Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 7240

Opportunity Mars Rover mission: Overview and selected results from Purgatory ripple to traverses to Endeavour crater

Opportunity has been traversing the Meridiani plains since 25 January 2004 (sol 1), acquiring numerous observations of the atmosphere, soils, and rocks. This paper provides an overview of key discoveries between sols 511 and 2300, complementing earlier papers covering results from the initial phases of the mission. Key new results include (1) atmospheric argon measurements that demonstrate the imp
Authors
R. E. Arvidson, James W. Ashley, J.F. Bell, M. Chojnacki, J. Cohen, T.E. Economou, W. H. Farrand, Robin L. Fergason, I. Fleischer, Paul E. Geissler, Ralf Gellert, M.P. Golombek, J.P. Grotzinger, E.A. Guinness, R.M. Haberle, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, J.A. Herman, K.D. Iagnemma, B.L. Jolliff, J. R. Johnson, G. Klingelhofer, A.H. Knoll, A.T. Knudson, R. Li, S. M. McLennan, D. W. Mittlefehldt, R.V. Morris, T. J. Parker, M.S. Rice, C. Schroder, Laurence A. Soderblom, S. W. Squyres, R.J. Sullivan, M.J. Wolff

Secular trends in storm-level geomagnetic activity

Analysis is made of K-index data from groups of ground-based geomagnetic observatories in Germany, Britain, and Australia, 1868.0–2009.0, solar cycles 11–23. Methods include nonparametric measures of trends and statistical significance used by the hydrological and climatological research communities. Among the three observatory groups, German K data systematically record the highest disturbance le
Authors
J.J. Love

Columbus crater and other possible groundwater-fed paleolakes of Terra Sirenum, Mars

Columbus crater in the Terra Sirenum region of the Martian southern highlands contains light‐toned layered deposits with interbedded sulfate and phyllosilicate minerals, a rare occurrence on Mars. Here we investigate in detail the morphology, thermophysical properties, mineralogy, and stratigraphy of these deposits; explore their regional context; and interpret the crater's aqueous history. Hydrat
Authors
J.J. Wray, R.E. Milliken, Colin M. Dundas, Gregg A. Swayze, J. C. Andrews-Hanna, A.M. Baldridge, M. Chojnacki, J.L. Bishop, B.L. Ehlmann, S.L. Murchie, Roger N. Clark, F.P. Seelos, L.L. Tornabene, S. W. Squyres

The USGS geomagnetism program and its role in space weather monitoring

Magnetic storms result from the dynamic interaction of the solar wind with the coupled magnetospheric-ionospheric system. Large storms represent a potential hazard for the activities and infrastructure of a modern, technologically based society [Baker et al., 2008]; they can cause the loss of radio communications, reduce the accuracy of global positioning systems, damage satellite electronics and
Authors
Jeffrey J. Love, Carol A. Finn

Seismic and geodetic signatures of fault slip at the Slumgullion Landslide Natural Laboratory

We tested the hypothesis that the Slumgullion landslide is a useful natural laboratory for observing fault slip, specifically that slip along its basal surface and side-bounding strike-slip faults occurs with comparable richness of aseismic and seismic modes as along crustal- and plate-scale boundaries. Our study provides new constraints on models governing landslide motion. We monitored landslide
Authors
J. Gomberg, W. Schulz, P. Bodin, J. Kean

An empirical model of the quiet daily geomagnetic field variation

 An empirical model of the quiet daily geomagnetic field variation has been constructed based on geomagnetic data obtained from 21 stations along the 210 Magnetic Meridian of the Circum‐pan Pacific Magnetometer Network (CPMN) from 1996 to 2007. Using the least squares fitting method for geomagnetically quiet days (Kp ≤ 2+), the quiet daily geomagnetic field variation at each station was described
Authors
Y. Yamazaki, K. Yumoto, M.G. Cardinal, B.J. Fraser, P. Hattori, Y. Kakinami, J.Y. Liu, K.J.W. Lynn, R. Marshall, D. McNamara, T. Nagatsuma, V.M. Nikiforov, R.E. Otadoy, M. Ruhimat, B.M. Shevtsov, K. Shiokawa, S. Abe, T. Uozumi, A. Yoshikawa

Wave climate and trends along the eastern Chukchi Arctic Alaska coast

Due in large part to the difficulty of obtaining measurements in the Arctic, little is known about the wave climate along the coast of Arctic Alaska. In this study, numerical model simulations encompassing 40 years of wave hind-casts were used to assess mean and extreme wave conditions. Results indicate that the wave climate was strongly modulated by large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns an
Authors
L. H. Erikson, C. D. Storlazzi, R. E. Jensen

Are secular correlations between sunspots, geomagnetic activity, and global temperature significant?

Recent studies have led to speculation that solar‐terrestrial interaction, measured by sunspot number and geomagnetic activity, has played an important role in global temperature change over the past century or so. We treat this possibility as an hypothesis for testing. We examine the statistical significance of cross‐correlations between sunspot number, geomagnetic activity, and global surface te
Authors
Jeffrey J. Love, K. Mursula, V.C. Tsai, D. M. Perkins

Long-term biases in geomagnetic K and aa indices

Analysis is made of the geomagnetic-activity aa index and its source K-index data from groups of ground-based observatories in Britain, and Australia, 1868.0–2009.0, solar cycles 11–23. The K data show persistent biases, especially for high (low) K-activity levels at British (Australian) observatories. From examination of multiple subsets of the K data we infer that the biases are not predominantl
Authors
Jeffrey J. Love

In situ measurements of post-fire debris flows in southern California: Comparisons of the timing and magnitude of 24 debris-flow events with rainfall and soil moisture conditions

Debris flows often occur in burned steeplands of southern California, sometimes causing property damage and loss of life. In an effort to better understand the hydrologic controls on post-fire debris-flow initiation, timing and magnitude, we measured the flow stage, rainfall, channel bed pore fluid pressure and hillslope soil-moisture accompanying 24 debris flows recorded in five different watersh
Authors
J. W. Kean, D.M. Staley, S.H. Cannon

Complex mean circulation over the inner shelf south of Martha's Vineyard revealed by observations and a high-resolution model

Inner-shelf circulation is governed by the interaction between tides, baroclinic forcing, winds, waves, and frictional losses; the mean circulation ultimately governs exchange between the coast and ocean. In some cases, oscillatory tidal currents interact with bathymetric features to generate a tidally rectified flow. Recent observational and modeling efforts in an overlapping domain centered on t
Authors
Neil K. Ganju, Steven J. Lentz, Anthony R. Kirincich, J. Thomas Farrar

Ground motion attenuation during M 7.1 Darfield and M 6.2 Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquakes and performance of global predictive models

The M 7.1 Darfield earthquake occurred 40 km west of Christchurch (New Zealand) on 4 September 2010. Six months after, the city was struck again with an M 6.2 event on 22 February local time (21 February UTC). These events resulted in significant damage to infrastructure in the city and its suburbs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of global predictive models (GMPEs) using
Authors
Margaret Segou, Erol Kalkan
Was this page helpful?