Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

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

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Report

No abstract provided.

Environment And Sustainability: December 2022, Environment And Sustainability, Office Of The President

Environment and Sustainability

• Recently installed solar panels in Nairobi;

• Upcoming “Meatless Mangal” campaign;

• Engagement of leaders and employees in sustainability workshops;

• Closing of President’s Challenge for Climate Solutions;

• Plastic bag phase-out at BASIC shop;

• And much more…

A Statistical Analysis Of Sporadic-E Characteristics Associated With Gnss Radio Occultation Phase And Amplitude Scintillations, Daniel J. Emmons, Dong L. Wu, Nimalan Swarnalingam

Faculty Publications

Statistical GNSS-RO measurements of phase and amplitude scintillation are analyzed at the mid-latitudes in the local summer for a 100 km altitude. These conditions are known to contain frequent sporadic-E, and the S4-σ_ϕ trends provide insight into the statistical distributions of the sporadic-E parameters. Joint two-dimensional S4-σ_ϕ histograms are presented, showing roughly linear trends until the S4 saturates near 0.8. To interpret the measurements and understand the sporadic-E contributions, 10,000 simulations of RO signals perturbed by sporadic-E layers are performed using length, intensity, and vertical thickness distributions from previous studies, with the assumption that the sporadic-E layer acts …

Fitness Of Interspecific Hybrids In The Genus Cyprinella: An Evaluation Of Swimming Performance In North American Stream Fishes, Jessica Wilks

Biology Theses

Due to anthropogenic pressures, freshwater ecosystems are being rapidly destroyed worldwide. Accordingly, human impacts have also resulted in the loss of native aquatic biodiversity. In particular, the introduction of non-native species to aquatic habitats is of great concern. Historically, the introductions of many non-native freshwater fishes are the result of commercial baitfish aquaculture, food industries, and private aquarium release. The red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) is a small stream fish that is endemic to the Central U.S., and its natural range is restricted to East of the Mississippi River. Since the 1950’s, red shiner have been commercially raised and transported …

Wavenumbers 3 And 4 Quasi 2-Day Wave Activities Observed By Multiple Meteor Radars In The Two Hemispheres During Austral Summer, Hao Cheng, Kai Ming Huang, Alan Z. Liu, Shao Dong Zhang, Chun Ming Huang, Yun Gong

Publications

Combining observations from three meteor radars in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and a meteor radar in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) and reanalysis data, we present successive wavenumbers 3 and 4 (W3 and W4) quasi 2 day wave activities in austral summer. In the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, the wave exhibits two burst activities. The W3 dominates the first burst, while the W4 is the predominate mode in the second burst. The mode transition arises in the late January and is completed around the end of January. The W3 and W4 have the nearly same dominate period of about 46 hr …

Tools For Predicting Emulsification Capacity Of Crude Oil Exposed To Sunlight: Impact Of Photoproduced Carboxylic Acids On Emulsion Stability, Chaka Nacaya Brown

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The role of acids in the formation of emulsions from sunlight exposed petroleum is not well understood. To elucidate the impact of sunlight on the formation of emulsions from petroleum, Macondo, its surrogate and NIST 1619b and 2717a were separately exposed to simulated sunlight for up to 48 hours as a film dispersed into a quartz dish, or a film spread on water. Emulsion stability was scored from 0-5. All exposures demonstrated a correlation between emulsion stability and sunlight exposure with no observable emulsification in absence of photoproduction due to sunlight exposure. Aqueous studies of DOC_HC (dissolved organic carbon …

Conjunctive Management For Groundwater-Surface Water Resources: Numerical Modeling And Potential Assessment Of Managed Aquifer Recharge (Mar) At Lower Rio Grande Valley In South Texas, Dwight Zedric Q. Capus

Theses and Dissertations

Texas is well known to frequent floods and droughts, and yet has mounting concerns in very imbalanced water availability and water demands from growth in population and economical activities. Capturing and storing water is essential to long-term and climate-smart management of the “already-scarce” water resources. This study aimed to apply numerical modeling to evaluate potentials and impacts of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) to regional groundwater systems in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Using Visual MODFLOW Flex 3D package, different scenarios were simulated for groundwater flow patterns and storage capacities. Water injections tested ranged between 7.30x105 ft3 to 3.65x109 ft3 , …

Salas Y Gómez Benthic Habitat And Community Assessment Of Seamounts And Oceanic Islands, Kara Eckley

Theses and Dissertations

Seamounts are essential benthic habitats that are ecologically important, providing habitat and functioning as stepping stones for dispersal and possible refugia, and economically valuable, supporting deep-sea fisheries and potential mineral mining activities. The Salas y Gómez Ridge in the southeast Pacific Ocean longitudinally contains dozens of seamounts that extend ~2,900 km across the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The ridge contains a range of oxygen and nutrient conditions that, along with the distance between seamounts, have led to high levels of endemism, reported in the few studies that have been conducted on seamounts of the region; this study is the first …

Weather Parameters Influencing The Incidence Of Citrus Canker Caused By Aw Strain In The Rio Grande Valley, Amit Sharma

Theses and Dissertations

Citrus canker caused by bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) seriously affects the citrus industry by making the fruit unmarketable due to unsightly lesions on the fruit. Canker caused by Aw strain of Xcc was reported in the citrus trees located in the residential areas of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Canker severity differs amongst cultivars/varieties, and it is influenced by prevailing environmental conditions. Multiple regression modeling of the disease incidence with the environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, windspeed, wind gust, and rainfall was performed to understand the environmental conditions that are favorable for spread of citrus …

Measuring The Economic Impact Of Recurrent Flooding On Workforce Productivity And Property, Joshua G. Behr, Wie Yusuf, George Mcleod, Sarah Stafford, Derek Loftis, Afi Anuar, Rafael Diaz

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

From the Executive Summary:

This research draws upon expertise across multiple disciplines and fields. Leveraged are natural systems data and social-behavioral data. The high-level objective is to advance our understanding of how very recent recurrent flooding has impacted residents within the City of Portsmouth, and then forecast these impacts under projections of sea level rise. While this research draws upon data for the City of Portsmouth, the findings may be generalized to the broader Hampton Roads region.

Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter And Dissolved Organic Carbon In Lakes Across An Elevational Gradient From The Mountains To The Sea, Kyle Juetten, Angela L. Strecker, Aaron Harrison, Zachary Landram, Warren J. De Bruyn, Catherine D. Clark

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lakes across elevation gradients is a complex function of topography, climate, vegetation coverage, land use, and lake properties. To examine sources and processing of DOM from sea level to mountain lakes (3–1,574 m), we measured dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) optical properties, lake characteristics, and water quality parameters in 62 freshwater lakes in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Higher elevation lakes had lower DOC concentrations and absorbance. These lakes had higher forest cover and minimal wetlands in their watershed, in addition to low nutrients, water temperatures, and chlorophyll a in …

The Role Of Inputs Of Marine Wrack And Carrion In Sandy-Beach Ecosystems: A Global Review, Glenn A. Hyndes, Emma L. Berdan, Cristian Duarte, Jenifer E. Dugan, Kyle A. Emery, Peter A. Hamback, Christopher J. Henderson, David M. Hubbard, Mariano Lastra, Miguel A. Mateo, Andrew Olds, Thomas A. Schlacher

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Sandy beaches are iconic interfaces that functionally link the ocean with the land via the flow of organic matter from the sea. These cross-ecosystem fluxes often comprise uprooted seagrass and dislodged macroalgae that can form substantial accumulations of detritus, termed ‘wrack’, on sandy beaches. In addition, the tissue of the carcasses of marine animals that regularly wash up on beaches form a rich food source (‘carrion’) for a diversity of scavenging animals. Here, we provide a global review of how wrack and carrion provide spatial subsidies that shape the structure and functioning of sandy-beach ecosystems (sandy beaches and adjacent surf …

Internal Waves Of Port Everglades: Experimental And Numerical Studies To Characterize Ambient Magnetic Signals, Johanna Riley Evans

Theses and Dissertations

Ocean dynamics are an important contributing factor to measurable environmental magnetic noise. Seawater is conductive and as an internal wave oscillates across Earth’s magnetic field, a small yet detectable induced magnetic field develops. A significant source of underwater magnetic noise off the southeast coast of Florida comes from internal waves. Characterizing the magnetic signals present required a combination of computational modeling effort and field experiments. For this research, undersea sensors were monitored as a continuous field experiment and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) model was customized to simulate internal wave-induced magnetic fields at the site. I developed the …

Cloud Image Classification Using Machine Learning, Marcus Peter Cote

Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning is a rapidly expanding technology that has proven to be highly useful for image classification. Ground-based camera networks are an emerging resource for aviation weather information with near real-time imagery available online for public viewing and download. While raw web camera imagery can be analyzed by aviators, high pilot workload motivates the use of machine learning to autonomously interpret cloud type information from images that is relevant to aviation weather hazards. In particular, transfer learning is a machine learning approach by which elements of a pre-trained machine learning model are refitted for new tasks. By employing transfer learning …

Understanding Ecological Relationships To Improve Biofouling Management Practices In The Marine Environment, Ann Catherine Wassick

Theses and Dissertations

Biofouling, the growth of benthic invertebrates on anthropogenic surfaces, impacts many industries and is a major vector of non-native species worldwide. Understanding the ecological relationships between biofouling organisms and their environment is necessary to assist management practices. This study investigates the biofouling communities at Port Canaveral, Florida, in order to potentially refine biofouling mitigation practices. Recruitment panels were used to document the temporal changes in community composition, biofouling pressure, recruitment, and growth rates. These factors were also used to assess relationships with temperature and salinity. A second component of this work provided documentation on the variation in non-native species abundance …

Modeling Settlement And Filtration Of The Indian River Lagoon Benthic Community, With An Emphasis On Living Dock Restoration Mats, Sandra Lisette Rech

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America. An increase in population and anthropogenic effects have led to eutrophication, a decline in water quality, and overall degradation. The Living Docks program is a citizen science initiative started at the Florida Institute of Technology for lagoon restoration. In this program, public and private docks are volunteered to become Living Docks, where oyster mats made of plastic mesh and dead, dried oyster shells are attached to dock pilings in an effort to provide a natural substrate for benthic organism growth. The community which develops …

Assessing Changes In Tornado Vulnerablitiy In North Alabama, Mckenna Danielle Brahler

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Increased Aerosols Can Reverse Twomey Effect In Water Clouds Through Radiative Pathway, Pradeep Khatri, Tadahiro Hayasaka, Brent N. Holben, Ramesh P. Singh, Husi Letu, Sachchida N. Tripathi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Aerosols play important roles in modulations of cloud properties and hydrological cycle by decreasing the size of cloud droplets with the increase of aerosols under the condition of fixed liquid water path, which is known as the first aerosol indirect effect or Twomey-effect or microphysical effect. Using high-quality aerosol data from surface observations and statistically decoupling the influence of meteorological factors, we show that highly loaded aerosols can counter this microphysical effect through the radiative effect to result both the decrease and increase of cloud droplet size depending on liquid water path in water clouds. The radiative effect due to …

Under New Direction: Using Theatre To Combat The Climate Crisis, Brian Kirsch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Earth is growing unsuitable for human society as we know it at an unprecedented rate. Among the latest in a set of increasingly grim statistics, the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration is now a staggering 150% of its value for most of human history (Stein). This has triggered global warming on track to meet or exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, which comes with extreme and irreversible changes to the planet (Jackson). However, this information fails to both command its merited attention and spark the urgent action needed to preserve our way of life. Less than half of American voters consider climate …

Comparing Past And Future Drought And Surplus Periods In The Colorado River Basin, Rama Bedri

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Colorado River Basin is crucial to the Western United States, providing water for seven states and Mexico. Historical and future periods of drought and surplus are analyzed in 17 Colorado River stations. Unimpaired streamflow data are evaluated from the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, and Coupled Modeled Intercomparison Projection 5 from 1950-2099. Future projections are based on eight climate scenarios. Four climate models (HadGEM2-ES, CNRM-CM5, CanESM2, MI-ROC5) are observed at Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 emission scenarios. Furthermore, the ensemble water year means of the four models are analyzed. The durations of drought or surplus, magnitudes, …

Nexus Between Animal Welfare, Environment, And Sustainable Development: Resource Document, Wellbeing International

Nexus – UNEP – Animal Welfare, Environment, Sustainable Development

This Resource Document has been developed to explore the Nexus (links) between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. The document includes relevant citations and reports addressing the topics encompassed by the Nexus. It will be maintained as a “living document” (subject to revision) in the WellBeing International Studies Repository. The original document and subsequent revisions will be kept in the Repository to provide a record of the changes.

Drought‑Stricken U.S. States Have More Comprehensive Water‑Related Hazard Planning, Theresa Jedd, Kelly Smith

Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Despite the devastating impacts of droughts, the United States lacks a national drought plan. This leaves states to address droughts in water, hazard, and stand-alone plans which are designed to reduce drought vulnerability and to prepare government, industry, and society to cope with the impacts. Yet, there is limited empirical research that evaluates the comprehensiveness of these plans, specifically in terms of whether they include preparedness and mitigation measures or triggers for action and response. To fill this gap, this study’s first aim was to establish an evaluation framework based on principles from the drought mitigation literature. The study then …

2022 November 24 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Coupling Evidence From Lower Atmosphere To Mesosphere And Ionosphere Through Quasi 27-Day Oscillation, Alan Z. Liu, Kaiming Huang, Hao Cheng, Shaodong Zhang, Chunming Huang, Yun Gong, Gang Chen

Publications

Using meteor radar, radiosonde and digisonde observations and MERRA-2 reanalysis data from 12 August to 31 October 2006, we report a dynamical coupling from the tropical lower atmosphere to the mesosphere and ionospheric F2 region through a quasi 27-day intraseasonal oscillation (ISO). It is interesting that the quasi 27-day ISO is active in the troposphere and stratopause and mesopause regions, exhibiting a three-layer structure. In the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT), the amplitude in the zonal wind increases from about 4 ms at 90 km to 15 ms at 100 km, which is different from previous observations that ISOs generally …

The Dynamics Of Tsunamigenic Acoustic-Gravity Waves And Bathymetry Effect, Pavel Alexandrovich Inchin, Christopher James Heale, Jonathan Brian Snively, Matthew David Zettergren

Publications

The investigation of atmospheric tsunamigenic acoustic and gravity wave (TAGW) dynamics, from the ocean surface to the thermosphere, is performed through the numerical computations of the 3D compressible nonlinear Navier-Stokes equations. Tsunami propagation is first simulated using a nonlinear shallow water model, which incorporates instantaneous or temporal evolutions of initial tsunami distributions (ITD). Surface dynamics are then imposed as a boundary condition to excite TAGWs into the atmosphere from the ground level. We perform a case study of a large tsunami associated with the 2011 M9.1 Tohuku-Oki earthquake, and parametric studies with simplified and demonstrative bathymetry and ITD. Our results …

Climatology Of High-Frequency Gravity Waves Observed By An Airglow Imager At Andes Lidar Observatory, Alan Z. Liu, Bing Cao

Publications

The long-term climatology of high-frequency quasi-monochromatic gravity waves is presented using multi-year airglow images observed at Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO, 30.3ºS, 70.7ºW) in northern Chile. A large number of high-frequency gravity waves were retrieved from OH airglow images. The distribution of primary wave parameters including horizontal wavelength, vertical wavelength, intrinsic wave speed, and intrinsic wave period are obtained and are in the ranges of 20–30 km, 15–25 km, 50–100 ms-1, and 5–10 min, respectively. The waves tend to propagate against the local background winds and show clear seasonal variations. In austral winter (Ma–Aug), the observed wave occurrence frequency is higher …

Mesoptroph, A Database Of Trophic Parameters To Study Interactions In Mesopelagic Food Webs, Mónica A. Silva, Catarina T. Fonseca, M. Pilar Olivar, Ainhoa Bernal, Jérôme Spitz, Tiphaine Chouvelon, Sigrún Jonasdottir, Ana Colaço, Vanda Carmo, Tracey Sutton, Gui Menezes, Tone Falkenhaug, Odd Aksel Bergstad, Sergi Pérez-Jorge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Mesopelagic organisms play a crucial role in marine food webs, channelling energy across the predator-prey network and connecting depth strata through their diel vertical migrations. The information available to assess mesopelagic feeding interactions and energy transfer has increased substantially in recent years, owing to the growing interest and research activity in the mesopelagic realm. However, such data have not been systematically collated and are difficult to access, hampering estimation of the contribution of mesopelagic organisms to marine ecosystems. Here we present MesopTroph, a georeferenced database of diet, trophic markers, and energy content of mesopelagic and other marine taxa compiled from …

The Sensitivity Of Meteorological Dynamics To The Variability In Catchment Characteristics, Shimelash Molla Kassaye, Tsegaye Tadesse, Getachew Tegegne, Kindie Engdaw Tadesse

Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Evaluating meteorological dynamics is a challenging task due to the variability in hydroclimatic settings. This study is designed to assess the sensitivity of precipitation and temperature dynamics to catchment variability. The effects of catchment size, land use/cover change, and elevation differences on precipitation and temperature variability were considered to achieve the study objective. The variability in meteorological parameters to the catchment characteristics was determined using the coefficient of variation on the climate data tool (CDT). A land use/cover change and terrain analysis was performed on Google Earth Engine (GEE) and ArcGIS. In addition, a correlation analysis was performed to identify …

Estimation Of Economic Risk From Coastal Natural Hazards In Louisiana, Rubayet Bin Mostafiz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Louisiana, U.S.A., is among the most vulnerable areas globally to coastal natural hazards, with risk vulnerability likely increasing. The risks associated with non-tropical-cyclone hazards in Louisiana’s coastal zone have been understudied. This research enhances present and future (i.e., 2050) Louisiana risk assessment using locally-weighted, model-based hazard frequency/intensity and population projections.

Results suggest that property risks associated with extreme cold temperature and tornado are and will remain costlier than those for hail and lightning. Property risks of extreme cold temperature and hail are projected to decrease with the expected warming temperatures, with those of all four of these hazards peaking in …

S7e8: What Is The Legacy And Future Of The Climate Change Institute?, Ron Lisnet, Paul A. Mayewski, Daniel Sandweiss, Cynthia Isenhour

The Maine Question

The nation’s first multi- and inter-disciplinary research institute to study Earth’s recent and long-term climate variability was founded in 1972 at the University of Maine. That institute, now known as the Climate Change Institute, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a milestone that honors the many groundbreaking discoveries its scientists have made in the field of climate science.

CCI have scientists first mapped the difference between climate during the Ice Age and today in the 1970s; discovered the importance of marine-based ice sheets in the 1980s; connected acid rain to human causes in the mid-1980s; uncovered the concept of …