Publications

The Interstate 10 Twin Span Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans, La., was rendered completely unusable by Hurricane Katrina. The cause of the collapse of the bridges generated great interest among hydrologists and structural engineers as well as among the general public. What made this case study even more important was the fact that two nearby bridges sustained the effects of the

This article presents the post-Hurricane Katrina conditions of the flood-protection system of levees and floodwalls that failed in the environs of the Mississippi River Delta and New Orleans, La. Damage conditions and suggested mechanisms of failure are presented from the geotechnical point of view.

The flooding that ensued in the Greater New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina left thousands of victims trapped and in need of emergency rescue. This paper describes the processing of raw 911-call data into search and rescue products used by emergency responders after the storm.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assisted State and Federal agencies with humanitarian aid and geospatial analyses in support of search and rescue operations after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The following is a compilation of storm terminology, categories, and names as well as the meteorological history, damage, and paths of Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. This information is taken, except where noted, from the Web site and archives of the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (NWS). Greate

The occurrence of hurricane landfalls on the United States may be related to alternating intervals of persistent above-average and below-average surface temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean. The cycle of temperature variations, known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), has been identified by study of records based on thermometer readings that go back to the late 1800s. These records

Hurricane Katrina and its destructive aftermath in 2005 were unprecedented. Hurricanes Dennis, Rita, and Wilma were also powerful hurricanes affecting the Gulf of Mexico that year. These storms highlighted the need to integrate science that supports restoration of natural landscapes with intelligent coastal planning. The following essay describes both the value and vulnerability of the Gulf of Mex

Wetlands of the Mississippi River deltaic plain in southeast Louisiana have been hydrologically isolated from the Mississippi River by containment levees for nearly a century. The ensuing lack of fluvial sediment inputs, combined with natural submergence processes, has contributed to high coastal land loss rates. Controlled river diversions have since been constructed to reconnect the marshes of t

Integrated pest management (IPM) for invasive plant species is being advocated by researchers and implemented by land managers, but few studies have evaluated the success of IPM programs in natural areas. We assessed the relative effects of components of an IPM program for leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), an invasive plant, at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. Effects of herbicides on

Plant communities along tropical coastlines are often affected by natural and human disturbances, but little is known about factors influencing recovery. We focused on mangrove forests, which are among the most threatened ecosystems globally, to examine how facilitation by herbaceous vegetation might improve forest restoration after disturbance. We specifically investigated whether recovery of man

Theoretical analyses and experimental studies of synthesized assemblages indicate that under particular circumstances species diversity can enhance community productivity through niche complementarity. It remains unclear whether this process has important effects in mature natural ecosystems where competitive feedbacks and complex environmental influences affect diversity-productivity relationship

The occurrence and relative abundance of tissue (arm) regeneration in the ophiuroid, Ophiacantha bidentata (Retzius), was examined in individuals collected primarily among colonies of the deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa off the southeastern United States. Seven deep-water coral sites (384-756 m), located between Cape Lookout, NC, and Cape Canaveral, FL, were sampled in June 2004 using a manned s