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At least 1,135 records · Page 63Linked to original sources
USGS2022

Planetary Aeolian landforms: An introduction to the Fifth Planetary Dunes Workshop Special Issue

Aeolian landforms are widespread in our solar system. Understanding the exact nature and processes of formation of these features are challenging tasks necessitating a strong collaboration between scientists with different skills and scientific backgrounds. This paper describes the special issue for the 5 th International Planetary Dunes Workshop, which includes 15 research papers and three commentaries. Among the 18 papers included in this collection, 16 cover Martian aeolian science and two Titan aeolian science. The papers presented focus on bedform morphology and dynamics via remote sensing data, modelling, analogues studies and laboratory experiments. Here we put the main results of the papers in their appropriate scientific context and discuss potential future lines of research.

JGR Planets↗
USGS2019

Fire, climate and changing forests

A changing climate implies potential transformations in plant demography, communities, and disturbances such as wildfire and insect outbreaks. How do these dynamics play out in terrestrial ecosystems across scales of space and time? “Vegetation type conversion” (VTC) is a term used to describe abrupt and long-lasting changes in vegetation structure and composition due to various kinds of perturbations. For example, it has long been observed that fire-adapted ecosystems such as the California chaparral shrublands are readily replaced by non-native annual grasses when humans increase fire frequency. Similar effects are being observed in Sonoran Desert plant communities, where invasion by non-native buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliare) exposes a fire-sensitive plant community to high-intensity fires, which are lethal to the long-lived iconic Sonoran flora such as Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea). While type conversions following severe disturbance have been observed for some time, the mechanisms that underlay such changes are only recently coming to light. Threshold behavior is of particular concern: as various climate indices pass critical values, some ecosystems may be reaching points of no return where recovery to the earlier state is no longer possible. A recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S., has now revealed that increased fire severity impairs post-fire forest regeneration, setting the stage for potential large-scale type conversion of western conifer forests.

Nature Plants↗
USGS2014

A new analysis of Mars "Special Regions": findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)

A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on understanding when and where Special Regions could occur. The study applied recently available data about martian environments and about terrestrial organisms, building on a previous analysis of Mars Special Regions (2006) undertaken by a similar team. Since then, a new body of highly relevant information has been generated from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005) and Phoenix (2007) and data from Mars Express and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers (all 2003). Results have also been gleaned from the Mars Science Laboratory (launched in 2011). In addition to Mars data, there is a considerable body of new data regarding the known environmental limits to life on Earth—including the potential for terrestrial microbial life to survive and replicate under martian environmental conditions. The SR-SAG2 analysis has included an examination of new Mars models relevant to natural environmental variation in water activity and temperature; a review and reconsideration of the current parameters used to define Special Regions; and updated maps and descriptions of the martian environments recommended for treatment as "Uncertain" or "Special" as natural features or those potentially formed by the influence of future landed spacecraft. Significant changes in our knowledge of the capabilities of terrestrial organisms and the existence of possibly habitable martian environments have led to a new appreciation of where Mars Special Regions may be identified and protected. The SR-SAG also considered the impact of Special Regions on potential future human missions to Mars, both as locations of potential resources and as places that should not be inadvertently contaminated by human activity.

Astrobiology↗
USGS2024

Lead isotopes in New England (USA) volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits: Implications for metal sources and pre-accretionary tectonostratigraphic terranes

Lead isotope values for volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits provide important insights into metal sources and the nature of pre-accretionary tectonostratigraphic terranes and underlying basements. Deposits of this type in New England formed in diverse tectonic settings including volcanic arcs and backarcs, a supra–subduction zone arc, a rifted forearc foreland basin, and a rifted continental margin. Following VMS mineralization on or near the seafloor, components of the tectonostratigraphic assemblages—volcanic ± sedimentary rocks, coeval intrusions, sulfide deposits, and underlying basements—were diachronously accreted to the Laurentian margin during the Paleozoic. Lead isotope data for galena show relatively large ranges for 206 Pb/ 204 Pb, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb, and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb. Evaluation of potential lead sources, using for comparison Pb-isotope data from modern and ancient settings, suggests that principal sources include the mantle, volcanic ± sedimentary rocks, and deeper basement rocks. Integration of the Pb-isotope values with published data such as Nd isotopes for the volcanic rocks and from deep seismic reflection profiles points to the involvement of several basements, including those of Grenvillian, Ganderian, Avalonian, and West African (and (or) Amazonian) affinity. Clustering of Pb-isotope data for VMS deposits within individual Cambrian and Ordovician volcanic and volcanosedimentary settings, delineated by differences in 206 Pb/ 204 Pb and µ ( 238 U/ 204 Pb) values, are consistent with lead derivation from at least four and possibly five different tectonostratigraphic assemblages with isotopically distinct basements. Collectively, our Pb-isotope data for New England VMS deposits provide a novel window into the nature of subarc basement rocks during pre-accretionary sulfide mineralization outboard of Laurentia during early Paleozoic time.

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences↗
USGS2009

EAARL Coastal Topography-Pearl River Delta 2008: Bare Earth

These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of Lidar-derived bare earth (BE) topography were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL; the University of New Orleans (UNO), Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences (PIES), New Orleans, LA; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Pearl River Delta in Louisiana and Mississippi, acquired March 9-11, 2008. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural resource managers. An innovative airborne Lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) Lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive Lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multi-spectral color infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for submeter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. A single pilot, a Lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a custom-built processing system developed in a NASA-USGS collaboration. ALPS supports the exploration and processing of Lidar data in an interactive or batch mode. Modules for presurvey flight line definition, flight path plotting, Lidar raster and waveform investigation, and digital camera image playback have been developed. Processing algorithms have been developed to extract the range to the first and last significant return within each waveform. ALPS is used routinely to create maps that represent submerged or first surface topography. Specialized filtering algorithms have been implemented to determine the 'bare earth' under vegetation from a point cloud of last return elevations.

Data Series↗
USGS2009

EAARL Coastal Topography-Pearl River Delta 2008: First Surface

These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL; the University of New Orleans (UNO), Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences (PIES), New Orleans, LA; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Pearl River Delta in Louisiana and Mississippi, acquired March 9-11, 2008. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural resource managers. An innovative airborne Lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) Lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive Lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multi-spectral color infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for submeter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. A single pilot, a Lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a custom-built processing system developed in a NASA-USGS collaboration. ALPS supports the exploration and processing of Lidar data in an interactive or batch mode. Modules for presurvey flight line definition, flight path plotting, Lidar raster and waveform investigation, and digital camera image playback have been developed. Processing algorithms have been developed to extract the range to the first and last significant return within each waveform. ALPS is used routinely to create maps that represent submerged or first surface topography. Specialized filtering algorithms have been implemented to determine the 'bare earth' under vegetation from a point cloud of last return elevations.

Data Series↗
USGS2009

ATM Coastal Topography-Mississippi, 2001

These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of the Mississippi coastline, from Lakeshore to Petit Bois Island, acquired September 9-10, 2001. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative scanning lidar instrument originally developed by NASA, and known as the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), was used during data acquisition. The ATM system is a scanning lidar system that measures high-resolution topography of the land surface and incorporates a green-wavelength laser operating at pulse rates of 2 to 10 kilohertz. Measurements from the laser-ranging device are coupled with data acquired from inertial navigation system (INS) attitude sensors and differentially corrected global positioning system (GPS) receivers to measure topography of the surface at accuracies of +/-15 centimeters. The nominal ATM platform is a Twin Otter or P-3 Orion aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the ATM system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a custom-built processing system developed in a NASA-USGS collaboration. ALPS supports the exploration and processing of lidar data in an interactive or batch mode. Modules for presurvey flight-line definition, flight-path plotting, lidar raster and waveform investigation, and digital camera image playback have been developed. Processing algorithms have been developed to extract the range to the first and last significant return within each waveform. ALPS is used routinely to create maps that represent submerged or first-surface topography.

Mississippi↗
USGS2016

Sustainability of groundwater supplies in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system

Groundwater is the Nation’s principal reserve of freshwater. It provides about half our drinking water, is essential to food production, and facilitates business and industry in developing economic well-being. Groundwater is also an important source of water for sustaining the ecosystem health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country. The decreases in groundwater levels and other effects of pumping that result from large-scale development of groundwater resources have led to concerns about the future availability of groundwater to meet all our Nation’s needs. Assessments of groundwater availability provide the science and information needed by the public and decision makers to manage water resources and use them responsibly. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting large-scale multidisciplinary regional studies of groundwater availability as part of its ongoing assessments of the principal aquifers of the Nation. These regional studies are intended to provide citizens, communities, and natural resource managers with knowledge of the status of the Nation’s groundwater resources and how changes in land use, water use, and climate have affected and are likely to affect those resources now and in the future.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2007

USGS Tampa Bay Pilot Study

Many of the nation's estuaries have been environmentally stressed since the turn of the 20th century and will continue to be impacted in the future. Tampa Bay, one the Gulf of Mexico's largest estuaries, exemplifies the threats that our estuaries face (EPA Report 2001, Tampa Bay Estuary Program-Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (TBEP-CCMP)). More than 2 million people live in the Tampa Bay watershed, and the population constitutes to grow. Demand for freshwater resources, conversion of undeveloped areas to resident and industrial uses, increases in storm-water runoff, and increased air pollution from urban and industrial sources are some of the known human activities that impact Tampa Bay. Beginning on 2001, additional anthropogenic modifications began in Tampa Bat including construction of an underwater gas pipeline and a desalinization plant, expansion of existing ports, and increased freshwater withdrawal from three major tributaries to the bay. In January of 2001, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP) and its partners identifies a critical need for participation from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in providing multidisciplinary expertise and a regional-scale, integrated science approach to address complex scientific research issue and critical scientific information gaps that are necessary for continued restoration and preservation of Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay stakeholders identified several critical science gaps for which USGS expertise was needed (Yates et al. 2001). These critical science gaps fall under four topical categories (or system components): 1) water and sediment quality, 2) hydrodynamics, 3) geology and geomorphology, and 4) ecosystem structure and function. Scientists and resource managers participating in Tampa Bay studies recognize that it is no longer sufficient to simply examine each of these estuarine system components individually, Rather, the interrelation among system components must be understood to develop conceptual and predictive modeling tools for effective ecosystem adaptive management. As a multidisciplinary organization, the USGS possesses the capability of developing and coordinating an integrated science strategy for estuarine research founded on partnerships and collaborative efforts, multidisciplinary teams of scientists, and integrated field work, data analysis and interpretation, and product development. The primary role of the USGS in Tamps Bay research was defined with our partners based upon this capability to address estuarine issues using an integrated science approach with a regional perspective and within a national context to complement the numerous ongoing scien efforts by state and local agencies that address local issues within Tamp Bay. Six primary components of the USGS Tamp Bay Study address critical gaps within each of the the four estuarine system components and focus on: 1.) Examining how natural and man-made physical changes affect ecosystem health through mapping and modeling. 2.) Identifying sources and quality of groundwater, surface water, and sediment, 3.) Identifying sources and quality of groundwater, surface water, and sediment, 4.) Assessing the natural and man-made changes affecting wetland health and restoration, 5.) Identifying and measuring the impact of urbanization on seafloor habitats, Providing a web-based digital information management system of information for scientists and the public, including a system that supports the work of those officials who must make decisions that affect the state of the bay. The Tampa Bay Study is in its sixth year and will continue through September 2007. This paper presents a non-inclusive summary of key findings associated with the six primary project components listed above. Component 4 (above) is described in detail in the following chapter 13. More information on the Tampa Bay Study is available from our on-line digital information system for the Tampa Bay Study at http://gulfsci.usgs.gov.

Florida↗
USGS2023

Hydrologic investigations of green infrastructure by the Central Midwest Water Science Center

The water management system within developed communities includes stormwater, wastewater, and drinking-water sources and sinks. Each water management system component provides critical services that support public health in these areas. Stormwater can be quite variable and difficult to manage in developed communities because the amount of stormwater that must be routed through a developed area depends on changing land cover and variable precipitation. In addition to flooding concerns, stormwater also is a major cause of water contamination in developed communities because it carries contaminants such as trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and sediments to local waterways. Historically, communities have managed stormwater with gray infrastructure such as street gutters, culverts, sewer systems, and tunnels. Although these structures efficiently capture and route stormwater to a local waterway or treatment plant, they do not filter any contaminants. Furthermore, many older communities have combined storm sewer and sanitary sewer systems. These combined systems result in an excessive amount of wastewater to be treated before being released into receiving water or the untreated waters are released directly to receiving waters during storms. Many communities are now incorporating green infrastructure stormwater mitigating solutions—pervious surfaces (allows water through), grassed swales, bioretention basins, and rain gardens—into their stormwater-management systems. Green infrastructure can absorb and filter stormwater where it falls by taking advantage of natural soil and plant storage and filtration capabilities. Thus, green infrastructure projects can potentially reduce the amount of stormwater and the concentration and transport of contaminants. Increasing green infrastructure in a developed community may reduce the requirements for new storm sewer infrastructure, improve the water quality of nearby waterways, and enhance aesthetics. The U.S. Geological Survey has partnered with several cooperators to quantify the effects of green infrastructure projects in several developed communities throughout the central Midwest. As part of these green infrastructure projects, the U.S. Geological Survey Central Midwest Water Science Center and cooperators installed, calibrated, and monitored equipment to measure hydrologic responses (including flooding and water movement) and selected water-quality constituents in developed communities.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2018

Science partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe—Understanding the Elwha River Dam Removal Project

After nearly a century of producing power, two large hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River in Washington State were removed during 2011 to 2014 to restore the river ecosystem and recover imperiled salmon populations. Roughly two-thirds of the 21 million cubic meters of sediment—enough to fill nearly 2 million dump trucks—contained behind the dams was released downstream, which restored natural processes and initiated important changes to the river, estuarine, and marine ecosystems. A multidisciplinary team of scientists from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, academia, non-governmental organizations, Federal and state agencies, and the U.S. Geological Survey collected key data before, during, and after dam removal to understand the outcomes of this historic project on the Elwha River ecosystem.

Washington↗
USGS1964

Natural carbon-14 activity of organic substances in streams

Carbon-14 measurements made on organic contaminants extracted from streams show percentages of industrial waste and domestic sewage. The method, used previously for studies of the atmosphere, can be used in studies of pollution sources.

Science↗
USGS2010

EAARL Coastal Topography and Imagery-Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia, Post-Nor'Ida, 2009

These remotely sensed, geographically referenced color-infrared (CIR) imagery and elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) and first-surface (FS) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, acquired post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter) on November 28 and 30, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar(EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral color-infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a custom-built processing system developed in a NASA-USGS collaboration. ALPS supports the exploration and processing of lidar data in an interactive or batch mode. Modules for presurvey flight-line definition, flight-path plotting, lidar raster and waveform investigation, and digital camera image playback have been developed. Processing algorithms have been developed to extract the range to the first and last significant return within each waveform. ALPS is used routinely to create maps that represent submerged or sub-aerial topography. Specialized filtering algorithms have been implemented to determine the 'bare earth' under vegetation from a point cloud of last return elevations. For more information about similar projects, please visit the Decision Support for Coastal Science and Management website.

Data Series↗
USGS2001

A model for lignin alteration - Part I: A kinetic reaction-network model

A new quantitative model is presented which simulates the maturation of lignin-derived sedimentary organic matter under geologic conditions. In this model, compositionally specific reactants evolve to specific intermediate and mobile products through balanced, nth order processes, by way of a network of sequential and parallel reactions. The chemical kinetic approach is based primarily on published observed structural transformations of naturally matured, lignin-derived, sedimentary organic matter. Assuming that Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork coal in the Piceance Basin is primarily lignin-derived, the model is calibrated for the Multi-Well Experiment(MWX) Site in this basin. This kind of approach may be applied to other selectively preserved chemical components of sedimentary organic matter. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Organic Geochemistry↗
USGS2024

Seismic tomography 2023

Seismic tomography is the most abundant source of information about the internal structure of the Earth at scales ranging from a few meters to thousands of kilometers. It constrains the properties of active volcanoes, earthquake fault zones, deep reservoirs and storage sites, glaciers and ice sheets, or the entire globe. It contributes to outstanding societal problems related to natural hazards, resource exploration, underground storage, and many more. The recent advances in seismic tomography are being translated to nondestructive testing, medical ultrasound, and helioseismology. Nearly 50 yr after its first successful applications, this article offers a snapshot of modern seismic tomography. Focused on major challenges and particularly promising research directions, it is intended to guide both Earth science professionals and early‐career scientists. The individual contributions by the coauthors provide diverse perspectives on topics that may at first seem disconnected but are closely tied together by a few coherent threads: multiparameter inversion for properties related to dynamic processes, data quality, and geographic coverage, uncertainty quantification that is useful for geologic interpretation, new formulations of tomographic inverse problems that address concrete geologic questions more directly, and the presentation and quantitative comparison of tomographic models. It remains to be seen which of these problems will be considered solved, solved to some extent, or practically unsolvable over the next decade.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗
USGS2009

ATM Coastal Topography-Texas, 2001: UTM Zone 14

These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Texas coastline within UTM zone 14, acquired October 12-13, 2001. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative scanning lidar instrument originally developed by NASA, and known as the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), was used during data acquisition. The ATM system is a scanning lidar system that measures high-resolution topography of the land surface and incorporates a green-wavelength laser operating at pulse rates of 2 to 10 kilohertz. Measurements from the laser-ranging device are coupled with data acquired from inertial navigation system (INS) attitude sensors and differentially corrected global positioning system (GPS) receivers to measure topography of the surface at accuracies of +/-15 centimeters. The nominal ATM platform is a Twin Otter or P-3 Orion aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the ATM system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a custom-built processing system developed in a NASA-USGS collaboration. ALPS supports the exploration and processing of lidar data in an interactive or batch mode. Modules for presurvey flight-line definition, flight-path plotting, lidar raster and waveform investigation, and digital camera image playback have been developed. Processing algorithms have been developed to extract the range to the first and last significant return within each waveform. ALPS is used routinely to create maps that represent submerged or first-surface topography.

Texas↗
USGS2016

Conservation planning for the Colorado River in Utah

Strategic planning is increasingly recognized as necessary for providing the greatest possible conservation benefits for restoration efforts. Rigorous, science-based resource assessment, combined with acknowledgement of broader basin trends, provides a solid foundation for determining effective projects. It is equally important that methods used to prioritize conservation investments are simple and practical enough that they can be implemented in a timely manner and by a variety of resource managers. With the help of local and regional natural resource professionals, we have developed a broad-scale, spatially-explicit assessment of 146 miles (~20,000 acres) of the Colorado River mainstem in Grand and San Juan Counties, Utah that will function as the basis for a systematic, practical approach to conservation planning and riparian restoration prioritization. For the assessment we have: 1) acquired, modified or created spatial datasets of Colorado River bottomland conditions; 2) synthesized those datasets into habitat suitability models and estimates of natural recovery potential, fire risk and relative cost; 3) investigated and described dominant ecosystem trends and human uses, and; 4) suggested site selection and prioritization approaches. Partner organizations (The Nature Conservancy, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and Utah Forestry Fire and State Lands) are using the assessment and datasets to identify and prioritize a suite of restoration actions to increase ecosystem resilience and improve habitat for bottomland species. Primary datasets include maps of bottomland cover types, bottomland extent, maps of areas inundated during high and low flow events, as well as locations of campgrounds, roads, fires, invasive vegetation treatment areas and other features. Assessment of conditions and trends in the project area entailed: 1) assemblage of existing data on geology, changes in stream flow, and predictions of future conditions; 2) identification of fish and wildlife species present and grouping species into Conservation Elements (CEs) based on habitat needs, and: 3) acquisition, review and creation of spatial datasets characterizing vegetation, fluvial geomorphic and human features within the bottomland. Interpretation of aerial imagery and assimilation of pre-existing spatial data were central to our efforts in characterizing resources conditions. Detailed maps of vegetation and channel habitat features in the project area were generated from true color, high resolution (0.3m) imagery flown September 16, 2010. We also mapped channel habitat features at high flow on 1.0-m resolution, publicly available, true color imagery. We obtained additional layers such as land ownership, roads, fire history, non-native vegetation treatment areas, and recreational use features from public sources and project partners. Habitat suitability models were created for groups of terrestrial species by combining spatial datasets with the habitat needs of conservation elements, guided by literature, where available, and extensive use of expert knowledge. Conservation elements for endangered fish species life stages were identified but not modeled. Terrestrial CE’s included: • Riparian Overstory -yellow-billed cuckoo, Bullock’s oriole, black-headed grosbeak, blue grosbeak, warbling vireo, Cooper's hawk, screech owl, saw-whet owl, and bald eagle, (best: tall trees, dense canopy, diverse shrub understory, no tamarisk); • Riparian Understory - southwestern willow flycatcher, common yellowthroat, yellow warbler, yellow-breasted chat, beaver, northern river otter, black-necked garter snake, (best: dense mesic shrubs near still water, no tamarisk); • Bat Feeding - Allen's big-eared bat, Townsend's big-eared bat, fringed myotis, Yuma myotis, big free-tailed bat, spotted bat (best: diverse vegetation, close to still water); • Bat Watering - big free-tailed and spotted bats (best: still water with no tall vegetation); •

Utah↗
USGS2014

A protocol for coordinating post-tsunami field reconnaissance efforts in the USA

In the aftermath of a catastrophic tsunami, much is to be learned about tsunami generation and propagation, landscape and ecological changes, and the response and recovery of those affected by the disaster. Knowledge of the impacted area directly helps response and relief personnel in their efforts to reach and care for survivors and for re-establishing community services. First-hand accounts of tsunami-related impacts and consequences also help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in other parts of the world that lack recent events to better understand and manage their own societal risks posed by tsunami threats. Conducting post-tsunami surveys and disseminating useful results to decision makers in an effective, efficient, and timely manner is difficult given the logistical issues and competing demands in a post-disaster environment. To facilitate better coordination of field-data collection and dissemination of results, a protocol for coordinating post-tsunami science surveys was developed by a multi-disciplinary group of representatives from state and federal agencies in the USA. This protocol is being incorporated into local, state, and federal post-tsunami response planning through the efforts of the Pacific Risk Management ‘Ohana, the U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, and the U.S. National Plan for Disaster Impact Assessments. Although the protocol was designed to support a coordinated US post-tsunami response, we believe it could help inform post-disaster science surveys conducted elsewhere and further the discussion on how hazard researchers can most effectively operate in disaster environments.

Natural Hazards↗