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At least 1,171 records · Page 65Linked to original sources
USGS2002

Measurement error associated with surveys of fish abundance in Lake Michigan

In fisheries, imprecise measurements in catch data from surveys add uncertainty to the results of fishery stock assessments. The USGS Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) began to survey the fall fish community of Lake Michigan in 1962 with bottom trawls. The measurement error was evaluated at the level of individual tows for nine fish species collected in this survey by applying a measurementerror regression model to replicated trawl data. It was found that the estimates of measurement-error variance ranged from 0.37 (deepwater sculpin, Myoxocephalus thompsoni ) to 1.23 (alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus ) on a logarithmic scale corresponding to a coefficient of variation = 66 to 156%. The estimates appeared to increase with the range of temperature occupied by the fish species. This association may be a result of the variability in the fall thermal structure of the lake. The estimates may also be influenced by other factors, such as pelagic behavior and schooling. Measurement error might be reduced by surveying the fish community during other seasons and/or by using additional technologies, such as acoustics. Measurement-error estimates should be considered when interpreting results of assessments that use abundance information from USGS-GLSC surveys of Lake Michigan and could be used if the survey design was altered. This study is the first to report estimates of measurement-error variance associated with this survey.

Lake Michigan↗
USGS2003

Boll weevil eradication: a model for sea lamprey control?

Invasions of boll weevil ( Anthonomus grandis ) into the United States and sea lamprey ( Petromyzon marinus ) into the Great Lakes were similar in many ways. Important species (American cotton, Gossypium hirsutum , and lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush ) and the industries they supported were negatively affected. Initial control efforts were unsuccessful until pesticides and application technologies were developed. For boll weevils, controls relying on pesticides evolved into an integrated program that included recommended farming practices and poisoned baits. However, the discovery of a boll weevil sex pheromone in 1964 allowed adoption of an ongoing program of eradication. Despite opposition over concept and cost, insecticides, pheromone traps, poisoned baits, and approved farming practices were used to eradicate boll weevils from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama by 1999. Using the working back approach along the path of the original invasion, eradication was nearly completed by 2002 in Mississippi and eradication programs were underway in Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and parts of Texas. Insecticide use for cotton production decreased 50 to 90%, and cotton yields and farm income increased an average of 78 kg/ha and $190 U.S./ha in areas where boll weevils were eradicated. For sea lampreys, integrated management uses lampricides, barriers to migration, trapping, and release of sterilized males. Although sea lamprey eradication is not currently feasible, recent research on larval and sex pheromones might provide the tools to make it possible. A successful eradication program for sea lampreys starting in Lake Superior and expanding to the lower Great Lakes would ultimately provide huge ecological and economic benefits by eliminating lampricide applications, removing barriers that block teleost fishes, and facilitating the recovery of lake trout. Should the opportunity arise, the concept of sea lamprey eradication should not be rejected out of hand. The successful boll weevil eradication program shows that sea lamprey eradication might be achievable.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS2003

Development and implementation of an integrated program for control of sea lampreys in the St. Marys River

The development and implementation of a strategy for control of sea lampreys ( Petromyzon marinus ) in the St. Marys River formed the basis for rehabilitation of lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) and other fish in Lakes Huron and Michigan. The control strategy was implemented by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) upon recommendations by the interagency Sea Lamprey Integration Committee, and many managers and scientists from United States and Canada federal, state, provincial, tribal, and private institutions. Analyses of benefits vs. costs of control options and modeling of the cumulative effects on abundance of parasitic-phase sea lampreys and lake trout produced a strategy that involved an integration of control technologies that included long- and short-term measures. The longterm measures included interference with sea lamprey reproduction by the trapping and removal of spawning-phase sea lampreys from the river and the sterilization and release of the trapped male sea lampreys. The theoretical reduction of larvae produced in the river from these two combined techniques averaged almost 90% during 1997 to 1999. Lampricide treatment with granular Bayluscide of 880 ha of plots densely populated with larvae occurred during 1998, 1999, and 2001 because modeling showed the sooner parasitic-phase sea lamprey populations declined in Lake Huron the greater the improvement for restoration of lake trout during 1995 to 2015. Post-treatment assessments showed about 55% of the larvae had been removed from the river. An adaptive assessment plan predicted high probability of detection of control effects because of many available indicators. The GLFC will face several critical decisions beyond 2001, and initiated a decision analysis project to aid in those decisions.

Journal of Great Lakes Research↗
USGS2004

Modeling the suppression of sea lamprey populations by the release of sterile males or sterile females

The suppressive effects of trapping adult sea lampreys, Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, and releasing sterile males (SMRT) or females (SFRT) into a closed system were expressed in deterministic models. Suppression was modeled as a function of the proportion of the population removed by trapping, the number of sterile animals released, the reproductive rate and sex ratio of the population, and (for the SFRT) the rate of polygyny. Releasing sterile males reduced populations more quickly than did the release of sterile females. For a population in which 30% are trapped, sterile animals are initially released at ratio of 10 sterile to 1 fertile animal, 5 adult progeny are produced per fertile mating, 60% are male, and males mate with an average of 1.65 females, the initial population is reduced 87% by SMRT and 68% by SFRT in one generation. The extent of suppression achieved is most sensitive to changes in the initial sterile release ratio. Given the current status of sea lamprey populations and trapping operations in the Great Lakes, the sterile-male-release technique has the best chance for success on a lake-wide basis if implemented in Lake Michigan. The effectiveness of the sterile-female-release technique should be investigated in a controlled study. Advancing trapping technology should be a high priority in the near term, and artificial rearing of sea lampreys to the adult stage should be a high priority in the long term. The diligent pursuit of sea lamprey suppression over a period of several decades can be expected to yield great benefits.

Great Lakes↗
USGS2001

A metadata initiative for global information discovery

The Global Information Locator Service (GILS) encompasses a global vision framed by the fundamental values of open societies. Societal values such as a free flow of information impose certain requirements on the society's information infrastructure. These requirements in turn shape the various laws, policies, standards, and technologies that determine the infrastructure design. A particular focus of GILS is the requirement to provide the means for people to discover sources of data and information. Information discovery in the GILS vision is designed to be decentralized yet coherent, and globally comprehensive yet useful for detailed data. This article introduces basic concepts and design issues, with emphasis on the techniques by which GILS supports interoperability. It explains the practical implications of GILS for the common roles of organizations involved in handling information, from content provider through system engineer and intermediary to searcher. The article provides examples of GILS initiatives in various types of communities: bibliographic, geographic, environmental, and government. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.

Government Information Quarterly↗
USGS2001

Digital terrain modelling and industrial surface metrology - Converging crafts

Quantitative characterisation of surface form, increasingly from digital 3-D height data, is cross-disciplinary and can be applied at any scale. Thus, separation of industrial-surface metrology from its Earth-science counterpart, (digital) terrain modelling, is artificial. Their growing convergence presents an opportunity to develop in surface morphometry a unified approach to surface representation. This paper introduces terrain modelling and compares it with metrology, noting their differences and similarities. Examples of potential redundancy among parameters illustrate one of the many issues common to both disciplines. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufac↗
USGS2002

Status and opportunities for genomics research with rainbow trout

The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is one of the most widely studied of model fish species. Extensive basic biological information has been collected for this species, which because of their large size relative to other model fish species are particularly suitable for studies requiring ample quantities of specific cells and tissue types. Rainbow trout have been widely utilized for research in carcinogenesis, toxicology, comparative immunology, disease ecology, physiology and nutrition. They are distinctive in having evolved from a relatively recent tetraploid event, resulting in a high incidence of duplicated genes. Natural populations are available and have been well characterized for chromosomal, protein, molecular and quantitative genetic variation. Their ease of culture, and experimental and aquacultural significance has led to the development of clonal lines and the widespread application of transgenic technology to this species. Numerous microsatellites have been isolated and two relatively detailed genetic maps have been developed. Extensive sequencing of expressed sequence tags has begun and four BAC libraries have been developed. The development and analysis of additional genomic sequence data will provide distinctive opportunities to address problems in areas such as evolution of the immune system and duplicate genes. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2007

CO2 storage capacity estimation: Methodology and gaps

Implementation of CO2 capture and geological storage (CCGS) technology at the scale needed to achieve a significant and meaningful reduction in CO2 emissions requires knowledge of the available CO2 storage capacity. CO2 storage capacity assessments may be conducted at various scales-in decreasing order of size and increasing order of resolution: country, basin, regional, local and site-specific. Estimation of the CO2 storage capacity in depleted oil and gas reservoirs is straightforward and is based on recoverable reserves, reservoir properties and in situ CO2 characteristics. In the case of CO2-EOR, the CO2 storage capacity can be roughly evaluated on the basis of worldwide field experience or more accurately through numerical simulations. Determination of the theoretical CO2 storage capacity in coal beds is based on coal thickness and CO2 adsorption isotherms, and recovery and completion factors. Evaluation of the CO2 storage capacity in deep saline aquifers is very complex because four trapping mechanisms that act at different rates are involved and, at times, all mechanisms may be operating simultaneously. The level of detail and resolution required in the data make reliable and accurate estimation of CO2 storage capacity in deep saline aquifers practical only at the local and site-specific scales. This paper follows a previous one on issues and development of standards for CO2 storage capacity estimation, and provides a clear set of definitions and methodologies for the assessment of CO2 storage capacity in geological media. Notwithstanding the defined methodologies suggested for estimating CO2 storage capacity, major challenges lie ahead because of lack of data, particularly for coal beds and deep saline aquifers, lack of knowledge about the coefficients that reduce storage capacity from theoretical to effective and to practical, and lack of knowledge about the interplay between various trapping mechanisms at work in deep saline aquifers. ?? 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control↗
USGS2025

Luminescence dating of stone structures in northeastern United States

There is no consensus on who built the numerous stone structures that dot the archaeological landscape in the northeastern United States. Professional archaeologists traditionally have attributed them to colonial farmers, but increasing numbers of archaeologists have joined many nonprofessional groups and Native Americans in arguing for Indigenous origins. Better understanding of these structures can be obtained by determining how old they are. This article reviews nearly 60 luminescence ages, on both sediments and rocks, that have been obtained in recent years. Many of the derived ages fall in the sixteenth century, between initial European contact and substantial colonial settlement. A few ages are significantly older, suggesting that this technology has a deeper origin. The results warrant more research into these structures and rethinking their significance.

American Antiquity↗
USGS2020

Core handling, transportation and processing for the South Pole ice core (SPICEcore) project

An intermediate-depth (1751 m) ice core was drilled at the South Pole between 2014 and 2016 using the newly designed US Intermediate Depth Drill. The South Pole ice core is the highest-resolution interior East Antarctic ice core record that extends into the glacial period. The methods used at the South Pole to handle and log the drilled ice, the procedures used to safely retrograde the ice back to the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF), and the methods used to process and sample the ice at the NSF-ICF are described. The South Pole ice core exhibited minimal brittle ice, which was likely due to site characteristics and, to a lesser extent, to drill technology and core handling procedures.

Annals of Glaciology↗
USGS2011

Geoinformatics in the public service: Building a cyberinfrastructure across the geological surveys

Advanced information technology infrastructure is increasingly being employed in the Earth sciences to provide researchers with efficient access to massive central databases and to integrate diversely formatted information from a variety of sources. These geoinformatics initiatives enable manipulation, modeling and visualization of data in a consistent way, and are helping to develop integrated Earth models at various scales, and from the near surface to the deep interior. This book uses a series of case studies to demonstrate computer and database use across the geosciences. Chapters are thematically grouped into sections that cover data collection and management; modeling and community computational codes; visualization and data representation; knowledge management and data integration; and web services and scientific workflows. Geoinformatics is a fascinating and accessible introduction to this emerging field for readers across the solid Earth sciences and an invaluable reference for researchers interested in initiating new cyberinfrastructure projects of their own.

Book chapter↗
USGS2017

A global threats overview for Numeniini populations: synthesising expert knowledge for a group of declining migratory birds.

The Numeniini is a tribe of 13 wader species (Scolopacidae, Charadriiformes) of which seven are Near Threatened or globally threatened, including two Critically Endangered. To help inform conservation management and policy responses, we present the results of an expert assessment of the threats that members of this taxonomic group face across migratory flyways. Most threats are increasing in intensity, particularly in non-breeding areas, where habitat loss resulting from residential and commercial development, aquaculture, mining, transport, disturbance, problematic invasive species, pollution and climate change were regarded as having the greatest detrimental impact. Fewer threats (mining, disturbance, problematic native species and climate change) were identified as widely affecting breeding areas. Numeniini populations face the greatest number of non-breeding threats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, especially those associated with coastal reclamation; related threats were also identified across the Central and Atlantic Americas, and East Atlantic flyways. Threats on the breeding grounds were greatest in Central and Atlantic Americas, East Atlantic and West Asian flyways. Three priority actions were associated with monitoring and research: to monitor breeding population trends (which for species breeding in remote areas may best be achieved through surveys at key non-breeding sites), to deploy tracking technologies to identify migratory connectivity, and to monitor land-cover change across breeding and non-breeding areas. Two priority actions were focused on conservation and policy responses: to identify and effectively protect key non-breeding sites across all flyways (particularly in the East Asian- Australasian Flyway), and to implement successful conservation interventions at a sufficient scale across human-dominated landscapes for species' recovery to be achieved. If implemented urgently, these measures in combination have the potential to alter the current population declines of many Numeniini species and provide a template for the conservation of other groups of threatened species.

Bird Conservation International↗
USGS2002

Cooperative investigation of precision and accuracy in chemical analysis of silicate rocks

This is the preliminary report of the first extensive program ever organized to study the analysis of igneous rocks, a study sponsored by the United States Geological Survey, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Large samples of two typical igneous rocks, a granite and a diabase, were carefully prepared and divided. Small samples (about 70 grams) of each were sent to 25 rock-analysis laboratories throughout the world; analyses of one or both samples were reported by 34 analysts in these laboratories. The results, which showed rather large discrepancies, are presented in histograms. The great discordance in results reflects the present unsatisfactory state of rock analysis. It is hoped that the ultimate establishment of standard samples and procedures will contribute to the improvement of quality of analyses. The two rock samples have also been thoroughly studied spectrographically and petrographically. Detailed reports of all the studies will be published.

Analytical Chemistry↗
USGS2022

Planning and operations of the Hydrate 01 Stratigraphic Test Well, Prudhoe Bay Unit, Alaska North Slope

The National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey are leading an effort to conduct an extended gas hydrate production test in northern Alaska. The proposed production test required the drilling of an initial stratigraphic test well (STW) to confirm the geologic conditions of the proposed test site. This well was completed in January 2019 in cooperation with the Prudhoe Bay Unit Working Interest Owners. The Prudhoe Bay Unit Hydrate-01 STW was spudded on 10-December-2018. Downhole data acquisition was completed on 25-December-2018, and the rig was released on 01-January-2019. The Hydrate-01 STW was drilled in two sections, including the surface hole that was drilled to a depth of 2248 ft measured depth (MD) (685 m MD) and cased, and the production hole section that was drilled to a depth of 3558 ft MD (1084 m MD) and also cased. A thermally chilled mineral-oil-based mud was used in the main (production) hole section of the well to maintain wellbore stability and quality of the wellbore acquired data. The primary wellbore data were acquired using logging-while-drilling tools. A sidewall pressure core system was also deployed to gather grain size and other data needed for the design of the future production test wells. In addition to confirming the geologic conditions at the test site, the Hydrate-01 STW was designed to serve as a monitoring well during future field operations. Therefore, two sets of fiber-optic cables, each including a bundled distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) and a distributed temperature sensor (DTS), were clamped to the outside of the production casing and cemented in place. In March 2019, the project team acquired three-dimensional (3D) DAS vertical seismic profiling data in the Hydrate-01 STW. Temperature surveys were also acquired with the DTS as deployed in the Hydrate-01 STW during the completion of the well and nearly continuously since March-2019.

Alaska↗
USGS2022

New insights into the occurrence and implications of mobile water in gas hydrate systems

Gas hydrate production technologies commonly feature reservoir depressurization. Depressurization occurs when a pressure gradient is established in a well, drawing mobile water from the reservoir and reducing reservoir pressure. As such, the occurrence of mobile water is a necessary condition for effective gas production from gas hydrate reservoirs using common borehole-based methods. However, recent field programs have revealed that mobile water exists widely within the overall gas hydrate reservoir system, including within overlying and underlying units once thought of as virtually impermeable seals. Further, excess free water may also be commonly found in hydrate-free or hydrate-poor permeable strata interbedded within the larger gas hydrate reservoir system. Such internal sources of water are complex to characterize, difficult to explain, potentially highly heterogeneous, and may pose significant challenges to depressurization-based production. This report summarizes the general occurrence of water in gas hydrate systems and select technical implications.

Journal of Energy and Fuels↗
USGS2022

Review of past gas Production attempts from subsurface gas hydrate deposits and necessity of long-term production testing

This paper summarizes the conditions, applied techniques, results, and lessons of major field gas production attempts from gas hydrates in the past and the necessity of longer term production testing with the scale of years to fulfill the gap between the currently available information and the knowledge required for commercial development. The temporal and spatial scales of field production test projects employing depressurization have expanded since 2002. The results from the projects have proved the applicability of these techniques in both onshore and offshore conditions. However, many technical and reservoir condition-related issues have emerged in gas production, and the gap between current status and industrial requirements is still large. Sand control, artificial lift, and related flow assurance issues are common technical issues that impact onshore and offshore production testing operations. Different reservoir responses were observed well by well, and discrepancy between model predictions and actual field measurements were seen, although reasonable matches were made for short-term behaviors. Those observations suggest that temporal change of the wellbore and near-wellbore conditions and reservoir heterogeneity that cannot be fully modeled have caused complex short-term responses to the depressurization operations. To ensure the long-term operational stability and reliability of the prediction technologies for production behaviors that are essential for commercialization of gas hydrate resources, gas hydrate production testing with comparable duration with commercial operations are necessary. Due to the locality of geological conditions in gas hydrate reservoirs, numerous gas production tests will be required to understand the factors controlling gas production.

Journal of Energy and Fuels↗
USGS2016

The Iġnik Sikumi Field Experiment, Alaska North Slope: Design, operations, and implications for CO 2 −CH 4 exchange in gas hydrate reservoirs

The Iġnik Sikumi Gas Hydrate Exchange Field Experiment was conducted by ConocoPhillips in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey within the Prudhoe Bay Unit on the Alaska North Slope during 2011 and 2012. The primary goals of the program were to (1) determine the feasibility of gas injection into hydrate-bearing sand reservoirs and (2) observe reservoir response upon subsequent flowback in order to assess the potential for CO 2 exchange for CH 4 in naturally occurring gas hydrate reservoirs. Initial modeling determined that no feasible means of injection of pure CO 2 was likely, given the presence of free water in the reservoir. Laboratory and numerical modeling studies indicated that the injection of a mixture of CO 2 and N 2 offered the best potential for gas injection and exchange. The test featured the following primary operational phases: (1) injection of a gaseous phase mixture of CO 2 , N 2 , and chemical tracers; (2) flowback conducted at downhole pressures above the stability threshold for native CH 4 hydrate; and (3) an extended (30-days) flowback at pressures near, and then below, the stability threshold of native CH 4 hydrate. The test findings indicate that the formation of a range of mixed-gas hydrates resulted in a net exchange of CO 2 for CH 4 in the reservoir, although the complexity of the subsurface environment renders the nature, extent, and efficiency of the exchange reaction uncertain. The next steps in the evaluation of exchange technology should feature multiple well applications; however, such field test programs will require extensive preparatory experimental and numerical modeling studies and will likely be a secondary priority to further field testing of production through depressurization. Additional insights gained from the field program include the following: (1) gas hydrate destabilization is self-limiting, dispelling any notion of the potential for uncontrolled destabilization; (2) gas hydrate test wells must be carefully designed to enable rapid remediation of wellbore blockages that will occur during any cessation in operations; (3) sand production during hydrate production likely can be managed through standard engineering controls; and (4) reservoir heat exchange during depressurization was more favorable than expected—mitigating concerns for near-wellbore freezing and enabling consideration of more aggressive pressure reduction.

Energy & Fuels↗
USGS2024

A universal method for the simultaneous determination of environmental pollutants in marine biological samples: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotics as a case study

Conventional detection technologies for environmental contaminants have primarily focused on providing accurate qualitative and quantitative evaluations for single pollutant types, leading to increased costs and an inability to satisfy the growing demand for detecting a broader spectrum of pollutants. Here, we introduced a novel analytical method to simultaneously measure the concentration levels of diverse environmental pollutants, characterized by their distinct properties, across complex biological samples. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and antibiotics were used as a case study due to their frequency of detection in the environment and known impacts Our method harnesses the salting-out effect of sodium chloride on proteins within the muscle tissues of 178 marine species, which significantly reduces the addition of extraneous substances, mitigates matrix interference, and avoids reliance on solid-phase extraction or dispersive extraction agents. The method provides a simultaneous pretreatment for the detection of several compounds, with detection limits from 0.002 to 0.41 ng/g dry weight, which are substantially lower than conventional methods. Overall, this method streamlines efficiency, decreases costs, lessens matrix effects, and sets a solid groundwork for future applications in the concurrent detection of a broader spectrum of environmentally pertinent pollutants with varied characteristics.

ACS ES&T Water↗