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Fractures, scarps, faults, and landslides mapped using LiDAR, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska

This map of fractures, scarps, faults, and landslides was completed to identify areas in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve that may present a landslide-generated tsunami hazard. To address the potential of landslide and tsunami hazards in the park, the National Park Service (NPS) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) partnered to conduct a multi-year hazard assessment of Glacier Bay National Pa
Authors
Chad Hults, Jeffrey A. Coe, Nikita N. Avdievitch

Blue snowflakes in a warming world: Karner blue butterfly climate change vulnerability synthesis and best practices for adaptation

This report—developed at the request of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service-led Karner Blue Butterfly Recovery Team by Recovery Team members and partners—provides a Karner blue butterfly climate change vulnerability synthesis, explores a range of potential responses, and presents best practices for climate change-informed conservation of the species.The three decades since the Karner blue
Authors
Gregor W. Schuurman, Christopher L. Hoving, Anna N. Hess, Lainey V. Bristow, Philip J. Delphey, Jessica J. Hellmann, Heather L. Keough, Randy L. Knutson, Annie Kellner

Detrending Great Basin elevation to identify structural patterns for identifying geothermal favorability

Topography provides information about the structural controls of the Great Basin and therefore information that may be used to identify favorable structural settings for geothermal systems. The Nevada Machine Learning Project (NVML) tested the use of a digital elevation map (DEM) of topography as an input feature to predict geothermal system favorability. A recent study re-examines the NVML data,
Authors
Jacob DeAngelo, Erick Burns, Stanley Paul Mordensky, Cary Ruth Lindsey

Modeling extreme water levels in the Salish Sea: The importance of including remote sea level anomalies for application in hydrodynamic simulations

Extreme water-level recurrence estimates for a complex estuary using a high-resolution 2D model and a new method for estimating remotely generated sea level anomalies (SLAs) at the model boundary have been developed. The hydrodynamic model accurately resolves the dominant physical processes contributing to extreme water levels across the Washington State waters of the Salish Sea, including the rel
Authors
Eric E. Grossman, Babak Tehranirad, Kees Nederhoff, Sean Crosby, Andrew W. Stevens, Nathan R. VanArendonk, Daniel J. Nowacki, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard

A simple approach to modeling light attenuation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using commonly available data

The diffuse attenuation coefficient of photosynthetically active radiation (KdPAR) is commonly used to predict light attenuation in aquatic productivity models, but obtaining measurements of PAR to compute KdPAR is difficult. In situ calculations of KdPAR require multiple measurements of PAR through the water column, and these measurements are infeasible for real-time recording. Instead, predictiv
Authors
Emily T. Richardson, Keith Bouma-Gregson, Katy O'Donnell, Brian A. Bergamaschi

Divergent responses of western Alaska salmon to a changing climate

HeadlinesWestern Alaska salmon abundance reached historic extremes during 2021-22, with record lows for Chinook and chum salmon (81% and 92% below the 30-year mean, respectively) and record highs for sockeye salmon (98% above the 30-year mean).Salmon are maturing at smaller sizes. Since the 1970s, for example, Yukon River Chinook salmon have decreased an estimated 6% in mean adult body length and
Authors
Erik Schoen, Kathrine G. Howard, James Murphy, Daniel Schindler, Peter A. H. Westley, Vanessa R. von Biela

Comparison of δ13C analyses of individual foraminifer (Orbulina universa) shells by secondary ion mass spectrometry and gas source mass spectrometry

Rationale: The use of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to perform micrometer-scale in situ carbon isotope (δ13C) analyses of shells of marine microfossils called planktic foraminifers holds promise to explore calcification and ecological processes. The potential of this technique, however, cannot be realized without comparison to traditional whole-shell δ13C values measured by gas source mas
Authors
Jody Brae Wycech, Daniel Clay Kelly, Reinhard Kozdon, Akizumi Ishida, Kouki Kitajima, Howard J. Spero, John W. Valley

Bridging the gap between mathematical biology and undergraduate education using applicable natural resource modeling

Mathematical biology is a wide field of study with many venues that undergraduate students can access through research. However, the topics of study for these students can be overwhelming, and many topics of study yield either only trivial results or abstract outcomes that are nonintuitive and diffcult to understand. We have used natural resource modeling, and more specifically, a partnership betw
Authors
Richard A. Erickson, Douglas Baumann, Barbara Bennie, Wako Bungula, Aaron R. Cupp, James E. Diffendorfer, Eric A. Eager, Roger J. Haro, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Danelle M. Larson, Greg J. Sandland, Molly Van Appledorn, James P Peirce

Insights into glendonite formation from the upper Oligocene Sagavanirktok Formation, North Slope, Alaska

The type locality for the upper Oligocene Nuwok Member of the Sagavanirktok Formation (Carter Creek, North Slope, Alaska, USA) contains abundant occurrence of glendonite, a pseudomorph after the calcium carbonate mineral ikaite, which typically forms in the shallow subsurface of cold marine sediments. The region during the time of Nuwok Member deposition was located at a high latitude, similar to
Authors
John W. Counts, Madeleine Vickers, Martha (Rebecca) Stokes, Whittney Spivey, Kristina Frank Gardner, Jean Self-Trail, Jared T. Gooley, Ryan J. McAleer, Aaron M. Jubb, David W. Houseknecht, Richard O. Lease, Neil Patrick Griffis, Martin S. Vickers, Kasia Śliwińska, Hannah Gail Dooley Tompkins, Adam M. Hudson

The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Minnesota's economy

IntroductionIn Minnesota, high-quality elevation data are essential for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, infrastructure and construction management, water supply and quality, coastal zone management, and many other business uses. Critical applications that meet the State’s management needs depend on light detection and ranging (lidar) data t
Authors
Mitch Bergeson, David Nail

The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Montana’s economy

IntroductionMontana, America’s fourth largest State with an area of 147,040 square miles, is defined by its diverse terrain. The western two-fifths of the State falls within the Rocky Mountains and the eastern three-fifths is in the Great Plains. Because of its location along the Continental Divide, the rivers in Montana drain into either the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Montana is often c
Authors
Tom Carlson

Expansion of smallmouth bass distribution and habitat overlap with juvenile Chinook salmon in the Willamette River, Oregon

Smallmouth bass populations have expanded far beyond their native range and these predatory fish present a pervasive threat to native aquatic species throughout North America. In the western United States, smallmouth bass are now present in river and reservoir habitats where Pacific salmon are found and are considered a potential threat to salmon recovery in many locations. We conducted a study to
Authors
James White, Tobias Kock, Brooke E. Penaluna, Stanley V. Gregory, Joshua E. Williams, Randy Wildman