Publications
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Land cover and topography affect the land transformation caused by wind facilities
Land transformation (ha of surface disturbance/MW) associated with wind facilities shows wide variation in its reported values. In addition, no studies have attempted to explain the variation across facilities. We digitized land transformation at 39 wind facilities using high resolution aerial imagery. We then modeled the effects of turbine size, configuration, land cover, and topography on the le
Authors
Jay E. Diffendorfer, Roger W. Compton
Ocean-atmosphere forcing of centennial hydroclimatic variability in the Pacific Northwest
Reconstructing centennial timescale hydroclimate variability during the late Holocene is critically important for understanding large-scale patterns of drought and their relationship with climate dynamics. We present sediment oxygen isotope records spanning the last two millennia from 10 lakes, as well as climate model simulations, indicating that the Little Ice Age was dry relative to the Medieva
Authors
Byron A. Steinman, Mark B. Abbott, Michael E. Mann, Joseph D. Ortiz, Song Feng, David P. Pompeani, Nathan D. Stansell, Lesleigh Anderson, Bruce P. Finney, Broxton W. Bird
Geospatial optimization of siting large-scale solar projects
Recent policy and economic conditions have encouraged a renewed interest in developing large-scale solar projects in the U.S. Southwest. However, siting some large-scale solar projects, such
as concentrating solar power (CSP), is complex. In addition to the quality of the solar resource,
solar developers must take into consideration many environmental, social, and economic factors when evaluating
Authors
Jordan Macknick, Ted Quinby, Emmet Caulfield, Margot Gerritsen, James E. Diffendorfer, Seth S. Haines
A methodology for adaptable and robust ecosystem services assessment
Ecosystem Services (ES) are an established conceptual framework for attributing value to the benefits that nature provides to humans. As the promise of robust ES-driven management is put to the test, shortcomings in our ability to accurately measure, map, and value ES have surfaced. On the research side, mainstream methods for ES assessment still fall short of addressing the complex, multi-scale b
Authors
Ferdinando Villa, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Brian Voigt, Gary W. Johnson, Rosimeiry Portela, Miroslav Honzák, David Batker
The Snowmastodon Project
Studies of terrestrial biotic and environmental dynamics of the last interglacial period, Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, provide insight into the effects of long-term climate change on Pleistocene ecosystems. In North America, however, there are relatively few fossil sites that definitively date to MIS 5. Even fewer contain multiple ecosystem components (vertebrates, invertebrates, plants) t
Authors
Kirk R. Johnson, Ian M. Miller, Jeffery S. Pigati
Digital representation of oil and natural gas well pad scars in southwest Wyoming
The recent proliferation of oil and natural gas energy development in southwest Wyoming has stimulated the need to understand wildlife responses to this development. Central to many wildlife assessments is the use of geospatial methods that rely on digital representation of energy infrastructure. Surface disturbance of the well pad scars associated with oil and natural gas extraction has been an i
Authors
Steven L. Garman, Jamie L. McBeth
Market forces and technological substitutes cause fluctuations in the value of bat pest-control services for cotton
Critics of the market-based, ecosystem services approach to biodiversity conservation worry that volatile market conditions and technological substitutes will diminish the value of ecosystem services and obviate the “economic benefits” arguments for conservation. To explore the effects of market forces and substitutes on service values, we assessed how the value of the pest-control services provid
Authors
Laura López-Hoffman, Ruscena Wiederholt, Chris Sansone, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Paul M. Cryan, James E. Diffendorfer, Joshua Goldstein, Kelsie LaSharr, John Loomis, Gary McCracken, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Amy Russell, Darius J. Semmens
Radiocarbon dating of terrestrial carbonates
Terrestrial carbonates encompass a wide range of materials that potentially could be used for radiocarbon (14C) dating. Biogenic carbonates, including shells and tests of terrestrial and aquatic gastropods, bivalves, ostracodes, and foraminifera, are preserved in a variety of late Quaternary deposits and may be suitable for 14C dating. Primary calcareous deposits (marls, tufa, speleothems) and sec
Authors
Jeffrey S. Pigati
40Ar/39Ar Geochronology, Isotope Geochemistry (Sr, Nd, Pb), and petrology of alkaline lavas near Yampa, Colorado: migration of alkaline volcanism and evolution of the northern Rio Grande rift
Volcanic rocks near Yampa, Colorado (USA), represent one of several small late Miocene to Quaternary alkaline volcanic fields along the northeast margin of the Colorado Plateau. Basanite, trachybasalt, and basalt collected from six sites within the Yampa volcanic field were investigated to assess correlations with late Cenozoic extension and Rio Grande rifting. In this paper we report major and tr
Authors
Michael A. Cosca, Ren A. Thompson, John P. Lee, Kenzie J. Turner, Leonid A. Neymark, Wayne R. Premo
Geologic setting and stratigraphy of the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, Snowmass Village, Colorado
The geologic setting of the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site is somewhat unusual – the sediments containing the Pleistocene fossils were deposited in a lake on top of a ridge. The lake basin was formed near the Town of Snowmass Village, Colorado when a glacier flowing down Snowmass Creek Valley became thick enough to overtop a low point in the eastern valley wall and entered the head of Brush Creek
Authors
Jeff S. Pigati, Ian M. Miller, Kirk R. Johnson, Jeffrey S. Honke, Paul E. Carrara, Daniel R. Muhs, Gary Skipp, Bruce Bryant
DOI/GTN-P climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve: Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998-2011
This report provides data collected by the climate monitoring array of the U.S. Department of the Interior on Federal lands in Arctic Alaska over the period August 1998 to July 2011; this array is part of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost, (DOI/GTN-P). In addition to presenting data, this report also describes monitoring, data collection, and quality-control methodology. This array of
Authors
Frank E. Urban, Gary D. Clow
Uranium-series ages of corals, sea level history, and palaeozoogeography, Canary Islands, Spain: an exploratory study for two Quaternary interglacial periods
We present the first U-series ages of corals from emergent marine deposits on the Canary Islands. Deposits at + 20 m are 481 ± 39 ka, possibly correlative to marine isotope stage (or MIS) 11, while those at + 12 and + 8 m are 120.5 ± 0.8 ka and 130.2 ± 0.8 ka, respectively, correlative to MIS 5.5. The age, elevations, and uplift rates derived from MIS 5.5 deposits on the Canary Islands allow calcu
Authors
Daniel R. Muhs, Joaquín Meco, Kathleen R. Simmons