Publications
Listed here are publications, reports and articles by the Climate R&D program.
Filter Total Items: 1020
Diminishing Arctic lakes
The Arctic is home to the largest surface water fraction of any terrestrial biome, containing thousands of low-lying lakes. Now, it appears that some Arctic lakes are drying due to rising air temperatures and autumn rains, causing permafrost to thaw and water bodies to drain.
Authors
Rebecca A Finger-Higgens
Using paleoecological data to inform decision making: A deep-time perspective
Latest climate models project conditions for the end of this century that are generally outside of the human experience. These future conditions affect the resilience and sustainability of ecosystems, alter biogeographic zones, and impact biodiversity. Deep-time records of paleoclimate provide insight into the climate system over millions of years and provide examples of conditions very different
Authors
Harry J. Dowsett, Peter Jacobs, Kim de Mutsert
U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project
The U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project combines decades of direct glaciological data with remote sensing data to advance the quantitative understanding of glacier-climate interactions. The global loss of glaciers, and consequent implications for water resources, sea level rise, and ecosystem function underscores the importance of U.S. Geological Survey glaciology research to facilit
Authors
Caitlyn Florentine, Lisa McKeon
Barium enrichment in the non-spinose planktic foraminifer, Globorotalia truncatulinoides
Observations of elevated barium-to-calcium ratios (Ba/Ca) in Globorotalia truncatulinoides have been attributed to contaminant phases, deep calcification depth and diagenetic processes. Here we investigate intra- and inter-test Ba/Ca variability in the non-spinose planktic foraminifer, G. truncatulinoides, from a sediment trap time series in the northern Gulf of Mexico to gain insights into the en
Authors
Julie N. Richey, Jennifer S. Fehrenbacher, Caitlin E. Reynolds, Catherine Z. Davis, Howard J. Spero
Tephrochronology of the Miocene Monterey and Modelo Formations, California
Tuff beds have been known in the Miocene Monterey and Modelo Formations since the initial descriptions; however, age control and correlation is predominantly biostratigraphy. Here we combine tephrochronology and biostratigraphy in order to provide numerical age control for eight sedimentary sequences of the Monterey and Modelo Formations from Monterey, California to Orange County, California. We c
Authors
Jeffrey R. Knott, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, John A. Barron, Elmira Wan, Nancy Heizler, Priscilla Martinez
Classifying mixing regimes in ponds and shallow lakes
Lakes are classified by thermal mixing regimes, with shallow waterbodies historically categorized as continuously mixing systems. Yet, recent studies demonstrate extended summertime stratification in ponds, underscoring the need to reassess thermal classifications for shallow waterbodies. In this study, we examined the summertime thermal dynamics of 34 ponds and shallow lakes across temperate Nort
Authors
Meredith Holgerson, David Richardson, Joseph Roith, Lauren E Bortolotti, Kerri Finlay, Daniel J. Hornbach, Kshitij Gurung, Andrew Ness, Mikkel R. Andersen, Sheel Bansal, Jacques Finlay, Jacob Cianci-Gaskill, Shannon Hahn, Benjamin Janke, Cory P. McDonald, Jorrit Mesman, Rebecca L. North, Cassandra Roberts, Jon N. Sweetman, Jackie Webb
Climate change risks to global forest health: Emergence of unexpected events of elevated tree mortality worldwide
Recent observations of elevated tree mortality following climate extremes, like heat and drought, raise concerns about climate change risks to global forest health. We currently lack both sufficient data and understanding to identify whether these observations represent a global trend towards increasing tree mortality. Here, we document events of sudden and unexpected elevated tree mortality follo
Authors
Henrik Hartmann, Ana Bastos, Adrian Das, Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, William M Hammond, Jordi Martínez-Vilalta, Nate G. McDowell, Jennifer S. Powers, Thomas A. M. Pugh, Katinka X. Ruthrof, Craig D. Allen
A model of the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss applied to a Louisiana salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain
The potential for carbon sequestration in coastal wetlands is high due to protection of carbon (C) in flooded soils. However, excessive flooding can result in the conversion of the vegetated wetland to open water. This transition results in the loss of wetland habitat in addition to the potential loss of soil carbon. Thus, in areas experiencing rapid wetland submergence, such as the Mississippi Ri
Authors
Donald R. Schoolmaster, Camille Stagg, Courtney Creamer, Claudia Laurenzano, Eric Ward, Mark Waldrop, Melissa M. Baustian, Tiong Aw, Sergio Merino, Rachel Katherine Villani, Laura Scott
Southeast Utah Group climate and drought adaptation report: Exposure and perennial grass sensitivity
National Park Service (NPS) managers face growing challenges resulting from the effects of climate change. In particular, as temperatures rise in coming decades, natural resource management in the western United States must cope with expectations for elevated severity and frequency of droughts. These challenges are particularly pronounced for vegetation managers in dryland environments. Developing
Authors
John B. Bradford, Caroline Havrilla, Jessica A. Hartsell, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Molly L. McCormick, Seth M. Munson, Charles Yackulic, Terry T Fisk, David Thoma, Dusty Perkins, Dana L. Witwicki, Matt VanScoyoc, Michael C. Duniway, Sasha C. Reed
Elevated nitrogen deposition to fire-prone forests adjacent to urban and agricultural areas, Colorado front range, USA
As humans increasingly dominate the nitrogen cycle, deposition of reactive nitrogen (Nr) will continue to have adverse consequences for ecosystems. In the Rocky Mountains, Nr deposition remains elevated and has become increasingly dominated by ammonium, despite efforts to reduce emissions. Currently, spatial models of Nr deposition do not fully account for urban and agricultural emissions, sources
Authors
Ruth C. Heindel, Sheila F. Murphy, Deborah A. Repert, Gregory A. Wetherbee, Alexander Liethen, David W. Clow, Toby A. Halamka
Migration and transformation of coastal wetlands in response to rising seas
Coastal wetlands are not only among the world’s most valued ecosystems but also among the most threatened by high greenhouse gas emissions that lead to accelerated sea level rise. There is intense debate regarding the extent to which landward migration of wetlands might compensate for seaward wetland losses. By integrating data from 166 estuaries across the conterminous United States, we show that
Authors
Michael Osland, Bogdan Chivoiu, Nicholas Enwright, Karen M. Thorne, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, James Grace, Leah Dale, William Brooks, Nathaniel Herold, John W. Day, Fred H. Sklar, Christopher M. Swarzenski
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Management Research Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Gulf of Mexico
Biofilms in the Critical Zone: Distribution and mediation of processes
Microbial biofilms occur in all levels of the Critical Zone (CZ); they are on and in the vegetation, throughout the soil-saprolite zone, and along fractures in deep subsurface. Here we discuss biofilms in each level of the CZ with a focus in the soil-saprolite continuum. We show how scanning electron microscope (SEM) images provide an appropriate scale to explore microbe mineral interactions in th
Authors
Marjorie S. Schulz, Kristen L. Manies