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Introduction
Hurricane season is storming down on us, and in this edition of USGS Science Picks, you can learn how science is helping to weather these storms and protect our environment. You can also learn about significant gas resources in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, large trees declining in Yosemite, the link between fires and global warming, and how climate change is threatening honeycreepers. June also hosts National Pollinator Week, and this document sheds light on USGS bee and butterfly science. If you would like to receive Science Picks via e-mail, would like to change the recipient or no longer want to receive it, please e-mail jrobertson@xxxxxxxx.
June Highlights:
- Hurricane Season
- Tracking Down Storm Surge
- Streamflow Info that Weathers the Storm
- Gearing Up for Future Hurricanes
- Hurricane Science Goes Global
- Health Risks from Storms: Swirling Soils and Debris
- Significant Gas Resource in U.S. Gulf of Mexico
- Where There’s Fire, There’s … Global Warming?
- Jeepers Creepers! Climate Change Threatening Honeycreepers
- Spring Floods: Insight to Arctic Carbon and Climate Change
- Alaska Coping after an Ice Jam and Flooding
- A River Runs Backwards … Or is it Forwards?
- What’s the Buzz on Bees?
- Planning a Father’s Day Fishing Trip on the Mississippi River?
- Data in a Flutter of Butterfly's Wings
- Invasive Damselfish Removed in Only 7 Minutes
HURRICANE Season
Tracking Down Storm Surge
Before a hurricane hits land, USGS scientists strategically place sensors along the coast to measure storm surge. The USGS has developed a mobile storm-surge network to capture information on the timing, extent and magnitude of storm tide. This mobile network consists of 40 to more than100 water-level and barometric-pressure monitoring devices that are deployed in the days and hours just prior to hurricane landfall. After the surge passes, other agencies use this information to create storm-surge forecasts for future storms to show where the greatest impact will be. That information can also help officials give proper evacuation warnings. To learn more about this research and the network, visit the Inland Storm-Tide Documentation Program Web site or contact Jennifer LaVista at jlavista@xxxxxxxx or (703) 648-4432.
Streamflow Info that Weathers the Storm
Streamflow information is vital for making informed decisions about flood- and storm-response activities before, during and after a hurricane. In cooperation with other federal, state and local agencies, the USGS operates a streamgage network that provides near real-time data that emergency managers use to make informed decisions regarding predicted flooding and community evacuation. The USGS recently received $14.6 million from the American Recovery Act to support this network by upgrading streamgages with high-data radio technology that will provide data more frequently. To learn more, visit the USGS Real-Time Water Data for the Nation Web site or contact Jennifer LaVista at jlavista@xxxxxxxx or (703) 648-4432.
Gearing Up for Future Hurricanes
USGS storm science conducted during past hurricanes, including Katrina and Rita, may help decision makers plan for coastal restoration and future hurricanes. “Science and the Storms: the USGS Repose to the Hurricanes of 2005,” is a report that depicts how the Department of the Interior quickly brought together a diverse array of its scientist and technologies to assess and analyze many hurricane effects. Topics vary from flooding and water quality, to landscape and ecosystem impacts, to analyzing the collapse of bridges. For more information contact Gaye Farris at farrisg@xxxxxxxx or (337) 266-8550.
Hurricane Science Goes Global
The USGS provides a wide variety of emergency response agencies with geospatial data and images of storm areas. The USGS is a participating agency in the International Charter, which aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters. Each member agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter, which is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property. The combination of the USGS image archive, coupled with its global data-transfer capability and onsite science staff, has proven to be an asset to the charter. For more information, visit the International Charter Web site or contact Brenda Jones at bkjones@xxxxxxxx or (605) 594-6503.
Health Risks from Storms: Swirling Soils and Debris
By collecting samples after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, scientists from the USGS and Missouri University of Science and Technology studied potential health risks associated with soil and sediment samples. The study exposed potential problems associated with the post-storm sediment chemistry of New Orleans and the Louisiana Delta. The results will serve as a planning tool for residents, developers and debris-removal teams as they prepare to make this region habitable once more. View the study "Environmental Chemical Data for Perishable Sediments and Soils collected in New Orleans, Louisiana, and along the Louisiana Delta following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 2005" or contact Emitt Witt at ecwitt@xxxxxxxx or (573) 308-3679.
Leads
Significant Gas Resource in U.S. Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. Gulf of Mexico contains very thick and concentrated gas-hydrate-bearing reservoir rocks that have the potential to produce gas using current technology. Recent drilling confirms that the Gulf of Mexico is the first offshore area in the U.S. with enough information to identify gas hydrate energy resource targets with potential for gas production. Gas hydrate, a substance made up of natural gas and water, is thought to exist in great abundance in nature and has the potential to be a significant new energy source to meet future energy needs. Prior to this expedition, there was little documentation that gas hydrate occurred in resource-quality accumulations in the marine environment. This drilling project was conducted by the USGS, Department of Energy, Minerals Management Service and U.S. and international energy industry companies under the management of Chevron. To learn more about USGS research on natural gas hydrates, visit the Energy Resources Program, Gas Hydrates Web site. For more information on gas hydrate research in the Gulf of Mexico, visit http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/FutureSupply/MethaneHydrates/2009GOMJIP/index.html. You can also contact Jessica Robertson at jrobertson@xxxxxxxx or (703) 648-6624.
Where There’s Fire, There’s … Global Warming?
The recent surges of large, uncontrolled fires throughout most of the world have potentially massive impacts on human health, the economy, biodiversity, global warming and even on additional fires. Fires contribute to global warming because they emit greenhouse gasses, and the resulting warming conditions further increase extreme fire weather since warmer climates lead to dryer conditions. As more fires occur, additional spikes of carbon emissions occur as well. To learn more about USGS research on these and other global implications of wildfires, visit http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/keeleypbapr2009.html or contact Jon Keeley at jon_keeley@xxxxxxxx or (559) 565-3170.
Jeepers Creepers! Climate Change Threatening Honeycreepers
As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii’s mountains, pox and malaria will likely creep up the mountains and threaten the endangered birds known as honeycreepers. The transmission of these deadly diseases in Hawaii depends on climatic conditions, especially seasonal changes in temperature and rainfall that increase or decrease mosquito populations. Honeycreepers have no natural resistance against these diseases, and native Hawaiian birds currently face one of the highest rates of extinction in the world. Of the 41 honeycreeper species and subspecies, 17 are probably extinct, 14 are endangered, and only three are in decent shape. A new USGS report discusses the likelihood of a “disease invasion” by examining the present range of avian malaria and pox, honeycreeper distribution, and the estimated future range of diseases and honeycreeper habitat with climate change. For more information contact Carter T. Atkinson at catkinson@xxxxxxxx or (808) 967-8119, ext. 271.
Feeds
Spring Floods: Insight to Arctic Carbon and Climate Change
Scientists are studying the amounts of carbon and water flowing into the Arctic Ocean. These factors can affect sea ice melt, impact marine ecosystems and habitats and alter ocean circulation. It is especially important to measure flows during spring flooding because that is when water discharge is greatest and organic carbon concentrations are elevated But it is also the time when accurate measurements are the most difficult to make. To provide insight on the extent of permafrost thaw in northern high latitudes, scientists are studying the carbon’s age and source. Scientists are particularly interested in the Arctic because high latitudes are affected more dramatically by warming and extensive thaw in the Arctic will impact on the rest of the world. USGS scientists are studying flows from the Yukon River Basin, Alaska, to the Bering Sea. This research is part of the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory project, which is an international effort to study the six largest rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean. For more information, visit the USGS Yukon River Basin Studies Web site or contact Rob Striegl at rstriegl@xxxxxxxx or (303) 236-4993.
Alaska Coping after an Ice Jam and Flooding
A recent ice jam and resulting floods along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers have destroyed villages and homes in Alaska. The village of Eagle was the most heavily impacted, but homes and infrastructure along much of the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Tanana and Susitna Rivers were flooded or damaged. The flooding was caused by record ice thickness in the Yukon, a large snowpack in the upper Yukon basin, and record warm temperatures in interior Alaska and the western Yukon Territory that enhanced snowpack melt. Several USGS streamgages were damaged and repaired during these events as river ice moved along these major rivers. Streamgages inform emergency managers and others of stream flow conditions, helping them distribute warnings and protect lives and property. For more information, visit the USGS Real-Time WaterData for Alaska Web site or contact Dave Meyer at dfmeyer@xxxxxxxx or (907) 786-7141.
A River Runs Backwards … Or is it Forwards?
St. Johns River in Florida was found temporarily flowing from north to south on Thursday, May 21, which is not normal activity for the middle St Johns basin. This basin makes geography bowl fame for being one of only two major rivers of the world (along with the Nile) to flow from south to north. The temporary reversal in flow, an anomaly known as “negative flow,” was caused by persistent wind from the Atlantic Ocean pushing water upstream about 190 miles from the mouth. The negative flow lasted only a few days, and although it caused the middle stretch of the river to rise, there were no major flooding issues. For more information about USGS research on Florida’s water resources, visit the FISC - Water Resources Web site or contact Leroy Pearman at jpearman@xxxxxxxx or (407) 803-5577.
Story Seeds
What’s the Buzz on Bees?
To celebrate National Pollinator Week (June 22-28), why not go on a bee hunt? Over 4,000 species of bees can be found in North America, and you can now access online guides for identifying 775 of those species east of the Mississippi River. Pollinator populations in North America are in decline, but scientists lack sufficient data to effectively evaluate them. Species identification tools will help researchers to effectively monitor bee populations. The USGS worked with Discover Life to develop the guides and they are creating additional ones for other parts of the nation. The guides are now the standard for classifying bee names and identifications in eastern North America. For more information, visit the NBII Bee Identification Guides Web site or contact Elizabeth Sellers at esellers@xxxxxxxx or (703) 648-4385.
Planning a Father’s Day Fishing Trip on the Mississippi River?
Whether taking dad out fishing for Father's Day or simply spending time on vacation on the Upper Mississippi River, many of you may be curious about how the fish and nearby habitats are doing. The current health and status of the Upper Mississippi River and its resources, such as fish species, is available in a new report by the USGS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal and state partners. Good news — the report indicates that almost all fish species known from the Upper Mississippi River over the past 100 years still presently occur in the river today. Bad news — five species of non-native carp make up one half of the weight of all fish, while the other half of the scale is made up of nearly 150 native fish species. These non-native fish harm the ecosystem by destroying habitat and competing for food and space with native species. For more information contact Jennie Sauer at jsauer@xxxxxxxx or (608) 783-6451 ext. 376.
Data in a Flutter of Butterfly's Wings
Every summer, for more than 30 years, hundreds of volunteers have spread out across America to count butterflies as part of the North American Butterfly Association's Fourth of July Butterfly Count. Like bees, some butterflies pollinate plants, which provide valuable services such as habitat and food for animals. Data from this count are used to measure fluctuations in butterfly populations, which is helpful in protecting these species as well as understanding the affects of climate change and other events. The USGS recently provided support to the association to develop a Web-based system for automated data entry that streamlined the process of collecting and analyzing data from this count. For more information about the association, visit the North American Butterfly Association Web site and the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure. You can also contact Andrea Ostroff at aostroff@xxxxxxxx or (703) 648-4070.
Invasive Damselfish Removed in Only 7 Minutes
An invasive damselfish that has never before been seen in the U.S. was collected in a quick seven minutes after being sighted off the coast of Florida’s Palm Beach County in April. Once captured, the fish was brought to its new home in the National Aquarium in Washington, DC. Dascyllus aruanus is its name, also known as the humbug damsel or whitetail damsel, and it is 10 centimeters in size and native to the Indo-Pacific. Invasive damselfish are a potential threat to reef ecosystems because they can disrupt local food webs and displace native species. The fish was reported through an early detection and rapid response network put in place by the USGS, NOAA, and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation. This network has responded to numerous non-native reports, including the first four invasive lionfish spotted in the Florida Keys. For more information about non-native marine fishes or to report a sighting, visit http://nas.er.usgs.gov. For more information on the damselfish, visit the NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Web site. You can also contact Pam Schofield at pschofield@xxxxxxxx or (352) 264-3530.
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