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Publications

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Quantifying Landsat’s contributions to U.S. agricultural and forestry applications Quantifying Landsat’s contributions to U.S. agricultural and forestry applications

The Landsat program has provided over 54 years of multispectral imagery, contributing vital information for agricultural and forestry scientific research and operational activities. Freely available Landsat data have enabled scientists to analyze land use patterns, assess ecological impacts, and develop strategies for sustainable management. We explored Landsat’s pivotal role through the...
Authors
Ellen Wengert, Jordan Rowe, Shankar N. Ramaseri Chandra, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Iris J. Garthwaite, Zhuoting Wu, Gregory Snyder, Kimberly A. Casey, Crista L. Straub, Daniel W. Opstal, Everett Hinkley

Drought on the fly: UAS mapping of conifer drought stress Drought on the fly: UAS mapping of conifer drought stress

Foliar moisture content (FMC) plays a crucial role in arid, frequent-fire forests by influencing fire behavior, tree survival, and serving as a proxy for tree health. Management actions such as mechanical thinning, flammable fuels reduction, and prescribed fires can act to mitigate wildfire risk and improve forest health by reducing fuel connectivity, diversifying forest structure, and...
Authors
Lauren E. Lad, Wade T. Tinkham, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Jody C. Vogeler, Alistair M.S. Smith

Remotely sensed surface water storage shows distinct patterns from SWAT-simulated data Remotely sensed surface water storage shows distinct patterns from SWAT-simulated data

Quantifying and projecting the downstream benefits of water stored in lakes and wetlands (SWstorage) requires watershed hydrologic models, which often parameterize surface water storage in topographic depressions using static digital elevation model (DEM) data. Calibration and validation of modeled SWstorage dynamics using external data sets is uncommon, particularly across major river...
Authors
Wayana Dolan, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Jay R. Christensen, Heather E. Golden, Charles R. Lane, Adnan Rajib, William Keenan, Qianjin Zheng, Arushi Khare

Patterns of rift basin development and the fidelity of the subsidence record: Insights through Bayesian modeling of rapid tectonic subsidence in a Rio Grande rift basin, Socorro, NM, U.S.A Patterns of rift basin development and the fidelity of the subsidence record: Insights through Bayesian modeling of rapid tectonic subsidence in a Rio Grande rift basin, Socorro, NM, U.S.A

Characterizing tectonic subsidence rates within depositional sequences provides direct insight into the driving mechanism(s) of accommodation in a basin. However, the temporal resolution of this record is often stymied by a lack of high-precision and high-resolution ages, which enable a more complete description of basin subsidence drivers. We explore the effect of high-precision and...
Authors
Tyson Michael Smith, Sean Patrick Gaynor, Brenhin C. Keller, Magdalena E. Curry, Blair Schoene, Tom J. Lapen

Methodology for construction of a three-layer geologic model of the conterminous United States using land surface, top of bedrock, and top of basement Methodology for construction of a three-layer geologic model of the conterminous United States using land surface, top of bedrock, and top of basement

This report describes the methodology used for the construction of a digital three-layer geologic model of the conterminous United States by mapping the altitude of three surfaces: land surface, the top of bedrock, and the top of basement. These surfaces are mapped through the compilation and synthesis of published stratigraphic horizons from numerous topical studies. The mapped surfaces...
Authors
Donald S. Sweetkind

Simulating past and future refugia for temperate trees in northern Italy Simulating past and future refugia for temperate trees in northern Italy

During the Quaternary, trees responded to the climatic changes of glacial–interglacial cycles with large-scale range shifts. Over cold glacials, temperate tree species contracted their ranges and survived in areas known as refugia. Several studies point to the Euganean Hills (Colli Euganei), in Veneto, northern Italy, as one of the northernmost European refugia of temperate tree species...
Authors
Azzurra Pistone, Paul D. Henne, Petra Boltshauser-Kaltenrieder, Willy Tinner, Christoph Schworer

Multi-proxy thermal history of basin heating during Cordilleran orogenesis in the Magallanes-Austral retroarc foreland basin, Patagonian Andes Multi-proxy thermal history of basin heating during Cordilleran orogenesis in the Magallanes-Austral retroarc foreland basin, Patagonian Andes

Resolving thermal histories in sedimentary basins is crucial for interpreting orogenic growth, basin burial, and tectonic processes during Cordilleran orogenesis. In the Magallanes–Austral Basin, Patagonian Andes, we integrate new (U-Th)/He thermochronology, vitrinite reflectance (%Ro), calcite-cement clumped isotope data and thermal history modelling to resolve the origin of the...
Authors
Rebecca A. VanderLeest, Julie C. Fosdick, Theresa Maude Schwartz, E.G. Hyland, M. Mastalerz

Unraveling protracted modification of Archean and Paleoproterozoic crust in central Laurentia, Penokean orogen, with garnet and accessory mineral geochronology and microstructural analysis Unraveling protracted modification of Archean and Paleoproterozoic crust in central Laurentia, Penokean orogen, with garnet and accessory mineral geochronology and microstructural analysis

Proterozoic metamorphism and deformation of the southern margin of the Superior craton in the Lake Superior region is attributed to the Penokean orogeny (1890−1830 Ma). This model includes a period of crustal inversion in which Archean basement blocks were exhumed through overlying Paleoproterozoic strata, producing the corridor of gneiss domes that parallels the trend of the Penokean...
Authors
Ross Anthony Salerno, William F. Cannon, Jay M. Thompson, Amanda Kate Souders, Jeffrey D Vervoort, Ian W. Hillenbrand

Variability and consistency in wildfire susceptibility: Insights from a national compilation Variability and consistency in wildfire susceptibility: Insights from a national compilation

Background Wildfire risk in the United States is rising and remains a land management priority. The quantitative wildfire risk assessment (QWRA) framework integrates fuels, topography, weather and values at risk to estimate the potential change in value from wildfire. Within this, response functions (RFs) represent how values respond to fire intensity. These are often based on expert...
Authors
Aaron Daniel Russell, Lucas S. Bair, James R. Meldrum, Todd J. Hawbaker

Reconstructing ancient sedimentary source-to-sink systems – Examples from southern Laurentia’s Proterozoic accretionary orogens Reconstructing ancient sedimentary source-to-sink systems – Examples from southern Laurentia’s Proterozoic accretionary orogens

Provenance analysis is a powerful tool for investigating sediment delivery networks, constraining magmatic histories, and reconstructing the tectonic evolution of orogenic belts and basins. Basin analysis studies increasingly use detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb forward mixture modeling to enhance provenance interpretations by quantifying the relative contributions of different sources. Forward...
Authors
Ian W. Hillenbrand, Kelly D. Thomson
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