn from surface- and ground-water sources, estimates of consumptive use, and estimates of instream use and wastewater releases during 1995 are presented in this report. This report discusses eight categories of offstream water use--public supply, domestic, commercial, irrigation, livestock, industrial, mining, and thermoelectric power--and one category of instream use: hydroelectric power.

  12. Two-hundred years of hydrogeology in the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rosenshein, J. S.; Moore, J.E.; Lohman, S.W.; Chase, E.B.

    1986-01-01

    The Hydrogeology Division of the Geological Society of America (GSA) sponsored a symposium entitled ' Hydrogeology in the United States, 1776- 1976 ' at the annual meeting of the GSA on November 9, 1976. The symposium was organized to provide a forum for discussion of major eras in the history of American hydrogeology and to contribute to the bicentennial celebration of the founding of the United States. Presentations were broken down into 3 sections: The Early Era (with a tribute to Oscar E. Meinzer), 1776-1920; Meinzer Era, 1910-1940; and the Modern Era (including scientific advantages; the quantification of hydrogeology; geochemistry; surface and borehole geophysics; and hydrogeology, policy, and politics) 1940-1976. (Lantz-PTT)

  13. Report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission : transportation for tomorrow.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-01-01

    The surface transportation system of the : United States is at a crossroads. The future : of our Nations well-being, vitality, and global : economic leadership is at stake. We must take : significant, decisive action now to create and : sustain th...

  14. Assessing the relative influence of surface soil moisture and ENSO SST on precipitation predictability over the contiguous United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yoon, Jin-Ho; Leung, Lai-Yung R.

    This study assesses the relative influence of soil moisture memory and tropical sea surface temperature (SST) in seasonal rainfall over the contiguous United States. Using observed precipitation, the NINO3.4 index and soil moisture and evapotranspiration simulated by a land surface model for 61 years, analysis was performed using partial correlations to evaluate to what extent land surface and SST anomaly of El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can affect seasonal precipitation over different regions and seasons. Results show that antecedent soil moisture is as important as concurrent ENSO condition in controlling rainfall anomalies over the U.S., but they generally dominatemore » in different seasons with SST providing more predictability during winter while soil moisture, through its linkages to evapotranspiration and snow water, has larger influence in spring and early summer. The proposed methodology is applicable to climate model outputs to evaluate the intensity of land-atmosphere coupling and its relative importance.« less

  15. The deethylatrazine/atrazine ratio as an indicator of the onset of the spring flush of herbicides into surface water of the Midwestern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thurman, E.M.; Fallon, J.D.

    1996-01-01

    The ratio of deethylatrazine to atrazine (DAR) may be used to record the first major runoff of herbicides from non-point-source corn fields to surface water in the Midwestern United States. The DAR dramatically decreases from ∼0.5 to < 0.1 upon application of herbicide and the first major runoff event of a basin. The DAR then gradually increases to values of approximately 0.4–0.6 during the harvest season. Furthermore, the DAR may be used in studies of surface water movement to give a temporal indicator of water moving into reservoirs for possible storage of herbicides. It is hypothesized that deethylatrazine, which accounts for only 6% of the degradation of atrazine, becomes a significant metabolite in surface water (∼ 50% of parent compound) because of its selective removal from soil. This removal process may be an important concept for consideration in studies of herbicide contamination of rivers and reservoirs.

  16. Effects of El Niño on Summertime Ozone Air Quality in the Eastern United States

    PubMed Central

    Mickley, Loretta J.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract We investigate the effect of El Niño on maximum daily 8 h average surface ozone over the eastern United States in summer during 1980–2016. El Niño can influence the extratropical climate through the propagation of stationary waves, leading to (1) reduced transport of moist, clean air into the middle and southern Atlantic states and greater subsidence, reduced precipitation, and increased surface solar radiation in this region, as well as (2) intensified southerly flow into the south central states, which here enhances flux of moist and clean air. As a result, each standard deviation increase in the Niño 1 + 2 index is associated with an increase of 1–2 ppbv ozone in the Atlantic states and a decrease of 0.5–2 ppbv ozone in the south central states. These influences can be predicted 4 months in advance. We show that U.S. summertime ozone responds differently to eastern‐type El Niño events compared to central‐type events. PMID:29622852

  17. Estimated use of water in the United States - 1950

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    MacKichan, Kenneth Allen

    1951-01-01

    An estimated 170,000 million gallons of water was withdrawn from the ground, lakes, or streams each day on the average during 1950 and used on the farms and in the homes, factories, and business establishments of the United States. An additional 1,100,000 million gallons per day was used to generate hydro-power. Water power is the largest user of water; however, irrigation and industry also are large users of both ground and surface water. More surface water was used for industrial purposes than for irrigation, whereas more ground water was used for irrigation than for industrial purposes (fig. 1). The total withdrawal of surface water was considerably in excess of ground-water withdrawal, as shown by figure 1. Large quantities of water were used also for purposes requiring no diversion, such as navigation, waste disposal, recreation, and support of wildlife.

  18. GISS Analysis of Surface Temperature Changes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hansen, J.; Ruedy, R.; Glascoe, J.; Sato, M.

    1999-01-01

    We describe the current GISS analysis of surface temperature change based primarily on meteorological station measurements. The global surface temperature in 1998 was the warmest in the period of instrumental data. The rate of temperature change is higher in the past 25 years than at any previous time in the period of instrumental data. The warmth of 1998 is too large and pervasive to be fully accounted for by the recent El Nino, suggesting that global temperature may have moved to a higher level, analogous to the increase that occurred in the late 1970s. The warming in the United States over the past 50 years is smaller than in most of the world, and over that period there is a slight cooling trend in the Eastern United States and the neighboring Atlantic ocean. The spatial and temporal patterns of the temperature change suggest that more than one mechanism is involved in this regional cooling.

  19. Rules, Roles, and Responsibilities in Transportation Planning and Air Quality: One State's View

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1999-01-01

    The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 and the Intermodal Surface : Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 are a pivotal moment in : transportation planning in the United States. In 1997 the U.S. Environmental : Protection Agency revised ...

  20. 75 FR 75695 - Certain Footwear: Recommendations for Modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-06

    ..., 2010, and covering footwear (1) having an outer sole with textile materials having the greatest surface... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 1205-8 (Addendum)] Certain Footwear.... 1205-8, Certain Footwear: Recommendations for Modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United...

  1. Reconfiguration of a smart surface using heteroclinic connections

    PubMed Central

    McInnes, Colin R.; Xu, Ming

    2017-01-01

    A reconfigurable smart surface with multiple equilibria is presented, modelled using discrete point masses and linear springs with geometric nonlinearity. An energy-efficient reconfiguration scheme is then investigated to connect equal-energy unstable (but actively controlled) equilibria. In principle, zero net energy input is required to transition the surface between these unstable states, compared to transitions between stable equilibria across a potential barrier. These transitions between equal-energy unstable states, therefore, form heteroclinic connections in the phase space of the problem. Moreover, the smart surface model developed can be considered as a unit module for a range of applications, including modules which can aggregate together to form larger distributed smart surface systems. PMID:28265191

  2. REGIONAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GEOMORPHIC/HYDROLOGIC PARAMETERS AND SURFACE WATER CHEMISTRY RELATIVE TO ACIDIC DEPOSITION

    EPA Science Inventory

    We determined geomorphic and hydrologic parameters for 144 forested, lake watersheds in the Northeast (NE) of the United States based primarily on measurements from topographic maps. hese parameters were used to test for relationships with selected surface water chemistry relevan...

  3. USING A HEAT PULSE TO MEASURE THE FLUX BETWEEN GROUNDWATER AND SURFACE WATER

    EPA Science Inventory

    EPA estimates that 10 percent of the sediments under the surface waters of the United States are contaminated and approximately 20 percent of the superfund sites include contaminated sediments. The risk associated with these contaminated sediments is directly related to the flux...

  4. Chapter 5: Surface water quality sampling in streams and canals

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Surface water sampling and water quality assessments have greatly evolved in the United States since the 1970s establishment of the Clean Water Act. Traditionally, water quality referred to only the chemical characteristics of the water and its toxicological properties related to drinking water or ...

  5. NEWS RELEASE - Agencies Agree to Joint Regulatory Framework for Processing Applications for Surface Coal Mining Operations

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    News release from February 10, 2005 announcing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that offers a joint framework to improve permit application procedures for surface coal mining operations that place dredged or fill material in waters of the United States.

  6. Surface water records of New Mexico, water year 1963

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1964-01-01

    This report is the third in a series presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States". Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in New Mexico were contained in Parts 7, 8, and 9 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5- year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of conterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  7. Landforms of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hack, John T.

    1969-01-01

    The United States contains a great variety of landforms which offer dramatic contrasts to a crosscountry traveler. Mountains and desert areas, tropical jungles and areas of permanently frozen subsoil, deep canyons and broad plains are examples of the Nation's varied surface. The present-day landforms the features that make up the face of the earth are products of the slow, sculpturing actions of streams and geologic processes that have been at work throughout the ages since the earth's beginning.

  8. Landforms of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hack, John T.

    1988-01-01

    The United States contains a great variety of landforms which offer dramatic contrasts to a cross-country traveler. Mountains and desert areas, tropical jungles and areas of permanently frozen subsoil, and deep canyons and broad plains are examples of the Nation's varied surface. The presentday landforms the features that make up the face of the Earth are products of the slow sculpturing actions of streams and geologic processes that have been at work throughout the ages since the Earth's beginning.

  9. A comprehensive guide to fuel management practices for dry mixed conifer forests in the northwestern United States: Mechanical, chemical, and biological fuel treatment methods

    Treesearch

    Theresa B. Jain; Mike A. Battaglia; Han-Sup Han; Russell T. Graham; Christopher R. Keyes; Jeremy S. Fried; Jonathan E. Sandquist

    2014-01-01

    Several mechanical approaches to managing vegetation fuels hold promise when applied to the dry mixed conifer forests in the western United States. These are most useful to treat surface, ladder, and crown fuels. There are a variety of techniques to remove or alter all kinds of plant biomass (live, dead, or decomposed) that affect forest resilience. It is important for...

  10. An equivalent layer magnetization model for the United States derived from MAGSAT data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mayhew, M. A.; Galliher, S. C. (Principal Investigator)

    1982-01-01

    Long wavelength anomalies in the total magnetic field measured field measured by MAGSAT over the United States and adjacent areas are inverted to an equivalent layer crustal magnetization distribution. The model is based on an equal area dipole grid at the Earth's surface. Model resolution having physical significance, is about 220 km for MAGSAT data in the elevation range 300-500 km. The magnetization contours correlate well with large-scale tectonic provinces.

  11. Geoelectric hazard maps for the continental United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Love, Jeffrey J.; Pulkkinen, Antti; Bedrosian, Paul A.; Jonas, Seth; Kelbert, Anna; Rigler, E. Joshua; Finn, Carol A.; Balch, Christopher C.; Rutledge, Robert; Waggel, Richard M.; Sabata, Andrew T.; Kozyra, Janet U.; Black, Carrie E.

    2016-09-01

    In support of a multiagency project for assessing induction hazards, we present maps of extreme-value geoelectric amplitudes over about half of the continental United States. These maps are constructed using a parameterization of induction: estimates of Earth surface impedance, obtained at discrete geographic sites from magnetotelluric survey data, are convolved with latitude-dependent statistical maps of extreme-value geomagnetic activity, obtained from decades of magnetic observatory data. Geoelectric amplitudes are estimated for geomagnetic waveforms having 240 s sinusoidal period and amplitudes over 10 min that exceed a once-per-century threshold. As a result of the combination of geographic differences in geomagnetic activity and Earth surface impedance, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes span more than 2 orders of magnitude and are an intricate function of location. For north-south induction, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes across large parts of the United States have a median value of 0.26 V/km; for east-west geomagnetic variation the median value is 0.23 V/km. At some locations, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes exceed 3 V/km.

  12. The impact of summer rainfall on the temperature gradient along the United States-Mexico border

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Balling, Robert C., Jr.

    1989-01-01

    The international border running through the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and northern Sonora is marked by a sharp discontinuity in albedo and grass cover. The observed differences in surface properties are a result of long-term, severe overgrazing of the Mexican lands. Recently, investigators have shown the Mexican side of the border to have higher surface and air temperatures when compared to adjacent areas in the United State. The differences in temperatures appear to be more associated with differential evapotranspiration rates than with albedo changes along the border. In this study, the impact of summer rainfall on the observed seasonal and daily gradient in maximum temperature is examined. On a seasonal time scale, the temperature gradient increases with higher moisture levels, probably due to a vegetative response on the United States' side of the border; at the daily level, the gradient in maximum temperature decreases after a rain event as evaporation rates equalize between the countries. The results suggest that temperature differences between vegetated and overgrazed landscapes in arid areas are highly dependent upon the amount of moisture available for evapotranspiration.

  13. Geoelectric hazard maps for the continental United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Love, Jeffrey J.; Pulkkinen, Antti; Bedrosian, Paul A.; Jonas, Seth; Kelbert, Anna; Rigler, Erin (Josh); Finn, Carol; Balch, Christopher; Rutledge, Robert; Waggel, Richard; Sabata, Andrew; Kozyra, Janet; Black, Carrie

    2016-01-01

    In support of a multiagency project for assessing induction hazards, we present maps of extreme-value geoelectric amplitudes over about half of the continental United States. These maps are constructed using a parameterization of induction: estimates of Earth surface impedance, obtained at discrete geographic sites from magnetotelluric survey data, are convolved with latitude-dependent statistical maps of extreme-value geomagnetic activity, obtained from decades of magnetic observatory data. Geoelectric amplitudes are estimated for geomagnetic waveforms having 240 s sinusoidal period and amplitudes over 10 min that exceed a once-per-century threshold. As a result of the combination of geographic differences in geomagnetic activity and Earth surface impedance, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes span more than 2 orders of magnitude and are an intricate function of location. For north-south induction, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes across large parts of the United States have a median value of 0.26 V/km; for east-west geomagnetic variation the median value is 0.23 V/km. At some locations, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes exceed 3 V/km.

  14. Variability common to global sea surface temperatures and runoff in the conterminous United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    McCabe, Gregory J.; Wolock, David M.

    2014-01-01

    Singular value decomposition (SVD) is used to identify the variability common to global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and water-balance-modeled water-year (WY) runoff in the conterminous United States (CONUS) for the 1900–2012 period. Two modes were identified from the SVD analysis; the two modes explain 25% of the variability in WY runoff and 33% of the variability in WY SSTs. The first SVD mode reflects the variability of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the SST data and the hydroclimatic effects of ENSO on WY runoff in the CONUS. The second SVD mode is related to variability of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). An interesting aspect of these results is that both ENSO and AMO appear to have nearly equivalent effects on runoff variability in the CONUS. However, the relatively small amount of variance explained by the SVD analysis indicates that there is little covariation between runoff and SSTs, suggesting that SSTs may not be a viable predictor of runoff variability for most of the conterminous United States.

  15. Impact of the 2008 Global Recession on Air Quality over the United States: Implications for Surface Ozone Levels from Changes in NOx Emissions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tong, Daniel; Pan, Li; Chen, Weiwei; Lamsal, Lok; Lee, Pius; Tang, Youhua; Kim, Hyuncheol; Kondragunta, Shobha; Stajner, Ivanka

    2016-01-01

    Satellite and ground observations detected large variability in nitrogen oxides (NOx) during the 2008 economic recession, but the impact of the recession on air quality has not been quantified. This study combines observed NOx trends and a regional chemical transport model to quantify the impact of the recession on surface ozone (O3) levels over the continental United States. The impact is quantified by simulating O3 concentrations under two emission scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU) and recession. In the BAU case, the emission projection from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is used to estimate the would-be NOx emission level in 2011. In the recession case, the actual NO2 trends observed from Air Quality System ground monitors and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the Aura satellite are used to obtain realistic changes in NOx emissions. The model prediction with the recession effect agrees better with ground O3 observations over time and space than the prediction with the BAU emission. The results show that the recession caused a 12ppbv decrease in surface O3 concentration over the eastern United States, a slight increase (0.51ppbv) over the Rocky Mountain region, and mixed changes in the Pacific West. The gain in air quality benefits during the recession, however, could be quickly offset by the much slower emission reduction rate during the post-recession period.

  16. The Use of Multi-Source Satellite and Geospatial Data to Study the Effect of Urbanization of Primary Productivity in the United States

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Imhoff, M. L.; Tucker, C. J.; Lawrence, W. T.; Stutzer, D.; Rusin, Robert

    2000-01-01

    Data from two different satellites, a digital land cover map, and digital census data were analyzed and combined in a geographic information system to study the effect of urbanization on photosynthetic vegetation productivity in the United States. Results show that urbanization can have a measurable but variable impact on the primary productivity of the land surface. Annual productivity can be reduced by as much as 20 days in some areas, but in resource limited regions, photosynthetic production can be enhanced by human activity. Overall, urban development reduces the productivity of the land surface and those areas with the highest productivity are directly in the path of urban sprawl.

  17. Post-fire surface fuel dynamics in California forests across three burn severity classes

    Treesearch

    Bianca N. I. Eskelson; Vicente J. Monleon

    2018-01-01

    Forest wildfires consume fuel and are followed by post-fire fuel accumulation. This study examines post-fire surface fuel dynamics over 9 years across a wide range of conditions characteristic of California fires in dry conifer and hardwood forests. We estimated post-fire surface fuel loadings (Mg ha _1) from 191 repeatedly measured United States...

  18. The importance of waterborne disease outbreak surveillance in the United States.

    PubMed

    Craun, Gunther Franz

    2012-01-01

    Analyses of the causes of disease outbreaks associated with contaminated drinking water in the United States have helped inform prevention efforts at the national, state, and local levels. This article describes the changing nature of disease outbreaks in public water systems during 1971-2008 and discusses the importance of a collaborative waterborne outbreak surveillance system established in 1971. Increasing reports of outbreaks throughout the early 1980s emphasized that microbial contaminants remained a health-risk challenge for suppliers of drinking water. Outbreak investigations identified the responsible etiologic agents and deficiencies in the treatment and distribution of drinking water, especially the high risk associated with unfiltered surface water systems. Surveillance information was important in establishing an effective research program that guided government regulations and industry actions to improve drinking water quality. Recent surveillance statistics suggest that prevention efforts based on these research findings have been effective in reducing outbreak risks especially for surface water systems.

  19. STUDY OF WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS DURING RIVERBANK FILTRATION AT THREE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES DRINKING WATER UTILITIES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Riverbank filtration (RBF) is a process during which surface water is subjected to subsurface flow prior to extraction from wells. During infiltration and soil passage, surface water is subjected to a combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes such as filtration...

  20. Early Rockets

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1950-01-01

    Test firing of a Redstone Missile at Redstone Test Stand in the early 1950's. The Redstone was a high-accuracy, liquid-propelled, surface-to-surface missile developed by the von Braun Team under the management of the U.S. Army. The Redstone was the first major rocket development program in the United States.

  1. 33 CFR 155.450 - Placard.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... film or discoloration of the surface of the water or causes a sludge or emulsion beneath the surface of... pump control station, stating the following: Discharge of Oil Prohibited The Federal Water Pollution Control Act prohibits the discharge of oil or oily waste into or upon the navigable waters of the United...

  2. Treatment Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls In Two Surface Soils Using Catalyzed H2O2 Propagations

    EPA Science Inventory

    Two surface soils contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) collected from Superfund sites in the New England region of the United States, Fletcher Paints and Merrimack Industrial Metals, were evaluated for field treatment at the bench level using catalyzed H2...

  3. Surface Ozone Background in the United States: Canadian and Mexican Pollution Influences

    EPA Science Inventory

    We use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) with 1° x 1° horizontal resolution to quantify the effects of anthropogenic emissions from Canada, Mexico, and outside North America on daily maximum 8-h average ozone concentrations in U.S.surface air.

  4. Empirical Analysis of the Influence of Forest Extent on Annual and Seasonal Surface Temperatures for the Continental United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    Most scenario‐based climate modeling studies indicate that replacing temperate forest with cropland will promote cooling by reducing surface air temperatures. These results are inconsistent with fieldbased microclimate studies that have found that forests are cooler, wetter, and...

  5. Multiplex surface plasmon resonance imaging platform for label-free detection of foodborne pathogens

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Salmonellae are among the leading causes of foodborne outbreaks in the United States, and more rapid and efficient detection methods are needed. Surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) is an emerging optical technique, which allows for rapid and label-free screening of multiple targets simultaneous...

  6. Groundwater withdrawals under drought: reconciling GRACE and land surface models in the United States High Plains Aquifer

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Advanced Land Surface Models (LSM) offer a powerful tool for studying hydrological variability. Highly managed systems, however, present a challenge for these models, which typically have simplified or incomplete representations of human water use. Here we examine recent groundwater declines in the ...

  7. China's international trade and air pollution in the United States.

    PubMed

    Lin, Jintai; Pan, Da; Davis, Steven J; Zhang, Qiang; He, Kebin; Wang, Can; Streets, David G; Wuebbles, Donald J; Guan, Dabo

    2014-02-04

    China is the world's largest emitter of anthropogenic air pollutants, and measurable amounts of Chinese pollution are transported via the atmosphere to other countries, including the United States. However, a large fraction of Chinese emissions is due to manufacture of goods for foreign consumption. Here, we analyze the impacts of trade-related Chinese air pollutant emissions on the global atmospheric environment, linking an economic-emission analysis and atmospheric chemical transport modeling. We find that in 2006, 36% of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide, 27% of nitrogen oxides, 22% of carbon monoxide, and 17% of black carbon emitted in China were associated with production of goods for export. For each of these pollutants, about 21% of export-related Chinese emissions were attributed to China-to-US export. Atmospheric modeling shows that transport of the export-related Chinese pollution contributed 3-10% of annual mean surface sulfate concentrations and 0.5-1.5% of ozone over the western United States in 2006. This Chinese pollution also resulted in one extra day or more of noncompliance with the US ozone standard in 2006 over the Los Angeles area and many regions in the eastern United States. On a daily basis, the export-related Chinese pollution contributed, at a maximum, 12-24% of sulfate concentrations over the western United States. As the United States outsourced manufacturing to China, sulfate pollution in 2006 increased in the western United States but decreased in the eastern United States, reflecting the competing effect between enhanced transport of Chinese pollution and reduced US emissions. Our findings are relevant to international efforts to reduce transboundary air pollution.

  8. Aspects of oceanic forcing of drought over Southwest Asia and the United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hoell, Andrew

    An exceptionally severe drought affected much of the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes during 1998 -- 2002, with maxima over Southwest Asia and the United States. Previous research has suggested that the oceans played an important role in the hemispheric drought, with oceanic links to tropical Indo-west Pacific Ocean convection highlighted as important for Southwest Asia, and several additional ocean regions suggested as important for the United States. Here, the regional and hemispheric circulation response to tropical Indo-west Pacific Ocean convection is examined for both Southwest Asia and the United States, and the relative importance of individual sea surface temperature areas are explored for United States precipitation. For Southwest Asia, the regional thermodynamic forcing of precipitation and the Northern Hemisphere circulation are related to the leading pattern of Indian Ocean precipitation and its intraseasonal and interannual contributions. Both intraseasonal and interannual timescales are associated with baroclinic Gill-Matsuno-like circulation responses extending over southern Asia, but the interannual component also has a strong equivalent-barotropic circulation. A stationary barotropic Rossby wave extending over North America is associated with interannual tropical Indo-west Pacific Ocean convection and is supported by barotropic ray tracing. For United States regions, historical SST and precipitation links are identified for 1948 -- 1997, and the importance of these links are assessed during the 1998 -- 2002 drought using a linear regression model. The reconstructed precipitation has good correspondence for the Southwest and Southeast United States, but is not able to reproduce precipitation variability over the Northwest and Central United States, especially Texas.

  9. Extreme-event geoelectric hazard maps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Love, J. J.; Bedrosian, P.

    2017-12-01

    Maps covering about half of the continental United States are presented of geoelectric field amplitude that will be exceeded, on average, once per century in response to extreme-intensity geomagnetic disturbance. These maps are constructed using an empirical parameterization of induction: convolving latitude-dependent statistical maps of extreme-value geomagnetic disturbance, obtained from decades of 1-minute magnetic observatory data, with local estimates of Earth-surface impedance, obtained at discrete geographic sites from magnetotelluric surveys. Geoelectric amplitudes are estimated for geomagnetic waveforms having 240-s (and 1200-s) sinusoidal period and amplitudes over 10 minutes (1-hr) that exceed a once-per-century threshold. As a result of the combination of geographic differences in geomagnetic variation and Earth-surface impedance, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes span more than two orders of magnitude and are a highly granular function of location. Specifically: for north-south 240-s induction, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes across large parts of the United States have a median value of 0.34 V/km; for east-west variation, they have a median value of 0.23 V/km. In Northern Minnesota, amplitudes exceed 14.00 V/km for north-south geomagnetic variation (23.34 V/km for east-west variation), while just over 100 km away, amplitudes are only 0.08 V/km (0.02 V/km). At some sites in the Northern Central United States, once-per-century geoelectric amplitudes exceed the 2 V/km realized in Quebec during the March 1989 storm. These hazard maps are incomplete over large parts of the United States, including major population centers in the southern United States, due to a lack of publically available impedance data.

  10. Water resources data for Indiana, 1965

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1965-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1965 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of Indiana are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the direction of Malcolm D. Hale, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report marks the beginning of a new method of presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U.S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in Indiana were contained in Parts 3A, 4 and 5 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of coterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  11. Fuel efficiency through new airframe technology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leonard, R. W.

    1982-01-01

    In its Aircraft Energy Efficiency Program, NASA has expended approximately 200 million dollars toward development and application of advanced airframe technologies to United States's commercial transports. United States manufacturers have already been given a significant boost toward early application of advanced composite materials to control surface and empennage structures and toward selected applications of active controls and advanced aerodynamic concepts. In addition, significant progress in definition and development of innovative, but realistic systems for laminar flow control over the wings of future transports has already been made.

  12. FHWA International Technology Scanning Program Study tour summary report on European intermodal programs: planning, policy and technology

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1994-09-01

    The transportation policies being pursued by the European Community are very similar to those articulated in the United States' Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. In September 1993, a team of four government and state transport...

  13. Motor unit recruitment and firing rate in medial gastrocnemius muscles during external perturbations in standing in humans.

    PubMed

    Pollock, C L; Ivanova, T D; Hunt, M A; Garland, S J

    2014-10-01

    There is limited investigation of the interaction between motor unit recruitment and rate coding for modulating force during standing or responding to external perturbations. Fifty-seven motor units were recorded from the medial gastrocnemius muscle with intramuscular electrodes in response to external perturbations in standing. Anteriorly directed perturbations were generated by applying loads in 0.45-kg increments at the pelvis every 25-40 s until 2.25 kg was maintained. Motor unit firing rate was calculated for the initial recruitment load and all subsequent loads during two epochs: 1) dynamic response to perturbation directly following each load drop and 2) maintenance of steady state between perturbations. Joint kinematics and surface electromyography (EMG) from lower extremities and force platform measurements were assessed. Application of the external loads resulted in a significant forward progression of the anterior-posterior center of pressure (AP COP) that was accompanied by modest changes in joint angles (<3°). Surface EMG increased more in medial gastrocnemius than in the other recorded muscles. At initial recruitment, motor unit firing rate immediately after the load drop was significantly lower than during subsequent load drops or during the steady state at the same load. There was a modest increase in motor unit firing rate immediately after the load drop on subsequent load drops associated with regaining balance. There was no effect of maintaining balance with increased load and forward progression of the AP COP on steady-state motor unit firing rate. The medial gastrocnemius utilized primarily motor unit recruitment to achieve the increased levels of activation necessary to maintain standing in the presence of external loads. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

  14. Timing of chaotic terrain formation in Argadnel Regio, Europa, and implications for geological history

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parro, Laura M.; Ruiz, Javier; Pappalardo, Robert T.

    2016-10-01

    Chaos terrains are among the most prominent landforms of Europa, and are generally among the youngest features recorded on the surface. Chaos units were formed by to endogenic activity, maybe related to solid-state convection and thermal diapirism in the ice shell, perhaps aided by melting of salt-rich ice bodies below the surface. In this work, we analyze the different units of chaotic terrain in a portion of Argadnel Regio, a region located on the anti-Jovian hemisphere of Europa, and their possible timing in the general stratigraphic framework of this satellite. Two different chaos units can be differentiated, based on surface texture, morphology, and cross-cutting relationships with other units, and from interpretations based on pre-existing surface restoration through elimination of a low albedo band. The existence of two stratigraphically different chaos units implies that conditions for chaos formation occurred during more than a single discreet time on Europa, at least in Argadnel Regio, and perhaps in other places. The existence of older chaos units on Europa might be related to convective episodes possibly favored by local conditions in the icy shell, such as variations in grain size, abundance of non-water ice-components, or regional thickness of the brittle lithosphere or the entire ice shell.

  15. Fate and transport of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid in surface waters of agricultural basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Coupe, R.H.; Kalkhoff, S.J.; Capel, P.D.; Gregoire, C.

    2012-01-01

    Background: Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] is a herbicide used widely throughout the world in the production of many crops and is heavily used on soybeans, corn and cotton. Glyphosate is used in almost all agricultural areas of the United States, and the agricultural use of glyphosate has increased from less than 10 000 Mg in 1992 to more than 80 000 Mg in 2007. The greatest intensity of glyphosate use is in the midwestern United States, where applications are predominantly to genetically modified corn and soybeans. In spite of the increase in usage across the United States, the characterization of the transport of glyphosate and its degradate aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) on a watershed scale is lacking. Results: Glyphosate and AMPA were frequently detected in the surface waters of four agricultural basins. The frequency and magnitude of detections varied across basins, and the load, as a percentage of use, ranged from 0.009 to 0.86% and could be related to three general characteristics: source strength, rainfall runoff and flow route. Conclusions: Glyphosate use in a watershed results in some occurrence in surface water; however, the watersheds most at risk for the offsite transport of glyphosate are those with high application rates, rainfall that results in overland runoff and a flow route that does not include transport through the soil. ?? 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

  16. Qatar Peninsula, United Arab Emirates, Persian Gulf

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1983-01-01

    In this view of the Qatar Peninsula, United Arab Emirates, Persian Gulf, (25.0N, 51.0E) a large oil spill, seen as a large dark toned mass in the water covers much of the surface of the western Persian Gulf. Qatar is one of several of the oil rich United Arab Emirate states. Oil spills and oil pollution of the environment are common occurrances associated with oil tanker loading operations.

  17. Resistance-surface-based wildlife conservation connectivity modeling: Summary of efforts in the United States and guide for practitioners

    Treesearch

    Alisa A. Wade; Kevin S. McKelvey; Michael K. Schwartz

    2015-01-01

    Resistance-surface-based connectivity modeling has become a widespread tool for conservation planning. The current ease with which connectivity models can be created, however, masks the numerous untested assumptions underlying both the rules that produce the resistance surface and the algorithms used to locate low-cost paths across the target landscape. Here we present...

  18. Subsidence from underground mining; environmental analysis and planning considerations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lee, Fitzhugh T.; Abel, John F.

    1983-01-01

    Subsidence, a universal process that occurs in response to the voids created by extracting solids or liquids from beneath the Earth's surface, is controlled by many factors including mining methods, depth of extraction, thickness of deposit, and topography, as well as the in situ properties of the rock mass above the deposit. The impacts of subsidence are potentially severe in terms of damage to surface utility lines and structures, changes in surface-water and ground-water conditions, and effects on vegetation and animals. Although subsidence cannot be eliminated, it can be reduced or controlled in areas where deformation of the ground surface would produce dangerous or costly effects. Subsidence prediction is highly developed in Europe where there are comparatively uniform mining conditions and a long history of field measurements. Much of this mining has been carried out beneath crowded urban and industrial areas where accurate predictions have facilitated use of the surface and reduced undesirable impacts. Concerted efforts to understand subsidence processes in the United States are recent. Empirical methods of subsidence analysis and prediction based on local conditions seem better suited to the current state of knowledge of the varied geologic and topographic conditions in domestic coal mining regions than do theoretical/mathematical approaches. In order to develop broadly applicable subsidence prediction methods and models for the United States, more information is needed on magnitude and timing of ground movements and geologic properties.

  19. Regional nutrient trends in streams and rivers of the United States, 1993-2003

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sprague, Lori A.; Lorenz, David L.

    2009-01-01

    Trends in flow-adjusted concentrations (indicators of anthropogenic changes) and observed concentrations (indicators of natural and anthropogenic changes) of total phosphorus and total nitrogen from 1993 to 2003 were evaluated in the eastern, central, and western United States by adapting the Regional Kendall trend test to account for seasonality and spatial correlation. The only significant regional trend was an increase in flow-adjusted concentrations of total phosphorus in the central United States, which corresponded to increases in phosphorus inputs from fertilizer in the region, particularly west of the Mississippi River. A similar upward regional trend in observed total phosphorus concentrations in the central United States was not found, likely because precipitation and runoff decreased during drought conditions in the region, offsetting the increased source loading on the land surface. A greater number of regional trends would have been significant if spatial correlation had been disregarded, indicating the importance of spatial correlation modifications in regional trend assessments when sites are not spatially independent.

  20. Reconstructed historical land cover and biophysical parameters for studies of land-atmosphere interactions within the eastern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Steyaert, Louis T.; Knox, R.G.

    2008-01-01

    Over the past 350 years, the eastern half of the United States experienced extensive land cover changes. These began with land clearing in the 1600s, continued with widespread deforestation, wetland drainage, and intensive land use by 1920, and then evolved to the present-day landscape of forest regrowth, intensive agriculture, urban expansion, and landscape fragmentation. Such changes alter biophysical properties that are key determinants of land-atmosphere interactions (water, energy, and carbon exchanges). To understand the potential implications of these land use transformations, we developed and analyzed 20-km land cover and biophysical parameter data sets for the eastern United States at 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 time slices. Our approach combined potential vegetation, county-level census data, soils data, resource statistics, a Landsat-derived land cover classification, and published historical information on land cover and land use. We reconstructed land use intensity maps for each time slice and characterized the land cover condition. We combined these land use data with a mutually consistent set of biophysical parameter classes, to characterize the historical diversity and distribution of land surface properties. Time series maps of land surface albedo, leaf area index, a deciduousness index, canopy height, surface roughness, and potential saturated soils in 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 illustrate the profound effects of land use change on biophysical properties of the land surface. Although much of the eastern forest has returned, the average biophysical parameters for recent landscapes remain markedly different from those of earlier periods. Understanding the consequences of these historical changes will require land-atmosphere interactions modeling experiments.

  1. Climatic and physiographic controls of spatial variability in surface water balance over the contiguous United States using the Budyko relationship

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abatzoglou, John T.; Ficklin, Darren L.

    2017-09-01

    The geographic variability in the partitioning of precipitation into surface runoff (Q) and evapotranspiration (ET) is fundamental to understanding regional water availability. The Budyko equation suggests this partitioning is strictly a function of aridity, yet observed deviations from this relationship for individual watersheds impede using the framework to model surface water balance in ungauged catchments and under future climate and land use scenarios. A set of climatic, physiographic, and vegetation metrics were used to model the spatial variability in the partitioning of precipitation for 211 watersheds across the contiguous United States (CONUS) within Budyko's framework through the free parameter ω. A generalized additive model found that four widely available variables, precipitation seasonality, the ratio of soil water holding capacity to precipitation, topographic slope, and the fraction of precipitation falling as snow, explained 81.2% of the variability in ω. The ω model applied to the Budyko equation explained 97% of the spatial variability in long-term Q for an independent set of watersheds. The ω model was also applied to estimate the long-term water balance across the CONUS for both contemporary and mid-21st century conditions. The modeled partitioning of observed precipitation to Q and ET compared favorably across the CONUS with estimates from more sophisticated land-surface modeling efforts. For mid-21st century conditions, the model simulated an increase in the fraction of precipitation used by ET across the CONUS with declines in Q for much of the eastern CONUS and mountainous watersheds across the western United States.

  2. Great cleanup skims the surface

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dillingham, S.

    1990-09-03

    Appalled by the pollution of the Great Lakes, the United States embarked on a multibillion-dollar cleanup. Twenty years later the nation's largest freshwater source is teeming with life, but problems caused by man and nature remain. Amid the finger-pointing, states in the region and Congress are continuing to clean up the mess.

  3. WebStart WEPS: Remote data access and model execution functionality added to WEPS

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) is a daily time step, process based wind erosion model developed by the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). WEPS simulates climate and management driven changes to the surface/vegetation/soil state on a daily b...

  4. Spatially Explicit Predictors of Indicators of Water Quality: Example from Wadeable Streams in the U.S

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in collaboration with the States is assessing and reporting on the condition of surface waters in the United States using synoptic surveys and consistent field collections of water quality indicators (WQI). The survey is a probability-b...

  5. Complementary-relationship-based 30 year normals (1981-2010) of monthly latent heat fluxes across the contiguous United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szilagyi, Jozsef

    2015-11-01

    Thirty year normal (1981-2010) monthly latent heat fluxes (ET) over the conterminous United States were estimated by a modified Advection-Aridity model from North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) radiation and wind as well as Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) air and dew-point temperature data. Mean annual ET values were calibrated with PRISM precipitation (P) and validated against United States Geological Survey runoff (Q) data. At the six-digit Hydrologic Unit Code level (sample size of 334) the estimated 30 year normal runoff (P - ET) had a bias of 18 mm yr-1, a root-mean-square error of 96 mm yr-1, and a linear correlation coefficient value of 0.95, making the estimates on par with the latest Land Surface Model results but without the need for soil and vegetation information or any soil moisture budgeting.

  6. Improved HF183 quantitative real-time PCR assay for characterization of human fecal pollution in ambient surface water samples

    EPA Science Inventory

    Real-time quantitative PCR assays that target the human-associated HF183 bacterial cluster are considered to be some of the top performing methods for the characterization of human fecal pollution in ambient surface waters. In response, the United States Environmental Protectio...

  7. The Further Integration of the Intelligence and Surface Warfare Communities

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-05-03

    The establishment of the Information Dominance Corps and the subsequent adjustment of naval resources to accommodate this newly formed cadre provide a ripe opportunity to close the gap between the Surface and Intelligence communities, and in doing so, enhance United States Navy s ability to dominate the global maritime domain.

  8. Erodibility of and dust emissions from bare soil surfaces in the North American Southwest

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Native plant communities throughout the Southwestern United States are subject to increased abiotic stress due to climate change. As native grass cover is replaced by shrubs, more bare soil surface is susceptible to erosion by wind. The dust record for the last 20 years indicates that wind erosion...

  9. Surface atmospheric extremes (launch and transportation areas)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1974-01-01

    Criteria are provided on atmospheric extremes from the surface to 150 meters for geographical locations of interest to NASA. Thermal parameters (temperature and solar radiation), humidity, precipitation, pressure, and atmospheric electricity (lightning and static) are presented. Available data are also provided for the entire continental United States for use in future space programs.

  10. Evaluating the Soil Vulnerability Index (SVI), an index to characterize inherent vulnerability of croplands to runoff and leaching

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Soil erosion and nutrient loss from surface runoff and sub-surface flows are critical problems for croplands in the United States. Assessing cropland vulnerability to runoff and leaching is needed for watershed or regional land use and land management planning and conservation resources allocation. ...

  11. Estimating North American background ozone in U.S. surface air with two independent global models: Variability, uncertainties, and recommendations

    EPA Science Inventory

    Accurate estimates for North American background (NAB) ozone (O3) in surface air over the United States are needed for setting and implementing an attainable national O3 standard. These estimates rely on simulations with atmospheric chemistry-transport models that set North Amer...

  12. Ongoing drought-induced uplift in the western United States.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Borsa, Adrian Antal; Agnew, Duncan Carr; Cayan, Daniel R.

    2014-01-01

    The western United States has been experiencing severe drought since 2013. The solid earth response to the accompanying loss of surface and near-surface water mass should be a broad region of uplift. We use seasonally adjusted time series from continuously operating global positioning system stations to measure this uplift, which we invert to estimate mass loss. The median uplift is 5 millimeters (mm), with values up to 15 mm in California’s mountains. The associated pattern of mass loss, ranging up to 50 centimeters (cm) of water equivalent, is consistent with observed decreases in precipitation and streamflow. We estimate the total deficit to be ~240 gigatons, equivalent to a 10-cm layer of water over the entire region, or the annual mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet.

  13. Water Resources Data, Pennsylvania, Water Year 1999. Volume 1. Delaware River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durlin, R.R.; Schaffstall, W.P.

    2000-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio River and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 1, contains: (1) discharge records for 74 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 7 partial-record stations, and 13 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 14 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 29 gaging stations and 11 ungaged streamsites; (4) water-quality records for 87 special-study stations;(5) water-level records for 55 network observation wells; and (6) water-quality analyses of ground water from 11 ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-99-1." These water data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to its present format of three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address given on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section, at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  14. Water resources data, Pennsylvania, water year 2000. Volume 2. Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durlin, R.R.; Schaffstall, W.P.

    2000-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 2, contains: (1) discharge records for 83 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 16 partial-record stations, and 24 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 12 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 11 streamflow gaging stations and 70 partial-record and project stations; and (4) water-level records for 30 ground-water network observation wells and water-quality analyses of ground water from 8 wells; and (5) water-quality analyses at 60 special study ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-00-2." These water-data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published annually under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  15. Water Resources Data, Pennsylvania, Water Year 1999. Volume 2. Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durlin, R.R.; Schaffstall, W.P.

    2000-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio River and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 2, contains: (1) discharge records for 83 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 16 partial-record stations, and 24 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 12 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 11 streamflow gaging stations and 45 partial-record and project stations; and (4) water-level records for 30 ground-water network observation wells and water-quality analyses of ground water from 8 wells; and (5) water-quality analyses at 44 special study ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented. Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-99-2." These water-data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published annually under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist (telephone (717) 730-6916) or FAX (717) 730-6997.

  16. Water Resources Data, Pennsylvania, Water Year 1999. Volume 3. Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Siwicki, R.W.

    2000-01-01

    The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 3, contains: (1) discharge records for 57 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 5 partial-record stations, and 16 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 11 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 1 streamflow gaging station and 121 partial-record and project stations; and (4) water-level records for 15 ground-water network observation wells and. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-99-3." These water-data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published annually under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist (telephone (717) 730-6916) or FAX (717) 730-6997.

  17. Water Resources Data, Pennsylvania, Water Year 2001. Volume 3. Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Siwicki, Raymond W.

    2002-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 3, contains: (1) discharge records for 59 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 5 partial-record stations, and 12 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 11 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 2 streamflow gaging station and 7 ungaged streamsites; (4) water-level records for 15 ground-water network observation wells; and, (5) water-quality analyses at 2 special study ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-01-3." These water-data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published annually under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  18. Water Resources Data, Pennsylvania, Water Year 2001. Volume 1. Delaware River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durlin, R.R.; Schaffstall, W.P.

    2002-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio River and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 1, contains: (1) discharge records for 77 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 7 partial-record stations, and 46 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 13 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 28 gaging stations and 11 ungaged streamsites; (4) water-quality records for 27 special-study stations; (5) water-level records for 56 network observation wells; and (6) water-quality analyses of ground water from 111 ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-01-1." These water data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to its present format of three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address given on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section, at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  19. Water resources data, Pennsylvania, water year 2000. Volume 3. Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Siwicki, Raymond W.

    2001-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 3, contains: (1) discharge records for 58 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 5 partial-record stations, and 12 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 11 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 1 streamflow gaging station and 8 ungaged streamsites; and (4) water-level records for 15 ground-water network observation wells and. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-00-3." These water-data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published annually under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  20. Water Resources Data, Pennsylvania, Water Year 2001, Volume 2. Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durlin, R.R.; Schaffstall, W.P.

    2001-01-01

    IntroductionThe Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 2, contains: (1) discharge records for 83 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 15 partial-record stations, and 24 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 12 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 9 streamflow gaging stations and 73 partial-record and project stations; and (4) water-level records for 36 ground-water network observation wells and water-quality analyses of ground water from 8 wells; (5) water-quality analyses at 123 special study ground-water wells; and, (6) miscellaneous water-level measurements at 80 special study ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-01-2." These water-data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year the report was changed to three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published annually under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  1. Water resources data, Pennsylvania, water year 2000, Volume 1. Delaware River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durlin, R.R.; Schaffstall, W.P.

    2001-01-01

    The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State, municipal, and Federal agencies, collects a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Pennsylvania each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, these data are published annually in this report series entitled "Water Resources Data - Pennsylvania, Volumes 1, 2, and 3." Volume 1 contains data for the Delaware River Basin; Volume 2, the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins; and Volume 3, the Ohio River and St. Lawrence River Basins.This report, Volume 1, contains: (1) discharge records for 76 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 7 partial-record stations, and 13 special study and miscellaneous streamflow sites; (2) elevation and contents records for 14 lakes and reservoirs; (3) water-quality records for 28 gaging stations and 14 ungaged streamsites; (4) water-quality records for 77 special-study stations; (5) water-level records for 53 network observation wells; and (6) water-quality analyses of ground water from 101 ground-water wells. Additional water data collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program may also be presented.Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. For the purpose of archiving, these official reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as "U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report PA-00-1." These water data reports, beginning with the 1971 water year, are for sale as paper copy or microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.The annual series of Water Data Reports for Pennsylvania began with the 1961 water-year report and contained only data relating to quantities of surface water. With the 1964 water year, a companion report (part 2) was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginningwith the 1975 water year the report was changed to its present format of three volumes (by river basin), with each volume containing data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels.Prior to the introduction of this series and for several years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Pennsylvania were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage, and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title "Surface-Water Supply of the United States," which was released in numbered parts as determined by natural drainage basins. For the 1961-70 water years, these data were published in two 5-year reports. Data prior to 1961 are included in two reports: "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States through 1950," and "Compilation of Records of Surface Waters of the United States, October 1950 to September 1960." Data for Pennsylvania are published in Parts 1, 3, and 4. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941-70 water years were published annually under the title "Quality of Surface Waters of the United States," and ground-water levels for the 1935-74 water years were published under the title "Ground-Water Levels in the United States." The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225.Information for ordering specific reports may be obtained from the Pennsylvania District Office at the address given on the back of the title page or by phoning the Scientific and Technical Products Section, at (717) 730-6940. Information on the availability of unpublished data or statistical analyses may be obtained from the District Information Specialist by telephone at (717) 730-6916 or by FAX at (717) 730-6997.

  2. Estimating the extent of impervious surfaces and turf grass across large regions

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Claggett, Peter; Irani, Frederick M.; Thompson, Renee L.

    2013-01-01

    The ability of researchers to accurately assess the extent of impervious and pervious developed surfaces, e.g., turf grass, using land-cover data derived from Landsat satellite imagery in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is limited due to the resolution of the data and systematic discrepancies between developed land-cover classes, surface mines, forests, and farmlands. Estimates of impervious surface and turf grass area in the Mid-Atlantic, United States that were based on 2006 Landsat-derived land-cover data were substantially lower than estimates based on more authoritative and independent sources. New estimates of impervious surfaces and turf grass area derived using land-cover data combined with ancillary information on roads, housing units, surface mines, and sampled estimates of road width and residential impervious area were up to 57 and 45% higher than estimates based strictly on land-cover data. These new estimates closely approximate estimates derived from authoritative and independent sources in developed counties.

  3. The StreamCat Dataset: Accumulated Attributes for NHDPlusV2 Catchments (Version 2.1) for the Conterminous United States: Soil Erodibility (KFFACT)

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This dataset represents the adjusted soil erodibility factor within individual, local NHDPlusV2 catchments and upstream, contributing watersheds. Attributes of the landscape layer were calculated for every local NHDPlusV2 catchment and accumulated to provide watershed-level metrics. (See Supplementary Info for Glossary of Terms) The STATSGO Layer table specifies two soil erodibility factors for each component layer, KFFACT and KFACT. The STATSGO documentation describes KFFACT as a soil erodibility factor which quanitifies the susceptibility of soil particles to detachment and movement by water. This factor is used in the Universal Soil Loss Equation to caluculate soil loss by water. KFACT is described as a soil erodibility factor which is adjusted for the effect of rock fragments. The average value of each of these soil erodibility factors was determined for the top (surface) layer for each map unit of each state.The base-flow index (BFI) grid for the conterminous United States was developed to estimate (1) BFI values for ungaged streams, and (2) ground-water recharge throughout the conterminous United States (see Data Source). Estimates of BFI values at ungaged streams and BFI-based ground-water recharge estimates are useful for interpreting relations between land use and water quality in surface and ground water. The soil erodibility factor was summarized by local catchment and by watershed to produce local catchment-level and watershed-level metri

  4. China’s international trade and air pollution in the United States

    PubMed Central

    Lin, Jintai; Pan, Da; Davis, Steven J.; Zhang, Qiang; He, Kebin; Wang, Can; Streets, David G.; Wuebbles, Donald J.; Guan, Dabo

    2014-01-01

    China is the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic air pollutants, and measurable amounts of Chinese pollution are transported via the atmosphere to other countries, including the United States. However, a large fraction of Chinese emissions is due to manufacture of goods for foreign consumption. Here, we analyze the impacts of trade-related Chinese air pollutant emissions on the global atmospheric environment, linking an economic-emission analysis and atmospheric chemical transport modeling. We find that in 2006, 36% of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide, 27% of nitrogen oxides, 22% of carbon monoxide, and 17% of black carbon emitted in China were associated with production of goods for export. For each of these pollutants, about 21% of export-related Chinese emissions were attributed to China-to-US export. Atmospheric modeling shows that transport of the export-related Chinese pollution contributed 3–10% of annual mean surface sulfate concentrations and 0.5–1.5% of ozone over the western United States in 2006. This Chinese pollution also resulted in one extra day or more of noncompliance with the US ozone standard in 2006 over the Los Angeles area and many regions in the eastern United States. On a daily basis, the export-related Chinese pollution contributed, at a maximum, 12–24% of sulfate concentrations over the western United States. As the United States outsourced manufacturing to China, sulfate pollution in 2006 increased in the western United States but decreased in the eastern United States, reflecting the competing effect between enhanced transport of Chinese pollution and reduced US emissions. Our findings are relevant to international efforts to reduce transboundary air pollution. PMID:24449863

  5. Does surface roughness dominate biophysical forcing of land use and land cover change in the eastern United States?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burakowski, E. A.; Tawfik, A. B.; Ouimette, A.; Lepine, L. C.; Ollinger, S. V.; Bonan, G. B.; Zarzycki, C. M.; Novick, K. A.

    2016-12-01

    Changes in land use, land cover, or both promote changes in surface temperature that can amplify or dampen long-term trends driven by natural and anthropogenic climate change by modifying the surface energy budget, primarily through differences in albedo, evapotranspiration, and aerodynamic roughness. Recent advances in variable resolution global models provide the tools necessary to investigate local and global impacts of land use and land cover change by embedding a high-resolution grid over areas of interest in a seamless and computationally efficient manner. Here, we used two eddy covariance tower clusters in the Eastern US (University of New Hampshire UNH and Duke Forest) to validate simulation of surface energy fluxes and properties by the uncoupled Community Land Model (PTCLM4.5) and coupled land-atmosphere Variable-Resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM1.3). Surface energy fluxes and properties are generally well captured by the models for grassland sites, however forested sites tend to underestimate latent heat and overestimate sensible heat flux. Surface roughness emerged as the dominant biophysical forcing factor affecting surface temperature in the eastern United States, generally leading to warmer nighttime temperatures and cooler daytime temperatures. However, the sign and magnitude of the roughness effect on surface temperature was highly sensitive to the calculation of aerodynamic resistance to heat transfer.

  6. Innovative Approaches to Collaborative Groundwater Governance in the United States: Case Studies from Three High-Growth Regions in the Sun Belt.

    PubMed

    Megdal, Sharon B; Gerlak, Andrea K; Huang, Ling-Yee; Delano, Nathaniel; Varady, Robert G; Petersen-Perlman, Jacob D

    2017-05-01

    Groundwater is an increasingly important source of freshwater, especially where surface water resources are fully or over-allocated or becoming less reliable due to climate change. Groundwater reliance has created new challenges for sustainable management. This article examines how regional groundwater users coordinate and collaborate to manage shared groundwater resources, including attention to what drives collaboration. To identify and illustrate these facets, this article examines three geographically diverse cases of groundwater governance and management from the United States Sun Belt: Orange County Water District in southern California; Prescott Active Management Area in north-central Arizona; and the Central Florida Water Initiative in central Florida. These regions have different surface water laws, groundwater allocation and management laws and regulations, demographics, economics, topographies, and climate. These cases were selected because the Sun Belt faces similar pressures on groundwater due to historical and projected population growth and limited availability of usable surface water supplies. Collectively, they demonstrate groundwater governance trends in the United States, and illustrate distinctive features of regional groundwater management strategies. Our research shows how geophysical realities and state-level legislation have enabled and/or stimulated regions to develop groundwater management plans and strategies to address the specific issues associated with their groundwater resources. We find that litigation involvement and avoidance, along with the need to finance projects, are additional drivers of regional collaboration to manage groundwater. This case study underscores the importance of regionally coordinated and sustained efforts to address serious groundwater utilization challenges faced by the regions studied and around the world.

  7. Innovative Approaches to Collaborative Groundwater Governance in the United States: Case Studies from Three High-Growth Regions in the Sun Belt

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Megdal, Sharon B.; Gerlak, Andrea K.; Huang, Ling-Yee; Delano, Nathaniel; Varady, Robert G.; Petersen-Perlman, Jacob D.

    2017-05-01

    Groundwater is an increasingly important source of freshwater, especially where surface water resources are fully or over-allocated or becoming less reliable due to climate change. Groundwater reliance has created new challenges for sustainable management. This article examines how regional groundwater users coordinate and collaborate to manage shared groundwater resources, including attention to what drives collaboration. To identify and illustrate these facets, this article examines three geographically diverse cases of groundwater governance and management from the United States Sun Belt: Orange County Water District in southern California; Prescott Active Management Area in north-central Arizona; and the Central Florida Water Initiative in central Florida. These regions have different surface water laws, groundwater allocation and management laws and regulations, demographics, economics, topographies, and climate. These cases were selected because the Sun Belt faces similar pressures on groundwater due to historical and projected population growth and limited availability of usable surface water supplies. Collectively, they demonstrate groundwater governance trends in the United States, and illustrate distinctive features of regional groundwater management strategies. Our research shows how geophysical realities and state-level legislation have enabled and/or stimulated regions to develop groundwater management plans and strategies to address the specific issues associated with their groundwater resources. We find that litigation involvement and avoidance, along with the need to finance projects, are additional drivers of regional collaboration to manage groundwater. This case study underscores the importance of regionally coordinated and sustained efforts to address serious groundwater utilization challenges faced by the regions studied and around the world.

  8. Paint a Playground

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Modern Schools, 1977

    1977-01-01

    A new graph transfer method will enable schools to increase the use of recreational surfaces by color coating them with maps of the United States, the world, and whimsical animal game designs. (Author/MLF)

  9. The evaluation of meta-analysis techniques for quantifying prescribed fire effects on fuel loadings.

    Treesearch

    Karen E. Kopper; Donald McKenzie; David L. Peterson

    2009-01-01

    Models and effect-size metrics for meta-analysis were compared in four separate meta-analyses quantifying surface fuels after prescribed fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) forests of the Western United States. An aggregated data set was compiled from eight published reports that contained data from 65 fire treatment units....

  10. Attributes for MRB_E2RF1 Catchments by Major River Basins in the Conterminous United States: Hydrologic Landscape Regions

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wieczorek, Michael; LaMotte, Andrew E.

    2010-01-01

    This tabular data set represents the area of Hydrologic Landscape Regions (HLR) compiled for every MRB_E2RF1 catchment of the Major River Basins (MRBs, Crawford and others, 2006). The source data set is a 100-meter version of Hydrologic Landscape Regions of the United States (Wolock, 2003). HLR groups watersheds on the basis of similarities in land-surface form, geologic texture, and climate characteristics. The MRB_E2RF1 catchments are based on a modified version of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) ERF1_2 and include enhancements to support national and regional-scale surface-water quality modeling (Nolan and others, 2002; Brakebill and others, 2011). Data were compiled for every MRB_E2RF1 catchment for the conterminous United States covering New England and Mid-Atlantic (MRB1), South Atlantic-Gulf and Tennessee (MRB2), the Great Lakes, Ohio, Upper Mississippi, and Souris-Red-Rainy (MRB3), the Missouri (MRB4), the Lower Mississippi, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf (MRB5), the Rio Grande, Colorado, and the Great basin (MRB6), the Pacific Northwest (MRB7) river basins, and California (MRB8).

  11. 3-D Inversion of the MT EarthScope Data, Collected Over the East Central United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gribenko, A. V.; Zhdanov, M. S.

    2017-12-01

    The magnetotelluric (MT) data collected as a part of the EarthScope project provided a unique opportunity to study the conductivity structure of the deep interior of the North American continent. Besides the scientific value of the recovered subsurface models, the data also allowed inversion practitioners to test the robustness of their algorithms applied to regional long-period data. In this paper, we present the results of MT inversion of a subset of the second footprint of the MT data collection covering the East Central United States. Our inversion algorithm implements simultaneous inversion of the full MT impedance data both for the 3-D conductivity distribution and for the distortion matrix. The distortion matrix provides the means to account for the effect of the near-surface geoelectrical inhomogeneities on the MT data. The long-period data do not have the resolution for the small near-surface conductivity anomalies, which makes an application of the distortion matrix especially appropriate. The determined conductivity model of the region agrees well with the known geologic and tectonic features of the East Central United States. The conductivity anomalies recovered by our inversion indicate a possible presence of the hot spot track in the area.

  12. Quaternary geologic map of the Blue Ridge 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Howard, Alan D.; Behling, Robert E.; Wheeler, Walter H.; Daniels, Raymond B.; Swadley, W.C.; Richmond, Gerald M.; Goldthwait, Richard P.; Fullerton, David S.; Sevon, William D.; Miller, Robert A.; Bush, Charles A.; Richmond, Gerald M.; Fullerton, David S.; Christiansen, Ann Coe

    1991-01-01

    This map is part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States (I-1420). It was first published as a printed edition in 1986. The geologic data have now been captured digitally and are presented here along with images of the printed map sheet and component parts as PDF files. The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Blue Ridge 4° x 6° Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the "ground" on which we walk, the "dirt" in which we dig foundations, and the "soil" in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  13. Quaternary geologic map of the Hatteras 4° x 6° quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Johnson, Gerald H.; Richmond, Gerald Martin; edited and integrated by Richmond, G. M.; Fullerton, D.S.; Weide, D.L.; Bush, Charles A.

    1986-01-01

    This map is part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States (I-1420). It was first published as a printed edition in 1986. The geologic data have now been captured digitally and are presented here along with images of the printed map sheet and component parts as PDF files. The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Hatteras 4° x 6° Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the Earth. They make up the "ground" on which we walk, the "dirt" in which we dig foundations, and the "soil" in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  14. The Climate Science Special Report: Arctic Changes and their Effect on Alaska and the Rest of the United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taylor, P. C.

    2017-12-01

    Rapid and visible climate change is happening across the Arctic, outpacing global change. Annual average near-surface air temperatures across the Arctic are increasing at more than twice the rate of global average surface temperature. In addition to surface temperature, all components of the Arctic climate system are responding in kind, including sea ice, mountain glaciers and the Greenland Ice sheet, snow cover, and permafrost. Many of these changes with a discernable anthropogenic imprint. While Arctic climate change may seem physically remote to those living in other regions of the planet, Arctic climate change can affect the global climate influencing sea level, the carbon cycle, and potentially atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. As an Arctic nation, United States' adaptation, mitigation, and policy decisions depend on projections of future Alaskan and Arctic climate. This chapter of the Climate Science Special Report documents significant scientific progress and knowledge about how the Alaskan and Arctic climate has changed and will continue to change.

  15. Using Ozone Lidar to Investigate Sources of High Ozone Concentrations in the Western United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Senff, C. J.; Langford, A. O.; Alvarez, R. J.; Brewer, Wm. A.; Banta, R. M.; Marchbanks, R. D.; Sandberg, S. P.; Weickmann, A. M.; Holloway, J. S.; Williams, E. J.

    2016-06-01

    We have used NOAA's Tunable Optical Profiler for Aerosol and oZone (TOPAZ) ozone lidar to investigate the sources of high surface ozone concentrations in two different regions of the western United States (US): the Uintah Basin in northeast Utah and Clark County in southern Nevada, which includes the city of Las Vegas. The Uintah Basin is a booming oil and gas producing region that often suffers from very high wintertime ozone concentrations. Clark County experiences violations of the US ozone standard primarily in spring and early summer despite a lack of any major local pollution sources. TOPAZ lidar observations, in conjunction with surface in situ measurements and model results, provided strong evidence that the high wintertime ozone concentrations in the Uintah Basin are primarily driven by local emissions associated with oil and gas exploration, whereas the Clark County ozone exceedances are often caused by ozone-rich air that is transported from the lower stratosphere all the way down to the earth's surface.

  16. 7 CFR 51.647 - Slightly colored.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... FRESH FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND OTHER PRODUCTS 1,2 (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States... aggregate of green color, the portion of the fruit surface which is not discolored shows some yellow color. ...

  17. 40 CFR 230.20 - Substrate.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Chemical Characteristics of the Aquatic Ecosystem § 230.20 Substrate. (a) The substrate of the aquatic ecosystem underlies open waters of the United States and constitutes the surface of wetlands. It consists of...

  18. 40 CFR 230.20 - Substrate.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Chemical Characteristics of the Aquatic Ecosystem § 230.20 Substrate. (a) The substrate of the aquatic ecosystem underlies open waters of the United States and constitutes the surface of wetlands. It consists of...

  19. 40 CFR 230.20 - Substrate.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Chemical Characteristics of the Aquatic Ecosystem § 230.20 Substrate. (a) The substrate of the aquatic ecosystem underlies open waters of the United States and constitutes the surface of wetlands. It consists of...

  20. Water resources data for New Mexico, water year 1965; Part 1. Surface water records

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1966-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1965 water year for gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of New Mexico are given in this report. For convenience there are also Included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, under the direction of W. E. Hale, District Chief, Water Resources Division. This report is the fifth In a series presenting, annually, basic data on surface-water records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled Surface Water Supply of the United States. Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in New Mexico were contained in Parts 7, 8 and 9 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5~year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compi led On the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of conterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  1. Water resources data for New Mexico, water year 1964; Part I. Surface water records

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1965-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1964 water year for gaging stations, partialrecord stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of New Mexico are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey, under the direction of W. L. Heckler, district engineer, Surface Water Branch. This report is the fourth in a series presenting, annually, basic data on surfacewater records by States. Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States." Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in New Mexico were contained in Parts 7, 8, and 9 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data will be released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports will be limited and primarily for local needs. The records later will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of conterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  2. Temporal Changes in the Observed Relationship between Cloud Cover and Surface Air Temperature.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Bomin; Groisman, Pavel Ya.; Bradley, Raymond S.; Keimig, Frank T.

    2000-12-01

    The relationship between cloud cover and near-surface air temperature and its decadal changes are examined using the hourly synoptic data for the past four to six decades from five regions of the Northern Hemisphere: Canada, the United States, the former Soviet Union, China, and tropical islands of the western Pacific. The authors define the normalized cloud cover-surface air temperature relationship, NOCET or dT/dCL, as a temperature anomaly with a unit (one-tenth) deviation of total cloud cover from its average value. Then mean monthly NOCET time series (night- and daytime, separately) are area-averaged and parameterized as functions of surface air humidity and snow cover. The day- and nighttime NOCET variations are strongly anticorrelated with changes in surface humidity. Furthermore, the daytime NOCET changes are positively correlated to changes in snow cover extent. The regionally averaged nighttime NOCET varies from 0.05 K tenth1 in the wet Tropics to 1.0 K tenth1 at midlatitudes in winter. The daytime regional NOCET ranges from 0.4 K tenth1 in the Tropics to 0.7 K tenth1 at midlatitudes in winter.The authors found a general strengthening of a daytime surface cooling during the post-World War II period associated with cloud cover over the United States and China, but a minor reduction of this cooling in higher latitudes. Furthermore, since the 1970s, a prominent increase in atmospheric humidity has significantly weakened the effectiveness of the surface warming (best seen at nighttime) associated with cloud cover.The authors apportion the spatiotemporal field of interactions between total cloud cover and surface air temperature into a bivariate relationship (described by two equations, one for daytime and one for nighttime) with surface air humidity and snow cover and two constant factors. These factors are invariant in space and time domains. It is speculated that they may represent empirical estimates of the overall cloud cover effect on the surface air temperature.

  3. Preliminary Map of Potentially Karstic Carbonate Rocks in the Central and Southern Appalachian States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Weary, David J.

    2008-01-01

    Karst is a landscape produced by dissolution of rocks and the development of integrated subterranean drainages dominated by the flow of ground water in solutionally enlarged conduits. Karst landscapes typically include cave entrances, sinkholes, blind valleys, losing streams, springs, and large and small-scale solution features on bedrock surfaces. Water-bearing rocks beneath the surface containing solutionally enlarged pores, fractures, or conduits are referred to as karst aquifers. About 40 percent of all ground water extracted in the United States comes from karst aquifers (Karst Waters Institute). Karst means many things to many people. To most cavers and many speleologists, karst means areas containing caves. To engineers, home builders, local governments, and insurance companies, karst is exemplified by the occurrence of sinkholes and subsidence hazard. To hydrologists, well drillers, and environmental consultants, the focus on karst may be more limited to karst aquifers and springs. Precise figures are not available, but ground collapses in karst areas in the United States require hundreds of millions of dollars in repair and mitigation costs each year. Most karst in the United States is formed in either carbonate or evaporite rocks. This map depicts only areas of carbonate rock outcrop, the chief host for karst formation in the eastern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI), the National Speleological Society (NSS), and various State geological surveys, is working on a new national karst map that will delineate areas of karst and karst-like features nationwide. This product attempts to identify potentially karstic areas of the Appalachian states as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), with the addition of the state of Delaware. This map is labeled preliminary because there is an expectation that it will be revised and updated as part of a new national karst map.

  4. Aviation Careers Series: Pilots and Flight Engineers

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-01-31

    Increasing travel in the United States is threatening the mobility the nations surface transportation system provides. Congestion, particularly in urbanized areas and along heavily traveled intercity corridors, is increasing dramatically. The cost...

  5. Dissolved Solids in Basin-Fill Aquifers and Streams in the Southwestern United States - Executive Summary

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Anning, David W.

    2008-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed a regional study in the Southwestern United States to characterize dissolved-solids conditions in major water supplies, including important rivers and aquifers. High concentrations of dissolved solids can degrade a water supply's suitability for important uses, such as drinking water or crop irrigation. In an effort to ensure the continued availability of clean surface and groundwater, USGS scientists identified areas where there have been both increasing and decreasing trends in dissolved-solids concentrations.

  6. US tornadoes. Part 1: 70-year statistics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fujita, T. T.

    1987-01-01

    If tornadoes were counted as the Gross National Product, no other country on the surface of the earth could come even close to the United States. During the recent 70 year period, the United States produced 31,054 tornadoes which left behind a cumulative path of 132,005 miles (212,396 km) which would circle the world 5.3 times along the equator. In completing the book, staff members of the Satellite and Mesometeorlogy Research Project (1961 to the present) played an important role in collecting, evaluating, and archiving the historical tornado data.

  7. Chapter 8: Droughts, Floods, and Wildfires

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wehner, M. F.; Arnold, J. R.; Knutson, T.; Kunkel, K. E.; LeGrande, A. N.

    2017-01-01

    Recent droughts and associated heat waves have reached record intensity in some regions of the United States; however, by geographical scale and duration, the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s remains the benchmark drought and extreme heat event in the historical record (very high confidence). While by some measures drought has decreased over much of the continental United States in association with long-term increases in precipitation, neither the precipitation increases nor inferred drought decreases have been confidently attributed to anthropogenic forcing. The human effect on recent major U.S. droughts is complicated. Little evidence is found for a human influence on observed precipitation deficits, but much evidence is found for a human influence on surface soil moisture deficits due to increased evapotranspiration caused by higher temperatures. Future decreases in surface (top 10 cm) soil moisture from anthropogenic forcing over most of the United States are likely as the climate warms under higher scenarios. Substantial reductions in western U.S. winter and spring snowpack are projected as the climate warms. Earlier spring melt and reduced snow water equivalent have been formally attributed to human-induced warming (high confidence) and will very likely be exacerbated as the climate continues to warm (very high confidence). Under higher scenarios, and assuming no change to current water resources management, chronic, long-duration hydrological drought is increasingly possible by the end of this century. Detectable changes in some classes of flood frequency have occurred in parts of the United States and are a mix of increases and decreases. Extreme precipitation, one of the controlling factors in flood statistics, is observed to have generally increased and is projected to continue to do so across the United States in a warming atmosphere. However, formal attribution approaches have not established a significant connection of increased riverine flooding to human-induced climate change, and the timing of any emergence of a future detectable anthropogenic change in flooding is unclear. The incidence of large forest fires in the western United States and Alaska has increased since the early 1980s and is projected to further increase in those regions as the climate warms, with profound changes to certain ecosystems.

  8. Chapter 1: The Appalachian regional reforestation initiative

    Treesearch

    Patrick Angel; Vic Davis; Jim Burger; Don Graves; Carl Zipper

    2017-01-01

    The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) is a cooperative effort by the States of the Appalachian region with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) to encourage restoration of high-quality forests on reclaimed coal mines in the eastern United States. The goals of ARRI are to communicate...

  9. Gee-Wow! Adventures in Water Education. Second Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Tara, Ed.

    In February of 1990, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources identified 2,662 sites of soil and groundwater contamination in the state of Michigan alone. Half of all United States residents and one quarter of the Canadian population used ground water as their primary source of drinking water. Groundwater and surface water are integrally…

  10. 78 FR 9047 - Public Water System Supervision Program Revision for the State of Texas

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-07

    ... Water System Supervision Program. Texas has adopted three EPA drinking water rules, namely the: (1) Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2), (2) the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection... Drinking Water Section (MC-155), Building F, 12100 Park 35 Circle, Austin, TX 78753; and United States...

  11. Assessment of the effect of air pollution controls on trends in shortwave radiation over the United States from 1995 through 2010 from multiple observation networks

    EPA Science Inventory

    Long-term data sets of all-sky and clear-sky downwelling shortwave (SW) radiation, cloud cover fraction, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) were analyzed together with surface concentrations from several networks (e.g., Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD), Clean Air Status an...

  12. Surface Transportation Security Priority Assessment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-03-01

    intercity buses), and pipelines, and related infrastructure (including roads and highways), that are within the territory of the United States...Modernizing the information technology infrastructure used to vet the identity of travelers and transportation workers  Using terrorist databases to...examination of persons travelling , surface transportation modes tend to operate in a much more open environment, making it difficult to screen workers

  13. Field Evaluation Of Arsenic Transport Across The Ground-Water/Surface Water Interface: Ground-Water Discharge And Iron Oxide Precipitation

    EPA Science Inventory

    A field investigation was conducted to examine the distribution of arsenic in ground water, surface water, and sediments at a Superfund Site in the northeastern United States (see companion presentation by K. G. Scheckel et al). Ground-water discharge into the study area was cha...

  14. Atmospheric moisture's influence on fire behavior: surface moisture and plume dynamics.

    Treesearch

    Brian E. Potter; Joseph J. Charney; Lesley A. Fusina

    2006-01-01

    Nine measures of atmospheric surface moisture are tested for statistical relationships with fire size and number of fires using data from the Great Lakes region of the United States. The measures include relative humidity, water vapor mixing ratio, mixing ratio deficit, vapor pressure, vapor pressure deficit, dew point temperature, dew point depression, wet bulb...

  15. Design and testing of a process-based groundwater vulnerability assessment (P-GWAVA) system for predicting concentrations of agrichemicals in groundwater across the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Barbash, Jack E; Voss, Frank D.

    2016-03-29

    Efforts to assess the likelihood of groundwater contamination from surface-derived compounds have spanned more than three decades. Relatively few of these assessments, however, have involved the use of process-based simulations of contaminant transport and fate in the subsurface, or compared the predictions from such models with measured data—especially over regional to national scales. To address this need, a process-based groundwater vulnerability assessment (P-GWAVA) system was constructed to use transport-and-fate simulations to predict the concentration of any surface-derived compound at a specified depth in the vadose zone anywhere in the conterminous United States. The system was then used to simulate the concentrations of selected agrichemicals in the vadose zone beneath agricultural areas in multiple locations across the conterminous United States. The simulated concentrations were compared with measured concentrations of the compounds detected in shallow groundwater (that is, groundwater drawn from within a depth of 6.3 ± 0.5 meters [mean ± 95 percent confidence interval] below the water table) in more than 1,400 locations across the United States. The results from these comparisons were used to select the simulation approaches that led to the closest agreement between the simulated and the measured concentrations.The P-GWAVA system uses computer simulations that account for a broader range of the hydrologic, physical, biological and chemical phenomena known to control the transport and fate of solutes in the subsurface than has been accounted for by any other vulnerability assessment over regional to national scales. Such phenomena include preferential transport and the influences of temperature, soil properties, and depth on the partitioning, transport, and transformation of pesticides in the subsurface. Published methods and detailed soil property data are used to estimate a wide range of model input parameters for each site, including surface albedo, surface crust permeability, soil water content, Brooks-Corey parameters, saturated hydraulic conductivity, macroporosity and sizes of microbial populations, as well as solute partition coefficients, reaction rates, and meso-micropore diffusion rates. To ensure geographic consistency among the predictions, the only site-specific input data that are used are those that are available for all of the 48 conterminous states.

  16. 77 FR 72856 - New York State Prohibition of Discharges of Vessel Sewage; Receipt of Petition and Tentative...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-06

    ...: Notice is given that, pursuant to Clean Water Act Section 312(f)(3), the State of New York has determined...: http://www.epa.gov/region02/water/permits.html . ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the... the fresh surface water in the United States and serving as the largest single reservoir on Earth. The...

  17. Spectroscopic determination of surface geometry: Ti(0001)-H(1×1)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feibelman, Peter J.; Hamann, D. R.

    1980-02-01

    The electronic structure of a Ti(0001) film covered by a monolayer of H is shown to depend strongly on the location of the H atom in the surface unit cell. Best agreement with experiment is found with the H's in three-fold sites, 0.8 a.u. outside the outer Ti layer. In this geometry the H atoms "heal" the surface-the clean Ti(0001) surface state near the Fermi level is removed and the outer layer d-like local density of states (LDOS) is quite similar to that of the interior. Additionally, the calculated work function is 4.0 eV and an H-derived peak in the calculated LDOS appears 5 eV below EF, in agreement with photoemission measurements.

  18. Evaluating base widening methods.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-12-01

    The surface transportation system forms the biggest infrastructure investment in the United States of which the : roadway pavement forms an integral part. Maintaining the roadways can involve rehabilitation in the form of : widening; which require a ...

  19. 7 CFR 51.1166 - Poorly colored.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... FRESH FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND OTHER PRODUCTS 1,2 (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States... applied to common oranges means that not more than 25 percent of the surface may be solid dark green color. ...

  20. 40 CFR 302.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States... from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release...

  1. 40 CFR 302.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States... from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release...

  2. 40 CFR 302.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States... from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release...

  3. 40 CFR 302.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States... from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release...

  4. 40 CFR 302.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States... from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release...

  5. United States - Japan evaluation tools and methods.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-01-01

    Cooperative systems based on intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies can deliver significant benefits for all road users and the public, especially in terms of safer, more energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly surface transporta...

  6. 7 CFR 51.909 - Materially shriveled at capstem.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Table Grapes (European or... means that the skin of the berry is definitely wrinkled adjacent to the capstem and the surface is...

  7. 7 CFR 51.909 - Materially shriveled at capstem.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Table Grapes (European or... means that the skin of the berry is definitely wrinkled adjacent to the capstem and the surface is...

  8. Fast Shepard interpolation on graphics processing units: potential energy surfaces and dynamics for H + CH4 → H2 + CH3.

    PubMed

    Welsch, Ralph; Manthe, Uwe

    2013-04-28

    A strategy for the fast evaluation of Shepard interpolated potential energy surfaces (PESs) utilizing graphics processing units (GPUs) is presented. Speed ups of several orders of magnitude are gained for the title reaction on the ZFWCZ PES [Y. Zhou, B. Fu, C. Wang, M. A. Collins, and D. H. Zhang, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 064323 (2011)]. Thermal rate constants are calculated employing the quantum transition state concept and the multi-layer multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree approach. Results for the ZFWCZ PES are compared to rate constants obtained for other ab initio PESs and problems are discussed. A revised PES is presented. Thermal rate constants obtained for the revised PES indicate that an accurate description of the anharmonicity around the transition state is crucial.

  9. Understanding and managing the effects of groundwater pumping on streamflow

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Leake, Stanley A.; Barlow, Paul M.

    2013-01-01

    Groundwater is a critical resource in the United States because it provides drinking water, irrigates crops, supports industry, and is a source of water for rivers, streams, lakes, and springs. Wells that pump water out of aquifers can reduce the amount of groundwater that flows into rivers and streams, which can have detrimental impacts on aquatic ecosystems and the availability of surface water. Estimation of rates, locations, and timing of streamflow depletion due to groundwater pumping is needed for water-resource managers and users throughout the United States, but the complexity of groundwater and surface-water systems and their interactions presents a major challenge. The understanding of streamflow depletion and evaluation of water-management practices have improved during recent years through the use of computer models that simulate aquifer conditions and the effects of pumping groundwater on streams.

  10. Temperature of water available for industrial use in the United States: Chapter F in Contributions to the hydrology of the United States, 1923-1924

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Collins, W.D.

    1925-01-01

    The importance of water supply as a limiting factor in industrial development is becoming more evident each year. The limitation in a particular instance may be the quantity of water available, the quality determined by the mineral matter in solution or in suspension or by organic pollution, or the temperature of the water. Generally it is a combination of two or more of these factors.Many publications of the Geological Survey give data in regard to the quantity of surface water and ground water obtainable at different points. Other publications of this Survey and of other organizations give data on the quality of waters available for industrial use. The temperature of these waters is discussed in the present report.Data in regard to ground water have been obtained from Geological Survey water-supply papers, from the publications indicated in footnotes, and from an unpublished compilation of temperature records prepared by C. E. Van Orstrand, of the Geological Survey, in connection with studies of deep earth temperature. Data on temperature of surface water have been obtained mainly from officials of waterworks, as noted in the accompanying table. Data on air temperature have been obtained from reports of the United States Weather Bureau. The maps showing temperature of ground water and surface water (Pls. VIII and IX) are taken directly from Weather Bureau charts of temperature distribution.

  11. Pharmaceutical residues in the drinking water supply: modeling residue concentrations in surface waters of drugs prescribed in the United States.

    PubMed

    Guerrero-Preston, Rafael; Brandt-Rauf, Paul

    2008-09-01

    Pharmaceutical residues and other organic wastewater contaminants (OWC) have been shown to survive conventional water-treatment processes and persist in potable water supplies. To estimate the geographical distribution of the Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) of selected drugs prescribed by office based physicians in the United States (US), after non-metabolized residues have been excreted and processed in wastewater treatment plants. The geographical distribution of the PEC in surface waters of pharmaceutical residues was calculated, in four regions of the US. Prescription drug data was obtained from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). The PEC of three drugs prescribed by office based physicians in the US between 1998 and 2000 was compared to the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals found in a surface water characterization project conducted by the United States Geological Survey between 1999 and 2000. There were 803,185,420 medications prescribed by office-based physicians in the US between 1998 and 2000. Relief of pain, hormonal, cardiovascular and antimicrobial medications followed very similar prescription patterns, both in terms of quantity and geographical distribution. Together these four types of medications account for more than half of the medications prescribed between 1998 and 2000. The concentration of pharmaceutical residues found in the drinking water supply was not significantly correlated to the PEC of pharmaceuticals prescribed by office-based physicians. The geographical distribution of medications prescribed by office based physicians in the US underlines the need to implement effective public health strategies.

  12. Continental-scale distributions of dust-associated bacteria and fungi

    PubMed Central

    Barberán, Albert; Ladau, Joshua; Pollard, Katherine S.; Menninger, Holly L.; Dunn, Robert R.; Fierer, Noah

    2015-01-01

    It has been known for centuries that microorganisms are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, where they are capable of long-distance dispersal. Likewise, it is well-established that these airborne bacteria and fungi can have myriad effects on human health, as well as the health of plants and livestock. However, we have a limited understanding of how these airborne communities vary across different geographic regions or the factors that structure the geographic patterns of near-surface microbes across large spatial scales. We collected dust samples from the external surfaces of ∼1,200 households located across the United States to understand the continental-scale distributions of bacteria and fungi in the near-surface atmosphere. The microbial communities were highly variable in composition across the United States, but the geographic patterns could be explained by climatic and soil variables, with coastal regions of the United States sharing similar airborne microbial communities. Although people living in more urbanized areas were not found to be exposed to distinct outdoor air microbial communities compared with those living in more rural areas, our results do suggest that urbanization leads to homogenization of the airborne microbiota, with more urban communities exhibiting less continental-scale geographic variability than more rural areas. These results provide our first insight into the continental-scale distributions of airborne microbes, which is information that could be used to identify likely associations between microbial exposures in outdoor air and incidences of disease in crops, livestock, and humans. PMID:25902536

  13. Dust transport model validation using satellite- and ground-based methods in the southwestern United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahler, Anna-Britt; Thome, Kurt; Yin, Dazhong; Sprigg, William A.

    2006-08-01

    Dust is known to aggravate respiratory diseases. This is an issue in the desert southwestern United States, where windblown dust events are common. The Public Health Applications in Remote Sensing (PHAiRS) project aims to address this problem by using remote-sensing products to assist in public health decision support. As part of PHAiRS, a model for simulating desert dust cycles, the Dust Regional Atmospheric Modeling (DREAM) system is employed to forecast dust events in the southwestern US. Thus far, DREAM has been validated in the southwestern US only in the lower part of the atmosphere by comparison with measurement and analysis products from surface synoptic, surface Meteorological Aerodrome Report (METAR), and upper-air radiosonde. This study examines the validity of the DREAM algorithm dust load prediction in the desert southwestern United States by comparison with satellite-based MODIS level 2 and MODIS Deep Blue aerosol products, and ground-based observations from the AERONET network of sunphotometers. Results indicate that there are difficulties obtaining MODIS L2 aerosol optical thickness (AOT) data in the desert southwest due to low AOT algorithm performance over areas with high surface reflectances. MODIS Deep Blue aerosol products show improvement, but the temporal and vertical resolution of MODIS data limit its utility for DREAM evaluation. AERONET AOT data show low correlation to DREAM dust load predictions. The potential contribution of space- or ground-based lidar to the PHAiRS project is also examined.

  14. Mapping extent and change in surface mines within the United States for 2001 to 2006

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Soulard, Christopher E.; Acevedo, William; Stehman, Stephen V.; Parker, Owen P.

    2016-01-01

    A complete, spatially explicit dataset illustrating the 21st century mining footprint for the conterminous United States does not exist. To address this need, we developed a semi-automated procedure to map the country's mining footprint (30-m pixel) and establish a baseline to monitor changes in mine extent over time. The process uses mine seed points derived from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS), and USGS National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) and recodes patches of barren land that meet a “distance to seed” requirement and a patch area requirement before mapping a pixel as mining. Seed points derived from EIA coal points, an edited MRDS point file, and 1992 NLCD mine points were used in three separate efforts using different distance and patch area parameters for each. The three products were then merged to create a 2001 map of moderate-to-large mines in the United States, which was subsequently manually edited to reduce omission and commission errors. This process was replicated using NLCD 2006 barren pixels as a base layer to create a 2006 mine map and a 2001–2006 mine change map focusing on areas with surface mine expansion. In 2001, 8,324 km2 of surface mines were mapped. The footprint increased to 9,181 km2 in 2006, representing a 10·3% increase over 5 years. These methods exhibit merit as a timely approach to generate wall-to-wall, spatially explicit maps representing the recent extent of a wide range of surface mining activities across the country. 

  15. Map and Data for Quaternary Faults and Fault Systems on the Island of Hawai`i

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cannon, Eric C.; Burgmann, Roland; Crone, Anthony J.; Machette, Michael N.; Dart, Richard L.

    2007-01-01

    Introduction This report and digitally prepared, GIS-based map is one of a series of similar products covering individual states or regions of United States that show the locations, ages, and activity rates of major earthquake-related features such as faults and fault-related folds. It is part of a continuing the effort to compile a comprehensive Quaternary fault and fold map and database for the United States, which is supported by the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program. Guidelines for the compilation of the Quaternary fault and fold maps for the United States were published by Haller and others (1993) at the onset of this project. This compilation of Quaternary surface faulting and folding in Hawai`i is one of several similar state and regional compilations that were planned for the United States. Reports published to date include West Texas (Collins and others, 1996), New Mexico (Machette and others, 1998), Arizona (Pearthree, 1998), Colorado (Widmann and others, 1998), Montana (Stickney and others, 2000), Idaho (Haller and others, 2005), and Washington (Lidke and others, 2003). Reports for other states such as California and Alaska are still in preparation. The primary intention of this compilation is to aid in seismic-hazard evaluations. The report contains detailed information on the location and style of faulting, the time of most recent movement, and assigns each feature to a slip-rate category (as a proxy for fault activity). It also contains the name and affiliation of the compiler, date of compilation, geographic and other paleoseismologic parameters, as well as an extensive set of references for each feature. The map (plate 1) shows faults, volcanic rift zones, and lineaments that show evidence of Quaternary surface movement related to faulting, including data on the time of most recent movement, sense of movement, slip rate, and continuity of surface expression. This compilation is presented as a digitally prepared map product and catalog of data, both in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. The senior authors (Eric C. Cannon and Roland Burgmann) compiled the fault data as part of ongoing studies of active faulting on the Island of Hawai`i. The USGS is responsible for organizing and integrating the State or regional products under their National Seismic Hazard Mapping project, including the coordination and oversight of contributions from individuals and groups (Michael N. Machette and Anthony J. Crone), database design and management (Kathleen M. Haller), and digitization and analysis of map data (Richard L. Dart). After being released an Open-File Report, the data in this report will be available online at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults/, the USGS Quaternary Fault and Fold Database of the United States.

  16. Systematic losses of outdoor production from heat stress and climate change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buzan, J. R.; Huber, M.

    2017-12-01

    Heat stress impacts humans today with heat waves, worker reductions, and health issues. Here we show novel results in labor productivity for outdoor work due to global warming. We use the HumanIndexMod to calculate 4x daily values of Simplified Wet Bulb Globe Temperature index (sWBGT) from the CMIP5 archive normalized by global mean surface temperature changes. Previous work shows that scaling of sWBGT is robust across the CMIP5 archive. We calculate total annual outdoor labor capacity from our scaled sWBGT results. Our results show modern day losses due to heat stress impacting outdoor work for low latitudes (and parts of Eastern China and the Southern United States). At 2°C of climate change, up to 20% losses to total capacity impact Midwestern United States, while the Southern United States suffers >20% losses. Western Coastal Africa suffers annual losses at >80%, along with the Amazon Basin and the greater South East Asia region. India suffers losses >50% annually. At +5°C, the estimated mean global change by 2100, the Equatorial region (Northern Australia and Northern Bolivia to Western Coastal Africa and Southern India) has complete cessation of annual outdoor work. The Midwest United States suffers losses up to 30%, and the Gulf of Mexico suffers losses >50%. Our results imply that small changes in global mean surface temperature (2°C) will lead to crippling losses to outdoor work annually, and ≥5°C losses will lead to cessation of labor for more than half the world's population.

  17. Modeling Phosphorous Losses from Seasonal Manure Application Schemes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Menzies, E.; Walter, M. T.

    2015-12-01

    Excess nutrient loading, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, to surface waters is a common and significant problem throughout the United States. While pollution remediation efforts are continuously improving, the most effective treatment remains to limit the source. Appropriate timing of fertilizer application to reduce nutrient losses is currently a hotly debated topic in the Northeastern United States; winter spreading of manure is under special scrutiny. We plan to evaluate the loss of phosphorous to surface waters from agricultural systems under varying seasonal fertilization schemes in an effort to determine the impacts of fertilizers applied throughout the year. The Cayuga Lake basin, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, is a watershed dominated by agriculture where a wide array of land management strategies can be found. The evaluation will be conducted on the Fall Creek Watershed, a large sub basin in the Cayuga Lake Watershed. The Fall Creek Watershed covers approximately 33,000 ha in central New York State with approximately 50% of this land being used for agriculture. We plan to use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model a number of seasonal fertilization regimes such as summer only spreading and year round spreading (including winter applications), as well as others. We will use the model to quantify the phosphorous load to surface waters from these different fertilization schemes and determine the impacts of manure applied at different times throughout the year. More detailed knowledge about how seasonal fertilization schemes impact phosphorous losses will provide more information to stakeholders concerning the impacts of agriculture on surface water quality. Our results will help farmers and extensionists make more informed decisions about appropriate timing of manure application for reduced phosphorous losses and surface water degradation as well as aid law makers in improving policy surrounding manure application.

  18. Transit Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) assessment study.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-07-01

    The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) is engaged in assessing applications that realize the full potential of connected vehicles, travelers, and infrastructure to enhance current operational practices and transform future surface tra...

  19. How misapplication of the hydrologic unit framework diminishes the meaning of watersheds

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Omernik, James M.; Griffith, Glenn E.; Hughes, Robert M.; Glover, James B.; Weber, Marc H.

    2017-01-01

    Hydrologic units provide a convenient but problematic nationwide set of geographic polygons based on subjectively determined subdivisions of land surface areas at several hierarchical levels. The problem is that it is impossible to map watersheds, basins, or catchments of relatively equal size and cover the whole country. The hydrologic unit framework is in fact composed mostly of watersheds and pieces of watersheds. The pieces include units that drain to segments of streams, remnant areas, noncontributing areas, and coastal or frontal units that can include multiple watersheds draining to an ocean or large lake. Hence, half or more of the hydrologic units are not watersheds as the name of the framework “Watershed Boundary Dataset” implies. Nonetheless, hydrologic units and watersheds are commonly treated as synonymous, and this misapplication and misunderstanding can have some serious scientific and management consequences. We discuss some of the strengths and limitations of watersheds and hydrologic units as spatial frameworks. Using examples from the Northwest and Southeast United States, we explain how the misapplication of the hydrologic unit framework has altered the meaning of watersheds and can impair understanding associations between spatial geographic characteristics and surface water conditions.

  20. Underpressure in Mesozoic and Paleozoic rock units in the Midcontinent of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nelson, Philip H.; Gianoutsos, Nicholas J.; Drake, Ronald

    2015-01-01

    Potentiometric surfaces for Paleozoic strata, based on water well levels and selected drill-stem tests, reveal the control on hydraulic head exerted by outcrops in eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. From outcrop in the east, the westward climb of hydraulic head is much less than that of the land surface, with heads falling so far below land surface that the pressure:depth ratio in eastern Colorado is less than 5.7 kPa/m (0.25 psi/ft). Permian evaporites separate the Paleozoic hydrogeologic units from a Lower Cretaceous (Dakota Group) aquifer, and a highly saline brine plume pervading Paleozoic units in central Kansas and Oklahoma is attributed to dissolution of Permian halite. Underpressure also exists in the Lower Cretaceous hydrogeologic unit in the Denver Basin, which is hydrologically separate from the Paleozoic units. The data used to construct the seven potentiometric surfaces were also used to construct seven maps of pressure:depth ratio. These latter maps are a function of the differences among hydraulic head, land-surface elevation, and formation elevation. As a consequence, maps of pressure:depth ratio reflect the interplay of three topologies that evolved independently with time. As underpressure developed, gas migrated in response to the changing pressure regime, most notably filling the Hugoton gas field in southwestern Kansas. The timing of underpressure development was determined by the timing of outcrop exposure and tilting of the Great Plains. Explorationists in western Kansas and eastern Colorado should not be surprised if a reservoir is underpressured; rather, they should be surprised if it is not.

  1. Radiative forcing over the conterminous United States due to contemporary land cover land use change and sensitivity to snow and interannual albedo variability

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Barnes, Christopher A.; Roy, David P.

    2010-01-01

    Satellite-derived land cover land use (LCLU), snow and albedo data, and incoming surface solar radiation reanalysis data were used to study the impact of LCLU change from 1973 to 2000 on surface albedo and radiative forcing for 58 ecoregions covering 69% of the conterminous United States. A net positive surface radiative forcing (i.e., warming) of 0.029 Wm−2 due to LCLU albedo change from 1973 to 2000 was estimated. The forcings for individual ecoregions were similar in magnitude to current global forcing estimates, with the most negative forcing (as low as −0.367 Wm−2) due to the transition to forest and the most positive forcing (up to 0.337 Wm−2) due to the conversion to grass/shrub. Snow exacerbated both negative and positive forcing for LCLU transitions between snow-hiding and snow-revealing LCLU classes. The surface radiative forcing estimates were highly sensitive to snow-free interannual albedo variability that had a percent average monthly variation from 1.6% to 4.3% across the ecoregions. The results described in this paper enhance our understanding of contemporary LCLU change on surface radiative forcing and suggest that future forcing estimates should model snow and interannual albedo variation.

  2. Response of transplanted aspen to irrigation and weeding on a Colorado reclaimed surface coal mine

    Treesearch

    Robert C. Musselman; Wayne D. Shepperd; Frederick W. Smith; Lance A. Asherin; Brian W. Gee

    2012-01-01

    Successful re-establishment of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) on surface-mined lands in the western United States is problematic because the species generally regenerates vegetatively by sprouting from parent roots in the soil; however, topsoil is removed in the mining process. Previous attempts to plant aspen on reclaimed mine sites have failed because...

  3. Instream flow and water regime of selected riparian habitats in west-central Montana

    Treesearch

    Stephanie K. Mulica; Donald F. Potts; Robert D. Pfister

    2002-01-01

    Groundwater and surface water extraction and diversion for agricultural and human use has become common practice in the arid and semi-arid western United States. Surface water and groundwater are often not effectively managed during these processes, and few laws exist to protect riparian vegetation in the case of depletion of in-stream flows. "Instream flow"...

  4. CAUSES: Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, H. Y.; Klein, S. A.; Xie, S.; Morcrette, C. J.; Van Weverberg, K.; Zhang, Y.; Lo, M. H.

    2015-12-01

    The Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface (CAUSES) is a new joint Global Atmospheric System Studies/Regional and Global Climate model/Atmospheric System Research (GASS/RGCM/ASR) intercomparison project to evaluate the central U.S. summertime surface warm biases seen in many weather and climate models. The main focus is to identify the role of cloud, radiation, and precipitation processes in contributing to surface air temperature biases. In this project, we use short-term hindcast approach and examine the growth of the error as a function of hindcast lead time. The study period covers from April 1 to August 31, 2011, which also covers the entire Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) campaign. Preliminary results from several models will be presented. (http://portal.nersc.gov/project/capt/CAUSES/) (This study is funded by the RGCM and ASR programs of the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Cloud-Associated Parameterizations Testbed. This work is performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-658017)

  5. CAUSES: Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, H. Y.; Klein, S. A.; Xie, S.; Zhang, Y.; Morcrette, C. J.; Van Weverberg, K.; Petch, J.; Lo, M. H.

    2014-12-01

    The Clouds Above the United States and Errors at the Surface (CAUSES) is a new joint Global Atmospheric System Studies/Regional and Global Climate model/Atmospheric System Research (GASS/RGCM/ASR) intercomparison project to evaluate the central U.S. summertime surface warm biases seen in many weather and climate models. The main focus is to identify the role of cloud, radiation, and precipitation processes in contributing to surface air temperature biases. In this project, we use short-term hindcast approach and examine the growth of the error as a function of hindcast lead time. The study period covers from April 1 to August 31, 2011, which also covers the entire Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) campaign. Preliminary results from several models will be presented. (http://portal.nersc.gov/project/capt/CAUSES/) (This study is funded by the RGCM and ASR programs of the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Cloud-Associated Parameterizations Testbed. This work is performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-658017)

  6. Surface water supply of the United States, 1941, Part VIII, Western Gulf of Mexico basins

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1943-01-01

    In the execution of the work many State and private organizations have cooperated, either by furnishing data or by assisting !n collecting data. Cooperation of the first kind is acknowledged in connection with the description of each station affected; cooperation of the second kind is acknowledged on page 11.

  7. Elongate Hemlock Scale

    Treesearch

    Mark McClure

    2002-01-01

    The elongate hemlock scale, Fiorinia externa Ferris, native to Japan, is a pest of eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, and Carolina hemlock, T. caroliniana, in the Eastern United States. It has been found in the District of Columbia and in nine states from Virginia to southern New England and west to Ohio. F. externa attacks the lower surface of the hemlock needle,...

  8. Varied ecosystems need different fire protection

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gutsell, Sheri L.; Johnson, Edward A.; Miyanishi, Kiyoko; Keeley, Jon E.; Dickinson, Matthew; Bridge, Simon R. J.

    2001-01-01

    Covington states in his Commentary1 that the open ponderosa pine forests of the western United States are "in widespread collapse" because fire suppression by humans has eliminated the low-intensity surface fire regime that maintained the open, park-like structure of these forests. He fears this will lead to an "unprecedented" crown fire regime that will eliminate forests.

  9. Multiple constraint analysis of regional land-surface carbon flux

    Treesearch

    D.P. Turner; M. Göckede; B.E. Law; W.D. Ritts; W.B. Cohen; Z. Yang; T. Hudiburg; R. Kennedy; M. Duane

    2011-01-01

    We applied and compared bottom-up (process model-based) and top-down (atmospheric inversion-based) scaling approaches to evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns of net ecosystem production (NEP) over a 2.5 × 105 km2 area (the state of Oregon) in the western United States. Both approaches indicated a carbon sink over this...

  10. Evaluation of High Resolution Rapid Refresh-Smoke (HRRR-Smoke) model products for a case study using surface PM2.5 observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deanes, L. N.; Ahmadov, R.; McKeen, S. A.; Manross, K.; Grell, G. A.; James, E.

    2016-12-01

    Wildfires are increasing in number and size in the western United States as climate change contributes to warmer and drier conditions in this region. These fires lead to poor air quality and diminished visibility. The High Resolution Rapid Refresh-Smoke modeling system (HRRR-Smoke) is designed to simulate fire emissions and smoke transport with high resolution. The model is based on the Weather Research and Forecasting model, coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) and uses fire detection data from the Visible Infrared and Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite instrument to simulate wildfire emissions and their plume rise. HRRR-Smoke is used in both real-time applications and case studies. In this study, we evaluate the HRRR-Smoke for August 2015, during one of the worst wildfire seasons on record in the United States, by focusing on wildfires that occurred in the northwestern US. We compare HRRR-Smoke simulations with hourly fine particulate matter (PM2.5) observations from the Air Quality System (https://www.epa.gov/aqs) from multiple air quality monitoring sites in Washington state. PM2.5 data includes measurements from urban, suburban and remote sites in the state. We discuss the model performance in capturing large PM2.5 enhancements detected at surface sites due to wildfires. We present various statistical parameters to demonstrate HRRR-Smoke's performance in simulating surface PM2.5 levels.

  11. A novel resource sharing algorithm based on distributed construction for radiant enclosure problems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Finzell, Peter; Bryden, Kenneth M.

    This study demonstrates a novel approach to solving inverse radiant enclosure problems based on distributed construction. Specifically, the problem of determining the temperature distribution needed on the heater surfaces to achieve a desired design surface temperature profile is recast as a distributed construction problem in which a shared resource, temperature, is distributed by computational agents moving blocks. The sharing of blocks between agents enables them to achieve their desired local state, which in turn achieves the desired global state. Each agent uses the current state of their local environment and a simple set of rules to determine when to exchangemore » blocks, each block representing a discrete unit of temperature change. This algorithm is demonstrated using the established two-dimensional inverse radiation enclosure problem. The temperature profile on the heater surfaces is adjusted to achieve a desired temperature profile on the design surfaces. The resource sharing algorithm was able to determine the needed temperatures on the heater surfaces to obtain the desired temperature distribution on the design surfaces in the nine cases examined.« less

  12. A novel resource sharing algorithm based on distributed construction for radiant enclosure problems

    DOE PAGES

    Finzell, Peter; Bryden, Kenneth M.

    2017-03-06

    This study demonstrates a novel approach to solving inverse radiant enclosure problems based on distributed construction. Specifically, the problem of determining the temperature distribution needed on the heater surfaces to achieve a desired design surface temperature profile is recast as a distributed construction problem in which a shared resource, temperature, is distributed by computational agents moving blocks. The sharing of blocks between agents enables them to achieve their desired local state, which in turn achieves the desired global state. Each agent uses the current state of their local environment and a simple set of rules to determine when to exchangemore » blocks, each block representing a discrete unit of temperature change. This algorithm is demonstrated using the established two-dimensional inverse radiation enclosure problem. The temperature profile on the heater surfaces is adjusted to achieve a desired temperature profile on the design surfaces. The resource sharing algorithm was able to determine the needed temperatures on the heater surfaces to obtain the desired temperature distribution on the design surfaces in the nine cases examined.« less

  13. The intercrater plains of Mercury and the Moon: Their nature, origin and role in terrestrial planet evolution. Constuction of the paleogeologic maps. Ph.D. Thesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leake, M. A.

    1982-01-01

    The Post Caoris surface was derived from the geologic map by plotting all Class 1 and 2 features. To construct the Caloris surface, Class 3 craters were plotted onto the map, as well as all Class 3 plains. However, if P3 plains were adjacent to P2 units, and appeared continuous with other exposures of P3 material, the P2 unit was assumed to overlie the C3 and P3 material. The younger superposed craters were ignored with respect to the Class 3 surface. The boundaries of P3 materials were then continued under the superposed units, using a minimum of reasonable assumptions. For instance, if P2 and P4 plains were adjacent units, no P3 plains were presumed to lie under the P2 material. Similarly, all C3 craters were considered to have some deposits of impact melt after formation, even if they are mapped containing younger units. C3 craters which were superposed with younger units, C1 or C2 craters, and perhaps P2 plains, were redrawn as if later materials had not been emplaced, i.e., in their post impact, pre-degradation states.

  14. Attributes for MRB_E2RF1 Catchments by Major River Basins in the Conterminous United States: Nutrient Inputs from Fertilizer and Manure, Nitrogen and Phosphorus (N&P), 2002

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wieczorek, Michael; LaMotte, Andrew E.

    2010-01-01

    This tabular data set represents the total amount of nitrogen and phosphorus, in kilograms for the year 2002, compiled for every MRB_E2RF1 catchment of the Major River Basins (MRBs, Crawford and others, 2006). The source data set is County-Level Estimates of Nutrient Inputs to the Land Surface of the Conterminous United States, 1982-2001 (Ruddy and others, 2006). The MRB_E2RF1 catchments are based on a modified version of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) ERF1_2 and include enhancements to support national and regional-scale surface-water quality modeling (Nolan and others, 2002; Brakebill and others, 2011). Data were compiled for every MRB_E2RF1 catchment for the conterminous United States covering New England and Mid-Atlantic (MRB1), South Atlantic-Gulf and Tennessee (MRB2), the Great Lakes, Ohio, Upper Mississippi, and Souris-Red-Rainy (MRB3), the Missouri (MRB4), the Lower Mississippi, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf (MRB5), the Rio Grande, Colorado, and the Great basin (MRB6), the Pacific Northwest (MRB7) river basins, and California (MRB8).

  15. Manmade organic compounds in the surface waters of the United States: a review of current understanding

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Smith, James A.; Witkowski, Patrick J.; Fusillo, Thomas V.

    1987-01-01

    This report reviews the occurrence and distribution of manmade organic compounds in the surface waters of the United States. On the basis of their aqueous solubilities, nonionic organic compounds partition themselves between water, dissolved organic matter, particulate organic matter, and the lipid reservoirs of aquatic organisms. Ionized organic compounds can be absorbed to sediments, thereby reducing their aqueous concentrations. Transformation processes of photolysis, hydrolysis, biodegradation, and volatilization can attenuate organic compounds, and attenuation rate commonly follow a first-order kinetic process. Eight groups of manmade organic compounds are discussed: 1. Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine insecticides, 2. Carbamate and organophosphorus insecticides, 3. Herbicides, 4. Phenols, 5. Halogenated aliphatic and monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 6. Phthalate esters, 7. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, and 8. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For each compound group, data pertaining to use, production, and properties are presented and discussed. Processes that influence that the environmental fate of each group, as determined primarily through laboratory studies, are reviewed, and important fate processes are identified. Environmental concentrations of compounds from each group in water, biota, and sediment are given to demonstrate representative values for comparison to concentrations determined during ongoing research. Finally, where sufficient data exist, regional and temporal contamination trends in the United States are discussed.

  16. Manmade organic compounds in the surface waters of the United States; a review of current understanding

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Smith, James A.; Witkowski, P.J.; Fusillo, Thomas V.

    1988-01-01

    This report reviews the occurrence and distribution of manmade organic compounds in the surface waters of the United States. On the basis of their aqueous solubilities, nonionic organic compounds partition themselves among water, dissolved organic matter, particulate organic matter, and the lipid reservoirs of aquatic organisms. Ionized organic compounds can be adsorbed to sediments, thereby reducing their aqueous concentrations. Transformation processes of photolysis, hydrolysis, biodegradation, and volatilization can attenuate organic compounds, and attenuation rates commonly follow a first-order kinetic process. Eight groups of manmade organic compounds are discussed: 1. Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine insecticides, 2. Carbamate and organophosphorus insecticides, 3. Herbicides, 4. Phenols, 5. Halogenated aliphatic and monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 6. Phthalate esters, 7. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, and 8. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. For each compound group, data pertaining to use, production, and properties are presented and discussed. Processes that influence the environmental fate of each group, as determined primarily through laboratory studies, are reviewed, and important fate processes are identified. Environmental concentrations of compounds from each group in water, biota, and sediment are given to demonstrate representative values for comparison with concentrations determined during ongoing research. Finally, where data are sufficient, regional and temporal contamination trends in the United States are discussed.

  17. The Association Between Extreme Precipitation and Waterborne Disease Outbreaks in the United States, 1948–1994

    PubMed Central

    Curriero, Frank C.; Patz, Jonathan A.; Rose, Joan B.; Lele, Subhash

    2001-01-01

    Objectives. Rainfall and runoff have been implicated in site-specific waterborne disease outbreaks. Because upward trends in heavy precipitation in the United States are projected to increase with climate change, this study sought to quantify the relationship between precipitation and disease outbreaks. Methods. The US Environmental Protection Agency waterborne disease database, totaling 548 reported outbreaks from 1948 through 1994, and precipitation data of the National Climatic Data Center were used to analyze the relationship between precipitation and waterborne diseases. Analyses were at the watershed level, stratified by groundwater and surface water contamination and controlled for effects due to season and hydrologic region. A Monte Carlo version of the Fisher exact test was used to test for statistical significance. Results. Fifty-one percent of waterborne disease outbreaks were preceded by precipitation events above the 90th percentile (P = .002), and 68% by events above the 80th percentile (P = .001). Outbreaks due to surface water contamination showed the strongest association with extreme precipitation during the month of the outbreak; a 2-month lag applied to groundwater contamination events. Conclusions. The statistically significant association found between rainfall and disease in the United States is important for water managers, public health officials, and risk assessors of future climate change. PMID:11499103

  18. Quaternary Geologic Map of the Des Moines 4 Degrees x 6 Degrees Quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hallberg, George R.; Lineback, Jerry A.; Mickelson, David M.; Knox, James C.; Goebel, Joseph E.; Hobbs, Howard C.; Whitfield, John W.; Ward, Ronald A.; Boellstorff, John D.; Swinehart, James B.; Dreeszen, Vincent H.; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin; Fullerton, David S.; Christiansen, Ann Coe

    1994-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Des Moines 4 degree x 6 degree Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale. This map is part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States (I-1420). It was first published as a printed edition in 1994. The geologic data have now been captured digitally and are presented here along with images of the printed map sheet and component parts as PDF files.

  19. Quaternary Geologic Map of the Platte River 4 Degrees x 6 Degrees Quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Swinehart, James B.; Dreeszen, Vincent H.; Richmond, Gerald Martin; Tipton, Merlin J.; Bretz, Richard F.; Steece, Fred V.; Hallberg, George R.; Goebel, Joseph E.; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin

    1994-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Platte River 4 degree x 6 degree Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale. This map is part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States (I-1420). It was first published as a printed edition in 1994. The geologic data have now been captured digitally and are presented here along with images of the printed map sheet and component parts as PDF files.

  20. Department of Transportation's intelligent transportation systems (ITS) projects book

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-01-01

    Surface transportation systems in the United States today face a number of significant challenges. Congestion and safety continue to present serious problems in spite of the nations superb roadway systems. Congestion imposes an exorbitant cost on ...

  1. Department of Transportation's intelligent transportation systems (ITS) projects book

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-01-01

    Surface transportation systems in the United States today face a number of significant challenges. Congestion and safety continue to present serious problems in spite of the nations superb roadway systems. Congestion imposes an exorbitant cost on ...

  2. BACTERIAL SOURCE TRACKING

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fecal contamination of surface waters used for recreation, drinking water and aquaculture are a continuous environmental problem and pose significant human health risks. An alarming amount of the United States rivers/streams (39%), lakes (45%), and estuaries (51%) are not safe f...

  3. Railway/highway at-grade crossing management : an overview.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-12-01

    This report draws on data from around the United States to describe the features of a successful : railway/highway at-grade crossing management program; it emphasizes the highway/trackbed structures : and crossing surfaces. Developing a structurally ...

  4. Macroscopic Traffic Modeling with the Finite Difference Method

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-03-15

    The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Program was established to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of surface transportation in the United States. One aspect of this program is Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). As part of the A...

  5. Factors controlling threshold friction velocity in semiarid and arid areas of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Marticorena, Beatrice; Bergametti, G.; Belnap, Jayne

    1997-01-01

    A physical model was developed to explain threshold friction velocities u*t for particles of the size 60a??120 I?m lying on a rough surface in loose soils for semiarid and arid parts of the United States. The model corrected for the effect of momentum absorption by the nonerodible roughness. For loose or disturbed soils the most important parameter that controls u*t is the aerodynamic roughness height z 0. For physical crusts damaged by wind the size of erodible crust pieces is important along with the roughness. The presence of cyanobacteriallichen soil crusts roughens the surface, and the biological fibrous growth aggregates soil particles. Only undisturbed sandy soils and disturbed soils of all types would be expected to be erodible in normal wind storms. Therefore disturbance of soils by both cattle and humans is very important in predicting wind erosion as confirmed by our measurements.

  6. Vocalization characteristics of North Atlantic right whale surface active groups in the calving habitat, southeastern United States.

    PubMed

    Trygonis, Vasilis; Gerstein, Edmund; Moir, Jim; McCulloch, Stephen

    2013-12-01

    Passive acoustic surveys were conducted to assess the vocal behavior of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in the designated critical calving habitat along the shallow coastal waters of southeastern United States. Underwater vocalizations were recorded using autonomous buoys deployed in close proximity to surface active groups (SAGs). Nine main vocalization types were identified with manual inspection of spectrograms, and standard acoustic descriptors were extracted. Classification trees were used to examine the distinguishing characteristics of calls and quantify their variability within the SAG vocal repertoire. The results show that descriptors of frequency, bandwidth, and spectral disorder are the most important parameters for partitioning the SAG repertoire, contrary to duration-related measures. The reported source levels and vocalization statistics provide sound production data vital to inform regional passive acoustic monitoring and conservation for this endangered species.

  7. Streamflow characteristics related to channel geometry of streams in western United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hedman, E.R.; Osterkamp, W.R.

    1982-01-01

    Assessment of surface-mining and reclamation activities generally requires extensive hydrologic data. Adequate streamflow data from instrumented gaging stations rarely are available, and estimates of surface- water discharge based on rainfall-runoff models, drainage area, and basin characteristics sometimes have proven unreliable. Channel-geometry measurements offer an alternative method of quickly and inexpensively estimating stream-flow characteristics for ungaged streams. The method uses the empirical development of equations to yield a discharge value from channel-geometry and channel-material data. The equations are developed by collecting data at numerous streamflow-gaging sites and statistically relating those data to selected discharge characteristics. Mean annual runoff and flood discharges with selected recurrence intervals can be estimated for perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral streams. The equations were developed from data collected in the western one-half of the conterminous United States. The effect of the channel-material and runoff characteristics are accounted for with the equations.

  8. Quaternary geologic map of the Lake Erie 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fullerton, David S.; Richmond, Gerald M.; state compilations by Fullerton, David S.; Cowan, W.R.; Sevon, W.D.; Goldthwait, R.P.; Farrand, W.R.; Muller, E.H.; Behling, R.E.; Stravers, J.A.; edited and integrated by Fullerton, David S.; Richmond, Gerald Martin

    1991-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Lake Erie 4? x 6? Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  9. Quaternary geologic map of the Quebec 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Borns, H. W.; Gadd, N.R.; LaSalle, Pierre; Martineau, Ghismond; Chauvin, Luc; Fulton, R.J.; Chapman, W.F.; Wagner, W.P.; Grant, D.R.; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin; Fullerton, David S.

    1987-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Quebec 4? x 6? Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the Earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  10. Quaternary geologic map of the Chicago 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Lineback, Jerry A.; Bleuer, Ned K.; Mickelson, David M.; Farrand, William R.; Goldthwait, Richard P.; Edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald M.; Fullerton, David S.

    1983-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Chicago 4 degree x 6 degree Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  11. Quaternary geologic map of the Sudbury 4 degree by 6 degree quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fullerton, David S.; Sado, Edward V.; Baker, C.L.; Farrand, William R.

    2004-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Sudbury 4 degrees x 6 degrees Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  12. Quaternary geologic map of the Ottawa 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fullerton, David S.; Gadd, N. R.; Veillette, J.J.; Wagner, P.W.; Chapman, W.F.

    1993-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Ottawa 4 degree x 6 degree Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  13. Quaternary geologic map of the Dallas 4° x 6° quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Luza, Kenneth V.; Jensen, Kathryn M.; Fishman, W.D.; Wermund, E.G.; Richmond, Gerald Martin; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin; Christiansen, Ann Coe; Bush, Charles A.

    1994-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Dallas 4° x 6° Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the Earth. They make up the ground on which we walk, the dirt in which we dig foundations, and the soil in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  14. Quaternary geologic map of the Chesapeake Bay 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Cleaves, Emery T.; Glaser, John D.; Howard, Alan D.; Johnson, Gerald H.; Wheeler, Walter H.; Sevon, William D.; Judson, Sheldon; Owens, James P.; Peebles, Pamela C.; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin; Fullerton, David S.; Weide, David L.

    1987-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Chesapeake Bay 4? x 6? Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the Earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  15. Quaternary geologic map of the Lake Superior 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Richmond, Gerald M.; Fullerton, David S.; state compilations by Farrand, William R.; Mickelson, D.M.; Cowan, W.R.; Goebel, J.E.; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin

    1984-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Lake Superior 4? x 6? Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  16. Quaternary geologic map of the Hudson River 4 degree x 6 degree quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State and province compilations by Fullerton, David S.; Sevon, William D.; Muller, Ernest H.; Judson, Sheldon; Black, Robert F.; Wagner, Phillip W.; Hartshorn, Joseph H.; Chapman, William F.; Cowan, William D.; edited and integrated by Fullerton, David S.

    1992-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Hudson River 4? x 6? Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  17. Quaternary geologic map of the Ozark Plateau 4 ° x 6 ° quadrangle, United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Whitfield, John William; Ward, R.A.; Denne, J.E.; Holbrook, D.F.; Bush, W.V.; Lineback, J.A.; Luza, K.V.; Jensen, Kathleen M.; Fishman, W.D.; Richmond, Gerald Martin; Weide, David L.; Bush, Charles A.

    1993-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Ozark Plateau 4° x 6° Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the "ground" on which we walk, the "dirt" in which we dig foundations, and the "soil" in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  18. Quaternary geologic map of the Boston 4 degrees x 6 degrees quadrangle, United States and Canada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    State compilations by Hartshorn, Joseph H.; Thompson, W.B.; Chapman, W.F.; Black, R.F.; Richmond, Gerald Martin; Grant, D.R.; Fullerton, David S.; edited and integrated by Richmond, Gerald Martin

    1991-01-01

    The Quaternary Geologic Map of the Boston 4 deg x 6 deg Quadrangle was mapped as part of the Quaternary Geologic Atlas of the United States. The atlas was begun as an effort to depict the areal distribution of surficial geologic deposits and other materials that accumulated or formed during the past 2+ million years, the period that includes all activities of the human species. These materials are at the surface of the earth. They make up the 'ground' on which we walk, the 'dirt' in which we dig foundations, and the 'soil' in which we grow crops. Most of our human activity is related in one way or another to these surface materials that are referred to collectively by many geologists as regolith, the mantle of fragmental and generally unconsolidated material that overlies the bedrock foundation of the continent. The maps were compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale.

  19. Temperature Changes in the United States. Chapter 6

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vose, R. S.; Easterling, D. R.; Kunkel, K. E.; LeGrande, A. N.; Wehner, M. F.

    2017-01-01

    Temperature is among the most important climatic elements used in decision-making. For example, builders and insurers use temperature data for planning and risk management while energy companies and regulators use temperature data to predict demand and set utility rates. Temperature is also a key indicator of climate change: recent increases are apparent over the land, ocean, and troposphere, and substantial changes are expected for this century. This chapter summarizes the major observed and projected changes in near-surface air temperature over the United States, emphasizing new data sets and model projections since the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3). Changes are depicted using a spectrum of observations, including surface weather stations, moored ocean buoys, polar-orbiting satellites, and temperature-sensitive proxies. Projections are based on global models and downscaled products from CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) using a suite of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs; see Ch. 4: Projections for more on RCPs and future scenarios).

  20. Measurement of solar radiation at the Earth's surface

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bartman, F. L.

    1982-01-01

    The characteristics of solar energy arriving at the surface of the Earth are defined and the history of solar measurements in the United States presented. Radiation and meteorological measurements being made at solar energy meteorological research and training sites and calibration procedures used there are outlined. Data illustrating the annual variation in daily solar radiation at Ann Arbor, Michigan and the diurnal variation in radiation at Albuquerque, New Mexico are presented. Direct normal solar radiation received at Albuquerque is contrasted with that received at Maynard, Massachusetts. Average measured global radiation for a period of one year for four locations under clear skies, 50% cloud cover, and 100% cloud cover is given and compared with the solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere. The May distribution of mean daily direct solar radiation and mean daily global solar radiation over the United States is presented. The effects of turbidity on the direct and circumsolar radiation are shown.

  1. The National Map seamless digital elevation model specifications

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Archuleta, Christy-Ann M.; Constance, Eric W.; Arundel, Samantha T.; Lowe, Amanda J.; Mantey, Kimberly S.; Phillips, Lori A.

    2017-08-02

    This specification documents the requirements and standards used to produce the seamless elevation layers for The National Map of the United States. Seamless elevation data are available for the conterminous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, and the U.S. territories, in three different resolutions—1/3-arc-second, 1-arc-second, and 2-arc-second. These specifications include requirements and standards information about source data requirements, spatial reference system, distribution tiling schemes, horizontal resolution, vertical accuracy, digital elevation model surface treatment, georeferencing, data source and tile dates, distribution and supporting file formats, void areas, metadata, spatial metadata, and quality assurance and control.

  2. Increase of reliability of contact networks of electric transport, due to increase of strength of the joint unit of pipes of different diameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sabitov, L. S.; Kashapov, N. F.; Gilmanshin, I. R.; Gatiyatov, I. Z.; Kuznetsov, I. L.

    2017-09-01

    The feature of the stress state of the supports of the contact networks is the presence of a joint of pipes of different diameters, the ultimate state of which is determined, as a rule, the strength of the weld. The proposed unit allows to increase the reliability and strength of the connection and also exclude the presence of a weld bead on the outer surface of the pipe of smaller diameter in the place of its attachment to the upper end of the support ring.

  3. Contents of the JPL Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) archive, version 2-91

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, Elizabeth A. (Editor); Lassanyi, Ruby A. (Editor)

    1991-01-01

    The Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) archive at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) includes satellite data sets for the ocean sciences and global change research to facilitate multidisciplinary use of satellite ocean data. Parameters include sea surface height, surface wind vector, sea surface temperature, atmospheric liquid water, and surface pigment concentration. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory DAAC is an element of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) and will be the United States distribution site for the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/POSEIDON data and metadata.

  4. Water resources data for Kansas, water year 1972; Part 1, Surface water records

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thompson, M.L.; Curtis, R. E.

    1973-01-01

    Surface-water records for the 1972 water year for Kansas, including records of streamflow or reservoir storage at gaging stations and partial-record stations, are given in this report. The locations of the stations are on figures 1 and 2. Records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States also are included. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U. S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Kansas. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey under the direction of C. W. Lane, district chief. Kansas district personnel who contributed significantly to the collection and preparation of data included in this report were: J. L. Ebling, C. 0. Geiger, K. D. Medina, L. E. Stuliken, C. 0. Peek, J. D. Craig, L. L. Jones, A. T. Klamm, J. P. Marshall, C. W. Kennedy, W. J. Carswell, D. L. Lacock, G. G. Quy II, J. T. Religa, R. D. Thomas, S. V. Bond, S. T. Green, C. G. Sauer, A. B. Evans, A. F. Browning, M. J. Goetz, M. L. Penny, and M. Pabst.Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and canals and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States."Beginning with the 1961 water year, surface-water records have been released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these reports is limited; they are designed primarily for rapid release of data shortly after the end of the water year to meet local needs. The discharge and reservoir storage records for 1961-65 also have been published in a Geological Survey water-supply paper series entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States 1961-65."

  5. Water resources data for Kansas, water year 1973; Part 1, Surface water records

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thompson, M.L.; Curtis, R. E.

    1974-01-01

    Surface-water records for the 1973 water year for Kansas, including records of streamflow or reservoir storage at gaging stations and partial-record stations, are given in this report. The locations of the stations are on figures 1 and 2. Records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States also are included. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U. S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Kansas. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey under the direction of C. W. Lane, district chief. Kansas district personnel who contributed significantly to the collection and preparation of data included in this report were: J. L. Ebling, C. 0. Geiger, K. D. Medina, C. 0. Peek, J. D. Craig, L. L. Jones, J. P. Marshall, W. J. Carswell, D. L. Lacock, G. G. Quy II, J. T. Religa, R. D. Thomas, S. V. Bond, S. T. Green, C. G. Sauer, L. M. Pope, F. D. Toepfer, A. F. Browning, M. L. Penny, M. Pabst, and L. R. Stringer.Through September 30, 1960, the records of discharge and stage of streams and canals and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States."Beginning with the 1961 water year, surface-water records have been released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these reports is limited; they are designed primarily for rapid release of data shortly after the end of the water year to meet local needs. The discharge and reservoir storage records for 1961-65 also have been published in a Geological Survey water-supply paper series entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States 1961-65."

  6. The StreamCat Dataset: Accumulated Attributes for NHDPlusV2 Catchments (Version 2.1) for the Conterminous United States: Base Flow Index

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This dataset represents the base flow index values within individual, local NHDPlusV2 catchments and upstream, contributing watersheds. Attributes of the landscape layer were calculated for every local NHDPlusV2 catchment and accumulated to provide watershed-level metrics. (See Supplementary Info for Glossary of Terms) The base-flow index (BFI) grid for the conterminous United States was developed to estimate (1) BFI values for ungaged streams, and (2) ground-water recharge throughout the conterminous United States (see Source_Information). Estimates of BFI values at ungaged streams and BFI-based ground-water recharge estimates are useful for interpreting relations between land use and water quality in surface and ground water. The bfi (%) was summarized by local catchment and by watershed to produce local catchment-level and watershed-level metrics as a continuous data type (see Data Structure and Attribute Information for a description).

  7. Ground-water recharge in humid areas of the United States: A summary of Ground-Water Resources Program studies, 2003-2006

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Delin, Geoffrey N.; Risser, Dennis W.

    2007-01-01

    Increased demands on water resources by a growing population and recent droughts have raised awareness about the adequacy of ground-water resources in humid areas of the United States. The spatial and temporal variability of ground-water recharge are key factors that need to be quantified to determine the sustainability of ground-water resources. Ground-water recharge is defined herein as the entry into the saturated zone of water made available at the water-table surface, together with the associated flow away from the water table within the saturated zone (Freeze and Cherry, 1979). In response to the need for better estimates of ground-water recharge, the Ground-Water Resources Program (GWRP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began an initiative in 2003 to estimate ground-water recharge rates in the relatively humid areas of the United States.

  8. Failure study of helium-cooled tungsten divertor plasma-facing units tested at DEMO relevant steady-state heat loads

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ritz, G.; Hirai, T.; Norajitra, P.; Reiser, J.; Giniyatulin, R.; Makhankov, A.; Mazul, I.; Pintsuk, G.; Linke, J.

    2009-12-01

    Tungsten was selected as armor material for the helium-cooled divertor in future DEMO-type fusion reactors and fusion power plants. After realizing the design and testing of them under cyclic thermal loads of up to ~14 MW m-2, the tungsten divertor plasma-facing units were examined by metallography; they revealed failures such as cracks at the thermal loaded and as-machined surfaces, as well as degradation of the brazing layers. Furthermore, in order to optimize the machining processes, the quality of tungsten surfaces prepared by turning, milling and using a diamond cutting wheel were examined. This paper presents a metallographic examination of the tungsten plasma-facing units as well as technical studies and the characterization on machining of tungsten and alternative brazing joints.

  9. Commentary: legal minimum tread depth for passenger car tires in the U.S.A.--a survey.

    PubMed

    Blythe, William; Seguin, Debra E

    2006-06-01

    Available tire traction is a significant highway safety issue, particularly on wet roads. Tire-roadway friction on dry, clean roads is essentially independent of tread depth, and depends primarily on roadway surface texture. However, tire-wet-roadway friction, both for longitudinal braking and lateral cornering forces, depends on several variables, most importantly on water depth, speed and tire tread depth, and the roadway surface texture. The car owner-operator has control over speed and tire condition, but not on water depth or road surface texture. Minimum tire tread depth is legislated throughout most of the United States and Europe. Speed reduction for wet road conditions is not.A survey of state requirements for legal minimum tread depth for passenger vehicle tires in the United States is presented. Most states require a minimum of 2/32 of an inch (approximately 1.6 mm) of tread, but two require less, some have no requirements, and some defer to the federal criterion for commercial vehicle safety inspections. The requirement of 2/32 of an inch is consistent with the height of the tread-wear bars built in to passenger car tires sold in the United States, but the rationale for that requirement, or other existing requirements, is not clear. Recent research indicates that a minimum tread depth of 2/32 of an inch does not prevent significant loss of friction at highway speeds, even for minimally wet roadways. The research suggests that tires with less than 4/32 of an inch tread depth may lose approximately 50 percent of available friction in those circumstances, even before hydroplaning occurs. It is concluded that the present requirements for minimum passenger car tire tread depth are not based upon rational safety considerations, and that an increase in the minimum tread depth requirements would have a beneficial effect on highway safety.

  10. Seasonal prediction of US summertime ozone using statistical analysis of large scale climate patterns.

    PubMed

    Shen, Lu; Mickley, Loretta J

    2017-03-07

    We develop a statistical model to predict June-July-August (JJA) daily maximum 8-h average (MDA8) ozone concentrations in the eastern United States based on large-scale climate patterns during the previous spring. We find that anomalously high JJA ozone in the East is correlated with these springtime patterns: warm tropical Atlantic and cold northeast Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs), as well as positive sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies over Hawaii and negative SLP anomalies over the Atlantic and North America. We then develop a linear regression model to predict JJA MDA8 ozone from 1980 to 2013, using the identified SST and SLP patterns from the previous spring. The model explains ∼45% of the variability in JJA MDA8 ozone concentrations and ∼30% variability in the number of JJA ozone episodes (>70 ppbv) when averaged over the eastern United States. This seasonal predictability results from large-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions. Warm tropical Atlantic SSTs can trigger diabatic heating in the atmosphere and influence the extratropical climate through stationary wave propagation, leading to greater subsidence, less precipitation, and higher temperatures in the East, which increases surface ozone concentrations there. Cooler SSTs in the northeast Pacific are also associated with more summertime heatwaves and high ozone in the East. On average, models participating in the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project fail to capture the influence of this ocean-atmosphere interaction on temperatures in the eastern United States, implying that such models would have difficulty simulating the interannual variability of surface ozone in this region.

  11. Seasonal prediction of US summertime ozone using statistical analysis of large scale climate patterns

    PubMed Central

    Mickley, Loretta J.

    2017-01-01

    We develop a statistical model to predict June–July–August (JJA) daily maximum 8-h average (MDA8) ozone concentrations in the eastern United States based on large-scale climate patterns during the previous spring. We find that anomalously high JJA ozone in the East is correlated with these springtime patterns: warm tropical Atlantic and cold northeast Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs), as well as positive sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies over Hawaii and negative SLP anomalies over the Atlantic and North America. We then develop a linear regression model to predict JJA MDA8 ozone from 1980 to 2013, using the identified SST and SLP patterns from the previous spring. The model explains ∼45% of the variability in JJA MDA8 ozone concentrations and ∼30% variability in the number of JJA ozone episodes (>70 ppbv) when averaged over the eastern United States. This seasonal predictability results from large-scale ocean–atmosphere interactions. Warm tropical Atlantic SSTs can trigger diabatic heating in the atmosphere and influence the extratropical climate through stationary wave propagation, leading to greater subsidence, less precipitation, and higher temperatures in the East, which increases surface ozone concentrations there. Cooler SSTs in the northeast Pacific are also associated with more summertime heatwaves and high ozone in the East. On average, models participating in the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project fail to capture the influence of this ocean–atmosphere interaction on temperatures in the eastern United States, implying that such models would have difficulty simulating the interannual variability of surface ozone in this region. PMID:28223483

  12. Effect of PF impregnation and surface densification on the mechanical properties of small-scale wood laminated poles

    Treesearch

    Huaqiang Yu; Chung Y. Hse; Zehui Jiang

    2009-01-01

    The wood poles in the United States are from high-valued trees that are becoming more expensive and less available. Wood laminated composite poles (LCP) are a kind of alternative to solid poles. Considerable interest has developed in last century in the resin impregnation and wood surface densification to improve its physical and mechanical properties. In this...

  13. Emergence of new hydrologic regimes of surface water resources in the conterminous United States under future warming

    DOE PAGES

    Leng, Guoyong; Huang, Maoyi; Voisin, Nathalie; ...

    2016-10-25

    Emergence of significant changes in surface water PDF is detected across CONUS. Such emergence can be derived using global temperature increments at the national scale independent of emission scenarios but the relationship does not hold at sub-basin scale. The emergence of significant changes are due to changes in interannual variability rather than seasonal mean.

  14. Exploring Caregiver Behavior and Knowledge about Unsafe Sleep Surfaces in Infant Injury Death Cases

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chu, Tracy; Hackett, Martine; Kaur, Navpreet

    2015-01-01

    Objectives: In the United States, infant deaths due to sleep-related injuries have quadrupled over the past two decades. One of the major risk factors is the placement of an infant to sleep on a surface other than a crib or bassinet. This study examines contextual circumstances and knowledge and behaviors that may contribute to the placement of…

  15. Birch veneer and plywood demand: projected needs of the industry

    Treesearch

    Clark E. McDonald

    1969-01-01

    Production of hardwood plywood in the United States has increased steadily from 1955 to 1967 - almost doubling during this period (table 1). The peak year for shipments of hardwood plywood was 1965, for all species (1,668,313,000 square feet surface measure) and also for birch ( 600,72 3,000 square feet surface measure). The U.S. Bureau of Census figures are not...

  16. Puerto Ricans in California: A Staff Report of the Western Regional Office, United States Commission on Civil Rights.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montez, Philip; Pilla, Thomas V.

    This study was undertaken to provide insight into the circumstances of California's Puerto Ricans who are only now surfacing as a distinct Latino bloc within the State's larger Hispanic population. Research methods consisted of a demographic analysis of Puerto Ricans in California and interviews with community representatives and public officials…

  17. Increasing the Sensitivity of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Chemical Sensors and other Chemical Sensing Investigations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-03-01

    are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S...device recovers to a neutral state [8]. 2.1.2 Sensing Methods There are many methods of using acoustic waves for sensing applications. Some of the

  18. MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING - 2005

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fecal contamination of surface waters used for recreation, drinking water and aquaculture are a continuous environmental problem and pose significant human health risks. An alarming amount of the United States rivers/streams (39%), lakes (45%), and estuaries (51%) are not safe f...

  19. MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING GUIDE

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fecal contamination of surface waters used for recreation, drinking water and aquaculture are a continuous environmental problem and pose significant human health risks. An alarming amount of the United States rivers/streams (39%), lakes (45%), and estuaries (51%) are not safe f...

  20. MICROBES, MONITORING AND HUMAN HEALTH

    EPA Science Inventory

    There are about 20,000 wastewater treatment plants in the United States. These plants discharge about 50 trillion gallons of wastewater daily into the nation's surface waters. Most wastewater contains human feces, which are a potential source of microbial pathogens. Pathogens ...

  1. PHYTOTECHNOLOGIES IN THE UNITED STATES: GROWING SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Phytotechnology may be defined as the use of plants to contain, sequester, remove, or degrade organic and inorganic contaminants in soils, sediments, surface water, and groundwater. Mechanisms employed by the plant community may include transpiration (phytovolatilization), plant...

  2. MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING - 101

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fecal contamination of surface waters used for recreation, drinking water and aquaculture are a continuous environmental problem and pose significant human health risks. Today, a large portion of the United States rivers/streams (39%), lakes (45%), and estuaries (51%) are not saf...

  3. Durable superpave mixes in Kansas.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-05-01

    Approximately 89% of 11,000 miles of Kansas roads are surfaced with asphalt. Hundreds of thousands of tons : of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) are produced annually in the United States, including in Kansas. This bulk : volume of RAP must be econom...

  4. Reservoirs in the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thomas, N.O.; Harbeck, G. Earl

    1956-01-01

    Reservoir storage facilities in the United States play an important part in the national economy. Storage facilities have enabled the country to utilize to a much fuller extent one of the most valuable natural resources: water. During recent years the construction of reservoirs has continued at a high rate. This report shows the status of these facilities on January 1, 1954, and describes briefly some of the reasons for growth of reservoir facilities in the United States. Descriptive data are given for reservoirs having a capacity of 5, 000 acre-feet or more and for natural lakes having a usable capacity of 5,000 acre-feet or more. Included are reservoirs and lakes completed as of January 1, 1954, and reservoirs under construction on that date. The total number of such reservoirs and lakes is 1, 300. A descriptive list of reservoirs in the United States was first published by the United States Geological Survey in March 1948. That report, Geological Survey Circular 23, entitled Reservoirs in the United States, included reservoirs completed as of January 1, 1947. Since January 1, 1947, reservoirs representing a total usable capacity of 115,000,000 acre-feet, or an increase of 71 percent, have been constructed or are under construction. Data about these new reservoirs are presented herein, and the data shown for reservoirs constructed before 1947 have been corrected on the basis of the latest available survey to determine reservoir capacity. The total usable capacity of reservoirs and lakes included in this compilation amounts to 278, 120, 000 acre-feet, and the corresponding surface area totals 11, 046, 000 acres.

  5. Water Resources Data for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 1998

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Socolow, R.S.; Comeau, L.Y.; Zanca, J.L.; Ramsbey, L.R.

    1999-01-01

    INTRODUCTION The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Massachusetts and Rhode Island each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the States. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, the data are published annually in this report series entitled 'Water Resources Data-Massachusetts and Rhode Island.' Hydrologic data are also available through the Massachusetts-Rhode Island District Home Page on the world-wide web (http://ma.water.usgs.gov). Historical data and real-time data (for sites equipped with satellite gageheight telemeter) are also available. The home page also contains a link to the U.S. Geological Survey National Home Page where streamflow data from locations throughout the United States can be retrieved. This report series includes records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; contents of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels of ground-water wells. This volume contains discharge records at 93 gaging stations; monthend contents of 4 lakes and reservoirs; water quality at 22 gaging stations; and water levels for 139 observation wells. Locations of these sites are shown in figures 1 and 2. Miscellaneous hydrologic data were collected at various sites that were not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous discharge measurements. The data in this report represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This series of annual reports for Massachusetts and Rhode Island began with the 1961 water year with a report that contained only data relating to the quantities of surface water. For the 1964 water year, a similar report was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year, the report format was changed to present, in one volume, data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels. Prior to introduction of this series and for several water years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Massachusetts and Rhode Island were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title 'Surface-Water Supply of the United States, Parts 1A and 1B.' For the 1961 through 1970 water years, the data were published in two 5-year reports. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941 through 1970 water years were published annually under the title 'Quality of Surface Waters of the United States,' and water levels for the 1939 through 1974 water years were published under the title 'Ground-Water Levels in the United States.' The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225-0286. Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. These official Survey reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as 'U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report MARI-98-1.' For archiving and general distribution, the reports for 1971-74 water years also are identified as water-data reports. These water-data reports are for sale in paper copy or in microfiche by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Comme

  6. Water Resources Data Massachusetts and Rhode Island Water Year 1999

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Socolow, R.S.; Zanca, J.L.; Murino, Domenic; Ramsbey, L.R.

    2000-01-01

    INTRODUCTION The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Massachusetts and Rhode Island each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the States. To make these data readily available to interested parties outside the Geological Survey, the data are published annually in this report series entitled 'Water Resources Data-Massachusetts and Rhode Island.' Hydrologic data are also available through the Massachusetts-Rhode Island District Home Page on the world-wide web (http://ma.water.usgs.gov). Historical data and real-time data (for sites equipped with satellite gage-height telemeter) are also available. The home page also contains a link to the U.S. Geological Survey National Home Page where streamflow data from locations throughout the United States can be retrieved. This report series includes records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; contents of lakes and reservoirs; water levels of ground-water wells; and water quality of ground-water wells. This volume contains discharge records at 90 gaging stations; stage records at 2 gaging stations; monthend contents of 4 lakes and reservoirs; water quality at 31 gaging stations; water quality at 27 observation wells; and water levels for 139 observation wells. Locations of these sites are shown in figures 1 and 2. Short-term water-quality data were collected at 21 gaging stations and 27 observation wells and are shown in figure 3. Miscellaneous hydrologic data were collected at various sites that were not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous discharge measurements. The data in this report represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This series of annual reports for Massachusetts and Rhode Island began with the 1961 water year with a report that contained only data relating to the quantities of surface water. For the 1964 water year, a similar report was introduced that contained only data relating to water quality. Beginning with the 1975 water year, the report format was changed to present, in one volume, data on quantities of surface water, quality of surface and ground water, and ground-water levels. Prior to introduction of this series and for several water years concurrent with it, water-resources data for Massachusetts and Rhode Island were published in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Data on stream discharge and stage and on lake or reservoir contents and stage, through September 1960, were published annually under the title 'Surface-Water Supply of the United States, Parts 1A and 1B.' For the 1961 through 1970 water years, the data were published in two 5-year reports. Data on chemical quality, temperature, and suspended sediment for the 1941 through 1970 water years were published annually under the title 'Quality of Surface Waters of the United States,' and water levels for the 1939 through 1974 water years were published under the title 'Ground-Water Levels in the United States.' The above mentioned Water-Supply Papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities of the United States and may be purchased from U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225-0286. Publications similar to this report are published annually by the Geological Survey for all States. These official Survey reports have an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as 'U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report MARI-98-1.' For archiving and general d

  7. On condition evaluation of axle unit bearings of wheel pair

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glotov, V. V.; Romashchenko, M. A.; Ostroumov, I. V.; Kondratiev, Il V.

    2018-03-01

    At present, axle units of freight cars undergo a complete checkup with disassembling and visual inspection of the bearing parts every five years. During an annual interim checkup, external inspection of an axle box with removed cap is carried out and the lubricant condition is checked. The state of the rolling surfaces of bearings during an interim checkup should be assessed using the known methods of nondestructive testing.

  8. Alternative Energy Sources for United States Air Force Installations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1975-08-01

    easy to maintain, and have a relatively long life expectancy. b. Linear Focus Parabolic trough collectors have been fabricated by two primary methods...engineered and economically manufactured and dis- tributed solar collectors . Development, optimization, production design, and manufacture of these units is...193 and domestic hnt water heating. These systems function by converting the solar energy incident on a collector surface to thermal energy in a working

  9. The National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the United States: Strategies for Monitoring Trends and Results from the First Two Decades of Study: 1991-2011

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lindsey, B.; McMahon, P.; Rupert, M.; Tesoriero, J.; Starn, J.; Anning, D.; Green, C.

    2012-04-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program was implemented in 1991 to provide long-term, consistent, and comparable information on the quality of surface and groundwater resources of the United States. Findings are used to support national, regional, state, and local information needs with respect to water quality. The three main goals of the program are to 1) assess the condition of the nation's streams, rivers, groundwater, and aquatic systems; 2) assess how conditions are changing over time; and 3) determine how natural features and human activities affect these conditions, and where those effects are most pronounced. As data collection progressed into the second decade, the emphasis of the interpretation of the data has shifted from primarily understanding status, to evaluation of trends. The program has conducted national and regional evaluations of change in the quality of water in streams, rivers, groundwater, and health of aquatic systems. Evaluating trends in environmental systems requires complex analytical and statistical methods, and a periodic re-evaluation of the monitoring methods used to collect these data. Examples given herein summarize the lessons learned from the evaluation of changes in water quality during the past two decades with an emphasis on the finding with respect to groundwater. The analysis of trends in groundwater is based on 56 well networks located in 22 principal aquifers of the United States. Analysis has focused on 3 approaches: 1) a statistical analysis of results of sampling over various time scales, 2) studies of factors affecting trends in groundwater quality, and 3) use of models to simulate groundwater trends and forecast future trends. Data collection for analysis of changes in groundwater-quality has focused on decadal resampling of wells. Understanding the trends in groundwater quality and the factors affecting those trends has been conducted using quarterly sampling, biennial sampling, and more recently continuous monitoring of selected parameters in a small number of wells. Models such as MODFLOW have been used for simulation and forecasting of future trends. Important outcomes from the groundwater-trends studies include issues involving statistics, sampling frequency, changes in laboratory analytical methods over time, the need for groundwater age-dating information, the value of understanding geochemical conditions and contaminant degradation, the need to understand groundwater-surface water interaction, and the value of modeling in understanding trends and forecasting potential future conditions. Statistically significant increases in chloride, dissolved solids, and nitrate concentrations were found in a large number of well networks over the first decadal sampling period. Statistically significant decreases of chloride, dissolved solids, and nitrate concentrations were found in a very small number of networks. Trends in surface-water are analyzed within 8 large major river basins within the United States with a focus on issues of regional importance. Examples of regional surface-water issues include an analysis of trends in dissolved solids in the Southeastern United States, trends in pesticides in the north-central United States, and trends in nitrate in the Mississippi River Basin. Evaluations of ecological indicators of water quality include temporal changes in stream habitat, and aquatic-invertebrate and fish assemblages.

  10. Sources and ages of fine-grained sediment to streams using fallout radionuclides in the Midwestern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gellis, Allen; Fuller, Christopher C.; Van Metre, Peter C.

    2017-01-01

    Fallout radionuclides, 7Be and 210Pbex, sampled in bed sediment for 99 watersheds in the Midwestern region of the United States and in 15 samples of suspended sediment from 3 of these watersheds were used to partition upland from channel sources and to estimate the age or the time since the surface-derived portion of sediment was on the land surface (0–∼1 year). Channel sources dominate: 78 of the 99 bed material sites (79%) have >50% channel-derived sediment, and 9 of the 15 suspended-sediment samples (60%) have >50% channel-derived sediment. 7Be was detected in 82 bed sediment samples and all 15 suspended-sediment samples. The surface-derived portion of 54 of the 80 (68%) streams with detectable 7Be and 210Pbex were ≤ 100 days old and the surface-derived portion of all suspended-sediment samples were ≤ 100 days old, indicating that surface-derived fine-grained sediment moves rapidly though these systems. The concentrations of two hydrophobic pesticides–DDE and bifenthrin–are correlated with the proportion of surface-derived sediment, indicating a link between geomorphic processes and particle-associated contaminants in streams. Urban areas had the highest pesticide concentrations and the largest percentage of surface-derived sediment. Although the percentage of surface-derived sediment is less than channel sources at most of the study sites, the relatively young age of the surface-derived sediment might indicate that management actions to reduce sediment contamination where the land surface is an important source could have noticeable effects.

  11. Improved evaluation of the blue water footprint from hydropower in the United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, G.; Gao, H.

    2017-12-01

    As the world's largest source of renewable energy, hydropower contributes 16.6% of the electricity production in the world. Even though it produces no waste, hydropower exhausts a considerable amount of water mostly through evaporation from the extended surface areas of the manmade lakes. The water footprint of hydropower becomes even larger with rising temperatures. To assist with the precise management of both water resources and energy production in the Contiguous United States (CONUS), 82 major dams—all with a primary purpose of producing hydroelectric power—were evaluated in terms of their blue water footprints. These dams account for 21% of the entire hydropower generation in the CONUS. Reservoir evaporation is calculated using state-of-the-art reservoir surface area and evaporation rate information. Instead of using fixed surface areas for the reservoirs—a practice which is adopted by virtually all other studies (and generally leads to over-or-under estimations)—time-variant surface areas were generated from Landsat imageries archived on Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Additionally, evaporation rates were calculated using an equilibrium method that incorporates the heat storage effects of the reservoirs. Results show that water consumption from hydropower is large and non-negligible. Furthermore, the differences of the blue water footprints among the dams studied are also significant. The results of this study can benefit the evaluation of existing dams (e.g. recommendation for dam removal) and the planning of future hydroelectric dams.

  12. Effects of the Structure of Water Rights on Agricultural Production During Drought: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of California's Central Valley

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nelson, K. S.; Burchfield, E. K.

    2017-10-01

    California's Central Valley region has been called the "bread-basket" of the United States. The region is home to one of the most productive agricultural systems on the planet. Such high levels of agricultural productivity require large amounts of fresh water for irrigation. However, the long-term availability of water required to sustain high levels of agricultural production is being called into question following the latest drought in California. In this paper, we use Bayesian multilevel spatiotemporal modeling techniques to examine the influence of the structure of surface water rights in the Central Valley on agricultural production during the recent drought. California is an important place to study these dynamics as it is the only state to recognize the two dominant approaches to surface water management in the United States: riparian and appropriative rights. In this study, Bayesian spatiotemporal modeling is employed to account for spatial processes that have the potential to influence the effects of water right structures on agricultural production. Results suggest that, after accounting for spatiotemporal dependencies in the data, seniority in surface water access significantly improves crop health and productivity on cultivated lands but does not independently affect the ability to maintain cultivated extent. In addition, agricultural productivity in watersheds with more junior surface water rights shows less sensitivity to cumulative drought exposure than other watersheds, however the extent of cultivation in these same watersheds is relatively more sensitive to cumulative drought exposure.

  13. Causes and consequences of decreasing atmospheric organic aerosol in the United States.

    PubMed

    Ridley, D A; Heald, C L; Ridley, K J; Kroll, J H

    2018-01-09

    Exposure to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) exacerbates respiratory and cardiovascular conditions and is a leading source of premature mortality globally. Organic aerosol contributes a significant fraction of PM in the United States. Here, using surface observations between 1990 and 2012, we show that organic carbon has declined dramatically across the entire United States by 25-50%; accounting for more than 30% of the US-wide decline in PM. The decline is in contrast with the increasing organic aerosol due to wildfires and no clear trend in biogenic emissions. By developing a carbonaceous emissions database for the United States, we show that at least two-thirds of the decline in organic aerosol can be explained by changes in anthropogenic emissions, primarily from vehicle emissions and residential fuel burning. We estimate that the decrease in anthropogenic organic aerosol is responsible for averting 180,000 (117,000-389,000) premature deaths between 1990 and 2012. The unexpected decrease in organic aerosol, likely a consequence of the implementation of Clean Air Act Amendments, results in 84,000 (30,000-164,000) more lives saved than anticipated by the EPA between 2000 and 2010.

  14. Causes and consequences of decreasing atmospheric organic aerosol in the United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ridley, D. A.; Heald, C. L.; Ridley, K. J.; Kroll, J. H.

    2018-01-01

    Exposure to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) exacerbates respiratory and cardiovascular conditions and is a leading source of premature mortality globally. Organic aerosol contributes a significant fraction of PM in the United States. Here, using surface observations between 1990 and 2012, we show that organic carbon has declined dramatically across the entire United States by 25–50%; accounting for more than 30% of the US-wide decline in PM. The decline is in contrast with the increasing organic aerosol due to wildfires and no clear trend in biogenic emissions. By developing a carbonaceous emissions database for the United States, we show that at least two-thirds of the decline in organic aerosol can be explained by changes in anthropogenic emissions, primarily from vehicle emissions and residential fuel burning. We estimate that the decrease in anthropogenic organic aerosol is responsible for averting 180,000 (117,000–389,000) premature deaths between 1990 and 2012. The unexpected decrease in organic aerosol, likely a consequence of the implementation of Clean Air Act Amendments, results in 84,000 (30,000–164,000) more lives saved than anticipated by the EPA between 2000 and 2010.

  15. Atmospheric ammonia and particulate inorganic nitrogen over the United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    We use in situ observations from the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network, the Midwest Ammonia Monitoring Project, 11 surface site campaigns as well as Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) satellite measurements with the GEOS-Ch...

  16. Field based plastic contamination sensing

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The United States has a long-held reputation of being a dependable source of high quality, contaminant-free cotton. Recently, increased incidence of plastic contamination from sources such as shopping bags, vegetable mulch, surface irrigation tubing, and module covers has threatened the reputation o...

  17. Assessment of CHSST maglev for U.S. urban transportation

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-07-01

    This report provides an assessment of the Urban Maglev system proposed by the Maglev Urban Systems Associates MUSA team for application in the United States. The proposed system is the Japanese Chubu high speed surface transportation (HSST) Maglev wh...

  18. Quantifying the impact of large percent trucks proportion on rural freeways.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-02-01

    The trucking industry continues to contribute significantly to the economy of the United States. : The surface transportation system has been a critical component for the movement of goods and : services by the trucking industry across the country. R...

  19. PERCHLORATE CROP INTERACTIONS VIA CONTAMINATED IRRIGATION WATER

    EPA Science Inventory

    Perchlorate has contaminated water and sods at several locations in the United States. Perchlorate is water soluble, exceedingly mobile in aqueous systems, and can persist for many decades under typical ground- and surface water conditions. Perchlorate is of concern because of un...

  20. ESTIMATING AND PROJECTING IMPERVIOUS COVER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Urban/suburban land use is the most rapidly growing land use class. Along with increased development inevitably comes increased impervious surface--areas preventing infiltration of water into the underlying soil. The extensive hydrological alteration of watersheds associated wi...

  1. Lateral attenuation of aircraft sound levels over an acoustically hard water surface : Logan Airport study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-05-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Langley Research Center (LaRC), sponsored the Acoustics Facility at the United States Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) and the...

  2. Durable superpave mixes in Kansas : technical summary.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-05-01

    Approximately 89% of 11,000 miles of Kansas roads are surfaced with asphalt. Hundreds of thousands of tons of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) are produced annually in the United States, including in Kansas. This bulk volume of RAP must be economical...

  3. Asphalt surface treatment practice in southeastern United States : [tech summary].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-09-01

    Pavement preservation is an approach in enhancing pavement performance using a set of practices that extends the life : of the pavement and improves safety and ride quality. According to the World Banks Pavement Deterioration Model, the : cost of ...

  4. Addressing Uncertainty in Fecal Indicator Bacteria Dark Inactivation Rates

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fecal contamination is a leading cause of surface water quality degradation. Roughly 20% of all total maximum daily load assessments approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency since 1995, for example, address water bodies with unacceptably high fecal indicator...

  5. Potential benefits of mileage-based user fees to the freight industry and industry concerns.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-08-01

    The concept of funding surface transportation infrastructure through fees charged on miles driven has been : receiving growing attention from transportation professionals and researchers in recent years. Highway funding in : the United States has tra...

  6. Pharmaceuticals and Hormones in the Environment

    EPA Science Inventory

    Some of the earliest initial reports from Europe and the United States demonstrated that a variety of pharmaceuticals and hormones could be found in surface waters, source waters, drinking water, and influents and effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). It is unknown...

  7. MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING GUIDE DOCUMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    Approximately 13% of surface waters in the United States do not meet designated use criteria as determined by high densities of fecal indicator bacteria. Although some of the contamination is attributed to point sources such as confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) and wastew...

  8. Methods for Estimating Water Withdrawals for Mining in the United States, 2005

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lovelace, John K.

    2009-01-01

    The mining water-use category includes groundwater and surface water that is withdrawn and used for nonfuels and fuels mining. Nonfuels mining includes the extraction of ores, stone, sand, and gravel. Fuels mining includes the extraction of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Water is used for mineral extraction, quarrying, milling, and other operations directly associated with mining activities. For petroleum and natural gas extraction, water often is injected for secondary oil or gas recovery. Estimates of water withdrawals for mining are needed for water planning and management. This report documents methods used to estimate withdrawals of fresh and saline groundwater and surface water for mining during 2005 for each county and county equivalent in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fresh and saline groundwater and surface-water withdrawals during 2005 for nonfuels- and coal-mining operations in each county or county equivalent in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands were estimated. Fresh and saline groundwater withdrawals for oil and gas operations in counties of six states also were estimated. Water withdrawals for nonfuels and coal mining were estimated by using mine-production data and water-use coefficients. Production data for nonfuels mining included the mine location and weight (in metric tons) of crude ore, rock, or mineral produced at each mine in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands during 2004. Production data for coal mining included the weight, in metric tons, of coal produced in each county or county equivalent during 2004. Water-use coefficients for mined commodities were compiled from various sources including published reports and written communications from U.S. Geological Survey National Water-use Information Program (NWUIP) personnel in several states. Water withdrawals for oil and gas extraction were estimated for six States including California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming, by using data from State agencies that regulate oil and gas extraction. Total water withdrawals for mining in a county were estimated by summing estimated water withdrawals for nonfuels mining, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction. The results of this study were distributed to NWUIP personnel in each State during 2007. NWUIP personnel were required to submit estimated withdrawals for numerous categories of use in their States to a national compilation team for inclusion in a national report describing water use in the United States during 2005. NWUIP personnel had the option of submitting the estimates determined by using the methods described in this report, a modified version of these estimates, or their own set of estimates or reported data. Estimated withdrawals resulting from the methods described in this report may not be included in the national report; therefore the estimates are not presented herein in order to avoid potential inconsistencies with the national report. Water-use coefficients for specific minerals also are not presented to avoid potential disclosure of confidential production data provided by mining operations to the U.S. Geological Survey.

  9. Water resources data for New Mexico, water year 1968; Part 1. Surface water records

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1969-01-01

    The surface-water records for the 1968 water year for gaging stations, partial record stations, and miscellaneous sites within the State of New Mexico are given in this report. For convenience there are also included records for a few pertinent gaging stations in bordering States. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey, under the direction of W. E. Hale, District Chief, Water Resources Division. This report is the eighth in a series presenting, annually, basic data on surfacewater records by States. Through September 30, 1960, "the records of discharge and stage of streams and contents and stage of lakes or reservoirs were published in an annual series of U. S. Geological Survey water-supply papers entitled "Surface Water Supply of the United States.!! Since 1951 there have been 20 volumes in the series; each volume covered an area whose boundaries coincided with those of certain natural drainage areas. The records in New Mexico were contained in Parts 7, 8, and 9 of that series. Beginning with the 1961 water year, streamflow records and related data have been released by the Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis. Distribution of these basic-data reports is limited and primarily for local needs. The records will be published in Geological Survey water-supply papers at 5-year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of conterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  10. Quantifying the role of National Forest system lands in providing surface drinking water supply for the Southern United States

    Treesearch

    Peter Caldwell; Corinne Muldoon; Chelcy Ford-Miniat; Erika Cohen; Suzanne Krieger; Ge Sun; Steven McNulty; Paul V. Bolstad

    2014-01-01

    Forests and water are inextricably linked, and people are dependent on forested lands to provide clean, reliable water supplies for drinking and to support local economies. These water supplies are at risk of degradation from a growing population, continued conversion of forests to other land uses, and climate change. Given the variety of threats to surface water, it...

  11. P-wave fault-plane solutions and the generation of surface waves by earthquakes in the western United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Patton, Howard J.

    1985-08-01

    Surface waves recorded at regional distances are used to study the source mechanisms of seven earthquakes in the western United States with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.5. The source mechanisms of events in or on the margins of the Basin and Range show T-axis with an azimuth of N85°W +/- 16° and a plunge of 12° +/- 16°. Of the seven events, four have P-wave solutions that are inconsistent with surface-wave observations. Azimuths of the T-axis obtained from the surface-wave mechanisms and from the P-wave solutions differ by up to 45°. These events have dip-slip or oblique-slip mechanisms, and the source depths for three of the events are 5 km or less. Their source mechanisms and small magnitudes make identification of the P-wave first motion difficult due to poor signal-to-noise ratio of the initial P-wave and close arrivals of pP or sP with significant amplitude. We suggest that mis-identification of the P-wave first motion and distortion of the body-wave ray paths due to non-planar structure were sources of error in determining the nodal planes for these events.

  12. Widespread potential for microbial MTBE degradation in surface-water sediments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bradley, P.M.; Landmeyer, J.E.; Chapelle, F.H.

    2001-01-01

    Microorganisms indigenous to stream and lake bed sediments, collected from 11 sites throughout the United States, demonstrated significant mineralization of the fuel oxygenate, methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Mineralization of [U-14C]MTBE to 14CO2 ranged from 15 to 66% over 50 days and did not differ significantly between sediments collected from MTBE contaminated sites and from sites with no history of MTBE exposure. This result suggests that even the microbial communities indigenous to newly contaminated surface water systems will exhibit some innate ability to attenuate MTBE under aerobic conditions. The magnitude of MTBE mineralization was related to the sediment grain size distribution. A pronounced, inverse correlation (p < 0.001; r2 = 0.73) was observed between the final recovery of 14CO2 and the percentage content of silt and clay sized grains (grain diameter < 0.125 mm). The results of this study indicate that the microorganisms that inhabit the bed sediments of streams and lakes can degrade MTBE efficiently and that this capability is widespread in the environment. Thus aerobic bed sediment microbial processes may provide a significant environmental sink for MTBE in surface water systems throughout the United States and may contribute to the reported transience of MTBE in some surface waters.

  13. Spectral identification of geological units on the surface of Mars related to the presence of silicates from Earth-based near-infrared telescopic charge-coupled device imaging

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pinet, P.; Chevrel, S.

    1990-08-30

    During the September 1988 Mars opposition, the authors obtained new high spatial (100-150 km) and spectral ({Delta}{lambda}/{lambda} = 1%) resolution near-IR telescopic charge-coupled device images of Mars from Pic-du-Midi Observatory. These images allow the association of spectral units with morphologic surface units on Mars, especially within the dark regions which exhibit much greater variability than the bright regions. Mineralogical interpretation of the data leads to a global description of the surface state of alteration consistent with the spatial distribution of bright and dark regions, with the bright regions being more altered than the dark. Within the less altered regions, Fe{supmore » 2+} crystal field absorption bands are detected, indicative of the presence of mafic minerals (Opx, Cpx, O1) in agreement with a likely crustal basaltic composition. The most conspicuous Fe{sup 2+} absorption features are clearly related to the volcanic regions of the Syrtis Major Shield and Hesperia Planum unit. The strongest observed absorptions due to olivine and clinopyroxene are spatially associated with the restricted central caldera complex of Nili-Meroe Paterae (within Syrtis Major) and the Tyrrhena Patera unit (within Hesperia Planum) and indicate an ultramafic composition.« less

  14. A detailed gravimetric geoid from North America to Eurasia

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vincent, S. F.; Strange, W. E.; Marsh, J. G.

    1972-01-01

    A detailed gravimetric geoid of the United States, North Atlantic, and Eurasia, which was computed from a combination of satellite derived and surface gravity data, is presented. The precision of this detailed geoid is + or - 2 to + or - 3 m in the continents but may be in the range of 5 to 7 m in those areas where data is sparse. Comparisons of the detailed gravimetric geoid with results of Rapp, Fischer, and Rice for the United States, Bomford in Europe, and Heiskanen and Fischer in India are presented. Comparisons are also presented with geoid heights from satellite solutions for geocentric station coordinates in North America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

  15. Vertical profiles of CO and CH4 in the lower and middle troposphere over the Eastern United States January 1978

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reichle, H. G., Jr.; Condon, E. P.

    1979-01-01

    Samples of tropospheric air were obtained over the Eastern United States during January of 1978. These samples were analyzed by gas chromatography using flame ionization detection to produce vertical profiles of carbon monoxide and methane from the surface to 8 km. The carbon monoxide mixing ratios at 35 deg N and 45 deg N agree with previously published values; however, the mixing ratio at 25 deg N was significantly lower than most published values. The methane mixing ratio was weakly dependent on latitude and has an average value of 1.64 ppm.

  16. Data catalog for JPL Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Digby, Susan

    1995-01-01

    The Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) archive at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory contains satellite data sets and ancillary in-situ data for the ocean sciences and global-change research to facilitate multidisciplinary use of satellite ocean data. Geophysical parameters available from the archive include sea-surface height, surface-wind vector, surface-wind speed, surface-wind stress vector, sea-surface temperature, atmospheric liquid water, integrated water vapor, phytoplankton pigment concentration, heat flux, and in-situ data. PO.DAAC is an element of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System and is the United States distribution site for TOPEX/POSEIDON data and metadata.

  17. Contents of the NASA ocean data system archive, version 11-90

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, Elizabeth A. (Editor); Lassanyi, Ruby A. (Editor)

    1990-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ocean Data System (NODS) archive at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) includes satellite data sets for the ocean sciences and global-change research to facilitate multidisciplinary use of satellite ocean data. Parameters include sea-surface height, surface-wind vector, sea-surface temperature, atmospheric liquid water, and surface pigment concentration. NODS will become the Data Archive and Distribution Service of the JPL Distributed Active Archive Center for the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) and will be the United States distribution site for Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/POSEIDON data and metadata.

  18. Compositional trends in aeolian dust along a transect across the southwestern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Goldstein, H.L.; Reynolds, R.L.; Reheis, M.C.; Yount, J.C.; Neff, J.C.

    2008-01-01

    Aeolian dust strongly influences ecology and landscape geochemistry over large areas that span several desert ecosystems of the southwestern United States. This study evaluates spatial and temporal variations and trends of the physical and chemical properties of dust in the southwestern United States by examining dust deposited in natural depressions on high isolated surfaces along a transect from the Mojave Desert to the central Colorado Plateau. Aeolian dust is recognized in these depressions on the basis of textural, chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical characteristics and comparisons of those characteristics to the underlying bedrock units. Spatial and temporal trends suggest that although local dust sources are important to the accumulated material in these depressions, Mojave Desert dust sources may also contribute. Depth trends in the depressions suggest that Mojave sources may have contributed more dust to the Colorado Plateau recently than in the past. These interpretations point to the important roles of far-traveled aeolian dust for landscape geochemistry and imply future changes to soil geochemistry under changing conditions in far-distant dust source areas. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

  19. USGS Geospatial Fabric and Geo Data Portal for Continental Scale Hydrology Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sampson, K. M.; Newman, A. J.; Blodgett, D. L.; Viger, R.; Hay, L.; Clark, M. P.

    2013-12-01

    This presentation describes use of United States Geological Survey (USGS) data products and server-based resources for continental-scale hydrologic simulations. The USGS Modeling of Watershed Systems (MoWS) group provides a consistent national geospatial fabric built on NHDPlus. They have defined more than 100,000 hydrologic response units (HRUs) over the continental United States based on points of interest (POIs) and split into left and right bank based on the corresponding stream segment. Geophysical attributes are calculated for each HRU that can be used to define parameters in hydrologic and land-surface models. The Geo Data Portal (GDP) project at the USGS Center for Integrated Data Analytics (CIDA) provides access to downscaled climate datasets and processing services via web-interface and python modules for creating forcing datasets for any polygon (such as an HRU). These resources greatly reduce the labor required for creating model-ready data in-house, contributing to efficient and effective modeling applications. We will present an application of this USGS cyber-infrastructure for assessments of impacts of climate change on hydrology over the continental United States.

  20. Processing and Applications of Depleted Uranium Alloy Products

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1976-09-01

    temperal,,r at the wheel-metal interface, thus tending to produce surface cracks and in some cases to burn the metal. Data on speeds and feeds inr...comprehensive current resource of technical information on the development and utilization of advcnlod metal- or ceramic-base materials. The Center is operated...under the sponsorship of the Department of Defense. Neither the United Staxes Government nor any person acting on be ilf of the United States Government

  1. Tracking illegal small arms traffic across U.S. borders through the implementation of firearm microstamping to small arms and small arms exports

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lizotte, Todd E.; Ohar, Orest P.

    2009-05-01

    At a border security conference in August 2008, Michael Sullivan, acting director of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that, "Nearly all illegal firearms (90% to 95%) seized in Mexico come from the United States"[1]. When firearms are recovered at a crime scene, the firearms can be traced providing specific details on illegal firearm dealers or straw purchasers within the United States. Criminals or narco terrorist groups target US dealers to source firearms for drug cartels in Mexico and South America. Joint law enforcement programs between the US and Mexico law enforcement have been effective, however, in most cases the firearms that are seized are only a small fraction of the firearms trafficked across the United States border. A technology called Microstamping, when applied to newly manufactured firearms will provide further opportunities for tracing illegal firearms for law enforcement in the United States and across the globe. Microstamping is a patented technology and trace solution where intentional tooling marks are formed or micromachined onto firearms interior surfaces that come into contact or impact the surfaces of cartridge casings. The intentional tooling marks can take the form of alphanumeric codes or encoded geometric codes, such as a barcode. As the firearm is discharged the intentional tooling marks transfer a code to the cartridge casing before it is ejected out of the firearm. When recovered at the scene of an incident, the Microstamped cartridge can indentify a specific firearm, without the need to recover that firearm. Microstamping provides critical intelligence for use in border security operations and cross border violent drug related crime investigations. This paper will explain the key attributes of microstamping technology; including its potential benefits in border security operations and how data gathered from the technique can be used in geospatial information systems to identify illicit firearm sources, trafficking routes, as well as spatial and temporal mapping of narco-terrorist movements on either side of the border.

  2. Summary of estimated water use in the United States in 2015

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Maupin, Molly A.

    2018-06-19

    A total of 322 Bgal/d of water withdrawals was reported for eight categories of use in the United States in 2015, which was 9 percent less than in 2010 (354 Bgal/d), and continued a declining trend since 2005. The decline in total withdrawals in 2015 primarily was caused by significant decreases (28.8 Bgal/d) in thermoelectric power, which accounted for 89 percent of the decrease in total withdrawals. Between 2010 and 2015, withdrawals decreased in all categories except irrigation (2 percent increase), mining (1 percent increase), and livestock (no change). Fresh surface-water withdrawals (198 Bgal/d) were 14 percent less than in 2010, and fresh groundwater withdrawals (82.3 Bgal/d) were about 8 percent more than in 2010. Saline surface-water withdrawals (38.6 Bgal/d) were 14 percent less than in 2010, and saline groundwater withdrawals (2.34 Bgal/d) were 5 percent more than in 2010. Total population in the United States in 2015 (325 million) increased by 4 percent (12.4 million) from 2010, which was similar to the increase between 2005 and 2010. For the first time since 1995, consumptive use for irrigation and thermoelectric power were reported. Consumptive use accounted for 62 percent (73.2 Bgal/d) of water used for irrigation, and 3 percent (4.31 Bgal/d) of water used for thermoelectric power in 2015.

  3. SESSION: EMERGING POLLUTANT ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES TITLE: BACTERIAL SOURCE TRACKING

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fecal contamination of surface waters used for recreation, drinking water and aquaculture are a continuous environmental problem and pose significant human health risks. An alarming amount of the United States rivers/streams (39%), lakes (45%), and estuaries (51%) are not safe f...

  4. Surface water records of New Mexico, water year 1962

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1963-01-01

    year intervals. These 5-year water-supply papers will show daily discharge and will be compiled on the same geographical areas previously used for the annual series; however, some of the 14 parts of conterminous United States will be further subdivided.

  5. RAPID CONCENTRATION OF VIRUSES FROM WATER - PHASE I

    EPA Science Inventory

    In the United States, several high profile outbreaks of waterborne illness during the past 15 years have highlighted the need for solutions to drinking water contamination.  Several recent studies suggest that approximately 20 percent of the surface and ground source waters...

  6. PERCHLORATE PHYTOREMEDIATION USING HARDWOOD TREES AND VASCULAR PLANTS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Perchlorate has contaminated water and soils at several locations in the United States. Perchlorate is
    water soluble, exceedingly mobile in aqueous systems, and can persist for many decades under typical ground and surface water conditions. Perchlorate is of concern because of...

  7. A Framework for Evaluating Energy and Emissions of Connected and Automated Vehicles through Traffic Microsimulations

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2018-01-07

    Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) are poised to transform surface transportation systems in the United States. Near-term CAV technologies like cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) have the potential to deliver energy efficiency and air qua...

  8. MONITORING THE ACCOTINK CREEK STREAM RESTORATION

    EPA Science Inventory

    Since the inception of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972, the United States has made great efforts in restoring and preserving the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. However, nearly half of the nation’s assessed surface water resource...

  9. A comparison of IVHS progress in the United States, Europe, and Japan

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-12-01

    IVHS is an international phenomenon that continues to change : the face of surface transportation all over the world. : Unique to IVHS among international high-tech fields is the : amount of international cooperation that has occurred and the : fact ...

  10. 78 FR 30329 - Multilayered Wood Flooring from China

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-22

    ...)] Multilayered Wood Flooring from China AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission. ACTION: Notice of...-1179 (Final) concerning multilayered wood flooring (``MLWF'') from China. For further information... Hardwood Floors, Inc.; BR Custom Surface; Real Wood Floors, LLC; Galleher Corp.; and DPR International, LLC...

  11. Using the FORE-SCE model to project land-cover change in the southeastern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sohl, Terry; Sayler, Kristi L.

    2008-01-01

    A wide variety of ecological applications require spatially explicit current and projected land-use and land-cover data. The southeastern United States has experienced massive land-use change since European settlement and continues to experience extremely high rates of forest cutting, significant urban development, and changes in agricultural land use. Forest-cover patterns and structure are projected to change dramatically in the southeastern United States in the next 50 years due to population growth and demand for wood products [Wear, D.N., Greis, J.G. (Eds.), 2002. Southern Forest Resource Assessment. General Technical Report SRS-53. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Asheville, NC, 635 pp]. Along with our climate partners, we are examining the potential effects of southeastern U.S. land-cover change on regional climate. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Land Cover Trends project is analyzing contemporary (1973-2000) land-cover change in the conterminous United States, providing ecoregion-by-ecoregion estimates of the rates of change, descriptive transition matrices, and changes in landscape metrics. The FORecasting SCEnarios of future land-cover (FORE-SCE) model used Land Cover Trends data and theoretical, statistical, and deterministic modeling techniques to project future land-cover change through 2050 for the southeastern United States. Prescriptions for future proportions of land cover for this application were provided by ecoregion-based extrapolations of historical change. Logistic regression was used to develop relationships between suspected drivers of land-cover change and land cover, resulting in the development of probability-of-occurrence surfaces for each unique land-cover type. Forest stand age was initially established with Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data and tracked through model iterations. The spatial allocation procedure placed patches of new land cover on the landscape until the scenario prescriptions were met, using measured Land Cover Trends data to guide patch characteristics and the probability surfaces to guide placement. The approach provides an efficient method for extrapolating historical land-cover trends and is amenable to the incorporation of more detailed and focused studies for the establishment of scenario prescriptions.

  12. Agricultural Groundwater Demands in the Conterminous United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ho, M. W.; Parthasarathy, V.; Etienne, E.; Russo, T. A.; Devineni, N.; Lall, U.

    2016-12-01

    In the conterminous United States (CONUS), over 40% of water consumed for irrigation, livestock and domestic water is sourced from groundwater. The late 20th century and 21st century saw an expansion in irrigated agriculture across the CONUS that was accompanied by increased pumping of groundwater. Groundwater is typically used to mitigate impacts of drought on surface water supplies enabling water demands to be met as well as to augment sparse surface water resources in arid regions or where surface water availability is highly variable temporally and/or spatially. A Demand Sensitive Drought Index (DSDI) is used to examine the impacts of agricultural water needs on groundwater in the CONUS. The DSDI accounts for agricultural water deficits driven by low precipitation, high agricultural water demand, or a combination of both. Changes in groundwater levels relative to agricultural water deficits are characterized relative to precipitation during the growing season and winter precipitation. In several key irrigated agricultural regions in the CONUS, long-term trends in groundwater levels appear to reflect prolonged periods of surface water deficits resulting from land use and associated unsustainable water demands. These areas are subsequent unable to recover from persistent states of agricultural drought. Conversely, reductions in agricultural water demands for crops do not necessarily lead to immediate recovery of groundwater levels due to the demand for groundwater in other sectors. Calls to establish or reform groundwater policies have recently been made in an effort to achieve holistic groundwater management strategies that consider the human demands on both surface water and groundwater. There is a need for relevant groundwater policies to ensure that water demands are adequately managed across sectors without unsustainably depleting groundwater resources and to ensure efficient economic activity.

  13. Seasonality of Aerosols the Southeastern United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ford, B. J.; Heald, C. L.

    2012-12-01

    Previous studies have suggested that increases in atmospheric aerosols of biogenic origin may have caused regional cooling over the southeastern United States in recent decades. Understanding the sources and behaviors of these aerosols is important for determining their role in a changing climate and managing their air quality impacts. In this study, we investigate the strong seasonality in aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed by MODIS, MISR, and CALIOP instruments over the southeastern United States and show that this is not simulated by a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). However, the model does reproduce surface PM 2.5 concentrations in the region as reported by the IMPROVE and Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization (SEARCH) networks, as well as the muted seasonality of these concentrations. In addition, these surface measurements show that organic aerosol makes up a small fraction of total PM 2.5 and has relatively little seasonality, which calls into question the importance of biogenic aerosol as a driver for climate change in the region. Sounding profiles and ground observations of relative humidity suggest that the magnitude of seasonality in AOD cannot be explained by seasonal differences in the hygroscopic growth of aerosols. CALIOP measurements of the vertical profile of aerosol extinction confirm that the likely reconciliation of the differences in seasonality between the surface PM 2.5 and AOD observations is the formation of aerosol aloft, a process not captured by the model. These findings provide initial insights for the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) campaign in 2013 which aims to investigate the anthropogenic influence on biogenic aerosol formation in the Southeastern US and elucidate the impact on regional climate and air quality.

  14. Estimated use of water in the United States in 2015

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dieter, Cheryl A.; Maupin, Molly A.; Caldwell, Rodney R.; Harris, Melissa A.; Ivahnenko, Tamara I.; Lovelace, John K.; Barber, Nancy L.; Linsey, Kristin S.

    2018-06-19

    Water use in the United States in 2015 was estimated to be about 322 billion gallons per day (Bgal/d), which was 9 percent less than in 2010. The 2015 estimates put total withdrawals at the lowest level since before 1970, following the same overall trend of decreasing total withdrawals observed from 2005 to 2010. Freshwater withdrawals were 281 Bgal/d, or 87 percent of total withdrawals, and saline-water withdrawals were 41.0 Bgal/d, or 13 percent of total withdrawals. Fresh surface-water withdrawals (198 Bgal/d) were 14 percent less than in 2010, and fresh groundwater withdrawals (82.3 Bgal/day) were about 8 percent greater than in 2010. Saline surface-water withdrawals were 38.6 Bgal/d, or 14 percent less than in 2010. Total saline groundwater withdrawals in 2015 were 2.34 Bgal/d, mostly for mining use.Thermoelectric power and irrigation remained the two largest uses of water in 2015, and total withdrawals decreased for thermoelectric power but increased for irrigation. With­drawals in 2015 for thermoelectric power were 18 percent less and withdrawals for irrigation were 2 percent greater than in 2010. Similarly, other uses showed reductions compared to 2010, specifically public supply (–7 percent), self-supplied domestic (–8 percent), self-supplied industrial (–9 percent), and aquaculture (–16 percent). In addition to irrigation (2 percent), mining (1 percent) reported larger withdrawals in 2015 than in 2010. Livestock withdrawals remained essentially the same in 2015 compared to 2010 (0 percent change). Thermoelectric power, irrigation, and public-supply withdrawals accounted for 90 percent of total withdrawals in 2015.Withdrawals for thermoelectric power were 133 Bgal/d in 2015 and represented the lowest levels since before 1970. Surface-water withdrawals accounted for more than 99 percent of total thermoelectric-power withdrawals, and 72 percent of those surface-water withdrawals were from freshwater sources. Saline surface-water withdrawals for thermoelectric power accounted for 97 percent of total saline surface-water withdrawals for all uses. Thermoelectric-power withdrawals accounted for 41 percent of total withdrawals for all uses, and freshwater withdrawals for thermoelectric power accounted for 34 percent of the total freshwater withdrawals for all uses. Total consumptive use for thermoelectric power was 4.31 Bgal/d in 2015 or 3 percent of the total thermoelectric-power withdrawals.Irrigation withdrawals were 118 Bgal/d in 2015, an increase of 2 percent from 2010 (116 Bgal/d), but were approximately equal to withdrawals estimated in the 1960s. Irrigation withdrawals, all freshwater, accounted for 42 percent of total freshwater withdrawals for all uses and 64 percent of total freshwater withdrawals for all uses excluding thermoelectric power. Surface-water withdrawals (60.9 Bgal/d) accounted for 52 percent of the total irrigation withdrawals, or about 8 percent less than in 2010. Ground­water withdrawals for irrigation were 57.2 Bgal/d in 2015, about 16 percent more than in 2010. About 63,500 thousand acres (or 63.5 million acres) were irrigated in 2015, an increase from 2010 of about 1,130 thousand acres (2 percent). The number of acres irrigated using sprinkler and microirrigation systems accounted for 63 percent of the total irrigated lands in 2015. Total consumptive use for irrigation was 73.2 Bgal/d in 2015 or 62 percent of the total use (withdrawals and reclaimed wastewater).Public-supply withdrawals in 2015 were 39.0 Bgal/d, or 7 percent less than in 2010, continuing the declines observed from 2005 to 2010. Total population in the United States increased from 312.6 million people in 2010 to 325.0 million people in 2015, an increase of 4 percent. Public-supply withdrawals accounted for 14 percent of the total freshwater withdrawals for all uses and 21 percent of freshwater with­drawals for all uses, excluding thermoelectric power. The number of people that received potable water from public-supply facilities in 2015 was 283 million, or about 87 percent of the total United States population. This percentage is 1 percent greater than in 2010. Self-supplied domestic withdrawals were 3.26 Bgal/d, or 8 percent less than in 2010. More than 98 percent of the self-supplied domestic withdrawals were from groundwater sources.Self-supplied industrial withdrawals were 14.8 Bgal/d in 2015, a 9 percent decline from 2010, continuing the downward trend since the peak of 47 Bgal/d in 1970. Total self-supplied industrial withdrawals were 5 percent of total withdrawals for all uses and 8 percent of total withdrawals for all uses, excluding thermoelectric power. Most of the total self-supplied industrial withdrawals were from surface-water sources (82 percent), and nearly all (94 percent) of those surface-water withdrawals were from freshwater sources. Nearly all of the groundwater withdrawals for self-supplied industrial use (98 percent) were from freshwater sources.Total aquaculture withdrawals were 7.55 Bgal/d in 2015, or 16 percent less than in 2010, and surface water was the primary source (79 percent). Most of the surface-water withdrawals occurred at facilities that operated flow-through raceways, which returned the water to the source directly after use. Aquaculture withdrawals accounted for 2 percent of the total withdrawals for all uses and 4 percent of the total withdrawals for all uses, excluding thermoelectric.Total mining withdrawals in 2015 were 4.00 Bgal/d, or about 1 percent of total withdrawals from all uses and 2 percent of total withdrawals from all uses, excluding thermoelectric. Mining withdrawals increased 1 percent from 2010 to 2015. Groundwater withdrawals accounted for 72 percent of the total mining withdrawals, and most of the groundwater was saline (65 percent). Most (77 percent) of the surface-water withdrawals for mining was freshwater.Livestock withdrawals in 2015 were 2.00 Bgal/d, the same as in 2010. All livestock withdrawals were from freshwater sources, mostly from groundwater (62 percent). Livestock withdrawals accounted for about 1 percent of total freshwater withdrawals for all uses, excluding thermoelectric power.In 2015, more than 50 percent of the total withdrawals in the United States were accounted for by 12 States (California, Texas, Idaho, Florida, Arkansas, New York, Illinois, Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan, Montana, and Nebraska). California accounted for almost 9 percent of the total withdrawals and 9 percent of freshwater withdrawals in the United States, predominantly for irrigation. Texas accounted for almost 7 percent of total withdrawals, predominantly for thermoelectric power, irrigation, and public supply. Florida accounted for 23 percent of the total saline-water withdrawals in the United States, mostly from surface-water sources for thermoelectric power. Texas and California accounted for 59 percent of the total saline groundwater withdrawals in the United States, mostly for mining.

  15. Environmental Assessment for Construction of the United States Air Force Technical Application Center (AFTAC) on Patrick Air Force Base, Florida (Amended)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-07-01

    ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SpecPro Inc,Environmental Services,12500 San Pedro Avenue Ste 670,San Antonio,TX,78216 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION ...FDEP’s state Clearinghouse which provided interagency review by several state organizations . The FDEP determined that the Proposed Action is consistent...locations, etc., that use more organic elements with landscaping, trees, grass, rock, and aesthetic views. The amount of impervious surface for roads and

  16. The regional abundance and size distribution of lakes and reservoirs in the United States and implication for estimates of global lake extent

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    McDonald, Cory P.; Rover, Jennifer; Stets, Edward G.; Striegl, Robert G.

    2012-01-01

    We analyzed complete geospatial data for the 3.5 million lakes and reservoirs larger than 0.001 km2, with a combined surface area of 131,000 km2, in the contiguous United States (excluding the Laurentian Great Lakes) and identified their regional distribution characteristics. For Alaska, we also analyzed (1) incomplete data that suggest that the state contains 1–2.5 million lakes larger than 0.001 km2 covering over 50,000 km2 and (2) localized high-resolution (5 m) data that suggest that the number of very small water bodies (< 0.001 km2) may be comparable with the number of lakes > 0.001 km2 in some areas. The Pareto distribution cannot accurately describe the lake abundance-size relationship across the entire size spectrum, and extrapolation of this density function to small size classes has likely resulted in the overestimation of the number of small lakes in the world. While small water bodies dominate in terms of numbers, they are not numerous enough to dominate in terms of surface area, as has been previously suggested. Extending our results to the global scale suggests that there are on the order of 64 million water bodies larger than 0.001 km2 in the world, with a total surface area of approximately 3.8 million km2.

  17. A Look at the Origin and Magnitude of the Chemical Contribution to the Enhancement Mechanism of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS): Theory and Experiment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-01

    Mater. Chem. C 2013, 1, 426−431. (20) Pazos -Perez, N.; Ni, W. H.; Schweikart, A .; Alvarez-Puebla, R. A .; Fery, A .; Liz-Marzan, L. M. Highly Uniform... A Look at the Origin and Magnitude of the Chemical Contribution to the Enhancement Mechanism of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS): Theory...Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, United States *S Supporting Information ABSTRACT: Normal and surface-enhanced Raman spectra for a set of substituted

  18. JPL Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) data availability, version 1-94

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1994-01-01

    The Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) archive at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) includes satellite data sets for the ocean sciences and global-change research to facilitate multidisciplinary use of satellite ocean data. Parameters include sea-surface height, surface-wind vector, sea-surface temperature, atmospheric liquid water, and integrated water vapor. The JPL PO.DAAC is an element of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) and is the United States distribution site for Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/POSEIDON data and metadata.

  19. Surface Temperature Assimilation in Land Surface Models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lakshmi, Venkataraman

    1997-01-01

    This paper examines the utilization of surface temperature as a variable to be assimilated in offline land surface hydrological models. Comparisons between the model computed and satellite observed surface temperatures have been carried out. The assimilation of surface temperature is carried out twice a day (corresponding to the AM and PM overpass of the NOAA10) over the Red- Arkansas basin in the Southwestern United States (31 deg 50 min N - 36 deg N, 94 deg 30 min W - 104 deg 30 min W) for a period of one year (August 1987 to July 1988). The effect of assimilation is to reduce the difference between the surface soil moisture computed for the precipitation and/or shortwave radiation perturbed case and the unperturbed case compared to no assimilation.

  20. Surface Temperature Assimilation in Land Surface Models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lakshmi, Venkataraman

    1999-01-01

    This paper examines the utilization of surface temperature as a variable to be assimilated in offline land surface hydrological models. Comparisons between the model computed and satellite observed surface temperatures have been carried out. The assimilation of surface temperature is carried out twice a day (corresponding to the AM and PM overpass of the NOAA10) over the Red-Arkansas basin in the Southwestern United States (31 degs 50 sec N - 36 degrees N, 94 degrees 30 seconds W - 104 degrees 3 seconds W) for a period of one year (August 1987 to July 1988). The effect of assimilation is to reduce the difference between the surface soil moisture computed for the precipitation and/or shortwave radiation perturbed case and the unperturbed case compared to no assimilation.

  1. Estimated anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the land surface of the conterminous United States--1992, 1997, and 2002

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sprague, Lori A.; Gronberg, Jo Ann M.

    2013-01-01

    Anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to each county in the conterminous United States and to the watersheds of 495 surface-water sites studied as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program were quantified for the years 1992, 1997, and 2002. Estimates of inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus from biological fixation by crops (for nitrogen only), human consumption, crop production for human consumption, animal production for human consumption, animal consumption, and crop production for animal consumption for each county are provided in a tabular dataset. These county-level estimates were allocated to the watersheds of the surface-water sites to estimate watershed-level inputs from the same sources; these estimates also are provided in a tabular dataset, together with calculated estimates of net import of food and net import of feed and previously published estimates of inputs from atmospheric deposition, fertilizer, and recoverable manure. The previously published inputs are provided for each watershed so that final estimates of total anthropogenic nutrient inputs could be calculated. Estimates of total anthropogenic inputs are presented together with previously published estimates of riverine loads of total nitrogen and total phosphorus for reference.

  2. Estimates of diffuse phosphorus sources in surface waters of the United States using a spatially referenced watershed model

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Alexander, R.B.; Smith, R.A.; Schwarz, G.E.

    2004-01-01

    The statistical watershed model SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) was used to estimate the sources and transport of total phosphorus (TP) in surface waters of the United States. We calibrated the model using stream measurements of TP from 336 watersheds of mixed land use and spatial data on topography, soils, stream hydrography, and land use (agriculture, forest, shrub/grass, urban). The model explained 87% of the spatial variability in log transformed stream TP flux (kg yr-1). Predictions of stream yield (kg ha-1 yr-1) were typically within 45% of the observed values at the monitoring sites. The model identified appreciable effects of soils, streams, and reservoirs on TP transport, The estimated aquatic rates of phosphorus removal declined with increasing stream size and rates of water flushing in reservoirs (i.e. areal hydraulic loads). A phosphorus budget for the 2.9 million km2 Mississippi River Basin provides a detailed accounting of TP delivery to streams, the removal of TP in surface waters, and the stream export of TP from major interior watersheds for sources associated with each land-use type. ?? US Government 2004.

  3. Private forests, housing growth, and America’s water supply: A report from the Forests on the Edge and Forests to Faucets Projects

    Treesearch

    M. H. Mockrin; R. L. Lilja; E. Weidner; S. M. Stein; M. A. Carr

    2014-01-01

    America’s private forests provide a vast array of public goods and services, including abundant, clean surface water. Forest loss and development can affect water quality and quantity when forests are removed and impervious surfaces, such as paved roads, spread across the landscape. We rank watersheds across the conterminous United States according to the contributions...

  4. System for Initial Assessment, Management, and Physiologic Monitoring of Battlefield Casualties

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-03-01

    largest volume of closed head injury patients of any single hospital in the United States, the ABER study has become a screening procedure of choice...ABBREVIATED INJURY SCALE Severity Category/Injury Description Severity code GENERAL 1. -- Aches all over -- Minor lacerations, contusions, and...surface 2* or 3* burns 5. -- Over 50% body surface 20 or 30 burns HEAD AND NECK 1. -- Cerebral injury with headache; dizziness; no loss of consciousness

  5. SEROLOGICAL RESPONSES TO CRYPTOSPORIDIUM ANTIGENS AMONG USERS OF SURFACE VERSUS UNDERGROUND DRINKING WATER SOURCES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Cryptosporidium oocysts have been detected in source and treated drinking waters in the United States and elsewhere. Enhanced enteric disease surveillance, initiated following detection of oocysts, has not often detected elevated rates of infection or of symptoms compatible with...

  6. LOCATING AND REPAIRING LEAKS IN LANDFILL/IMPOUNDMENT FLEXIBLE MEMBRANE LINERS

    EPA Science Inventory

    In the United States, the large quantities of solid and hazardous wastes generated each year are commonly disposed of in landfills and surface impoundments. Geomembrane liners (flexible membrane liners, FMLs) are often used to form an impermeable barrier to prevent migration of c...

  7. Performance evaluation of snow and ice plows.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-11-01

    Removal of ice and snow from road surfaces is a critical task in the northern tier of the United States, : including Illinois. Highways with high levels of traffic are expected to be cleared of snow and ice quickly : after each snow storm. This is ne...

  8. ICLUS Tools and Datasets (Version 1.3.2)

    EPA Science Inventory

    As a part of the Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (ICLUS) project, this Geographic Information System (GIS) tool can be used to generate scenarios of housing-density changes and calculate impervious surface cover for the conterminous United States. The ICLUS User’s Guid...

  9. BLM forest lands report -- 2006 status and condition

    Treesearch

    Tim Bottomley; Jim Menlove

    2006-01-01

    The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), administers over 261 million surface acres of public land in the western United States, including Alaska. Approximately 69 million acres, or 26 percent, are classified as forested.

  10. DOCUMENTING THE U.S. LANDFILL/IMPOUNDMENT PERMIT: A GUIDE TO TECHNICAL RESOURCES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Since 1976, beginning with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the United States government has legislated standards for landfills and surface impoundments to make certain that when disposing of hazardous wstes, human health and the environment will be protected. ...

  11. Cultural Exploration through Mapping

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schall, Janine M.

    2010-01-01

    Increasing diversity in the United States means that all students must understand multiple cultural perspectives and identities. Educators need to facilitate learning engagements that highlight the complexities of culture and cultural identity, going beyond surface characteristics such as foods, holidays, and clothing that are often the focus in…

  12. 7 CFR 51.492 - Sunscald.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Sunscald. 51.492 Section 51.492 Agriculture..., CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Cantaloups 1 Definitions § 51.492 Sunscald. Sunscald means discolored or bleached, sunken areas of the surface having tough epidermis with underlying...

  13. 7 CFR 51.492 - Sunscald.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Sunscald. 51.492 Section 51.492 Agriculture..., CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Cantaloups 1 Definitions § 51.492 Sunscald. Sunscald means discolored or bleached, sunken areas of the surface having tough epidermis with underlying...

  14. Multiscale Modeling of Multi-decadal Trends in Ozone across the Northern Hemisphere & United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    Both observational and modeling studies have demonstrated that pollutants near the Earth’s surface can be convectively lofted to higher altitudes where strong winds can efficiently transport them from one continent to another, thereby impacting air quality on intercontinent...

  15. 30 CFR 57.6132 - Magazine requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Magazine requirements. 57.6132 Section 57.6132...-Surface Only § 57.6132 Magazine requirements. (a) Magazines shall be— (1) Structurally sound; (2... magazine; (6) Posted with the appropriate United States Department of Transportation placards or other...

  16. THE SOLUBILITY AND SURFACE CHEMISTRY OF FRESHLY PRECIPITATED COPPER SOLIDS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Since the implementation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) in 1991, a great deal of research has been conducted on copper corrosion and the leaching of copper from materials in drinking water distribution systems. While important...

  17. North American Grasslands & Biogeographic Regions

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    North American grasslands are the product of a long interaction among land, people, and animals. Covering over one billion hectares across Canada, the United States, and Mexico, a defining trait of the realm is its vast surface area. From subtropical grasslands interspersed with wetlands in the sout...

  18. DC Voltage Interface Standards for Naval Applications

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-06-24

    norbert.doerry@navy.mil Dr. John Amy Naval Sea Systems Command United States Navy Washington DC , USA john.amy@navy.mil Abstract—. MIL-STD-1399...standards have been established for DC interfaces on U.S. naval surface ships. This paper provides recommendations for specific standard DC

  19. Mercury dynamics in a coastal plain watershed: insights from multiple models and empirical data

    EPA Science Inventory

    Interactions among atmospherically deposited mercury, abundant wetlands, and surface waters with elevated acidity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) often lead to widespread mercury-related fish consumption advisories in the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States (US). H...

  20. Planting Trees in India.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oswald, James M.

    Reforestation is desperately needed in India. Three-fourths of the country's ground surface is experiencing desertification, and primitive forests are being destroyed. Reforestation would help moderate temperatures, increase ground water levels, improve soil fertility, and alleviate a wood shortage. In the past, people from the United States, such…

  1. PERCHLORATE-CROP INTERACTIONS FROM CONTAMINATED IRRIGATION WATER AND FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Perchlorate has contaminated water and soils at several locations in the United States. Perchlorate is water soluble, exceedingly mobile in aqueous systems, and can persist for many decades under typical ground and surface water conditions. Perchlorate is of concern because of un...

  2. EFFECT OF SIMAZINE ON MALE REPRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN THE RAT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The chlorotriazine herbicides, such as atrazine, are used extensively in the United States each year. Chlorotriazine metabolites, as well as the parent compounds, have been detected in surface and ground water in areas of major usage. Previously, we found that atrazine delayed ...

  3. Seismic velocity structure of the crust and shallow mantle of the Central and Eastern United States by seismic surface wave imaging

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pollitz, Fred; Mooney, Walter D.

    2016-01-01

    Seismic surface waves from the Transportable Array of EarthScope's USArray are used to estimate phase velocity structure of 18 to 125 s Rayleigh waves, then inverted to obtain three-dimensional crust and upper mantle structure of the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS) down to ∼200 km. The obtained lithosphere structure confirms previously imaged CEUS features, e.g., the low seismic-velocity signature of the Cambrian Reelfoot Rift and the very low velocity at >150 km depth below an Eocene volcanic center in northwestern Virginia. New features include high-velocity mantle stretching from the Archean Superior Craton well into the Proterozoic terranes and deep low-velocity zones in central Texas (associated with the late Cretaceous Travis and Uvalde volcanic fields) and beneath the South Georgia Rift (which contains Jurassic basalts). Hot spot tracks may be associated with several imaged low-velocity zones, particularly those close to the former rifted Laurentia margin.

  4. Temperature of surface waters in the conterminous United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Blakey, James F.

    1966-01-01

    Temperature is probably the most important, but least discussed, parameter in determining water quality. The purpose of this report is to present the average or most probable temperatures of surface waters in the conterminous United States and to cite factors that affect and are affected by water temperature. Temperature is related, usually directly, to all the chemical, physical, and biological properties of water. The ability of water to dissolve or precipitate materials is temperature dependent, the ability of water to transport or deposit suspended material is temperature dependent, and the aquatic life of a lake or stream may thrive or die because of the water temperature.Everyone is concerned, though often unknowingly, about water temperature. The amount and type of treatment necessary for a municipal supply are temperature dependent; therefore it affects the consumer cost. Temperature determines the volume of cooling water needed for industrial processes and steampower generation. Conservation and recreation practices are affected by water temperature, and the farmers' irrigation practices and livestock production may be affected by the water temperature.

  5. Comparison among model estimates of critical loads of acidic deposition using different sources and scales of input data

    Treesearch

    T.C. McDonnell; B.J. Cosby; T.J. Sullivan; S.G. McNulty; E.C. Cohen

    2010-01-01

    The critical load (CL) of acidic atmospheric deposition represents the load of acidity deposited from the atmosphere to the earth’s surface at which harmful acidification effects on sensitive biological receptors are thought to occur. In this study, the CL for forest soils was estimated for 27 watersheds throughout the United States using a steady-state mass balance...

  6. Self-assembly in densely grafted macromolecules with amphiphilic monomer units: diagram of states.

    PubMed

    Lazutin, A A; Vasilevskaya, V V; Khokhlov, A R

    2017-11-22

    By means of computer modelling, the self-organization of dense planar brushes of macromolecules with amphiphilic monomer units was addressed and their state diagram was constructed. The diagram of states includes the following regions: disordered position of monomer units with respect to each other, strands composed of a few polymer chains and lamellae with different domain spacing. The transformation of lamellae structures with different domain spacing occurred within the intermediate region and could proceed through the formation of so-called parking garage structures. The parking garage structure joins the lamellae with large (on the top of the brushes) and small (close to the grafted surface) domain spacing, which appears like a system of inclined locally parallel layers connected with each other by bridges. The parking garage structures were observed for incompatible A and B groups in selective solvents, which result in aggregation of the side B groups and dense packing of amphiphilic macromolecules in the restricted volume of the planar brushes.

  7. Three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model for use with a steady-state numerical ground-water flow model of the Death Valley regional flow system, Nevada and California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Belcher, Wayne R.; Faunt, Claudia C.; D'Agnese, Frank A.

    2002-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Department of Energy and other Federal, State, and local agencies, is evaluating the hydrogeologic characteristics of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system. The ground-water flow system covers an area of about 100,000 square kilometers from latitude 35? to 38?15' North to longitude 115? to 118? West, with the flow system proper comprising about 45,000 square kilometers. The Death Valley regional ground-water flow system is one of the larger flow systems within the Southwestern United States and includes in its boundaries the Nevada Test Site, Yucca Mountain, and much of Death Valley. Part of this study includes the construction of a three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model to serve as the foundation for the development of a steady-state regional ground-water flow model. The digital framework model provides a computer-based description of the geometry and composition of the hydrogeologic units that control regional flow. The framework model of the region was constructed by merging two previous framework models constructed for the Yucca Mountain Project and the Environmental Restoration Program Underground Test Area studies at the Nevada Test Site. The hydrologic characteristics of the region result from a currently arid climate and complex geology. Interbasinal regional ground-water flow occurs through a thick carbonate-rock sequence of Paleozoic age, a locally thick volcanic-rock sequence of Tertiary age, and basin-fill alluvium of Tertiary and Quaternary age. Throughout the system, deep and shallow ground-water flow may be controlled by extensive and pervasive regional and local faults and fractures. The framework model was constructed using data from several sources to define the geometry of the regional hydrogeologic units. These data sources include (1) a 1:250,000-scale hydrogeologic-map compilation of the region; (2) regional-scale geologic cross sections; (3) borehole information, and (4) gridded surfaces from a previous three-dimensional geologic model. In addition, digital elevation model data were used in conjunction with these data to define ground-surface altitudes. These data, properly oriented in three dimensions by using geographic information systems, were combined and gridded to produce the upper surfaces of the hydrogeologic units used in the flow model. The final geometry of the framework model is constructed as a volumetric model by incorporating the intersections of these gridded surfaces and by applying fault truncation rules to structural features from the geologic map and cross sections. The cells defining the geometry of the hydrogeologic framework model can be assigned several attributes such as lithology, hydrogeologic unit, thickness, and top and bottom altitudes.

  8. Surface-Water Data, Georgia, Water Year 1999

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Alhadeff, S. Jack; Landers, Mark N.; McCallum, Brian E.

    1999-01-01

    Water resources data for the 1999 water year for Georgia consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; and the stage and contents of lakes and reservoirs published in one volume in a digital format on a CD-ROM. This volume contains discharge records of 121 gaging stations; stage for 13 gaging stations; stage and contents for 18 lakes and reservoirs; continuous water quality records for 10 stations; and the annual peak stage and annual peak discharge for 75 crest-stage partial-record stations. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Georgia. Records of discharge and stage of streams, and contents or stage of lakes and reservoirs were first published in a series of U.S. Geological water-supply papers entitled, 'Surface-Water Supply of the United States.' Through September 30, 1960, these water-supply papers were in an annual series and then in a 5-year series for 1961-65 and 1966-70. Records of chemical quality, water temperature, and suspended sediment were published from 1941 to 1970 in an annual series of water-supply papers entitled, 'Quality of Surface Waters of the United States.' Records of ground-water levels were published from 1935 to 1974 in a series of water-supply papers entitled, 'Ground-Water Levels in the United States.' Water-supply papers may be consulted in the libraries of the principal cities in the United States or may be purchased from the U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Information Services, Federal Center, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225. For water years 1961 through 1970, streamflow data were released by the U.S. Geological Survey in annual reports on a State-boundary basis prior to the two 5-year series water-supply papers, which cover this period. The data contained in the water-supply papers are considered the official record. Water-quality records for water years 1964 through 1970 were similarly released either in separate reports or in conjunction with streamflow records. Beginning with the 1971 water year, water data for streamflow, water quality, and ground water are published in official Survey reports on a State-boundary basis. These official Survey reports carry an identification number consisting of the two-letter State abbreviation, the last two digits of the water year, and the volume number. For example, this volume is identified as 'U.S. Geological Survey Water-Data Report GA-99-1.' These water-data reports are for sale in various formats, by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.

  9. Creating potentiometric surfaces from combined water well and oil well data in the midcontinent of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gianoutsos, Nicholas J.; Nelson, Philip H.

    2013-01-01

    For years, hydrologists have defined potentiometric surfaces using measured hydraulic-head values in water wells from aquifers. Down-dip, the oil and gas industry is also interested in the formation pressures of many of the same geologic formations for the purpose of hydrocarbon recovery. In oil and gas exploration, drillstem tests (DSTs) provide the formation pressure for a given depth interval in a well. These DST measurements can be used to calculate hydraulic-head values in deep hydrocarbon-bearing formations in areas where water wells do not exist. Unlike hydraulic-head measurements in water wells, which have a low number of problematic data points (outliers), only a small subset of the DST data measure true formation pressures. Using 3D imaging capabilities to view and clean the data, we have developed a process to estimate potentiometric surfaces from erratic DST data sets of hydrocarbon-bearing formations in the midcontinent of the U.S. The analysis indicates that the potentiometric surface is more readily defined through human interpretation of the chaotic DST data sets rather than through the application of filtering and geostatistical analysis. The data are viewed as a series of narrow, 400-mile-long swaths and a 2D viewer is used to select a subset of hydraulic-head values that represent the potentiometric surface. The user-selected subsets for each swath are then combined into one data set for each formation. These data are then joined with the hydraulic-head values from water wells to define the 3D potentiometric surfaces. The final product is an interactive, 3D digital display containing: (1) the subsurface structure of the formation, (2) the cluster of DST-derived hydraulic head values, (3) the user-selected subset of hydraulic-head values that define the potentiometric surface, (4) the hydraulic-head measurements from the corresponding shallow aquifer, (5) the resulting potentiometric surface encompassing both oil and gas and water wells, and (6) the land surface elevation of the region. Examples from the midcontinent of the United States, specifically Kansas, Oklahoma, and parts of adjacent states illustrate the process.

  10. Methods for Estimating Water Withdrawals for Aquaculture in the United States, 2005

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lovelace, John K.

    2009-01-01

    Aquaculture water use is associated with raising organisms that live in water - such as finfish and shellfish - for food, restoration, conservation, or sport. Aquaculture production occurs under controlled feeding, sanitation, and harvesting procedures primarily in ponds, flow-through raceways, and, to a lesser extent, cages, net pens, and tanks. Aquaculture ponds, raceways, and tanks usually require the withdrawal or diversion of water from a ground or surface source. Most water withdrawn or diverted for aquaculture production is used to maintain pond levels and/or water quality. Water typically is added for maintenance of levels, oxygenation, temperature control, and flushing of wastes. This report documents methods used to estimate withdrawals of fresh ground water and surface water for aqua-culture in 2005 for each county and county-equivalent in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands by using aquaculture statistics and estimated water-use coefficients and water-replacement rates. County-level data for commercial and noncommercial operations compiled for the 2005 Census of Aquaculture were obtained from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Withdrawals of water used at commercial and noncommercial operations for aquaculture ponds, raceways, tanks, egg incubators, and pens and cages for alligators were estimated and totaled by ground-water or surface-water source for each county and county equivalent. Use of the methods described in this report, when measured or reported data are unavailable, could result in more consistent water-withdrawal estimates for aquaculture that can be used by water managers and planners to determine water needs and trends across the United States. The results of this study were distributed to U.S. Geological Survey water-use personnel in each State during 2007. Water-use personnel are required to submit estimated withdrawals for all categories of use in their State to the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Use Information Program for inclusion in a national report describing water use in the United States during 2005. Water-use personnel had the option of submitting the estimates determined by using the methods described in this report, a modified version of these estimates, their own set of estimates, or reported data for the aquaculture category. Estimated withdrawals resulting from the method described in this report are not presented herein to avoid potential inconsistencies with estimated withdrawals for aquaculture that will be presented in the national report, as different methods used by water-use personnel may result in different withdrawal estimates. Estimated withdrawals also are not presented to avoid potential disclosure of confidential information for individual aquaculture operations.

  11. Reconstructed Historical Land Cover and Biophysical Parameters for Studies of Land-Atmosphere Interactions within the Eastern United States

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steyaert, Louis T.; Knox, Robert G.

    2007-01-01

    The local environment where we live within the Earth's biosphere is often taken for granted. This environment can vary depending on whether the land cover is a forest, grassland, wetland, water body, bare soil, pastureland, agricultural field, village, residential suburb, or an urban complex with concrete, asphalt, and large buildings. In general, the type and characteristics of land cover influence surface temperatures, sunlight exposure and duration, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, soil moisture amount, plant life, birds, and other wildlife in our backyards. The physical and biological properties (biophysical characteristics) of land cover help to determine our surface environment because they directly affect surface radiation, heat, and soil moisture processes, and also feedback to regional weather and climate. Depending on the spatial scale and land use intensity, land cover changes can have profound impacts on our local and regional environment. Over the past 350 years, the eastern half of the United States, an area extending from the grassland prairies of the Great Plains to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, has experienced extensive land cover and land use changes that began with land clearing in the 1600s, led to extensive deforestation and intensive land use practices by 1920, and then evolved to the present-day landscape. Determining the consequences of such land cover changes on regional and global climate is a major research issue. Such research requires detailed historical land cover data and modeling experiments simulating historical climates. Given the need to understand the effects of historical land cover changes in the eastern United States, some questions include: - What were the most important land cover transformations and how did they alter biophysical characteristics of the land cover at key points in time since the mid-1600s? - How have land cover and land use changes over the past 350 years affected the land surface environment including surface weather, hydrologic, and climatic variability? - How do the potential effects of regional human-induced land cover change on the environment compare to similar changes that are caused by the natural variations of the Earth's climate system? To help answer these questions, we reconstructed a fractional land cover and biophysical parameter dataset for the eastern United States at 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 time-slices. Each land cover fraction is associated with a biophysical parameter class, a suite of parameters defining the biophysical characteristics of that kind of land cover. This new dataset is designed for use in computer models of land-atmosphere interactions, to understand and quantify the effects of historical land cover changes on the water, energy, and carbon cycles

  12. Restoring the magnetism of ultrathin LaMn O3 films by surface symmetry engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, J. J.; Song, C.; Li, F.; Gu, Y. D.; Wang, G. Y.; Pan, F.

    2016-12-01

    The frustration of magnetization and conductivity properties of ultrathin manganite is detrimental to their device performance, preventing their scaling down process. Here we demonstrate that the magnetism of ultrathin LaMn O3 films can be restored by a SrTi O3 capping layer, which engineers the surface from a symmetry breaking induced out-of-plane orbital occupancy to the recovered in-plane orbital occupancy. The stabilized in-plane orbital occupancy would strengthen the intralayer double exchange and thus recovers the robust magnetism. This method is proved to be effective for films as thin as 2 unit cells, greatly shrinking the critical thickness of 6 unit cells for ferromagnetic LaMn O3 as demonstrated previously [Wang et al., Science 349, 716 (2015), 10.1126/science.aaa5198]. The achievement made in this work opens up new perspectives to an active control of surface states and thereby tailors the surface functional properties of transition metal oxides.

  13. Coupled land surface/hydrologic/atmospheric models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pielke, Roger; Steyaert, Lou; Arritt, Ray; Lahtakia, Mercedes; Smith, Chris; Ziegler, Conrad; Soong, Su Tzai; Avissar, Roni; Wetzel, Peter; Sellers, Piers

    1993-01-01

    The topics covered include the following: prototype land cover characteristics data base for the conterminous United States; surface evapotranspiration effects on cumulus convection and implications for mesoscale models; the use of complex treatment of surface hydrology and thermodynamics within a mesoscale model and some related issues; initialization of soil-water content for regional-scale atmospheric prediction models; impact of surface properties on dryline and MCS evolution; a numerical simulation of heavy precipitation over the complex topography of California; representing mesoscale fluxes induced by landscape discontinuities in global climate models; emphasizing the role of subgrid-scale heterogeneity in surface-air interaction; and problems with modeling and measuring biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of energy, water, and carbon on large scales.

  14. Passive wick fluxmeters: Design considerations and field applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gee, G. W.; Newman, B. D.; Green, S. R.; Meissner, R.; Rupp, H.; Zhang, Z. F.; Keller, J. M.; Waugh, W. J.; van der Velde, M.; Salazar, J.

    2009-04-01

    Optimization of water use in agriculture and quantification of percolation from landfills and watersheds require reliable estimates of vadose zone water fluxes. Current technology is limited primarily to lysimeters, which directly measure water flux but are expensive and may in some way disrupt flow, causing errors in the measured drainage. We report on design considerations and field tests of an alternative approach, passive wick fluxmeters, which use a control tube to minimize convergent or divergent flow. Design calculations with a quasi-three-dimensional model illustrate how convergence and divergence can be minimized for a range of soil and climatic conditions under steady state and transient fluxes using control tubes of varying heights. There exists a critical recharge rate for a given wick length, where the fluxmeter collection efficiency is 100% regardless of the height of the control tube. Otherwise, convergent or divergent flow will occur, especially when the control tube height is small. While divergence is eliminated in coarse soils using control tubes, it is reduced but not eliminated in finer soils, particularly for fluxes <100 mm/a. Passive wick fluxmeters were tested in soils ranging from nonvegetated semiarid settings in the United States to grasslands in Germany and rain-fed crops in New Zealand and the South Pacific. Where side-by-side comparisons of drainage were made between passive wick fluxmeters and conventional lysimeters in the United States and Germany, agreement was very good. In semiarid settings, drainage was found to depend upon precipitation distribution, surface soil, topographic relief, and the type and amount of vegetation. In Washington State, United States, soil texture dominated all factors controlling drainage from test landfill covers. As expected, drainage was greatest (>60% annual precipitation) from gravel surfaces and least (no drainage) from silt loam soils. In Oregon and New Mexico, United States, and in New Zealand, drainage showed substantial spatial variability. The New Mexico tests were located in semiarid canyon bottom terraces, with flash flood prone locations having extremely high drainage/precipitation ratios. In the wettest environments, drainage was found to be closely linked to the rate and duration of precipitation events.

  15. Diagnostic approach for monitoring hydroclimatic conditions related to emergence of west nile virus in west virginia.

    PubMed

    Jutla, Antarpreet; Huq, Anwar; Colwell, Rita R

    2015-01-01

    West Nile virus (WNV), mosquito-borne and water-based disease, is increasingly a global threat to public health. Since its appearance in the northeastern United States in 1999, WNV has since been reported in several states in the continental United States. The objective of this study is to highlight role of hydroclimatic processes estimated through satellite sensors in capturing conditions for emergence of the vectors in historically disease free regions. We tested the hypothesis that an increase in surface temperature, in combination with intensification of vegetation, and enhanced precipitation, lead to conditions favorable for vector (mosquito) growth. Analysis of land surface temperature (LST) pattern shows that temperature values >16°C, with heavy precipitation, may lead to abundance of the mosquito population. This hypothesis was tested in West Virginia where a sudden epidemic of WNV infection was reported in 2012. Our results emphasize the value of hydroclimatic processes estimated by satellite remote sensing, as well as continued environmental surveillance of mosquitoes, because when a vector-borne infection like WNV is discovered in contiguous regions, the risk of spread of WNV mosquitoes increase at points where appropriate hydroclimatic processes intersect with the vector niche.

  16. Site response in the eastern United States: A comparison of Vs30 measurements with estimates from horizontal:vertical spectral ratios

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    McNamara, Daniel E.; Stephenson, William J.; Odum, Jackson K.; Williams, Robert; Gee, Lind

    2014-01-01

    Earthquake damage is often increased due to local ground-motion amplification caused by soft soils, thick basin sediments, topographic effects, and liquefaction. A critical factor contributing to the assessment of seismic hazard is detailed information on local site response. In order to address and quantify the site response at seismograph stations in the eastern United States, we investigate the regional spatial variation of horizontal:vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) using ambient noise recorded at permanent regional and national network stations as well as temporary seismic stations deployed in order to record aftershocks of the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake. We compare the HVSR peak frequency to surface measurements of the shear-wave seismic velocity to 30 m depth (Vs30) at 21 seismograph stations in the eastern United States and find that HVSR peak frequency increases with increasing Vs30. We use this relationship to estimate the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program soil class at 218 ANSS (Advanced National Seismic System), GSN (Global Seismographic Network), and RSN (Regional Seismograph Networks) locations in the eastern United States, and suggest that this seismic station–based HVSR proxy could potentially be used to calibrate other site response characterization methods commonly used to estimate shaking hazard.

  17. Intensified dust storm activity and Valley fever infection in the southwestern United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tong, Daniel Q.; Wang, Julian X. L.; Gill, Thomas E.; Lei, Hang; Wang, Binyu

    2017-05-01

    Climate models have consistently projected a drying trend in the southwestern United States, aiding speculation of increasing dust storms in this region. Long-term climatology is essential to documenting the dust trend and its response to climate variability. We have reconstructed long-term dust climatology in the western United States, based on a comprehensive dust identification method and continuous aerosol observations from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network. We report here direct evidence of rapid intensification of dust storm activity over American deserts in the past decades (1988-2011), in contrast to reported decreasing trends in Asia and Africa. The frequency of windblown dust storms has increased 240% from 1990s to 2000s. This dust trend is associated with large-scale variations of sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean, with the strongest correlation with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We further investigate the relationship between dust and Valley fever, a fast-rising infectious disease caused by inhaling soil-dwelling fungus (Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii) in the southwestern United States. The frequency of dust storms is found to be correlated with Valley fever incidences, with a coefficient (r) comparable to or stronger than that with other factors believed to control the disease in two endemic centers (Maricopa and Pima County, Arizona).

  18. Delineation of Magnesium-rich Ultramafic Rocks Available for Mineral Carbon Sequestration in the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Krevor, S.C.; Graves, C.R.; Van Gosen, B. S.; McCafferty, A.E.

    2009-01-01

    The 2005 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage suggested that a major gap in mineral carbon sequestration is locating the magnesium-silicate bedrock available to sequester CO2. It is generally known that silicate minerals with high concentrations of magnesium are suitable for mineral carbonation. However, no assessment has been made covering the entire United States detailing their geographical distribution and extent, or evaluating their potential for use in mineral carbonation. Researchers at Columbia University and the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a digital geologic database of ultramafic rocks in the continental United States. Data were compiled from varied-scale geologic maps of magnesium-silicate ultramafic rocks. These rock types are potentially suitable as source material for mineral carbon-dioxide sequestration. The focus of the national-scale map is entirely on suitable ultramafic rock types, which typically consist primarily of olivine and serpentine minerals. By combining the map with digital datasets that show non-mineable lands (such as urban areas and National Parks), estimates on potential depth of a surface mine, and the predicted reactivities of the mineral deposits, one can begin to estimate the capacity for CO2 mineral sequestration within the United States. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. THE SOLUBILITY AND SURFACE CHEMISTRY OF FRESHLY PRECIPITATED COPPER SOLIDS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Since the implementation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) in 1991, a great deal of research has been conducted on copper corrosion and the leaching of copper from materials in drinking water distribution systems. While important p...

  20. Test Operation Procedure (TOP) 01-1-010A Vehicle Test Course Severity (Surface Roughness)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-12-12

    Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifications, respectively. TABLE 10. PARTICLE SIZE CLASSES CLASS SIZE Cobble and Gravel >4.75 mm particle diameter...ABBREVIATIONS. USCS Unified Soil Classification System USDA United States Department of Agriculture UTM Universal Transverse Mercator WNS wave number

  1. Sulfate-Reducing Bioreactors For The Treatment Of Acid Mine Drainage

    EPA Science Inventory

    Mine influenced water (MIW) affects a large portion of mountainous surface water bodies in the western United States as well as elsewhere. In this study, the purpose of this applied research is to compare different substrates used in biochemical reactors (BCRs) field test cells ...

  2. Investigations into Drinking Water Distribution System Nitrification: EPA Microelectrode Research

    EPA Science Inventory

    Because of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproduct Rules, chloramination for secondary disinfection in the United States is predicted to increase to 57% of all surface and 7% of all ground water treatment systems. Chloramination comes with the risk of di...

  3. Modeling runoff generation in a small snow-dominated mountainous catchment

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Snowmelt in mountainous areas is an important contributor to river water flows in the western United States. We developed a distributed model that calculates solar radiation, canopy energy balance, surface energy balance, snow pack dynamics, soil water flow, snow–soil–bedrock heat exchange, soil wat...

  4. Herbicide Dissipation Studies in Southern Forest Ecosystems

    Treesearch

    Jerry L. Michael; Daniel G. Neary

    1993-01-01

    Results of research on the movement of bexazinone, imazapyr, picloram, and sulfometuron in first-order watersheds in the southern United States are presented. Herbicides contaminate surface waters to varying degrees, depending on application rate, method of application, product formulation, and site-spezific characteristics. Highest concentrations are observed in...

  5. Tracing the Sources of Macrolide Antibiotics and Illicit Drugs into the Lower Colorado River Basin

    EPA Science Inventory

    A number of pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters across the United States. Antibiotics present in the environment can produce resistance in microorganisms, which could potentially have adverse effects on human health. In addition, while the ecotoxicological signif...

  6. ICLUS Tools and Datasets (Version 1.3 & 1.3.1)

    EPA Science Inventory

    As a part of the Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (ICLUS) project, this Geographic Information System (GIS) tool can be used to generate scenarios of housing-density changes and calculate impervious surface cover for the conterminous United States. The ICLUS User’s Guid...

  7. Algal bloom-associated disease outbreaks among users of freshwater lakes-United States, 2009 - 2010

    EPA Science Inventory

    ‘Algal blooms’ are local abundances of phytoplankton – microscopic photosynthesizing aquatic organisms found in surface waters worldwide; blooms are variable temporally and spatially and frequently produce a visible algal scum on the water. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are abundan...

  8. The contribution of brown vegetation to vegetation dynamics

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Indices of vegetation dynamics that include both green vegetation (GV) and non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV), that is, brown vegetation, were applied to MODIS surface reflectance data from 2000 to 2006 for the southwestern United States. These indices reveal that the cover of NPV, a measure of veg...

  9. 36 CFR 261.2 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge and which is large enough to permit a person... of the United States, national forest lands and waters acquired through purchase, exchange, donation... General Prohibitions § 261.2 Definitions. The following definitions apply to this part: Administrative...

  10. 7 CFR 51.1564 - External defects.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... FRESH FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND OTHER PRODUCTS 1,2 (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States...) in the aggregate. Artificial Coloring When unsightly or when concealing any defect causing damage or... the surface area of the potato When its severity causes a wrinkling of the skin over more than 50...

  11. Characterization of Formaldehyde Emissions from Tire Crumb Rubber in Small Environmental Chambers - 2

    EPA Science Inventory

    Concerns have been raised about the safety of recycled rubber tire crumbs used in synthetic turf fields and playgrounds in the United States. To support federal efforts to better characterize recycled tire-derived surface materials, dynamic small chamber tests were conducted at...

  12. WATER SECURITY MONITORING USING SURFACE-ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY - PHASE II

    EPA Science Inventory

    Clean drinking water is a critical component of the United States infrastructure and is therefore a potential target for terrorists. In addition to physical attacks to the water network, like dams, pumping stations and pipelines, there must be vigilance to prevent the water i...

  13. WATER SECURITY MONITORING USING SURFACE-ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY - PHASE I

    EPA Science Inventory

    Clean drinking water is a critical component of the United States infrastructure and is therefore a potential target for terrorists. In addition to physical attacks to the water network including dams, pumping stations and pipelines, there must be vigilance to prevent the wate...

  14. Climatology of Station Storm Rainfall in the Continental United States: Parameters of the Bartlett-Lewis and Poisson Rectangular Pulses Models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hawk, Kelly Lynn; Eagleson, Peter S.

    1992-01-01

    The parameters of two stochastic models of point rainfall, the Bartlett-Lewis model and the Poisson rectangular pulses model, are estimated for each month of the year from the historical records of hourly precipitation at more than seventy first-order stations in the continental United States. The parameters are presented both in tabular form and as isopleths on maps. The Poisson rectangular pulses parameters are useful in implementing models of the land surface water balance. The Bartlett-Lewis parameters are useful in disaggregating precipitation to a time period shorter than that of existing observations. Information is also included on a floppy disk.

  15. Evolution of 2016 drought in the Southeastern United States from a Land surface modeling perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Case, Jonathan L.; Zavodsky, Bradley T.

    2018-03-01

    The Southeastern United States (SEUS) climate region experienced a marked transition from excessively wet conditions early in 2016 to an exceptional drought during the Autumn. The unusually warm and dry conditions led to numerous wildfires, including the devastating Gatlinburg, Tennessee (TN) firestorm on 28-29 November. The evolution of soil wetness anomalies are highlighted through soil moisture percentiles derived from an instance of NASA's Land Information System (LIS). A 33-year soil moisture climatology simulation combined with daily, real-time county-based distributions illustrate how soil moisture began above the 96th percentile early in 2016, and declined to below the 2nd percentile in many locales by late November.

  16. Regional United States electric field and GIC hazard impacts (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gannon, J. L.; Balch, C. C.; Trichtchenko, L.

    2013-12-01

    Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) are primarily driven by impulsive geomagnetic disturbances created by the interaction between the Earth's magnetosphere and sharp velocity, density, and magnetic field enhancements in the solar wind. However, the magnitude of the induced electric field response at the ground level, and therefore the resulting hazard to the bulk power system, is determined not only by magnetic drivers, but also by the underlying geology. Convolution techniques are used to calculate surface electric fields beginning from the spectral characteristics of magnetic field drivers and the frequency response of the local geology. Using these techniques, we describe historical scenarios for regions across the United States, and the potential impact of large events on electric power infrastructure.

  17. Detailed gravimetric geoid for the United States.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Strange, W. E.; Vincent, S. F.; Berry, R. H.; Marsh, J. G.

    1972-01-01

    A detailed gravimetric geoid was computed for the United States using a combination of satellite-derived spherical harmonic coefficients and 1 by 1 deg mean gravity values from surface gravimetry. Comparisons of this geoid with astrogeodetic geoid data indicate that a precision of plus or minus 2 meters has been obtained. Translations only were used to convert the NAD astrogeodetic geoid heights to geocentric astrogeodetic heights. On the basis of the agreement between the geocentric astrogeodetic geoid heights and the gravimetric geoid heights, no evidence is found for rotation in the North American datum. The value of the zero-order undulation can vary by 10 to 20 meters, depending on which investigator's station positions are used to establish it.

  18. Digital elevations and extents of regional hydrogeologic units in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to North Carolina

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pope, Jason P.; Andreasen, David C.; Mcfarland, E. Randolph; Watt, Martha K.

    2016-08-31

    Digital geospatial datasets of the extents and top elevations of the regional hydrogeologic units of the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system from Long Island, New York, to northeastern North Carolina were developed to provide an updated hydrogeologic framework to support analysis of groundwater resources. The 19 regional hydrogeologic units were delineated by elevation grids and extent polygons for 20 layers: the land and bathymetric surface at the top of the unconfined surficial aquifer, the upper surfaces of 9 confined aquifers and 9 confining units, and the bedrock surface that defines the base of all Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain sediments. The delineation of the regional hydrogeologic units relied on the interpretive work from source reports for New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina rather than from re-analysis of fundamental hydrogeologic data. This model of regional hydrogeologic unit geometries represents interpolation, extrapolation, and generalization of the earlier interpretive work. Regional units were constructed from available digital data layers from the source studies in order to extend units consistently across political boundaries and approximate units in offshore areas.Though many of the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain hydrogeologic units may extend eastward as far as the edge of the Atlantic Continental Shelf, the modeled boundaries of all regional hydrogeologic units in this study were clipped to an area approximately defined by the furthest offshore extent of fresh to brackish water in any part of the aquifer system, as indicated by chloride concentrations of 10,000 milligrams per liter. Elevations and extents of units that do not exist onshore in Long Island, New York, were not included north of New Jersey. Hydrogeologic units in North Carolina were included primarily to provide continuity across the Virginia-North Carolina State boundary, which was important for defining the southern edge of the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain study area.

  19. U.S. Constructed Area Approaches the Size of Ohio

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elvidge, Christopher D.; Milesi, Cristina; Dietz, John B.; Tuttle, Benjamin T.; Sutton, Paul C.; Nemani, Ramakrishna; Vogelmann, James E.

    2004-06-01

    The construction and maintenance of impervious surfaces-buildings, roads, parking lots, roofs, etc.-constitutes a major human alteration of the land surface, changing the local hydrology, climate, and carbon cycling. Three types of national coverage data were used to model the spatial distribution and density of impervious surface area (ISA) for the conterminous U.S.A. The results (Figure 1) indicate that total ISA of the 48 states and Washington, D.C., is 112,610 km2 (+/- 12,725 km2), which is slightly smaller than the state of Ohio (116,534 km2) and slightly larger than the area of herbaceous wetlands (98,460 km2) of the conterminous United States. The same characteristics that make impervious surfaces ideal for use in construction produce a series of effects on the environment. Impervious surfaces alter sensible and latent heat fluxes, causing urban heat islands. In heavily vegetated areas, the proliferation of ISA reduces the sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere. ISA alters the character of watersheds by increasing the frequency and magnitude of surface runoff pulses. Watershed effects of ISA begin to be detectable once 10% of the surface is covered by impervious surfaces, altering the shape of stream channels, raising water temperatures, and sweeping urban debris and pollutants into aquatic environments. Consequences of ISA include reduced numbers and diversity of species in fish and aquatic insects, and degradation of wetlands and riparian zones.

  20. Atomic scale study of strain relaxation in Sn islands on Sn-induced Si(111)-(2√3 ×2√3 ) surface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, L. L.; Ma, X. C.; Ning, Y. X.; Ji, S. H.; Fu, Y. S.; Jia, J. F.; Kelly, K. F.; Xue, Q. K.

    2009-04-01

    Surface structure of the Sn islands 5 ML high, prepared on Si(111)-(2√3 ×2√3 )-Sn substrate, is investigated by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy. Due to the elastic strain relaxation in the islands, the in-plane unit cell structure distorts and the apparent height of the surface atoms varies regularly to form an overall modulated strip structure. The quantum well states are observed to depend on the relative position within this structure, which implies the change of the surface chemical potential induced by the elastic strain relaxation as well.

  1. Spatial variability in the response of surface-water extent to climate extremes across the Prairie Pothole Region and adjacent Northern Prairie, United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vanderhoof, M.; Lane, C.; McManus, M.; Alexander, L. C.; Christensen, J.

    2017-12-01

    Surface-water extent, duration and movement will depend not only on climatic inputs but also the relative importance of different hydrologic pathways (e.g., surface storage, infiltration, evapotranspiration, stream outflows). We mapped surface-water extent from historic drought years to historic wet years spanning 1985 - 2015 across eleven Landsat path/rows representing the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) and adjacent Northern Prairie of the United States. The PPR not only experienced a greater surface water extent under median conditions (2.6 times more) relative to the adjacent Northern Prairie, but showed a greater difference between drought and deluge conditions as well (range averaged 8.5 ha surface water km-2 relative to 2.5 ha surface water km-2 for the PPR and Northern Prairie, respectively). To explain the spatial variability in the amount of surface water expansion and contraction we used a two-stage modeling approach. First, surface-water extent was regressed on accumulated water availability (precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration). The slope of surface-water extent to climate inputs (per watershed) was our dependent variable in the second stage. That slope was regressed against independent variables representing hydrology-related landscape characteristics (e.g., infiltration capacity, surface storage capacity, stream density). Stream-connected surface water can leave via stream flow, influencing the rate at which surface-water may leave a location, therefore stream-connected and disconnected surface water were analyzed separately. Stream-connected surface water responded more strongly to wetter climatic conditions (i.e., accumulated) in landscapes with more lakes and less artificial drainage (e.g., ditching, tile drainage). Disconnected surface water responded more strongly to wetter climatic conditions when landscapes contained greater wetland density, fewer streams and a lower predicted rate of infiltration. From these findings, we can expect that the relationship between upstream and downstream waters will require consideration of hydrology-related landscape characteristics, and that climate-change related shifts in precipitation and evaporative demand will have an uneven effect on surface water expansion and contraction across the landscape.

  2. Karst mapping in the United States: Past, present and future

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Weary, David J.; Doctor, Daniel H.

    2015-01-01

    The earliest known comprehensive karst map of the entire USA was published by Stringfield and LeGrand (1969), based on compilations of William E. Davies of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Various versions of essentially the same map have been published since. The USGS recently published new digital maps and databases depicting the extent of known karst, potential karst, and pseudokarst areas of the United States of America including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Weary and Doctor, 2014). These maps are based primarily on the extent of potentially karstic soluble rock types, and rocks with physical properties conducive to the formation of pseudokarst features. These data were compiled and refined from multiple sources at various spatial resolutions, mostly as digital data supplied by state geological surveys. The database includes polygons delineating areas with potential for karst and that are tagged with attributes intended to facilitate classification of karst regions. Approximately 18% of the surface of the fifty United States is underlain by significantly soluble bedrock. In the eastern United States the extent of outcrop of soluble rocks provides a good first-approximation of the distribution of karst and potential karst areas. In the arid western states, the extent of soluble rock outcrop tends to overestimate the extent of regions that might be considered as karst under current climatic conditions, but the new dataset encompasses those regions nonetheless. This database will be revised as needed, and the present map will be updated as new information is incorporated.

  3. Quality of surface water in the Bear River basin, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Waddell, K.M.; Price, Don

    1972-01-01

    The United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, began a reconnaissance in 1967 to obtain essential water-quality information for the Bear River basin. The reconnaissance was directed toward defining the chemical quality of the basin’s surface waters, including suitability for specific uses, geology, and general basin hydrology. Emphasis was given to those areas where water-development projects are proposed or being considered.

  4. Using input feature information to improve ultraviolet retrieval in neural networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Zhibin; Chang, Ni-Bin; Gao, Wei; Chen, Maosi; Zempila, Melina

    2017-09-01

    In neural networks, the training/predicting accuracy and algorithm efficiency can be improved significantly via accurate input feature extraction. In this study, some spatial features of several important factors in retrieving surface ultraviolet (UV) are extracted. An extreme learning machine (ELM) is used to retrieve the surface UV of 2014 in the continental United States, using the extracted features. The results conclude that more input weights can improve the learning capacities of neural networks.

  5. Pre-fire and post-fire surface fuel and cover measurements collected in the southeastern United States for model evaluation and development - RxCADRE 2008, 2011 and 2012

    Treesearch

    Roger D. Ottmar; Andrew T. Hudak; Susan J. Prichard; Clinton S. Wright; Joseph C. Restaino; Maureen C. Kennedy; Robert E. Vihnanek

    2016-01-01

    A lack of independent, quality-assured data prevents scientists from effectively evaluating predictions and uncertainties in fire models used by land managers. This paper presents a summary of pre-fire and post-fire fuel, fuel moisture and surface cover fraction data that can be used for fire model evaluation and development. The data were collected in the...

  6. Trends in Extreme Rainfall Frequency in the Contiguous United States: Attribution to Climate Change and Climate Variability Modes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Armal, S.; Devineni, N.; Khanbilvardi, R.

    2017-12-01

    This study presents a systematic analysis for identifying and attributing trends in the annual frequency of extreme rainfall events across the contiguous United States to climate change and climate variability modes. A Bayesian multilevel model is developed for 1,244 stations simultaneously to test the null hypothesis of no trend and verify two alternate hypotheses: Trend can be attributed to changes in global surface temperature anomalies, or to a combination of cyclical climate modes with varying quasi-periodicities and global surface temperature anomalies. The Bayesian multilevel model provides the opportunity to pool information across stations and reduce the parameter estimation uncertainty, hence identifying the trends better. The choice of the best alternate hypotheses is made based on Watanabe-Akaike Information Criterion, a Bayesian pointwise predictive accuracy measure. Statistically significant time trends are observed in 742 of the 1,244 stations. Trends in 409 of these stations can be attributed to changes in global surface temperature anomalies. These stations are predominantly found in the Southeast and Northeast climate regions. The trends in 274 of these stations can be attributed to the El Nino Southern Oscillations, North Atlantic Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation along with changes in global surface temperature anomalies. These stations are mainly found in the Northwest, West and Southwest climate regions.

  7. 3-D Upper-Mantle Shear Velocity Model Beneath the Contiguous United States Based on Broadband Surface Wave from Ambient Seismic Noise

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xie, Jun; Chu, Risheng; Yang, Yingjie

    2018-05-01

    Ambient noise seismic tomography has been widely used to study crustal and upper-mantle shear velocity structures. Most studies, however, concentrate on short period (< 50 s) surface wave from ambient noise, while studies using long period surface wave from ambient noise are limited. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of using long-period surface wave from ambient noise to study the lithospheric structure on a continental scale. We use broadband Rayleigh wave phase velocities to obtain a 3-D V S structures beneath the contiguous United States at period band of 10-150 s. During the inversion, 1-D shear wave velocity profile is parameterized using B-spline at each grid point and is inverted with nonlinear Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Then, a 3-D shear velocity model is constructed by assembling all the 1-D shear velocity profiles. Our model is overall consistent with existing models which are based on multiple datasets or data from earthquakes. Our model along with the other post-USArray models reveal lithosphere structures in the upper mantle, which are consistent with the geological tectonic background (e.g., the craton root and regional upwelling provinces). The model has comparable resolution on lithosphere structures compared with many published results and can be used for future detailed regional or continental studies and analysis.

  8. CAUSES: On the Role of Surface Energy Budget Errors to the Warm Surface Air Temperature Error Over the Central United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ma, H. -Y.; Klein, S. A.; Xie, S.

    Many weather forecasting and climate models simulate a warm surface air temperature (T2m) bias over mid-latitude continents during the summertime, especially over the Great Plains. We present here one of a series of papers from a multi-model intercomparison project (CAUSES: Cloud Above the United States and Errors at the Surface), which aims to evaluate the role of cloud, radiation, and precipitation biases in contributing to T2m bias using a short-term hindcast approach with observations mainly from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site during the period of April to August 2011. The present study examines the contributionmore » of surface energy budget errors to the bias. All participating models simulate higher net shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes at the surface but there is no consistency on signs of biases in latent and sensible heat fluxes over the Central U.S. and ARM SGP. Nevertheless, biases in net shortwave and downward longwave fluxes, as well as surface evaporative fraction (EF) are the main contributors to T2m bias. Radiation biases are largely affected by cloud simulations, while EF is affected by soil moisture modulated by seasonal accumulated precipitation and evaporation. An approximate equation is derived to further quantify the magnitudes of radiation and EF contributions to T2m bias. Our analysis suggests that radiation errors are always an important source of T2m error for long-term climate runs with EF errors either of equal or lesser importance. However, for the short-term hindcasts, EF errors are more important provided a model has a substantial EF bias.« less

  9. National water quality assessment of the Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain study unit; water withdrawals and treated wastewater discharges, 1990

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Marella, R.L.; Fanning, J.L.

    1996-01-01

    The Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain study unit covers nearly 62,600 square miles along the southeastern United States coast in Georgia and Florida. In 1990, the estimated population of the study unit was 9.3 million, and included all or part of the cities of Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and St. Petersburg. Estimated freshwater withdrawn in the study unit in 1990 was nearly 5,075 million gallons per day. Ground-water accounted for more than 57 percent of the water withdrawn during 1990 and the Floridan aquifer system provided nearly 91 percent of the total ground-water withdrawn. Surface-water accounted for nearly 43 percent of the water withdrawn in the study unit in 1990 with large amounts of withdrawals from the Altamaha River, Hillsborough River, the Ocmulgee River, the Oconee River, the St. Johns River, and the Suwannee River. Water withdrawn for public supply in the Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain study unit in 1990 totaled 1,139 million gallons per day, of which 83 percent was ground water and 17 percent was surface water. Self-supplied domestic withdrawals in the Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain study unit in 1990 totaled nearly 230 million gallons per day. Ground water supplied over 80 percent of the study units population for drining water purposes; nearly 5.8 million people were served by public supply and 1.8 million people were served by self-supplied systems. Water withdrawn for self-supplied domestic use in Georgia and Florida is derived almost exclusively from ground water, primarily because this source can provide the quantity and quality of water needed for drinking purposes. Nearly 1.7 million people served by public supply utilized surface water for their drinking water needs. Water withdrawn for self-supplied commercial-industrial uses in the study unit in 1990 totaled 862 million gallons per day, of which 93 percent was ground water and 7 percent was surface water. Water withdrawn for agriculture purposes in the study unit in 1990 totaled 1,293 million gallons per day, of which 69 percent was ground water and 31 percent was surface water. An estimated 1.254 millon acres were irrigated within the study unit during 1990. Water withdrawn for thermoelectric power generation in the study unit in 1990 totaled 1,552 million gallons per day, of which 99 percent was surface water and 1 percent was ground water. An additional 6,919 million gallons per day of saline surface water were withdrawn for thermoelectric power generation in 1990, solely for cooling purposes. Treated wastewater discharged within the Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain study unit totaled nearly 1,187 million gallons per day in 1990. Of the total water discharged, 58 percent was discharged directly into surface water and the remaining 42 percent was discharged to ground water (through drain fields, injection wells, percolation ponds or spray fields). Domestic wastewater facilities discharged in the study unit totaled nearly 789 million gallons per day, industrial wastewater facilities discharged 213 million gallons per day, and releases from septic tanks was estimated at 185 million gallons per day. More than 1.3 million septic tanks were estimated in use within the study unit in 1990.

  10. A Systematic Evaluation of Noah-MP in Simulating Land-Atmosphere Energy, Water, and Carbon Exchanges Over the Continental United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Ning; Niu, Guo-Yue; Xia, Youlong; Cai, Xitian; Zhang, Yinsheng; Ma, Yaoming; Fang, Yuanhao

    2017-11-01

    Accurate simulation of energy, water, and carbon fluxes exchanging between the land surface and the atmosphere is beneficial for improving terrestrial ecohydrological and climate predictions. We systematically assessed the Noah land surface model (LSM) with mutiparameterization options (Noah-MP) in simulating these fluxes and associated variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) and snow cover fraction (SCF) against various reference products over 18 United States Geological Survey two-digital hydrological unit code regions of the continental United States (CONUS). In general, Noah-MP captures better the observed seasonal and interregional variability of net radiation, SCF, and runoff than other variables. With a dynamic vegetation model, it overestimates gross primary productivity by 40% and evapotranspiration (ET) by 22% over the whole CONUS domain; however, with a prescribed climatology of leaf area index, it greatly improves ET simulation with relative bias dropping to 4%. It accurately simulates regional TWS dynamics in most regions except those with large lakes or severely affected by irrigation and/or impoundments. Incorporating the lake water storage variations into the modeled TWS variations largely reduces the TWS simulation bias more obviously over the Great Lakes with model efficiency increasing from 0.18 to 0.76. Noah-MP simulates runoff well in most regions except an obvious overestimation (underestimation) in the Rio Grande and Lower Colorado (New England). Compared with North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2) LSMs, Noah-MP shows a better ability to simulate runoff and a comparable skill in simulating Rn but a worse skill in simulating ET over most regions. This study suggests that future model developments should focus on improving the representations of vegetation dynamics, lake water storage dynamics, and human activities including irrigation and impoundments.

  11. Oil slicks off the coast of Qatar, Persian Gulf

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1983-01-01

    A detailed view the port facility of Musay'id on the Qatar Peninsula, United Arab Emirates, Persian Gulf (25.0N, 52.5E). Part of a large oil spill seen as a dark toned mass in the water, covering much of the surface of the western Persian Gulf, has moved offshore in this scene. Qatar is one of several of the oil rich United Arab Emirate states. Oil spills and oil pollution of the environment commonly occur in oil tanker operations.

  12. Hydrologic connectivity between geographically isolated wetlands and surface water systems: A review of select modeling methods

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rulings in 2001 and 2006 by the United States Supreme Court concerning the protection of Geographically Isolated Wetlands (GIWs) unveiled a critical area of research: quantifying the extent of potential hydrologic connectivity of GIWs to navigable waters and their effects at a va...

  13. 78 FR 51737 - Notice of Issuance of Final Determination Concerning Certain Hard Disk Drives and Self-Encrypting...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-21

    ... the HDA incorporate semiconductor, magnetic, mechanical, and manufacturing process design into an..., mechanical surface design and manufacturing process design. It takes approximately [xxx] hours to design... brand names ``Barracuda'' and ``Desktop''. HDDs are designed in the United States and assembled either...

  14. ASSESSING RELATIVE BED STABILITY AND EXCESS FINE SEDIMENTS IN STREAMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Excess fine sedimentation is recognized as a leading cause of water quality impairment in surface waters in the United States. We developed an index of Relative Bed Stability (RBS) that factors out natural controls on streambed particle size to allow evaluation of the role of hu...

  15. Label-Free Detection and Serotyping of Salmonellae by Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy with Immunomagnetic Separation

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Salmonella spp. are one of the leading causes of foodborne outbreaks in the United States and globally. Current detection and characterization techniques for Salmonella are time consuming and rapid methods could greatly benefit outbreak investigation, new case prevention and disease treatment. In th...

  16. Beach-goer behavior during a retrospectively detected algal bloom at a Great Lakes beach

    EPA Science Inventory

    Algal blooms occur among nutrient rich, warm surface waters and may adversely impact recreational beaches. During July – September 2003, a prospective study of beachgoers was conducted on weekends at a public beach on a Great Lake in the United States. We measured each beac...

  17. 76 FR 21425 - Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.-Abandonment Exemption-in Aroostook County, ME

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-04-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. AB 1043 (Sub-No. 2X)] Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd.--Abandonment Exemption-- in Aroostook County, ME On March 28, 2011... Van Buren, Aroostook County, Me. The line traverses United States Postal Service Zip Code 04785. In...

  18. Ecological Impacts during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill was the largest spill and response effort in United States history. Nearly 800 million L of oil was spilled in the Gulf of Mexico, and nearly 7 million L of chemical dispersants were applied in at the ocean surface and subsea1. The DWH spill ...

  19. EMAP SEDIMENTATION INDEX: LAND USE AND NATURAL HYDRAULIC CONTROLS ON STREAM SEDIMENTATION

    EPA Science Inventory

    Excessive erosion, transport and deposition of sediment in streams and rivers is a major problem in surface waters throughout the United States. It is important to have a reliable measure of stream sedimentation that properly accounts for natural controls on the amount of fine p...

  20. Seasonal variation of macrolide resistance gene abundances in the South Fork Iowa River Watershed

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Midwestern United States is dominated by agricultural production with high concentrations of swine, leading to application of swine manure onto lands with artificial subsurface drainage. Previous reports have indicated elevated levels of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in surface water and gr...

  1. CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS IN SUPPORT OF RIPARIAN RESTORATION: WATER QUALITY BENEFITS AND HABITAT RESTORATION IN DELAWARE AGRICULTURAL AREAS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Surface water runoff from agricultural landscapes is one of the major sources of water quality impairment in the United States. With the advent of buffer strips and conservation minded tilling practices the agricultural community has made significant reductions in overland runof...

  2. Carbon and nitrogen cycling in southwestern ponderosa fine forests

    Treesearch

    Stephen C. Hart; Paul C. Selmants; Sarah I. Boyle; Steven T. Overby

    2007-01-01

    Ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United States were historically characterized by relatively open, parklike stands with a bunchgrass-dominated understory. This forest structure was maintained by frequent, low-intensity surface fires. Heavy livestock grazing, fire suppression, and favorable weather conditions following Euro-American settlement in the late 19th...

  3. Nationwide reconnaissance of contaminants of emerging concern in source and treated drinking waters of the United States: Pharmaceuticals

    EPA Science Inventory

    Mobile and persistent chemicals that are present in urban wastewater, such as pharmaceuticals, may survive on-site or municipal wastewater treatment and post-discharge environmental processes. These pharmaceuticals have the potential to reach surface and groundwaters, essential d...

  4. Dwarf mistletoe effects on fuel loadings in ponderosa pine forests in northern Arizona

    Treesearch

    Chad Hoffman; Robert Mathiasen; Carolyn Hull Sieg

    2007-01-01

    Southwestern dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium vaginatum (Willd.) J. Presl ssp. cryptopodum) infests about 0.9 million ha in the southwestern United States. Several studies suggest that dwarf mistletoes affect forest fuels and fire behavior; however, few studies have quantified these effects. We compared surface fuel loadings and...

  5. Acidification of subsurface coastal waters enhanced by eutrophication

    EPA Science Inventory

    Uptake of fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere has acidified the surface ocean by ~0.1 pH units and driven down the carbonate saturation state. Ocean acidification is a threat to marine ecosystems and may alter key biogeochemical cycles. Coastal oceans have also b...

  6. High Speed Rail (HSR) in the United States

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-12-08

    Magnetic Levitation ( Maglev ) ...............................................................................................5 High Speed Rail In...commonly referred to as “ maglev .” 6 Passenger Rail Working Group of the National Surface... maglev train in 2003. Because of the greater costs, and relatively minor benefits,11 of operating at extremely high speeds, the top operating speed

  7. Improving Safety of the Surface Transportation System by Addressing the Issues of Vulnerable Road Users : Case of the Motorcyclists

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-07-01

    Over the past few years, motorcycle fatalities have increased at an alarming rate in the United States. Motorcycle safety issues in Kansas : are no different from the national scenario. Accordingly, this study examines motorcycle crashes in Kansas in...

  8. 7 CFR 51.2652 - Fairly well colored.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Fairly well colored. 51.2652 Section 51.2652... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades for Sweet Cherries 1 Definitions § 51.2652 Fairly well colored. Fairly well colored means that at least 95 percent of the surface of the cherry shows characteristic...

  9. 7 CFR 51.1830 - Fairly well colored.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Fairly well colored. 51.1830 Section 51.1830... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Florida Tangerines Definitions § 51.1830 Fairly well colored. Fairly well colored means that the surface of the fruit may have green color which does not...

  10. 7 CFR 51.1830 - Fairly well colored.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly well colored. 51.1830 Section 51.1830... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades of Florida Tangerines Definitions § 51.1830 Fairly well colored. Fairly well colored means that the surface of the fruit may have green color which does not...

  11. 7 CFR 51.2652 - Fairly well colored.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fairly well colored. 51.2652 Section 51.2652... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Grades for Sweet Cherries 1 Definitions § 51.2652 Fairly well colored. Fairly well colored means that at least 95 percent of the surface of the cherry shows characteristic...

  12. Multi-Model Comparison of Lateral Boundary Contributions to Surface Ozone Over the United States

    EPA Science Inventory

    As the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone become more stringent, there has been growing attention on characterizing the contributions and the uncertainties in ozone from outside the US to the ozone concentrations within the US. The third phase of the Air Qua...

  13. Silvical characteristics of green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)

    Treesearch

    Jonathan W. Wright

    1959-01-01

    The "green" in green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) refers to the leaves. They are nearly as bright green on the lower surface as on the upper. The specific Latin name 'pennsylvanica' was given to the species because it occurs in the United States and because in 1785 Pennsylvania and the American colonies...

  14. FACTORS INFLUENCING PHOTOREACTIONS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER IN A COASTAL RIVER OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Photoreactions of dissolved organic matter can affect the oxidizing capacity, nutrient dynamics, trace gas exchange, and color of surface waters. This study focuses on factors that affect the photoreactions of the colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the Satilla River, a co...

  15. 7 CFR 51.1009 - Stylar end breakdown.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Stylar end breakdown. 51.1009 Section 51.1009... (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51... progresses the color of the affected area becomes darker and usually sinks below the healthy surface, but the...

  16. 7 CFR 51.1009 - Stylar end breakdown.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Stylar end breakdown. 51.1009 Section 51.1009... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1009 Stylar end breakdown... affected area becomes darker and usually sinks below the healthy surface, but the area remains firm unless...

  17. 7 CFR 51.1009 - Stylar end breakdown.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Stylar end breakdown. 51.1009 Section 51.1009... STANDARDS) United States Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1009 Stylar end breakdown... affected area becomes darker and usually sinks below the healthy surface, but the area remains firm unless...

  18. 7 CFR 51.1009 - Stylar end breakdown.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Stylar end breakdown. 51.1009 Section 51.1009... (INSPECTION, CERTIFICATION, AND STANDARDS) United States Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51... progresses the color of the affected area becomes darker and usually sinks below the healthy surface, but the...

  19. Windblown soil surface characteristics of a wheat-oilseed-fallow cropping system

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The production of biofuels is dependent upon oilseed feedstocks in the Pacific Northwest United States (PNW), but evidence suggests that wind erosion may be enhanced as a result of growing oilseeds in conventional wheat rotations. Little is known concerning the impact of growing oilseeds on soil cha...

  20. IMPEDIMENTS AND SOLUTIONS TO SUSTAINABLE, WATERSHED-SCALE URBAN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT: LESSONS FROM AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED STATES

    EPA Science Inventory

    In urban and exurban areas, stormwater runoff is a primary stressor on surface waters (streams, wetlands, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters). Conventional urban stormwater drainage systems often route runoff directly to streams and rivers, thus exacerbating pollutant inputs a...

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