Geology Research Works
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Now showing 1 - 5 of 78
- ItemSatellite Climate Data Records: Development, Applications, and Societal Benefits(MDPI, 2016-04-15) Yang, Wenze; John, Viju O.; Zhao, Xuepeng; Lu, Hui; Knapp, Kenneth R.This review paper discusses how to develop, produce, sustain, and serve satellite climate data records (CDRs) in the context of transitioning research to operation (R2O). Requirements and critical procedures of producing various CDRs, including Fundamental CDRs (FCDRs), Thematic CDRs (TCDRs), Interim CDRs (ICDRs), and climate information records (CIRs) are discussed in detail, including radiance/reflectance and the essential climate variables (ECVs) of land, ocean, and atmosphere. Major international CDR initiatives, programs, and projects are summarized. Societal benefits of CDRs in various user sectors, including Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Energy, Heath, Water, Transportation, and Tourism are also briefly discussed. The challenges and opportunities for CDR development, production and service are also addressed. It is essential to maintain credible CDR products by allowing free access to products and keeping the production process transparent by making source code and documentation available with the dataset.
- ItemPhosphorus Retention in Stormwater Control Structures across Streamflow in Urban and Suburban Watersheds(MDPI, 2016-09-09) Duan, Shuiwang; Newcomer-Johnson, Tamara; Mayer, Paul; Kaushal, SujayRecent studies have shown that stormwater control measures (SCMs) are less effective at retaining phosphorus (P) than nitrogen. We compared P retention between two urban/suburban SCMs and their adjacent free-flowing stream reaches at the Baltimore Long-Term Ecological Study (LTER) site, and examined changes in P retention in SCMs across flow conditions. Results show that, when compared with free-flowing stream reaches, the SCMs had significantly lower dissolved oxygen (%DO) and higher P concentrations, as well as lower mean areal retention rates and retention efficiencies of particulate P (PP). In all the SCMs, concentrations of total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) consistently exhibited inverse correlations with %DO that was lower during summer base flows. Particulate phosphorus (PP) concentrations peaked during spring high flow period in both streams and in-line pond/SCMs, but they were also higher during summer base flows in suburban/urban SCMs. Meanwhile, PP areal retention rates and retention efficiencies of the SCMs changed from positive (indicating retention) during high flows to negative (indicating release) during low flows, while such changes across flow were not observed in free-flowing stream reaches. We attribute the changing roles of SCMs from a PP sink to a PP source to changes in SCM hydrologic mass balances, physical sedimentation and biogeochemical mobilization across flows. This study demonstrates that in suburban/urban SCMs, P retained during high flow events can be released during low flows. Cultivation of macrophytes and/or frequent sediment dredging may provide potential solutions to retaining both P and nitrogen in urban SCMs.
- ItemLand Use, Climate, and Water Resources—Global Stages of Interaction(MDPI, 2017-10-24) Kaushal, Sujay S.; Gold, Arthur J.; Mayer, Paul M.Land use and climate change can accelerate the depletion of freshwater resources that support humans and ecosystem services on a global scale. Here, we briefly review studies from around the world, and highlight those in this special issue. We identify stages that characterize increasing interaction between land use and climate change. During the first stage, hydrologic modifications and the built environment amplify overland flow via processes associated with runoff-dominated ecosystems (e.g., soil compaction, impervious surface cover, drainage, and channelization). During the second stage, changes in water storage impact the capacity of ecosystems to buffer extremes in water quantity and quality (e.g., either losses in snowpack, wetlands, and groundwater recharge or gains in water and nutrient storage behind dams in reservoirs). During the third stage, extremes in water quantity and quality contribute to losses in ecosystem services and water security (e.g., clean drinking water, flood mitigation, and habitat availability). During the final stage, management and restoration strategies attempt to regain lost ecosystem structure, function, and services but need to adapt to climate change. By anticipating the increasing interaction between land use and climate change, intervention points can be identified, and management strategies can be adjusted to improve outcomes for realistic expectations. Overall, global water security cannot be adequately restored without considering an increasing interaction between land use and climate change across progressive stages and our ever-increasing human domination of the water cycle from degradation to ecosystem restoration.
- ItemThe Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Monthly Analysis (New Version 2.3) and a Review of 2017 Global Precipitation(MDPI, 2018-04-07) Adler, Robert F.; Sapiano, Mathew R. P.; Huffman, George J.; Wang, Jian-Jian; Gu, Guojun; Bolvin, David; Chiu, Long; Schneider, Udo; Becker, Andreas; Nelkin, Eric; Xie, Pingping; Ferraro, Ralph; Shin, Dong-BinThe new Version 2.3 of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Monthly analysis is described in terms of changes made to improve the homogeneity of the product, especially after 2002. These changes include corrections to cross-calibration of satellite data inputs and updates to the gauge analysis. Over-ocean changes starting in 2003 resulted in an overall precipitation increase of 1.8% after 2009. Updating the gauge analysis to its final, high-quality version increases the global land total by 1.8% for the post-2002 period. These changes correct a small, incorrect dip in the estimated global precipitation over the last decade given by the earlier Version 2.2. The GPCP analysis is also used to describe global precipitation in 2017. The general La Niña pattern for 2017 is noted and the evolution from the early 2016 El Niño pattern is described. The 2017 global value is one of the highest for the 1979–2017 period, exceeded only by 2016 and 1998 (both El Niño years), and reinforces the small positive trend. Results for 2017 also reinforce significant trends in precipitation intensity (on a monthly scale) in the tropics. These results for 2017 indicate the value of the GPCP analysis, in addition to research, for climate monitoring.
- ItemMaximizing the Information Content of Ill-Posed Space-Based Measurements Using Deterministic Inverse Method(MDPI, 2018-06-22) Koner, Prabhat K.; Dash, PrasanjitFor several decades, operational retrievals from spaceborne hyperspectral infrared sounders have been dominated by stochastic approaches where many ambiguities are pervasive. One major drawback of such methods is their reliance on treating error as definitive information to the retrieval scheme. To overcome this drawback and obtain consistently unambiguous retrievals, we applied another approach from the class of deterministic inverse methods, namely regularized total least squares (RTLS). As a case study, simultaneous simulated retrieval of ozone (O3) profile and surface temperature (ST) for two different instruments, Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), are considered. To gain further confidence in our approach for real-world situations, a set of ozonesonde profile data are also used in this study. The role of simulation-based comparative assessment of algorithms before application on remotely sensed measurements is pivotal. Under identical simulation settings, RTLS results are compared to those of stochastic optimal estimation method (OEM), a very popular method for hyperspectral retrievals despite its aforementioned fundamental drawback. Different tweaking of error covariances for improving the OEM results, used commonly in operations, are also investigated under a simulated environment. Although this work is an extension of our previous work for H2O profile retrievals, several new concepts are introduced in this study: (a) the information content analysis using sub-space analysis to understand ill-posed inversion in depth; (b) comparison of different sensors for same gas profile retrieval under identical conditions; (c) extended capability for simultaneous retrievals using two classes of variables; (d) additional stabilizer of Laplacian second derivative operator; and (e) the representation of results using a new metric called “information gain”. Our findings highlight issues with OEM, such as loss of information as compared to a priori knowledge after using measurements. On the other hand, RTLS can produce “information gain” of ~40–50% deterministically from the same set of measurements.