Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluation Of Wave Contributions In Hurricane Irma Storm Surge Hindcast, Abram Musinguzi, Lokesh Reddy, Muhammad K. Akbar

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Faculty Research

This paper evaluates the contribution of waves to the total predicted storm surges in a Hurricane Irma hindcast, using ADCIRC+SWAN and ADCIRC models. The contribution of waves is quantified by subtracting the water levels hindcasted by ADCIRC from those hindcasted by ADCIRC+SWAN, using OWI meteorological forcing in both models. Databases of water level time series, wave characteristic time series, and high-water marks are used to validate the model performance. Based on the application of our methodology to the coastline around Florida, a peninsula with unique geomorphic characteristics, we find that wave runup has the largest contribution to the total water …

New Hampshire Continental Shelf Geospatial Database: Surficial Geology Maps And Sediment Grain Size Data, Larry G. Ward, Zachary S. Mcavoy, Rachel C. Morrison

Data Catalog

The “New Hampshire Continental Shelf Geospatial Database: Surficial Geology Maps and Sediment Grain Size Data” consists of high-resolution surficial geology maps of the continental shelf off New Hampshire to Jeffreys Ledge in the Western Guff of Maine (WGOM) and supporting sediment grain size information. The surficial geology maps cover ~3,250 km² (Figure 1). The maps depict three different classifications based on the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standards (CMECS; FGDC, 2012): Geoforms (major morphologic or physiographic features; Figure 2; Table 1), Geologic Substrate Subclass (Figure 3; Table 2), and Geologic Substrate Group (Figure 4; Table 2). The maps are …

Institute For Global Health And Development : Issue 2 - March 2022, Institute For Global Health And Development

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Controls On Sediment Bed Erodibility In A Muddy, Partially-Mixed Tidal Estuary, Cristin L. Wright, Carl T. Friedrichs, Grace M. Massey

VIMS Articles

he objectives of this study are to better understand controls on bed erodibility in muddy estuaries, including the roles of both sediment properties and recent hydrodynamic history. An extensive data set of erodibility measurements, sediment properties, and hydrodynamic information was utilized to create statistical models to predict the erodibility of the sediment bed. This data set includes >160 eroded mass versus applied stress profiles collected over 15 years along the York River estuary, a system characterized by “depth-limited erosion,” such that the critical stress for erosion increases rapidly with depth into the bed. For this study, erodibility was quantified in …

A Post-Disaster Construction Portfolio Optimization Framework For Tyndall Afb Rebuild Post Hurricane Michael, Andre J. May

Theses and Dissertations

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and extreme flooding cause severe social and economic disruptions. Restoration of social and revenue-generating services often requires extensive reconstruction, from the facility to the campus scale. For multi-facility portfolios, decision-makers must prioritize post-disaster reconstruction activities appropriately to ensure facilities and infrastructure are restored. In addition, any expansion or new construction initiatives are ideally completed in order of decision-maker and community preference. Most post-disaster optimization and decision framework research consider a single stakeholder as guiding decisions related to a project portfolio. However, these portfolio prioritization frameworks ignore the effect of multiple stakeholders and competing …

Carbon Estimation And Decision Making In Usaf Acquisition, Robert F. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Recent executive orders and international agreements require the United States to significantly reduce its carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. The DoD is a significant contributor to the carbon emissions of the USA and will be required to reduce the emissions. Therefore, in order to make appropriate programmatic decisions the DoD needs to develop an appropriate method for estimating carbon and making programmatic decisions; trading-off carbon emissions with the traditional cost-schedule-performance metrics. This thesis examines the possibility of developing a model that can be used to estimate the carbon footprint of producing a system before detailed engineering designed have been complete.

Global Sporadic-E Climatological Analysis Using Gps Radio Occultation And Ionosonde Data, Travis J. Hodos

Theses and Dissertations

A climatology of sporadic-E (Es) derived from a combined data set of GPS radio occultation (GPS-RO) and ground-based ionosonde soundings is presented for the period from September 2006 to February 2019. The ionosonde soundings were measured using the Lowell Digisonde International (LDI) Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory (GIRO) network consisting of 65 sites and 13,141,060 total soundings. The GPS-RO observations were taken aboard the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) satellites and processed using two binary Es detection algorithms, totaling 9,072,922 occultations. The first algorithm is an S4 amplitude threshold calibrated to the occurrence of any blanketing Es …

Feasibility Of Fireball Trail Detection Using Ground-Based Gps Receivers, Ian R. Moffett

Theses and Dissertations

The feasibility of using GPS data to detect fireballs is analyzed by first modeling the fireball’s trail diffusion and plasma chemistry to get a resulting ion density profile of the trail over time. The signal perturbation caused by the fireball trail is simulated for a ground receiver using an analytic solution for diffraction from a Gaussian lens. Five cases were modeled with varying initial peak ion densities and altitudes taken from fireball and reentry vehicle data. This paper shows that it is feasible to detect a fireball trail using GPS if the fireball has a sufficiently high initial ion density, …

Applications Of A Lightning Proxy To Generate Synthetic Lightning For Use In Physics-Based Image-Chain Models, Bryan G. Castro

Theses and Dissertations

A method of generating synthetic lightning through the use of a convective available potential energy (CAPE) times precipitation rate (P) proxy is applied over three distinct climatological zones of the world for a single warm season: central and southern AZ of the United States, central Cuba, and North Korea. Global Forecast System (GFS) 0.25° by 0.25° forecast data for June, July, and August of 2019 is used to provide 6-hourly CAPE and precipitation rate, while Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360) data for the period 2016 to 2020 is used to provide observed lightning strokes. A five-year lightning climatology study is conducted …

A Framework For Assessing Facility-Level Vulnerability And Risk To Extreme Weather Events, Blake A. Gawlik

Theses and Dissertations

Intensifying extreme weather events, tied to the rise in the global average temperature, put global built infrastructure at risk. This presents a daunting challenge for organizational leaders who are tasked to determine how best to adapt current infrastructure to uncertain future events. To develop adaptation plans and policies, vulnerability and risk must be downscaled to an actionable scale, such that planners, designers, and engineers can make adaptation recommendations. However, previous research has largely assessed risk at coarser scales, e.g., regional, national, or global. These assessments are informative, but do not help those tasked to lead adaptation to make detailed, actionable …

The Impacts Of Climate Uncertainty On Streamflow In Andes, Antioquia, Colombia, Kristen R. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Natural hazards, such as hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and droughts impact human systems that rely on predictable patterns in the natural elements with which they interact. Skillful prediction of the impacts of climate change on linked, human-natural systems, like surface water resources, can help ensure physical risks within vulnerable communities are mitigated, resource sustainability is maximized, and intersectoral markets continue to contribute to socioeconomic stability. Due to water resources being a primary conduit through which climate uncertainty impacts people, economies, and ecosystems, its study is worthy of investigation; particularly, where those resources are uncertain and demanded by a variety of competitive …

2022 March - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Report

No abstract provided.

Intercomparison Of Four Microphysics Schemes In Simulating Persistent Arctic Mixed-Phase Stratocumulus Clouds, Zachary A. Cleveland

Theses and Dissertations

Persistent Arctic mixed-phase stratocumulus clouds (AMPS) are important to the surface radiation budget of the Arctic. Their presence produces warming within the boundary layer and at the surface and inaccurately forecasting AMPS can lead to large, erroneous temperature forecasts. A Large Eddy Simulation of a case study of a persistent AMPS cloud was conducted using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model. The case examined occurred near Oliktok Point, AK between 26 and 27 April, 2017. The produced cloud pattern and properties of four different microphysics schemes -- P3, Thompson, Morrison, and WSM6 -- are compared to observations. …

A Critical Review Of Climate Change On Coastal Infrastructure Systems, Gregory J. Howland Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a response to climate threats identified by DoD report on Climate Change in 2019. A critical review of climate change literature related to coastal infrastructure was conducted to synthesize past research and to inform future research. This review intends to inform how climate change may impact infrastructure systems, how those impacts are evaluated, can the investigation be improved, and what can stakeholders learn from the outcomes. The end goal is to find climate change mitigation strategies and adaptation measures, or identify the easiest path to get to that end. The compiled information will inform civilian and military …

Climate Change Risk To Coastal Airfield Stormwater Systems, Jedidiah R. Langlois

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is resulting in rising sea levels and increased rainfall, posing new challenges to stormwater management, particularly along coastlines. The airfield stormwater systems of Tyndall Air Force Base discharge directly into an interior bay of the Gulf of Mexico through tidal canals and ditches, creating a risk of system inundation from high tidewater conditions from sea-level rise (SLR). This study explores the performance and consequences of an inundated stormwater system from SLR during rainfall events using the EPA’s Stormwater Management Model (SWMM). One hundred and fifty-three combinations of SLR and return year storms were applied to a model of …

Natural Infrastructure Alternatives Mitigate Hurricane-Driven Flood Vulnerability: Application To Tyndall Air Force Base, Kiara L. Vance

Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane frequency and magnitude intensification are expected over the remainder of the twenty-first century. Uncertainty in future projections requires that coastal communities approach adaptation decisions with caution. Traditional approaches are costly and inflexible. Soft policy adaptations are largely unenforceable. Hard, natural adaptations have emerged as an opportunity to partially mitigate the growing risk of extreme flooding, without the large investments required for traditional approaches, where natural infrastructure already exists. Existing literature for natural adaptations has not leveraged intensification expectations for hurricane events. This research uses multihazard damage evaluation software and spatial analysis to investigate placement of dredged sediment as a …

Burn Probability And Climate Change: A Quantitative Evaluation Of The Temporal Alterations Of Wildfire, David N. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

The intensity of extreme weather events, specifically wildfires, along the West Coast has slowly grown overtime due to atmospheric changes caused by climate change. The Air Force, though aware of the threat that is wildfire, does not currently have a quantitative way to assess the hazard to base locations. In this paper, burn probability is quantitatively calculated through the geospatial analysis programs to provide a means of assessing wildfire vulnerability. The FlamMap fire simulator generated burn probabilities for Vandenberg Air Force Base using climate data generated by the remote automated weather station on the base to highlight how the burn …

Physical Investigation Of Downburst Winds And Applicability To Full Scale Events, Federico Canepa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thunderstorm winds, i.e. downbursts, are cold descending currents originating from cumulonimbus clouds which, upon the impingement on the ground, spread radially with high intensities. The downdraft phase of the storm and the subsequent radial outflow that is formed can cause major issues for aviation and immense damages to ground-mounted structures. Thunderstorm winds present characteristics completely different from the stationary Gaussian synoptic winds, which largely affect the mid-latitude areas of the globe in the form of extra-tropical cyclones. Downbursts are very localized winds in both space and time. It follows that their statistical investigation, by means of classical full scale anemometric …

Sensitivity Of The West Antarctic Ice Sheet To +2 °C (Swais 2c), Molly O. Patterson, Richard H. Levy, Denise K. Kulhanek, Tina Van De Flierdt, Huw Horgan, Gavin B. Dunbar, Timothy R. Naish, Jeanine Ash, Alex Pyne, Darcy Mandeno, J. Paul Winberry

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) presently holds enough ice to raise global sea level by 4.3 m if completely melted. The unknown response of the WAIS to future warming remains a significant challenge for numerical models in quantifying predictions of future sea level rise. Sea level rise is one of the clearest planet-wide signals of human-induced climate change. The Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a Warming of 2 ^∘C (SWAIS 2C) Project aims to understand past and current drivers and thresholds of WAIS dynamics to improve projections of the rate and size of ice sheet …

Paradigm Versus Paradox On The Prairie: Testing Competing Stream Fish Movement Frameworks Using An Imperiled Great Plains Minnow, Zachary D. Steffensmeier, Maeghen Wedgeworth, Lauren Yancy, Noah Santee, Shannon K. Brewer, Joshuah S. Perkin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Background: Movement information can improve conservation of imperiled species, yet movement is not quantified for many organisms in need of conservation. Prairie chub (Macrhybopsis australis) is a regionally endemic freshwater fish with unquantified movement ecology and currently considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The purpose of this study was to test competing ecological theories for prairie chub movement, including the colonization cycle hypothesis (CCH) that posits adults must make upstream movements to compensate for downstream drift at early life stages, and the restricted movement paradigm (RMP) that describes populations as heterogeneous mixes of mostly stationary …

3d Numerical Simulation Of Secondary Wave Generation From Mountain Wave Breaking Over Europe, Christopher J. Heale, Katrina Bossert, Sharon L. Vadas

Publications

In this paper, we simulate an observed mountain wave event over central Europe and investigate the subsequent generation, propagation, phase speeds and spatial scales, and momentum deposition of secondary waves under three different tidal wind conditions. We find the mountain wave breaks just below the lowest critical level in the mesosphere. As the mountain wave breaks, it extends outwards along the phases and fluid associated with the breaking flows downstream of its original location by 500–1,000 km. The breaking generates a broad range of secondary waves with horizontal scales ranging from the mountain wave instability scales (20–300 km), to multiples …

Anthropogenic Impacts On The Glowworm Cave, Waitomo, New Zealand: A Microclimate Management Approach, Chris Hendy, David J. Merritt, Shannon Corkill

International Journal of Speleology

Waitomo Glowworm Cave is a highly visited cave where the highlight is viewing the bioluminescence display of a large colony of glowworms. The visitation levels result in the build-up of anthropogenic CO₂, to the extent that it could cause corrosion of speleothems. The cave experiences chimney-effect ventilation with air flowing either upward or downward through the main cave chambers depending on air density differences between the cave and the outside environment. Lack of airflow leads to CO₂ build-up; however, unrestricted airflow can draw in cool, dry air which is harmful to the glowworms. Consequently, airflow is managed …

Primary Productivity In The Mid-Atlantic Bight: Is The Shelf Break A Location Of Enhanced Productivity?, Jiejie Ma, Walker O. Smith Jr.

VIMS Articles

Estimates of primary production represent the input of carbon into food webs, as well as the initial step in the biological pump. For the past 60 years, much of the productivity information has been obtained using measurements of 14C-bicarbonate removal during simulated in situ incubations. However, such measurements often do not reflect the complexity of the environment, and also suffer from uncertainties, biases and limitations. A vertically resolved bio-optical model has been used to estimate productivity based on profiles commonly assessed in oceanographic investigations, but comparisons with simultaneous measurements of 14C-uptake are limited. We conducted three cruises off the coast …

Black Carbon And Organic Carbon Dataset Over The Third Pole, Shichang Kang, Yulan Zhang, Pengfei Chen, Junming Guo, Qianggong Zhang, Zhiyuan Cong, Susan Kaspari, Lekhendra Tripathee, Tanguang Gao, Hewen Niu, Xinyue Zhong, Xintong Chen, Zhaofu Hu, Xiaofei Li, Yang Li, Bigyan Neupane, Fangping Yan, Dipesh Rupakheti, Chaman Gul, Wei Zhang, Guangming Wu, Ling Yang, Zhaoqing Wang, Chaoliu Li

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

The Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings, also known as the Third Pole, play an important role in the global and regional climate and hydrological cycle. Carbonaceous aerosols (CAs), including black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC), can directly or indirectly absorb and scatter solar radiation and change the energy balance on the Earth. CAs, along with the other atmospheric pollutants (e.g., mercury), can be frequently transported over long distances into the inland Tibetan Plateau. During the last decades, a coordinated monitoring network and research program named “Atmospheric Pollution and Cryospheric Changes” (APCC) has been gradually set up and continuously operated …

Spatial Downscaling Of Goes-R Land Surface Temperature Over Urban Regions: A Case Study For New York City, Abdou Bah, Hamidreza Norouzi, Satya Prakash, Reginald Blake, Reza Khanbilvardi, Cynthia Rosenzweig

Publications and Research

The surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect is among the major environmental issues encountered in urban regions. To better predict the dynamics of the SUHI and its impacts on extreme heat events, an accurate characterization of the surface energy balance in urban regions is needed. However, the ability to improve understanding of the surface energy balance is limited by the heterogeneity of surfaces in urban areas. This study aims to enhance the understanding of the urban surface energy budget through an innovation in the use of land surface temperature (LST) observations from remote sensing satellites. A LST database with 5–min …

Fluids And Melts At The Magmatic-Hydrothermal Transition, Recorded By Unidirectional Solidification Textures At Saginaw Hill, Arizona, Usa, Wyatt M. Bain, Pilar Lecumberri-Sanchez, Erin E. Marsh, Matthew Steele-Macinnis

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Fluid exsolution and melt evolution at the magmatic-hydrothermal transition are critical processes driving the metal enrichment of porphyry systems. Coeval fluid and melt inclusion assemblages in unidirectional solidification textures (USTs) at Saginaw Hill—a small, porphyry Cu system in southwestern Arizona—record a dynamic and repetitious process of fluid accumulation and release. The cores of quartz crystals throughout the UST bands host coeval silicate melt and brine inclusions but lack vapor-rich inclusions. This could indicate preferential expulsion of vapor and trapping of high-density brine during episodes of fracturing or the direct exsolution of single-phase high-salinity brine from the silicate melt. In contrast, …

S6e1: What Happens If Mount Everest Loses All Of Its Snow And Ice?, Ron Lisnet, Paul A. Mayewski

The Maine Question

No place on earth can escape the effects of climate change, not even Mount Everest. The highest glacier on the world’s tallest mountain — the South Col Glacier — is rapidly disappearing. A new University of Maine-led study found that the glacier is losing several decades of ice and snow accumulation annually due to human-induced climate change.

These findings are the latest from the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, led by UMaine Climate Change Institute director Paul Mayewski. In this episode of “The Maine Question,” Mayewski and UMaine Ph.D. candidate Mariusz Potocki, both co-authors of the …

Feedback Interactions Between The Ionosphere And Magnetosphere At Middle Latitude, Mergen Alimaganbetov, Anatoly Streltsov

Publications

Observations show that magnetic pulsations with frequencies around 1 mHz are frequently detected simultaneously at different latitudes on the ground, in the inner magnetosphere, and in the solar wind. The coupling between oscillations in the dynamic pressure or magnetic field carried by the solar wind and the ULF waves detected on the ground at high latitudes has been suggested in several studies. We present results from a numerical study of ultra-low-frequency waves detected by the ground magnetometers at middle latitudes during substorm. We investigate the hypothesis that these waves are generated by the ionospheric feedback instability driven by the large-scale …

Connecting The Dots: Transmission Of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease From The Marquesas To The Dry Tortugas, Thomas Dobbelaere, Daniel M. Holstein, Erinn M. Muller, Lewis J. Gramer, Lucas Mceachron, Sara D. Williams, Emmanuel Hanert

Faculty Publications

For the last 7 years, Florida's Coral Reef (FCR) has suffered from widespread and severe coral loss caused by stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). First observed off the coast of Miami-Dade county in 2014, the outbreak has since spread throughout the entirety of FCR and some areas of the Caribbean. However, the propagation of the disease through FCR seemed to slow down when it reached the western end of the Marquesas in August 2020. Despite being present about 30 km (similar to 20 miles) from the Dry Tortugas (DRTO), SCTLD was not reported in this area before May 2021. …

Precipitation Is A Strong Predictor Of Airborne Ammonia Levels., Bridger Jorgensen, Casey Olson, Connor Snow

Research on Capitol Hill

USU senior Connor has lived in the Uintah Basin all his life and studies kinesiology. Senior Casey, a Cache Valley native, studies climate science and works at the Utah Climate Center. Junior Bridger, also of Cache Valley, studies nutrition science. They led and funded this project through a student grant. Casey was alarmed by the ammonia data he was collecting at the Climate Center. “I immediately began to wonder how this issue would evolve over the coming decades.” The three teamed up to take a look at how Logan’s record-breaking amount of ammonia in our air is impacting those who …