Publications
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Baseline and projected future carbon storage and carbon fluxes in ecosystems of Hawai‘i
This assessment was conducted to fulfill the requirements of section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and to improve understanding of factors influencing carbon balance in ecosystems of Hawai‘i. Ecosystem carbon storage, carbon fluxes, and carbon balance were examined for major terrestrial ecosystems on the seven main Hawaiian islands in two time periods: baseline (from 2007
Landscape-scale quantification of fire-induced change in canopy cover following mountain pine beetle outbreak and timber harvest
Across the western United States, the three primary drivers of tree mortality and carbon balance are bark beetles, timber harvest, and wildfire. While these agents of forest change frequently overlap, uncertainty remains regarding their interactions and influence on specific subsequent fire effects such as change in canopy cover. Acquisition of pre- and post-fire Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR
Authors
T. Ryan McCarley, Crystal A. Kolden, Nicole M. Vaillant, Andrew T. Hudak, Alistair M.S. Smith, Jason R. Kreitler
Community disruptions and business costs for distant tsunami evacuations using maximum versus scenario-based zones
Well-executed evacuations are key to minimizing loss of life from tsunamis, yet they also disrupt communities and business productivity in the process. Most coastal communities implement evacuations based on a previously delineated maximum-inundation zone that integrates zones from multiple tsunami sources. To support consistent evacuation planning that protects lives but attempts to minimize comm
Authors
Nathan J. Wood, Rick I. Wilson, Jamie L. Ratliff, Jeff Peters, Ed MacMullan, Tessa Krebs, Kimberley Shoaf, Kevin Miller
Flowering phenology shifts in response to biodiversity loss
Observational studies and experimental evidence agree that rising global temperatures have altered plant phenology—the timing of life events, such as flowering, germination, and leaf-out. Other large-scale global environmental changes, such as nitrogen deposition and altered precipitation regimes, have also been linked to changes in flowering times. Despite our increased understanding of how abiot
Authors
Amelia A. Wolf, Erika S Zavaleta, Paul C. Selmants
Automated cropland mapping of continental Africa using Google Earth Engine cloud computing
The automation of agricultural mapping using satellite-derived remotely sensed data remains a challenge in Africa because of the heterogeneous and fragmental landscape, complex crop cycles, and limited access to local knowledge. Currently, consistent, continent-wide routine cropland mapping of Africa does not exist, with most studies focused either on certain portions of the continent or at most a
Authors
Jun Xiong, Prasad S. Thenkabail, Murali Krishna Gumma, Pardhasaradhi G. Teluguntla, Justin Poehnelt, Russell G. Congalton, Kamini Yadav, David Thau
Coping with historic drought in California rangelands: Developing a more effective institutional response
Drought response is widely varied depending on both the characteristics of the drought and the ability of individual ranchers to respond.Assistance from institutions during drought has not typically considered preemptive, during, and post-drought response as a strategic approach, which recognizes biophysical, sociological, and economic complexities of drought.A USDA Southwest Climate Hub-sponsored
Authors
Joel R. Brown, Pelayo Alvarez, Kristin B. Byrd, Helena Deswood, Emile Elias, Sheri Spiegal
Thematic accuracy assessment of the 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD)
Accuracy assessment is a standard protocol of National Land Cover Database (NLCD) mapping. Here we report agreement statistics between map and reference labels for NLCD 2011, which includes land cover for ca. 2001, ca. 2006, and ca. 2011. The two main objectives were assessment of agreement between map and reference labels for the three, single-date NLCD land cover products at Level II and Level I
Authors
James Wickham, Stephen V. Stehman, Leila Gass, Jon Dewitz, Daniel G. Sorenson, Brian J. Granneman, Richard V. Poss, Lori Anne Baer
Harmonization of forest disturbance datasets of the conterminous USA from 1986 to 2011
Several spatial forest disturbance datasets exist for the conterminous USA. The major problem with forest disturbance mapping is that variability between map products leads to uncertainty regarding the actual rate of disturbance. In this article, harmonized maps were produced from multiple data sources (i.e., Global Forest Change, LANDFIRE Vegetation Disturbance, National Land Cover Database, Vege
Authors
Christopher E. Soulard, William Acevedo, Warren B. Cohen, Zhiqiang Yang, Stephen V. Stehman, Janis L. Taylor
Multi-temporal LiDAR and Landsat quantification of fire-induced changes to forest structure
Measuring post-fire effects at landscape scales is critical to an ecological understanding of wildfire effects. Predominantly this is accomplished with either multi-spectral remote sensing data or through ground-based field sampling plots. While these methods are important, field data is usually limited to opportunistic post-fire observations, and spectral data often lacks validation with specific
Authors
T. Ryan McCarley, Crystal A. Kolden, Nicole M. Vaillant, Andrew T. Hudak, Alistair M.S. Smith, Brian M. Wing, Bryce Kellogg, Jason R. Kreitler
Fallow-land Algorithm based on Neighborhood and TemporalAnomalies (FANTA) to map planted versus fallowed croplands usingMODIS data to assist in drought studies leading to water and foodsecurity assessments
An important metric to monitor for optimizing water use in agricultural areas is the
amount of cropland left fallowed, or unplanted. Fallowed croplands are difficult to
model because they have many expressions; for example, they can be managed and
remain free of vegetation or be abandoned and become weedy if the climate for that
season permits. We used 250 m, 8-day composite Moderate Resolution Im
Authors
Cynthia Wallace, Prasad S. Thenkabail, Jesus R. Rodriguez, Melinda K. Brown
Influence of road network and population demand assumptions in evacuation modeling for distant tsunamis
Tsunami evacuation planning in coastal communities is typically focused on local events where at-risk individuals must move on foot in a matter of minutes to safety. Less attention has been placed on distant tsunamis, where evacuations unfold over several hours, are often dominated by vehicle use and are managed by public safety officials. Traditional traffic simulation models focus on estimating
Authors
Kevin Henry, Nathan J. Wood, Tim G. Frazier
Quantifying geomorphic change at ephemeral stream restoration sites using a coupled-model approach
Rock-detention structures are used as restoration treatments to engineer ephemeral stream channels of southeast Arizona, USA, to reduce streamflow velocity, limit erosion, retain sediment, and promote surface-water infiltration. Structures are intended to aggrade incised stream channels, yet little quantified evidence of efficacy is available. The goal of this 3-year study was to characterize the
Authors
Laura M. Norman, Joel B. Sankey, David Dean, Joshua J. Caster, Stephen B. DeLong, Whitney Henderson-DeLong, Jon D. Pelletier