Alicia Balster-Gee
Science and Products
U.S. West Coast and Alaska Marine Geohazards
Marine geohazards are sudden and extreme events beneath the ocean that threaten coastal populations. Such underwater hazards include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and tsunamis.
Devastating earthquakes in Japan (2011) and Chile (2010) that spawned pan-oceanic tsunamis sent a sobering reminder that U.S. coastlines are also vulnerable to natural disasters that originate in...
Sediments and the sea floor of the continental shelves and coastal waters of the United States—About the usSEABED integrated sea-floor-characterization database, built with the dbSEABED processing system
Since the second half of the 20th century, there has been an increase in scientific interest, research effort, and information gathered on the geologic sedimentary character of the continental margins of the United States. Data and information from thousands of sources have increased our scientific understanding of the character of the margin...
Buczkowski, Brian J.; Reid, Jane A.; Jenkins, Chris J.
Precipitation runoff modeling system (PRMS) as part of an integrated hydrologic model for the Osage Nation, northeastern Oklahoma, 1915–2014
Executive SummaryThe Osage Nation lacks a comprehensive tribal water plan to describe the quality and quantity of water resources in the Osage Nation, a 2,304-square-mile (mi2) area of rolling pastures, tallgrass prairie, and mixed woodlands in northeastern Oklahoma. A tribal water plan can be used to help manage the sustainable development of...
Hevesi, Joseph A.; Hanson, Randall T.; Masoner, Jason R.
Quantifying trends in arsenic, nitrate, and dissolved solids from selected wells in Utah
Groundwater makes up a primary portion of the water supply in many parts of Utah, with annual withdrawals estimated at more than 1,000,000 acre-feet per year. Increases to groundwater withdrawal and land use may negatively impact water availability. Ensuring availability of clean water requires understanding how water quality has changed over time...
Miller, Olivia L.
Using remotely sensed data to map Joshua Tree distributions at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, 2018
Species distribution models (SDMs) that are derived through inference have been used to provide important insights toward species distributions. Their inferences can be robust in relation to known presences, but SDMs have error rates that cannot be quantified with certainty. For large plant species with unique signatures and in sparsely vegetated...
Esque, Todd C.; Baird, Patrick E.; Chen, Felicia C.; Housman, David C.; Holton, Tom J.
Seismic velocity variations associated with the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi
The 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kīlauea (Hawai‘i) marked a dramatic change in the volcano’s 35-year-long rift zone eruption. The collapse of the middle East Rift Zone vent Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was followed by one of the volcano’s most voluminous eruptions in 500 years. Over the course of this 3-month eruption, the draining of summit-stored magma...
Flinders, Ashton; Caudron, Corentin; Johanson, Ingrid; Taira, Taka'aki; Shiro, Brian; Haney, Matthew M. Estimating the effect of winter cover crops on nitrogen leaching using cost-share enrollment data, satellite remote sensing, and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeling
This study employed a novel combination of data (winter cover crop cost-share enrollment records, satellite remote sensing of wintertime vegetation, and results of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) water quality simulations) to estimate the environmental performance of winter cover crops (WCC) at the watershed scale, from 2008 through 2017,...
Hively, W. Dean; Lee, Sangchul; Sadeghi, Ali M.; McCarty, Gregory W.; Lamb, Brian T.; Soroka, Alexander M.; Keppler, Jason; Yeo, In-Young; Moglen, Glenn E.
Ten ways Mount St. Helens changed our world—The enduring legacy of the 1980 eruption
Mount St. Helens was once enjoyed for its serene beauty and was considered one of America’s most majestic volcanoes because of its perfect cone shape, similar to Japan’s beloved Mount Fuji. Nearby residents assumed that the mountain was solid and enduring. That perception changed during the early spring of 1980. Then, on May 18, 1980,...
Driedger, Carolyn L.; Major, Jon J.; Pallister, John S.; Clynne, Michael A.; Moran, Seth C.; Westby, Elizabeth G.; Ewert, John W. Representing the function and sensitivity of coastal interfaces in Earth system models
Along coastal interfaces, components of the Earth system interact to regulate ecosystem functions and Earth’s climate. Between the land and ocean, diverse coastal ecosystem types transform, store, and transport material. A dynamic two-way exchange of energy and matter is driven by hydrological and marine processes such as river and groundwater...
Ward, Nicholas; Megonigal, J. Patrick; Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Bailey, Vanessa; Butman, David; Canuel, Elizabeth; Diefenderfer, Heida; Ganju, Neil Kamal; Goni, Miguel; Graham, Emily B.; Hopkinson, Charles; Khangaonkar, Tarang; Langley, Adam; McDowell, Nate; Myers-Pigg, Allison; Neumann, Rebecca; Osburn, Christopher; Price, Rene; Rowland, Joel; Sengupta, Aditi; Simard, Marc; Thornton, Peter E.; Tzortziou, Maria; Vargas, Rodrigo; Weisenhorn, Pamela; Windham-Myers, Lisamarie Understanding mountain lakes in a changing world: Introduction to the special issue
No abstract available.
Baron, Jill; Chandra, Sudeep; James J. Elser
Louisiana Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring Program: Mapping habitats in beach, dune, and intertidal environments along the Louisiana Gulf of Mexico shoreline, 2008 and 2015–16
Barrier islands, headlands, and coastal shorelines provide numerous valuable ecosystem goods and services, including storm protection and erosion control for the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, salinity regulation in estuaries, carbon sequestration in marshes, and areas for recreation and tourism. These coastal features are dynamic...
Enwright, Nicholas M.; SooHoo, William M.; Dugas, Jason L.; Conzelmann, Craig P.; Laurenzano, Claudia; Lee, Darin M.; Mouton, Kelly; Stelly, Spencer J.
Red Knot (Calidris canutus) research—Preliminary results and future opportunities
The Red Knot, Calidris canutus, is a highly migratory shorebird with a cosmopolitan distribution. Six subspecies have been identified, two of which occur regularly in North America (C.c. rufa and C.c. roselaari). Given their long-distance migrations through many jurisdictions and conservation status, tools are needed to reliably distinguish the...
Kazyak, David; Aunins, Aaron; Johnson, Robin At the end of the road: Lessons learned from comparing model- and design-based approaches to estimate population sizes of boreal birds in Alberta, Canada
Estimating population abundance is a challenging task complicated by the amount, type, and quality of available data. Conservationists have relied on design-based estimates from Partners in Flight (PIF), which primarily uses roadside data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to estimate populations sizes. However, the BBS was not...
Solymos, Peter; Toms, Judith D; Matsuoka, Steven M.; Cumming, Steven G.; Barker, Nicole K. S.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Stralberg, Diana; Crosby, Andrew D.; Denes, Francisco V; Hache, Samuel; Mahon, C Lisa; Schmiegelow, Fiona K A; Bayne, Erin M.