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Publications

These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

Filter Total Items: 16964

Assessing Crow Indian coal resources: GIS in action Assessing Crow Indian coal resources: GIS in action

No abstract available.
Authors
W.D. Watson, K. Bryant, N.K. Gardner, M. S. Grim, G. Lebing

Historical shoreline mapping (I): improving techniques and reducing positioning errors Historical shoreline mapping (I): improving techniques and reducing positioning errors

A critical need exists among coastal researchers and policy-makers for a precise method to obtain shoreline positions from historical maps and aerial photographs. A number of methods that vary widely in approach and accuracy have been developed to meet this need. None of the existing methods, however, address the entire range of cartographic and photogrammetric techniques required for...
Authors
E. Robert Thieler, William W. Danforth

New recording package for VACM provides sensor flexibility New recording package for VACM provides sensor flexibility

For the past three decades, the VACM has been a standard for ocean current measurements. A VACM is a true vector-averaging instrument that computes north and east current vectors and averages temperature continuously over a specified interval. It keeps a running total of rotor counts, and records one-shot samples of compass, vane position and time. Adding peripheral sensors to the data...
Authors
William J. Strahle, S. E. Worrilow, S. E. Fucile, Marinna A. Martini

Antifouling leaching technique for optical lenses Antifouling leaching technique for optical lenses

The effectiveness of optical lenses deployed in water less than 100 m deep is significantly reduced by biofouling caused by the settlement of macrofauna, such as barnacles, hydroids, and tunicates. However, machineable porous plastic rings can be used to dispense antifoulant into the water in front of the lens to retard macrofaunal growth without obstructing the light path. Unlike...
Authors
William J. Strahle, C. L. Perez, Marinna A. Martini

Historical shoreline mapping (II): Application of the Digital Shoreline Mapping and Analysis Systems (DSMS/DSAS) to shoreline change mapping in Puerto Rico Historical shoreline mapping (II): Application of the Digital Shoreline Mapping and Analysis Systems (DSMS/DSAS) to shoreline change mapping in Puerto Rico

A new, state-of-the-art method for mapping historical shorelines from maps and aerial photographs, the Digital Shoreline Mapping System (DSMS), has been developed. The DSMS is a freely available, public domain software package that meets the cartographic and photogrammetric requirements of precise coastal mapping, and provides a means to quantify and analyze different sources of error in...
Authors
E. Robert Thieler, William W. Danforth

Submarine canyon initiation by downslope-eroding sediment flows: Evidence in late Cenozoic strata on the New Jersey continental slope Submarine canyon initiation by downslope-eroding sediment flows: Evidence in late Cenozoic strata on the New Jersey continental slope

Multibeam bathymetry and seismic reflection profiles of the New Jersey continental slope reveal a series of abandoned and now-buried submarine canyons that have apparently influenced the development of modern canyons. The buried canyons are infilled along nine slope-wide unconformities separating upper-middle Miocene to Pleistocene sediments that thin downslope. Canyons infilled during...
Authors
Lincoln F. Pratson, William B. F. Ryan, Gregory S. Mountain, David C. Twichell

Meteoroid mayhem in Ole Virginny: Source of the North American tektite strewn field Meteoroid mayhem in Ole Virginny: Source of the North American tektite strewn field

New seismic reflection data from Chesapeake Bay reveal a buried, 85-km-wide, 1.5-2.0-km-deep, peak-ring impact crater, carved through upper Eocene to Lower Cretaceous sedimentary strata and into underlying pre-Mesozoic crystalline basement rocks. A polymictic, late Eocene impact breccia, composed mainly of locally derived sedimentary debris (determined from four continuous cores)...
Authors
C. Wylie Poag, David S. Powars, Lawrence J. Poppe, Robert B. Mixon

Deep structure beneath Lake Ontario: Crustal-scale Grenville subdivisions Deep structure beneath Lake Ontario: Crustal-scale Grenville subdivisions

Lake Ontario marine seismic data reveal major Grenville crustal subdivisions beneath central and southern Lake Ontario separated by interpreted shear zones that extend to the lower crust. A shear zone bounded transition between the Elzevir and Frontenac terranes exposed north of Lake Ontario is linked to a seismically defined shear zone beneath central Lake Ontario by prominent...
Authors
D. A. Forsyth, Bernd Milkereit, Colin A. Zelt, D. J. White, R. M. Easton, Deborah R. Hutchinson

Wave climate and nearshore lakebed response, Illinois Beach State Park, Lake Michigan Wave climate and nearshore lakebed response, Illinois Beach State Park, Lake Michigan

The Lake Michigan outer nearshore zone (water depths ≈5 to 25 m) off Illinois Beach State Park is subjected to a spectrum of wave conditions, including those generated by major storms. Only under these major storm conditions is there a realistic potential for wave-lakebed interaction (and associated wind-driven currents) to cause a significant net modification to the outer nearshore...
Authors
J.S. Booth

A sediment budget for southern Lake Michigan: source and sink models for different time intervals A sediment budget for southern Lake Michigan: source and sink models for different time intervals

We have constructed a sediment budget for the southern Lake Michigan basin for sand and for mud during three time periods: the past 100, 5,000, and 10,000 years. For the modern (100-year) sediment budget, accountable sediment sources add up to 93 percent of the calculated sinks. The mud budget has a source deficit of about 40%, probably due to errors in mud:sand ratios and (or) to other...
Authors
Steven M. Colman, D. S. Foster

Modeling the seasonal circulation in Massachusetts Bay Modeling the seasonal circulation in Massachusetts Bay

An 18 month simulation of circulation was conducted in Massachusetts Bay, a roughly 35 m deep, 100??50 km embayment on the northeastern shelf of the United States. Using a variant of the Blumberg-Mellor (1987) model, it was found that a continuous 18 month run was only possible if the velocity field was Shapiro filtered to remove two grid length energy that developed along the open...
Authors
Richard P. Signell, Harry L. Jenter, Alan F. Blumberg
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