Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Book Chapters

Browse more than 5,500 book chapters authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.

Filter Total Items: 6158

Mississippi River delta plain, Louisiana coast, and inner shelf Holocene geologic framework, processes, and resources Mississippi River delta plain, Louisiana coast, and inner shelf Holocene geologic framework, processes, and resources

Extending nearly 400 km from Sabine Pass on the Texas-Louisiana border east to the Chandeleur Islands, the Louisiana coastal zone (Fig. 11.1) along the north-central Gulf of Mexico is the southern terminus of the largest drainage basin in North America (>3.3 million km2), which includes the Mississippi River delta plain where approximately 6.2 million kilograms per year of sediment is...
Authors
S. Jeffress Williams, Mark Kulp, Shea Penland, Jack L. Kindinger, James G. Flocks

Vadose water Vadose water

Vadose water is subsurface water between the land surface and the saturated zone below the water table. The vadose (or unsaturated) zone includes soil water, which is immediately available to the biosphere. It acts as a controlling agent in the transmission of water and other substances between various components of the earth system: aquifers, land surface, bodies of water, atmosphere...
Authors
John R. Nimmo

Methodology for an integrative assessment of China's ecological restoration programs Methodology for an integrative assessment of China's ecological restoration programs

While research projects have been conducted to examine the impacts and effectiveness of China's ecological restoration programs, few of them represent integrated, systematic efforts. The objective of this chapter is thus to articulate and outline a methodology for an integrative assessment, which, we believe, should embrace both the environmental and socioeconomic changes and engage...
Authors
R. Yin, D. Rothstein, J. Qi, Shuguang Liu

Quantifying biophysical conditions of herbaceous wetland vegetation in Poyang Lake of coastal China via multi-temporal SAR imagery and in-situ measurements Quantifying biophysical conditions of herbaceous wetland vegetation in Poyang Lake of coastal China via multi-temporal SAR imagery and in-situ measurements

Wetland ecosystems, known as the “kidneys of the earth,” are an important habitat for aquatic fl ora and fauna and provide valuable services and goods for the human beings. The wetlands in Poyang Lake of the Southeast China coastal region are one of the fi rst national natural reserves listed in the Ramsar convention in 1992. Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China and its...
Authors
L. Yang, H. Sang, H. Lin, J. Chen

Contemporary land use and land cover change in coastal Pearl River delta and its impact on regional climate Contemporary land use and land cover change in coastal Pearl River delta and its impact on regional climate

Land use/land cover (LULC) is one of the most convincing aspects of the global change that has occurred in the terrestrial ecosystem (Meyer and Turner II, 1994; IPCC, 2001). Many changes in LULC refl ect the impacts of human activities on global environment (e.g., Houghton et al., 1999). Change in LULC is also recognized as a main driver affecting the local, regional, and global climate...
Authors
Limin Yang, W. Lin, L. Zhang, H. Lin, D. Du

Estimating actual evapotranspiration from irrigated fields using a simplified surface energy balance approach Estimating actual evapotranspiration from irrigated fields using a simplified surface energy balance approach

Food security assessment in many developing countries, such as Afghanistan, is vital because the early identification of populations at risk can enable the timely and appropriate actions needed to avert widespread hunger, destitution, or even famine. The assessment is complex, requiring the simultaneous consideration of multiple socioeconomic and environmental variables. Since large and...
Authors
G.B. Senay, M.E. Budde, J. P. Verdin, James D. Rowland

Quantifying the spatial details of carbon sequestration potential and performance Quantifying the spatial details of carbon sequestration potential and performance

Upscaling the spatial and temporal changes of carbon stocks and fluxes from sites to regions is challenging owing to the spatial and temporal variances and covariance of driving variables and the uncertainties in both the model and the input data. Although various modeling approaches have been developed to facilitate the upscaling process, few deal with error transfer from model input to...
Authors
S. Liu

Landsat mapping of local landscape change: The satellite-era context Landsat mapping of local landscape change: The satellite-era context

To set the stage for a vulnerability analysis, investigators must describe and understand the geographic context, including physical characteristics of the landscape and the political and socioeconomic milieu of the population (Jianchu et al. 2005). Vulnerability studies focus on a particular place, at a specific time through its three dimensions, exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive...
Authors
Rachel Headley, Robert Gilmore Pontius, John Harrington, Cynthia Sorrensen
Was this page helpful?