Utilising social media contents for flood inundation mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Schröter, Kai; Dransch, Doris; Fohringer, Joachim; Kreibich, Heidi

2016-04-01

Data about the hazard and its consequences are scarce and not readily available during and shortly after a disaster. An information source which should be explored in a more efficient way is eyewitness accounts via social media. This research presents a methodology that leverages social media content to support rapid inundation mapping, including inundation extent and water depth in the case of floods. It uses quantitative data that are estimated from photos extracted from social media posts and their integration with established data. Due to the rapid availability of these posts compared to traditional data sources such as remote sensing data, areas affected by a flood, for example, can be determined quickly. Key challenges are to filter the large number of posts to a manageable amount of potentially useful inundation-related information, and to interpret and integrate the posts into mapping procedures in a timely manner. We present a methodology and a tool ("PostDistiller") to filter geo-located posts from social media services which include links to photos and to further explore this spatial distributed contextualized in situ information for inundation mapping. The June 2013 flood in Dresden is used as an application case study in which we evaluate the utilization of this approach and compare the resulting spatial flood patterns and inundation depths to 'traditional' data sources and mapping approaches like water level observations and remote sensing flood masks. The outcomes of the application case are encouraging. Strengths of the proposed procedure are that information for the estimation of inundation depth is rapidly available, particularly in urban areas where it is of high interest and of great value because alternative information sources like remote sensing data analysis do not perform very well. The uncertainty of derived inundation depth data and the uncontrollable availability of the information sources are major threats to the utility of the approach.

NOAA's Inundation Analysis Tool

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Coastal storms and other meteorological phenomenon can have a significant impact on how high water levels rise and how often. The inundation analysis program is...

Real-time Tsunami Inundation Prediction Using High Performance Computers

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Y.; Imamura, F.; Sugawara, D.

2014-12-01

Recently off-shore tsunami observation stations based on cabled ocean bottom pressure gauges are actively being deployed especially in Japan. These cabled systems are designed to provide real-time tsunami data before tsunamis reach coastlines for disaster mitigation purposes. To receive real benefits of these observations, real-time analysis techniques to make an effective use of these data are necessary. A representative study was made by Tsushima et al. (2009) that proposed a method to provide instant tsunami source prediction based on achieving tsunami waveform data. As time passes, the prediction is improved by using updated waveform data. After a tsunami source is predicted, tsunami waveforms are synthesized from pre-computed tsunami Green functions of linear long wave equations. Tsushima et al. (2014) updated the method by combining the tsunami waveform inversion with an instant inversion of coseismic crustal deformation and improved the prediction accuracy and speed in the early stages. For disaster mitigation purposes, real-time predictions of tsunami inundation are also important. In this study, we discuss the possibility of real-time tsunami inundation predictions, which require faster-than-real-time tsunami inundation simulation in addition to instant tsunami source analysis. Although the computational amount is large to solve non-linear shallow water equations for inundation predictions, it has become executable through the recent developments of high performance computing technologies. We conducted parallel computations of tsunami inundation and achieved 6.0 TFLOPS by using 19,000 CPU cores. We employed a leap-frog finite difference method with nested staggered grids of which resolution range from 405 m to 5 m. The resolution ratio of each nested domain was 1/3. Total number of grid points were 13 million, and the time step was 0.1 seconds. Tsunami sources of 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake were tested. The inundation prediction up to 2 hours after the

An evaluation of onshore digital elevation models for tsunami inundation modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, J.; Latief, H.; Kongko, W.; Harig, S.; Horspool, N.; Hanung, R.; Rojali, A.; Maher, N.; Fountain, L.; Fuchs, A.; Hossen, J.; Upi, S.; Dewanto, S. E.; Cummins, P. R.

2012-12-01

Tsunami inundation models provide fundamental information about coastal areas that may be inundated in the event of a tsunami along with additional parameters such as flow depth and velocity. This can inform disaster management activities including evacuation planning, impact and risk assessment and coastal engineering. A fundamental input to tsunami inundation models is adigital elevation model (DEM). Onshore DEMs vary widely in resolution, accuracy, availability and cost. A proper assessment of how the accuracy and resolution of DEMs translates into uncertainties in modelled inundation is needed to ensure results are appropriately interpreted and used. This assessment can in turn informdata acquisition strategies depending on the purpose of the inundation model. For example, lower accuracy elevation data may give inundation results that are sufficiently accurate to plan a community's evacuation route but not sufficient to inform engineering of a vertical evacuation shelters. A sensitivity study is undertaken to assess the utility of different available onshore digital elevation models for tsunami inundation modelling. We compare airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR), ASTER and SRTM against high resolution (historical tsunami run-up data. Large vertical errors (> 10 m) and poor resolution of the coastline in the ASTER and SRTM elevation models cause modelled inundation to be much less compared with models using better data and with observations. Therefore we recommend that ASTER and SRTM should not be used for modelling tsunami inundation in order to determine tsunami extent or any other measure of onshore tsunami hazard. We suggest that for certain disaster management applications where the important factor is the extent of inundation, such as evacuation planning, airborne IFSAR provides a good compromise between cost and accuracy; however the representation of flow parameters such as depth and velocity is not sufficient to inform detailed

The morphological development of newly inundated intertidal areas: the mechanisms driving the early evolution of an estuarine environment designed and constructed by humans

Science.gov (United States)

Dale, Jonathan; Burgess, Heidi; Cundy, Andrew

2017-04-01

Intertidal saltmarsh and mudflat habitats are of global importance due to the ecosystem, economic and cultural services they provide. These services include wildlife habitat provision and species diversity, immobilisation of pollutants and protection from coastal flooding. Saltmarsh and mudflat environments are, however, being lost and degraded due to erosion caused by rising sea levels and increased storminess. These losses are exacerbated by anthropogenic influences including land reclamation, increased coastal development and the construction of coastal flood defences which prevent the landwards migration of saltmarsh and mudflat environments, resulting in coastal squeeze. To compensate for saltmarsh and mudflat losses areas of the coastal hinterland are being inundated by breaching defences and constructing new defences inland, thus extending or constructing new estuarine environments; a processes known as de-embankment or managed realignment. Morphological engineering and landscaping within managed realignment sites prior to site inundation varies depending on the aims of the scheme. However, there is a shortage of data on the morphological evolution within these sites post site inundation impeding the ability of coastal engineers to effectively design and construct future sites. To date there has been a focus on the colonisation of marine macro fauna and flora within newly inundated managed realignment sites, which can be relatively rapid and easily quantified. Little is known of the morphological evolution in response to altered sedimentary processes, its driving mechanisms and therefore the success and ecological sustainability of these sites. This study evaluates the post-inundation morphological development of the largest open coast managed realignment site in Europe, at Medmerry on the south coast of the United Kingdom. Inundated in September 2013, the Medmerry Managed Realignment Site consists of a mosaic of former agricultural land and areas of lower

A global analysis of bird plumage patterns reveals no association between habitat and camouflage.

Science.gov (United States)

Somveille, Marius; Marshall, Kate L A; Gluckman, Thanh-Lan

2016-01-01

Evidence suggests that animal patterns (motifs) function in camouflage. Irregular mottled patterns can facilitate concealment when stationary in cluttered habitats, whereas regular patterns typically prevent capture during movement in open habitats. Bird plumage patterns have predominantly converged on just four types-mottled (irregular), scales, bars and spots (regular)-and habitat could be driving convergent evolution in avian patterning. Based on sensory ecology, we therefore predict that irregular patterns would be associated with visually noisy closed habitats and that regular patterns would be associated with open habitats. Regular patterns have also been shown to function in communication for sexually competing males to stand-out and attract females, so we predict that male breeding plumage patterns evolved in both open and closed habitats. Here, taking phylogenetic relatedness into account, we investigate ecological selection for bird plumage patterns across the class Aves. We surveyed plumage patterns in 80% of all avian species worldwide. Of these, 2,756 bird species have regular and irregular plumage patterns as well as habitat information. In this subset, we tested whether adult breeding/non-breeding plumages in each sex, and juvenile plumages, were associated with the habitat types found within the species' geographical distributions. We found no evidence for an association between habitat and plumage patterns across the world's birds and little phylogenetic signal. We also found that species with regular and irregular plumage patterns were distributed randomly across the world's eco-regions without being affected by habitat type. These results indicate that at the global spatial and taxonomic scale, habitat does not predict convergent evolution in bird plumage patterns, contrary to the camouflage hypothesis.

Flood-inundation maps for the St. Marys River at Decatur, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Strauch, Kellan R.

2015-08-24

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.9-mile reach of the St. Marys River at Decatur, Indiana, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/), depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) of the St. Marys River at Decatur (USGS station number 04181500). The maps are useful for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation by referencing concurrent USGS streamgage information at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/. In addition, the streamgage information was provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service flood warning system (http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/). NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed during this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.

Use RUSLE2 model to assess the impact of soil erosion on playa inundation and hydrophyte conditions in the Rainwater Basin, Nebraska.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Zhenghong; Gu, Yue; Jiang, Weiguo; Xue, Yuan; Bishop, Andy; LaGrange, Ted; Nugent, Eleanor

2016-06-01

Playas in the Rainwater Basin region in Nebraska are globally important wetlands that are continuously threatened by culturally accelerated sedimentation. Using annual habitat survey data and wetland vegetation inventories, inundation and hydrophyte community distributions were evaluated for properties under different types of conservation status. Annual soil erosion rates from surrounding watersheds were calculated to estimate sediment accumulated rates using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation 2 (RUSLE2). The slope-length component of the RUSLE2 was derived from 2009 light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data after the methods described by Van Remortel (Computers & Geosciences 30:1043-1053, 2004). Wetlands enrolled in conservation programs were inundated more and were dominated to a greater degree by hydrophytes than wetlands not enrolled in these programs. The mean estimated soil erosion rate at the Rainwater Basin landscape level was 4.67 tons/ha/year, and the mean estimated sediment accumulation depth for public watersheds was estimated as 0.19 cm/year. Without appropriate conservation actions, the current inundated acres and wetland acres growing hydrophytes would be further reduced by sediment accumulation. The results illustrated the importance of conservation programs to protect wetlands.

Floodplain inundation response to climate, valley form, and flow regulation on a gravel-bed river in a Mediterranean-climate region

Science.gov (United States)

Cienciala, P.; Pasternack, G. B.

2017-04-01

Floodplain inundation regime defines hydrological connectivity between river channel and floodplain and thus strongly controls structure and function of these highly diverse and productive ecosystems. We combined an extensive LiDAR data set on topography and vegetation, long-term hydrological records, as well as the outputs of hydrological and two-dimensional hydraulic models to examine how floodplain inundation regimes in a dynamic, regulated, gravel-cobble river in a Mediterranean-climate region are controlled by reach-scale valley morphology, hydroclimatic conditions, and flow regulation. Estimated relative differences in the extent, duration, and cumulative duration of inundation events were often as large as an order of magnitude and generally greatest for large and long duration events. The relative impact of flow regulation was greatest under dry hydroclimatic conditions. Although the effects of hydroclimate and flow impairment are larger than that of valley floor topography, the latter controls sensitivity of floodplain hydroperiod to flow regime changes and should not be ignored. These quantitative estimates of the relative importance of factors that control floodplain processes in Mediterranean, semiarid rivers contributes to better understanding of hydrology and geomorphology of this important class of channels. We also discuss implications of our findings for processes that shape floodplain habitat for riparian vegetation and salmonid fish, especially in the context of ecological restoration.

Flood-inundation maps for White River at Petersburg, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.

2015-08-20

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 7.7-mile reach of the White River at Petersburg, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at White River at Petersburg, Ind. (03374000). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site (PTRI3).

Kootenai River Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project : Long-term Bighorn Sheep/Mule Deer Winter and Spring Habitat Improvement Project : Wildlife Mitigation Project, Libby Dam, Montana : Management Plan.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yde, Chis

1990-06-01

The Libby hydroelectric project, located on the Kootenai River in northwestern Montana, resulted in several impacts to the wildlife communities which occupied the habitats inundated by Lake Koocanusa. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in cooperation with the other management agencies, developed an impact assessment and a wildlife and wildlife habitat mitigation plan for the Libby hydroelectric facility. In response to the mitigation plan, Bonneville Power Administration funded a cooperative project between the Kootenai National Forest and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to develop a long-term habitat enhancement plan for the bighorn sheep and mule deer winter and spring ranges adjacent to Lake Koocanusa. The project goal is to rehabilitate 3372 acres of bighorn sheep and 16,321 acres of mule deer winter and spring ranges on Kootenai National Forest lands adjacent to Lake Koocanusa and to monitor and evaluate the effects of implementing this habitat enhancement work. 2 refs.

A global analysis of bird plumage patterns reveals no association between habitat and camouflage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Somveille

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Evidence suggests that animal patterns (motifs function in camouflage. Irregular mottled patterns can facilitate concealment when stationary in cluttered habitats, whereas regular patterns typically prevent capture during movement in open habitats. Bird plumage patterns have predominantly converged on just four types—mottled (irregular, scales, bars and spots (regular—and habitat could be driving convergent evolution in avian patterning. Based on sensory ecology, we therefore predict that irregular patterns would be associated with visually noisy closed habitats and that regular patterns would be associated with open habitats. Regular patterns have also been shown to function in communication for sexually competing males to stand-out and attract females, so we predict that male breeding plumage patterns evolved in both open and closed habitats. Here, taking phylogenetic relatedness into account, we investigate ecological selection for bird plumage patterns across the class Aves. We surveyed plumage patterns in 80% of all avian species worldwide. Of these, 2,756 bird species have regular and irregular plumage patterns as well as habitat information. In this subset, we tested whether adult breeding/non-breeding plumages in each sex, and juvenile plumages, were associated with the habitat types found within the species’ geographical distributions. We found no evidence for an association between habitat and plumage patterns across the world’s birds and little phylogenetic signal. We also found that species with regular and irregular plumage patterns were distributed randomly across the world’s eco-regions without being affected by habitat type. These results indicate that at the global spatial and taxonomic scale, habitat does not predict convergent evolution in bird plumage patterns, contrary to the camouflage hypothesis.

Development of Probabilistic Flood Inundation Mapping For Flooding Induced by Dam Failure

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, C.; Yeh, J. J. J.

2017-12-01

A primary function of flood inundation mapping is to forecast flood hazards and assess potential losses. However, uncertainties limit the reliability of inundation hazard assessments. Major sources of uncertainty should be taken into consideration by an optimal flood management strategy. This study focuses on the 20km reach downstream of the Shihmen Reservoir in Taiwan. A dam failure induced flood herein provides the upstream boundary conditions of flood routing. The two major sources of uncertainty that are considered in the hydraulic model and the flood inundation mapping herein are uncertainties in the dam break model and uncertainty of the roughness coefficient. The perturbance moment method is applied to a dam break model and the hydro system model to develop probabilistic flood inundation mapping. Various numbers of uncertain variables can be considered in these models and the variability of outputs can be quantified. The probabilistic flood inundation mapping for dam break induced floods can be developed with consideration of the variability of output using a commonly used HEC-RAS model. Different probabilistic flood inundation mappings are discussed and compared. Probabilistic flood inundation mappings are hoped to provide new physical insights in support of the evaluation of concerning reservoir flooded areas.

Flood-inundation maps for the White River near Edwardsport, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.3-mile reach of the White River near Edwardsport, (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 03360730, White River near Edwardsport, Ind. Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site (site EDWI3.)

Variation in Assemblages of Small Fishes and Microcrustaceans After Inundation of Rarely Flooded Wetlands of the Lower Okavango Delta, Botswana

Science.gov (United States)

Siziba, Nqobizitha; Chimbari, Moses J.; Masundire, Hillary; Mosepele, Ketlhatlogile; Ramberg, Lars

2013-12-01

Water extraction from floodplain river systems may alter patterns of inundation of adjacent wetlands and lead to loss of aquatic biodiversity. Water reaching the Okavango Delta (Delta), Botswana, may decrease due to excessive water extraction and climate change. However, due to poor understanding of the link between inundation of wetlands and biological responses, it is difficult to assess the impacts of these future water developments on aquatic biota. Large floods from 2009 to 2011 inundated both rarely and frequently flooded wetlands in the Delta, creating an opportunity to examine the ecological significance of flooding of wetlands with widely differing hydrological characteristics. We studied the assemblages of small fishes and microcrustaceans, together with their trophic relationships, in temporary wetlands of the lower Delta. Densities of microcrustaceans in temporary wetlands were generally lower than previously recorded in these habitats. Microcrustacean density varied with wetland types and hydrological phase of inundation. High densities of microcrustaceans were recorded in the 2009 to 2010 flooding season after inundation of rarely flooded sites. Large numbers of small fishes were observed during this study. Community structure of small fishes differed significantly across the studied wetlands, with poeciliids predominant in frequently flooded wetlands and juvenile cichlids most abundant in rarely flooded wetlands (analysis of similarity, P < 0.05). Small fishes of <20 mm fed largely on microcrustaceans and may have led to low microcrustacean densities within the wetlands. This result matched our prediction that rarely flooded wetlands would be more productive; hence, they supported greater populations of microcrustaceans and cichlids, which are aggressive feeders. However, the predominance of microcrustaceans in the guts of small fishes (<20 mm) suggests that predation by fishes may also be an important regulatory mechanism of microcrustacean

Estimating floodwater depths from flood inundation maps and topography

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Sagy; Brakenridge, G. Robert; Kettner, Albert; Bates, Bradford; Nelson, Jonathan M.; McDonald, Richard R.; Huang, Yu-Fen; Munasinghe, Dinuke; Zhang, Jiaqi

2018-01-01

Information on flood inundation extent is important for understanding societal exposure, water storage volumes, flood wave attenuation, future flood hazard, and other variables. A number of organizations now provide flood inundation maps based on satellite remote sensing. These data products can efficiently and accurately provide the areal extent of a flood event, but do not provide floodwater depth, an important attribute for first responders and damage assessment. Here we present a new methodology and a GIS-based tool, the Floodwater Depth Estimation Tool (FwDET), for estimating floodwater depth based solely on an inundation map and a digital elevation model (DEM). We compare the FwDET results against water depth maps derived from hydraulic simulation of two flood events, a large-scale event for which we use medium resolution input layer (10 m) and a small-scale event for which we use a high-resolution (LiDAR; 1 m) input. Further testing is performed for two inundation maps with a number of challenging features that include a narrow valley, a large reservoir, and an urban setting. The results show FwDET can accurately calculate floodwater depth for diverse flooding scenarios but also leads to considerable bias in locations where the inundation extent does not align well with the DEM. In these locations, manual adjustment or higher spatial resolution input is required.

Effect of Nearshore Islands on Tsunami Inundation in Shadow Zones

Science.gov (United States)

Goertz, J.; Kaihatu, J. M.; Kalligeris, N.; Lynett, P. J.; Synolakis, C.

2017-12-01

Field surveys performed in the wake of the 2010 Mentawai tsunami event have described the belief of local residents that offshore islands serve as possible tsunami sheltering mechanisms, reducing the corresponding inundation on beaches behind the islands, despite the fact that deduced inundation from debris lines show this to be in fact untrue (Hill et al. 2012). Recent numerical model studies (Stefanakis et al. 2014) have shown that inundation levels on beaches behind conical islands are indeed higher than they are on open coastlines. While work has been done on tsunami amplification on the lee side of islands (Briggs et al. 1995), no work has been done concerning tsunami inundation on beach areas behind the islands. A series of experiments to address this were conducted in the Directional Wave Basin (DWB) at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University in summer 2016. A series of four sheet metal islands (two with a full conical section, two truncated at the water line) were placed at varying distances from the toe of a 1/10 sloping beach. Incident wave conditions consisting of solitary waves and full-stroke "dam break" waves were run over the islands. Free surface elevations, velocities, and beach runup were measured, with the intent of determining relationships between the wave condition, the island geometry and distance from the beach, and the tsunami characteristics. A series of runup measurements from a particular set of experiments can be seen in Figure 1. Based on these preliminary analyses, it was determined that: A) inundation was always amplified behind the island relative to areas outside this shadow zone; and B) inundation was generally highest with the island closest to the beach, except in the case where the tsunami wave broke prior to reaching the island. In this latter scenario, the inundation behind the island increased with island distance from the beach. The development of relationships between the inundation levels

A well-balanced meshless tsunami propagation and inundation model

Science.gov (United States)

Brecht, Rüdiger; Bihlo, Alexander; MacLachlan, Scott; Behrens, Jörn

2018-05-01

We present a novel meshless tsunami propagation and inundation model. We discretize the nonlinear shallow-water equations using a well-balanced scheme relying on radial basis function based finite differences. For the inundation model, radial basis functions are used to extrapolate the dry region from nearby wet points. Numerical results against standard one- and two-dimensional benchmarks are presented.

Downscaling Surface Water Inundation from Coarse Data to Fine-Scale Resolution: Methodology and Accuracy Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guiping Wu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The availability of water surface inundation with high spatial resolution is of fundamental importance in several applications such as hydrology, meteorology and ecology. Medium spatial resolution sensors, like MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS, exhibit a significant potential to study inundation dynamics over large areas because of their high temporal resolution. However, the low spatial resolution provided by MODIS is not appropriate to accurately delineate inundation over small scale. Successful downscaling of water inundation from coarse to fine resolution would be crucial for improving our understanding of complex inundation characteristics over the regional scale. Therefore, in this study, we propose an innovative downscaling method based on the normalized difference water index (NDWI statistical regression algorithm towards generating small-scale resolution inundation maps from MODIS data. The method was then applied to the Poyang Lake of China. To evaluate the performance of the proposed downscaling method, qualitative and quantitative comparisons were conducted between the inundation extent of MODIS (250 m, Landsat (30 m and downscaled MODIS (30 m. The results indicated that the downscaled MODIS (30 m inundation showed significant improvement over the original MODIS observations when compared with simultaneous Landsat (30 m inundation. The edges of the lakes become smoother than the results from original MODIS image and some undetected water bodies were delineated with clearer shapes in the downscaled MODIS (30 m inundation map. With respect to high-resolution Landsat TM/ETM+ derived inundation, the downscaling procedure has significantly increased the R2 and reduced RMSE and MAE both for the inundation area and for the value of landscape metrics. The main conclusion of this study is that the downscaling algorithm is promising and quite feasible for the inundation mapping over small-scale lakes.

Habitat structure modified by an invasive grass enhances inundation withstanding in a salt-marsh wolf spider

OpenAIRE

Pétillon, J.; Lambeets, K.; Montaigne, W.; Maelfait, J.-P.; Bonte, D.

2010-01-01

Vegetation and underground structures are known to influence flood avoidance and flood resistance in invertebrates. In bimonthly-flooded European salt marshes, recent invasions by the nitrophilous grass Elymus athericus strongly modified usual habitat structure, notably by the production of a deep litter layer. Consequently, invaded habitats provide more interstitial spaces that may act as a refuge during flood events. By using both controlled and field designs, we tested whether invaded habi...

Measuring Sea Level Rise-Induced Shoreline Changes and Inundation in Real Time

Science.gov (United States)

Shilling, F.; Waetjen, D.; Grijalva, E.

2016-12-01

We describe a method to monitor shoreline inundation and changes in response to sea level rise (SLR) using a network of time-lapse cameras. We found for coastal tidal marshes that this method was sensitive to vertical changes in sea level of 20 cm has occurred in the San Francisco Bay and other US coastal areas and is likely to rise by another 30-45 cm by mid-century, which will flood and erode many coastal ecosystems, highways, and urban areas. This rapid degree of rise means that it is imperative to co-plan for natural and built systems. Many public facilities are adjacent to shoreline ecosystems, which both protect infrastructure from wave and tide energy and are home to regulated species and habitats. Accurate and timely information about the actual extent of SLR impacts to shorelines will be critical during built-system adaptation. Currently, satellite-sourced imagery cannot provide the spatial or temporal resolution necessary to investigate fine-scale shoreline changes, leaving a gap between predictive models and knowing how, where and when these changes are occurring. The method described is feasible for near-term (1 to 10 years) to long-term application and can be used for measuring fine-resolution shoreline changes (organize photographs that could be combined with related external data (e.g., gauged water levels) to create an information mashup. This information could be used to validate models predicting shoreline inundation and loss, inform SLR-adaptation planning, and to visualize SLR impacts to the public.

Flood-inundation maps for the Schoharie Creek at Prattsville, New York, 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Nystrom, Elizabeth A.

2016-02-18

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 2.6-mile reach of the Schoharie Creek at Prattsville, New York, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Schoharie Creek at Prattsville (station number 01350000). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained online from the USGS National Water Information System (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/) or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/), which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site. National Weather Service-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas and depths of flood inundation.

Inundation Mapping for Heterogeneous Land Covers with Synthetic Aperture Radar and Auxiliary Data

Science.gov (United States)

Aristizabal, F.; Judge, J.

2017-12-01

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been widely used to detect surface water inundation and provides an advantage over multi-spectral instruments due to cloud penetration and higher spatial resolutions. However, detecting inundation for densely vegetated and urban areas with SAR remains a challenge due to corner reflection and diffuse scattering. Additionally, flat urban surfaces such as roads exhibit similar backscatter coefficients as urban surface water. Differences between inundated and non-inundated backscatter over vegetated land covers of static spatial domains have been demonstrated in previous studies. However, these backscatter differences are sensitive to changes in water depth, soil moisture, SAR sensor parameters, terrain, and vegetation properties. These factors tend to make accurate inundation mapping of heterogeneous regions across varying spatial and temporal extents difficult with exclusive use of SAR. This study investigates the utility of auxiliary data specifically high-resolution (10m) terrain information in conjunction with SAR (10m) for detecting inundated areas. Digital elevation models provide an absolute elevation which could enhance inundation mapping given a limited study extent with similar topography. To counter this limitation, a hydrologically relevant terrain index is proposed known as the Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) which normalizes topography to the local relative elevation of the nearest point along the relevant drainage line. HAND has been used for assisting remote sensing inundation mapping in the pre-processing stage as a terrain correction tool and as a post-processing mask that eliminates areas of low inundation risk. While the latter technique is useful for reduction of commission errors, it does not employ HAND for reducing omission errors that can occur from dense vegetation, spectral noise, and urban features. Sentinel-1 dual-pol SAR as well as auxiliary HAND will be used as predictors by various supervised and

Inundation and Gas Fluxes from Amazon Lakes and Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Melack, J. M.; MacIntyre, S.; Forsberg, B. R.; Amaral, J. H.; Barbosa, P.

2015-12-01

Inundation areas and wetland habitats for the lowland Amazon basin derived remote sensing with synthetic aperture radar are combined with measurements of greenhouse gas evasion derived from field measurements and new formulations of atmosphere-water. On-going field studies in representative aquatic habitats on the central Amazon floodplain are combining monthly measurements of carbon dioxide and methane concentrations and fluxes to the atmosphere with deployment of meteorological sensors and high-resolution thermistors and optical dissolved oxygen sensors. A real-time cavity ringdown spectrometer is being used to determine the gas concentrations; vertical profiles were obtained by using an equilibrator to extract gases from water, and floating chambers are used to assess fluxes. Gas fluxes varied as a function of season, habitat and water depth. Greatest carbon dioxide fluxes occurred during high and falling water levels. During low water, periods with high chlorophyll, indicative of phytoplankton, the flux of carbon dioxide switched from being emitted from the lake to being taken-up by the lake some of the time. The highest pCO2 concentration (5500 μatm) was about three times higher than the median (1700 μatm). Higher CO2 fluxes were observed in open water than in areas with flooded or floating vegetation. In contrast, methane fluxes were higher in vegetated regions. We measured turbulence as rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy based on microstructure profiling. Comparison of these measurements with those calculated from meteorological and time series measurements validated new equations for turbulent kinetic energy dissipation (TKE) rates during moderate winds and cooling and illustrated that the highest dissipation rates occurred under heating. Measured gas exchange coefficients (k600) were similar to those based on the TKE dissipation rates and are well described using the surface renewal model. These k values are several times higher than

Spatial and temporal controls of atoll island inundation: implications for urbanized atolls in the Marshall Islands.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, M.; Becker, J. M.; Merrifield, M. A.

2012-12-01

Atoll islands are highly vulnerable to a range of inundation hazards. The impacts of such hazards are expected to be magnified as a result of continued sea-level rise. Both recent and historic inundation events provide unique insights into the requisite conditions necessary to initiate island inundation. A number of recent and historic inundation events are presented in order to examine the oceanographic and meteorological conditions driving inundation of a densely populated, urbanized atoll in the central Pacific. Analysis of inundation events suggests that a number of key drivers contribute to the spatial and temporal extent of island inundation, with unique degrees of predictability and resultant impact signatures apparent on island geomorphology and local anthropogenic activities. Results indicate three distinct drivers of inundation hazards exist. Firstly, tropical storms and typhoons elevate sea level through inverse barometric setup, wind setup and a range of wave driven processes and have caused considerable impact on atolls within the Marshall Islands. Secondly, super-elevated sea level conditions resulting from the combination of seasonal high tides and quasi-cyclical La Nina conditions drive inundation of low-lying lagoon facing coastal areas. Thirdly, long period swell conditions, typically generated by distant storms, can elevate reef-flat water levels through wave setup and infragravity wave oscillations. Such wave conditions can over wash the ocean-facing island ridge, often inundating large sections of the island. Reef-flat wave conditions are tidally modulated, with inundation events typically occurring around high tide. However, the two most recent destructive swell-driven inundation events have occurred while tide levels were significantly lower than spring tide levels, suggesting high water levels are not a necessary prerequisite for wave-driven inundation. The different modes of inundation are discussed and grounded within recent and historic

The Limit of Inundation of the September 29, 2009, Tsunami on Tutuila, American Samoa

Science.gov (United States)

Jaffe, Bruce E.; Gelfenbaum, Guy; Buckley, Mark L.; Watt, Steve; Apotsos, Alex; Stevens, Andrew W.; Richmond, Bruce M.

2010-01-01

U.S. Geological Survey scientists investigated the coastal impacts of the September 29, 2009, South Pacific tsunami in Tutuila, American Samoa in October and November 2009, including mapping the alongshore variation in the limit of inundation. Knowing the inundation limit is useful for planning safer coastal development and evacuation routes for future tsunamis and for improving models of tsunami hazards. This report presents field data documenting the limit of inundation at 18 sites around Tutuila collected in the weeks following the tsunami using Differential GPS (DGPS). In total, 15,703 points along inundation lines were mapped. Estimates of DGPS error and uncertainty in interpretation of the inundation line are provided as electronic files that accompany this report.

A satellite and model based flood inundation climatology of Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Schumann, G.; Andreadis, K.; Castillo, C. J.

2013-12-01

To date there is no coherent and consistent database on observed or simulated flood event inundation and magnitude at large scales (continental to global). The only compiled data set showing a consistent history of flood inundation area and extent at a near global scale is provided by the MODIS-based Dartmouth Flood Observatory. However, MODIS satellite imagery is only available from 2000 and is hampered by a number of issues associated with flood mapping using optical images (e.g. classification algorithms, cloud cover, vegetation). Here, we present for the first time a proof-of-concept study in which we employ a computationally efficient 2-D hydrodynamic model (LISFLOOD-FP) complemented with a sub-grid channel formulation to generate a complete flood inundation climatology of the past 40 years (1973-2012) for the entire Australian continent. The model was built completely from freely available SRTM-derived data, including channel widths, bank heights and floodplain topography, which was corrected for vegetation canopy height using a global ICESat canopy dataset. Channel hydraulics were resolved using actual channel data and bathymetry was estimated within the model using hydraulic geometry. On the floodplain, the model simulated the flow paths and inundation variables at a 1 km resolution. The developed model was run over a period of 40 years and a floodplain inundation climatology was generated and compared to satellite flood event observations. Our proof-of-concept study demonstrates that this type of model can reliably simulate past flood events with reasonable accuracies both in time and space. The Australian model was forced with both observed flow climatology and VIC-simulated flows in order to assess the feasibility of a model-based flood inundation climatology at the global scale.

Increased cesium uptake by water tupelo under inundated conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLeod, K.W.

1980-01-01

Low level releases of 137 Cs to streams has resulted in concentrations greater than background levels in soils, sediments and plants of the Savannah River swamp. The object of this study was to determine the effect of inundation on the absorption of 137 Cs by water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) which is dominant in the swamp and is able to survive and grow well under flooded conditions. Results show that actively growing young water tupelo absorb about twice as much 137 Cs when grown in the laboratory under inundated conditions suggesting that in the spring, when inundated conditions usually exist and rapid growth occurs, uptake of 137 Cs is high. Some Cs is transported from soil depths and returned to soil surface via incorporation into leaves and subsequent leaf fall, thus continually mixing Cs which was buried below the soil surface. (U.K.)

Evaluation of Dynamic Coastal Response to Sea-level Rise Modifies Inundation Likelihood

Science.gov (United States)

Lentz, Erika E.; Thieler, E. Robert; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Stippa, Sawyer R.; Horton, Radley M.; Gesch, Dean B.

2016-01-01

Sea-level rise (SLR) poses a range of threats to natural and built environments, making assessments of SLR-induced hazards essential for informed decision making. We develop a probabilistic model that evaluates the likelihood that an area will inundate (flood) or dynamically respond (adapt) to SLR. The broad-area applicability of the approach is demonstrated by producing 30x30m resolution predictions for more than 38,000 sq km of diverse coastal landscape in the northeastern United States. Probabilistic SLR projections, coastal elevation and vertical land movement are used to estimate likely future inundation levels. Then, conditioned on future inundation levels and the current land-cover type, we evaluate the likelihood of dynamic response versus inundation. We find that nearly 70% of this coastal landscape has some capacity to respond dynamically to SLR, and we show that inundation models over-predict land likely to submerge. This approach is well suited to guiding coastal resource management decisions that weigh future SLR impacts and uncertainty against ecological targets and economic constraints.

Inundation and Fire Shape the Structure of Riparian Forests in the Pantanal, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Arruda, Wellinton de Sá; Oldeland, Jens; Paranhos Filho, Antonio Conceição; Pott, Arnildo; Cunha, Nicolay L; Ishii, Iria Hiromi; Damasceno-Junior, Geraldo Alves

2016-01-01

Inundation and fire can affect the structure of riparian vegetation in wetlands. Our aim was to verify if there are differences in richness, abundance, basal area, composition and topographic preference of woody species in riparian forests related to the fire history, flooding duration, or the interaction between both. The study was conducted in the riparian forests of the Paraguay River some of which were burned three times between 2001 and 2011. We sampled trees with a girth of at least 5 cm at breast height in 150 5 × 10 m plots (79 burned and 71 unburned). We also measured height of the flood mark and estimated the flooding duration of each plot. We performed Generalized Linear Mixed Models to verify differences in richness, basal area, and abundance of individuals associated to interaction of fire and inundation. We used an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and indicator species analysis to identify differences in composition of species and the association with burned and unburned area according to different levels of inundation. Finally, we used a hierarchical set of Generalized Linear Models (GLM), the so-called HOF models, to analyse each species' specific response to inundation based on topography and to determine their preferred optimal topographic position for both burned as well as unburned areas. Richness was positively associated with elevation only in burned areas while abundance was negatively influenced by inundation only in burned areas. Basal area was negatively associated with time of inundation independent of fire history. There were 15 species which were significant indicators for at least one combination of the studied factors. We found nine species in burned areas and 15 in unburned areas, with response curves in HOF models along the inundation gradient. From these, five species shifted their optimal position along the inundation gradient in burned areas. The interaction of fire and inundation did not appear to affect the basal area, but it

Inundation downscaling for the development of a long-term and global inundation database compatible to SWOT mission

Science.gov (United States)

Aires, Filipe; Prigent, Catherine; Papa, Fabrice

2014-05-01

The Global Inundation Extent from Multi-Satellite (GIEMS) provides multi-year monthly variations of the global surface water extent at about 25 kmx25 km resolution, from 1993 to 2007. It is derived from multiple satellite observations. Its spatial resolution is usually compatible with climate model outputs and with global land surface model grids but is clearly not adequate for local applications that require the characterization of small individual water bodies. There is today a strong demand for high-resolution inundation extent datasets, for a large variety of applications such as water management, regional hydrological modeling, or for the analysis of mosquitos-related diseases. Even for climate applications, the GIEMS resolution might be limited given recent results on the key importance of the smallest ponds in the emission of CH4, as compared to the largest ones. If the inundation extent is combined to altimetry measurements to obtain water volume changes, and finally river discharge to the ocean (Frappart et al. 2011), then a better resolved inundation extent will also improve the accuracy of these estimates. In the context of the SWOT mission, the downscaling of GIEMS has multiple applications uses but a major one will be to use the SWOT retrievals to develop a downscaling of GIEMS. This SWOT-compatible downscaling could then be used to built a SWOT-compatible high-resolution database back in time from 1993 to the SWOT launch date. This extension of SWOT record is necessary to perform climate studies related to climate change. This paper present three approaches to do downscale GIEMS. Two basins will be considered for illustrative purpose, Amazon, Niger and Mekhong. - Aires, F., F. Papa, C. Prigent, J.-F. Cretaux and M. Berge-Nguyen, Characterization and downscaling of the inundation extent over the Inner Niger delta using a multi-wavelength retrievals and Modis data, J. of Hydrometeorology, in press, 2014. - Aires, F., F. Papa and C. Prigent, A long

Mapping flood hazards under uncertainty through probabilistic flood inundation maps

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, T.; Bledsoe, B. P.; Miller, A. J.; Lee, G.

2017-12-01

Changing precipitation, rapid urbanization, and population growth interact to create unprecedented challenges for flood mitigation and management. Standard methods for estimating risk from flood inundation maps generally involve simulations of floodplain hydraulics for an established regulatory discharge of specified frequency. Hydraulic model results are then geospatially mapped and depicted as a discrete boundary of flood extents and a binary representation of the probability of inundation (in or out) that is assumed constant over a project's lifetime. Consequently, existing methods utilized to define flood hazards and assess risk management are hindered by deterministic approaches that assume stationarity in a nonstationary world, failing to account for spatio-temporal variability of climate and land use as they translate to hydraulic models. This presentation outlines novel techniques for portraying flood hazards and the results of multiple flood inundation maps spanning hydroclimatic regions. Flood inundation maps generated through modeling of floodplain hydraulics are probabilistic reflecting uncertainty quantified through Monte-Carlo analyses of model inputs and parameters under current and future scenarios. The likelihood of inundation and range of variability in flood extents resulting from Monte-Carlo simulations are then compared with deterministic evaluations of flood hazards from current regulatory flood hazard maps. By facilitating alternative approaches of portraying flood hazards, the novel techniques described in this presentation can contribute to a shifting paradigm in flood management that acknowledges the inherent uncertainty in model estimates and the nonstationary behavior of land use and climate.

DEVELOPING A SPATIAL PROCESSING SERVICE FOR AUTOMATIC CALCULATION OF STORM INUNDATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Jafari

2017-09-01

Full Text Available With the increase in urbanization, the surface of earth and its climate are changing. These changes resulted in more frequent floodingand storm inundation in urban areas. The challenges of flooding can be addressed through several computational procedures. Due to its numerous advantages, accessible web services can be chosen as a proper format for determining the storm inundation. Web services have facilitated the integration and interactivity of the web applications. Such services made the interaction between machines more feasible. Web services enable the heterogeneous software systems to communicate with each other. A Web Processing Service (WPS makes it possible to process spatial data with different formats. In this study, we developed a WPS to automatically calculate the amount of storm inundation caused by rainfall in urban areas. The method we used for calculating the storm inundation is based on a simplified hydrologic model which estimates the final status of inundation. The simulation process and water transfer between subcatchments are carried out respectively, without user’s interference. The implementation of processing functions in a form of processing web services gives the capability to reuse the services and apply them in other services. As a result, it would avoid creating the duplicate resources.

Runoff inundation hazard cartography

Science.gov (United States)

Pineux, N.; Degré, A.

2012-04-01

Between 1998 and 2004, Europe suffered from more than hundred major inundations, responsible for some 700 deaths, for the moving of about half a million of people and the economic losses of at least 25 billions Euros covered by the insurance policies. Within this context, EU launched the 2007/60/CE directive. The inundations are natural phenomenon. They cannot be avoided. Nevertheless this directive permits to better evaluate the risks and to coordinate the management measures taken at member states level. In most countries, inundation maps only include rivers' overflowing. In Wallonia, overland flows and mudflows also cause huge damages, and must be included in the flood hazard map. Indeed, the cleaning operations for a village can lead to an estimated cost of 11 000 €. Average construction cost of retention dams to control off-site damage caused by floods and muddy flows was valued at 380 000€, and yearly dredging costs associated with these retention ponds at 15 000€. For a small city for which a study was done in a more specific way (Gembloux), the mean annual cost for the damages that can generate the runoff is about 20 000€. This cost consists of the physical damages caused to the real estate and movable properties of the residents as well as the emergency operations of the firemen and the city. On top of damages to public infrastructure (clogging of trenches, silting up of retention ponds) and to private property by muddy flows, runoff generates a significant loss of arable land. Yet, the soil resource is not an unlimited commodity. Moreover, sediments' transfer to watercourses alters their physical and chemical quality. And that is not to mention the increased psychological stress for people. But to map overland flood and mud flow hazard is a real challenge. This poster will present the methodology used to in Wallonia. The methodology is based on 3 project rainfalls: 25, 50 and 100 years return period (consistency with the cartography of the

Flood-inundation maps for the White River at Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Nystrom, Elizabeth A.

2015-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.4-mile reach of the White River in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 0.3 miles upstream of Michigan Street to the Harding Street Generating Station dam (at the confluence with Lick Creek), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the White River at Indianapolis, Ind. (station number 03353000). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service athttp://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site.

The influence of floodplain geomorphology and hydrologic connectivity on alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) habitat along the embanked floodplain of the Lower Mississippi River

Science.gov (United States)

van der Most, Merel; Hudson, Paul F.

2018-02-01

The floodplain geomorphology of large lowland rivers is intricately related to aquatic ecosystems dependent upon flood pulse dynamics. The alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) is native to the Lower Mississippi River and dependent upon floodplain backwater areas for spawning. In this study we utilize a geospatial approach to develop a habitat suitability index for alligator gar that explicitly considers hydrologic connectivity and the floodplain geomorphology along a frequently inundated segment of the Lower Mississippi River. The data sets include Landsat imagery, a high-resolution LiDAR digital elevation model (DEM), National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), and hydrologic and geomorphic data. A habitat suitability index is created based on the extent and frequency of inundation, water depth, temperature, and vegetation. A comparison between the remote sensing approach and the NHD revealed substantial differences in the area and location of water bodies available for alligator gar spawning. The final habitat suitability index indicates that a modest proportion (19%) of the overall embanked floodplain is available for alligator gar spawning. Opportunities exist for management efforts to utilize engineered and natural geomorphic features to facilitate hydrologic connectivity at flow levels below flood stage that would expand the habitat of alligator gar across the floodplain. The study results have direct implications regarding environmental restoration of the Lower Mississippi, an iconic example of an embanked meandering river floodplain.

Quantifying Uncertainty in Flood Inundation Mapping Using Streamflow Ensembles and Multiple Hydraulic Modeling Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Hosseiny, S. M. H.; Zarzar, C.; Gomez, M.; Siddique, R.; Smith, V.; Mejia, A.; Demir, I.

2016-12-01

The National Water Model (NWM) provides a platform for operationalize nationwide flood inundation forecasting and mapping. The ability to model flood inundation on a national scale will provide invaluable information to decision makers and local emergency officials. Often, forecast products use deterministic model output to provide a visual representation of a single inundation scenario, which is subject to uncertainty from various sources. While this provides a straightforward representation of the potential inundation, the inherent uncertainty associated with the model output should be considered to optimize this tool for decision making support. The goal of this study is to produce ensembles of future flood inundation conditions (i.e. extent, depth, and velocity) to spatially quantify and visually assess uncertainties associated with the predicted flood inundation maps. The setting for this study is located in a highly urbanized watershed along the Darby Creek in Pennsylvania. A forecasting framework coupling the NWM with multiple hydraulic models was developed to produce a suite ensembles of future flood inundation predictions. Time lagged ensembles from the NWM short range forecasts were used to account for uncertainty associated with the hydrologic forecasts. The forecasts from the NWM were input to iRIC and HEC-RAS two-dimensional software packages, from which water extent, depth, and flow velocity were output. Quantifying the agreement between output ensembles for each forecast grid provided the uncertainty metrics for predicted flood water inundation extent, depth, and flow velocity. For visualization, a series of flood maps that display flood extent, water depth, and flow velocity along with the underlying uncertainty associated with each of the forecasted variables were produced. The results from this study demonstrate the potential to incorporate and visualize model uncertainties in flood inundation maps in order to identify the high flood risk zones.

Automated quantification of surface water inundation in wetlands using optical satellite imagery

Science.gov (United States)

DeVries, Ben; Huang, Chengquan; Lang, Megan W.; Jones, John W.; Huang, Wenli; Creed, Irena F.; Carroll, Mark L.

2017-01-01

We present a fully automated and scalable algorithm for quantifying surface water inundation in wetlands. Requiring no external training data, our algorithm estimates sub-pixel water fraction (SWF) over large areas and long time periods using Landsat data. We tested our SWF algorithm over three wetland sites across North America, including the Prairie Pothole Region, the Delmarva Peninsula and the Everglades, representing a gradient of inundation and vegetation conditions. We estimated SWF at 30-m resolution with accuracies ranging from a normalized root-mean-square-error of 0.11 to 0.19 when compared with various high-resolution ground and airborne datasets. SWF estimates were more sensitive to subtle inundated features compared to previously published surface water datasets, accurately depicting water bodies, large heterogeneously inundated surfaces, narrow water courses and canopy-covered water features. Despite this enhanced sensitivity, several sources of errors affected SWF estimates, including emergent or floating vegetation and forest canopies, shadows from topographic features, urban structures and unmasked clouds. The automated algorithm described in this article allows for the production of high temporal resolution wetland inundation data products to support a broad range of applications.

Stimulating a Great Lakes coastal wetland seed bank using portable cofferdams: implications for habitat rehabilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Kowalski, K.P.; Wilcox, D.A.; Wiley, M.J.

2009-01-01

Coastal wetland seed banks exposed by low lake levels or through management actions fuel the reestablishment of emergent plant assemblages (i.e., wetland habitat) critical to Great Lakes aquatic biota. This project explored the effectiveness of using portable, water-filled cofferdams as a management tool to promote the natural growth of emergent vegetation from the seed bank in a Lake Erie coastal wetland. A series of dams stretching approximately 450??m was installed temporarily to isolate hydrologically a 10-ha corner of the Crane Creek wetland complex from Lake Erie. The test area was dewatered in 2004 to mimic a low-water year, and vegetation sampling characterized the wetland seed bank response at low, middle, and high elevations in areas open to and protected from bird and mammal herbivory. The nearly two-month drawdown stimulated a rapid seed-bank-driven response by 45 plant taxa. Herbivory had little effect on plant species richness, regardless of the location along an elevation gradient. Inundation contributed to the replacement of immature emergent plant species with submersed aquatic species after the dams failed and were removed prematurely. This study revealed a number of important issues that must be considered for effective long-term implementation of portable cofferdam technology to stimulate wetland seed banks, including duration of dewatering, product size, source of clean water, replacement of damaged dams, and regular maintenance. This technology is a potentially important tool in the arsenal used by resource managers seeking to rehabilitate the functions and values of Great Lakes coastal wetland habitats.

Flood-inundation maps for the Tippecanoe River near Delphi, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Menke, Chad D.; Bunch, Aubrey R.; Kim, Moon H.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 11-mile reach of the Tippecanoe River that extends from County Road W725N to State Road 18 below Oakdale Dam, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 03333050, Tippecanoe River near Delphi, Ind. Current conditions at the USGS streamgages in Indiana may be obtained online at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/current/?type=flow. In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often co-located at USGS streamgages. That forecasted peak-stage information, also available on the Internet, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, water-surface profiles were simulated for the stream reach by means of a hydraulic one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation at USGS streamgage 03333050, Tippecanoe River near Delphi, Ind., and USGS streamgage 03332605, Tippecanoe River below Oakdale Dam, Ind. The hydraulic model was then used to simulate 13 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals reference to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to approximately the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data) in order to delineate the

Stochastic evaluation of tsunami inundation and quantitative estimating tsunami risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukutani, Yo; Anawat, Suppasri; Abe, Yoshi; Imamura, Fumihiko

2014-01-01

We performed a stochastic evaluation of tsunami inundation by using results of stochastic tsunami hazard assessment at the Soma port in the Tohoku coastal area. Eleven fault zones along the Japan trench were selected as earthquake faults generating tsunamis. The results show that estimated inundation area of return period about 1200 years had good agreement with that in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. In addition, we evaluated quantitatively tsunami risk for four types of building; a reinforced concrete, a steel, a brick and a wood at the Soma port by combining the results of inundation assessment and tsunami fragility assessment. The results of quantitative estimating risk would reflect properly vulnerability of the buildings, that the wood building has high risk and the reinforced concrete building has low risk. (author)

Changes in habitat availability for outmigrating juvenile salmon (Oncorhychus spp.) following estuary restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Ellings, Christopher S.; Davis, Melanie; Grossman, Eric E.; Hodgson, Sayre; Turner, Kelley L.; Woo PR, Isa; Nakai, Glynnis; Takekawa, Jean E.; Takekawa, John Y.

2016-01-01

The restoration of the Nisqually River Delta (Washington, U.S.A.) represents one of the largest efforts toward reestablishing the ecosystem function and resilience of modified habitat in the Puget Sound, particularly for anadromous salmonid species. The opportunity for outmigrating salmon to access and benefit from the expansion of available tidal habitat can be quantified by several physical attributes, which are related to the ecological and physiological responses of juvenile salmon. We monitored a variety of physical parameters to measure changes in opportunity potential from historic, pre-restoration, and post-restoration habitat conditions at several sites across the delta. These parameters included channel morphology, water quality, tidal elevation, and landscape connectivity. We conducted fish catch surveys across the delta to determine if salmon was utilizing restored estuary habitat. Overall major channel area increased 42% and major channel length increased 131% from pre- to post-restoration conditions. Furthermore, the results of our tidal inundation model indicated that major channels were accessible up to 75% of the time, as opposed to 30% pre-restoration. Outmigrating salmon utilized this newly accessible habitat as quickly as 1 year post-restoration. The presence of salmon in restored tidal channels confirmed rapid post-restoration increases in opportunity potential on the delta despite habitat quality differences between restored and reference sites.

Evaluation of Airborne Lidar Elevation Surfaces for Propagation of Coastal Inundation: The Importance of Hydrologic Connectivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Poppenga

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Detailed information about coastal inundation is vital to understanding dynamic and populated areas that are impacted by storm surge and flooding. To understand these natural hazard risks, lidar elevation surfaces are frequently used to model inundation in coastal areas. A single-value surface method is sometimes used to inundate areas in lidar elevation surfaces that are below a specified elevation value. However, such an approach does not take into consideration hydrologic connectivity between elevation grids cells resulting in inland areas that should be hydrologically connected to the ocean, but are not. Because inland areas that should drain to the ocean are hydrologically disconnected by raised features in a lidar elevation surface, simply raising the water level to propagate coastal inundation will lead to inundation uncertainties. We took advantage of this problem to identify hydrologically disconnected inland areas to point out that they should be considered for coastal inundation, and that a lidar-based hydrologic surface should be developed with hydrologic connectivity prior to inundation analysis. The process of achieving hydrologic connectivity with hydrologic-enforcement is not new, however, the application of hydrologically-enforced lidar elevation surfaces for improved coastal inundation mapping as approached in this research is innovative. In this article, we propagated a high-resolution lidar elevation surface in coastal Staten Island, New York to demonstrate that inland areas lacking hydrologic connectivity to the ocean could potentially be included in inundation delineations. For inland areas that were hydrologically disconnected, we evaluated if drainage to the ocean was evident, and calculated an area exceeding 11 ha (~0.11 km2 that could be considered in inundation delineations. We also assessed land cover for each inland area to determine the type of physical surfaces that would be potentially impacted if the inland areas

Evaluation of airborne lidar elevation surfaces for propagation of coastal inundation: the importance of hydrologic connectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Poppenga, Sandra K.; Worstell, Bruce B.

2015-01-01

Detailed information about coastal inundation is vital to understanding dynamic and populated areas that are impacted by storm surge and flooding. To understand these natural hazard risks, lidar elevation surfaces are frequently used to model inundation in coastal areas. A single-value surface method is sometimes used to inundate areas in lidar elevation surfaces that are below a specified elevation value. However, such an approach does not take into consideration hydrologic connectivity between elevation grids cells resulting in inland areas that should be hydrologically connected to the ocean, but are not. Because inland areas that should drain to the ocean are hydrologically disconnected by raised features in a lidar elevation surface, simply raising the water level to propagate coastal inundation will lead to inundation uncertainties. We took advantage of this problem to identify hydrologically disconnected inland areas to point out that they should be considered for coastal inundation, and that a lidar-based hydrologic surface should be developed with hydrologic connectivity prior to inundation analysis. The process of achieving hydrologic connectivity with hydrologic-enforcement is not new, however, the application of hydrologically-enforced lidar elevation surfaces for improved coastal inundation mapping as approached in this research is innovative. In this article, we propagated a high-resolution lidar elevation surface in coastal Staten Island, New York to demonstrate that inland areas lacking hydrologic connectivity to the ocean could potentially be included in inundation delineations. For inland areas that were hydrologically disconnected, we evaluated if drainage to the ocean was evident, and calculated an area exceeding 11 ha (~0.11 km2) that could be considered in inundation delineations. We also assessed land cover for each inland area to determine the type of physical surfaces that would be potentially impacted if the inland areas were considered as

Burlington Bottoms wildlife mitigation site : five-year habitat management plan, 2001-2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beilke, Susan G.

2001-01-01

Historically the lower Columbia and Willamette River Basins were ecologically rich in both the habitat types and the species diversity they supported. This was due in part to the pattern of floods and periodic inundation of bottomlands that occurred, which was an important factor in creating and maintaining a complex system of wetland, meadow, and riparian habitats. This landscape has been greatly altered in the past 150 years, primarily due to human development and agricultural activities including cattle grazing, logging and the building of hydroelectric facilities for hydropower, navigation, flood control and irrigation in the Columbia and Willamette River Basins. The Burlington Bottoms (BB) wetlands contains some of the last remaining bottomlands in the area, supporting a diverse array of native plant and wildlife species. Located approximately twelve miles northwest of Portland and situated between the Tualatin Mountains to the west and Multnomah Channel and Sauvie Island to the east, the current habitats are remnant of what was once common throughout the region. In order to preserve and enhance this important site, a five-year habitat management plan has been written that proposes a set of actions that will carry out the goals and objectives developed for the site, which includes protecting, maintaining and enhancing wildlife habitat for perpetuity

Observation-based Quantitative Uncertainty Estimation for Realtime Tsunami Inundation Forecast using ABIC and Ensemble Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Takagawa, T.

2016-12-01

An ensemble forecasting scheme for tsunami inundation is presented. The scheme consists of three elemental methods. The first is a hierarchical Bayesian inversion using Akaike's Bayesian Information Criterion (ABIC). The second is Montecarlo sampling from a probability density function of multidimensional normal distribution. The third is ensamble analysis of tsunami inundation simulations with multiple tsunami sources. Simulation based validation of the model was conducted. A tsunami scenario of M9.1 Nankai earthquake was chosen as a target of validation. Tsunami inundation around Nagoya Port was estimated by using synthetic tsunami waveforms at offshore GPS buoys. The error of estimation of tsunami inundation area was about 10% even if we used only ten minutes observation data. The estimation accuracy of waveforms on/off land and spatial distribution of maximum tsunami inundation depth is demonstrated.

Migratory connectivity magnifies the consequences of habitat loss from sea-level rise for shorebird populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwamura, Takuya; Possingham, Hugh P; Chadès, Iadine; Minton, Clive; Murray, Nicholas J; Rogers, Danny I; Treml, Eric A; Fuller, Richard A

2013-06-22

Sea-level rise (SLR) will greatly alter littoral ecosystems, causing habitat change and loss for coastal species. Habitat loss is widely used as a measurement of the risk of extinction, but because many coastal species are migratory, the impact of habitat loss will depend not only on its extent, but also on where it occurs. Here, we develop a novel graph-theoretic approach to measure the vulnerability of a migratory network to the impact of habitat loss from SLR based on population flow through the network. We show that reductions in population flow far exceed the proportion of habitat lost for 10 long-distance migrant shorebirds using the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. We estimate that SLR will inundate 23-40% of intertidal habitat area along their migration routes, but cause a reduction in population flow of up to 72 per cent across the taxa. This magnifying effect was particularly strong for taxa whose migration routes contain bottlenecks-sites through which a large fraction of the population travels. We develop the bottleneck index, a new network metric that positively correlates with the predicted impacts of habitat loss on overall population flow. Our results indicate that migratory species are at greater risk than previously realized.

Towards an integrated strategy for monitoring wetland inundation with virtual constellations of optical and radar satellites

Science.gov (United States)

DeVries, B.; Huang, W.; Huang, C.; Jones, J. W.; Lang, M. W.; Creed, I. F.; Carroll, M.

2017-12-01

The function of wetlandscapes in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles is largely governed by surface inundation, with small wetlands that experience periodic inundation playing a disproportionately large role in these processes. However, the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of inundation in these wetland systems are still poorly understood, resulting in large uncertainties in global water, carbon and greenhouse gas budgets. Satellite imagery provides synoptic and repeat views of the Earth's surface and presents opportunities to fill this knowledge gap. Despite the proliferation of Earth Observation satellite missions in the past decade, no single satellite sensor can simultaneously provide the spatial and temporal detail needed to adequately characterize inundation in small, dynamic wetland systems. Surface water data products must therefore integrate observations from multiple satellite sensors in order to address this objective, requiring the development of improved and coordinated algorithms to generate consistent estimates of surface inundation. We present a suite of algorithms designed to detect surface inundation in wetlands using data from a virtual constellation of optical and radar sensors comprising the Landsat and Sentinel missions (DeVries et al., 2017). Both optical and radar algorithms were able to detect inundation in wetlands without the need for external training data, allowing for high-efficiency monitoring of wetland inundation at large spatial and temporal scales. Applying these algorithms across a gradient of wetlands in North America, preliminary findings suggest that while these fully automated algorithms can detect wetland inundation at higher spatial and temporal resolutions than currently available surface water data products, limitations specific to the satellite sensors and their acquisition strategies are responsible for uncertainties in inundation estimates. Further research is needed to investigate strategies for

Flood-inundation maps for the West Branch Delaware River, Delhi, New York, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Coon, William F.; Breaker, Brian K.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5-mile reach of the West Branch Delaware River through the Village and part of the Town of Delhi, New York, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Village of Delhi, the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Delaware County Planning Department. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ and the Federal Flood Inundation Mapper Web site at http://wim.usgs.gov/FIMI/FloodInundationMapper.html, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) referenced to the USGS streamgage at West Branch Delaware River upstream from Delhi, N.Y. (station number 01421900). In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model that had been used to produce the flood insurance rate maps for the most recent flood insurance study for the Town and Village of Delhi. This hydraulic model was used to compute 10 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 7 ft or near bankfull to 16 ft, which exceeds the stages that correspond to both the estimated 0.2-percent annual-exceedance-probability flood (500-year recurrence interval flood) and the maximum recorded peak flow. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system (GIS) digital elevation model, which was derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data with a 1.2-ft (0.61-ft root mean squared error) vertical accuracy and 3.3-ft (1-meter) horizontal resolution, to delineate the area flooded at each water level. A map that was produced using this method to delineate the inundated area for the flood that occurred on August 28, 2011, agreed well with highwater marks that had been located in the field using a

Effective inundation of continental United States communities with 21st century sea level rise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristina A. Dahl

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Recurrent, tidally driven coastal flooding is one of the most visible signs of sea level rise. Recent studies have shown that such flooding will become more frequent and extensive as sea level continues to rise, potentially altering the landscape and livability of coastal communities decades before sea level rise causes coastal land to be permanently inundated. In this study, we identify US communities that will face effective inundation—defined as having 10% or more of livable land area flooded at least 26 times per year—with three localized sea level rise scenarios based on projections for the 3rd US National Climate Assessment. We present these results in a new, online interactive tool that allows users to explore when and how effective inundation will impact their communities. In addition, we identify communities facing effective inundation within the next 30 years that contain areas of high socioeconomic vulnerability today using a previously published vulnerability index. With the Intermediate-High and Highest sea level rise scenarios, 489 and 668 communities, respectively, would face effective inundation by the year 2100. With these two scenarios, more than half of communities facing effective inundation by 2045 contain areas of current high socioeconomic vulnerability. These results highlight the timeframes that US coastal communities have to respond to disruptive future inundation. The results also underscore the importance of limiting future warming and sea level rise: under the Intermediate-Low scenario, used as a proxy for sea level rise under the Paris Climate Agreement, 199 fewer communities would be effectively inundated by 2100.

The effects of wetland habitat structure on Florida apple snail density

Science.gov (United States)

Karunaratne, L.B.; Darby, P.C.; Bennetts, R.E.

2006-01-01

Wetlands often support a variety of juxtaposed habitat patches (e.g., grass-, shrub- or tree-dominated) differentially suited to support the inhabiting fauna. The proportion of available habitat types has been affected by human activity and consequently has contributed to degrading habitat quality for some species. The Florida apple snail (Pomacea paludosa) has drawn attention as a critical prey item for wetlands wildlife and as an indicator of wetlands restoration success in peninsular Florida, USA. An apparent contradiction has evolved wherein this species appears intolerant of drying events, but these disturbances may be necessary to maintain suitable habitat structure for apple snails. We recently reported that assertions regarding intolerance to dry downs in this species were inaccurate. Here, we compared snail density in habitats with (wet prairie) and without (slough) emergent macrophytes, as well as evaluating the effects of structural attributes within the broad wet prairie habitat type. Snail densities were greater in prairies relative to sloughs (??2= 12.90, df=1, P=0.0003), often by a factor of two to three. Within wet prairie habitats, we found greater snail densities in Panicum hemitomon as compared to Eleocharis cellulosa (??2=31.45, df=1, P=0.0001). Significantly fewer snails were found in dense E. cellulosa as compared to habitats with lower stem density (??2= 10.73, df=1, P=0.011). Our results indicate that wet prairie habitat supports greater snail densities than nymphaea-dominatd slough. Our results have implications for wetlands water management in that continuous inundation has been shown to convert wet prairie to slough habitat, and we suggest this should be avoided in support of apple snails and their predators. ?? 2006, The Society of Wetland Scientists.

Flood-inundation maps for the Flatrock River at Columbus, Indiana, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Coon, William F.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5-mile reach of the Flatrock River on the western side of Columbus, Indiana, from County Road 400N to the river mouth at the confluence with Driftwood River, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ and the Federal Flood Inundation Mapper Web site at http://wim.usgs.gov/FIMI/FloodInundationMapper.html, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Flatrock River at Columbus (station number 03363900). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, which also presents the USGS data, at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/. Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation at the Flatrock River streamgage, high-water marks that were surveyed following the flood of June 7, 2008, and water-surface profiles from the current flood-insurance study for the City of Columbus. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 12 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 9 ft or near bankfull to 20 ft, which exceeds the stages that correspond to both the estimated 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability flood (500-year recurrence interval flood) and the maximum recorded peak flow. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Geographic Information System digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data having a 0.37 ft

Estimated flood-inundation maps for Cowskin Creek in western Wichita, Kansas

Science.gov (United States)

Studley, Seth E.

2003-01-01

The October 31, 1998, flood on Cowskin Creek in western Wichita, Kansas, caused millions of dollars in damages. Emergency management personnel and flood mitigation teams had difficulty in efficiently identifying areas affected by the flooding, and no warning was given to residents because flood-inundation information was not available. To provide detailed information about future flooding on Cowskin Creek, high-resolution estimated flood-inundation maps were developed using geographic information system technology and advanced hydraulic analysis. Two-foot-interval land-surface elevation data from a 1996 flood insurance study were used to create a three-dimensional topographic representation of the study area for hydraulic analysis. The data computed from the hydraulic analyses were converted into geographic information system format with software from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Hydrologic Engineering Center. The results were overlaid on the three-dimensional topographic representation of the study area to produce maps of estimated flood-inundation areas and estimated depths of water in the inundated areas for 1-foot increments on the basis of stream stage at an index streamflow-gaging station. A Web site (http://ks.water.usgs.gov/Kansas/cowskin.floodwatch) was developed to provide the public with information pertaining to flooding in the study area. The Web site shows graphs of the real-time streamflow data for U.S. Geological Survey gaging stations in the area and monitors the National Weather Service Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center for Cowskin Creek flood-forecast information. When a flood is forecast for the Cowskin Creek Basin, an estimated flood-inundation map is displayed for the stream stage closest to the National Weather Service's forecasted peak stage. Users of the Web site are able to view the estimated flood-inundation maps for selected stages at any time and to access information about this report and about flooding in general. Flood

Monitoring coastal inundation with Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuoki, Yukihiro; Rangoonwala, Amina; Ramsey, Elijah W.

2011-01-01

Maps representing the presence and absence of surface inundation in the Louisiana coastal zone were created from available satellite scenes acquired by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Land Observing Satellite and by the European Space Agency's Envisat from late 2006 through summer 2009. Detection of aboveground surface flooding relied on the well-documented and distinct signature of decreased backscatter in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which is indicative of inundated marsh in the Gulf of Mexico. Even though decreases in backscatter were distinctive, the multiplicity of possible interactions between changing flood depths and canopy height yielded complex SAR-based representations of the marshes.

High Resolution Modeling of Coastal Inundation: User Requirements and Current Practice, A Navy Perspective

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Blain, Cheryl Ann; Preller, Ruth H

2007-01-01

The impact of coastal flooding and inundation on Navy operational missions and the existing Navy requirements for resolution and accuracy relevant to coastal inundation are presented. High resolution (less than 500 m...

Interactive Mapping of Inundation Metrics Using Cloud Computing for Improved Floodplain Conservation and Management

Science.gov (United States)

Bulliner, E. A., IV; Lindner, G. A.; Bouska, K.; Paukert, C.; Jacobson, R. B.

2017-12-01

Within large-river ecosystems, floodplains serve a variety of important ecological functions. A recent survey of 80 managers of floodplain conservation lands along the Upper and Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers in the central United States found that the most critical information needed to improve floodplain management centered on metrics for characterizing depth, extent, frequency, duration, and timing of inundation. These metrics can be delivered to managers efficiently through cloud-based interactive maps. To calculate these metrics, we interpolated an existing one-dimensional hydraulic model for the Lower Missouri River, which simulated water surface elevations at cross sections spaced (step. To translate these water surface elevations to inundation depths, we subtracted a merged terrain model consisting of floodplain LIDAR and bathymetric surveys of the river channel. This approach resulted in a 29000+ day time series of inundation depths across the floodplain using grid cells with 30 m spatial resolution. Initially, we used these data on a local workstation to calculate a suite of nine spatially distributed inundation metrics for the entire model domain. These metrics are calculated on a per pixel basis and encompass a variety of temporal criteria generally relevant to flora and fauna of interest to floodplain managers, including, for example, the average number of days inundated per year within a growing season. Using a local workstation, calculating these metrics for the entire model domain requires several hours. However, for the needs of individual floodplain managers working at site scales, these metrics may be too general and inflexible. Instead of creating a priori a suite of inundation metrics able to satisfy all user needs, we present the usage of Google's cloud-based Earth Engine API to allow users to define and query their own inundation metrics from our dataset and produce maps nearly instantaneously. This approach allows users to

Chronic Inundation along the US Coastline: Where, When and How to Respond

Science.gov (United States)

Caldas, A.; Dahl, K. A.; Spanger-Siegfried, E.; Udvardy, S.

2017-12-01

The Union of Concerned Scientists conducted an analysis of exposure to chronic inundation along the US coastline, using three localized sea level rise projections—Highest, Intermediate-High and Intermediate-Low—drawn from the 2014 National Climate Assessment. Chronic inundation is defined as flooding of 10 percent or more of usable land area at least 26 times per year. The goal of the analysis was to identify not only which communities would face this type of disruptive inundation, but also when, and over how much of their area. By having a timeframe and different scenarios, communities can prepare according to the time they have, and their tolerance for risk. We also used the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) at the Census tract level to identify which of these communities might be differentially impacted because of socioeconomic factors. We found that, by 2035, 170 communities will be facing chronic inundation. That number jumps to between 490 and 670 by the end of the century, depending on the scenario. Under the two higher scenarios, more than half of communities facing chronic inundation by 2035 contain tracts with high socioeconomic vulnerability today. Using the Intermediate-Low scenario as a proxy for sea level rise were the long-term temperature goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement were met, we found that up to 380 communities could avoid chronic inundation this century. The results are accessible within an interactive online tool, which zooms in to street level, therefore providing specific information that communities, city planners, and elected officials need to plan and prepare. Preparatory measures could include defending against the sea, accommodating and learning to live with water, or retreating from areas that are too hard to live in anymore. Each of these measures has challenges, and communities will need to adopt a portfolio of actions to prepare and protect themselves. Depending on their inundation response time, communities might

Migratory bird habitat in relation to tile drainage and poorly drained hydrologic soil groups

Science.gov (United States)

Kastner, Brandi; Christensen, Victoria G.; Williamson, Tanja N.; Sanocki, Chris A.

2016-01-01

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is home to more than 50% of the migratory waterfowl in North America. Although the PPR provides an abundance of temporary and permanent wetlands for nesting and feeding, increases in commodity prices and agricultural drainage practices have led to a trend of wetland drainage. The Northern Shoveler is a migratory dabbling duck species that uses wetland habitats and cultivated croplands in the PPR. Richland County in North Dakota and Roberts County in South Dakota have an abundance of wetlands and croplands and were chosen as the study areas for this research to assess the wetland size and cultivated cropland in relation to hydrologic soil groups for the Northern Shoveler habitat. This study used geographic information system data to analyze Northern Shoveler habitats in association with Natural Resource Conservation Service soil data. Habitats, which are spatially associated with certain hydrologic soil groups, may be at risk of artificial drainage installations because of their proximity to cultivated croplands and soil lacking in natural drainage that may become wet or inundated. Findings indicate that most wetlands that are part of Northern Shoveler habitats were within or adjacent to cultivated croplands. The results also revealed soil hydrologic groups with high runoff potential and low water transmission rates account for most of the soil within the Northern Shoveler‘s wetland and cropland habitats. Habitats near agriculture with high runoff potential are likely to be drained and this has the potential of reducing Northern Shoveler habitat.

Selection of Trichogramma for inundative biological control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pak, G.A.

1988-01-01

This thesis presents a study of the potential for biological control of lepidopterous pests on cabbage crops in the Netherlands, by means of inundative releases of the egg parasite Trichogramma (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae). The objective of this study is to investigate the

Flood-inundation maps for the Wabash River at Lafayette, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Moon H.

2018-05-10

Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximately 4.8-mile reach of the Wabash River at Lafayette, Indiana (Ind.) were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science web site at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 03335500, Wabash River at Lafayette, Ind. Current streamflow conditions for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the internet at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/uv?site_no=03335500. In addition, information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system (https://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS AHPS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages, including the Wabash River at Lafayette, Ind. NWS AHPS-forecast peak-stage information may be used with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.For this study, flood profiles were computed for the Wabash River reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at USGS streamgage 03335500, Wabash River at Lafayette, Ind., and high-water marks from the flood of July 2003 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [USACE], 2007). The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to determine 23 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to the highest stage of the current stage-discharge rating curve. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model derived

Food availability and predation risk drive the distributional patterns of two pulmonate gastropods in a mangrove-saltmarsh transitional habitat.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Yisheng; Zhang, Min; Lee, Shing Yip

2017-09-01

The pulmonate gastropods, Phallomedusa solida (Martens, 1878) and Ophicardelus ornatus (Férussac, 1821), exhibit characteristic distributional patterns at the upper intertidal zones in estuarine mangrove and saltmarsh habitats on the eastern Australian coast. Past studies suggested inundation condition, soil salinity, and percent of vegetation cover were responsible for these patterns. In this study, the role of environmental parameters, food availability, physical stress, and predation pressure in determining the distributional patterns of these gastropods was evaluated along transects spanning saltmarsh, mangrove, and the ecotone habitats. For both species, the maximum population abundance occurred in the upper saltmarsh and the ecotone between mangrove and saltmarsh at 361.0 and 358.0 ind.m -2 , respectively, which was four times that of the lower saltmarsh. Mangroves were evaluated as the optimal habitat for the pulmonates in terms of the environmental parameters moisture content and food availability. However, due to its longer inundation duration within each tidal cycle, use of the mangrove habitat by the pulmonates was impeded because of difficulties in oxygen acquisition under submerged conditions. Laboratory experiments revealed the oxygen intake of the pulmonates dropped abruptly to 4.3-9.0% of aerial rates when submerged. This result indicated that mangroves were not the optimal habitat for the pulmonates. Furthermore, the visiting frequency of predators (yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis and toadfishes, Tetraodontidae) was 1.3 times higher in the mangrove compared to those in the ecotone and upper saltmarsh habitats. Underwater video recording also suggested high mortality of these gastropods at 31.7-88.9% in mangrove and 0.80-0.98 times higher than that in saltmarsh, resulting from the predators preying in the mangrove habitat during high tides. Despite the abiotic factors facilitating the distribution of the pulmonates in the mangrove, the

Probabilistic Mapping of Storm-induced Coastal Inundation for Climate Change Adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Li, N.; Yamazaki, Y.; Roeber, V.; Cheung, K. F.; Chock, G.

2016-02-01

Global warming is posing an imminent threat to coastal communities worldwide. Under the IPCC RCP8.5 scenario, we utilize hurricane events downscaled from a CMIP5 global climate model using the stochastic-deterministic method of Emanuel (2013, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.) in a pilot study to develop an inundation map with projected sea-level rise for the urban Honolulu coast. The downscaling is performed for a 20-year period from 2081 to 2100 to capture the ENSO, which strongly influences the hurricane activity in the Pacific. A total of 50 simulations provide a quasi-stationary dataset of 1000 years for probabilistic analysis of the flood hazards toward the end of the century. We utilize the meta-model Hakou, which is based on precomputed hurricane scenarios using ADCIRC, SWAN, and a 1D Boussinesq model (Kennedy et al., 2012, Ocean Modelling), to estimate the annual maximum inundation along the project coastline at the present sea level. Screening of the preliminary results identifies the most severe three events for detailed inundation modeling using the package of Li et al. (2014, Ocean Modelling) at the projected sea level. For each event, the third generation spectral model WAVEWATCH III of Tolman (2008, Ocean Modelling) provides the hurricane waves and the circulation model NEOWAVE of Yamazaki et al. (2009, 2011, Int. J. Num. Meth. Fluids) computes the surge using a system of telescopic nested grids from the open ocean to the project coastline. The output defines the boundary conditions and initial still-water elevation for computation of phase-resolving surf-zone and inundation processes using the 2D Boussinesq model of Roeber and Cheung (2012, Coastal Engineering). Each computed inundation event corresponds to an annual maximum, and with 1000 years of data, has an occurrence probability of 0.1% in a given year. Barring the tail of the distribution, aggregation of the three computed events allow delineation of the inundation zone with annual exceedance probability

Impacts of Coastal Inundation Due to Climate Change in a CLUSTER of Urban Coastal Communities in Ghana, West Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Kwabena Ofori-Danson

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The increasing rates of sea level rise caused by global warming within the 21st century are expected to exacerbate inundation and episodic flooding tide in low-lying coastal environments. This development threatens both human development and natural habitats within such coastal communities. The impact of sea level rise will be more pronounced in developing countries where there is limited adaptation capacity. This paper presents a comprehensive assessment of the expected impacts of sea level rise in three communities in the Dansoman coastal area of Accra, Ghana. Future sea level rises were projected based on global scenarios and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization General Circulation Models—CSIRO_MK2_GS GCM. These were used in the SimCLIM model based on the modified Bruun rule and the simulated results overlaid on near vertical aerial photographs taken in 2005. It emerged that the Dansoman coastline could recede by about 202 m by the year 2100 with baseline from 1970 to 1990. The potential impacts on the socioeconomic and natural systems of the Dansoman coastal area were characterized at the Panbros, Grefi and Gbegbeyise communities. The study revealed that about 84% of the local dwellers is aware of the rising sea level in the coastal area but have poor measures of adapting to the effects of flood disasters. Analysis of the likely impacts of coastal inundation revealed that about 650,000 people, 926 buildings and a total area of about 0.80 km2 of land are vulnerable to permanent inundation by the year 2100. The study has shown that there will be significant losses to both life and property by the year 2100 in the Dansoman coastal community in the event of sea level rise.

Experience of inundation or drought alters the responses of plants to subsequent water conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Shu; Callaway, Ragan M.; Zhou, Dao-Wei

2017-01-01

had the strongest drought tolerance after early drought; (iii) mesic species were more likely to suffer reduced later growth after either inundation or drought experience. Invasive species benefitted more from early inundation than did native species, but native species grew better after experiencing...

Prediction of Tsunami Inundation in the City of Lisbon (portugal)

Science.gov (United States)

Baptista, M.; Miranda, J.; Omira, R.; Catalao Fernandes, J.

2010-12-01

Lisbon city is located inside the estuary of Tagus river, 20 km away from the Atlantic ocean. The city suffered great damage from tsunamis and its downtown was flooded at least twice in 1531 and 1755. Since the installation of the tide-gage network, in the area, three tsunamis caused by submarine earthquakes, were recorded in November 1941, February 1969 and May 1975. The most destructive tsunamis listed along Tagus Estuary are the 26th January 1531, a local tsunami event restricted to the Tagus Estuary, and the well known 1st November 1755 transoceanic event, both following highly destructive earthquakes, which deeply affected Lisbon. The economic losses due to the impact of the 1755 tsunami in one of Europe’s 18t century main harbor and commercial fleets were enormous. Since then the Tagus estuary suffered strong morphologic changes manly due to dredging works, construction of commercial and industrial facilities and recreational docks, some of them already projected to preserve Lisbon. In this study we present preliminary inundation maps for the Tagus estuary area in the Lisbon County, for conditions similar to the 1755 tsunami event, but using present day bathymetric and topographic maps. Inundation modelling is made using non linear shallow water theory and the numerical code is based upon COMCOT code. Nested grids resolutions used in this study are 800 m, 200 m and 50 m, respectively. The inundation is discussed in terms of flow depth, run up height, maximum inundation area and current flow velocity. The effects of estuary modifications on tsunami propagation are also investigated.

The simulation of Typhoon-induced coastal inundation in Busan, South Korea applying the downscaling technique

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Dongmin; Park, Junghyun; Yuk, Jin-Hee; Joh, MinSu

2017-04-01

Due to typhoons, the south coastal cities including Busan in South Korea coastal are very vulnerable to a surge, wave and corresponding coastal inundation, and are affected every year. In 2016, South Korea suffered tremendous damage by typhoon 'Chaba', which was developed near east-north of Guam on Sep. 28 and had maximum 10-minute sustained wind speed of about 50 m/s, 1-minute sustained wind speed of 75 m/s and a minimum central pressure of 905 hpa. As 'Chaba', which is the strongest since typhoon 'Maemi' in 2003, hit South Korea on Oct. 5, it caused a massive economic and casualty damage to Ulsan, Gyeongju and Busan in South Korea. In particular, the damage of typhoon-induced coastal inundation in Busan, where many high-rise buildings and residential areas are concentrated near coast, was serious. The coastal inundation could be more affected by strong wind-induced wave than surge. In fact, it was observed that the surge height was about 1 m averagely and a significant wave height was about 8 m at coastal sea nearby Busan on Oct. 5 due to 'Chaba'. Even though the typhoon-induced surge elevated the sea level, the typhoon-induced long period wave with wave period of more than 15s could play more important role in the inundation. The present work simulated the coastal inundation induced by 'Chaba' in Busan, South Korea considering the effects of typhoon-induced surge and wave. For 'Chaba' hindcast, high resolution Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) was applied using a reanalysis data produced by NCEP (FNL 0.25 degree) on the boundary and initial conditions, and was validated by the observation of wind speed, direction and pressure. The typhoon-induced coastal inundation was simulated by an unstructured gird model, Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM), which is fully current-wave coupled model. To simulate the wave-induced inundation, 1-way downscaling technique of multi domain was applied. Firstly, a mother's domain including Korean peninsula was

A New Rapid Simplified Model for Urban Rainstorm Inundation with Low Data Requirements

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Ji Shen

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a new rapid simplified inundation model (NRSIM for flood inundation caused by rainstorms in an urban setting that can simulate the urban rainstorm inundation extent and depth in a data-scarce area. Drainage basins delineated from a floodplain map according to the distribution of the inundation sources serve as the calculation cells of NRSIM. To reduce data requirements and computational costs of the model, the internal topography of each calculation cell is simplified to a circular cone, and a mass conservation equation based on a volume spreading algorithm is established to simulate the interior water filling process. Moreover, an improved D8 algorithm is outlined for the simulation of water spilling between different cells. The performance of NRSIM is evaluated by comparing the simulated results with those from a traditional rapid flood spreading model (TRFSM for various resolutions of digital elevation model (DEM data. The results are as follows: (1 given high-resolution DEM data input, the TRFSM model has better performance in terms of precision than NRSIM; (2 the results from TRFSM are seriously affected by the decrease in DEM data resolution, whereas those from NRSIM are not; and (3 NRSIM always requires less computational time than TRFSM. Apparently, compared with the complex hydrodynamic or traditional rapid flood spreading model, NRSIM has much better applicability and cost-efficiency in real-time urban inundation forecasting for data-sparse areas.

Monitoring flooding and vegetation on seasonally inundated floodplains with multifrequency polarimetric synthetic aperture radar

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Laura Lorraine

case of distinguishing flooded macrophyte from non-flooded forest vegetation. However, the large changes in backscattering caused by flooding make it possible to achieve good accuracies (>85%) using multi-temporal data. Where river stage records are available, SAR-based maps of inundation status on a series of dates can be linked to long-term stage data to define wetland habitat types based on flooding regime and low-water vegetation cover.

Hydrodynamic and Inundation Modeling of China’s Largest Freshwater Lake Aided by Remote Sensing Data

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Peng Zhang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, is characterized by rapid changes in its inundation area and hydrodynamics, so in this study, a hydrodynamic model of Poyang Lake was established to simulate these long-term changes. Inundation information was extracted from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS remote sensing data and used to calibrate the wetting and drying parameter by assessing the accuracy of the simulated inundation area and its boundary. The bottom friction parameter was calibrated using current velocity measurements from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP. The results show the model is capable of predicting the inundation area dynamic through cross-validation with remotely sensed inundation data, and can reproduce the seasonal dynamics of the water level, and water discharge through a comparison with hydrological data. Based on the model results, the characteristics of the current velocities of the lake in the wet season and the dry season of the lake were explored, and the potential effect of the current dynamic on water quality patterns was discussed. The model is a promising basic tool for prediction and management of the water resource and water quality of Poyang Lake.

Floodplain farm fields provide novel rearing habitat for Chinook salmon.

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Jacob V E Katz

Full Text Available When inundated by floodwaters, river floodplains provide critical habitat for many species of fish and wildlife, but many river valleys have been extensively leveed and floodplain wetlands drained for flood control and agriculture. In the Central Valley of California, USA, where less than 5% of floodplain wetland habitats remain, a critical conservation question is how can farmland occupying the historical floodplains be better managed to improve benefits for native fish and wildlife. In this study fields on the Sacramento River floodplain were intentionally flooded after the autumn rice harvest to determine if they could provide shallow-water rearing habitat for Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Approximately 10,000 juvenile fish (ca. 48 mm, 1.1 g were reared on two hectares for six weeks (Feb-March between the fall harvest and spring planting. A subsample of the fish were uniquely tagged to allow tracking of individual growth rates (average 0.76 mm/day which were among the highest recorded in fresh water in California. Zooplankton sampled from the water column of the fields were compared to fish stomach contents. The primary prey was zooplankton in the order Cladocera, commonly called water fleas. The compatibility, on the same farm fields, of summer crop production and native fish habitat during winter demonstrates that land management combining agriculture with conservation ecology may benefit recovery of native fish species, such as endangered Chinook salmon.

Flood-inundation maps for the Elkhart River at Goshen, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Strauch, Kellan R.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, created digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.3-mile reach of the Elkhart River at Goshen, Indiana, extending from downstream of the Goshen Dam to downstream from County Road 17. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to nine selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Elkhart River at Goshen (station number 04100500). Current conditions for the USGS streamgages in Indiana may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/. In addition, stream stage data have been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages. NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relation at the Elkhart River at Goshen streamgage. The hydraulic model was then used to compute nine water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from approximately bankfull (5 ft) to greater than the highest recorded water level (13 ft). The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system (GIS) digital-elevation model (DEM), derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data having a 0.37-ft vertical accuracy and 3.9-ft horizontal resolution in order to delineate the area flooded at each

Location of Host and Host Habitat by Fruit Fly Parasitoids

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Pascal Rousse

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Augmentative releases of parasitoids may be a useful tool for the area-wide management of tephritid pests. The latter are parasitized by many wasp species, though only a few of them are relevant for augmentative biocontrol purposes. To date, nearly all the actual or potential biocontrol agents for such programs are egg or larval Opiinae parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae. Here, we review the literature published on their habitat and host location behavior, as well as the factors that modulate this behavior, which is assumed to be sequential; parasitoids forage first for the host habitat and then for the host itself. Parasitoids rely on chemical, visual, and mechanical stimuli, often strongly related to their ecology. Behavioral modulation factors include biotic and abiotic factors including learning, climatic conditions and physiological state of the insect. Finally, conclusions and perspectives for future research are briefly highlighted. A detailed knowledge of this behavior may be very useful for selecting the release sites for both inundative/augmentative releases of mass-reared parasitoids and inoculative releases for classical biocontrol.

Flood-inundation maps for the St. Marys River at Fort Wayne, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Menke, Chad D.; Kim, Moon H.; Fowler, Kathleen K.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9-mile reach of the St. Marys River that extends from South Anthony Boulevard to Main Street at Fort Wayne, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Fort Wayne. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage 04182000 St. Marys River near Fort Wayne, Ind. Current conditions at the USGS streamgages in Indiana may be obtained from the National Water Information System: Web Interface. In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system. The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often collocated at USGS streamgages. That forecasted peak-stage information, also available on the Internet, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, water-surface profiles were simulated for the stream reach by means of a hydraulic one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relation at the USGS streamgage 04182000 St. Marys River near Fort Wayne, Ind. The hydraulic model was then used to simulate 11 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to approximately the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. A flood inundation map was generated for each water-surface profile stage (11 maps in all) so that for any given flood stage users will be

Modelling the ability of source control measures to reduce inundation risk in a community-scale urban drainage system

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Chao; Liu, Jiahong; Wang, Hao; Shao, Weiwei; Xia, Lin; Xiang, Chenyao; Zhou, Jinjun

2018-06-01

Urban inundation is a serious challenge that increasingly confronts the residents of many cities, as well as policymakers, in the context of rapid urbanization and climate change worldwide. In recent years, source control measures (SCMs) such as green roofs, permeable pavements, rain gardens, and vegetative swales have been implemented to address flood inundation in urban settings, and proven to be cost-effective and sustainable. In order to investigate the ability of SCMs on reducing inundation in a community-scale urban drainage system, a dynamic rainfall-runoff model of a community-scale urban drainage system was developed based on SWMM. SCMs implementing scenarios were modelled under six design rainstorm events with return period ranging from 2 to 100 years, and inundation risks of the drainage system were evaluated before and after the proposed implementation of SCMs, with a risk-evaluation method based on SWMM and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Results show that, SCMs implementation resulting in significantly reduction of hydrological indexes that related to inundation risks, range of reduction rates of average flow, peak flow, and total flooded volume of the drainage system were 28.1-72.1, 19.0-69.2, and 33.9-56.0 %, respectively, under six rainfall events with return periods ranging from 2 to 100 years. Corresponding, the inundation risks of the drainage system were significantly reduced after SCMs implementation, the risk values falling below 0.2 when the rainfall return period was less than 10 years. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of SCMs on mitigating inundation, and quantified the potential of SCMs on reducing inundation risks in the urban drainage system, which provided scientific references for implementing SCMs for inundation control of the study area.

Burlington Bottoms Wildlife Mitigation Site : Five-Year Habitat Management Plan, 2001-2005, 2000-2001 Progress Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beilke, Susan G.

2001-09-01

Historically the lower Columbia and Willamette River Basins were ecologically rich in both the habitat types and the species diversity they supported. This was due in part to the pattern of floods and periodic inundation of bottomlands that occurred, which was an important factor in creating and maintaining a complex system of wetland, meadow, and riparian habitats. This landscape has been greatly altered in the past 150 years, primarily due to human development and agricultural activities including cattle grazing, logging and the building of hydroelectric facilities for hydropower, navigation, flood control and irrigation in the Columbia and Willamette River Basins. The Burlington Bottoms (BB) wetlands contains some of the last remaining bottomlands in the area, supporting a diverse array of native plant and wildlife species. Located approximately twelve miles northwest of Portland and situated between the Tualatin Mountains to the west and Multnomah Channel and Sauvie Island to the east, the current habitats are remnant of what was once common throughout the region. In order to preserve and enhance this important site, a five-year habitat management plan has been written that proposes a set of actions that will carry out the goals and objectives developed for the site, which includes protecting, maintaining and enhancing wildlife habitat for perpetuity.

Boreal Inundation Mapping with SMAP Radiometer Data for Methane Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seungbum; Brisco, Brian; Poncos, Valentin

2017-04-01

Inundation and consequent anoxic condition induce methane release, which is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Boreal regions contain large amounts of organic carbon, which is a potentially major methane emission source under climatic warming conditions. Boreal wetlands in particular are one of the largest sources of uncertainties in global methane budget. Wetland spatial extent together with the gas release rate remains highly unknown. Characterization of the existing inundation database is poor, because of the inundation under clouds and dense vegetation. In this work, the inundation extent is derived using brightness temperature data acquired by the L-band Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite, which offers the L-band capabilities to penetrate clouds and vegetation at 3-day revisit. The fidelity of the SMAP watermask is assessed as a first step in this investigation by comparing with the following data sets: 3-m resolution maps derived using Radarsat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data in northern Canada and multi-sensor climatology over Siberia. Because Radarsat coverages are limited despite its high spatial resolution, at the time and location where Radarsats are not available, we also compare with 3-km resolution SMAP SAR data that are concurrent with the SMAP radiometer data globally until July 2015. Inundation extents were derived with Radarsat, SMAP SAR, and SMAP radiometer over the 60 km x 60km area at Peace Athabasca Delta (PAD), Canada on 6 days in spring and summer 2015. The SMAP SAR results match the locations of Radarsat waterbodies. However, the SMAP SAR underestimates the water extent, mainly over mixed pixels that have subpixel land presence. The threshold value (-3 dB) applied to the SMAP SAR was determined previously over the global domain. The threshold is dependent on the type of local landcover within a mixed pixel. Further analysis is needed to locally optimize the threshold. The SMAP radiometer water fraction over Peace

THE USE OF LIDAR AND VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION TO MAP FLOOD EXTENTS AND INUNDATION

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K. McDougall

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Floods are one of the most destructive natural disasters that threaten communities and properties. In recent decades, flooding has claimed more lives, destroyed more houses and ruined more agricultural land than any other natural hazard. The accurate prediction of the areas of inundation from flooding is critical to saving lives and property, but relies heavily on accurate digital elevation and hydrologic models. The 2011 Brisbane floods provided a unique opportunity to capture high resolution digital aerial imagery as the floods neared their peak, allowing the capture of areas of inundation over the various city suburbs. This high quality imagery, together with accurate LiDAR data over the area and publically available volunteered geographic imagery through repositories such as Flickr, enabled the reconstruction of flood extents and the assessment of both area and depth of inundation for the assessment of damage. In this study, approximately 20 images of flood damaged properties were utilised to identify the peak of the flood. Accurate position and height values were determined through the use of RTK GPS and conventional survey methods. This information was then utilised in conjunction with river gauge information to generate a digital flood surface. The LiDAR generated DEM was then intersected with the flood surface to reconstruct the area of inundation. The model determined areas of inundation were then compared to the mapped flood extent from the high resolution digital imagery to assess the accuracy of the process. The paper concludes that accurate flood extent prediction or mapping is possible through this method, although its accuracy is dependent on the number and location of sampled points. The utilisation of LiDAR generated DEMs and DSMs can also provide an excellent mechanism to estimate depths of inundation and hence flood damage

The Use of LIDAR and Volunteered Geographic Information to Map Flood Extents and Inundation

Science.gov (United States)

McDougall, K.; Temple-Watts, P.

2012-07-01

Floods are one of the most destructive natural disasters that threaten communities and properties. In recent decades, flooding has claimed more lives, destroyed more houses and ruined more agricultural land than any other natural hazard. The accurate prediction of the areas of inundation from flooding is critical to saving lives and property, but relies heavily on accurate digital elevation and hydrologic models. The 2011 Brisbane floods provided a unique opportunity to capture high resolution digital aerial imagery as the floods neared their peak, allowing the capture of areas of inundation over the various city suburbs. This high quality imagery, together with accurate LiDAR data over the area and publically available volunteered geographic imagery through repositories such as Flickr, enabled the reconstruction of flood extents and the assessment of both area and depth of inundation for the assessment of damage. In this study, approximately 20 images of flood damaged properties were utilised to identify the peak of the flood. Accurate position and height values were determined through the use of RTK GPS and conventional survey methods. This information was then utilised in conjunction with river gauge information to generate a digital flood surface. The LiDAR generated DEM was then intersected with the flood surface to reconstruct the area of inundation. The model determined areas of inundation were then compared to the mapped flood extent from the high resolution digital imagery to assess the accuracy of the process. The paper concludes that accurate flood extent prediction or mapping is possible through this method, although its accuracy is dependent on the number and location of sampled points. The utilisation of LiDAR generated DEMs and DSMs can also provide an excellent mechanism to estimate depths of inundation and hence flood damage

Automatic domain updating technique for improving computational efficiency of 2-D flood-inundation simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, T.; Tachikawa, Y.; Ichikawa, Y.; Yorozu, K.

2017-12-01

Flood is one of the most hazardous disasters and causes serious damage to people and property around the world. To prevent/mitigate flood damage through early warning system and/or river management planning, numerical modelling of flood-inundation processes is essential. In a literature, flood-inundation models have been extensively developed and improved to achieve flood flow simulation with complex topography at high resolution. With increasing demands on flood-inundation modelling, its computational burden is now one of the key issues. Improvements of computational efficiency of full shallow water equations are made from various perspectives such as approximations of the momentum equations, parallelization technique, and coarsening approaches. To support these techniques and more improve the computational efficiency of flood-inundation simulations, this study proposes an Automatic Domain Updating (ADU) method of 2-D flood-inundation simulation. The ADU method traces the wet and dry interface and automatically updates the simulation domain in response to the progress and recession of flood propagation. The updating algorithm is as follow: first, to register the simulation cells potentially flooded at initial stage (such as floodplains nearby river channels), and then if a registered cell is flooded, to register its surrounding cells. The time for this additional process is saved by checking only cells at wet and dry interface. The computation time is reduced by skipping the processing time of non-flooded area. This algorithm is easily applied to any types of 2-D flood inundation models. The proposed ADU method is implemented to 2-D local inertial equations for the Yodo River basin, Japan. Case studies for two flood events show that the simulation is finished within two to 10 times smaller time showing the same result as that without the ADU method.

Determination of inundation area in the Amazon River floodplain using the SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sippel, S.J.; Hamilton, S.K.; Melack, J.M.; Choudhury, B.J.

1994-01-01

The 37 GHz polarization difference observed by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), which was operated on board the Nimbus-7 satellite, provides a sensitive indicator of surface water. These data can provide information on seasonal inundation patterns in large tropical wetlands such as the Amazon River floodplain. Although the SMMR data are of low resolution, we were able to estimate the area inundated within a group of pixels by using linear mixing models which incorporate the major end-members of the observed microwave signatures. The models were then used to estimate seasonal changes in inundation area over a 7-year period for a 34,550 km 2 area along the Amazon River near Manaus. The seasonal changes in inundation area determined using mixing models correlate well with changes in river stage. (author)

Satellite remote sensing of river inundation area, stage, and discharge: a review

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Laurence C.

1997-08-01

The growing availability of multi-temporal satellite data has increased opportunities for monitoring large rivers from space. A variety of passive and active sensors operating in the visible and microwave range are currently operating, or planned, which can estimate inundation area and delineate flood boundaries. Radar altimeters show great promise for directly measuring stage variation in large rivers. It also appears to be possible to obtain estimates of river discharge from space, using ground measurements and satellite data to construct empirical curves that relate water surface area to discharge. Extrapolation of these curves to ungauged sites may be possible for the special case of braided rivers.Where clouds, trees and floating vegetation do not obscure the water surface, high-resolution visible/infrared sensors provide good delineation of inundated areas. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors can penetrate clouds and can also detect standing water through emergent aquatic plants and forest canopies. However, multiple frequencies and polarizations are required for optimal discrimination of various inundated vegetation cover types. Existing single-polarization, fixed-frequency SARs are not sufficient for mapping inundation area in all riverine environments. In the absence of a space-borne multi-parameter SAR, a synergistic approach using single-frequency, fixed-polarization SAR and visible/infrared data will provide the best results over densely vegetated river floodplains.

Impact of hydrogeological factors on groundwater salinization due to ocean-surge inundation

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jie; Zhang, Huichen; Yu, Xuan; Graf, Thomas; Michael, Holly A.

2018-01-01

Ocean surges cause seawater inundation of coastal inland areas. Subsequently, seawater infiltrates into coastal aquifers and threatens the fresh groundwater resource. The severity of resulting salinization can be affected by hydrogeological factors including aquifer properties and hydrologic conditions, however, little research has been done to assess these effects. To understand the impacts of hydrogeological factors on groundwater salinization, we numerically simulated an ocean-surge inundation event on a two-dimensional conceptual coastal aquifer using a coupled surface-subsurface approach. We varied model permeability (including anisotropy), inland hydraulic gradient, and recharge rate. Three salinization-assessment indicators were developed, based on flushing time, depth of salt penetration, and a combination of the two, weighted flushing time, with which the impact of hydrogeological factors on groundwater vulnerability to salinization were quantitatively assessed. The vulnerability of coastal aquifers increases with increasing isotropic permeability. Low horizontal permeability (kx) and high vertical permeability (kz) lead to high aquifer vulnerability, and high kx and low kz lead to low aquifer vulnerability. Vulnerability decreases with increasing groundwater hydraulic gradient and increasing recharge rate. Additionally, coastal aquifers with a low recharge rate (R ≤ 300 mm yr-1) may be highly vulnerable to ocean-surge inundation. This study shows how the newly introduced indicators can be used to quantitatively assess coastal aquifer vulnerability. The results are important for global vulnerability assessment of coastal aquifers to ocean-surge inundation.

Selection indicates preference in diverse habitats: a ground-nesting bird (Charadrius melodus) using reservoir shoreline.

Science.gov (United States)

Anteau, Michael J; Sherfy, Mark H; Wiltermuth, Mark T

2012-01-01

Animals use proximate cues to select resources that maximize individual fitness. When animals have a diverse array of available habitats, those selected could give insights into true habitat preferences. Since the construction of the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota, Lake Sakakawea (SAK) has become an important breeding area for federally threatened piping plovers (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers). We used conditional logistic regression to examine nest-site selection at fine scales (1, 3, and 10 m) during summers 2006-2009 by comparing characteristics at 351 nests to those of 668 random sites within nesting territories. Plovers selected sites (1 m(2)) that were lower than unused random sites, increasing the risk of nest inundation. Plovers selected nest sites that were flat, had little silt, and at least 1 cobble; they also selected for 3-m radius nest areas that were relatively flat and devoid of vegetation and litter. Ninety percent of nests had nest sites (11% median), but against in the area 10-m from the nest, suggesting plovers select for patches or strips of gravel. Although elevation is rarely evaluated in studies of ground-nesting birds, our results underscore its importance in habitat-selection studies. Relative to where plovers historically nested, habitat at SAK has more diverse topography, substrate composition, vegetation communities, and greater water-level fluctuations. Accordingly, our results provide an example of how habitat-selection results can be interpreted as habitat preferences because they are not influenced by desired habitats being scarce or absent. Further, our results will be useful for directing habitat conservation for plovers and interpreting other habitat-selection studies.

Flood-inundation maps for Grand River, Red Cedar River, and Sycamore Creek near Lansing, Michigan

Science.gov (United States)

Whitehead, Matthew; Ostheimer, Chad J.

2015-08-26

Digital flood-inundation maps for a total of 19.7 miles of the Grand River, the Red Cedar River, and Sycamore Creek were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Lansing, Michigan, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, show estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at three USGS streamgages: Grand River at Lansing, MI (04113000), Red Cedar River at East Lansing, MI (04112500), and Sycamore Creek at Holt Road near Holt, MI (04112850). Near-real-time stages at these streamgages can be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at all of these sites.

An expanded model: flood-inundation maps for the Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Storm, John B.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.8-mile reach of the Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Miss.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Hattiesburg, City of Petal, Forrest County, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Department of Homeland Security, and the Emergency Management District. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Miss. (station no. 02473000). Current conditions for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation by use of USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/. In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages. NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at the Leaf River at Hattiesburg, Miss. streamgage (02473000) and documented high-water marks from recent and historical floods. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 13 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1.0-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to approximately the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system (GIS

Trends in Playa Inundation and Water Storage in the Ogallala Aquifer on the Texas High Plains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Gitz

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The Ogallala Aquifer is an important source of irrigation water on the Texas High plains; however, significant decreases in saturated thickness threaten its future use for irrigation. A better understanding of the roles of playas, ephemeral surface ponds, in aquifer recharge is needed to establish levels of withdrawals that will meet either established desired future conditions or sustainability. In this study, data regarding playa inundation, depth to groundwater, precipitation and land cover from 2001 to 2011 were collected and analyzed to ascertain associations between these characteristics for four study areas on the Texas High plains. Each area covered 40,000–70,000 ha. Three of the study areas in Hockley, Floyd and Swisher counties were chosen because their center contained a playa instrumented to measure weather and depth of inundation. There were 20 distinct inundation events at the three instrumented playas between 2006 and 2010. For each of these inundations, water loss exceeded rates of potential evapotranspiration (ET by a factor of 1.6–15.7 times, implying that infiltration was occurring. Playa inundation in all four study areas was also assessed by analyzing images from the National Agricultural Imaginary program. Data on depth to groundwater were analyzed from 2000 to 2010 to determine annual changes of stored water. Annual changes in groundwater were weakly associated with surface area of inundated playas in late summer, but was strongly associated with annual rainfall. Rates of infiltration based on playa water loss versus potential ET, and volume of water in playas was more than sufficient to account for annual changes in groundwater. Land use adjoining the playas had less of influence on playa inundation than annual rainfall. These results strengthen the argument that water storage in playas on the Texas High Plains is an important source of water for aquifer recharge.

Evaluation of low impact development approach for mitigating flood inundation at a watershed scale in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Maochuan; Sayama, Takahiro; Zhang, Xingqi; Tanaka, Kenji; Takara, Kaoru; Yang, Hong

2017-05-15

Low impact development (LID) has attracted growing attention as an important approach for urban flood mitigation. Most studies evaluating LID performance for mitigating floods focus on the changes of peak flow and runoff volume. This paper assessed the performance of LID practices for mitigating flood inundation hazards as retrofitting technologies in an urbanized watershed in Nanjing, China. The findings indicate that LID practices are effective for flood inundation mitigation at the watershed scale, and especially for reducing inundated areas with a high flood hazard risk. Various scenarios of LID implementation levels can reduce total inundated areas by 2%-17% and areas with a high flood hazard level by 6%-80%. Permeable pavement shows better performance than rainwater harvesting against mitigating urban waterlogging. The most efficient scenario is combined rainwater harvesting on rooftops with a cistern capacity of 78.5 mm and permeable pavement installed on 75% of non-busy roads and other impervious surfaces. Inundation modeling is an effective approach to obtaining the information necessary to guide decision-making for designing LID practices at watershed scales. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A multi-sensor data-driven methodology for all-sky passive microwave inundation retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Takbiri, Zeinab; Ebtehaj, Ardeshir M.; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi

2017-06-01

We present a multi-sensor Bayesian passive microwave retrieval algorithm for flood inundation mapping at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The algorithm takes advantage of observations from multiple sensors in optical, short-infrared, and microwave bands, thereby allowing for detection and mapping of the sub-pixel fraction of inundated areas under almost all-sky conditions. The method relies on a nearest-neighbor search and a modern sparsity-promoting inversion method that make use of an a priori dataset in the form of two joint dictionaries. These dictionaries contain almost overlapping observations by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS) on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F17 satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Aqua and Terra satellites. Evaluation of the retrieval algorithm over the Mekong Delta shows that it is capable of capturing to a good degree the inundation diurnal variability due to localized convective precipitation. At longer timescales, the results demonstrate consistency with the ground-based water level observations, denoting that the method is properly capturing inundation seasonal patterns in response to regional monsoonal rain. The calculated Euclidean distance, rank-correlation, and also copula quantile analysis demonstrate a good agreement between the outputs of the algorithm and the observed water levels at monthly and daily timescales. The current inundation products are at a resolution of 12.5 km and taken twice per day, but a higher resolution (order of 5 km and every 3 h) can be achieved using the same algorithm with the dictionary populated by the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) products.

A multi-sensor data-driven methodology for all-sky passive microwave inundation retrieval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Takbiri

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We present a multi-sensor Bayesian passive microwave retrieval algorithm for flood inundation mapping at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The algorithm takes advantage of observations from multiple sensors in optical, short-infrared, and microwave bands, thereby allowing for detection and mapping of the sub-pixel fraction of inundated areas under almost all-sky conditions. The method relies on a nearest-neighbor search and a modern sparsity-promoting inversion method that make use of an a priori dataset in the form of two joint dictionaries. These dictionaries contain almost overlapping observations by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP F17 satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS on board the Aqua and Terra satellites. Evaluation of the retrieval algorithm over the Mekong Delta shows that it is capable of capturing to a good degree the inundation diurnal variability due to localized convective precipitation. At longer timescales, the results demonstrate consistency with the ground-based water level observations, denoting that the method is properly capturing inundation seasonal patterns in response to regional monsoonal rain. The calculated Euclidean distance, rank-correlation, and also copula quantile analysis demonstrate a good agreement between the outputs of the algorithm and the observed water levels at monthly and daily timescales. The current inundation products are at a resolution of 12.5 km and taken twice per day, but a higher resolution (order of 5 km and every 3 h can be achieved using the same algorithm with the dictionary populated by the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM Microwave Imager (GMI products.

Flood Inundation Mapping and Emergency Operations during Hurricane Harvey

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, N. Z.; Cotter, J.; Gao, S.; Bedient, P. B.; Yung, A.; Penland, C.

2017-12-01

Hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf Coast as Category 4 on August 25, 2017 with devastating and life-threatening floods in Texas. Harris County received up to 49 inches of rainfall over a 5-day period and experienced flooding level and impacts beyond any previous storm in Houston's history. The depth-duration-frequency analysis reveals that the areal average rainfall for Brays Bayou surpasses the 500-year rainfall in both 24 and 48 hours. To cope with this unprecedented event, the researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington and Rice University worked closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the National Weather Service (NWS), the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc. and Halff Associates, to conduct a series of meteorological, hydrologic and hydraulic analyses to delineate flood inundation maps. Up to eight major watersheds in Harris County were delineated based the available QPE data from WGRFC. The inundation map over Brays Bayou with their impacts from Hurricane Harvey was delineated in comparison with those of 100-, 500-year, and Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) design storms. This presentation will provide insights for both engineers and planners to re-evaluate the existing flood infrastructure and policy, which will help build Houston stronger for future extreme storms. The collaborative effort among the federal, academic, and private entities clearly demonstrates an effective approach for flood inundation mapping initiatives for the nation.

Flood-inundation maps for the North Branch Elkhart River at Cosperville, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Moon H.; Johnson, Esther M.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a reach of the North Branch Elkhart River at Cosperville, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 04100222, North Branch Elkhart River at Cosperville, Ind. Current conditions for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/uv?site_no=04100222. In addition, information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS AHPS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages, including the North Branch Elkhart River at Cosperville, Ind. NWS AHPS-forecast peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. For this study, flood profiles were computed for the North Branch Elkhart River reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at USGS streamgage 04100222, North Branch Elkhart River at Cosperville, Ind., and preliminary high-water marks from the flood of March 1982. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to determine four water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to the highest stage of the current stage-discharge rating curve. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system (GIS

Flood-inundation maps for the East Fork White River near Bedford, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 1.8-mile reach of the East Fork White River near Bedford, Indiana (Ind.) were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selectedwater levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 03371500, East Fork White River near Bedford, Ind. Current conditions for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/uv?site_no=03371500. In addition, information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages, including the East Fork White River near Bedford, Ind. NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. For this study, flood profiles were computed for the East Fork White River reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at USGS streamgage 03371500, East Fork White River near Bedford, Ind., and documented high-water marks from the flood of June 2008. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to determine 20 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to the highest stage of the current stage-discharge rating curve. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system (GIS) digital elevation model (DEM, derived from

Modeling Flood Inundation Induced by River Flow and Storm Surges over a River Basin

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Wei-Bo Chen

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Low-lying coastal regions and their populations are at risk during storm surge events and high freshwater discharges from upriver. An integrated storm surge and flood inundation modeling system was used to simulate storm surge and inundation in the Tsengwen River basin and the adjacent coastal area in southern Taiwan. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model with an unstructured grid was used, which was driven by the tidal elevation at the open boundaries and freshwater discharge at the upriver boundary. The model was validated against the observed water levels for three typhoon events. The simulation results for the model were in reasonable agreement with the observational data. The model was then applied to investigate the effects of a storm surge, freshwater discharge, and a storm surge combined with freshwater discharge during an extreme typhoon event. The super Typhoon Haiyan (2013 was artificially shifted to hit Taiwan: the modeling results showed that the inundation area and depth would cause severe overbank flow and coastal flooding for a 200 year return period flow. A high-resolution grid model is essential for the accurate simulation of storm surges and inundation.

Development of flood-inundation maps for the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Science.gov (United States)

Czuba, Christiana R.; Fallon, James D.; Lewis, Corby R.; Cooper, Diane F.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.3-mile reach of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota, were developed through a multi-agency effort by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and in collaboration with the National Weather Service. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the U.S. Geological Survey Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ and the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service site at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/inundation.php, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the U.S. Geological Survey streamgage at the Mississippi River at Saint Paul (05331000). The National Weather Service forecasted peak-stage information at the streamgage may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the Mississippi River by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated using the most recent stage-discharge relation at the Robert Street location (rating curve number 38.0) of the Mississippi River at Saint Paul (streamgage 05331000), as well as an approximate water-surface elevation-discharge relation at the Mississippi River at South Saint Paul (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers streamgage SSPM5). The model also was verified against observed high-water marks from the recent 2011 flood event and the water-surface profile from existing flood insurance studies. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 25 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals ranging from approximately bankfull stage to greater than the highest recorded stage at streamgage 05331000. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model, derived from high-resolution topography

GIS-BASED PREDICTION OF HURRICANE FLOOD INUNDATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

JUDI, DAVID [Los Alamos National Laboratory; KALYANAPU, ALFRED [Los Alamos National Laboratory; MCPHERSON, TIMOTHY [Los Alamos National Laboratory; BERSCHEID, ALAN [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2007-01-17

A simulation environment is being developed for the prediction and analysis of the inundation consequences for infrastructure systems from extreme flood events. This decision support architecture includes a GIS-based environment for model input development, simulation integration tools for meteorological, hydrologic, and infrastructure system models and damage assessment tools for infrastructure systems. The GIS-based environment processes digital elevation models (30-m from the USGS), land use/cover (30-m NLCD), stream networks from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and soils data from the NRCS (STATSGO) to create stream network, subbasins, and cross-section shapefiles for drainage basins selected for analysis. Rainfall predictions are made by a numerical weather model and ingested in gridded format into the simulation environment. Runoff hydrographs are estimated using Green-Ampt infiltration excess runoff prediction and a 1D diffusive wave overland flow routing approach. The hydrographs are fed into the stream network and integrated in a dynamic wave routing module using the EPA's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to predict flood depth. The flood depths are then transformed into inundation maps and exported for damage assessment. Hydrologic/hydraulic results are presented for Tropical Storm Allison.

Flood-inundation maps for the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Roland, Mark A.; Underwood, Stacey M.; Thomas, Craig M.; Miller, Jason F.; Pratt, Benjamin A.; Hogan, Laurie G.; Wnek, Patricia A.

2014-01-01

A series of 28 digital flood-inundation maps was developed for an approximate 25-mile reach of the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The study was selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) national Silver Jackets program, which supports interagency teams at the state level to coordinate and collaborate on flood-risk management. This study to produce flood-inundation maps was the result of a collaborative effort between the USACE, National Weather Service (NWS), Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), The Harrisburg Authority, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These maps are accessible through Web-mapping applications associated with the NWS, SRBC, and USGS. The maps can be used in conjunction with the real-time stage data from the USGS streamgage 01570500, Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pa., and NWS flood-stage forecasts to help guide the general public in taking individual safety precautions and will provide local municipal officials with a tool to efficiently manage emergency flood operations and flood mitigation efforts. The maps were developed using the USACE HEC–RAS and HEC–GeoRAS programs to compute water-surface profiles and to delineate estimated flood-inundation areas for selected stream stages. The maps show estimated flood-inundation areas overlaid on high-resolution, georeferenced, aerial photographs of the study area for stream stages at 1-foot intervals between 11 feet and 37 feet (which include NWS flood categories Action, Flood, Moderate, and Major) and the June 24, 1972, peak-of-record flood event at a stage of 33.27 feet at the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pa., streamgage.

Tsunami inundation variability from stochastic rupture scenarios: Application to multiple inversions of the 2011 Tohoku, Japan earthquake

KAUST Repository

Mori, Nobuhito; Mai, Paul Martin; Goda, Katsuichiro; Yasuda, Tomohiro

2017-01-01

earthquake in the Tohoku region to conduct thorough sensitivity analyses and to quantify the inundation variability. The numerical results indicate a strong influence of the reference source models on inundation variability, and demonstrate significant

Predicting Near Real-Time Inundation Occurrence from Complimentary Satellite Microwave Brightness Temperature Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, C. K.; Pan, M.; Wood, E. F.

2017-12-01

Throughout the world, there is an increasing need for new methods and data that can aid decision makers, emergency responders and scientists in the monitoring of flood events as they happen. In many regions, it is possible to examine the extent of historical and real-time inundation occurrence from visible and infrared imagery provided by sensors such as MODIS or the Landsat TM; however, this is not possible in regions that are densely vegetated or are under persistent cloud cover. In addition, there is often a temporal mismatch between the sampling of a particular sensor and a given flood event, leading to limited observations in near real-time. As a result, there is a need for alternative methods that take full advantage of complimentary remotely sensed data sources, such as available microwave brightness temperature observations (e.g., SMAP, SMOS, AMSR2, AMSR-E, and GMI), to aid in the estimation of global flooding. The objective of this work was to develop a high-resolution mapping of inundated areas derived from multiple satellite microwave sensor observations with a daily temporal resolution. This system consists of first retrieving water fractions from complimentary microwave sensors (AMSR-2 and SMAP) which may spatially and temporally overlap in the region of interest. Using additional information in a Random Forest classifier, including high resolution topography and multiple datasets of inundated area (both historical and empirical), the resulting retrievals are spatially downscaled to derive estimates of the extent of inundation at a scale relevant to management and flood response activities ( 90m or better) instead of the relatively coarse resolution water fractions, which are limited by the microwave sensor footprints ( 5-50km). Here we present the training and validation of this method for the 2015 floods that occurred in Houston, Texas. Comparing the predicted inundation against historical occurrence maps derived from the Landsat TM record and MODIS

Selecting protein families for environmental features based on manifold regularization.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Xingpeng; Xu, Weiwei; Park, E K; Li, Guangrong

2014-06-01

Recently, statistics and machine learning have been developed to identify functional or taxonomic features of environmental features or physiological status. Important proteins (or other functional and taxonomic entities) to environmental features can be potentially used as biosensors. A major challenge is how the distribution of protein and gene functions embodies the adaption of microbial communities across environments and host habitats. In this paper, we propose a novel regularization method for linear regression to adapt the challenge. The approach is inspired by local linear embedding (LLE) and we call it a manifold-constrained regularization for linear regression (McRe). The novel regularization procedure also has potential to be used in solving other linear systems. We demonstrate the efficiency and the performance of the approach in both simulation and real data.

Ohio River backwater flood-inundation maps for the Saline and Wabash Rivers in southern Illinois

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Elizabeth A.; Sharpe, Jennifer B.; Soong, David T.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for the Saline and Wabash Rivers referenced to elevations on the Ohio River in southern Illinois were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The inundation maps, accessible through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (gage heights) at the USGS streamgage at Ohio River at Old Shawneetown, Illinois-Kentucky (station number 03381700). Current gage height and flow conditions at this USGS streamgage may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?03381700. In addition, this streamgage is incorporated into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/) by the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often co-located at USGS streamgages. That NWS forecasted peak-stage information, also shown on the Ohio River at Old Shawneetown inundation Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, eight water-surface elevations were mapped at 5-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from just above the NWS Action Stage (31 ft) to above the maximum historical gage height (66 ft). The elevations of the water surfaces were compared to a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) by using a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. These maps, along with information on the Internet regarding current gage heights from USGS streamgages and forecasted stream stages from the NWS, provide emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical for flood response activities such as evacuations and road closures, as well as for post-flood recovery efforts.

Vulnerability of the Nile Delta coastal areas to inundation by sea level rise.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassaan, M A; Abdrabo, M A

2013-08-01

Sea level changes are typically caused by several natural phenomena, including ocean thermal expansion, glacial melt from Greenland and Antarctica. Global average sea level is expected to rise, through the twenty-first century, according to the IPCC projections by between 0.18 and 0.59 cm. Such a rise in sea level will significantly impact coastal area of the Nile Delta, consisting generally of lowland and is densely populated areas and accommodates significant proportion of Egypt's economic activities and built-up areas. The Nile Delta has been examined in several previous studies, which worked under various hypothetical sea level rise (SLR) scenarios and provided different estimates of areas susceptible to inundation due to SLR. The paper intends, in this respect, to identify areas, as well as land use/land cover, susceptible to inundation by SLR based upon most recent scenarios of SLR, by the year 2100 using GIS. The results indicate that about 22.49, 42.18, and 49.22 % of the total area of coastal governorates of the Nile Delta would be susceptible to inundation under different scenarios of SLR. Also, it was found that 15.56 % of the total areas of the Nile Delta that would be vulnerable to inundation due to land subsidence only, even in the absence of any rise in sea level. Moreover, it was found that a considerable proportion of these areas (ranging between 32.32 and 53.66 %) are currently either wetland or undeveloped areas. Furthermore, natural and/or man-made structures, such as the banks of the International Coastal Highway, were found to provide unintended protection to some of these areas. This suggests that the inundation impact of SLR on the Nile Delta is less than previously reported.

Coupled 1D-2D hydrodynamic inundation model for sewer overflow: Influence of modeling parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adeniyi Ganiyu Adeogun

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents outcome of our investigation on the influence of modeling parameters on 1D-2D hydrodynamic inundation model for sewer overflow, developed through coupling of an existing 1D sewer network model (SWMM and 2D inundation model (BREZO. The 1D-2D hydrodynamic model was developed for the purpose of examining flood incidence due to surcharged water on overland surface. The investigation was carried out by performing sensitivity analysis on the developed model. For the sensitivity analysis, modeling parameters, such as mesh resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM resolution and roughness were considered. The outcome of the study shows the model is sensitive to changes in these parameters. The performance of the model is significantly influenced, by the Manning's friction value, the DEM resolution and the area of the triangular mesh. Also, changes in the aforementioned modeling parameters influence the Flood characteristics, such as the inundation extent, the flow depth and the velocity across the model domain. Keywords: Inundation, DEM, Sensitivity analysis, Model coupling, Flooding

Ensemble projection of the sea level rise impact on storm surge and inundation at the coast of Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

Jisan, Mansur Ali; Bao, Shaowu; Pietrafesa, Leonard J.

2018-01-01

The hydrodynamic model Delft3D is used to study the impact of sea level rise (SLR) on storm surge and inundation in the coastal region of Bangladesh. To study the present-day inundation scenario, the tracks of two known tropical cyclones (TC) were used: Aila (Category 1; 2009) and Sidr (Category 5; 2007). Model results were validated with the available observations. Future inundation scenarios were generated by using the strength of TC Sidr, TC Aila and an ensemble of historical TC tracks but incorporating the effect of SLR. Since future change in storm surge inundation under SLR impact is a probabilistic incident, a probable range of future change in the inundated area was calculated by taking into consideration the uncertainties associated with TC tracks, intensities and landfall timing. The model outputs showed that the inundated area for TC Sidr, which was calculated as 1860 km2, would become 31 % larger than the present-day scenario if a SLR of 0.26 m occurred during the mid-21st-century climate scenario. Similarly to that, an increasing trend was found for the end-21st-century climate scenario. It was found that with a SLR of 0.54 m, the inundated area would become 53 % larger than the present-day case. Along with the inundation area, the impact of SLR was examined for changes in future storm surge level. A significant increase of 14 % was found in storm surge level for the case of TC Sidr at Barisal station if a SLR of 0.26 m occurred in the mid-21st century. Similarly to that, an increase of 29 % was found at storm surge level with a SLR of 0.54 m in this location for the end-21st-century climate scenario. Ensemble projections based on uncertainties of future TC events also showed that, for a change of 0.54 m in SLR, the inundated area would range between 3500 and 3750 km2, whereas for present-day SLR simulations it was found within the range of 1000-1250 km2. These results revealed that even if the future TCs remain at the same strength as at present, the

Selection indicates preference in diverse habitats: a ground-nesting bird (Charadrius melodus using reservoir shoreline.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael J Anteau

Full Text Available Animals use proximate cues to select resources that maximize individual fitness. When animals have a diverse array of available habitats, those selected could give insights into true habitat preferences. Since the construction of the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota, Lake Sakakawea (SAK has become an important breeding area for federally threatened piping plovers (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers. We used conditional logistic regression to examine nest-site selection at fine scales (1, 3, and 10 m during summers 2006-2009 by comparing characteristics at 351 nests to those of 668 random sites within nesting territories. Plovers selected sites (1 m(2 that were lower than unused random sites, increasing the risk of nest inundation. Plovers selected nest sites that were flat, had little silt, and at least 1 cobble; they also selected for 3-m radius nest areas that were relatively flat and devoid of vegetation and litter. Ninety percent of nests had <38% coverage of silt and <10% slope at the site, and <15% coverage of vegetation or litter and <31% slope within the 3-m radius. Gravel was selected for at nest sites (11% median, but against in the area 10-m from the nest, suggesting plovers select for patches or strips of gravel. Although elevation is rarely evaluated in studies of ground-nesting birds, our results underscore its importance in habitat-selection studies. Relative to where plovers historically nested, habitat at SAK has more diverse topography, substrate composition, vegetation communities, and greater water-level fluctuations. Accordingly, our results provide an example of how habitat-selection results can be interpreted as habitat preferences because they are not influenced by desired habitats being scarce or absent. Further, our results will be useful for directing habitat conservation for plovers and interpreting other habitat-selection studies.

Forecasting the impact of storm waves and sea-level rise on Midway Atoll and Laysan Island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument—a comparison of passive versus dynamic inundation models

Science.gov (United States)

Storlazzi, Curt D.; Berkowitz, Paul; Reynolds, Michelle H.; Logan, Joshua B.

2013-01-01

Two inundation events in 2011 underscored the potential for elevated water levels to damage infrastructure and affect terrestrial ecosystems on the low-lying Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The goal of this study was to compare passive "bathtub" inundation models based on geographic information systems (GIS) to those that include dynamic water levels caused by wave-induced set-up and run-up for two end-member island morphologies: Midway, a classic atoll with islands on the shallow (2-8 m) atoll rim and a deep, central lagoon; and Laysan, which is characterized by a deep (20-30 m) atoll rim and an island at the center of the atoll. Vulnerability to elevated water levels was assessed using hindcast wind and wave data to drive coupled physics-based numerical wave, current, and water-level models for the atolls. The resulting model data were then used to compute run-up elevations using a parametric run-up equation under both present conditions and future sea-level-rise scenarios. In both geomorphologies, wave heights and wavelengths adjacent to the island shorelines increased more than three times and four times, respectively, with increasing values of sea-level rise, as more deep-water wave energy could propagate over the atoll rim and larger wind-driven waves could develop on the atoll. Although these increases in water depth resulted in decreased set-up along the islands’ shorelines, the larger wave heights and longer wavelengths due to sea-level rise increased the resulting wave-induced run-up. Run-up values were spatially heterogeneous and dependent on the direction of incident wave direction, bathymetry, and island configuration. Island inundation was modeled to increase substantially when wave-driven effects were included, suggesting that inundation and impacts to infrastructure and terrestrial habitats will occur at lower values of predicted sea-level rise, and thus sooner in the 21st century, than suggested

Influence of urban pattern on inundation flow in floodplains of lowland rivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruwier, M; Mustafa, A; Aliaga, D G; Archambeau, P; Erpicum, S; Nishida, G; Zhang, X; Pirotton, M; Teller, J; Dewals, B

2018-05-01

The objective of this paper is to investigate the respective influence of various urban pattern characteristics on inundation flow. A set of 2000 synthetic urban patterns were generated using an urban procedural model providing locations and shapes of streets and buildings over a square domain of 1×1km 2 . Steady two-dimensional hydraulic computations were performed over the 2000 urban patterns with identical hydraulic boundary conditions. To run such a large amount of simulations, the computational efficiency of the hydraulic model was improved by using an anisotropic porosity model. This model computes on relatively coarse computational cells, but preserves information from the detailed topographic data through porosity parameters. Relationships between urban characteristics and the computed inundation water depths have been based on multiple linear regressions. Finally, a simple mechanistic model based on two district-scale porosity parameters, combining several urban characteristics, is shown to capture satisfactorily the influence of urban characteristics on inundation water depths. The findings of this study give guidelines for more flood-resilient urban planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Testing projected wild bee distributions in agricultural habitats: predictive power depends on species traits and habitat type.

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Leon; Carvalheiro, Luísa G; Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús; Bos, Merijn; de Groot, G Arjen; Kleijn, David; Potts, Simon G; Reemer, Menno; Roberts, Stuart; Scheper, Jeroen; Biesmeijer, Jacobus C

2015-10-01

Species distribution models (SDM) are increasingly used to understand the factors that regulate variation in biodiversity patterns and to help plan conservation strategies. However, these models are rarely validated with independently collected data and it is unclear whether SDM performance is maintained across distinct habitats and for species with different functional traits. Highly mobile species, such as bees, can be particularly challenging to model. Here, we use independent sets of occurrence data collected systematically in several agricultural habitats to test how the predictive performance of SDMs for wild bee species depends on species traits, habitat type, and sampling technique. We used a species distribution modeling approach parametrized for the Netherlands, with presence records from 1990 to 2010 for 193 Dutch wild bees. For each species, we built a Maxent model based on 13 climate and landscape variables. We tested the predictive performance of the SDMs with independent datasets collected from orchards and arable fields across the Netherlands from 2010 to 2013, using transect surveys or pan traps. Model predictive performance depended on species traits and habitat type. Occurrence of bee species specialized in habitat and diet was better predicted than generalist bees. Predictions of habitat suitability were also more precise for habitats that are temporally more stable (orchards) than for habitats that suffer regular alterations (arable), particularly for small, solitary bees. As a conservation tool, SDMs are best suited to modeling rarer, specialist species than more generalist and will work best in long-term stable habitats. The variability of complex, short-term habitats is difficult to capture in such models and historical land use generally has low thematic resolution. To improve SDMs' usefulness, models require explanatory variables and collection data that include detailed landscape characteristics, for example, variability of crops and

Flood-inundation maps for a 12.5-mile reach of Big Papillion Creek at Omaha, Nebraska

Science.gov (United States)

Strauch, Kellan R.; Dietsch, Benjamin J.; Anderson, Kayla J.

2016-03-22

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 12.5-mile reach of the Big Papillion Creek from 0.6 mile upstream from the State Street Bridge to the 72nd Street Bridge in Omaha, Nebraska, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Big Papillion Creek at Fort Street at Omaha, Nebraska (station 06610732). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site.

Development of method for evaluating estimated inundation area by using river flood analysis based on multiple flood scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, T.; Takahashi, T.

2017-12-01

Non-structural mitigation measures such as flood hazard map based on estimated inundation area have been more important because heavy rains exceeding the design rainfall frequently occur in recent years. However, conventional method may lead to an underestimation of the area because assumed locations of dike breach in river flood analysis are limited to the cases exceeding the high-water level. The objective of this study is to consider the uncertainty of estimated inundation area with difference of the location of dike breach in river flood analysis. This study proposed multiple flood scenarios which can set automatically multiple locations of dike breach in river flood analysis. The major premise of adopting this method is not to be able to predict the location of dike breach correctly. The proposed method utilized interval of dike breach which is distance of dike breaches placed next to each other. That is, multiple locations of dike breach were set every interval of dike breach. The 2D shallow water equations was adopted as the governing equation of river flood analysis, and the leap-frog scheme with staggered grid was used. The river flood analysis was verified by applying for the 2015 Kinugawa river flooding, and the proposed multiple flood scenarios was applied for the Akutagawa river in Takatsuki city. As the result of computation in the Akutagawa river, a comparison with each computed maximum inundation depth of dike breaches placed next to each other proved that the proposed method enabled to prevent underestimation of estimated inundation area. Further, the analyses on spatial distribution of inundation class and maximum inundation depth in each of the measurement points also proved that the optimum interval of dike breach which can evaluate the maximum inundation area using the minimum assumed locations of dike breach. In brief, this study found the optimum interval of dike breach in the Akutagawa river, which enabled estimated maximum inundation area

Seasonal water stress tolerance and habitat associations within four neotropical tree genera.

Science.gov (United States)

Baraloto, Christopher; Morneau, François; Bonal, Damien; Blanc, Lilian; Ferry, Bruno

2007-02-01

We investigated the relationship between habitat association and physiological performance in four congeneric species pairs exhibiting contrasting distributions between seasonally flooded and terra firme habitats in lowland tropical rain forests of French Guiana, including Virola and Iryanthera (Myristicaceae), Symphonia (Clusiaceae), and Eperua (Caesalpiniaceae). We analyzed 10-year data sets of mapped and measured saplings (stems >150 cm in height and or =10 cm dbh) across 37.5 ha of permanent plots covering a 300-ha zone, within which seasonally flooded areas (where the water table never descends below 1 m) have been mapped. Additionally, we tested the response of growth, survival, and leaf functional traits of these species to drought and flood stress in a controlled experiment. We tested for habitat preference using a modification of the torus translation method. Strong contrasting associations of the species pairs of Iryanthera, Virola, and Symphonia were observed at the sapling stage, and these associations strengthened for the tree stage. Neither species of Eperua was significantly associated with flooded habitats at the sapling stage, but E. falcata was significantly and positively associated with flooded forests at the tree stage, and trees of E. grandiflora were found almost exclusively in nonflooded habitats. Differential performance provided limited explanatory support for the observed habitat associations, with only congeners of Iryanthera exhibiting divergent sapling survival and tree growth. Seedlings of species associated with flooded forest tended to have higher photosynthetic capacity than their congeners at field capacity. In addition, they tended to have the largest reductions in leaf gas exchange and growth rate in response to experimental drought stress and the least reductions in response to experimental inundation. The corroboration of habitat association with differences in functional traits and, to a lesser extent, measures of performance

Effects on the upstream flood inundation caused from the operation of Chao Phraya Dam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sutham Visutimeteegorn

2007-11-01

Full Text Available During the flooding events, the operation of Chao Phraya Dam to control downstream water discharge is one of the causes of the inundation occuring over the upstream area. The purposes of this research are to study the effects of the operation of Chao Phraya Dam upon the upstream flood inundation and to find out the new measures of the flood mitigation in the upstream areas of Chao Phraya Dam by using a hydrodynamic model. The results show that Manning's n in the Chao Phraya River and its tributaries is 0.030-0.035 in the main channels and 0.050-0.070 in the flood plain areas. The backwater due to the operation of the Chao Praya dam affects as far as 110 kilometers upstream. New methods of water diversion can mitigate the flood inundation without the effect on the floating rice fields. The construction of reservoirs in the Upper Sakaekang River Basin and the Upper Yom River Basin will mitigate the flood not only in their own basins but also in the Lower Chao Phraya River Basin. The coordinated operation of the Chao Phraya Dam, the regulators and the upper basin reservoirs will efficiently mitigate the flood inundation.

Test operation of a real-time tsunami inundation forecast system using actual data observed by S-net

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, W.; Yamamoto, N.; Miyoshi, T.; Aoi, S.

2017-12-01

If the tsunami inundation information can be rapidly and stably forecast before the large tsunami attacks, the information would have effectively people realize the impeding danger and necessity of evacuation. Toward that goal, we have developed a prototype system to perform the real-time tsunami inundation forecast for Chiba prefecture, eastern Japan, using off-shore ocean bottom pressure data observed by the seafloor observation network for earthquakes and tsunamis along the Japan Trench (S-net) (Aoi et al., 2015, AGU). Because tsunami inundation simulation requires a large computation cost, we employ a database approach searching the pre-calculated tsunami scenarios that reasonably explain the observed S-net pressure data based on the multi-index method (Yamamoto et al., 2016, EPS). The scenario search is regularly repeated, not triggered by the occurrence of the tsunami event, and the forecast information is generated from the selected scenarios that meet the criterion. Test operation of the prototype system using the actual observation data started in April, 2017 and the performance and behavior of the system during non-tsunami event periods have been examined. It is found that the treatment of the noises affecting the observed data is the main issue to be solved toward the improvement of the system. Even if the observed pressure data are filtered to extract the tsunami signals, the noises in ordinary times or unusually large noises like high ocean waves due to storm affect the comparison between the observed and scenario data. Due to the noises, the tsunami scenarios are selected and the tsunami is forecast although any tsunami event does not actually occur. In most cases, the selected scenarios due to the noises have the fault models in the region along the Kurile or Izu-Bonin Trenches, far from the S-net region, or the fault models below the land. Based on the parallel operation of the forecast system with a different scenario search condition and

Inundation Analysis of Reservoir Flood Based on Computer Aided Design (CAD and Digital Elevation Model (DEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiqing Li

2018-04-01

Full Text Available GIS (Geographic Information System can be used to combine multiple hydrologic data and geographic data for FIA (Flood Impact Assessment. For a developing country like China, a lot of geographic data is in the CAD (Computer Aided Design format. The commonly used method for converting CAD into DEM may result in data loss. This paper introduces a solution for the conversion between CAD data and DEM data. The method has been applied to the FIA based on the topographic map of CAD in Hanjiang River. When compared with the other method, the new method solves the data loss problem. Besides, the paper use GIS to simulate the inundation range, area, and the depth distribution of flood backwater. Based on the analysis, the author concludes: (1 the differences of the inundation areas between the flood of HQ100 and the flood of HQ50 are small. (2 The inundation depth shows a decreasing trend along the upstream of the river. (3 The inundation area less than 4 m in flood of HQ50 is larger than that in flood of HQ100, the result is opposite when the inundation depth is greater than 4 m. (4 The flood loss is 392.32 million RMB for flood of HQ50 and 610.02 million RMB for flood of HQ100. The method can be applied to FIA.

Flood-inundation maps for the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Lombard, Pamela J.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.3-mi reach of the Wabash River from 0.1 mi downstream of the Interstate 70 bridge to 1.1 miles upstream of the Route 63 bridge, Terre Haute, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to select water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage Wabash River at Terre Haute (station number 03341500). Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/uv/?site_no=03341500&agency_cd=USGS&p"). In addition, the same data are provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps//). Within this system, the NWS forecasts flood hydrographs for the Wabash River at Terre Haute that may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relation at the Wabash River at the Terre Haute streamgage. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 22 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-ft interval referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bank-full to approximately the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data having a 0.37-ft vertical accuracy and a 1.02-ft horizontal accuracy) to delineate the area flooded at each water

Projected inundations on the South African coast by tsunami waves

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Hayley.Cawthra

wind waves and swells, and because of its relatively short period, .... Inundation modelling attempts to recreate the tsunami generation in deep or ... The preservation of tsunami deposits in the coastal geological record is a function of the.

Tsunami inundation variability from stochastic rupture scenarios: Application to multiple inversions of the 2011 Tohoku, Japan earthquake

KAUST Repository

Mori, Nobuhito

2017-06-28

We develop a framework for assessing the sensitivity and variability of tsunami inundation characteristics for stochastic physics-based scenarios of mega-thrust subduction earthquakes. The method is applied to the 2011 Tohoku, Japan earthquake, and tested against observed inundation maps at several locations along the Tohoku coast, using 11 different, previously published, rupture models for this devastating tsunamgenic earthquake. The earthquake rupture models differ in fault dimension (length and width), geometry (dip, strike and top-edge depth), as well as asperity characteristics (slip heterogeneity on the fault plane). The resulting source variability allows exploring a wide range of tsunami scenarios for an Mw9 mega-thrust subduction earthquake in the Tohoku region to conduct thorough sensitivity analyses and to quantify the inundation variability. The numerical results indicate a strong influence of the reference source models on inundation variability, and demonstrate significant sensitivity of inundation to the details of the rupture realization. Therefore, relying on a single particular earthquake rupture model as a representative case when varying earthquake source characteristics may lead to under-representation of the variability of potential scenarios. Moreover, the proposed framework facilitates the rigorous development of critical scenarios for tsunami hazard and risk assessments, which are particularly useful for tsunami hazard mapping and disaster preparedness planning.

Flood-inundation maps for the DuPage River from Plainfield to Shorewood, Illinois, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Elizabeth A.; Sharpe, Jennifer B.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 15.5-mi reach of the DuPage River from Plainfield to Shorewood, Illinois, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Will County Stormwater Management Planning Committee. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (gage heights or stages) at the USGS streamgage at DuPage River at Shorewood, Illinois (sta. no. 05540500). Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?05540500. In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages. The NWS-forecasted peak-stage information, also shown on the DuPage River at Shorewood inundation Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was then used to determine nine water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from NWS Action stage of 6 ft to the historic crest of 14.0 ft. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (derived from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data) by using a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. These maps, along with information on the Internet regarding current gage height from USGS streamgages and forecasted stream stages from the NWS, provide emergency

Variability of tsunami inundation footprints considering stochastic scenarios based on a single rupture model: Application to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

KAUST Repository

Goda, Katsuichiro

2015-06-30

The sensitivity and variability of spatial tsunami inundation footprints in coastal cities and towns due to a megathrust subduction earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan are investigated by considering different fault geometry and slip distributions. Stochastic tsunami scenarios are generated based on the spectral analysis and synthesis method with regards to an inverted source model. To assess spatial inundation processes accurately, tsunami modeling is conducted using bathymetry and elevation data with 50 m grid resolutions. Using the developed methodology for assessing variability of tsunami hazard estimates, stochastic inundation depth maps can be generated for local coastal communities. These maps are important for improving disaster preparedness by understanding the consequences of different situations/conditions, and by communicating uncertainty associated with hazard predictions. The analysis indicates that the sensitivity of inundation areas to the geometrical parameters (i.e., top-edge depth, strike, and dip) depends on the tsunami source characteristics and the site location, and is therefore complex and highly nonlinear. The variability assessment of inundation footprints indicates significant influence of slip distributions. In particular, topographical features of the region, such as ria coast and near-shore plain, have major influence on the tsunami inundation footprints.

Flood Inundation Modelling Under Uncertainty Using Globally and Freely Available Remote Sensing Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, K.; Di Baldassarre, G.; Giustarini, L.; Solomatine, D. P.

2012-04-01

The extreme consequences of recent catastrophic events have highlighted that flood risk prevention still needs to be improved to reduce human losses and economic damages, which have considerably increased worldwide in recent years. Flood risk management and long term floodplain planning are vital for living with floods, which is the currently proposed approach to cope with floods. To support the decision making processes, a significant issue is the availability of data to build appropriate and reliable models, from which the needed information could be obtained. The desirable data for model building, calibration and validation are often not sufficient or available. A unique opportunity is offered nowadays by globally available data which can be freely downloaded from internet. This might open new opportunities for filling the gap between available and needed data, in order to build reliable models and potentially lead to the development of global inundation models to produce floodplain maps for the entire globe. However, there remains the question of what is the real potential of those global remote sensing data, characterized by different accuracy, for global inundation monitoring and how to integrate them with inundation models. This research aims at contributing to understand whether the current globally and freely available remote sensing data (e.g. SRTM, SAR) can be actually used to appropriately support inundation modelling. In this study, the SRTM DEM is used for hydraulic model building, while ENVISAT-ASAR satellite imagery is used for model validation. To test the usefulness of these globally and freely available data, a model based on the high resolution LiDAR DEM and ground data (high water marks) is used as benchmark. The work is carried out on a data-rich test site: the River Alzette in the north of Luxembourg City. Uncertainties are estimated for both SRTM and LiDAR based models. Probabilistic flood inundation maps are produced under the framework of

Modelling tsunami inundation for risk analysis at the Andaman Sea Coast of Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, G.; Kortenhaus, A.

2009-04-01

The mega-tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004 strongly impacted the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand and devastated coastal ecosystems as well as towns, settlements and tourism resorts. In addition to the tragic loss of many lives, the destruction or damage of life-supporting infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, water & power supply etc. caused high economic losses in the region. To mitigate future tsunami impacts there is a need to assess the tsunami hazard and vulnerability in flood prone areas at the Andaman Sea coast in order to determine the spatial distribution of risk and to develop risk management strategies. In the bilateral German-Thai project TRAIT research is performed on integrated risk assessment for the Provinces Phang Nga and Phuket in southern Thailand, including a hazard analysis, i.e. modelling tsunami propagation to the coast, tsunami wave breaking and inundation characteristics, as well as vulnerability analysis of the socio-economic and the ecological system in order to determine the scenario-based, specific risk for the region. In this presentation results of the hazard analysis and the inundation simulation are presented and discussed. Numerical modelling of tsunami propagation and inundation simulation is an inevitable tool for risk analysis, risk management and evacuation planning. While numerous investigations have been made to model tsunami wave generation and propagation in the Indian Ocean, there is still a lack in determining detailed inundation patterns, i.e. water depth and flow dynamics. However, for risk management and evacuation planning this knowledge is essential. As the accuracy of the inundation simulation is strongly depending on the available bathymetric and the topographic data, a multi-scale approach is chosen in this work. The ETOPO Global Relief Model as a bathymetric basis and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM90) have been widely applied in tsunami modelling approaches as these data are free and almost world

Flood evolution assessment and monitoring using hydrological modelling techniques: analysis of the inundation areas at a regional scale

Science.gov (United States)

Podhoranyi, M.; Kuchar, S.; Portero, A.

2016-08-01

The primary objective of this study is to present techniques that cover usage of a hydrodynamic model as the main tool for monitoring and assessment of flood events while focusing on modelling of inundation areas. We analyzed the 2010 flood event (14th May - 20th May) that occurred in the Moravian-Silesian region (Czech Republic). Under investigation were four main catchments: Opava, Odra, Olše and Ostravice. Four hydrodynamic models were created and implemented into the Floreon+ platform in order to map inundation areas that arose during the flood event. In order to study the dynamics of the water, we applied an unsteady flow simulation for the entire area (HEC-RAS 4.1). The inundation areas were monitored, evaluated and recorded semi-automatically by means of the Floreon+ platform. We focused on information about the extent and presence of the flood areas. The modeled flooded areas were verified by comparing them with real data from different sources (official reports, aerial photos and hydrological networks). The study confirmed that hydrodynamic modeling is a very useful tool for mapping and monitoring of inundation areas. Overall, our models detected 48 inundation areas during the 2010 flood event.

Analysis of flood inundation in ungauged basins based on multi-source remote sensing data.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Wei; Shen, Qiu; Zhou, Yuehua; Li, Xin

2018-02-09

Floods are among the most expensive natural hazards experienced in many places of the world and can result in heavy losses of life and economic damages. The objective of this study is to analyze flood inundation in ungauged basins by performing near-real-time detection with flood extent and depth based on multi-source remote sensing data. Via spatial distribution analysis of flood extent and depth in a time series, the inundation condition and the characteristics of flood disaster can be reflected. The results show that the multi-source remote sensing data can make up the lack of hydrological data in ungauged basins, which is helpful to reconstruct hydrological sequence; the combination of MODIS (moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer) surface reflectance productions and the DFO (Dartmouth Flood Observatory) flood database can achieve the macro-dynamic monitoring of the flood inundation in ungauged basins, and then the differential technique of high-resolution optical and microwave images before and after floods can be used to calculate flood extent to reflect spatial changes of inundation; the monitoring algorithm for the flood depth combining RS and GIS is simple and easy and can quickly calculate the depth with a known flood extent that is obtained from remote sensing images in ungauged basins. Relevant results can provide effective help for the disaster relief work performed by government departments.

Flood-Inundation Maps for Sugar Creek at Crawfordsville, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Zachary W.

2016-06-06

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.5-mile reach of Sugar Creek at Crawfordsville, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage 03339500, Sugar Creek at Crawfordsville, Ind. Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site (NWS site CRWI3).Flood profiles were computed for the USGS streamgage 03339500, Sugar Creek at Crawfordsville, Ind., reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater hydraulic modeling software developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydraulic model was calibrated using the current stage-discharge rating at the USGS streamgage 03339500, Sugar Creek at Crawfordsville, Ind., and high-water marks from the flood of April 19, 2013, which reached a stage of 15.3 feet. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 13 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from 4.0 ft (the NWS “action stage”) to 16.0 ft, which is the highest stage interval of the current USGS stage-discharge rating curve and 2 ft higher than the NWS “major flood stage.” The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Geographic Information System digital elevation model (derived from light detection and ranging [lidar]) data having a 0.49-ft root mean squared error and 4.9-ft horizontal resolution) to delineate the area flooded at each stage.The availability

Parallel simulation of tsunami inundation on a large-scale supercomputer

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Y.; Imamura, F.; Sugawara, D.

2013-12-01

An accurate prediction of tsunami inundation is important for disaster mitigation purposes. One approach is to approximate the tsunami wave source through an instant inversion analysis using real-time observation data (e.g., Tsushima et al., 2009) and then use the resulting wave source data in an instant tsunami inundation simulation. However, a bottleneck of this approach is the large computational cost of the non-linear inundation simulation and the computational power of recent massively parallel supercomputers is helpful to enable faster than real-time execution of a tsunami inundation simulation. Parallel computers have become approximately 1000 times faster in 10 years (www.top500.org), and so it is expected that very fast parallel computers will be more and more prevalent in the near future. Therefore, it is important to investigate how to efficiently conduct a tsunami simulation on parallel computers. In this study, we are targeting very fast tsunami inundation simulations on the K computer, currently the fastest Japanese supercomputer, which has a theoretical peak performance of 11.2 PFLOPS. One computing node of the K computer consists of 1 CPU with 8 cores that share memory, and the nodes are connected through a high-performance torus-mesh network. The K computer is designed for distributed-memory parallel computation, so we have developed a parallel tsunami model. Our model is based on TUNAMI-N2 model of Tohoku University, which is based on a leap-frog finite difference method. A grid nesting scheme is employed to apply high-resolution grids only at the coastal regions. To balance the computation load of each CPU in the parallelization, CPUs are first allocated to each nested layer in proportion to the number of grid points of the nested layer. Using CPUs allocated to each layer, 1-D domain decomposition is performed on each layer. In the parallel computation, three types of communication are necessary: (1) communication to adjacent neighbours for the

Characterization of Inundated Wetlands with Microwave Remote Sensing: Cross-Product Comparison for Uncertainty Assessment in Tropical Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, K. C.; Jensen, K.; Alvarez, J.; Azarderakhsh, M.; Schroeder, R.; Podest, E.; Chapman, B. D.; Zimmermann, R.

2015-12-01

We have been assembling a global-scale Earth System Data Record (ESDR) of natural Inundated Wetlands to facilitate investigations on their role in climate, biogeochemistry, hydrology, and biodiversity. The ESDR comprises (1) Fine-resolution (100 meter) maps, delineating wetland extent, vegetation type, and seasonal inundation dynamics for regional to continental-scale areas, and (2) global coarse-resolution (~25 km), multi-temporal mappings of inundated area fraction (Fw) across multiple years. During March 2013, the NASA/JPL L-band polarimetric airborne imaging radar, UAVSAR, conducted airborne studies over regions of South America including portions of the western Amazon basin. We collected UAVSAR datasets over regions of the Amazon basin during that time to support systematic analyses of error sources related to the Inundated Wetlands ESDR. UAVSAR datasets were collected over Pacaya Samiria, Peru, Madre de Dios, Peru, and the Napo River in Ecuador. We derive landcover classifications from the UAVSAR datasets emphasizing wetlands regions, identifying regions of open water and inundated vegetation. We compare the UAVSAR-based datasets with those comprising the ESDR to assess uncertainty associated with the high resolution and the coarse resolution ESDR components. Our goal is to create an enhanced ESDR of inundated wetlands with statistically robust uncertainty estimates. The ESDR documentation will include a detailed breakdown of error sources and associated uncertainties within the data record. This work was carried out in part within the framework of the ALOS Kyoto & Carbon Initiative. PALSAR data were provided by JAXA/EORC and the Alaska Satellite Facility. Portions of this work were conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Predicting Impacts of tropical cyclones and sea-Level rise on beach mouse habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Qin; Wang, Hongqing; Wang, Lixia; Tawes, Robert; Rollman, Drew

2014-01-01

Alabama beach mouse (ABM) (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates) is an important component of the coastal dune ecosystem along the Gulf of Mexico. Due to habitat loss and degradation, ABM is federally listed as an endangered species. In this study, we examined the impacts of storm surge and wind waves, which are induced by hurricanes and sea-level rise (SLR), on the ABM habitat on Fort Morgan Peninsula, Alabama, using advanced storm surge and wind wave models and spatial analysis tools in geographic information systems (GIS). Statistical analyses of the long-term historical data enabled us to predict the extreme values of winds, wind waves, and water levels in the study area at different return periods. We developed a series of nested domains for both wave and surge modeling and validated the models using field observations of surge hydrographs and high watermarks of Hurricane Ivan (2004). We then developed wave atlases and flood maps corresponding to the extreme wind, surge and waves without SLR and with a 0.5 m of SLR by coupling the wave and surge prediction models. The flood maps were then merged with a map of ABM habitat to determine the extent and location of habitat impacted by the 100-year storm with and without SLR. Simulation results indicate that more than 82% of ABM habitat would be inundated in such an extreme storm event, especially under SLR, making ABM populations more vulnerable to future storm damage. These results have aided biologists, community planners, and other stakeholders in the identification, restoration and protection of key beach mouse habitat in Alabama. Methods outlined in this paper could also be used to assist in the conservation and recovery of imperiled coastal species elsewhere.

Habitat and hydrology: assessing biological resources of the Suwannee River Estuarine System

Science.gov (United States)

Raabe, Ellen A.; Edwards, Randy E.; McIvor, Carole C.; Grubbs, Jack W.; Dennis, George D.

2007-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a pilot integrated-science study during 2002 and 2003 to map, describe, and evaluate benthic and emergent habitats in the Suwannee River Estuary on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Categories of aquatic, emergent, and terrestrial habitats were determined from hyperspectral imagery and integrated with hydrologic data to identify estuarine fish habitats. Maps of intertidal and benthic habitat were derived from 12-band, 4-m resolution hyperspectral imagery acquired in September 2002. Hydrologic data were collected from tidal creeks during the winter of 2002-03 and the summer-fall of 2003. Fish were sampled from tidal creeks during March 2003 using rivulet nets, throw traps, and seine nets. Habitat characteristics, hydrologic data, and fish assemblages were compared for tidal creeks north and south of the Suwannee River. Tidal creeks north of the river had more shoreline edge and shallow habitat than creeks to the south. Tidal creeks south of the river were generally of lower salinity (fresher) and supported more freshwater marsh and submerged aquatic vegetation. The southern creeks tended to be deeper but less sinuous than the northern creeks. Water quality and inundation were evaluated with hydrologic monitoring in the creeks. In-situ gauges, recording pressure and temperature, documented a net discharge of brackish to saline groundwater into the tidal creeks with pronounced flow during low tide. Groundwater flow into the creeks was most prominent north of the river. Combined fish-sampling results showed an overall greater abundance of organisms and greater species richness in the southern creeks, nominally attributed a greater range in water quality. Fish samples were dominated by juvenile spot, grass shrimp, bay anchovy, and silverside. The short time frame for hydrologic monitoring and the one-time fish-sampling effort were insufficient for forming definitive conclusions. However, the combination of hyperspectral imagery and

Flood inundation maps for the Wabash and Eel Rivers at Logansport, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.3-mile reach of the Wabash River and a 7.6-mile reach of the Eel River at Logansport, Indiana (Ind.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage Wabash River at Logansport, Ind. (sta. no. 03329000) and USGS streamgage Eel River near Logansport, Ind. (sta. no. 03328500). Current conditions for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/. In addition, information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated with USGS streamgages. NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. For this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reaches by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at USGS streamgages 03329000, Wabash River at Logansport, Ind., and 03328500, Eel River near Logansport, Ind. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to determine five water-surface profiles for flood stage at 1-foot intervals referenced to the Wabash River streamgage datum, and four water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the Eel River streamgage datum. The stages range from bankfull to approximately the highest

Assessment of trends in inundation extent in the Barotse Floodplain, upper Zambezi River Basin: A remote sensing-based approach

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Henry Zimba

2018-02-01

New hydrological insights for the region: The results revealed that there is observable inter-annual variability in inundation extent in the Barotse Floodplain with prominent differences demonstrated in both the flood ascending/peak and receding period. For the period 2003–2013 the results indicated a rising trend in inundation extent with a Mann–Kendall Z statistic of 1.71 and increase in magnitude of 33.1 km2 at significance level alpha of 0.05. Strong correlations between inundation extent and water level and between inundation extent and discharge with correlation coefficients of determination of 0.86 and 0.89 respectively were observed. For the period 2000–2011 water level time series showed a rising trend with the Mann–Kendall Z statistic of 2.97 and increase in magnitude of 0.1 m at significance level alpha of 0.05. Overall, during the period 1952–2004 discharge in the floodplain showed a declining trend with Mann–Kendall Z statistics of −2.88 and −3.38 at the inlet and outlet of the floodplain respectively. By correlation inference, the overall inundation extent trend in the floodplain was in a downward movement. Rainfall and discharge variability, high evapotranspiration and the changes in the land cover-use in the catchment of the floodplain are largely the factors affecting the observed variability and trends in inundation extent in the floodplain. The presented remote sensing based approach significantly reduces the need for the expensive and time limiting traditional physical field based wetland inundation mapping methods that form a limitation for achieving progress in wetland monitoring especially in open and sparsely gauged floodplains such as the Barotse.

Real-time flood inundation forecasting and mapping for key railway infrastructure: a UK case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murphy Alexandra T.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Flooding events that impede railway infrastructure can cause severe travel delays for the general public and large fines in delayed minutes for the rail industry. Early warnings of flood inundation can give more time to implement mitigation measures which help reduce cancellations, delays and fines. Initial work is reported on the development of a real-time flood inundation forecasting and mapping system for the Cowley Bridge track area near Exeter, UK. This location is on one of the main access routes to South West England and has suffered major floods in the past resulting in significant transport impacts. Flood forecasting systems in the UK mainly forecast river level/flow rather than extent and depth of flood inundation. Here, the development of a chain of coupled models is discussed that link rainfall to river flow, river level and flood extent for the rail track area relating to Cowley Bridge. Historical events are identified to test model performance in predicting inundation of railway infrastructure. The modelling system will operate alongside a series of in-situ sensors chosen to enhance the flood mapping forecasting system. Sensor data will support offline model calibration/verification and real-time data assimilation as well as monitoring flood conditions to inform track closure decisions.

Run-up and inundation limits along southeast coast of India during the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Jayakumar, S.; Ilangovan, D.; Naik, K.A .; Gowthaman, R.; Tirodkar, G.; Naik, G.N.; Ganesan, P.; ManiMurali, R.; Michael, G.S.; Raman, M.V.; Bhattacharya, G.C.

protected by coastal dunes, had higher inundation values compared to places where the coast is protected by dunes. Also, wherever there are openings in the du nes (either due to anthropogenic acti v ity or due to other reasons), inund a tion...

Flood-inundation maps for the White River at Noblesville, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Zachary W.

2017-11-02

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 7.5-mile reach of the White River at Noblesville, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science website at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the White River at Noblesville, Ind., streamgage (USGS station number 03349000). Real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at the same site as the USGS streamgage (NWS site NBLI3).Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional, step-backwater hydraulic modeling software developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydraulic model was calibrated using the current (2016) stage-discharge rating at the USGS streamgage 03349000, White River at Noblesville, Ind., and documented high-water marks from the floods of September 4, 2003, and May 6, 2017. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 15 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from 10.0 ft (the NWS “action stage”) to 24.0 ft, which is the highest stage interval of the current (2016) USGS stage-discharge rating curve and 2 ft higher than the NWS “major flood stage.” The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from light detection and ranging data having a 0.98-ft vertical accuracy and 4.9-ft horizontal resolution) to delineate the area flooded at each stage.The availability of these maps, along with internet

Comparison of physical and semi-empirical hydraulic models for flood inundation mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Tavakoly, A. A.; Afshari, S.; Omranian, E.; Feng, D.; Rajib, A.; Snow, A.; Cohen, S.; Merwade, V.; Fekete, B. M.; Sharif, H. O.; Beighley, E.

2016-12-01

Various hydraulic/GIS-based tools can be used for illustrating spatial extent of flooding for first-responders, policy makers and the general public. The objective of this study is to compare four flood inundation modeling tools: HEC-RAS-2D, Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA), AutoRoute and Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND). There is a trade-off among accuracy, workability and computational demand in detailed, physics-based flood inundation models (e.g. HEC-RAS-2D and GSSHA) in contrast with semi-empirical, topography-based, computationally less expensive approaches (e.g. AutoRoute and HAND). The motivation for this study is to evaluate this trade-off and offer guidance to potential large-scale application in an operational prediction system. The models were assessed and contrasted via comparability analysis (e.g. overlapping statistics) by using three case studies in the states of Alabama, Texas, and West Virginia. The sensitivity and accuracy of physical and semi-eimpirical models in producing inundation extent were evaluated for the following attributes: geophysical characteristics (e.g. high topographic variability vs. flat natural terrain, urbanized vs. rural zones, effect of surface roughness paratermer value), influence of hydraulic structures such as dams and levees compared to unobstructed flow condition, accuracy in large vs. small study domain, effect of spatial resolution in topographic data (e.g. 10m National Elevation Dataset vs. 0.3m LiDAR). Preliminary results suggest that semi-empericial models tend to underestimate in a flat, urbanized area with controlled/managed river channel around 40% of the inundation extent compared to the physical models, regardless of topographic resolution. However, in places where there are topographic undulations, semi-empericial models attain relatively higher level of accuracy than they do in flat non-urbanized terrain.

Inundation mapping – a study based on December 2004 Tsunami Hazard along Chennai coast, Southeast India

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C. Satheesh Kumar

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Tsunami impact study has been undertaken along Chennai coast starting from Pulicat to Kovalam. The study area Chennai coast is mainly devoted to prepare large scale action plan maps on tsunami inundation incorporating land use details derived from satellite data along with cadastral data using a GIS tool. Under tsunami inundation mapping along Chennai coast an integrated approach was adopted to prepare thematic maps on land use/land cover and coastal geomorphology using multispectral remote sensing data. The RTK dGPS instruments are used to collect elevation contour data at 0.5 m intervals for the Chennai coast. The GIS tool has been used to incorporate the elevation data, tsunami inundation markings obtained immediately after tsunami and thematic maps derived from remote sensing data. The outcome of this study provides an important clue on variations in tsunami inundation along Chennai coast, which is mainly controlled by local geomorphologic set-up, coastal zone elevation including coastal erosion protection measures and near shore bathymetry. This study highlights the information regarding most vulnerable areas of tsunami and also provides indication to demarcate suitable sites for rehabilitation.

Assessing the Influences of a Flood Diversion Project on Mitigating River Stage, Inundation Extent and Economic Loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Bo Chen

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Taiwan usually suffers severe inundation disasters during typhoons and strong rainstorms, and therefore flood mitigation is considered an important issue. To assess the effect of the Yuansantze flood diversion tunnel (YFDT on flood mitigation at the upstream reaches of the Keelung River, a three-dimensional, unstructured grid, Finite-Volume, primitive equation Community Ocean Model (FVCOM was used. The model was validated with observed data for water levels and inundation extent during different typhoon events. The simulated results show a good agreement with field measurements of water level with three historical typhoon events but underestimated the measured inundation extent with Typhoon Nari. The validated model was then applied to assess the flood mitigation and economic loss with the YFDT. The results demonstrated that the river level decreases approximately 3 m with the YFDT and that the inundation extent decreases by more than 50% in the Ruifang District with YFDT. The YDFT aims to not only mitigate hazards but also reduce economic losses. The average annual expected benefit after construction of the YFDT is approximately 184 million NTD in the Ruifang District.

Hurricane Matthew (2016) and its Storm Surge Inundation under Global Warming Scenarios: Application of an Interactively Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model

Science.gov (United States)

Jisan, M. A.; Bao, S.; Pietrafesa, L.; Pullen, J.

2017-12-01

An interactively coupled atmosphere-ocean model was used to investigate the impacts of future ocean warming, both at the surface and the layers below, on the track and intensity of a hurricane and its associated storm surge and inundation. The category-5 hurricane Matthew (2016), which made landfall on the South Carolina coast of the United States, was used for the case study. Future ocean temperature changes and sea level rise (SLR) were estimated based on the projection of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5. After being validated with the present-day observational data, the model was applied to simulate the changes in track, intensity, storm surge and inundation that Hurricane Matthew would cause under future climate change scenarios. It was found that a significant increase in hurricane intensity, storm surge water level, and inundation area for Hurricane Matthew under future ocean warming and SLR scenarios. For example, under the RCP 8.5 scenario, the maximum wind speed would increase by 17 knots (14.2%), the minimum sea level pressure would decrease by 26 hPa (2.85%), and the inundated area would increase by 401 km2 (123%). By including the effect of SLR for the middle-21st-century scenario, the inundated area will further increase by up to 49.6%. The increase in the hurricane intensity and the inundated area was also found for the RCP 2.6 scenario. The response of sea surface temperature was analyzed to investigate the change in intensity. A comparison was made between the impacts when only the sea surface warming is considered versus when both the sea surface and the underneath layers are considered. These results showed that even without the effect of SLR, the storm surge level and the inundated area would be higher due to the increased hurricane intensity under the influence of the future warmer ocean temperature. The coupled effect of ocean warming and SLR would cause the

Dam-breach analysis and flood-inundation mapping for Lakes Ellsworth and Lawtonka near Lawton, Oklahoma

Science.gov (United States)

Rendon, Samuel H.; Ashworth, Chad E.; Smith, S. Jerrod

2012-01-01

Dams provide beneficial functions such as flood control, recreation, and reliable water supplies, but they also entail risk: dam breaches and resultant floods can cause substantial property damage and loss of life. The State of Oklahoma requires each owner of a high-hazard dam, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency defines as dams for which failure or misoperation probably will cause loss of human life, to develop an emergency action plan specific to that dam. Components of an emergency action plan are to simulate a flood resulting from a possible dam breach and map the resulting downstream flood-inundation areas. The resulting flood-inundation maps can provide valuable information to city officials, emergency managers, and local residents for planning the emergency response if a dam breach occurs. Accurate topographic data are vital for developing flood-inundation maps. This report presents results of a cooperative study by the city of Lawton, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to model dam-breach scenarios at Lakes Ellsworth and Lawtonka near Lawton and to map the potential flood-inundation areas of such dam breaches. To assist the city of Lawton with completion of the emergency action plans for Lakes Ellsworth and Lawtonka Dams, the USGS collected light detection and ranging (lidar) data that were used to develop a high-resolution digital elevation model and a 1-foot contour elevation map for the flood plains downstream from Lakes Ellsworth and Lawtonka. This digital elevation model and field measurements, streamflow-gaging station data (USGS streamflow-gaging station 07311000, East Cache Creek near Walters, Okla.), and hydraulic values were used as inputs for the dynamic (unsteady-flow) model, Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (HEC-RAS). The modeled flood elevations were exported to a geographic information system to produce flood-inundation maps. Water-surface profiles were developed for a 75-percent probable maximum

The main regularities of 137Cs accumulation by medicinal plants after nuclear accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orlov, A.A.; Krasnov, V.P.; Get'manchuk, A.I.

2004-01-01

The main regularities of 137 Cs accumulation by medicinal plants after nuclear accidents have been analyzed. Tendencies in study of this problem have been underlined on literary data. The mean values of transfer factor of 137 Cs from soil to medicinal row in different habitat types have been elucidated for Ukrainian Polessye. It was found that species with the wide ecological amplitude were characterized by the highest intensity of 137 Cs accumulation in forest habitats in comparison with non-forest ones. For some species of medicinal plants multiyear dynamics of 137 Cs specific activity has been shown on stationary experimental plots. (author)

A preliminary comparison of hydrodynamic approaches for flood inundation modeling of urban areas in Jakarta Ciliwung river basin

Science.gov (United States)

Rojali, Aditia; Budiaji, Abdul Somat; Pribadi, Yudhistira Satya; Fatria, Dita; Hadi, Tri Wahyu

2017-07-01

This paper addresses on the numerical modeling approaches for flood inundation in urban areas. Decisive strategy to choose between 1D, 2D or even a hybrid 1D-2D model is more than important to optimize flood inundation analyses. To find cost effective yet robust and accurate model has been our priority and motivation in the absence of available High Performance Computing facilities. The application of 1D, 1D/2D and full 2D modeling approach to river flood study in Jakarta Ciliwung river basin, and a comparison of approaches benchmarked for the inundation study are presented. This study demonstrate the successful use of 1D/2D and 2D system to model Jakarta Ciliwung river basin in terms of inundation results and computational aspect. The findings of the study provide an interesting comparison between modeling approaches, HEC-RAS 1D, 1D-2D, 2D, and ANUGA when benchmarked to the Manggarai water level measurement.

UNFOLDED REGULAR AND SEMI-REGULAR POLYHEDRA

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IONIŢĂ Elena

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a presentation unfolding regular and semi-regular polyhedra. Regular polyhedra are convex polyhedra whose faces are regular and equal polygons, with the same number of sides, and whose polyhedral angles are also regular and equal. Semi-regular polyhedra are convex polyhedra with regular polygon faces, several types and equal solid angles of the same type. A net of a polyhedron is a collection of edges in the plane which are the unfolded edges of the solid. Modeling and unfolding Platonic and Arhimediene polyhedra will be using 3dsMAX program. This paper is intended as an example of descriptive geometry applications.

Flood-inundation maps for the East Fork White River at Columbus, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Lombard, Pamela J.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.4-mile reach of the East Fork White River at Columbus, Indiana, from where the Flatrock and Driftwood Rivers combine to make up East Fork White River to just upstream of the confluence of Clifty Creek with the East Fork White River, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 03364000, East Fork White River at Columbus, Indiana. Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/uv/?site_no=03364000&agency_cd=USGS&). The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts flood hydrographs for the East Fork White River at Columbus, Indiana at their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system Website (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/), that may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation at USGS streamgage 03364000, East Fork White River at Columbus, Indiana. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to determine 15 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to approximately the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data), having a 0.37-ft vertical accuracy and a 1.02 ft

Niagara pumping generation station inundation mapping and consequence analysis with ArcGIS and Mike 21

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grover, Patrick; Khayer, Yasmin; Naumov, Aleksey [4DM Inc., Toronto, (Canada); Zhang, Yibing [Ontario Power Generation, Toronto, (Canada)

2010-07-01

Inundation mapping is a key factor of Ontario Power Generation's dam safety program. It is the basis for determining the hazard potential classification of the dam by modelling the consequences of a hypothetical dam failure. This paper presented the project for updating the inundation mapping and consequence analysis study at the Niagara Pump generating station (PGS) reservoir. A complete hydrotechnical assessment of the Niagara PGS reservoir was conducted. The modelling of various breach scenarios was carried out using the 2-D hydrodynamic software MIKE 21 in order to provide the hydraulic data necessary for producing the inundation maps. Updated EPRP maps were produced and a consequence analysis was performed which confirmed the existing hazard classification. The ArcGIS system was used as the underlying framework for all major components of the project. It was found that the use of GIS technologies improve the efficiency of both modelling and analysis.

Flood-inundation maps for the Driftwood River and Sugar Creek near Edinburgh, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.; Kim, Moon H.; Menke, Chad D.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 11.2 mile reach of the Driftwood River and a 5.2 mile reach of Sugar Creek, both near Edinburgh, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Edinburgh, Indiana. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage 03363000 Driftwood River near Edinburgh, Ind. Current conditions at the USGS streamgage in Indiana may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/current/?type=flow. In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/. The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often collocated at USGS streamgages. That forecasted peak-stage information, also available on the Internet, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. For this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reaches by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relations at the USGS streamgage 03363000 Driftwood River near Edinburgh, Ind. The hydraulic model was then used to determine elevations throughout the study reaches for nine water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to nearly the highest recorded water level at the USGS streamgage 03363000 Driftwood River near Edinburgh, Ind. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geospatial digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data) in order to

Flood-inundation maps for the Patoka River in and near Jasper, southwestern Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.

2018-01-23

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.5-mile reach of the Patoka River in and near the city of Jasper, southwestern Indiana (Ind.), from the streamgage near County Road North 175 East, downstream to State Road 162, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science web site at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage Patoka River at Jasper, Ind. (station number 03375500). The Patoka streamgage is located at the upstream end of the 9.5-mile river reach. Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, although flood forecasts and stages for action and minor, moderate, and major flood stages are not currently (2017) available at this site (JPRI3).Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation at the Patoka River at Jasper, Ind., streamgage and the documented high-water marks from the flood of April 30, 2017. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to compute five water-surface profiles for flood stages referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from 15 feet (ft), or near bankfull, to 19 ft. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from light detection and ranging [lidar] data having a 0.98 ft vertical accuracy and 4.9 ft horizontal resolution) to delineate the area flooded at each water level.The availability of these flood-inundation maps, along with real

Integration of coastal inundation modeling from storm tides to individual waves

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ning; Roeber, Volker; Yamazaki, Yoshiki; Heitmann, Troy W.; Bai, Yefei; Cheung, Kwok Fai

2014-11-01

Modeling of storm-induced coastal inundation has primarily focused on the surge generated by atmospheric pressure and surface winds with phase-averaged effects of the waves as setup. Through an interoperable model package, we investigate the role of phase-resolving wave processes in simulation of coastal flood hazards. A spectral ocean wave model describes generation and propagation of storm waves from deep to intermediate water, while a non-hydrostatic storm-tide model has the option to couple with a spectral coastal wave model for computation of phase-averaged processes in a near-shore region. The ocean wave and storm-tide models can alternatively provide the wave spectrum and the surface elevation as the boundary and initial conditions for a nested Boussinesq model. Additional surface-gradient terms in the Boussinesq equations maintain the quasi-steady, non-uniform storm tide for modeling of phase-resolving surf and swash-zone processes as well as combined tide, surge, and wave inundation. The two nesting schemes are demonstrated through a case study of Hurricane Iniki, which made landfall on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai in 1992. With input from a parametric hurricane model and global reanalysis and tidal datasets, the two approaches produce comparable significant wave heights and phase-averaged surface elevations in the surf zone. The nesting of the Boussinesq model provides a seamless approach to augment the inundation due to the individual waves in matching the recorded debris line along the coast.

An ecological mechanism to create regular patterns of surface dissolution in a low-relief carbonate landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, M. J.; Martin, J. B.; Mclaughlin, D. L.; Osborne, T.; Murray, A.; Watts, A. C.; Watts, D.; Heffernan, J. B.

2012-12-01

Development of karst landscapes is controlled by focused delivery of water undersaturated with respect to the soluble rock minerals. As that water comes to equilibrium with the rock, secondary porosity is incrementally reinforced creating a positive feedback that acts to augment the drainage network and subsequent water delivery. In most self-organizing systems, spatial positive feedbacks create features (in landscapes: patches; in karst aquifers: conduits) whose size-frequency relationship follows a power function, indicating a higher probability of large features than would occur with a random or Gaussian genesis process. Power functions describe several aspects of secondary porosity in the Upper Floridan Aquifer in north Florida. In contrast, a different pattern arises in the karst landscape in southwest Florida (Big Cypress National Preserve; BICY), where low-relief and a shallow aquiclude govern regional hydrology. There, the landscape pattern is highly regular (Fig. 1), with circular cypress-dominated wetlands occupying depressions that are hydrologically isolated and distributed evenly in a matrix of pine uplands. Regular landscape patterning results from spatially coupled feedbacks, one positive operating locally that expands patches coupled to another negative that operates at distance, eventually inhibiting patch expansion. The positive feedback in BICY is thought to derive from the presence of surface depressions, which sustain prolonged inundation in this low-relief setting, and facilitate wetland development that greatly augments dissolution potential of infiltrating water in response to ecosystem metabolic processes. In short, wetlands "drill" into the carbonate leading to both vertical and lateral basin expansion. Wetland expansion occurs at the expense of surrounding upland area, which is the local catchment that subsidizes water availability. A distal inhibitory feedback on basin expansion thus occurs as the water necessary to sustain prolonged

The effect of wave current interactions on the storm surge and inundation in Charleston Harbor during Hurricane Hugo 1989

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Lian; Liu, Huiqing; Peng, Machuan

The effects of wave-current interactions on the storm surge and inundation induced by Hurricane Hugo in and around the Charleston Harbor and its adjacent coastal regions are examined by using a three-dimensional (3-D) wave-current coupled modeling system. The 3-D storm surge and inundation modeling component of the coupled system is based on the Princeton ocean model (POM), whereas the wave modeling component is based on the third-generation wave model, simulating waves nearshore (SWAN). The results indicate that the effects of wave-induced surface, bottom, and radiation stresses can separately or in combination produce significant changes in storm surge and inundation. The effects of waves vary spatially. In some areas, the contribution of waves to peak storm surge during Hurricane Hugo reached as high as 0.76 m which led to substantial changes in the inundation and drying areas simulated by the storm surge model.

Flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Lane County, Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Glen W.; Haluska, Tana L.

2016-04-13

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Oregon, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected stages at the USGS streamgage at Coast Fork Willamette River near Goshen, Oregon (14157500), at State Highway 58. Current stage at the streamgage for estimating near-real-time areas of inundation may be obtained at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/uv/?site_no=14157500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060. In addition, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.In this study, areas of inundation were provided by USACE. The inundated areas were developed from flood profiles simulated by a one-dimensional unsteady step‑backwater hydraulic model. The profiles were checked by the USACE using documented high-water marks from a January 2006 flood. The model was compared and quality assured using several other methods. The hydraulic model was then used to determine eight water-surface profiles at various flood stages referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 11.8 to 19.8 ft, approximately 2.6 ft above the highest recorded stage at the streamgage (17.17 ft) since 1950. The intervals between stages are variable and based on annual exceedance probability discharges, some of which approximate NWS action stages.The areas of inundation and water depth grids provided to USGS by USACE were used to create interactive flood‑inundation maps. The availability of these maps with current stage from USGS streamgage and forecasted stream stages from the NWS provide emergency management

Dam break analysis and flood inundation map of Krisak dam for emergency action plan

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Juliastuti, Setyandito, Oki

2017-11-01

The Indonesian Regulation which refers to the ICOLD Regulation (International Committee on Large Dam required have the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) guidelines because of the dams have potential failure. In EAP guidelines there is a management of evacuation where the determination of the inundation map based on flood modeling. The purpose of the EAP is to minimize the risk of loss of life and property in downstream which caused by dam failure. This paper will describe about develop flood modeling and inundation map in Krisak dam using numerical methods through dam break analysis (DBA) using hydraulic model Zhong Xing HY-21. The approaches of dam failure simulation are overtopping and piping. Overtopping simulation based on quadrangular, triangular and trapezium fracture. Piping simulation based on cracks of orifice. Using results of DBA, hazard classification of Krisak dam is very high. The nearest village affected dam failure is Singodutan village (distance is 1.45 kilometer from dam) with inundation depth is 1.85 meter. This result can be used by stakeholders such as emergency responders and the community at risk in formulating evacuation procedure.

Projections of tsunami inundation area coupled with impacts of sea level rise in Banda Aceh, Indonesia

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Tursina, Syamsidik, Kato, Shigeru

2017-10-01

In a long term, sea level rise is anticipated to give devastating effects on Banda Aceh, as one of the coastal cities in the northern tip of Sumatra. The growth of the population and buildings in the city has come to the stage where the coastal area is vulnerable to any coastal hazard. Some public facilities and settlements have been constructed and keep expanding in the future. According to TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite images, 7 mm/year the sea level has been risen between 1992 and 2015 in this area. It is estimated that in the next 100 years, there will be 700 mm additional sea level rise which will give a setback more over to a rather flat area around the coast. This research is aim at investigating the influence of sea level rise toward the tsunami inundation on the land area particularly the impacts on Banda Aceh city. Cornell Multigrid Coupled Tsunami Model (COMCOT) simulation numerically generated tsunami propagation. Topography and bathymetry data were collected from GEBCO and updated with the available nautical chart (DISHIDROS, JICA, and field measurements). Geological movement of the underwater fault was generated using Piatanesi and Lorito of 9.15 Mw 2004 multi-fault scenario. The inundation area produced by COMCOT revealed that the inundation area was expanded to several hundred meters from the shoreline. To investigate the impacts of tsunami wave on Banda Aceh, the inundation area were digitized and analyzed with Quantum GIS spatial tools. The Quantum GIS analyzed inundations area affected by the projected tsunami. It will give a new tsunami-prone coastal area map induced by sea level rise in 100 years.

Disposable containers as larval habitats for Aedes aegypti in a city with regular refuse collection: a study in Marília, São Paulo State, Brazil.

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Mazine, C A; Macoris, M L; Andrighetti, M T; Yasumaro, S; Silva, M E; Nelson, M J; Winch, P J

1996-09-01

In Marília, Brazil, refuse is collected at least every other day, yet non-useful, non-returnable containers such as cans, plastic bottles and tires account for almost half of the container habitats found positive for the Aedes aegypti mosquito. A study was therefore conducted to investigate why these containers exist despite regular refuse collection and a high level of awareness of dengue prevention, and how the control program could most effectively respond. Differing community perceptions as to what constitutes refuse were found to lead people to store a variety of containers in their yard. Other dimensions of the problem include the presence of informal refuse collectors in search of saleable materials, and dumping of refuse in vacant lots and along roads. An intervention based on these data will involve the informal refuse collectors in implementation of a community-based recycling project.

Flood Inundation Modelling in the Kuantan River Basin using 1D-2D Flood Modeller coupled with ASTER-GDEM

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Ng, Z. F.; Gisen, J. I.; Akbari, A.

2018-03-01

Topography dataset is an important input in performing flood inundation modelling. However, it is always difficult to obtain high resolution topography that provide accurate elevation information. Fortunately, there are some open source topography datasets available with reasonable resolution such as SRTM and ASTER-GDEM. In Malaysia particularly in Kuantan, the modelling research on the floodplain area is still lacking. This research aims to: a) to investigate the suitability of ASTER-GDEM to be applied in the 1D-2D flood inundation modelling for the Kuantan River Basin; b) to generate flood inundation map for Kuantan river basin. The topography dataset used in this study is ASTER-GDEM to generate physical characteristics of watershed in the basin. It is used to perform rainfall runoff modelling for hydrological studies and to delineate flood inundation area in the Flood Modeller. The results obtained have shown that a 30m resolution ASTER-GDEM is applicable as an input for the 1D-2D flood modelling. The simulated water level in 2013 has NSE of 0.644 and RSME of 1.259. As a conclusion, ASTER-GDEM can be used as one alternative topography datasets for flood inundation modelling. However, the flood level obtained from the hydraulic modelling shows low accuracy at flat urban areas.

Flood-inundation maps for South Fork Peachtree Creek from the Brockett Road bridge to the Willivee Drive bridge, DeKalb County, Georgia

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Musser, Jonathan W.

2015-10-14

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.3-mile reach of South Fork Peachtree Creek that extends from about 500 feet above the Brockett Road bridge to the Willivee Drive bridge were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with DeKalb County, Georgia. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at South Fork Peachtree at Casa Drive, near Clarkston, Georgia (02336152). Real-time stage information from this USGS streamgage may be obtained at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ and can be used in conjunction with these maps to estimate near real-time areas of inundation. The National Weather Service (NWS) is incorporating results from this study into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/).

Flood-inundation maps for North Fork Salt Creek at Nashville, Indiana

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Martin, Zachary W.

2017-11-13

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.2-mile reach of North Fork Salt Creek at Nashville, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science website at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding that correspond to selected water levels (stages) at the North Fork Salt Creek at Nashville, Ind., streamgage (USGS station number 03371650). Real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also shows observed USGS stages at the same site as the USGS streamgage (NWS site NFSI3).Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional, step-backwater hydraulic modeling software developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydraulic model was calibrated using the current (2015) stage-discharge rating at the USGS streamgage 03371650, North Fork Salt Creek at Nashville, Ind. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 12 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals, except for the highest profile of 22.9 ft, referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from 12.0 ft (the NWS “action stage”) to 22.9 ft, which is the highest stage of the current (2015) USGS stage-discharge rating curve and 1.9 ft higher than the NWS “major flood stage.” The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from light detection and ranging data having a 0.98-ft vertical accuracy and 4.9-ft horizontal resolution) to delineate the area flooded at each stage.The availability of these maps, along with information regarding current stage from the USGS

What is missing? An operational inundation mapping framework by SAR data

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Shen, X.; Anagnostou, E. N.; Zeng, Z.; Kettner, A.; Hong, Y.

2017-12-01

Compared to optical sensors, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) works all-day all-weather. In addition, its spatial resolution does not decrease with the height of the platform and is thus applicable to a range of important studies. However, existing studies did not address the operational demands of real-time inundation mapping. The direct proof is that no water body product exists for any SAR-based satellites. Then what is missing between science and products? Automation and quality. What makes it so difficult to develop an operational inundation mapping technique based on SAR data? Spectrum-wise, unlike optical water indices such as MNDWI, AWEI etc., where a relative constant threshold may apply across acquisition of images, regions and sensors, the threshold to separate water from non-water pixels in each SAR images has to be individually chosen. The optimization of the threshold is the first obstacle to the automation of the SAR data algorithm. Morphologically, the quality and reliability of the results have been compromised by over-detection caused by smooth surface and shadowing area, the noise-like speckle and under-detection caused by strong-scatter disturbance. In this study, we propose a three-step framework that addresses all aforementioned issues of operational inundation mapping by SAR data. The framework consists of 1) optimization of Wishart distribution parameters of single/dual/fully-polarized SAR data, 2) morphological removal of over-detection, and 3) machine-learning based removal of under-detection. The framework utilizes not only the SAR data, but also the synergy of digital elevation model (DEM), and optical sensor-based products of fine resolution, including the water probability map, land cover classification map (optional), and river width. The framework has been validated throughout multiple areas in different parts of the world using different satellite SAR data and globally available ancillary data products. Therefore, it has the potential

a Novel Methodology for Developing Inundation Maps Under Climate Change Scenarios Using One-Dimensional Model

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Vu, M. T.; Liong, S. Y.; Raghavan, V. S.; Liew, S. C.

2011-07-01

Climate change is expected to cause increases in extreme climatic events such as heavy rainstorms and rising tidal level. Heavy rainstorms are known to be serious causes of flooding problems in big cities. Thus, high density residential and commercial areas along the rivers are facing risks of being flooded. For that reason, inundated area determination is now being considered as one of the most important areas of research focus in flood forecasting. In such a context, this paper presents the development of a floodmap in determining flood-prone areas and its volumes. The areas and volumes of flood are computed by the inundated level using the existing digital elevation model (DEM) of a hypothetical catchment chosen for study. The study focuses on the application of Flood Early Warning System (Delft — FEWS, Deltares), which is designated to work with the SOBEK (Delft) to simulate the extent of stormwater on the ground surface. The results from FEWS consist of time-series of inundation maps in Image file format (PNG) and ASCII format, which are subsequently imported to ArcGIS for further calculations. In addition, FEWS results provide options to export the video clip of water spreading out over the catchment. Consequently, inundated area and volume will be determined by the water level on the ground. Final floodmap is displayed in colors created by ArcGIS. Various flood map results corresponding to climate change scenarios will be displayed in the main part of the paper.

Coastal flood inundation monitoring with Satellite C-band and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar data

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Ramsey, Elijah W.; Rangoonwala, Amina; Bannister, Terri

2013-01-01

Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) was evaluated as a method to operationally monitor the occurrence and distribution of storm- and tidal-related flooding of spatially extensive coastal marshes within the north-central Gulf of Mexico. Maps representing the occurrence of marsh surface inundation were created from available Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-Band SAR (PALSAR) (L-band) (21 scenes with HH polarizations in Wide Beam [100 m]) data and Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT) Advanced SAR (ASAR) (C-band) data (24 scenes with VV and HH polarizations in Wide Swath [150 m]) during 2006-2009 covering 500 km of the Louisiana coastal zone. Mapping was primarily based on a decrease in backscatter between reference and target scenes, and as an extension of previous studies, the flood inundation mapping performance was assessed by the degree of correspondence between inundation mapping and inland water levels. Both PALSAR- and ASAR-based mapping at times were based on suboptimal reference scenes; however, ASAR performance seemed more sensitive to reference-scene quality and other types of scene variability. Related to water depth, PALSAR and ASAR mapping accuracies tended to be lower when water depths were shallow and increased as water levels decreased below or increased above the ground surface, but this pattern was more pronounced with ASAR. Overall, PALSAR-based inundation accuracies averaged 84% (n = 160), while ASAR-based mapping accuracies averaged 62% (n = 245).

Habitat Fragmentation and Native Bees: a Premature Verdict?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James H. Cane

2001-06-01

Full Text Available Few studies directly address the consequences of habitat fragmentation for communities of pollinating insects, particularly for the key pollinator group, bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes. Bees typically live in habitats where nesting substrates and bloom are patchily distributed and spatially dissociated. Bee studies have all defined habitat fragments as remnant patches of floral hosts or forests, overlooking the nesting needs of bees. Several authors conclude that habitat fragmentation is broadly deleterious, but their own data show that some native species proliferate in sampled fragments. Other studies report greater densities and comparable diversities of native bees at flowers in some fragment size classes relative to undisrupted habitats, but find dramatic shifts in species composition. Insightful studies of habitat fragmentation and bees will consider fragmentation, alteration, and loss of nesting habitats, not just patches of forage plants, as well as the permeability of the surrounding matrix to interpatch movement. Inasmuch as the floral associations and nesting habits of bees are often attributes of species or subgenera, ecological interpretations hinge on authoritative identifications. Study designs must accommodate statistical problems associated with bee community samples, especially non-normal data and frequent zero values. The spatial scale of fragmentation must be appreciated: bees of medium body size can regularly fly 1-2 km from nest site to forage patch. Overall, evidence for prolonged persistence of substantial diversity and abundances of native bee communities in habitat fragments of modest size promises practical solutions for maintaining bee populations. Provided that reserve selection, design, and management can address the foraging and nesting needs of bees, networks of even small reserves may hold hope for sustaining considerable pollinator diversity and the ecological services pollinators provide.

Development of Real-time Tsunami Inundation Forecast Using Ocean Bottom Tsunami Networks along the Japan Trench

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Aoi, S.; Yamamoto, N.; Suzuki, W.; Hirata, K.; Nakamura, H.; Kunugi, T.; Kubo, T.; Maeda, T.

2015-12-01

In the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, in which huge tsunami claimed a great deal of lives, the initial tsunami forecast based on hypocenter information estimated using seismic data on land were greatly underestimated. From this lesson, NIED is now constructing S-net (Seafloor Observation Network for Earthquakes and Tsunamis along the Japan Trench) which consists of 150 ocean bottom observatories with seismometers and pressure gauges (tsunamimeters) linked by fiber optic cables. To take full advantage of S-net, we develop a new methodology of real-time tsunami inundation forecast using ocean bottom observation data and construct a prototype system that implements the developed forecasting method for the Pacific coast of Chiba prefecture (Sotobo area). We employ a database-based approach because inundation is a strongly non-linear phenomenon and its calculation costs are rather heavy. We prepare tsunami scenario bank in advance, by constructing the possible tsunami sources, and calculating the tsunami waveforms at S-net stations, coastal tsunami heights and tsunami inundation on land. To calculate the inundation for target Sotobo area, we construct the 10-m-mesh precise elevation model with coastal structures. Based on the sensitivities analyses, we construct the tsunami scenario bank that efficiently covers possible tsunami scenarios affecting the Sotobo area. A real-time forecast is carried out by selecting several possible scenarios which can well explain real-time tsunami data observed at S-net from tsunami scenario bank. An advantage of our method is that tsunami inundations are estimated directly from the actual tsunami data without any source information, which may have large estimation errors. In addition to the forecast system, we develop Web services, APIs, and smartphone applications and brush them up through social experiments to provide the real-time tsunami observation and forecast information in easy way to understand toward urging people to evacuate.

Assimilation of flood extent data with 2D flood inundation models for localised intense rainfall events

Science.gov (United States)

Neal, J. C.; Wood, M.; Bermúdez, M.; Hostache, R.; Freer, J. E.; Bates, P. D.; Coxon, G.

2017-12-01

Remote sensing of flood inundation extent has long been a potential source of data for constraining and correcting simulations of floodplain inundation. Hydrodynamic models and the computing resources to run them have developed to the extent that simulation of flood inundation in two-dimensional space is now feasible over large river basins in near real-time. However, despite substantial evidence that there is useful information content within inundation extent data, even from low resolution SAR such as that gathered by Envisat ASAR in wide swath mode, making use of the information in a data assimilation system has proved difficult. He we review recent applications of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) and Particle Filter for assimilating SAR data, with a focus on the River Severn UK and compare these with complementary research that has looked at the internal error sources and boundary condition errors using detailed terrestrial data that is not available in most locations. Previous applications of the EnKF to this reach have focused on upstream boundary conditions as the source of flow error, however this description of errors was too simplistic for the simulation of summer flood events where localised intense rainfall can be substantial. Therefore, we evaluate the introduction of uncertain lateral inflows to the ensemble. A further limitation of the existing EnKF based methods is the need to convert flood extent to water surface elevations by intersecting the shoreline location with a high quality digital elevation model (e.g. LiDAR). To simplify this data processing step, we evaluate a method to directly assimilate inundation extent as a EnKF model state rather than assimilating water heights, potentially allowing the scheme to be used where high-quality terrain data are sparse.

Linking flood peak, flood volume and inundation extent: a DEM-based approach

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Rebolho, Cédric; Furusho-Percot, Carina; Blaquière, Simon; Brettschneider, Marco; Andréassian, Vazken

2017-04-01

Traditionally, flood inundation maps are computed based on the Shallow Water Equations (SWE) in one or two dimensions, with various simplifications that have proved to give good results. However, the complexity of the SWEs often requires a numerical resolution which can need long computing time, as well as detailed cross section data: this often results in restricting these models to rather small areas abundant with high quality data. This, along with the necessity for fast inundation mapping, are the reason why rapid inundation models are being designed, working for (almost) any river with a minimum amount of data and, above all, easily available data. Our model tries to follow this path by using a 100m DEM over France from which are extracted a drainage network and the associated drainage areas. It is based on two pre-existing methods: (1) SHYREG (Arnaud et al.,2013), a regionalized approach used to calculate the 2-year and 10-year flood quantiles (used as approximated bankfull flow and maximum discharge, respectively) for each river pixel of the DEM (below a 10 000 km2 drainage area) and (2) SOCOSE (Mailhol,1980), which gives, amongst other things, an empirical formula of a characteristic flood duration (for each pixel) based on catchment area, average precipitation and temperature. An overflow volume for each river pixel is extracted from a triangular shaped synthetic hydrograph designed with SHYREG quantiles and SOCOSE flood duration. The volume is then spread from downstream to upstream one river pixel at a time. When the entire hydrographic network is processed, the model stops and generates a map of potential inundation area associated with the 10-year flood quantile. Our model can also be calibrated using past-events inundation maps by adjusting two parameters, one which modifies the overflow duration, and the other, equivalent to a minimum drainage area for river pixels to be flooded. Thus, in calibration on a sample of 42 basins, the first draft of the

Effect of Floodplain Inundation on River Pollution in Taiwan's Strong Monsoonal Climate

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Hester, E. T.; Lin, A. Y. C.

2017-12-01

River-floodplain interaction provides important benefits such as flood mitigation, provision of ecological habitat, and improved water quality. Human actions have historically reduced such interaction and associated benefits by diking, floodplain fill, and river regulation. In response, floodplain restoration has become popular in North America and Europe, but is less practiced in Asia. In Taiwan, unusually strong monsoons and steep terrain alter floodplain dynamics relative to elsewhere around the world, and provide a unique environment for floodplain management. We used numerical models of flow, transport, and reaction in river channels and floodplains to quantify the effect of river-floodplain interaction on water quality in Taiwan's strong monsoon and high topographic relief. We conducted sensitivity analyses of parameters such as river slope, monsoon severity, reservoir operation mode, degree of floodplain reconnection, contaminant reaction rate, and contaminant reaction type on floodplain connectivity and contaminant mitigation. We found significant differences in floodplain hydraulics and residence times in Taiwan's steep monsoonal environment relative to the shallower non-monsoonal environment typical of the eastern USA, with significant implications for water quality. For example, greater flashiness of floodplain inundation in Taiwan provides greater challenges for reconnecting sufficient floodplain volume to handle monsoonal runoff. Yet longer periods when floodplains are reliably dry means that such lands may have greater value for seasonal use such as parks or agriculture. The potential for floodplain restoration in Taiwan is thus significant, but qualitatively different than in the eastern USA.

Estimates of future inundation of salt marshes in response to sea-level rise in and around Acadia National Park, Maine

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Martha G.; Dudley, Robert W.

2013-01-01

Salt marshes are ecosystems that provide many important ecological functions in the Gulf of Maine. The U.S. Geological Survey investigated salt marshes in and around Acadia National Park from Penobscot Bay to the Schoodic Peninsula to map the potential for landward migration of marshes using a static inundation model of a sea-level rise scenario of 60 centimeters (cm; 2 feet). The resulting inundation contours can be used by resource managers to proactively adapt to sea-level rise by identifying and targeting low-lying coastal areas adjacent to salt marshes for conservation or further investigation, and to identify risks to infrastructure in the coastal zone. For this study, the mapping of static inundation was based on digital elevation models derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) topographic data collected in October 2010. Land-surveyed control points were used to evaluate the accuracy of the LiDAR data in the study area, yielding a root mean square error of 11.3 cm. An independent accuracy assessment of the LiDAR data specific to salt-marsh land surfaces indicated a root mean square error of 13.3 cm and 95-percent confidence interval of ± 26.0 cm. LiDAR-derived digital elevation models and digital color aerial photography, taken during low tide conditions in 2008, with a pixel resolution of 0.5 meters, were used to identify the highest elevation of the land surface at each salt marsh in the study area. Inundation contours for 60-cm of sea-level rise were delineated above the highest marsh elevation for each marsh. Confidence interval contours (95-percent,± 26.0 cm) were delineated above and below the 60-cm inundation contours, and artificial structures, such as roads and bridges, that may present barriers to salt-marsh migration were mapped. This study delineated 114 salt marshes totaling 340 hectares (ha), ranging in size from 0.11 ha (marshes less than 0.2 ha were mapped only if they were on Acadia National Park property) to 52 ha, with a median

A Tsunami Ball Approach to Storm Surge and Inundation: Application to Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven N. Ward

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Most analyses of storm surge and inundation solve equations of continuity and momentum on fixed finite-difference/finite-element meshes. I develop a completely new approach that uses a momentum equation to accelerate bits or balls of water over variable depth topography. The thickness of the water column at any point equals the volume density of balls there. In addition to being more intuitive than traditional methods, the tsunami ball approach has several advantages. (a By tracking water balls of fixed volume, the continuity equation is satisfied automatically and the advection term in the momentum equation becomes unnecessary. (b The procedure is meshless in the finite-difference/finite-element sense. (c Tsunami balls care little if they find themselves in the ocean or inundating land. (d Tsunami ball calculations of storm surge can be done on a laptop computer. I demonstrate and calibrate the method by simulating storm surge and inundation around New Orleans, Louisiana caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and by comparing model predictions with field observations. To illustrate the flexibility of the tsunami ball technique, I run two “What If” hurricane scenarios—Katrina over Savannah, Georgia and Katrina over Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Reservoir floodplains support distinct fish assemblages

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Miranda, Leandro E.; Wigen, S. L.; Dagel, Jonah D.

2014-01-01

Reservoirs constructed on floodplain rivers are unique because the upper reaches of the impoundment may include extensive floodplain environments. Moreover, reservoirs that experience large periodic water level fluctuations as part of their operational objectives seasonally inundate and dewater floodplains in their upper reaches, partly mimicking natural inundations of river floodplains. In four flood control reservoirs in Mississippi, USA, we explored the dynamics of connectivity between reservoirs and adjacent floodplains and the characteristics of fish assemblages that develop in reservoir floodplains relative to those that develop in reservoir bays. Although fish species richness in floodplains and bays were similar, species composition differed. Floodplains emphasized fish species largely associated with backwater shallow environments, often resistant to harsh environmental conditions. Conversely, dominant species in bays represented mainly generalists that benefit from the continuous connectivity between the bay and the main reservoir. Floodplains in the study reservoirs provided desirable vegetated habitats at lower water level elevations, earlier in the year, and more frequently than in bays. Inundating dense vegetation in bays requires raising reservoir water levels above the levels required to reach floodplains. Therefore, aside from promoting distinct fish assemblages within reservoirs and helping promote diversity in regulated rivers, reservoir floodplains are valued because they can provide suitable vegetated habitats for fish species at elevations below the normal pool, precluding the need to annually flood upland vegetation that would inevitably be impaired by regular flooding. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Predicting habitat distribution to conserve seagrass threatened by sea level rise

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Saunders, M. I.; Baldock, T.; Brown, C. J.; Callaghan, D. P.; Golshani, A.; Hamylton, S.; Hoegh-guldberg, O.; Leon, J. X.; Lovelock, C. E.; Lyons, M. B.; O'Brien, K.; Mumby, P.; Phinn, S. R.; Roelfsema, C. M.

2013-12-01

Sea level rise (SLR) over the 21st century will cause significant redistribution of valuable coastal habitats. Seagrasses form extensive and highly productive meadows in shallow coastal seas support high biodiversity, including economically valuable and threatened species. Predictive habitat models can inform local management actions that will be required to conserve seagrass faced with multiple stressors. We developed novel modelling approaches, based on extensive field data sets, to examine the effects of sea level rise and other stressors on two representative seagrass habitats in Australia. First, we modelled interactive effects of SLR, water clarity and adjacent land use on estuarine seagrass meadows in Moreton Bay, Southeast Queensland. The extent of suitable seagrass habitat was predicted to decline by 17% by 2100 due to SLR alone, but losses were predicted to be significantly reduced through improvements in water quality (Fig 1a) and by allowing space for seagrass migration with inundation. The rate of sedimentation in seagrass strongly affected the area of suitable habitat for seagrass in sea level rise scenarios (Fig 1b). Further research to understand spatial, temporal and environmental variability of sediment accretion in seagrass is required. Second, we modelled changes in wave energy distribution due to predicted SLR in a linked coral reef and seagrass ecosystem at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. Scenarios where the water depth over the coral reef deepened due to SLR and minimal reef accretion, resulted in larger waves propagating shoreward, changing the existing hydrodynamic conditions sufficiently to reduce area of suitable habitat for seagrass. In a scenario where accretion of the coral reef was severely compromised (e.g. warming, acidification, overfishing), the probability of the presence of seagrass declined significantly. Management to maintain coral health will therefore also benefit seagrasses subject to SLR in reef environments. Further

Landsat classification of surface-water presence during multiple years to assess response of playa wetlands to climatic variability across the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative region

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Manier, Daniel J.; Rover, Jennifer R.

2018-02-15

To improve understanding of the distribution of ecologically important, ephemeral wetland habitats across the Great Plains, the occurrence and distribution of surface water in playa wetland complexes were documented for four different years across the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC) region. This information is important because it informs land and wildlife managers about the timing and location of habitat availability. Data with an accurate timestamp that indicate the presence of water, the percent of the area inundated with water, and the spatial distribution of playa wetlands with water are needed for a host of resource inventory, monitoring, and research applications. For example, the distribution of inundated wetlands forms the spatial pattern of available habitat for resident shorebirds and water birds, stop-over habitats for migratory birds, connectivity and clustering of wetland habitats, and surface waters that recharge the Ogallala aquifer; there is considerable variability in the distribution of playa wetlands holding water through time. Documentation of these spatially and temporally intricate processes, here, provides data required to assess connections between inundation and multiple environmental drivers, such as climate, land use, soil, and topography. Climate drivers are understood to interact with land cover, land use and soil attributes in determining the amount of water that flows overland into playa wetlands. Results indicated significant spatial variability represented by differences in the percent of playas inundated among States within the GPLCC. Further, analysis-of-variance comparison of differences in inundation between years showed significant differences in all cases. Although some connections with seasonal moisture patterns may be observed, the complex spatial-temporal gradients of precipitation, temperature, soils, and land use need to be combined as covariates in multivariate models to effectively account for

Numerical Modeling of Coastal Inundation and Sedimentation by Storm Surge, Tides, and Waves at Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-01

hurricanes (tropical) with a 50-year and a 100-year return period, and one winter storm ( extratropical ) occurred in October 1982. There are a total of 15...under the 0-m and 2-m SLR scenarios, respectively. • Tropical and extratropical storms induce extensive coastal inundation around the military...1 NUMERICAL MODELING OF COASTAL INUNDATION AND SEDIMENTATION BY STORM SURGE, TIDES, AND WAVES AT NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, USA Honghai Li 1 , Lihwa Lin 1

Are inundation limit and maximum extent of sand useful for differentiating tsunamis and storms? An example from sediment transport simulations on the Sendai Plain, Japan

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Watanabe, Masashi; Goto, Kazuhisa; Bricker, Jeremy D.; Imamura, Fumihiko

2018-02-01

We examined the quantitative difference in the distribution of tsunami and storm deposits based on numerical simulations of inundation and sediment transport due to tsunami and storm events on the Sendai Plain, Japan. The calculated distance from the shoreline inundated by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami was smaller than that inundated by storm surges from hypothetical typhoon events. Previous studies have assumed that deposits observed farther inland than the possible inundation limit of storm waves and storm surge were tsunami deposits. However, confirming only the extent of inundation is insufficient to distinguish tsunami and storm deposits, because the inundation limit of storm surges may be farther inland than that of tsunamis in the case of gently sloping coastal topography such as on the Sendai Plain. In other locations, where coastal topography is steep, the maximum inland inundation extent of storm surges may be only several hundred meters, so marine-sourced deposits that are distributed several km inland can be identified as tsunami deposits by default. Over both gentle and steep slopes, another difference between tsunami and storm deposits is the total volume deposited, as flow speed over land during a tsunami is faster than during a storm surge. Therefore, the total deposit volume could also be a useful proxy to differentiate tsunami and storm deposits.

The Storm Surge and Sub-Grid Inundation Modeling in New York City during Hurricane Sandy

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Harry V. Wang

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Hurricane Sandy inflicted heavy damage in New York City and the New Jersey coast as the second costliest storm in history. A large-scale, unstructured grid storm tide model, Semi-implicit Eulerian Lagrangian Finite Element (SELFE, was used to hindcast water level variation during Hurricane Sandy in the mid-Atlantic portion of the U.S. East Coast. The model was forced by eight tidal constituents at the model’s open boundary, 1500 km away from the coast, and the wind and pressure fields from atmospheric model Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS provided by Weatherflow Inc. The comparisons of the modeled storm tide with the NOAA gauge stations from Montauk, NY, Long Island Sound, encompassing New York Harbor, Atlantic City, NJ, to Duck, NC, were in good agreement, with an overall root mean square error and relative error in the order of 15–20 cm and 5%–7%, respectively. Furthermore, using large-scale model outputs as the boundary conditions, a separate sub-grid model that incorporates LIDAR data for the major portion of the New York City was also set up to investigate the detailed inundation process. The model results compared favorably with USGS’ Hurricane Sandy Mapper database in terms of its timing, local inundation area, and the depth of the flooding water. The street-level inundation with water bypassing the city building was created and the maximum extent of horizontal inundation was calculated, which was within 30 m of the data-derived estimate by USGS.

Integrating Radarsat-2, Lidar, and Worldview-3 Imagery to maximize detection of forested inundation extent in the Delmarva Peninsula, USA

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Vanderhoof, Melanie; Distler, Hayley; Mendiola, Di Ana; Lang, Megan

2017-01-01

Natural variability in surface-water extent and associated characteristics presents a challenge to gathering timely, accurate information, particularly in environments that are dominated by small and/or forested wetlands. This study mapped inundation extent across the Upper Choptank River Watershed on the Delmarva Peninsula, occurring within both Maryland and Delaware. We integrated six quad-polarized Radarsat-2 images, Worldview-3 imagery, and an enhanced topographic wetness index in a random forest model. Output maps were filtered using light detection and ranging (lidar)-derived depressions to maximize the accuracy of forested inundation extent. Overall accuracy within the integrated and filtered model was 94.3%, with 5.5% and 6.0% errors of omission and commission for inundation, respectively. Accuracy of inundation maps obtained using Radarsat-2 alone were likely detrimentally affected by less than ideal angles of incidence and recent precipitation, but were likely improved by targeting the period between snowmelt and leaf-out for imagery collection. Across the six Radarsat-2 dates, filtering inundation outputs by lidar-derived depressions slightly elevated errors of omission for water (+1.0%), but decreased errors of commission (−7.8%), resulting in an average increase of 5.4% in overall accuracy. Depressions were derived from lidar datasets collected under both dry and average wetness conditions. Although antecedent wetness conditions influenced the abundance and total area mapped as depression, the two versions of the depression datasets showed a similar ability to reduce error in the inundation maps. Accurate mapping of surface water is critical to predicting and monitoring the effect of human-induced change and interannual variability on water quantity and quality.

Flood-inundation maps for the Saddle River from Rochelle Park to Lodi, New Jersey, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppe, Heidi L.; Watson, Kara M.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 2.75-mile reach of the Saddle River from 0.2 mile upstream from the Interstate 80 bridge in Rochelle Park to 1.5 miles downstream from the U.S. Route 46 bridge in Lodi, New Jersey, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Saddle River at Lodi, New Jersey (station 01391500). Current conditions for estimating near real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01391500. The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often collocated with USGS streamgages. NWS-forecasted peak-stage information may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relations at the Saddle River at Lodi, New Jersey streamgage and documented high-water marks from recent floods. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 11 water-surface profiles for flood stages at the Saddle River streamgage at 1-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum, North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), and ranging from bankfull, 0.5 ft below NWS Action Stage, to the extent of the stage-discharge rating, which is approximately 1 ft higher than the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. Action Stage is the stage which when reached by a rising stream the NWS or a partner needs to take some type of mitigation action in

Identifying Critical Habitat for Australian Freshwater Turtles in a Large Regulated Floodplain: Implications for Environmental Water Management

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Ocock, J. F.; Bino, G.; Wassens, S.; Spencer, J.; Thomas, R. F.; Kingsford, R. T.

2018-03-01

Freshwater turtles face many threats, including habitat loss and river regulation reducing occupancy and contributing to population decline. Limited knowledge of hydrological conditions required to maintain viable turtle populations in large floodplain wetlands hinders effective adaptive management of environmental water in regulated rivers. We surveyed three turtle species over 4 years across the Lower Murrumbidgee River floodplain, a large wetland complex with a long history of water resource development. Using site and floodplain metrics and generalized linear models, within a Bayesian Model Averaging framework, we quantified the main drivers affecting turtle abundance. We also used a hierarchical modeling approach, requiring large sample sizes, quantifying possible environmental effects while accounting for detection probabilities of the eastern long-necked turtle ( Chelodina longicollis). The three species varied in their responses to hydrological conditions and connectivity to the main river channel. Broad-shelled turtles ( Chelodina expansa) and Macquarie River turtles ( Emydura macquarii macquarii) had restricted distributions, centered on frequently inundated wetlands close to the river, whereas the eastern long-necked turtles were more widely distributed, indicating an ability to exploit variable habitats. We conclude that turtle communities would benefit from long-term management strategies that maintain a spatiotemporal mosaic of hydrological conditions. More specifically, we identified characteristics of refuge habitats and stress the importance of maintaining their integrity during dry periods. Neighboring habitats can be targeted during increased water availability years to enhance feeding and dispersal opportunities for freshwater turtles.

Flood-inundation maps and wetland restoration suitability index for the Blue River and selected tributaries, Kansas City, Missouri, and vicinity, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Heimann, David C.; Kelly, Brian P.; Studley, Seth E.

2015-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 39.7-mile reach of the Blue River and selected tributaries (Brush Creek, Indian Creek, and Dyke Branch) at Kansas City, Missouri, and vicinity, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Kansas City, Missouri. The flood-inundation maps, accessed through the USGS Flood-Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the spatial extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at 15 reference streamgages and associated stream reaches in the Blue River Basin. Near-real-time stage data from the streamgages may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at selected sites.

Simulating storm surge inundation and damage potential within complex port facilities

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Mawdsley, Robert; French, Jon; Fujiyama, Taku; Achutan, Kamalasudhan

2017-04-01

Storm surge inundation of port facilities can cause damage to critical elements of infrastructure, significantly disrupt port operations and cause downstream impacts on vital supply chains. A tidal surge in December 2013 in the North Sea partly flooded the Port of Immingham, which handles the largest volume of bulk cargo in the UK including major flows of coal and biomass for power generation. This flooding caused damage to port and rail transport infrastructure and disrupted operations for several weeks. This research aims to improve resilience to storm surges using hydrodynamic modelling coupled to an agent-based model of port operations. Using the December 2013 event to validate flood extent, depth and duration, we ran a high resolution hydrodynamic simulation using the open source Telemac 2D finite element code. The underlying Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was derived from Environment Agency LiDAR data, with ground truthing of the flood defences along the port frontage. Major infrastructure and buildings are explicitly resolved with varying degrees of permeability. Telemac2D simulations are run in parallel and take only minutes on a single 16 cpu compute node. Inundation characteristics predicted using Telemac 2D differ from a simple Geographical Information System 'bath-tub' analysis of the DEM based upon horizontal application of the maximum water level across the port topography. The hydrodynamic simulation predicts less extensive flooding and more closely matches observed flood extent. It also provides more precise depth and duration curves. Detailed spatial flood depth and duration maps were generated for a range of tide and surge scenarios coupled to mean sea-level rise projections. These inundation scenarios can then be integrated with critical asset databases and an agent-based model of port operation (MARS) that is capable of simulating storm surge disruption along wider supply chains. Port operators are able to act on information from a particular

Flood-inundation maps for the Mississinewa River at Marion, Indiana, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Coon, William F.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9-mile (mi) reach of the Mississinewa River from 0.75 mi upstream from the Pennsylvania Street bridge in Marion, Indiana, to 0.2 mi downstream from State Route 15 were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Mississinewa River at Marion (station number 03326500). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site. Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the current stage-discharge relation at the Mississinewa River streamgage, in combination with water-surface profiles from historic floods and from the current (2002) flood-insurance study for Grant County, Indiana. The hydraulic model was then used to compute seven water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-fo (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 10 ft, which is near bankfull, to 16 ft, which is between the water levels associated with the estimated 10- and 2-percent annual exceedance probability floods (floods with recurrence interval between 10 and 50 years) and equals the “major flood stage” as defined by the NWS. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Geographic Information System digital elevation model (derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) data having a 0.98 ft vertical accuracy and 4.9 ft

Inundation risk for embanked rivers

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W. G. Strupczewski

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The Flood Frequency Analysis (FFA concentrates on probability distribution of peak flows of flood hydrographs. However, examination of floods that haunted and devastated the large parts of Poland lead us to revision of the views on the assessment of flood risk of Polish rivers. It turned out that flooding is caused not only by the overflow of the levee crest but also due to the prolonged exposure to high water on levees structure causing dangerous leaks and breaches that threaten their total destruction. This is because the levees are weakened by long-lasting water pressure and as a matter of fact their damage usually occurs after the culmination has passed the affected location. The probability of inundation is the total of probabilities of exceeding embankment crest by flood peak and the probability of washout of levees. Therefore, in addition to the maximum flow one should also consider the duration of high waters in a river channel. In the paper the new two-component model of flood dynamics: "Duration of high waters–Discharge Threshold–Probability of non-exceedance" (DqF, with the methodology of its parameter estimation was proposed as a completion to the classical FFA methods. Such a model can estimate the duration of stages (flows of an assumed magnitude with a given probability of exceedance. The model combined with the technical evaluation of the probability of levee breaches due to the duration (d of flow above alarm stage gives the annual probability of inundation caused by the embankment breaking. The results of theoretical investigation were illustrated by a practical example of the model implementation to the series of daily flow of the Vistula River at Szczucin. Regardless of promising results, the method of risk assessment due to prolonged exposure of levees to high water is still in its infancy despite its great cognitive potential and practical importance. Therefore, we would like to point out the need for and usefulness of

Validation of a Global Hydrodynamic Flood Inundation Model

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Bates, P. D.; Smith, A.; Sampson, C. C.; Alfieri, L.; Neal, J. C.

2014-12-01

In this work we present first validation results for a hyper-resolution global flood inundation model. We use a true hydrodynamic model (LISFLOOD-FP) to simulate flood inundation at 1km resolution globally and then use downscaling algorithms to determine flood extent and depth at 90m spatial resolution. Terrain data are taken from a custom version of the SRTM data set that has been processed specifically for hydrodynamic modelling. Return periods of flood flows along the entire global river network are determined using: (1) empirical relationships between catchment characteristics and index flood magnitude in different hydroclimatic zones derived from global runoff data; and (2) an index flood growth curve, also empirically derived. Bankful return period flow is then used to set channel width and depth, and flood defence impacts are modelled using empirical relationships between GDP, urbanization and defence standard of protection. The results of these simulations are global flood hazard maps for a number of different return period events from 1 in 5 to 1 in 1000 years. We compare these predictions to flood hazard maps developed by national government agencies in the UK and Germany using similar methods but employing detailed local data, and to observed flood extent at a number of sites including St. Louis, USA and Bangkok in Thailand. Results show that global flood hazard models can have considerable skill given careful treatment to overcome errors in the publicly available data that are used as their input.

Silversides (Odontesthes bonariensis) reside within freshwater and estuarine habitats, not marine environments

Science.gov (United States)

Avigliano, Esteban; Miller, Nathan; Volpedo, Alejandra Vanina

2018-05-01

Otolith core-to-edge Sr:Ca ratio was determined by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to analyze the salinity-habitat migration history of the silverside, Odontesthes bonariensis, within the Uruguay River (freshwater) and Río de la Plata Estuary (estuarine water) (Plata Basin, South America). Regular core-to-edge oscillations in Sr:Ca suggest that the silverside makes annual migrations between freshwater (1 PSU) habitats, with no evidence of marine incursion or non-migratory individuals. Empirical equations that represent the relationship between conductivity/salinity and otolith Sr:Ca ratio were used to identify where in an otolith an individual transitioned between freshwater and brackish habitats. In most specimens, the first migration between habitats likely occurred within the first year of life. Average numbers of changes between stable Sr:Ca signatures (sites with different salinities) determined by Change-Point analysis were similar from Uruguay River (8.9 ± 3.7) and Río de la Plata Estuary (7.5 ± 2.5) for comparable age fish (p < 0.05), suggesting that habitat use is similar in both collection sites.

Habitat selection and diurnal refugia of gray foxes in southwestern Georgia, USA.

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Nicholas R Deuel

Full Text Available Understanding habitat selection of gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus is essential to evaluate their potential response to changes in land use and predator communities. Few studies have evaluated temporal habitat selection or explicitly identified habitats used by gray foxes for diurnal refugia. We used GPS collars to obtain location data for 34 gray foxes (20 males and 14 females from February 2014 to December 2015 to evaluate temporal (seasonal and diel habitat selection and selection of diurnal refugia in southwestern Georgia, USA. We analyzed habitat selection at 2 levels, selection of a core area within the home range and selection of locations within the home range. Habitat selection was non-random (P 0.05. Hardwoods, human use (i.e., areas associated with regular human activity such as buildings, lawns, parking areas, etc., and roads were selected (P 0.05. Selection of habitats for diurnal refugia did not vary seasonally or by sex (P > 0.05, with foxes selecting (P < 0.05 areas near hardwood forests, roads, agriculture, human use, pastures/food plots, and shrub scrub habitats. Gray foxes were observed on the ground while resting, and we found no evidence of gray foxes diurnally resting in trees. Our results suggest that on our study area, gray foxes are an edge species that prefer forests with a hardwood component in areas near human use and roads.

A simple procedure to model water level fluctuations in partially inundated wetlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spieksma, JFM; Schouwenaars, JM

When modelling groundwater behaviour in wetlands, there are specific problems related to the presence of open water in small-sized mosaic patterns. A simple quasi two-dimensional model to predict water level fluctuations in partially inundated wetlands is presented. In this model, the ratio between

Vulnerability of National Park Service beaches to inundation during a direct hurricane landfall: Fire Island National Seashore

Science.gov (United States)

Stockdon, Hilary F.; Thompson, David M.

2007-01-01

Waves and storm surge associated with strong tropical storms are part of the natural process of barrier-island evolution and can cause extensive morphologic changes in coastal parks, leading to reduced visitor accessibility and enjoyment. Even at Fire Island National Seashore, a barrier-island coastal park in New York where extratropical storms (northeasters) dominate storm activity, the beaches are vulnerable to the powerful, sand-moving forces of hurricanes. The vulnerability of park beaches to inundation, and associated extreme coastal change, during a direct hurricane landfall can be assessed by comparing the elevations of storm-induced mean-water levels (storm surge) to the elevations of the crest of the sand dune that defines the beach system. Maps detailing the inundation potential for Category 1-4 hurricanes can be used by park managers to determine the relative vulnerability of various barrier-island parks and to assess which areas of a particular park are more susceptible to inundation and extreme coastal changes.

Habitat Management: A Tool to Modify Ecosystem Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition?

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S.A. Power

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Atmospheric nitrogen deposition has been shown to affect both the structure and the function of heathland ecosystems. Heathlands are semi-natural habitats and, as such, undergo regular management by mowing or burning. Different forms of management remove more or less nutrients from the system, so habitat management has the potential to mitigate some of the effects of atmospheric deposition. Data from a dynamic vegetation model and two field experiments are presented. The first involves nitrogen addition following different forms of habitat management. The second tests the use of habitat management to promote heathland recovery after a reduction in nitrogen deposition. Both modelling and experimental approaches suggest that plant and microbial response to nitrogen is affected by management. Shoot growth and rates of decomposition were lowest in plots managed using more intensive techniques, including mowing with litter removal and a high temperature burn. Field data also indicate that ecosystem recovery from prolonged elevated inputs of nitrogen may take many years, or even decades, even after the removal of plant and litter nitrogen stores which accompanies the more intensive forms of habitat management.

Evacuation planning for plausible worst case inundation scenarios in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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Kim, Karl; Pant, Pradip; Yamashita, Eric

2015-01-01

Honolulu is susceptible to coastal flooding hazards. Like other coastal cities, Honolulu&s long-term economic viability and sustainability depends on how well it can adapt to changes in the natural and built environment. While there is a disagreement over the magnitude and extent of localized impacts associated with climate change, it is widely accepted that by 2100 there will be at least a meter in sea level rise (SLR) and an increase in extreme weather events. Increased exposure and vulnerabilities associated with urbanization and location of human activities in coastal areas warrants serious consideration by planners and policy makers. This article has three objectives. First, flooding due to the combined effects of SLR and episodic hydro-meteorological and geophysical events in Honolulu are investigated and the risks to the community are quantified. Second, the risks and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure and the surface transportation system are described. Third, using the travel demand software, travel distances and travel times for evacuation from inundated areas are modeled. Data from three inundation models were used. The first model simulated storm surge from a category 4 hurricane similar to Hurricane Iniki which devastated the island of Kauai in 1992. The second model estimates inundation based on five tsunamis that struck Hawaii. A 1-m increase in sea level was included in both the hurricane storm surge and tsunami flooding models. The third model used in this article generated a 500-year flood event due to riverine flooding. Using a uniform grid cell structure, the three inundation maps were used to assess the worst case flooding scenario. Based on the flood depths, the ruling hazard (hurricane, tsunami, or riverine flooding) for each grid cell was determined. The hazard layer was analyzed with socioeconomic data layers to determine the impact on vulnerable populations, economic activity, and critical infrastructure. The analysis focused both

Subpixel Inundation Mapping Using Landsat-8 OLI and UAV Data for a Wetland Region on the Zoige Plateau, China

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Haoming Xia

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Wetland inundation is crucial to the survival and prosperity of fauna and flora communities in wetland ecosystems. Even small changes in surface inundation may result in a substantial impact on the wetland ecosystem characteristics and function. This study presented a novel method for wetland inundation mapping at a subpixel scale in a typical wetland region on the Zoige Plateau, northeast Tibetan Plateau, China, by combining use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI data. A reference subpixel inundation percentage (SIP map at a Landsat-8 OLI 30 m pixel scale was first generated using high resolution UAV data (0.16 m. The reference SIP map and Landsat-8 OLI imagery were then used to develop SIP estimation models using three different retrieval methods (Linear spectral unmixing (LSU, Artificial neural networks (ANN, and Regression tree (RT. Based on observations from 2014, the estimation results indicated that the estimation model developed with RT method could provide the best fitting results for the mapping wetland SIP (R2 = 0.933, RMSE = 8.73% compared to the other two methods. The proposed model with RT method was validated with observations from 2013, and the estimated SIP was highly correlated with the reference SIP, with an R2 of 0.986 and an RMSE of 9.84%. This study highlighted the value of high resolution UAV data and globally and freely available Landsat data in combination with the developed approach for monitoring finely gradual inundation change patterns in wetland ecosystems.

Lava inundation zone maps for Mauna Loa, Island of Hawaiʻi, Hawaii

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Trusdell, Frank A.; Zoeller, Michael H.

2017-10-12

Lava flows from Mauna Loa volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi, constitute a significant hazard to people and property. This report addresses those lava flow hazards, mapping 18 potential lava inundation zones on the island.

Modeling surface water dynamics in the Amazon Basin using MOSART-Inundation v1.0: impacts of geomorphological parameters and river flow representation

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Xiangyu; Li, Hong-Yi; Leung, L. Ruby; Tesfa, Teklu K.; Getirana, Augusto; Papa, Fabrice; Hess, Laura L.

2017-03-01

In the Amazon Basin, floodplain inundation is a key component of surface water dynamics and plays an important role in water, energy and carbon cycles. The Model for Scale Adaptive River Transport (MOSART) was extended with a macroscale inundation scheme for representing floodplain inundation. The extended model, named MOSART-Inundation, was used to simulate surface hydrology of the entire Amazon Basin. Previous hydrologic modeling studies in the Amazon Basin identified and addressed a few challenges in simulating surface hydrology of this basin, including uncertainties of floodplain topography and channel geometry, and the representation of river flow in reaches with mild slopes. This study further addressed four aspects of these challenges. First, the spatial variability of vegetation-caused biases embedded in the HydroSHEDS digital elevation model (DEM) data was explicitly addressed. A vegetation height map of about 1 km resolution and a land cover dataset of about 90 m resolution were used in a DEM correction procedure that resulted in an average elevation reduction of 13.2 m for the entire basin and led to evident changes in the floodplain topography. Second, basin-wide empirical formulae for channel cross-sectional dimensions were refined for various subregions to improve the representation of spatial variability in channel geometry. Third, the channel Manning roughness coefficient was allowed to vary with the channel depth, as the effect of riverbed resistance on river flow generally declines with increasing river size. Lastly, backwater effects were accounted for to better represent river flow in mild-slope reaches. The model was evaluated against in situ streamflow records and remotely sensed Envisat altimetry data and Global Inundation Extent from Multi-Satellites (GIEMS) inundation data. In a sensitivity study, seven simulations were compared to evaluate the impacts of the five modeling aspects addressed in this study. The comparisons showed that

Broad-scale lake expansion and flooding inundates essential wood bison habitat in northwestern Canada.

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Blais, J. M.; Korosi, J.; Thienpont, J. R.; Pisaric, M. F.; Kokelj, S.; Smol, J. P.; Simpson, M. J.

2017-12-01

Climate change-induced landscape alterations have consequences for vulnerable wildlife. In high-latitude regions, dramatic changes in water levels have been linked to climate warming. While most attention has focused on shrinking Arctic lakes, here, we document the opposite scenario: extensive lake expansion in Canada's Northwest Territories that has implications for the conservation of ecologically-important wood bison. We quantified lake area changes since 1986 using remote sensing techniques, and recorded a net gain of > 500 km2, from 5.7% to 11% total water coverage. Inter-annual variability in water level was significantly correlated to the Pacific/North American pattern teleconnection and the summer sea surface temperature anomaly. Historical reconstructions using proxy data archived in dated sediment cores showed that recent lake expansion is outside the range of natural variability of these ecosystems over at least the last 300 years. Lake expansion resulted in increased allochthonous carbon transport, as shown unequivocally by increases in lignin-derived phenols, but with a greater proportional increase in the contribution of organic matter from phytoplankton, as a result of increased open-water habitat. We conclude that complex hydrological changes occurring as a result of recent climatic change have resulted in rapid and widespread lake expansion that may significantly affect at-risk wildlife populations. This study is based on results we reported in Nature Communications in 2017 (DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14510).

Flood-inundation maps for a nine-mile reach of the Des Plaines River from Riverwoods to Mettawa, Illinois

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Elizabeth A.; Soong, David T.; Sharpe, Jennifer B.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9-mile reach of the Des Plaines River from Riverwoods to Mettawa, Illinois, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission and the Villages of Lincolnshire and Riverwoods. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (gage heights) at the USGS streamgage at Des Plaines River at Lincolnshire, Illinois (station no. 05528100). Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?05528100. In addition, this streamgage is incorporated into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/) by the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often co-located at USGS streamgages. The NWS forecasted peak-stage information, also shown on the Des Plaines River at Lincolnshire inundation Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was then used to determine seven water-surface profiles for flood stages at roughly 1-ft intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from the 50- to 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability flows. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Geographic Information System (GIS) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (derived from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. These maps, along with information on the Internet regarding current gage height from USGS streamgages and forecasted stream stages from

Diverse Regular Employees and Non-regular Employment (Japanese)

OpenAIRE

MORISHIMA Motohiro

2011-01-01

Currently there are high expectations for the introduction of policies related to diverse regular employees. These policies are a response to the problem of disparities between regular and non-regular employees (part-time, temporary, contract and other non-regular employees) and will make it more likely that workers can balance work and their private lives while companies benefit from the advantages of regular employment. In this paper, I look at two issues that underlie this discussion. The ...

Flood-inundation maps for the West Branch Susquehanna River near the Boroughs of Lewisburg and Milton, Pennsylvania

Science.gov (United States)

Roland, Mark A.; Hoffman, Scott A.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximate 8-mile reach of the West Branch Susquehanna River from approximately 2 miles downstream from the Borough of Lewisburg, extending upstream to approximately 1 mile upstream from the Borough of Milton, Pennsylvania, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict the estimated areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage 01553500, West Branch Susquehanna River at Lewisburg, Pa. In addition, the information has been provided to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) for incorporation into their Susquehanna Inundation Map Viewer (SIMV) flood warning system (http://maps.srbc.net/simv/). The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasted peak-stage information (http://water.weather.gov/ahps) for USGS streamgage 01553500, West Branch Susquehanna River at Lewisburg, Pa., may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. Calibration of the model was achieved using the most current stage-discharge relations (rating number 11.1) at USGS streamgage 01553500, West Branch Susquehanna River at Lewisburg, Pa., a documented water-surface profile from the December 2, 2010, flood, and recorded peak stage data. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 26 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from 14 feet (ft) to 39 ft. Modeled flood stages, as defined by NWS, include Action Stage, 14 ft; Flood Stage, 18 ft; Moderate Flood Stage, 23 ft; and Major Flood Stage, 28 ft. Geographic information system (GIS) technology

A Parallel, Multi-Scale Watershed-Hydrologic-Inundation Model with Adaptively Switching Mesh for Capturing Flooding and Lake Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, X.; Shen, C.

2017-12-01

Flood inundation presents substantial societal hazards and also changes biogeochemistry for systems like the Amazon. It is often expensive to simulate high-resolution flood inundation and propagation in a long-term watershed-scale model. Due to the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) restriction, high resolution and large local flow velocity both demand prohibitively small time steps even for parallel codes. Here we develop a parallel surface-subsurface process-based model enhanced by multi-resolution meshes that are adaptively switched on or off. The high-resolution overland flow meshes are enabled only when the flood wave invades to floodplains. This model applies semi-implicit, semi-Lagrangian (SISL) scheme in solving dynamic wave equations, and with the assistant of the multi-mesh method, it also adaptively chooses the dynamic wave equation only in the area of deep inundation. Therefore, the model achieves a balance between accuracy and computational cost.

Flood-inundation maps for Big Creek from the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the confluence of Hog Wallow Creek, Alpharetta and Roswell, Georgia

Science.gov (United States)

Musser, Jonathan W.

2015-08-20

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 12.4-mile reach of Big Creek that extends from 260 feet above the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage at Big Creek below Hog Wallow Creek at Roswell, Georgia (02335757), were developed by the USGS in cooperation with the cities of Alpharetta and Roswell, Georgia. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Big Creek near Alpharetta, Georgia (02335700). Real-time stage information from this USGS streamgage may be obtained at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ and can be used in conjunction with these maps to estimate near real-time areas of inundation. The National Weather Service (NWS) is incorporating results from this study into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs for many streams where the USGS operates streamgages and provides flow data. The forecasted peak-stage information for the USGS streamgage at Big Creek near Alpharetta (02335700), available through the AHPS Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed for this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.

Flood-Inundation maps for the Hohokus Brook in Waldwick Borough, Ho-Ho-Kus Borough, and the Village of Ridgewood, New Jersey, 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Kara M.; Niemoczynski, Michal J.

2015-07-20

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6-mile reach of the Hohokus Brook in New Jersey from White's Lake Dam in Waldwick Borough, through Ho-Ho-Kus Borough to Grove Street in the Village of Ridgewood were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The flood inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Hohokus Brook at Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey (station number 01391000). Stage data at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01391000 or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=hohn4&wfo=okx.

Comparison of new generation low-complexity flood inundation mapping tools with a hydrodynamic model

Science.gov (United States)

Afshari, Shahab; Tavakoly, Ahmad A.; Rajib, Mohammad Adnan; Zheng, Xing; Follum, Michael L.; Omranian, Ehsan; Fekete, Balázs M.

2018-01-01

The objective of this study is to compare two new generation low-complexity tools, AutoRoute and Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND), with a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model (Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System, HEC-RAS 2D). The assessment was conducted on two hydrologically different and geographically distant test-cases in the United States, including the 16,900 km2 Cedar River (CR) watershed in Iowa and a 62 km2 domain along the Black Warrior River (BWR) in Alabama. For BWR, twelve different configurations were set up for each of the models, including four different terrain setups (e.g. with and without channel bathymetry and a levee), and three flooding conditions representing moderate to extreme hazards at 10-, 100-, and 500-year return periods. For the CR watershed, models were compared with a simplistic terrain setup (without bathymetry and any form of hydraulic controls) and one flooding condition (100-year return period). Input streamflow forcing data representing these hypothetical events were constructed by applying a new fusion approach on National Water Model outputs. Simulated inundation extent and depth from AutoRoute, HAND, and HEC-RAS 2D were compared with one another and with the corresponding FEMA reference estimates. Irrespective of the configurations, the low-complexity models were able to produce inundation extents similar to HEC-RAS 2D, with AutoRoute showing slightly higher accuracy than the HAND model. Among four terrain setups, the one including both levee and channel bathymetry showed lowest fitness score on the spatial agreement of inundation extent, due to the weak physical representation of low-complexity models compared to a hydrodynamic model. For inundation depth, the low-complexity models showed an overestimating tendency, especially in the deeper segments of the channel. Based on such reasonably good prediction skills, low-complexity flood models can be considered as a suitable alternative for fast

The structure of salt marsh soil mesofauna food webs - The prevalence of disturbance.

Science.gov (United States)

Haynert, Kristin; Kiggen, Mirijam; Klarner, Bernhard; Maraun, Mark; Scheu, Stefan

2017-01-01

Mesofauna taxa fill key trophic positions in soil food webs, even in terrestrial-marine boundary habitats characterized by frequent natural disturbances. Salt marshes represent such boundary habitats, characterized by frequent inundations increasing from the terrestrial upper to the marine pioneer zone. Despite the high abundance of soil mesofauna in salt marshes and their important function by facilitating energy and carbon flows, the structure, trophic ecology and habitat-related diet shifts of mesofauna species in natural salt marsh habitats is virtually unknown. Therefore, we investigated the effects of natural disturbance (inundation frequency) on community structure, food web complexity and resource use of soil mesofauna using stable isotope analysis (15N, 13C) in three salt marsh zones. In this intertidal habitat, the pioneer zone is exposed to inundations twice a day, but lower and upper salt marshes are less frequently inundated based on shore height. The mesofauna comprised 86 species / taxa dominated by Collembola, Oribatida and Mesostigmata. Shifts in environmental disturbances influenced the structure of food webs, diversity and density declined strongly from the land to the sea pointing to the importance of increasing levels of inundation frequency. Accordingly, the reduced diversity and density was associated by a simplification of the food web in the pioneer zone as compared to the less inundated lower and upper salt marsh with a higher number of trophic levels. Strong variations in δ15N signatures demonstrated that mesofauna species are feeding at multiple trophic levels. Primary decomposers were low and most mesofauna species functioned as secondary decomposers or predators including second order predators or scavengers. The results document that major decomposer taxa, such as Collembola and Oribatida, are more diverse than previously assumed and predominantly dwell on autochthonous resources of the respective salt marsh zone. The results further

Real-time tsunami inundation forecasting and damage mapping towards enhancing tsunami disaster resiliency

Science.gov (United States)

Koshimura, S.; Hino, R.; Ohta, Y.; Kobayashi, H.; Musa, A.; Murashima, Y.

2014-12-01

With use of modern computing power and advanced sensor networks, a project is underway to establish a new system of real-time tsunami inundation forecasting, damage estimation and mapping to enhance society's resilience in the aftermath of major tsunami disaster. The system consists of fusion of real-time crustal deformation monitoring/fault model estimation by Ohta et al. (2012), high-performance real-time tsunami propagation/inundation modeling with NEC's vector supercomputer SX-ACE, damage/loss estimation models (Koshimura et al., 2013), and geo-informatics. After a major (near field) earthquake is triggered, the first response of the system is to identify the tsunami source model by applying RAPiD Algorithm (Ohta et al., 2012) to observed RTK-GPS time series at GEONET sites in Japan. As performed in the data obtained during the 2011 Tohoku event, we assume less than 10 minutes as the acquisition time of the source model. Given the tsunami source, the system moves on to running tsunami propagation and inundation model which was optimized on the vector supercomputer SX-ACE to acquire the estimation of time series of tsunami at offshore/coastal tide gauges to determine tsunami travel and arrival time, extent of inundation zone, maximum flow depth distribution. The implemented tsunami numerical model is based on the non-linear shallow-water equations discretized by finite difference method. The merged bathymetry and topography grids are prepared with 10 m resolution to better estimate the tsunami inland penetration. Given the maximum flow depth distribution, the system performs GIS analysis to determine the numbers of exposed population and structures using census data, then estimates the numbers of potential death and damaged structures by applying tsunami fragility curve (Koshimura et al., 2013). Since the tsunami source model is determined, the model is supposed to complete the estimation within 10 minutes. The results are disseminated as mapping products to

Flood-inundation maps for the Wabash River at Memorial Bridge at Vincennes, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.; Menke, Chad D.

2017-08-23

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 10.2-mile reach of the Wabash River from Sevenmile Island to 3.7 mile downstream of Memorial Bridge (officially known as Lincoln Memorial Bridge) at Vincennes, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at USGS streamgage 03343010, Wabash River at Memorial Bridge at Vincennes, Ind. Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site.For this study, flood profiles were computed for the Wabash River reach by means of a one-dimensional stepbackwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at USGS streamgage 03343010, Wabash River at Memorial Bridge at Vincennes, Ind., and preliminary high-water marks from a high-water event on April 27, 2013. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to determine 19 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 10 feet (ft) or near bankfull to 28 ft, the highest stage of the current stage-discharge rating curve. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a Geographic Information System (GIS) digital elevation model (DEM, derived from Light Detection and Ranging [lidar] data having a 0.98-ft vertical accuracy and 4.9-ft horizontal resolution) in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level.The availability of these maps—along with Internet information

Flood-inundation maps for Cedar Creek at 18th Street at Auburn, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Kathleen K.

2018-02-27

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 1.9-mile reach of Cedar Creek at Auburn, Indiana (Ind.), from the First Street bridge, downstream to the streamgage at 18th Street, then ending approximately 1,100 feet (ft) downstream of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science web site at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on Cedar Creek at 18th Street at Auburn, Ind. (station number 04179520). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, although forecasts of flood hydrographs are not available at this site (ABBI3).Flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation at the Cedar Creek at 18th Street at Auburn, Ind. streamgage and the documented high-water marks from the flood of March 11, 2009. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to compute seven water-surface profiles for flood stages referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from 7 ft, or near bankfull, to 13 ft, in 1-foot increments. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model (derived from light detection and ranging [lidar] data having a 0.98-ft vertical accuracy and 4.9-ft horizontal resolution) to delineate the area flooded at each water level.The availability of these maps, along with internet information regarding current stage from the USGS streamgage at Cedar Creek

Observed and forecast flood-inundation mapping application-A pilot study of an eleven-mile reach of the White River, Indianapolis, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Moon H.; Morlock, Scott E.; Arihood, Leslie D.; Kiesler, James L.

2011-01-01

Near-real-time and forecast flood-inundation mapping products resulted from a pilot study for an 11-mile reach of the White River in Indianapolis. The study was done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Indiana Silver Jackets hazard mitigation taskforce members, the National Weather Service (NWS), the Polis Center, and Indiana University, in cooperation with the City of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water. The pilot project showed that it is technically feasible to create a flood-inundation map library by means of a two-dimensional hydraulic model, use a map from the library to quickly complete a moderately detailed local flood-loss estimate, and automatically run the hydraulic model during a flood event to provide the maps and flood-damage information through a Web graphical user interface. A library of static digital flood-inundation maps was created by means of a calibrated two-dimensional hydraulic model. Estimated water-surface elevations were developed for a range of river stages referenced to a USGS streamgage and NWS flood forecast point colocated within the study reach. These maps were made available through the Internet in several formats, including geographic information system, Keyhole Markup Language, and Portable Document Format. A flood-loss estimate was completed for part of the study reach by using one of the flood-inundation maps from the static library. The Federal Emergency Management Agency natural disaster-loss estimation program HAZUS-MH, in conjunction with local building information, was used to complete a level 2 analysis of flood-loss estimation. A Service-Oriented Architecture-based dynamic flood-inundation application was developed and was designed to start automatically during a flood, obtain near real-time and forecast data (from the colocated USGS streamgage and NWS flood forecast point within the study reach

Sensitivity and uncertainty in flood inundation modelling – concept of an analysis framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Weichel

2007-01-01

Full Text Available After the extreme flood event of the Elbe in 2002 the definition of flood risk areas by law and their simulation became more important in Germany. This paper describes a concept of an analysis framework to improve the localisation and duration of validity of flood inundation maps. The two-dimensional finite difference model TrimR2D is used and linked to a Monte-Carlo routine for parameter sampling as well as to selected performance measures. The purpose is the investigation of the impact of different spatial resolutions and the influence of changing land uses in the simulation of flood inundation areas. The technical assembling of the framework is realised and beside the model calibration, first tests with different parameter ranges were done. Preliminary results show good correlations with observed data, but the investigation of shifting land uses reflects only poor changes in the flood extension.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma - High-Resolution Flood Mapping and Monitoring from Sentinel SAR with the Depolarization Reduction Algorithm for Global Observations of InundatioN (DRAGON)

Science.gov (United States)

Nghiem, S. V.; Brakenridge, G. R.; Nguyen, D. T.

2017-12-01

Hurricane Harvey inflicted historical catastrophic flooding across extensive regions around Houston and southeast Texas after making landfall on 25 August 2017. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requested urgent supports for flood mapping and monitoring in an emergency response to the extreme flood situation. An innovative satellite remote sensing method, called the Depolarization Reduction Algorithm for Global Observations of inundatioN (DRAGON), has been developed and implemented for use with Sentinel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data at a resolution of 10 meters to identify, map, and monitor inundation including pre-existing water bodies and newly flooded areas. Results from this new method are hydrologically consistent and have been verified with known surface waters (e.g., coastal ocean, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc.), with clear-sky high-resolution WorldView images (where waves can be seen on surface water in inundated areas within a small spatial coverage), and with other flood maps from the consortium of Global Flood Partnership derived from multiple satellite datasets (including clear-sky Landsat and MODIS at lower resolutions). Figure 1 is a high-resolution (4K UHD) image of a composite inundation map for the region around Rosharon (in Brazoria County, south of Houston, Texas). This composite inundation map reveals extensive flooding on 29 August 2017 (four days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall), and the inundation was still persistent in most of the west and south of Rosharon one week later (5 September 2017) while flooding was reduced in the east of Rosharon. Hurricane Irma brought flooding to a number of areas in Florida. As of 10 September 2017, Sentinel SAR flood maps reveal inundation in the Florida Panhandle and over lowland surfaces on several islands in the Florida Keys. However, Sentinel SAR results indicate that flooding along the Florida coast was not extreme despite Irma was a Category-5 hurricane that might

A new survey method of tsunami inundation area using chemical analysis of soil. Application to the field survey on the 2010 Chilean tsunami at Chile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshii, Takumi; Matsuyama, Masafumi; Koshimura, Shunichi; Mas, Erick; Matsuoka, Masashi; Jimenez, Cesar

2011-01-01

The severe earthquake of Mw 8.8 occurred on 27 Feb. 2010 at the center of Chile. The tsunami generated by the earthquake attacked the coast of Chile and it propagated to the Pacific Ocean coastline. The field survey on the disaster damages due to the tsunami was conducted near Talcahuano in Chile to prepare for the great tsunamis accompanied by the earthquakes predicted to occur near Japan within several decades. The aims of this field survey were to survey disaster damages especially relevant to electric equipments and to develop the survey method based on a chemical analysis of the inundated soil which supplies objective data with high accuracy compared to the conventional methods. In the survey area, the average of inundation heights was 6 m, however it locally reached up to 25 m. The maximum sea-level height of the series of the tsunamis was recorded in the third or fourth wave (roughly 3 hours after the earthquake occurrence). The first floors of houses were severely destroyed and some ships were carried and left on land by the tsunamis. Furthermore, the large amount of sediment was deposited in towns. Removing the drifted ships and tsunami deposit is important consideration for quick recovery from a disaster due to a tsunami. The soil samples were obtained from both the inundated and the not-inundated position. The stirred solution was made by the soil and ultrapure water, then, the content of water-soluble ions, electric conductivity (EC), and pH were measured. The soil obtained in the tsunami inundated area contains much water-soluble ions (Na + , Mg 2+ , Cl - , Br - , SO 4 2- ) compared to the samples obtained in the not-inundated area. The discriminant analysis of the tsunami inundation was conducted using the amount of ions in the soil. High discriminant accuracy (over 90%) was obtained with Na + , Mg 2+ , Cl - , Br - , SO 4 2- and EC. Br - , Cl - , Na + are believed to be suitable for the discriminant analysis about tsunamis considering the contaminant

Tohoku-Oki Earthquake Tsunami Runup and Inundation Data for Sites Around the Island of Hawaiʻi

Science.gov (United States)

Trusdell, Frank A.; Chadderton, Amy; Hinchliffe, Graham; Hara, Andrew; Patenge, Brent; Weber, Tom

2012-01-01

At 0546 U.t.c. March 11, 2011, a Mw 9.0 ("great") earthquake occurred near the northeast coast of Honshu Island, Japan, generating a large tsunami that devastated the east coast of Japan and impacted many far-flung coastal sites around the Pacific Basin. After the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for the State of Hawaii, followed by a tsunami-warning notice from the local State Civil Defense on March 10, 2011 (Japan is 19 hours ahead of Hawaii). After the waves passed the islands, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) measured inundation (maximum inland distance of flooding), runup (elevation at maximum extent of inundation) and took photographs in coastal areas around the Island of Hawaiʻi. Although the damage in West Hawaiʻi is well documented, HVO's mapping revealed that East Hawaiʻi coastlines were also impacted by the tsunami. The intent of this report is to provide runup and inundation data for sites around the Island of Hawaiʻi.

Monitoring Coastal Marshes for Persistent Flooding and Salinity Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Kalcic, Maria

2010-01-01

Our objective is to provide NASA remote sensing products that provide inundation and salinity information on an ecosystem level to support habitat switching models. Project born out of need by the Coastal Restoration Monitoring System (CRMS), joint effort by Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey, for information on persistence of flooding by storm surge and other flood waters. The results of the this work support the habitat-switching modules in the Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Assessment and Restoration (CLEAR) model, which provides scientific evaluation for restoration management. CLEAR is a collaborative effort between the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Anticipated results will use: a) Resolution enhanced time series data combining spatial resolution of Landsat with temporal resolution of MODIS for inundation estimates. b) Potential salinity products from radar and multispectral modeling. c) Combined inundation and salinity inputs to habitat switching module to produce habitat switching maps (shown at left)

Towards a better understanding of flood generation and surface water inundation mechanisms using NASA remote sensing data products

Science.gov (United States)

Lucey, J.; Reager, J. T., II; Lopez, S. R.

2017-12-01

Floods annually cause several weather-related fatalities and financial losses. According to NOAA and FEMA, there were 43 deaths and 18 billion dollars paid out in flood insurance policies during 2005. The goal of this work is to improve flood prediction and flood risk assessment by creating a general model of predictability of extreme runoff generation using various NASA products. Using satellite-based flood inundation observations, we can relate surface water formation processes to changes in other hydrological variables, such as precipitation, storage and soil moisture, and understand how runoff generation response to these forcings is modulated by local topography and land cover. Since it is known that a flood event would cause an abnormal increase in surface water, we examine these underlying physical relationships in comparison with the Dartmouth Flood Observatory archive of historic flood events globally. Using ground water storage observations (GRACE), precipitation (TRMM or GPCP), land use (MODIS), elevation (SRTM) and surface inundation levels (SWAMPS), an assessment of geological and climate conditions can be performed for any location around the world. This project utilizes multiple linear regression analysis evaluating the relationship between surface water inundation, total water storage anomalies and precipitation values, grouped by average slope or land use, to determine their statistical relationships and influences on inundation data. This research demonstrates the potential benefits of using global data products for early flood prediction and will improve our understanding of runoff generation processes.

Determination of minimum flood flow for regeneration of floodplain forest from inundated forest width-stage curve

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Song-hao Shang

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Floods are essential for the regeneration and growth of floodplain forests in arid and semiarid regions. However, river flows, and especially flood flows, have decreased greatly with the increase of water diversion from rivers and/or reservoir regulation, resulting in severe deterioration of floodplain ecosystems. Estimation of the flood stage that will inundate the floodplain forest is necessary for the forest's restoration or protection. To balance water use for economic purposes and floodplain forest protection, the inundated forest width method is proposed for estimating the minimum flood stage for floodplain forests from the inundated forest width-stage curve. The minimum flood stage is defined as the breakpoint of the inundated forest width-stage curve, and is determined directly or analytically from the curve. For the analytical approach, the problem under consideration is described by a multi-objective optimization model, which can be solved by the ideal point method. Then, the flood flow at the minimum flood stage (minimum flood flow, which is useful for flow regulation, can be calculated from the stage-discharge curve. In order to protect the forest in a river floodplain in a semiarid area in Xinjiang subject to reservoir regulation upstream, the proposed method was used to determine the minimum flood stage and flow for the forest. Field survey of hydrology, topography, and forest distribution was carried out at typical cross sections in the floodplain. Based on the survey results, minimum flood flows for six typical cross sections were estimated to be between 306 m3/s and 393 m3/s. Their maximum, 393 m3/s, was considered the minimum flood flow for the study river reach. This provides an appropriate flood flow for the protection of floodplain forest and can be used in the regulation of the upstream reservoir.

Remote Sensing of River Delta Inundation: Exploiting the Potential of Coarse Spatial Resolution, Temporally-Dense MODIS Time Series

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Kuenzer

2015-07-01

Full Text Available River deltas belong to the most densely settled places on earth. Although they only account for 5% of the global land surface, over 550 million people live in deltas. These preferred livelihood locations, which feature flat terrain, fertile alluvial soils, access to fluvial and marine resources, a rich wetland biodiversity and other advantages are, however, threatened by numerous internal and external processes. Socio-economic development, urbanization, climate change induced sea level rise, as well as flood pulse changes due to upstream water diversion all lead to changes in these highly dynamic systems. A thorough understanding of a river delta’s general setting and intra-annual as well as long-term dynamic is therefore crucial for an informed management of natural resources. Here, remote sensing can play a key role in analyzing and monitoring these vast areas at a global scale. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the potential of intra-annual time series analyses at dense temporal, but coarse spatial resolution for inundation characterization in five river deltas located in four different countries. Based on 250 m MODIS reflectance data we analyze inundation dynamics in four densely populated Asian river deltas—namely the Yellow River Delta (China, the Mekong Delta (Vietnam, the Irrawaddy Delta (Myanmar, and the Ganges-Brahmaputra (Bangladesh, India—as well as one very contrasting delta: the nearly uninhabited polar Mackenzie Delta Region in northwestern Canada for the complete time span of one year (2013. A complex processing chain of water surface derivation on a daily basis allows the generation of intra-annual time series, which indicate inundation duration in each of the deltas. Our analyses depict distinct inundation patterns within each of the deltas, which can be attributed to processes such as overland flooding, irrigation agriculture, aquaculture, or snowmelt and thermokarst processes. Clear differences between mid

Coordinate-invariant regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halpern, M.B.

1987-01-01

A general phase-space framework for coordinate-invariant regularization is given. The development is geometric, with all regularization contained in regularized DeWitt Superstructures on field deformations. Parallel development of invariant coordinate-space regularization is obtained by regularized functional integration of the momenta. As representative examples of the general formulation, the regularized general non-linear sigma model and regularized quantum gravity are discussed. copyright 1987 Academic Press, Inc

Probabilistic flood inundation mapping at ungauged streams due to roughness coefficient uncertainty in hydraulic modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Papaioannou, George; Vasiliades, Lampros; Loukas, Athanasios; Aronica, Giuseppe T.

2017-04-01

Probabilistic flood inundation mapping is performed and analysed at the ungauged Xerias stream reach, Volos, Greece. The study evaluates the uncertainty introduced by the roughness coefficient values on hydraulic models in flood inundation modelling and mapping. The well-established one-dimensional (1-D) hydraulic model, HEC-RAS is selected and linked to Monte-Carlo simulations of hydraulic roughness. Terrestrial Laser Scanner data have been used to produce a high quality DEM for input data uncertainty minimisation and to improve determination accuracy on stream channel topography required by the hydraulic model. Initial Manning's n roughness coefficient values are based on pebble count field surveys and empirical formulas. Various theoretical probability distributions are fitted and evaluated on their accuracy to represent the estimated roughness values. Finally, Latin Hypercube Sampling has been used for generation of different sets of Manning roughness values and flood inundation probability maps have been created with the use of Monte Carlo simulations. Historical flood extent data, from an extreme historical flash flood event, are used for validation of the method. The calibration process is based on a binary wet-dry reasoning with the use of Median Absolute Percentage Error evaluation metric. The results show that the proposed procedure supports probabilistic flood hazard mapping at ungauged rivers and provides water resources managers with valuable information for planning and implementing flood risk mitigation strategies.

Influence of changes in wetland inundation extent on net fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane in northern high latitudes from 1993 to 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuang, Qianlai; Zhu, Xudong; He, Yujie; Prigent, Catherine; Melillo, Jerry M; Kicklighter, David W; David McGuire, A; Prinn, Ronald G

2015-01-01

Estimates of the seasonal and interannual exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) between land ecosystems north of 45°N and the atmosphere are poorly constrained, in part, because of uncertainty in the temporal variability of water-inundated land area. Here we apply a process-based biogeochemistry model to evaluate how interannual changes in wetland inundation extent might have influenced the overall carbon dynamics of the region during the time period 1993–2004. We find that consideration by our model of these interannual variations between 1993 and 2004, on average, results in regional estimates of net methane sources of 67.8 ± 6.2 Tg CH 4 yr −1 , which is intermediate to model estimates that use two static inundation extent datasets (51.3 ± 2.6 and 73.0 ± 3.6 Tg CH 4 yr −1 ). In contrast, consideration of interannual changes of wetland inundation extent result in regional estimates of the net CO 2 sink of −1.28 ± 0.03 Pg C yr −1 with a persistent wetland carbon sink from −0.38 to −0.41 Pg C yr −1 and a upland sink from −0.82 to −0.98 Pg C yr −1 . Taken together, despite the large methane emissions from wetlands, the region is a consistent greenhouse gas sink per global warming potential (GWP) calculations irrespective of the type of wetland datasets being used. However, the use of satellite-detected wetland inundation extent estimates a smaller regional GWP sink than that estimated using static wetland datasets. Our sensitivity analysis indicates that if wetland inundation extent increases or decreases by 10% in each wetland grid cell, the regional source of methane increases 13% or decreases 12%, respectively. In contrast, the regional CO 2 sink responds with only 7–9% changes to the changes in wetland inundation extent. Seasonally, the inundated area changes result in higher summer CH 4 emissions, but lower summer CO 2 sinks, leading to lower summer negative greenhouse gas forcing. Our analysis further

Analyzing the inundation pattern of the Poyang Lake floodplain by passive microwave data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shang, H.; Li, J.; Menenti, M.

2015-01-01

The soil wetness condition is a useful indicator of inundation hazard in floodplains, such as the Poyang Lake floodplain. Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) passive microwave data were used to monitor water-saturated soil and open water areas of the Poyang Lake floodplain from 2001 to 2008,

A coupled hydrological-hydraulic flood inundation model calibrated using post-event measurements and integrated uncertainty analysis in a poorly gauged Mediterranean basin

Science.gov (United States)

Hdeib, Rouya; Abdallah, Chadi; Moussa, Roger; Colin, Francois

2017-04-01

Developing flood inundation maps of defined exceedance probabilities is required to provide information on the flood hazard and the associated risk. A methodology has been developed to model flood inundation in poorly gauged basins, where reliable information on the hydrological characteristics of floods are uncertain and partially captured by the traditional rain-gauge networks. Flood inundation is performed through coupling a hydrological rainfall-runoff (RR) model (HEC-HMS) with a hydraulic model (HEC-RAS). The RR model is calibrated against the January 2013 flood event in the Awali River basin, Lebanon (300 km2), whose flood peak discharge was estimated by post-event measurements. The resulting flows of the RR model are defined as boundary conditions of the hydraulic model, which is run to generate the corresponding water surface profiles and calibrated against 20 post-event surveyed cross sections after the January-2013 flood event. An uncertainty analysis is performed to assess the results of the models. Consequently, the coupled flood inundation model is simulated with design storms and flood inundation maps are generated of defined exceedance probabilities. The peak discharges estimated by the simulated RR model were in close agreement with the results from different empirical and statistical methods. This methodology can be extended to other poorly gauged basins facing common stage-gauge failure or characterized by floods with a stage exceeding the gauge measurement level, or higher than that defined by the rating curve.

A Storm Surge and Inundation Model of the Back River Watershed at NASA Langley Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Loftis, Jon Derek; Wang, Harry V.; DeYoung, Russell J.

2013-01-01

This report on a Virginia Institute for Marine Science project demonstrates that the sub-grid modeling technology (now as part of Chesapeake Bay Inundation Prediction System, CIPS) can incorporate high-resolution Lidar measurements provided by NASA Langley Research Center into the sub-grid model framework to resolve detailed topographic features for use as a hydrological transport model for run-off simulations within NASA Langley and Langley Air Force Base. The rainfall over land accumulates in the ditches/channels resolved via the model sub-grid was tested to simulate the run-off induced by heavy precipitation. Possessing both the capabilities for storm surge and run-off simulations, the CIPS model was then applied to simulate real storm events starting with Hurricane Isabel in 2003. It will be shown that the model can generate highly accurate on-land inundation maps as demonstrated by excellent comparison of the Langley tidal gauge time series data (CAPABLE.larc.nasa.gov) and spatial patterns of real storm wrack line measurements with the model results simulated during Hurricanes Isabel (2003), Irene (2011), and a 2009 Nor'easter. With confidence built upon the model's performance, sea level rise scenarios from the ICCP (International Climate Change Partnership) were also included in the model scenario runs to simulate future inundation cases.

Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) Report : Hellsgate Project, 1999-2000 Technical Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berger, Matthew

2000-05-01

A Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP) study was conducted on lands acquired and/or managed (4,568 acres total) by the Hellsgate Big Game Winter Range Wildlife Mitigation Project (Hellsgate project) to mitigate some of the losses associated with the original construction and operation of Grand Coulee Dam and inundation of habitats behind the dams. Three separate properties, totaling 2,224 acres were purchased in 1998. One property composed of two separate parcels, mostly grassland lies southeast of the town of Nespelem in Okanogan County (770 acres) and was formerly called the Hinman property. The former Hinman property lies within an area the Tribes have set aside for the protection and preservation of the sharp-tailed grouse (Agency Butte unit). This special management area minus the Hinman acquisition contains 2,388 acres in a long-term lease with the Tribes. The second property lies just south of the Silver Creek turnoff (Ferry County) and is bisected by the Hellsgate Road (part of the Friedlander unit). This parcel contains 60 acres of riparian and conifer forest cover. The third property (now named the Sand Hills unit) acquired for mitigation (1,394 acres) lies within the Hellsgate Reserve in Ferry County. This new acquisition links two existing mitigation parcels (the old Sand Hills parcels and the Lundstrum Flat parcel, all former Kuehne purchases) together forming one large unit. HEP team members included individuals from the Colville Confederated Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department (CTCR), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The HEP team conducted a baseline habitat survey using the following HEP species models: mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), mink (Mustela vison), downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), bobcat (Lynx rufus), yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia), and sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus). HEP analysis and results are discussed within the body of the text. The cover types

Leveraging North Carolina's QL2 Lidar to Quantify Sensitivity of National Water Model Derived Flood Inundation Extent to DEM Resolution

Science.gov (United States)

Lovette, J. P.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Blanton, B.; Duncan, J. M.; Stillwell, L.

2017-12-01

The National Water Model (NWM) has provided a novel framework for near real time flood inundation mapping across CONUS at a 10m resolution. In many regions, this spatial scale is quickly being surpassed through the collection of high resolution lidar (1 - 3m). As one of the leading states in data collection for flood inundation mapping, North Carolina is currently improving their previously available 20 ft statewide elevation product to a Quality Level 2 (QL2) product with a nominal point spacing of 0.7 meters. This QL2 elevation product increases the ground points by roughly ten times over the previous statewide lidar product, and by over 250 times when compared to the 10m NED elevation grid. When combining these new lidar data with the discharge estimates from the NWM, we can further improve statewide flood inundation maps and predictions of at-risk areas. In the context of flood risk management, these improved predictions with higher resolution elevation models consistently represent an improvement on coarser products. Additionally, the QL2 lidar also includes coarse land cover classification data for each point return, opening the possibility for expanding analysis beyond the use of only digital elevation models (e.g. improving estimates of surface roughness, identifying anthropogenic features in floodplains, characterizing riparian zones, etc.). Using the NWM Height Above Nearest Drainage approach, we compare flood inundation extents derived from multiple lidar-derived grid resolutions to assess the tradeoff between precision and computational load in North Carolina's coastal river basins. The elevation data distributed through the state's new lidar collection program provide spatial resolutions ranging from 5-50 feet, with most inland areas also including a 3 ft product. Data storage increases by almost two orders of magnitude across this range, as does processing load. In order to further assess the validity of the higher resolution elevation products on

Selection of regularization parameter for l1-regularized damage detection

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Rongrong; Xia, Yong; Bao, Yuequan; Zhou, Xiaoqing

2018-06-01

The l1 regularization technique has been developed for structural health monitoring and damage detection through employing the sparsity condition of structural damage. The regularization parameter, which controls the trade-off between data fidelity and solution size of the regularization problem, exerts a crucial effect on the solution. However, the l1 regularization problem has no closed-form solution, and the regularization parameter is usually selected by experience. This study proposes two strategies of selecting the regularization parameter for the l1-regularized damage detection problem. The first method utilizes the residual and solution norms of the optimization problem and ensures that they are both small. The other method is based on the discrepancy principle, which requires that the variance of the discrepancy between the calculated and measured responses is close to the variance of the measurement noise. The two methods are applied to a cantilever beam and a three-story frame. A range of the regularization parameter, rather than one single value, can be determined. When the regularization parameter in this range is selected, the damage can be accurately identified even for multiple damage scenarios. This range also indicates the sensitivity degree of the damage identification problem to the regularization parameter.

Flood-inundation maps for an 8.9-mile reach of the South Fork Little River at Hopkinsville, Kentucky

Science.gov (United States)

Lant, Jeremiah G.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.9-mile reach of South Fork Little River at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Hopkinsville Community Development Services. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at South Fork Little River at Highway 68 By-Pass at Hopkinsville, Kentucky (station no. 03437495). Current conditions for the USGS streamgage may be obtained online at the USGS National Water Information System site (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory?agency_code=USGS&site_no=03437495). In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service flood warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often co-located at USGS streamgages. The forecasted peak-stage information, also available on the Internet, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the South Fork Little River reach by using HEC-RAS, a one-dimensional step-backwater model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current (2012) stage-discharge relation at the South Fork Little River at Highway 68 By-Pass at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, streamgage and measurements collected during recent flood events. The calibrated model was then used to calculate 13 water-surface profiles for a sequence of flood stages, most at 1-foot intervals, referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from a stage near bank full to the estimated elevation of the 1.0-percent annual exceedance

TINGKAT KESESUAIAN SUAKA MARGASATWA CIKEPUH SEBAGAI HABITAT KEDUA BADAK JAWA (Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest, 1822

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Ribai .

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus is one of the rarest species in the world so categorized as critically endangered by IUCN. Survival of the rhino in Ujung Kulon National Park is threatened by a variety of factors that could cause these extinct animals, such as: invasion langkap, competition with the bulls, and inbreeding. The strategy should be promoted in maintaining and developing population that is making a second habitat. The purpose of this research is to know the suitability level of Cikepuh Wildlife Reserves (CWR as javan rhino’s second habitat. The method used is the field observations. Results showed that the CWR have high suitability as javan rhino’s second habitat with an area of 6886.4 ha (84.72% CWR. Cikepuh Wildlife Reserves components that have a high potential as second habitat are on aspects altitude, air temperature, humidity, water availability, and soil pH. Strategies that can be done in improving the suitability of the CWR as second habitat includ: create pools ofthe rhino, planting food plants that have a high palatability and reduce human pressure through strict enforcement, public education, standardized regular patrols, rehabilitation and enrichment of degraded area, livestock expenses , and review the MoU regarding the use of the area as a military Cikepuh SM. Keywords: Cikepuh Wildlife Reserve, habitat suitability, javan rhino, second habitat

Rapid Response to a Typhoon-Induced Flood with an SAR-Derived Map of Inundated Areas: Case Study and Validation

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Hsiao-Wei Chung

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We report the successful case of a rapid response to a flash flood in I-Lan County of Taiwan with a map of inundated areas derived from COSMO-SkyMed 1 radar satellite imagery within 24 hours. The flood was caused by the intensive precipitation brought by Typhoon Soulik in July 2013. Based on the ensemble forecasts of trajectory, an urgent request of spaceborne SAR imagery was made 24 hours before Typhoon Soulik made landfall. Two COSMO-SkyMed images were successfully acquired when the center of Typhoon Soulik had just crossed the northern part of Taiwan. The standard level-1b product (radiometric-corrected, geometric-calibrated and orthorectified image was generated by using the off-the-shelf SARscape software. Following the same approach used with the Expert Landslide and Shadow Area Delineating System, the regional threshold of each tile image was determined to delineate still water surface and quasi-inundated areas in a fully-automatic manner. The results were overlaid on a digital elevation model, and the same tile was visually compared to an optical image taken by Formosat-2 before this event. With this ancillary information, the inundated areas were accurately and quickly identified. The SAR-derived map of inundated areas was published on a web-based platform powered by Google Earth within 24 hours, with the aim of supporting the decision-making process of disaster prevention and mitigation. A detailed validation was made afterwards by comparing the map with in situ data of the water levels at 17 stations. The results demonstrate the feasibility of rapidly responding to a typhoon-induced flood with a spaceborne SAR-derived map of inundated areas. A standard operating procedure was derived from this work and followed by the Water Hazard Mitigation Center of the Water Resources Agency, Taiwan, in subsequent typhoon seasons, such as Typhoon Trami (August, 2013 and Typhoon Soudelor (August, 2015.

The Upper Mississippi River floodscape: spatial patterns of flood inundation and associated plant community distributions

Science.gov (United States)

DeJager, Nathan R.; Rohweder, Jason J.; Yin, Yao; Hoy, Erin E.

2016-01-01

Questions How is the distribution of different plant communities associated with patterns of flood inundation across a large floodplain landscape? Location Thirty-eight thousand nine hundred and seventy hectare of floodplain, spanning 320 km of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR). Methods High-resolution elevation data (Lidar) and 30 yr of daily river stage data were integrated to produce a ‘floodscape’ map of growing season flood inundation duration. The distributions of 16 different remotely sensed plant communities were quantified along the gradient of flood duration. Results Models fitted to the cumulative frequency of occurrence of different vegetation types as a function of flood duration showed that most types exist along a continuum of flood-related occurrence. The diversity of community types was greatest at high elevations (0–10 d of flooding), where both upland and lowland community types were found, as well as at very low elevations (70–180 d of flooding), where a variety of lowland herbaceous communities were found. Intermediate elevations (20–60 d of flooding) tended to be dominated by floodplain forest and had the lowest diversity of community types. Conclusions Although variation in flood inundation is often considered to be the main driver of spatial patterns in floodplain plant communities, few studies have quantified flood–vegetation relationships at broad scales. Our results can be used to identify targets for restoration of historical hydrological regimes or better anticipate hydro-ecological effects of climate change at broad scales.

Propagation of hydro-meteorological uncertainty in a model cascade framework to inundation prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Rincón, J. P.; Pedrozo-Acuña, A.; Breña-Naranjo, J. A.

2015-07-01

This investigation aims to study the propagation of meteorological uncertainty within a cascade modelling approach to flood prediction. The methodology was comprised of a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model, a distributed rainfall-runoff model and a 2-D hydrodynamic model. The uncertainty evaluation was carried out at the meteorological and hydrological levels of the model chain, which enabled the investigation of how errors that originated in the rainfall prediction interact at a catchment level and propagate to an estimated inundation area and depth. For this, a hindcast scenario is utilised removing non-behavioural ensemble members at each stage, based on the fit with observed data. At the hydrodynamic level, an uncertainty assessment was not incorporated; instead, the model was setup following guidelines for the best possible representation of the case study. The selected extreme event corresponds to a flood that took place in the southeast of Mexico during November 2009, for which field data (e.g. rain gauges; discharge) and satellite imagery were available. Uncertainty in the meteorological model was estimated by means of a multi-physics ensemble technique, which is designed to represent errors from our limited knowledge of the processes generating precipitation. In the hydrological model, a multi-response validation was implemented through the definition of six sets of plausible parameters from past flood events. Precipitation fields from the meteorological model were employed as input in a distributed hydrological model, and resulting flood hydrographs were used as forcing conditions in the 2-D hydrodynamic model. The evolution of skill within the model cascade shows a complex aggregation of errors between models, suggesting that in valley-filling events hydro-meteorological uncertainty has a larger effect on inundation depths than that observed in estimated flood inundation extents.

Tsunami-hazard assessment based on subaquatic slope-failure susceptibility and tsunami-inundation modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Anselmetti, Flavio; Hilbe, Michael; Strupler, Michael; Baumgartner, Christoph; Bolz, Markus; Braschler, Urs; Eberli, Josef; Liniger, Markus; Scheiwiller, Peter; Strasser, Michael

2015-04-01

Due to their smaller dimensions and confined bathymetry, lakes act as model oceans that may be used as analogues for the much larger oceans and their margins. Numerous studies in the perialpine lakes of Central Europe have shown that their shores were repeatedly struck by several-meters-high tsunami waves, which were caused by subaquatic slides usually triggered by earthquake shaking. A profound knowledge of these hazards, their intensities and recurrence rates is needed in order to perform thorough tsunami-hazard assessment for the usually densely populated lake shores. In this context, we present results of a study combining i) basinwide slope-stability analysis of subaquatic sediment-charged slopes with ii) identification of scenarios for subaquatic slides triggered by seismic shaking, iii) forward modeling of resulting tsunami waves and iv) mapping of intensity of onshore inundation in populated areas. Sedimentological, stratigraphical and geotechnical knowledge of the potentially unstable sediment drape on the slopes is required for slope-stability assessment. Together with critical ground accelerations calculated from already failed slopes and paleoseismic recurrence rates, scenarios for subaquatic sediment slides are established. Following a previously used approach, the slides are modeled as a Bingham plastic on a 2D grid. The effect on the water column and wave propagation are simulated using the shallow-water equations (GeoClaw code), which also provide data for tsunami inundation, including flow depth, flow velocity and momentum as key variables. Combining these parameters leads to so called «intensity maps» for flooding that provide a link to the established hazard mapping framework, which so far does not include these phenomena. The current versions of these maps consider a 'worst case' deterministic earthquake scenario, however, similar maps can be calculated using probabilistic earthquake recurrence rates, which are expressed in variable amounts of

Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) Report; Precious Lands Wildlife Management Area, Technical Report 2000-2003.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kozusko, Shana

2003-12-01

The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) currently manages a 15,325 acre parcel of land known as the Precious Lands Wildlife Management Area that was purchased as mitigation for losses incurred by construction of the four lower Snake River dams. The Management Area is located in northern Wallowa County, Oregon and southern Asotin County, Washington (Figure 1). It is divided into three management parcels--the Buford parcel is located on Buford Creek and straddles the WA-OR state line, and the Tamarack and Basin parcels are contiguous to each other and located between the Joseph Creek and Cottonwood Creek drainages in Wallowa County, OR. The project was developed under the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-501), with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The acreage protected under this contract will be credited to BPA as habitat permanently dedicated to wildlife and wildlife mitigation. A modeling strategy known as Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP) was developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and adopted by BPA as a habitat equivalency accounting system. Nine wildlife species models were used to evaluate distinct cover type features and provide a measure of habitat quality. Models measure a wide range of life requisite variables for each species and monitor overall trends in vegetation community health and diversity. One product of HEP is an evaluation of habitat quality expressed in Habitat Units (HUs). This HU accounting system is used to determine the amount of credit BPA receives for mitigation lands. After construction of the four lower Snake River dams, a HEP loss assessment was conducted to determine how many Habitat Units were inundated behind the dams. Twelve target species were used in that evaluation: Canada goose, mallard, river otter, downy woodpecker, song sparrow, yellow warbler, marsh wren, western meadowlark, chukar, ring-necked pheasant, California quail, and mule deer. The U.S. Army Corp of

Numerical Computation of Underground Inundation in Multiple Layers Using the Adaptive Transfer Method

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Hyung-Jun Kim

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Extreme rainfall causes surface runoff to flow towards lowlands and subterranean facilities, such as subway stations and buildings with underground spaces in densely packed urban areas. These facilities and areas are therefore vulnerable to catastrophic submergence. However, flood modeling of underground space has not yet been adequately studied because there are difficulties in reproducing the associated multiple horizontal layers connected with staircases or elevators. This study proposes a convenient approach to simulate underground inundation when two layers are connected. The main facet of this approach is to compute the flow flux passing through staircases in an upper layer and to transfer the equivalent quantity to a lower layer. This is defined as the ‘adaptive transfer method’. This method overcomes the limitations of 2D modeling by introducing layers connecting concepts to prevent large variations in mesh sizes caused by complicated underlying obstacles or local details. Consequently, this study aims to contribute to the numerical analysis of flow in inundated underground spaces with multiple floors.

Forecasting inundation from debris flows that grow during travel, with application to the Oregon Coast Range, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Mark E.; Coe, Jeffrey A.; Brien, Dianne

2016-01-01

Many debris flows increase in volume as they travel downstream, enhancing their mobility and hazard. Volumetric growth can result from diverse physical processes, such as channel sediment entrainment, stream bank collapse, adjacent landsliding, hillslope erosion and rilling, and coalescence of multiple debris flows; incorporating these varied phenomena into physics-based debris-flow models is challenging. As an alternative, we embedded effects of debris-flow growth into an empirical/statistical approach to forecast potential inundation areas within digital landscapes in a GIS framework. Our approach used an empirical debris-growth function to account for the effects of growth phenomena. We applied this methodology to a debris-flow-prone area in the Oregon Coast Range, USA, where detailed mapping revealed areas of erosion and deposition along paths of debris flows that occurred during a large storm in 1996. Erosion was predominant in stream channels with slopes > 5°. Using pre- and post-event aerial photography, we derived upslope contributing area and channel-length growth factors. Our method reproduced the observed inundation patterns produced by individual debris flows; it also generated reproducible, objective potential inundation maps for entire drainage networks. These maps better matched observations than those using previous methods that focus on proximal or distal regions of a drainage network.

Assessing inundation hazards to nuclear powerplant sites using geologically extended histories of riverine floods, tsunamis, and storm surges

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Jim; Atwater, Brian F.; Cohn, Timothy A.; Cronin, Thomas M.; Keith, Mackenzie K.; Smith, Christopher G.; Mason, Jr., Robert R.

2014-01-01

Most nuclear powerplants in the United States are near rivers, large lakes, or oceans. As evident from the Fukushima Daiichi, Japan, disaster of 2011, these water bodies pose inundation threats. Geologic records can extend knowledge of rare hazards from flooding, storm surges, and tsunamis. This knowledge can aid in assessing the safety of critical structures such as dams and energy plants, for which even remotely possible hazards are pertinent. Quantitative analysis of inundation from geologic records perhaps is most developed for and applied to riverine flood hazards, but because of recent natural disasters, geologic investigations also are now used widely for understanding tsunami hazards and coastal storm surges.

Extraction of lidar-based dune-crest elevations for use in examining the vulnerability of beaches to inundation during hurricanes

Science.gov (United States)

Stockdon, H.F.; Doran, K.S.; Sallenger, A.H.

2009-01-01

The morphology of coastal sand dunes plays an important role in determining how a beach will respond to a hurricane. Accurate measurements of dune height and position are essential for assessing the vulnerability of beaches to extreme coastal change during future landfalls. Lidar topographic surveys provide rapid, accurate, high-resolution datasets for identifying the location, position, and morphology of coastal sand dunes over large stretches of coast. An algorithm has been developed for identification of the crest of the most seaward sand dune that defines the landward limit of the beach system. Based on changes in beach slope along cross-shore transects of lidar data, dune elevation and location can automatically be extracted every few meters along the coastline. Dune elevations in conjunction with storm-induced water levels can be used to predict the type of coastal response (e.g., beach erosion, dune erosion, overwash, or inundation) that may be expected during hurricane landfall. The vulnerability of the beach system at Fire Island National Seashore in New York to the most extreme of these changes, inundation, is assessed by comparing lidar-derived dune elevations to modeled wave setup and storm surge height. The vulnerability of the beach system to inundation during landfall of a Category 3 hurricane is shown to be spatially variable because of longshore variations in dune height (mean elevation 5.44 m, standard deviation 1.32 m). Hurricane-induced mean water levels exceed dune elevations along 70 of the coastal park, making these locations more vulnerable to inundation during a Category 3 storm. ?? 2009 Coastal Education and Research Foundation.

Flood-inundation maps for a 6.5-mile reach of the Kentucky River at Frankfort, Kentucky

Science.gov (United States)

Lant, Jeremiah G.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.5-mile reach of Kentucky River at Frankfort, Kentucky, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Frankfort Office of Emergency Management. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage Kentucky River at Lock 4 at Frankfort, Kentucky (station no. 03287500). Current conditions for the USGS streamgage may be obtained online at the USGS National Water Information System site (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory?agency_code=USGS&site_no=03287500). In addition, the information has been provided to the National Weather Service (NWS) for incorporation into their Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often colocated at USGS streamgages. The forecasted peak-stage information, also available on the Internet, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the Kentucky River reach by using HEC–RAS, a one-dimensional step-backwater model developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using the most current (2013) stage-discharge relation for the Kentucky River at Lock 4 at Frankfort, Kentucky, in combination with streamgage and high-water-mark measurements collected for a flood event in May 2010. The calibrated model was then used to calculate 26 water-surface profiles for a sequence of flood stages, at 1-foot intervals, referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from a stage near bankfull to the elevation that breached the levees protecting the City of Frankfort. To delineate the flooded area at

GIS inundation mapping and dam breach analysis of Woolwich Dam using HEC-geoRAS

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Mocan, N. [Crozier and Associates Inc., Collingwood, ON (Canada); Joy, D.M. [Guelph Univ., ON (Canada); Rungis, G. [Grand River Conservation Authority, Cambridge, ON (Canada)

2006-07-01

A study was conducted to determine the extent of flood inundation given a hypothetical dam breach scenario of the Woolwich Dam located in the Grand River Watershed, 2.5 km north of the Town of Elmira, Ontario. The dam is operated by the Grand River Conservation Authority and was constructed to provide low-flow augmentation to Canagagigue Creek. Advances in the computational capabilities of numerical models along with the availability of fine resolution geospatial data has lead to significant advances in the evaluation of catastrophic consequences due to the ensuing flood waters when dams fail. The hydraulic models HEC-RAS and HEC-GeoRAS were used in this study along with GIS to produce high resolution spatial and temporal flood inundation mapping. Given the proximity to the Town of Elmira, the dam is classified as having a high hazard potential. The large size and high hazard potential of the dam suggests that the Inflow Design Flood (IDF) is the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) event. The outlet structure of the spillway consists of 4 ogee-type concrete spillways equipped with radial gates. A low-level concrete pipe located within the spillway structure provides spillage for maintenance purposes. The full flow capacity of the spillway structure is 297 cubic metres per second at the full supply level of 364.8 metres. In addition to GIS flood inundation maps, this paper included the results of flood hydrographs, water surface profiles and peak flow data. It was concluded that techniques used in this analysis should be considered for use in the development of emergency management planning and dam safety assessments across Canada. 6 refs., 3 tabs., 4 figs.

Effects of the length of inundation periods on investment in tuber biomass and sexual reproduction by Vallisneria spinulosa S.Z. Yan Ramets

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Fox A.D.

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Modification and reductions in flows are reducing inundation times in some Yangtze River wetlands, potentially affecting the growth of submerged macrophytes. The effects of shortening the inundation period from April to October (control to April to September (treatment were tested on the production of surface and below-ground tubers and fruits in individual Vallisneria spinulosa ramets in microcosm experiments. Mean numbers of below-ground tubers produced did not differ significantly between treatments, but individual tuber dry mass was significantly greater when harvested in October compared with plants harvested in September. Significantly more surface tubers were initiated by the ramets in the later harvest, but these did not differ in dry mass. Fewer ramets had initiated sexual reproduction by the September harvest compared with the October harvest. Almost all October fruits were mature, while the ratio of mature to unripe fruits was significantly greater than in September. There was no support for the hypothesis that more tubers were initiated deeper in the substrate with a longer inundation period to avoid predation by fish or birds. Based on these results, shortening of the inundation periods experienced by Vallisneria spinulosa plants in Yangtze River ephemeral wetlands may reduce the dry biomass of below-ground tubers and the production of surface tubers in this keystone macrophyte.

Flood-inundation maps for Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek, Johnson County, Kansas, 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Arin J.; Studley, Seth E.

2016-01-25

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.4-mile upper reach of Indian Creek from College Boulevard to the confluence with Tomahawk Creek, a 3.9-mile reach of Tomahawk Creek from 127th Street to the confluence with Indian Creek, and a 1.9-mile lower reach of Indian Creek from the confluence with Tomahawk Creek to just beyond the Kansas/Missouri border at State Line Road in Johnson County, Kansas, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the city of Overland Park, Kansas. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the U.S. Geological Survey Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the U.S. Geological Survey streamgages on Indian Creek at Overland Park, Kansas; Indian Creek at State Line Road, Leawood, Kansas; and Tomahawk Creek near Overland Park, Kansas. Near real time stages at these streamgages may be obtained on the Web from the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at these sites.Flood profiles were computed for the stream reaches by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated for each reach by using the most current stage-discharge relations at the streamgages. The hydraulic models were then used to determine 15 water-surface profiles for Indian Creek at Overland Park, Kansas; 17 water-surface profiles for Indian Creek at State Line Road, Leawood, Kansas; and 14 water-surface profiles for Tomahawk Creek near Overland Park, Kansas, for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from bankfull to the next interval above the 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability flood level (500-year recurrence interval). The

A Tank Bromeliad Favors Spider Presence in a Neotropical Inundated Forest.

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Yann Hénaut

Full Text Available Tank bromeliads are good models for understanding how climate change may affect biotic associations. We studied the relationships between spiders, the epiphytic tank bromeliad, Aechmea bracteata, and its associated ants in an inundated forest in Quintana Roo, Mexico, during a drought period while, exceptionally, this forest was dry and then during the flooding that followed. We compared spider abundance and diversity between 'Aechmea-areas' and 'control-areas' of the same surface area. We recorded six spider families: the Dipluridae, Ctenidae, Salticidae, Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Linyphiidae among which the funnel-web tarantula, Ischnothele caudata, the only Dipluridae noted, was the most abundant. During the drought period, the spiders were more numerous in the Aechmea-areas than in the control-areas, but they were not obligatorily associated with the Aechmea. During the subsequent flooding, the spiders were concentrated in the A. bracteata patches, particularly those sheltering an ant colony. Also, a kind of specificity existed between certain spider taxa and ant species, but varied between the drought period and subsequent flooding. We conclude that climatic events modulate the relationship between A. bracteata patches and their associated fauna. Tank bromeliads, previously considered only for their ecological importance in supplying food and water during drought, may also be considered refuges for spiders during flooding. More generally, tank bromeliads have an important role in preserving non-specialized fauna in inundated forests.

A Tank Bromeliad Favors Spider Presence in a Neotropical Inundated Forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Hénaut, Yann; Corbara, Bruno; Pélozuelo, Laurent; Azémar, Frédéric; Céréghino, Régis; Herault, Bruno; Dejean, Alain

2014-01-01

Tank bromeliads are good models for understanding how climate change may affect biotic associations. We studied the relationships between spiders, the epiphytic tank bromeliad, Aechmea bracteata, and its associated ants in an inundated forest in Quintana Roo, Mexico, during a drought period while, exceptionally, this forest was dry and then during the flooding that followed. We compared spider abundance and diversity between 'Aechmea-areas' and 'control-areas' of the same surface area. We recorded six spider families: the Dipluridae, Ctenidae, Salticidae, Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Linyphiidae among which the funnel-web tarantula, Ischnothele caudata, the only Dipluridae noted, was the most abundant. During the drought period, the spiders were more numerous in the Aechmea-areas than in the control-areas, but they were not obligatorily associated with the Aechmea. During the subsequent flooding, the spiders were concentrated in the A. bracteata patches, particularly those sheltering an ant colony. Also, a kind of specificity existed between certain spider taxa and ant species, but varied between the drought period and subsequent flooding. We conclude that climatic events modulate the relationship between A. bracteata patches and their associated fauna. Tank bromeliads, previously considered only for their ecological importance in supplying food and water during drought, may also be considered refuges for spiders during flooding. More generally, tank bromeliads have an important role in preserving non-specialized fauna in inundated forests.

A Tank Bromeliad Favors Spider Presence in a Neotropical Inundated Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Hénaut, Yann; Corbara, Bruno; Pélozuelo, Laurent; Azémar, Frédéric; Céréghino, Régis; Herault, Bruno; Dejean, Alain

2014-01-01

Tank bromeliads are good models for understanding how climate change may affect biotic associations. We studied the relationships between spiders, the epiphytic tank bromeliad, Aechmea bracteata, and its associated ants in an inundated forest in Quintana Roo, Mexico, during a drought period while, exceptionally, this forest was dry and then during the flooding that followed. We compared spider abundance and diversity between ‘Aechmea-areas’ and ‘control-areas’ of the same surface area. We recorded six spider families: the Dipluridae, Ctenidae, Salticidae, Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Linyphiidae among which the funnel-web tarantula, Ischnothele caudata, the only Dipluridae noted, was the most abundant. During the drought period, the spiders were more numerous in the Aechmea-areas than in the control-areas, but they were not obligatorily associated with the Aechmea. During the subsequent flooding, the spiders were concentrated in the A. bracteata patches, particularly those sheltering an ant colony. Also, a kind of specificity existed between certain spider taxa and ant species, but varied between the drought period and subsequent flooding. We conclude that climatic events modulate the relationship between A. bracteata patches and their associated fauna. Tank bromeliads, previously considered only for their ecological importance in supplying food and water during drought, may also be considered refuges for spiders during flooding. More generally, tank bromeliads have an important role in preserving non-specialized fauna in inundated forests. PMID:25494055

Wetlands in changed landscapes: the influence of habitat transformation on the physico-chemistry of temporary depression wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Bird, Matthew S; Day, Jenny A

2014-01-01

Temporary wetlands dominate the wet season landscape of temperate, semi-arid and arid regions, yet, other than their direct loss to development and agriculture, little information exists on how remaining wetlands have been altered by anthropogenic conversion of surrounding landscapes. This study investigates relationships between the extent and type of habitat transformation around temporary wetlands and their water column physico-chemical characteristics. A set of 90 isolated depression wetlands (seasonally inundated) occurring on coastal plains of the south-western Cape mediterranean-climate region of South Africa was sampled during the winter/spring wet season of 2007. Wetlands were sampled across habitat transformation gradients according to the areal cover of agriculture, urban development and alien invasive vegetation within 100 and 500 m radii of each wetland edge. We hypothesized that the principal drivers of physico-chemical conditions in these wetlands (e.g. soil properties, basin morphology) are altered by habitat transformation. Multivariate multiple regression analyses (distance-based Redundancy Analysis) indicated significant associations between wetland physico-chemistry and habitat transformation (overall transformation within 100 and 500 m, alien vegetation cover within 100 and 500 m, urban cover within 100 m); although for significant regressions the amount of variation explained was very low (range: ∼2 to ∼5.5%), relative to that explained by purely spatio-temporal factors (range: ∼35.5 to ∼43%). The nature of the relationships between each type of transformation in the landscape and individual physico-chemical variables in wetlands were further explored with univariate multiple regressions. Results suggest that conservation of relatively narrow (∼100 m) buffer strips around temporary wetlands is likely to be effective in the maintenance of natural conditions in terms of physico-chemical water quality.

Wetlands in changed landscapes: the influence of habitat transformation on the physico-chemistry of temporary depression wetlands.

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Matthew S Bird

Full Text Available Temporary wetlands dominate the wet season landscape of temperate, semi-arid and arid regions, yet, other than their direct loss to development and agriculture, little information exists on how remaining wetlands have been altered by anthropogenic conversion of surrounding landscapes. This study investigates relationships between the extent and type of habitat transformation around temporary wetlands and their water column physico-chemical characteristics. A set of 90 isolated depression wetlands (seasonally inundated occurring on coastal plains of the south-western Cape mediterranean-climate region of South Africa was sampled during the winter/spring wet season of 2007. Wetlands were sampled across habitat transformation gradients according to the areal cover of agriculture, urban development and alien invasive vegetation within 100 and 500 m radii of each wetland edge. We hypothesized that the principal drivers of physico-chemical conditions in these wetlands (e.g. soil properties, basin morphology are altered by habitat transformation. Multivariate multiple regression analyses (distance-based Redundancy Analysis indicated significant associations between wetland physico-chemistry and habitat transformation (overall transformation within 100 and 500 m, alien vegetation cover within 100 and 500 m, urban cover within 100 m; although for significant regressions the amount of variation explained was very low (range: ∼2 to ∼5.5%, relative to that explained by purely spatio-temporal factors (range: ∼35.5 to ∼43%. The nature of the relationships between each type of transformation in the landscape and individual physico-chemical variables in wetlands were further explored with univariate multiple regressions. Results suggest that conservation of relatively narrow (∼100 m buffer strips around temporary wetlands is likely to be effective in the maintenance of natural conditions in terms of physico-chemical water quality.

The impact of onsite wastewater disposal systems on groundwater in areas inundated by Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Irene; Phillips, Patrick J.; Colella, Kaitlyn; Fisher, Shawn C.; Tagliaferri, Tristen N.; Foreman, William T.; Furlong, Edward T.

2016-01-01

Coastal onsite wastewater disposal systems (OWDS) were inundated by Hurricane Sandy's storm tide. This study compares the shallow groundwater quality (nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and hormones) downgradient of OWDS before and after Hurricane Sandy, where available, and establishes a baseline for wastewater influence on groundwater in coastal communities inundated by Hurricane Sandy. Nutrients and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) were detected in shallow groundwater downgradient of OWDS in two settings along the New Jersey and New York coastlines: 1) a single, centralized OWDS in a park; and 2) multiple OWDS (cesspools) in low-density residential and mixed-use/medium density residential areas. The most frequently detected pharmaceuticals were lidocaine (40%), carbamazepine (36%), and fexofenadine, bupropion, desvenlafaxine, meprobamate, and tramadol (24–32%). Increases in the number and total concentration of pharmaceuticals after Hurricane Sandy may reflect other factors (seasonality, usage) besides inundation, and demonstrate the importance of analyzing for a wide variety of CECs in regional studies.

Stratification of habitats for identifying habitat selection by Merriam's turkeys

Science.gov (United States)

Mark A. Rumble; Stanley H. Anderson

1992-01-01

Habitat selection patterns of Merriam’s Turkeys were compared in hierarchical analyses of three levels of habitat stratification. Habitat descriptions in first-level analyses were based on dominant species of vegetation. Habitat descriptions in second-level analyses were based on dominant species of vegetation and overstory canopy cover. Habitat descriptions in third-...

Does an ant-dispersed plant, Viola reichenbachiana, suffer from reduced seed dispersal under inundation disturbances?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prinzing, A.; Dauber, J.; Hammer, E.; Hammouti, N.; Bohning-Gaese, K.

2008-01-01

Many plant species use ants as seed dispersers. This dispersal mode is considered to be susceptible to disturbances, but the effect of natural, small-scale disturbances is still unknown. We investigated how small-scale disturbances due to inundation affect seed dispersal in Viola reichenbachiana, a

Typhoon Doksuri Flooding in 2017 - High-Resolution Inundation Mapping and Monitoring from Sentinel Satellite SAR Data

Science.gov (United States)

Nghiem, S. V.; Nguyen, D. T.

2017-12-01

In 2017, typhoons and hurricanes have inflicted catastrophic flooding across extensive regions in many countries on several continents, including Asia and North America. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requested urgent support for flood mapping and monitoring in an emergency response to the devastating flood situation. An innovative satellite remote sensing method, called the Depolarization Reduction Algorithm for Global Observations of inundatioN (DRAGON), has been developed and implemented for use with Sentinel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data at a resolution of 10 meters to identify, map, and monitor inundation including pre-existing water bodies and newly flooded areas. Because Sentinel SAR operates at C-band microwave frequency, it can be used for flood mapping regardless of could cover conditions typically associated with storms, and thus can provide immediate results without the need to wait for the clouds to clear out. In Southeast Asia, Typhoon Doksuri caused significant flooding across extensive regions in Vietnam and other countries in September 2017. Figure 1 presents the flood mapping result over a region around Hà Tĩnh (north central coast of Vietnam) showing flood inundated areas (in yellow) on 16 September 2017 together with pre-existing surface water (in blue) on 4 September 2017. This is just one example selected from a larger flood map covering an extensive region of about 250 km x 680 km all along the central coast of Vietnam.

Thermal remote sensing of water under flooded vegetation: New observations of inundation patterns for the ‘Small’ Lake Chad

Science.gov (United States)

Leblanc, M.; Lemoalle, J.; Bader, J.-C.; Tweed, S.; Mofor, L.

2011-06-01

SummaryLake Chad at the border of the Sahara desert in central Africa, is well known for its high sensitivity to hydroclimatic events. Gaps in in situ data have so far prevented a full assessment of the response of Lake Chad to the ongoing prolonged drought that started in the second half of the 20th century. Like many other wetlands and shallow lakes, the 'Small' Lake Chad includes large areas of water under aquatic vegetation which needs to be accounted for to obtain the total inundated area. In this paper, a methodology is proposed that uses Meteosat thermal maximum composite data (Tmax) to account for water covered by aquatic vegetation and provide a consistent monthly time series of total inundated area estimates for Lake Chad. Total inundation patterns in Lake Chad were reconstructed for a 15-yr period (1986-2001) which includes the peak of the drought (86-91) and therefore provides new observations on the hydrological functioning of the 'Small' Lake Chad. During the study period, Lake Chad remained below 16,400 km 2 (third quartile ˜8800 km 2). The variability of the inundated area observed in the northern pool (standard deviation σnorthern pool = 1980 km 2) is about 60% greater than that of the southern pool ( σsouthern pool = 1250 km 2). The same methodology could be applied to other large wetlands and shallow lakes in semi-arid or arid regions elsewehere using Meteosat (e.g. Niger Inland Delta, Sudd in Sudan, Okavango Delta) and other weather satellites (e.g., floodplains of the Lake Eyre Basin in Australia and Andean Altiplano Lakes in South America).

Geological record of tsunami inundations in Pantano Morghella (south-eastern Sicily both from near and far-field sources

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F. Gerardi

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Analysis of tsunami deposits from the Pantano Morghella area provided geological evidence for two inundations occurred along the south-eastern Ionian coast of Sicily. Pantano Morghella is a large pond characterised by a fine-grained sedimentation indicating a low-energy depositional environment. Two anomalous yellow sandy layers found at different depths indicate the occurrence of high-energy marine inundations. We studied sedimentological and paleontological features of the anomalous deposits as well as their spatial distribution observing the following properties: different facies with respect to the local stratigraphic sequence; erosive bases, rip-up clasts and broken elements testifying violent deposition mechanisms; macro and micro fauna of marine environment; relatively constant thickness throughout most of the depositional zone with thinning at the distal end; large sand sheets that extend inland. These observations, jointly with their infrequency in the sedimentary record and the age indicating a fast deposition, provided strong evidence for tsunami inundations. Correlations between anomalous layers and historical tsunamis are supported by radiocarbon and OSL dating results. The younger deposit is likely due to the 1908 near-source tsunami, whereas the flooding of the oldest event is most likely associated with a far and large source, the Crete 365 AD earthquake.

Mapping Pyroclastic Flow Inundation Using Radar and Optical Satellite Images and Lahar Modeling

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Chang-Wook Lee

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Sinabung volcano, located above the Sumatra subduction of the Indo-Australian plate under the Eurasian plate, became active in 2010 after about 400 years of quiescence. We use ALOS/PALSAR interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR images to measure surface deformation from February 2007 to January 2011. We model the observed preeruption inflation and coeruption deflation using Mogi and prolate spheroid sources to infer volume changes of the magma chamber. We interpret that the inflation was due to magma accumulation in a shallow reservoir beneath Mount Sinabung and attribute the deflation due to magma withdrawal from the shallow reservoir during the eruption as well as thermoelastic compaction of erupted material. The pyroclastic flow extent during the eruption is then derived from the LAHARZ model based on the coeruption volume from InSAR modeling and compared to that derived from the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+ image. The pyroclastic flow inundation extents between the two different methods agree at about 86%, suggesting the capability of mapping pyroclastic flow inundation by combing radar and optical imagery as well as flow modeling.

Predicting the Effects of Man-Made Fishing Canals on Floodplain Inundation - A Modelling Study

Science.gov (United States)

Shastry, A. R.; Durand, M. T.; Neal, J. C.; Fernandez, A.; Hamilton, I.; Kari, S.; Laborde, S.; Mark, B. G.; Arabi, M.; Moritz, M.; Phang, S. C.

2016-12-01

The Logone floodplain in northern Cameroon is an excellent example of coupled human-natural systems because of strong couplings between the social, ecological and hydrologic systems. Overbank flow from the Logone River in September and October is essential for agriculture and fishing livelihoods. Fishers dig canals to catch fish during the flood's recession to the river in November and December by installing nets at the intersection of canals and the river. Fishing canals connect the river to natural depressions in the terrain and may serve as a man-made extension of the river drainage network. In the last four decades, there has been an exponential increase in the number of canals which may affect flood hydraulics and the fishery. The goal of this study is to characterize the relationship between the fishing canals and flood dynamics in the Logone floodplain, specifically, parameters of flooding and recession timings and the duration of inundation. To do so, we model the Bara region ( 30 km2) of the floodplain using LISFLOOD-FP, a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model with sub-grid parameterizations of canals. We use a simplified version of the hydraulic system at a grid-cell size of 30-m, using synthetic topography, parameterized fishing canals, and representing fishnets as a combination of weir and mesh screens. The inflow at Bara is obtained from a separate, lower resolution (1-km grid-cell) model forced by daily discharge records obtained from Katoa, located 25-km upstream of Bara. Preliminary results show more canals lead to early recession of flood and a shorter duration of flood inundation. A shorter duration of flood inundation reduces the period of fish growth and will affect fisher catch returns. Understanding the couplings within the system is important for predicting long-term dynamics and the impact of building more fishing canals.

Evaluating extinction in rare habitats: an essay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camacho, A. I.

2003-12-01

Full Text Available Inference and estimation are the Achilles heel of many biological disciplines. The validation of results is the first step before taking any further decision. In Biodiversity studies the technical problems in validation are similar to those faced in other disciplines. The main difference with areas like medicine is that a validation error in the latter can easily take you to court, but very few responsibilities apart from moral or ethical ones generally derive from a faulty estimation or validation in Biodiversity. However, many political decisions concerning conservation issues, which in many cases affect powerful economic interests depend on the reliability of those biodiversity studies. Getting good, reliable information is not always easy, and this explains in part, the success of critical voices like Simon (1998 and Lomborg (2001. New methodologies like Population Viability Analysis has been developed to take advantage of the potential information contained in periodical sampling. We apply it to a peculiar and difficult to study fauna: the fauna of the aquatic subterranean environment. Lack of regular information and scarcity of the fauna due to difficulty to reach their proper habitat are the main problems that confront this analysis. However, despite its limitations, the analysis points towards a need to better understand the structure of the subterranean habitat from “an animal point of view” and the need of more regular sampling at the same time that the other environmental parameters are taken.

La inferencia y la estima son el talón de Aquiles de muchas disciplinas biológicas. La validación de resultados es el primer paso antes de tomar decisiones ulteriores. En estudios de Biodiversidad los problemas técnicos de validación son semejantes a los que se enfrentan otras disciplinas. La principal diferencia con áreas como Medicina es que un error en validación en ésta última puede terminar fácilmente en el juzgado

Repeat-Pass Multi-Temporal Interferometric SAR Coherence Variations with Amazon Floodplain and Lake Habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, H.; Alsdorf, D.

2006-12-01

Monitoring discharge in the main channels of rivers and upland tributaries as well as storage changes in floodplain lakes is necessary for understanding flooding hazards, methane production, sediment transport, and nutrient exchange. Interferometric processing of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data may enable hydrologists to detect environmental and ecological changes in hydrological systems over space and time. An aim of our experiments is to characterize interferometric SAR coherence variations that occur in Amazon aquatic habitats. We analyze coherence variations in JERS-1 data at three central Amazon sites; Lake Balbina, the Cabaliana floodplain, and the confluence of the Purus and Amazon rivers. Because radar pulse interactions with inundated vegetation typically follow a double-bounce travel path which returns energy to the antenna, coherence will vary with vegetation type, physical baseline, and temporal baseline. Balbina's vegetation consists mostly of forest and inundated trunks of dead, leafless trees as opposed to Cabaliana and Amazon- Purus (dominated by flooded forests), thus it serves to isolate the vegetation signal. Coherence variations with baselines were determined from 253 interferograms at Balbina, 210 at Calbaliana, and 153 at Purus. The average temporal and perpendicular baselines (mean std.) are 574 394 days and 1708 1159 m at Balbina, 637 435 days and 1381 981 m at Cabaliana, and 587 425 days and 1430 964 m at Purus. Balbina has a stronger coherence than either Cabaliana or Amazon-Purus. With results of Mann-Whitney statistical tests, Balbina has a difference between terre-firme and flooded coherence values plotted with perpendicular baseline but Cabaliana and Amazon-Purus do not show this difference. Balbina has a linearly decreasing trend in coherence plotted with temporal baseline whereas Cabaliana and Amazon-Purus have a steep drop-off, non- linear change. A strong annual periodicity is evident on power spectrums of the coherence values

Áreas inundáveis - Um desafio para Limnologia

OpenAIRE

Junk, Woifgang Johannes

1980-01-01

Resumo No decorrer de estudos limnológicos nas áreas inundáveis (várzea) do Médio Amazonas, encontraram-se dificuldades na aplicação da terminologia, dos conceitos e da metodologia desenvolvidas para os sistemas clássicos de água parada e água corrente. As pronunciadas oscilações periódicas do nível de água, em combinação com mudanças entre a fase aquática e a fase terrestre em grande escala, provocam condições, que não correspondem nem a lagos e rios nem a pântanos e águas temporárias. Uma r...

NREL/Habitat for Humanity Zero Energy Home: A Cold-Climate Case Study for Affordable Zero Energy Homes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Norton, P.; Christensen, C.; Hancock, E.; Barker, G.; Reeves, P.

2008-06-01

The design of this 1,280-square-foot, three-bedroom Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver zero energy home carefully combines envelope efficiency, efficient equipment, appliances and lighting, and passive and active solar features to reach the zero energy goal. The home was designed with an early version (July 22, 2004) of the BEOpt building optimization software; DOE2 and TRNSYS were used to perform additional analysis. This engineering approach was tempered by regular discussions with Habitat construction staff and volunteers. These discussions weighed the applicability of the optimized solutions to the special needs and economics of a Habitat house--moving the design toward simple, easily maintained mechanical systems and volunteer-friendly construction techniques. A data acquisition system was installed in the completed home to monitor its performance.

Habitat Use Database - Groundfish Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Habitat Use Database (HUD)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Habitat Use Database (HUD) was specifically designed to address the need for habitat-use analyses in support of groundfish EFH, HAPCs, and fishing and nonfishing...

Potential Impact of Climate Changes on the Inundation Risk Levels in a Dam Break Scenario

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Sudha Yerramilli

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The overall objective of the study is to generate information for an enhanced land use planning with respect to flood hazards. The study assesses the potential impact of climate change by simulating a dam break scenario in a high intensity rainfall event and evaluates the vulnerability risk in the downstream region by integrating ArcGIS and Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC-RAS technologies. In the past century, the evidence of climate changes are observed in terms of increase in high intensity rainfall events. These events are of high concern, as increased inflow rates may increase the probability of a dam failure, leading to higher magnitude flooding events involving multiple consequences. The 100 year historical rainfall data for the central Mississippi region reveals an increased trend in the intensity of rainfall rates after the 1970s. With more than 10% of high hazard dams in the central region, the damage can be far accumulative. The study determines occurrence of the high intensity rainfall event in the past 100 years for central Mississippi and simulates a Ross Barnett Reservoir dam break scenario and evaluates the vulnerability risks due to inundation in the immediate downstream region, which happens to be the State Capital. The results indicate that the inundation due to a Ross Barnett Reservoir failure under high intensity rainfall event is comparable to a catastrophic flood event experienced by the region in 1979, which almost equals a 200-year flood magnitude. The results indicate that the extent and depth of flood waters poses a significant destructive threat to the state capital, inundating various infrastructural and transportation networks.

Varying Inundation Regimes Differentially Affect Natural and Sand-Amended Marsh Sediments.

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C Wigand

Full Text Available Climate change is altering sea level rise rates and precipitation patterns worldwide. Coastal wetlands are vulnerable to these changes. System responses to stressors are important for resource managers and environmental stewards to understand in order to best manage them. Thin layer sand or sediment application to drowning and eroding marshes is one approach to build elevation and resilience. The above- and below-ground structure, soil carbon dioxide emissions, and pore water constituents in vegetated natural marsh sediments and sand-amended sediments were examined at varying inundation regimes between mean sea level and mean high water (0.82 m NAVD88 to 1.49 m NAVD88 in a field experiment at Laws Point, part of the Plum Island Sound Estuary (MA. Significantly lower salinities, pH, sulfides, phosphates, and ammonium were measured in the sand-amended sediments than in the natural sediments. In natural sediments there was a pattern of increasing salinity with increasing elevation while in the sand-amended sediments the trend was reversed, showing decreasing salinity with increasing elevation. Sulfide concentrations generally increased from low to high inundation with highest concentrations at the highest inundation (i.e., at the lowest elevations. High pore water phosphate concentrations were measured at low elevations in the natural sediments, but the sand-amended treatments had mostly low concentrations of phosphate and no consistent pattern with elevation. At the end of the experiment the lowest elevations generally had the highest measures of pore water ammonium. Soil carbon dioxide emissions were greatest in the sand-amended mesocosms and at higher elevations. Differences in coarse root and rhizome abundances and volumes among the sediment treatments were detected with CT imaging, but by 20 weeks the natural and sand-amended treatments showed similar total belowground biomass at the intermediate and high elevations. Although differences in

High Frequency Monitoring of Isotopic Signatures Elucidates Potential Effects of Restoring Floodplain Habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamoto, B. J.; Fogel, M. L.; Jeffres, C.; Viers, J. H.

2017-12-01

Increasing the quality and quantity of habitat for native species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a high priority for California water managers. The McCormack-Williamson Tract (MWT) is a subsided island (38.253° N -121.284° W) situated at the confluence of the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers, near the inland extent of tidal influence. MWT experienced unexpected levee failure on February 11, 2017, during the wettest year of record for the Mokelumne-Cosumnes river system, which provided a unique opportunity to examine the potential trajectory of future restoration actions within the Delta. We carried out high frequency sampling (n=32, 13% of days) of suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) and waters in the Mokelumne and Cosumnes river systems, including nearby sloughs, and the post-failure, flooded interior of MWT. Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes in SPOM and δ2H and δ18O of waters were analyzed and in situ water quality data were collected in tandem, thus contextualizing isotopic data. Sampling was confined to an 8 km2 region surrounding MWT (6.7 km2 interior). This unintentional flooding provided a natural before-after-control-impact experiment to study the effect that sudden inundation of a Delta island can have on food web development and ecosystem function. Source waters were isotopically distinct (p0.9), providing a semi-conservative tracer of mixing. The δ13C values of SPOM varied between -37.3 and -23.9‰ and were significantly more negative on the flooded island by 1.2‰ (porganic carbon concomitant with accelerated ecosystem metabolism. Concurrently, δ15N values varied between 1.0 and 12.4‰ and were not significantly different between riverine and flooded island sites. Our data indicate that this river system is highly dynamic over short periods of flood inundation (13 weeks) with new freshwater habitats exhibiting higher productivity than their riverine counterparts and could therefore increase autochthonous subsidies to

Development of Urban Inundation Warning Model at Cyclic Artificial Water Way in Song-do International City, Republic of Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, T.; Lee, C.; Kim, H.

2016-12-01

Abstract Song-do international city was constructed by reclaiming land from the coastal waters of Yeonsu-gu, Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea. The □-shaped cyclic artificial water way has been considered for improving water quality, waterfront and internal drainage in Song-do international city. By improving water quality, various marine facilities, such as marina, artificial beach, marine terminal, and so on, will be set up around the artificial water way for the waterfront. Since the water stage of the artificial water way changes depending on water gates operations, it is necessary to develop an urban inundation warning model to evaluate safeties of the waterfront facilities and its passengers. By considering characteristics of urban watershed, we calculate discharge flowing into the water way using XP-SWMM model. As a result of estimating 100-year flood frequency, although there are slight differences in drainage sections, the maximum flood discharge occurs in 90-min rainfall duration. In order to consider impacts of tide and hydraulic structure, we establish Inland drainage plans through the analysis of unsteady flow using HEC-RAS. The urban inundation warning model is configured to issue a warning when the water plain elevation exceeds EL. 1.5m which is usually managed at EL. 1.0m. In this study, the design flood stage of artificial water way and urban inundation warning model are developed for Song-do international city, and therefore it is expected that a reliability of management and operation of the waterfront facilities is improved. Keywords : Artificial Water Way; Waterfront; Urban Inundation Warning Model. Acknowlegement This research was supported by a grant [MPSS-NH-2015-79] through the Disaster and Safety Management Institute funded by Ministry of Public Safety and Security of Korean government.

Developing an event-tree probabilistic tsunami inundation model for NE Atlantic coasts: Application to case studies

Science.gov (United States)

Omira, Rachid; Baptista, Maria Ana; Matias, Luis

2015-04-01

This study constitutes the first assessment of probabilistic tsunami inundation in the NE Atlantic region, using an event-tree approach. It aims to develop a probabilistic tsunami inundation approach for the NE Atlantic coast with an application to two test sites of ASTARTE project, Tangier-Morocco and Sines-Portugal. Only tsunamis of tectonic origin are considered here, taking into account near-, regional- and far-filed sources. The multidisciplinary approach, proposed here, consists of an event-tree method that gathers seismic hazard assessment, tsunami numerical modelling, and statistical methods. It presents also a treatment of uncertainties related to source location and tidal stage in order to derive the likelihood of tsunami flood occurrence and exceedance of a specific near-shore wave height during a given return period. We derive high-resolution probabilistic maximum wave heights and flood distributions for both test-sites Tangier and Sines considering 100-, 500-, and 1000-year return periods. We find that the probability that a maximum wave height exceeds 1 m somewhere along the Sines coasts reaches about 55% for 100-year return period, and is up to 100% for 1000-year return period. Along Tangier coast, the probability of inundation occurrence (flow depth > 0m) is up to 45% for 100-year return period and reaches 96% in some near-shore costal location for 500-year return period. Acknowledgements: This work is funded by project ASTARTE - Assessment, STrategy And Risk Reduction for Tsunamis in Europe. Grant 603839, 7th FP (ENV.2013.6.4-3 ENV.2013.6.4-3).

Surface Habitat Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Kriss J.

2009-01-01

The Surface Habitat Systems (SHS) Focused Investment Group (FIG) is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) effort to provide a focused direction and funding to the various projects that are working on human surface habitat designs and technologies for the planetary exploration missions. The overall SHS-FIG effort focuses on directing and guiding those projects that: 1) develop and demonstrate new surface habitat system concepts, innovations, and technologies to support human exploration missions, 2) improve environmental systems that interact with human habitats, 3) handle and emplace human surface habitats, and 4) focus on supporting humans living and working in habitats on planetary surfaces. The activity areas of the SHS FIG described herein are focused on the surface habitat project near-term objectives as described in this document. The SHS-FIG effort focuses on mitigating surface habitat risks (as identified by the Lunar Surface Systems Project Office (LSSPO) Surface Habitat Element Team; and concentrates on developing surface habitat technologies as identified in the FY08 gap analysis. The surface habitat gap assessment will be updated annually as the surface architecture and surface habitat definition continues to mature. These technologies are mapped to the SHS-FIG Strategic Development Roadmap. The Roadmap will bring to light the areas where additional innovative efforts are needed to support the development of habitat concepts and designs and the development of new technologies to support of the LSSPO Habitation Element development plan. Three specific areas of development that address Lunar Architecture Team (LAT)-2 and Constellation Architecture Team (CxAT) Lunar habitat design issues or risks will be focused on by the SHS-FIG. The SHS-FIG will establish four areas of development that will help the projects prepare in their planning for surface habitat systems development. Those development areas are

Riverine habitat dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, R.B.

2013-01-01

The physical habitat template is a fundamental influence on riverine ecosystem structure and function. Habitat dynamics refers to the variation in habitat through space and time as the result of varying discharge and varying geomorphology. Habitat dynamics can be assessed at spatial scales ranging from the grain (the smallest resolution at which an organism relates to its environment) to the extent (the broadest resolution inclusive of all space occupied during its life cycle). In addition to a potentially broad range of spatial scales, assessments of habitat dynamics may include dynamics of both occupied and nonoccupied habitat patches because of process interactions among patches. Temporal aspects of riverine habitat dynamics can be categorized into hydrodynamics and morphodynamics. Hydrodynamics refers to habitat variation that results from changes in discharge in the absence of significant change of channel morphology and at generally low sediment-transport rates. Hydrodynamic assessments are useful in cases of relatively high flow exceedance (percent of time a flow is equaled or exceeded) or high critical shear stress, conditions that are applicable in many studies of instream flows. Morphodynamics refers to habitat variation resulting from changes to substrate conditions or channel/floodplain morphology. Morphodynamic assessments are necessary when channel and floodplain boundary conditions have been significantly changed, generally by relatively rare flood events or in rivers with low critical shear stress. Morphodynamic habitat variation can be particularly important as disturbance mechanisms that mediate population growth or for providing conditions needed for reproduction, such as channel-migration events that erode cutbanks and provide new pointbar surfaces for germination of riparian trees. Understanding of habitat dynamics is increasing in importance as societal goals shift toward restoration of riverine ecosystems. Effective investment in restoration

Palm Swamp Wetland Ecosystems of the Upper Amazon: Characterizing their Distribution and Inundation State Using Multiple Resolution Microwave Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Podest, E.; McDonald, K. C.; Schröder, R.; Pinto, N.; Zimmermann, R.; Horna, V.

2011-12-01

Palm swamp wetlands are prevalent in the Amazon basin, including extensive regions in northern Peru. These ecosystems are characterized by constant surface inundation and moderate seasonal water level variation. The combination of constantly saturated soils, giving rise to low oxygen conditions, and warm temperatures year-round can lead to considerable methane release to the atmosphere. Because of the widespread occurrence and expected sensitivity of these ecosystems to climate change, knowledge of their spatial extent and inundation state is crucial for assessing the associated land-atmosphere carbon exchange. Precise spatio-temporal information on palm swamps is difficult to gather because of their remoteness and difficult accessibility. Spaceborne microwave remote sensing is an effective tool for characterizing these ecosystems since it is sensitive to surface water and vegetation structure and allows monitoring large inaccessible areas on a temporal basis regardless of atmospheric conditions or solar illumination. We are developing a remote sensing methodology using multiple resolution microwave remote sensing data to determine palm swamp distribution and inundation state over focus regions in the Amazon basin in northern Peru. For this purpose, two types of multi-temporal microwave data are used: 1) high-resolution (100 m) data from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) to derive maps of palm swamp extent and inundation from dual-polarization fine-beam and multi-temporal HH-polarized ScanSAR, and 2) coarse resolution (25 km) combined active and passive microwave data from QuikSCAT and AMSR-E to derive inundated area fraction on a weekly basis. We compare information content and accuracy of the coarse resolution products to the PALSAR-based datasets to ensure information harmonization. The synergistic combination of high and low resolution datasets will allow for characterization of palm swamps and

Wetland Loss Patterns and Inundation-Productivity Relationships Prognosticate Widespread Salt Marsh Loss for Southern New England

Science.gov (United States)

Tidal salt marsh is a key defense against, yet is especially vulnerable to, the effects of accelerated sea level rise. To determine whether salt marshes in southern New England will be stable given increasing inundation over the coming decades, we examined current loss patterns, ...

Hydraulic experiment on evaluation method of tsunami wave pressure using inundation depth and velocity in front of land structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arimitsu, Tsuyoshi; Ooe, Kazuya; Kawasaki, Koji

2012-01-01

Hydraulic experiments were conducted to estimate tsunami wave pressure acting on several different types of land structures and examine the influence of a seawall in front of the structure on tsunami wave pressure. Wave pressures were measured at some points on the structure. The existing hydrostatic formula tended to underestimate tsunami wave pressure under the condition of inundation flow with large Froude number. Estimation method of tsunami wave pressure using inundation depth and horizontal velocity at the front of the structure was proposed based on the experimental results. It was confirmed from comparison with the experiments that the vertical distribution of the maximum tsunami wave pressure can be reproduced by employing the proposed method in this study. (author)

THE SAMOA TSUNAMI OF 29 SEPTEMBER 2009 Early Warning and Inundation Assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanni Franchello

2012-01-01

Full Text Available On 29 September 2009 at 17:48:11 UTC, a large earthquake of magnitude 8 struck off-shore of the Samoa Islands and generated a large tsunami that destroyed several villages and caused more than 160 fatalities. This report first presents the characteristics of the earthquake and discusses the best estimations for the fault parameters, which are the necessary input data for the hydrodynamic tsunami calculations. Then, the assessment of the near-real time systems invoked by the Global Disasters Alert and Coordination System (GDACS1 and the post-event calculations are performed, making comparisons with the observed tidal measurements and post-event survey. It was found that the most severely damaged locations are the Southern section of the Western Samoa Islands, Tutuila Isl in American Samoa and Niuatoputapu Isle in Tonga. This is in agreement with the locations indicated by the Red Cross as the most affected and with the results of the post-tsunami surveys. Furthermore, an attempt was made to map the inundation events using more detailed digital elevation models (DEM and hydrodynamic modelling with good results. The flooded areas for which we had satellite images and post-tsunami surveys confirm the inundated areas identified correctly by the hydrodynamic model. Indications are given on the DEM grid size needed for the different simulations.

Modeling Surface Water Dynamics in the Amazon Basin Using Mosart-Inundation-v1.0: Impacts of Geomorphological Parameters and River Flow Representation

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Xiangyu; Li, Hong-Yi; Leung, Ruby; Tesfa, Teklu K.; Getirana, Augusto; Papa, Fabrice; Hess, Laura L.

2017-01-01

Surface water dynamics play an important role in water, energy and carbon cycles of the Amazon Basin. A macro-scale inundation scheme was integrated with a surface-water transport model and the extended model was applied in this vast basin. We addressed the challenges of improving basin-wide geomorphological parameters and river flow representation for 15 large-scale applications. Vegetation-caused biases embedded in the HydroSHEDS DEM data were alleviated by using a vegetation height map of about 1-km resolution and a land cover dataset of about 90-m resolution. The average elevation deduction from the DEM correction was about 13.2 m for the entire basin. Basin-wide empirical formulae for channel cross-sectional geometry were adjusted based on local information for the major portion of the basin, which could significantly reduce the cross-sectional area for the channels of some subregions. The Manning roughness coefficient of the channel 20 varied with the channel depth to reflect the general rule that the relative importance of riverbed resistance in river flow declined with the increase of river size. The entire basin was discretized into 5395 subbasins (with an average area of 1091.7 km2), which were used as computation units. The model was driven by runoff estimates of 14 years (1994 2007) generated by the ISBA land surface model. The simulated results were evaluated against in situ streamflow records, and remotely sensed Envisat altimetry data and GIEMS inundation data. The hydrographs were reproduced fairly well for the majority of 25 13 major stream gauges. For the 11 subbasins containing or close to 11 of the 13 gauges, the timing of river stage fluctuations was captured; for most of the 11 subbasins, the magnitude of river stage fluctuations was represented well. The inundation estimates were comparable to the GIEMS observations. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that refining floodplain topography, channel morphology and Manning roughness coefficients

Distance-regular graphs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dam, Edwin R.; Koolen, Jack H.; Tanaka, Hajime

2016-01-01

This is a survey of distance-regular graphs. We present an introduction to distance-regular graphs for the reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, and then give an overview of some developments in the area of distance-regular graphs since the monograph 'BCN'[Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M., Neumaier,

Regular expressions cookbook

CERN Document Server

Goyvaerts, Jan

2009-01-01

This cookbook provides more than 100 recipes to help you crunch data and manipulate text with regular expressions. Every programmer can find uses for regular expressions, but their power doesn't come worry-free. Even seasoned users often suffer from poor performance, false positives, false negatives, or perplexing bugs. Regular Expressions Cookbook offers step-by-step instructions for some of the most common tasks involving this tool, with recipes for C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and VB.NET. With this book, you will: Understand the basics of regular expressions through a

Habitat-related specialization of lateral-line system morphology in a habitat-generalist and a habitat-specialist New Zealand eleotrid.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderpham, J P; Nakagawa, S; Senior, A M; Closs, G P

2016-04-01

An investigation of intraspecific habitat-related patterns of variation in oculoscapular lateral-line superficial neuromasts (SN) identified a decrease in the ratio of total SNs to pores, and a trend towards decreased asymmetry in SNs in the habitat-generalist common bully Gobiomorphus cotidianus from fluvial habitats compared to lacustrine habitats, suggesting habitat-related phenotypic variability. A greater ratio of pores to SNs, as well as less variation in the total number and asymmetry of SNs observed in the fluvial habitat-specialist redfin bully Gobiomorphus huttoni may provide further evidence of variations in the oculoscapular lateral-line morphology of fluvial habitat G. cotidianus individuals serving as adaptations to more turbulent environments. © 2016 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Flood-inundation maps for Suwanee Creek from the confluence of Ivy Creek to the Noblin Ridge Drive bridge, Gwinnett County, Georgia

Science.gov (United States)

Musser, Jonathan W.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.9-mile reach of Suwanee Creek, from the confluence of Ivy Creek to the Noblin Ridge Drive bridge, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with Gwinnett County, Georgia. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Suwanee Creek at Suwanee, Georgia (02334885). Current stage at this USGS streamgage may be obtained at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ and can be used in conjunction with these maps to estimate near real-time areas of inundation. The National Weather Service (NWS) is incorporating results from this study into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that commonly are collocated at USGS streamgages. The forecasted peak-stage information for the USGS streamgage at Suwanee Creek at Suwanee (02334885), available through the AHPS Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. A one-dimensional step-backwater model was developed using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HEC-RAS software for Suwanee Creek and was used to compute flood profiles for a 6.9-mile reach of the creek. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relations at the Suwanee Creek at Suwanee streamgage (02334885). The hydraulic model was then used to determine 19 water-surface profiles for flood stages at the Suwanee Creek streamgage at 0.5-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage. The profiles ranged from just above bankfull stage (7.0 feet) to approximately 1.7 feet above the highest recorded water level at the streamgage (16.0 feet). The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined

LL-regular grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus

1980-01-01

Culik II and Cogen introduced the class of LR-regular grammars, an extension of the LR(k) grammars. In this paper we consider an analogous extension of the LL(k) grammars called the LL-regular grammars. The relation of this class of grammars to other classes of grammars will be shown. Any LL-regular

An approach of habitat degradation assessment for characterization on coastal habitat conservation tendency.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xi-Yin; Lei, Kun; Meng, Wei

2017-09-01

Coastal zones are population and economy highly intensity regions all over the world, and coastal habitat supports the sustainable development of human society. The accurate assessment of coastal habitat degradation is the essential prerequisite for coastal zone protection. In this study, an integrated framework of coastal habitat degradation assessment including landuse classification, habitat classifying and zoning, evaluation criterion of coastal habitat degradation and coastal habitat degradation index has been established for better regional coastal habitat assessment. Through establishment of detailed three-class landuse classification, the fine landscape change is revealed, the evaluation criterion of coastal habitat degradation through internal comparison based on the results of habitat classifying and zoning could indicate the levels of habitat degradation and distinguish the intensity of human disturbances in different habitat subareas under the same habitat classification. Finally, the results of coastal habitat degradation assessment could be achieved through coastal habitat degradation index (CHI). A case study of the framework is carried out in the Circum-Bohai-Sea-Coast, China, and the main results show the following: (1) The accuracy of all land use classes are above 90%, which indicates a satisfactory accuracy for the classification map. (2) The Circum-Bohai-Sea-Coast is divided into 3 kinds of habitats and 5 subareas. (3) In the five subareas of the Circum-Bohai-Sea-Coast, the levels of coastal habitat degradation own significant difference. The whole Circum-Bohai-Sea-Coast generally is in a worse state according to area weighting of each habitat subarea. This assessment framework of coastal habitat degradation would characterize the landuse change trend, realize better coastal habitat degradation assessment, reveal the habitat conservation tendency and distinguish intensity of human disturbances. Furthermore, it would support for accurate coastal

Dam-breach analysis and flood-inundation mapping for selected dams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and near Atoka, Oklahoma

Science.gov (United States)

Shivers, Molly J.; Smith, S. Jerrod; Grout, Trevor S.; Lewis, Jason M.

2015-01-01

Dams provide beneficial functions such as flood control, recreation, and storage of water supplies, but they also entail risk; dam breaches and resultant floods can cause substantial property damage and loss of life. The State of Oklahoma requires each owner of a high-hazard dam, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency defines as dams for which failure or improper operation probably will cause loss of human life, to develop an emergency action plan specific to that dam. Components of an emergency action plan are to simulate a flood resulting from a possible dam breach and map the resulting downstream flood-inundation areas. The resulting flood-inundation maps can provide valuable information to city officials, emergency managers, and local residents for planning an emergency response if a dam breach occurs.

Fine-scale mapping of vector habitats using very high resolution satellite imagery: a liver fluke case-study.

Science.gov (United States)

De Roeck, Els; Van Coillie, Frieke; De Wulf, Robert; Soenen, Karen; Charlier, Johannes; Vercruysse, Jozef; Hantson, Wouter; Ducheyne, Els; Hendrickx, Guy

2014-12-01

The visualization of vector occurrence in space and time is an important aspect of studying vector-borne diseases. Detailed maps of possible vector habitats provide valuable information for the prediction of infection risk zones but are currently lacking for most parts of the world. Nonetheless, monitoring vector habitats from the finest scales up to farm level is of key importance to refine currently existing broad-scale infection risk models. Using Fasciola hepatica, a parasite liver fluke, as a case in point, this study illustrates the potential of very high resolution (VHR) optical satellite imagery to efficiently and semi-automatically detect detailed vector habitats. A WorldView2 satellite image capable of transmitted by freshwater snails. The vector thrives in small water bodies (SWBs), such as ponds, ditches and other humid areas consisting of open water, aquatic vegetation and/or inundated grass. These water bodies can be as small as a few m2 and are most often not present on existing land cover maps because of their small size. We present a classification procedure based on object-based image analysis (OBIA) that proved valuable to detect SWBs at a fine scale in an operational and semi-automated way. The classification results were compared to field and other reference data such as existing broad-scale maps and expert knowledge. Overall, the SWB detection accuracy reached up to 87%. The resulting fine-scale SWB map can be used as input for spatial distribution modelling of the liver fluke snail vector to enable development of improved infection risk mapping and management advice adapted to specific, local farm situations.

Method for estimating potential wetland extent by utilizing streamflow statistics and flood-inundation mapping techniques: Pilot study for land along the Wabash River near Terre Haute, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Moon H.; Ritz, Christian T.; Arvin, Donald V.

2012-01-01

Potential wetland extents were estimated for a 14-mile reach of the Wabash River near Terre Haute, Indiana. This pilot study was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The study showed that potential wetland extents can be estimated by analyzing streamflow statistics with the available streamgage data, calculating the approximate water-surface elevation along the river, and generating maps by use of flood-inundation mapping techniques. Planning successful restorations for Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) easements requires a determination of areas that show evidence of being in a zone prone to sustained or frequent flooding. Zone determinations of this type are used by WRP planners to define the actively inundated area and make decisions on restoration-practice installation. According to WRP planning guidelines, a site needs to show evidence of being in an "inundation zone" that is prone to sustained or frequent flooding for a period of 7 consecutive days at least once every 2 years on average in order to meet the planning criteria for determining a wetland for a restoration in agricultural land. By calculating the annual highest 7-consecutive-day mean discharge with a 2-year recurrence interval (7MQ2) at a streamgage on the basis of available streamflow data, one can determine the water-surface elevation corresponding to the calculated flow that defines the estimated inundation zone along the river. By using the estimated water-surface elevation ("inundation elevation") along the river, an approximate extent of potential wetland for a restoration in agricultural land can be mapped. As part of the pilot study, a set of maps representing the estimated potential wetland extents was generated in a geographic information system (GIS) application by combining (1) a digital water-surface plane representing the surface of inundation elevation that sloped in the downstream

Utilizing GNSS Reflectometry to Assess Surface Inundation Dynamics in Tropical Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, K.; McDonald, K. C.; Podest, E.; Chew, C. C.

2017-12-01

Tropical wetlands play a significant role in global atmospheric methane and terrestrial water storage. Despite the growing number of remote sensing products from satellite sensors, both spatial distribution and temporal variability of wetlands remain highly uncertain. An emerging innovative approach to mapping wetlands is offered by GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R), a bistatic radar concept that takes advantage of GNSS transmitting satellites to yield observations with global coverage and rapid revisit time. This technology offers the potential to capture dynamic inundation changes in wetlands at higher temporal fidelity and sensitivity under the canopy than presently possible. We present an integrative analysis of radiometric modeling, ground measurements, and several microwave remote sensing datasets traditionally used for wetland observations. From a theoretical standpoint, GNSS-R sensitivities for vegetation and wetlands are investigated with a bistatic radar model in order to understand the interactions of the signal with various land surface components. GNSS reflections from the TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1), Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), and Cyclone GNSS (CYGNSS) missions are tested experimentally with contemporaneous (1) field measurements collected from the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon, (2) imaging radar from Sentinel-1 and PALSAR-2 observed over a variety of tropical wetland systems, and (3) pan-tropical coarse-resolution (25km) microwave datasets (Surface Water Microwave Product Series). We find that GNSS-R data provide the potential to extend capabilities of current remote sensing techniques to characterize surface inundation extent, and we explore how to maximize synergism between different satellite sensors to produce an enhanced wetland monitoring product.

Advanced Regional and Decadal Predictions of Coastal Inundation for the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Horton, B.; Corbett, D. R.; Donnelly, J. P.; Kemp, A.; Lin, N.; Lindeman, K.; Mann, M. E.; Peltier, W. R.; Rahmstorf, S.

2013-12-01

Future inundation of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts will depend upon sea-level rise and the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones, each of which will be affected by climate change. Through ongoing, collaborative research we are employing new interdisciplinary approaches to bring about a step change in the reliability of predictions of such inundation. The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts increased throughout the 20th century. Whilst there is widespread agreement that it continue to accelerate during the 21st century, great uncertainty surrounds its magnitude and geographic variability. Key uncertainties include the role of continental ice sheets, mountain glaciers, and ocean density changes. Insufficient understanding of these complex physical processes precludes accurate prediction of sea-level rise. New approaches using semi-empirical models that relate instrumental records of climate and sea-level rise have projected up to 2 m of sea-level rise by AD 2100. But the time span of instrumental sea-level records is insufficient to adequately constrain the climate:sea-level relationship. We produced new, high-resolution proxy sea-level reconstructions to provide crucial additional constraints to such semi-empirical models. Our dataset spans the alternation between the 'Medieval Climate Anomaly' and 'Little Ice Age'. Before the models can provide appropriate data for coastal management and planning, they must be complemented with regional estimates of sea-level rise. Therefore, the proxy sea-level data has been collected from four study areas (Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida) to accommodate the required extent of regional variability. In the case of inundation arising from tropical cyclones, the historical and observational records are insufficient for predicting their nature and recurrence, because they are such extreme and rare events. Moreover, future storm surges will be superimposed on background sea

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON DIFFICULTY OF EVACUATION FROM UNDERGROUND SPACES UNDER INUNDATED SITUATIONS USING REAL SCALE MODELS

Science.gov (United States)

Baba, Yasuyuki; Ishigaki, Taisuke; Toda, Keiichi; Nakagawa, Hajime

Many urbanized cities in Japan are located in alluvial plains, and the vulnerability of urbanized areas to flood disaster is highlighted by flood attacks due to heavy rain fall or typhoons. Underground spaces located in the urbanized area are flood-prone areas, and the intrusion of flood watar into underground space inflicted severe damages on urban functions and infrastructures. In a similar way, low-lying areas like "bowl-shaped" depression and underpasses under highway and railroad bridges are also prone to floods. The underpasses are common sites of accidents of submerged vehicles, and severe damage including human damage occasionally occurs under flooding conditions. To reduce the damage due to inundation in underground space, needless to say, early evacuation is one of the most important countermeasures. This paper shows some experimental results of evacuation tests from underground spaces under inundated situations. The difficulities of the evacuation from underground space has been investigated by using real scale models (door, staircase and vehicle), and the limit for safety evacuation is discussed. From the results, it is found that water depth of 0.3 - 0.4m would be a critical situation for the evacuation from underground space through staircases and door and that 0.7 - 0.8m deep on the ground would be also a critical situation for safety evacuation though the doors of the vehicle. These criteria have some possibility to vary according to different inundated situations, and they are also influenced by the individual variation like the difference of physical strength. This means that these criteria requires cautious stance to use although they show a sort of an index of the limitation for saftty evacuation from underground space.

Capturing variations in inundation with satellite remote sensing in a morphologically complex, large lake

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Guiping; Liu, Yuanbo

2015-04-01

Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China, with high morphological complexity from south to north. In recent years, the lake has experienced expansion and shrinkage processes over both short- and long-term scales, resulting in significant hydrological, ecological and economic problems. Exactly how and how rapidly the processes of spatial change have occurred in the lake during the expansion and shrinkage periods is unknown. Such knowledge is of great importance for policymakers as it may help with flood/drought prevention, land use planning and lake ecological conservation. In this study, we investigated the spatial-temporal distribution and changing processes of inundation in Poyang Lake based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level-1B data from 2000 to 2011. A defined water variation rate (WVR) and inundation frequency (IF) indicator revealed the water surface submersion and exposure processes of lake expansion and shrinkage in different zones which were divided according to the lake's hydrological and topographic features. Regional differences and significant seasonality variability were found in the annual and monthly mean IF. The monthly mean IF increased slowly from north to south during January-August but decreased quickly from south to north during September-December. During the lake expansion period, the lake-type water body zone (Zone II) had the fastest expansion rate, with a mean monthly WVR value of 34.47% in February-March, and was followed by the channel-type water body zone (Zone I) in March-May (22.47%). However, during the lake shrinkage period, rapid shrinkage first appeared around the alluvial delta zones in August-October. The sequence of lake surface shrinkage from August to December is exactly opposite to that of lake expansion from February to July. These complex inundation characteristics and changing process were driven by the high temporal variability of the river flows, the morphological diversity of the

Development of a hydraulic model and flood-inundation maps for the Wabash River near the Interstate 64 Bridge near Grayville, Illinois

Science.gov (United States)

Boldt, Justin A.

2018-01-16

A two-dimensional hydraulic model and digital flood‑inundation maps were developed for a 30-mile reach of the Wabash River near the Interstate 64 Bridge near Grayville, Illinois. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Flood Inundation Mapping Science web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Wabash River at Mount Carmel, Ill (USGS station number 03377500). Near-real-time stages at this streamgage may be obtained on the internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at this site (NWS AHPS site MCRI2). The NWS AHPS forecasts peak stage information that may be used with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.Flood elevations were computed for the Wabash River reach by means of a two-dimensional, finite-volume numerical modeling application for river hydraulics. The hydraulic model was calibrated by using global positioning system measurements of water-surface elevation and the current stage-discharge relation at both USGS streamgage 03377500, Wabash River at Mount Carmel, Ill., and USGS streamgage 03378500, Wabash River at New Harmony, Indiana. The calibrated hydraulic model was then used to compute 27 water-surface elevations for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from less than the action stage (9 ft) to the highest stage (35 ft) of the current stage-discharge rating curve. The simulated water‑surface elevations were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model, derived from light detection and ranging data, to delineate the area flooded at each water

High Resolution Hurricane Storm Surge and Inundation Modeling (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Luettich, R.; Westerink, J. J.

2010-12-01

Coastal counties are home to nearly 60% of the U.S. population and industry that accounts for over 16 million jobs and 10% of the U.S. annual gross domestic product. However, these areas are susceptible to some of the most destructive forces in nature, including tsunamis, floods, and severe storm-related hazards. Since 1900, tropical cyclones making landfall on the US Gulf of Mexico Coast have caused more than 9,000 deaths; nearly 2,000 deaths have occurred during the past half century. Tropical cyclone-related adjusted, annualized losses in the US have risen from 1.3 billion from 1949-1989, to 10.1 billion from 1990-1995, and $35.8 billion per year for the period 2001-2005. The risk associated with living and doing business in the coastal areas that are most susceptible to tropical cyclones is exacerbated by rising sea level and changes in the characteristics of severe storms associated with global climate change. In the five years since hurricane Katrina devastated the northern Gulf of Mexico Coast, considerable progress has been made in the development and utilization of high resolution coupled storm surge and wave models. Recent progress will be presented with the ADCIRC + SWAN storm surge and wave models. These tightly coupled models use a common unstructured grid in the horizontal that is capable of covering large areas while also providing high resolution (i.e., base resolution down to 20m plus smaller subgrid scale features such as sea walls and levees) in areas that are subject to surge and inundation. Hydrodynamic friction and overland winds are adjusted to account for local land cover. The models scale extremely well on modern high performance computers allowing rapid turnaround on large numbers of compute cores. The models have been adopted for FEMA National Flood Insurance Program studies, hurricane protection system design and risk analysis, and quasi-operational forecast systems for several regions of the country. They are also being evaluated as

Effect of inundation, oxygen and temperature on carbon mineralization in boreal ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youngil; Ullah, Sami; Roulet, Nigel T; Moore, Tim R

2015-04-01

The inundation of boreal forests and peatlands through the construction of hydroelectric reservoirs can increase carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emission. To establish controls on emission rates, we incubated samples of forest and peat soils, spruce litter, forest litter and peatland litter collected from boreal ecosystems in northern Quebec for 16 weeks and measured CO2 and CH4 production rates under flooded or non-flooded conditions and varying oxygen concentration and temperature. CO2 production under flooded conditions was less than under non-flooded conditions (5-71 vs. 5-85 mg Cg(-1) C), but CH4 production under flooded conditions was larger than under non-flooded conditions (1-8158 vs. 0-86 μg Cg(-1) C). The average CO2 and CH4 production rate factor for flooded:non-flooded conditions was 0.76 and 1.32, respectively. Under flooded conditions, high oxygen concentrations increased CO2 production in peat soils but decreased CH4 production in forest and peat soils and spruce litter. Warmer temperatures (from 4 to 22°C) raised both CO2 production in peat soils and peatland litter, and CH4 production in peat soils and spruce litter. This study shows that the direction and/or strength of CO2 and CH4 fluxes change once boreal forests and peatlands are inundated. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Soil Microbial Community Contribution to Small Headwater Stream Metabolism.

Science.gov (United States)

Clapcott, J. E.; Gooderham, J. P.; Barmuta, L. A.; Davies, P. E.

2005-05-01

The temporal dynamics of sediment respiration were examined in seven small headwater streams in forested catchments in 2004. A strong seasonal response was observed with higher respiration rates in depositional zones than in gravel runs. The data were also examined in the context of proportional habitat distributions that highlighted the importance of high flow events in shaping whole stream metabolic budgets. This study specifically examines the question of terrestrial soil respiration contribution to whole stream metabolism by the controlled inundation of terrestrial soils. The experiment included six experimentally inundated terrestrial zones, six terrestrial controls, and six in-stream depositional zones. Sediment bacterial respiration was measured using 14C leucine incorporation and cotton strip bioassays were also employed to provide an indicative measure of sediment microbial activity. Despite high variability and exhibiting significantly lower bacterial activity than in-stream sediments, modelling using flow data and habitat mapping illustrated the important contribution of terrestrial soil respiration to the whole stream metabolic budgets of small headwater streams. In addition, microbial community composition examined using phospholipid fatty acid analysis clearly differentiated between terrestrial and aquatic communities. Freshly inundated terrestrial communities remained similar to un-inundated controls after 28 days.

An iterative method for Tikhonov regularization with a general linear regularization operator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hochstenbach, M.E.; Reichel, L.

2010-01-01

Tikhonov regularization is one of the most popular approaches to solve discrete ill-posed problems with error-contaminated data. A regularization operator and a suitable value of a regularization parameter have to be chosen. This paper describes an iterative method, based on Golub-Kahan

Flood-inundation maps for the Saluda River from Old Easley Bridge Road to Saluda Lake Dam near Greenville, South Carolina

Science.gov (United States)

Benedict, Stephen T.; Caldwell, Andral W.; Clark, Jimmy M.

2013-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.95-mile reach of the Saluda River from approximately 815 feet downstream from Old Easley Bridge Road to approximately 150 feet downstream from Saluda Lake Dam near Greenville, South Carolina, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Saluda River near Greenville, South Carolina (station 02162500). Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained through the National Water Information System Web site at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/sc/nwis/uv/?site_no=02162500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,00062. The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often collocated with USGS streamgages. Forecasted peak-stage information is available on the Internet at the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system Web site (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/) and may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-streamflow relations at USGS streamgage station 02162500, Saluda River near Greenville, South Carolina. The hydraulic model was then used to determine water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1.0-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from approximately bankfull to 2 feet higher than the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then exported to a geographic information system, ArcGIS, and combined with a digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR] data with a 0

Regular Expression Pocket Reference

CERN Document Server

Stubblebine, Tony

2007-01-01

This handy little book offers programmers a complete overview of the syntax and semantics of regular expressions that are at the heart of every text-processing application. Ideal as a quick reference, Regular Expression Pocket Reference covers the regular expression APIs for Perl 5.8, Ruby (including some upcoming 1.9 features), Java, PHP, .NET and C#, Python, vi, JavaScript, and the PCRE regular expression libraries. This concise and easy-to-use reference puts a very powerful tool for manipulating text and data right at your fingertips. Composed of a mixture of symbols and text, regular exp

Coarse Resolution SAR Imagery to Support Flood Inundation Models in Near Real Time

Science.gov (United States)

Di Baldassarre, Giuliano; Schumann, Guy; Brandimarte, Luigia; Bates, Paul

2009-11-01

In recent years, the availability of new emerging data (e.g. remote sensing, intelligent wireless sensors, etc) has led to a sudden shift from a data-sparse to a data-rich environment for hydrological and hydraulic modelling. Furthermore, the increased socioeconomic relevance of river flood studies has motivated the development of complex methodologies for the simulation of the hydraulic behaviour of river systems. In this context, this study aims at assessing the capability of coarse resolution SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery to support and quickly validate flood inundation models in near real time. A hydraulic model of a 98km reach of the River Po (Italy), previously calibrated on a high-magnitude flood event with extensive and high quality field data, is tested using a SAR flood image, acquired and processed in near real time, during the June 2008 low-magnitude event. Specifically, the image is an acquisition by the ENVISAT-ASAR sensor in wide swath mode and has been provided through ESA (European Space Agency) Fast Registration system at no cost 24 hours after the acquisition. The study shows that the SAR image enables validation and improvement of the model in a time shorter than the flood travel time. This increases the reliability of model predictions (e.g. water elevation and inundation width along the river reach) and, consequently, assists flood management authorities in undertaking the necessary prevention activities.

Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) Report : Oleson Tracts of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, 2001-2002 Technical Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allard, Donna; Smith, maureen; Schmidt, Peter

2004-09-01

Located in the northern Willamette River basin, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) was established in 1992 with an approved acquisition boundary to accommodate willing sellers with potentially restorable holdings within the Tualatin River floodplain. The Refuge's floodplain of seasonal and emergent wetlands, Oregon ash riparian hardwood, riparian shrub, coniferous forest, and Garry oak communities are representative of remnant plant communities historically common in the Willamette River valley and offer an opportunity to compensate for wildlife habitat losses associated with the Willamette River basin federal hydroelectric projects. The purchase of the Oleson Units as additions to the Refuge using Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) funds will partially mitigate for wildlife habitat and target species losses incurred as a result of construction and inundation activities at Dexter and Detroit Dams. Lands acquired for mitigation of Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) impacts to wildlife are evaluated using the Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) methodology, which quantifies how many Habitat Units (HUs) are to be credited to BPA. HUs or credits gained lessen BPA's debt, which was formally tabulated in the FCRPS Loss Assessments and adopted as part of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Fish and Wildlife Program as a BPA obligation (NWPCC, 1994 and 2000). There are two basic management scenarios to consider for this evaluation: (1) Habitats can be managed without restoration activities to benefit wildlife populations, or (2) Habitats can be restored using a number of techniques to improve habitat values more quickly. Without restoration, upland and wetland areas may be periodically mowed and disced to prevent invasion of exotic vegetation, volunteer trees and shrubs may grow to expand forested areas, and cooperative farming may be employed to provide forage for migrating and wintering waterfowl. Abandoned cropland

The Habitat Connection.

Science.gov (United States)

Naturescope, 1987

1987-01-01

Consists of activities which address the causes of habitat destruction and the effects of habitat loss on animals and plants. Identifies habitat loss as the major reason for the endangerment and extinction of plant and animal species. (ML)

Loss of 'blue carbon' from coastal salt marshes following habitat disturbance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter I Macreadie

Full Text Available Increased recognition of the global importance of salt marshes as 'blue carbon' (C sinks has led to concern that salt marshes could release large amounts of stored C into the atmosphere (as CO2 if they continue undergoing disturbance, thereby accelerating climate change. Empirical evidence of C release following salt marsh habitat loss due to disturbance is rare, yet such information is essential for inclusion of salt marshes in greenhouse gas emission reduction and offset schemes. Here we investigated the stability of salt marsh (Spartinaalterniflora sediment C levels following seagrass (Thallasiatestudinum wrack accumulation; a form of disturbance common throughout the world that removes large areas of plant biomass in salt marshes. At our study site (St Joseph Bay, Florida, USA, we recorded 296 patches (7.5 ± 2.3 m(2 mean area ± SE of vegetation loss (aged 3-12 months in a salt marsh meadow the size of a soccer field (7 275 m(2. Within these disturbed patches, levels of organic C in the subsurface zone (1-5 cm depth were ~30% lower than the surrounding undisturbed meadow. Subsequent analyses showed that the decline in subsurface C levels in disturbed patches was due to loss of below-ground plant (salt marsh biomass, which otherwise forms the main component of the long-term 'refractory' C stock. We conclude that disturbance to salt marsh habitat due to wrack accumulation can cause significant release of below-ground C; which could shift salt marshes from C sinks to C sources, depending on the intensity and scale of disturbance. This mechanism of C release is likely to increase in the future due to sea level rise; which could increase wrack production due to increasing storminess, and will facilitate delivery of wrack into salt marsh zones due to higher and more frequent inundation.

Development of Real-Time System for Urban Flooding by Surcharge of Storm Drainge and River Inundation

Science.gov (United States)

Shim, J. B.; Won, C. Y.; Park, J.; Lee, K.

2017-12-01

Korea experiences frequent flood disasters, which cause considerable economic losses and damages to towns and farms. Especially, a regional torrential storm is about 98.5mm/hr on September 21, 2010 in Seoul. The storm exceeds the capacity of urban drainage system of 75mm/hr, and 9,419 houses. How to monitor and control the urban flood disasters is an important issue in Korea. To mitigate the flood damage, a customizing system was developed to estimate urban floods and inundation using by integrating drainage system data and river information database which are managed by local governments and national agencies. In the case of Korean urban city, there are a lot of detention ponds and drainage pumping stations on end of drainage system and flow is going into river. The drainage pumping station, it is very important hydraulic facility for flood control between river and drainage system. So, it is possible to occur different patterns of flood inundation according to operation rule of drainage pumping station. A flood disaster is different damage as how to operate drainage pumping station and plan operation rule.

Prediction of phosphorus mobilisation in inundated floodplain soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loeb, Roos [Department of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen (Netherlands)], E-mail: r.loeb@science.ru.nl; Lamers, Leon P.M.; Roelofs, Jan G.M. [Department of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen (Netherlands)

2008-11-15

After flooding, iron reduction in riverine wetlands may cause the release of large quantities of phosphorus. As phosphorus is an important nutrient causing eutrophication in aquatic systems, it is important to have a tool to predict this potential release. In this study we examined the P release to the soil pore water in soil cores from floodplains in the Netherlands and from less anthropogenically influenced floodplains from Poland. During the inundation experiment, concentrations of P in the pore water rose to 2-90 times the initial concentrations. P release was not directly related to the geographic origin of the soils. An important predictor variable of P release was found in the ratio between the concentration of iron-bound P and amorphous iron. This ratio may provide a practical tool for the selection of new areas for wetland creation, and for impact assessment of plans for riverine wetland restoration and floodwater storage. - Mobilisation of phosphorus in floodplain wetland soils can be predicted with easily measurable soil characteristics.

Prediction of phosphorus mobilisation in inundated floodplain soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loeb, Roos; Lamers, Leon P.M.; Roelofs, Jan G.M.

2008-01-01

After flooding, iron reduction in riverine wetlands may cause the release of large quantities of phosphorus. As phosphorus is an important nutrient causing eutrophication in aquatic systems, it is important to have a tool to predict this potential release. In this study we examined the P release to the soil pore water in soil cores from floodplains in the Netherlands and from less anthropogenically influenced floodplains from Poland. During the inundation experiment, concentrations of P in the pore water rose to 2-90 times the initial concentrations. P release was not directly related to the geographic origin of the soils. An important predictor variable of P release was found in the ratio between the concentration of iron-bound P and amorphous iron. This ratio may provide a practical tool for the selection of new areas for wetland creation, and for impact assessment of plans for riverine wetland restoration and floodwater storage. - Mobilisation of phosphorus in floodplain wetland soils can be predicted with easily measurable soil characteristics

Mapping global surface water inundation dynamics using synergistic information from SMAP, AMSR2 and Landsat

Science.gov (United States)

Du, J.; Kimball, J. S.; Galantowicz, J. F.; Kim, S.; Chan, S.; Reichle, R. H.; Jones, L. A.; Watts, J. D.

2017-12-01

A method to monitor global land surface water (fw) inundation dynamics was developed by exploiting the enhanced fw sensitivity of L-band (1.4 GHz) passive microwave observations from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. The L-band fw (fwLBand) retrievals were derived using SMAP H-polarization brightness temperature (Tb) observations and predefined L-band reference microwave emissivities for water and land endmembers. Potential soil moisture and vegetation contributions to the microwave signal were represented from overlapping higher frequency Tb observations from AMSR2. The resulting fwLBand global record has high temporal sampling (1-3 days) and 36-km spatial resolution. The fwLBand annual averages corresponded favourably (R=0.84, pretrievals showed favourable classification accuracy for water (commission error 31.84%; omission error 28.08%) and land (commission error 0.82%; omission error 0.99%) and seasonal wet and dry periods when compared to independent water maps derived from Landsat-8 imagery. The new fwLBand algorithms and continuing SMAP and AMSR2 operations provide for near real-time, multi-scale monitoring of global surface water inundation dynamics, potentially benefiting hydrological monitoring, flood assessments, and global climate and carbon modeling.

Characterization of peak streamflows and flood inundation at selected areas in North Carolina following Hurricane Matthew, October 2016

Science.gov (United States)

Musser, Jonathan W.; Watson, Kara M.; Gotvald, Anthony J.

2017-05-05

The passage of Hurricane Matthew through central and eastern North Carolina during October 7–9, 2016, brought heavy rainfall, which resulted in major flooding. More than 15 inches of rain was recorded in some areas. More than 600 roads were closed, including Interstates 95 and 40, and nearly 99,000 structures were affected by floodwaters. Immediately following the flooding, the U.S. Geological Survey documented 267 high-water marks, of which 254 were surveyed. North Carolina Emergency Management documented and surveyed 353 high-water marks. Using a subset of these highwater marks, six flood-inundation maps were created for hard-hit communities. Digital datasets of the inundation areas, study reach boundary, and water-depth rasters are available for download. In addition, peak gage-height data, peak streamflow data, and annual exceedance probabilities (in percent) were determined for 24 U.S. Geological Survey streamgages located near the heavily flooded communities.

Fine-scale habitat requirements of the Heidelberg Opal Butterfly (Chrysoritis aureus in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rouxdene Deysel

2017-10-01

Conclusion: Monitoring of the C. aureus butterfly populations and of the vegetation structure, species composition and growth forms to determine trends in the vegetation condition after planned fires; regular burning of the habitats in order to maintain suitable vegetation composition and structure; and the monitoring and eradication of alien invader plants are very important management activities to ensure the conservation of C. aureus.

The geometry of continuum regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halpern, M.B.

1987-03-01

This lecture is primarily an introduction to coordinate-invariant regularization, a recent advance in the continuum regularization program. In this context, the program is seen as fundamentally geometric, with all regularization contained in regularized DeWitt superstructures on field deformations

Variability of tsunami inundation footprints considering stochastic scenarios based on a single rupture model: Application to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

KAUST Repository

Goda, Katsuichiro; Yasuda, Tomohiro; Mori, Nobuhito; Mai, Paul Martin

2015-01-01

distributions. Stochastic tsunami scenarios are generated based on the spectral analysis and synthesis method with regards to an inverted source model. To assess spatial inundation processes accurately, tsunami modeling is conducted using bathymetry

Regular expression containment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henglein, Fritz; Nielsen, Lasse

2011-01-01

We present a new sound and complete axiomatization of regular expression containment. It consists of the conventional axiomatiza- tion of concatenation, alternation, empty set and (the singleton set containing) the empty string as an idempotent semiring, the fixed- point rule E* = 1 + E × E......* for Kleene-star, and a general coin- duction rule as the only additional rule. Our axiomatization gives rise to a natural computational inter- pretation of regular expressions as simple types that represent parse trees, and of containment proofs as coercions. This gives the axiom- atization a Curry......-Howard-style constructive interpretation: Con- tainment proofs do not only certify a language-theoretic contain- ment, but, under our computational interpretation, constructively transform a membership proof of a string in one regular expres- sion into a membership proof of the same string in another regular expression. We...

Supersymmetric dimensional regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siegel, W.; Townsend, P.K.; van Nieuwenhuizen, P.

1980-01-01

There is a simple modification of dimension regularization which preserves supersymmetry: dimensional reduction to real D < 4, followed by analytic continuation to complex D. In terms of component fields, this means fixing the ranges of all indices on the fields (and therefore the numbers of Fermi and Bose components). For superfields, it means continuing in the dimensionality of x-space while fixing the dimensionality of theta-space. This regularization procedure allows the simple manipulation of spinor derivatives in supergraph calculations. The resulting rules are: (1) First do all algebra exactly as in D = 4; (2) Then do the momentum integrals as in ordinary dimensional regularization. This regularization procedure needs extra rules before one can say that it is consistent. Such extra rules needed for superconformal anomalies are discussed. Problems associated with renormalizability and higher order loops are also discussed

Flood-inundation maps for the Meramec River at Valley Park and at Fenton, Missouri, 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Dietsch, Benjamin J.; Sappington, Jacob N.

2017-09-29

Two sets of digital flood-inundation map libraries that spanned a combined 16.7-mile reach of the Meramec River that extends upstream from Valley Park, Missouri, to downstream from Fenton, Mo., were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District, Missouri Department of Transportation, Missouri American Water, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 7. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science website at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the cooperative USGS streamgages on the Meramec River at Valley Park, Mo., (USGS station number 07019130) and the Meramec River at Fenton, Mo. (USGS station number 07019210). Near-real-time stage data at these streamgages may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis or the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at these sites (listed as NWS sites vllm7 and fnnm7, respectively).Flood profiles were computed for the stream reaches by means of a calibrated one-dimensional step-backwater hydraulic model. The model was calibrated using a stage-discharge relation at the Meramec River near Eureka streamgage (USGS station number 07019000) and documented high-water marks from the flood of December 2015 through January 2016.The calibrated hydraulic model was used to compute two sets of water-surface profiles: one set for the streamgage at Valley Park, Mo. (USGS station number 07019130), and one set for the USGS streamgage on the Meramec River at Fenton, Mo. (USGS station number 07019210). The water-surface profiles were produced for stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the datum from each streamgage and

Nowcasting, forecasting and hindcasting Harvey and Irma inundation in near-real time using a continental 2D hydrodynamic model

Science.gov (United States)

Sampson, C. C.; Wing, O.; Quinn, N.; Smith, A.; Neal, J. C.; Schumann, G.; Bates, P.

2017-12-01

During an ongoing natural disaster data are required on: (1) the current situation (nowcast); (2) its likely immediate evolution (forecast); and (3) a consistent view post-event of what actually happened (hindcast or reanalysis). We describe methods used to achieve all three tasks for flood inundation during the Harvey and Irma events using a continental scale 2D hydrodynamic model (Wing et al., 2017). The model solves the local inertial form of the Shallow Water equations over a regular grid of 1 arcsecond ( 30m). Terrain data are taken from the USGS National Elevation Dataset with known flood defences represented using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Levee Dataset. Channels are treated as sub-grid scale features using the HydroSHEDS global hydrography data set. The model is driven using river flows, rainfall and coastal water levels. It simulates river flooding in basins > 50 km2, and fluvial and coastal flooding everywhere. Previous wide area validation tests show this model to be capable of matching FEMA maps and USGS local models built with bespoke data with hit rates of 86% and 92% respectively (Wing et al., 2017). Boundary conditions were taken from NOAA QPS data to produce nowcast and forecast simulations in near real time, before updating with NOAA observations to produce the hindcast. During the event simulation results were supplied to major insurers and multi-nationals who used them to estimate their likely capital exposure and to mitigate flood damage to their infrastructure whilst the event was underway. Simulations were validated against modelled flood footprints computed by FEMA and USACE, and composite satellite imagery produced by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. For the Harvey event, hit rates ranged from 60-84% against these data sources, but a lack of metadata meant it was difficult to perform like-for-like comparisons. The satellite data also appeared to miss known flooding in urban areas that was picked up in the models. Despite

Regularization by External Variables

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bossolini, Elena; Edwards, R.; Glendinning, P. A.

2016-01-01

Regularization was a big topic at the 2016 CRM Intensive Research Program on Advances in Nonsmooth Dynamics. There are many open questions concerning well known kinds of regularization (e.g., by smoothing or hysteresis). Here, we propose a framework for an alternative and important kind of regula......Regularization was a big topic at the 2016 CRM Intensive Research Program on Advances in Nonsmooth Dynamics. There are many open questions concerning well known kinds of regularization (e.g., by smoothing or hysteresis). Here, we propose a framework for an alternative and important kind...

Flood-inundation maps for Peachtree Creek from the Norfolk Southern Railway bridge to the Moores Mill Road NW bridge, Atlanta, Georgia

Science.gov (United States)

Musser, Jonathan W.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.5-mile reach of the Peachtree Creek from the Norfolk Southern Railway bridge to the Moores Mill Road NW bridge, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Atlanta, Georgia. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Peachtree Creek at Atlanta, Georgia (02336300) and the USGS streamgage at Chattahoochee River at Georgia 280, near Atlanta, Georgia (02336490). Current water level (stage) at these USGS streamgages may be obtained at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ and can be used in conjunction with these maps to estimate near real-time areas of inundation. The National Weather Service (NWS) is incorporating results from this study into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood warning system (http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that commonly are collocated at USGS streamgages. The forecasted peak-stage information for the USGS streamgage at Peachtree Creek, which is available through the AHPS Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. A one-dimensional step-backwater model was developed using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HEC–RAS software for a 6.5-mile reach of Peachtree Creek and was used to compute flood profiles for a 5.5-mile reach of the creek. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relations at the Peachtree Creek at Atlanta, Georgia, streamgage (02336300), and the Chattahoochee River at Georgia 280, near Atlanta, Georgia, streamgage (02336490) as well as high water marks collected during the 2010 annual peak flow event. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 50 water

Regular Single Valued Neutrosophic Hypergraphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Aslam Malik

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we define the regular and totally regular single valued neutrosophic hypergraphs, and discuss the order and size along with properties of regular and totally regular single valued neutrosophic hypergraphs. We also extend work on completeness of single valued neutrosophic hypergraphs.

Lake Izabal (Guatemala) shoreline detection and inundated area estimation from ENVISAT ASAR images

Science.gov (United States)

Medina, C.; Gomez-Enri, J.; Alonso, J. J.; Villares, P.

2008-10-01

The surface extent of a lake reflects its water storage variations. This information has important hydrological and operational applications. However, there is a lack of information regarding this subject because the traditional methodologies for this purposes (ground surveys, aerial photos) requires high resources investments. Remote sensing techniques (optical/radar sensors) permit a low cost, constant and accurate monitoring of this parameter. The objective of this study was to determine the surface variations of Lake Izabal, the largest one in Guatemala. The lake is located close to the Caribbean Sea coastline. The climate in the region is predominantly cloudy and rainy, being the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) the best suited sensor for this purpose. Although several studies have successfully used SAR products in detecting land-water boundaries, all of them highlighted some sensor limitations. These limitations are mainly caused by roughened water surfaces caused by strong winds which are frequent in Lake Izabal. The ESA's ASAR data products were used. From the set of 9 ASAR images used, all of them have wind-roughened ashore waters in several levels. Here, a chain of image processing steps were applied in order to extract a reliable shoreline. The shoreline detection is the key task for the surface estimation. After the shoreline extraction, the inundated area of the lake was estimated. In-situ lake level measurements were used for validation. The results showed good agreement between the inundated areas estimations and the lake level gauges.

Two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling to quantify effects of peak-flow management on channel morphology and salmon-spawning habitat in the Cedar River, Washington

Science.gov (United States)

Czuba, Christiana; Czuba, Jonathan A.; Gendaszek, Andrew S.; Magirl, Christopher S.

2010-01-01

The Cedar River in Washington State originates on the western slope of the Cascade Range and provides the City of Seattle with most of its drinking water, while also supporting a productive salmon habitat. Water-resource managers require detailed information on how best to manage high-flow releases from Chester Morse Lake, a large reservoir on the Cedar River, during periods of heavy precipitation to minimize flooding, while mitigating negative effects on fish populations. Instream flow-management practices include provisions for adaptive management to promote and maintain healthy aquatic habitat in the river system. The current study is designed to understand the linkages between peak flow characteristics, geomorphic processes, riverine habitat, and biological responses. Specifically, two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling is used to simulate and quantify the effects of the peak-flow magnitude, duration, and frequency on the channel morphology and salmon-spawning habitat. Two study reaches, representative of the typical geomorphic and ecologic characteristics of the Cedar River, were selected for the modeling. Detailed bathymetric data, collected with a real-time kinematic global positioning system and an acoustic Doppler current profiler, were combined with a LiDAR-derived digital elevation model in the overbank area to develop a computational mesh. The model is used to simulate water velocity, benthic shear stress, flood inundation, and morphologic changes in the gravel-bedded river under the current and alternative flood-release strategies. Simulations of morphologic change and salmon-redd scour by floods of differing magnitude and duration enable water-resource managers to incorporate model simulation results into adaptive management of peak flows in the Cedar River. PDF version of a presentation on hydrodynamic modelling in the Cedar River in Washington state. Presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2010.

Evaluation of multiple hydraulic models in generating design/near-real time flood inundation extents under various geophysical settings

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Z.; Rajib, M. A.; Jafarzadegan, K.; Merwade, V.

2015-12-01

Application of land surface/hydrologic models within an operational flood forecasting system can provide probable time of occurrence and magnitude of streamflow at specific locations along a stream. Creating time-varying spatial extent of flood inundation and depth requires the use of a hydraulic or hydrodynamic model. Models differ in representing river geometry and surface roughness which can lead to different output depending on the particular model being used. The result from a single hydraulic model provides just one possible realization of the flood extent without capturing the uncertainty associated with the input or the model parameters. The objective of this study is to compare multiple hydraulic models toward generating ensemble flood inundation extents. Specifically, relative performances of four hydraulic models, including AutoRoute, HEC-RAS, HEC-RAS 2D, and LISFLOOD are evaluated under different geophysical conditions in several locations across the United States. By using streamflow output from the same hydrologic model (SWAT in this case), hydraulic simulations are conducted for three configurations: (i) hindcasting mode by using past observed weather data at daily time scale in which models are being calibrated against USGS streamflow observations, (ii) validation mode using near real-time weather data at sub-daily time scale, and (iii) design mode with extreme streamflow data having specific return periods. Model generated inundation maps for observed flood events both from hindcasting and validation modes are compared with remotely sensed images, whereas the design mode outcomes are compared with corresponding FEMA generated flood hazard maps. The comparisons presented here will give insights on probable model-specific nature of biases and their relative advantages/disadvantages as components of an operational flood forecasting system.

Passive microwave observations of inundation area and the area/stage relation in the Amazon River floodplain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sippel, S.J.; Hamilton, S.K.; Melack, J.M.; Novo, E.M.M.

1998-01-01

Inundation patterns in Amazon River floodplains are revealed by analysis of the 37GHz polarization difference observed by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer on the Nimbus-7 satellite. Flooded area is estimated at monthly intervals for January 1979 through August 1987 using mixing models that account for the major landscape units with distinctive microwave emission characteristics. Results are presented separately for 12 longitudinal reaches along the Amazon River main stem in Brazil as well as for three major tributaries (the Jurua, Purus and Madeira rivers). The total area along the Amazon River main stem that was flooded (including both floodplain and open water) varied between 19 000 and 91 000 km 2 . The correlation between flooded area and river stage is used to develop a predictive relationship and reconstruct regional inundation patterns in the floodplain of the Amazon River main stem over the past 94 years of stage records (1903± 1996). The mean flooded area along the Amazon River during this 94-year period was 46 800 km 2 , of which the openwater surfaces of river channels and floodplain lakes comprised about 20 700 km 2 . (author)

On a correspondence between regular and non-regular operator monotone functions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gibilisco, P.; Hansen, Frank; Isola, T.

2009-01-01

We prove the existence of a bijection between the regular and the non-regular operator monotone functions satisfying a certain functional equation. As an application we give a new proof of the operator monotonicity of certain functions related to the Wigner-Yanase-Dyson skew information....

Flood-inundation maps for the Saddle River in Ho-Ho-Kus Borough, the Village of Ridgewood, and Paramus Borough, New Jersey, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Kara M.; Niemoczynski, Michal J.

2014-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.4-mile reach of the Saddle River in New Jersey from Hollywood Avenue in Ho-Ho-Kus Borough downstream through the Village of Ridgewood and Paramus Borough to the confluence with Hohokus Brook in the Village of Ridgewood were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage on the Saddle River at Ridgewood, New Jersey (station 01390500). Current conditions for estimating near real-time areas of inundation using USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the Internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01390500 or at the National Weather Services (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) at http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=okx&gage=rwdn4. In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relation (March 11, 2011) at the USGS streamgage 01390500, Saddle River at Ridgewood, New Jersey. The hydraulic model was then used to compute 10 water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot (ft) intervals referenced to the streamgage datum, North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), and ranging from 5 ft, the NWS “action and minor flood stage”, to 14 ft, which is the maximum extent of the stage-discharge rating and 0.6 ft higher than the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system 3-meter (9.84-ft) digital elevation model derived from Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) data in order to delineate the area flooded

Stochastic analytic regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alfaro, J.

1984-07-01

Stochastic regularization is reexamined, pointing out a restriction on its use due to a new type of divergence which is not present in the unregulated theory. Furthermore, we introduce a new form of stochastic regularization which permits the use of a minimal subtraction scheme to define the renormalized Green functions. (author)

Habitats and Species Covered by the EEC Habitats Directive

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pihl, S.; Søgaard, B.; Ejrnæs, R.

of Conservation (SAC's), Natura 2000. The designations are based upon the presence of 60 of the natural habitat types listed in Annex I of the Directive and approx. 44 of the species listed in Annex II which occur within the territory of Denmark and for the conservation of which the Community has a special...... and the Danish county authorities have initiated a co-operative programme to provide and compile the data necessary to assess the conservation status of the natural habitat types and species concerned. The purpose of this report is to present the conservation status of the habitats and species in Denmark...

Flood-inundation maps for Lake Champlain in Vermont and in northern Clinton County, New York

Science.gov (United States)

Flynn, Robert H.; Hayes, Laura

2016-06-30

Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximately100-mile length of Lake Champlain in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties in Vermont and northern Clinton County in New York were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the International Joint Commission (IJC). The flood-inundationmaps, which can be accessed through the International Joint Commission (IJC) Web site at http://www.ijc.org/en_/, depict estimates of the areal extent flooding correspondingto selected water levels (stages) at the USGS lake gage on the Richelieu River (Lake Champlain) at Rouses Point, N.Y. (station number 04295000). In this study, wind and seiche effects (standing oscillating wave with a long wavelength) were not taken into account and the flood-inundation mapsreflect 11 stages (elevations) for Lake Champlain that are static for the study length of the lake. Near-real-time stages at this lake gage, and others on Lake Champlain, may be obtained on the Internet from the USGS National Water Information System at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ or the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service at http:/water.weather.gov/ahps/, which also forecasts flood hydrographs at the Richelieu River (Lake Champlain) at Rouses Point.Static flood boundary extents were determined for LakeChamplain in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties in Vermont and northern Clinton County in New York using recently acquired (2013–2014) lidar (light detection and ranging) and may be referenced to any of the five USGS lake gages on Lake Champlain. Of these five lakgages, USGS lake gage 04295000, Richelieu River (Lake Champlain) at Rouses Point, N.Y., is the only USGS lake gage that is also a National Weather Service prediction location. Flood boundary extents for the Lake Champlain static flood-inundation map corresponding to the May 201 flood(103.2 feet [ft], National Geodetic Vertical Datum [NGVD] 29) were evaluated by comparing these boundary

Modelling Fish Habitat Suitability in the Eastern English Channel. Application to community habitat level

OpenAIRE

Vaz, Sandrine; Carpentier, Andre; Loots, Christophe; Koubbi, Philippe

2004-01-01

Valuable marine habitats and living resources can be found in the Eastern English Channel and in 2003, a Franco-British Interreg IIIA project, ‘Eastern Channel Habitat Atlas for Marine Resource Management’ (CHARM), was initiated to support decision-making for management of essential fish habitats. Fish habitat corresponds to geographic areas within which ranges of environmental factors define the presence of a particular species. Habitat Suitability index (HSI) modelling was used to relate fi...

Two-dimensional physical habitat modeling of effects of habitat structures on urban stream restoration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongkyun Im

2011-12-01

Full Text Available River corridors, even if highly modified or degraded, still provide important habitats for numerous biological species, and carry high aesthetic and economic values. One of the keys to urban stream restoration is recovery and maintenance of ecological flows sufficient to sustain aquatic ecosystems. In this study, the Hongje Stream in the Seoul metropolitan area of Korea was selected for evaluating a physically-based habitat with and without habitat structures. The potential value of the aquatic habitat was evaluated by a weighted usable area (WUA using River2D, a two-dimensional hydraulic model. The habitat suitability for Zacco platypus in the Hongje Stream was simulated with and without habitat structures. The computed WUA values for the boulder, spur dike, and riffle increased by about 2%, 7%, and 131%, respectively, after their construction. Also, the three habitat structures, especially the riffle, can contribute to increasing hydraulic heterogeneity and enhancing habitat diversity.

[Characteristics of dissolved organic carbon release under inundation from typical grass plants in the water-level fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir area].

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Qiu-Xia; Zhu, Boi; Hua, Ke-Ke

2013-08-01

The water-level fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) exposes in spring and summer, then, green plants especially herbaceous plants grow vigorously. In the late of September, water-level fluctuation zone of TGR goes to inundation. Meanwhile, annually accumulated biomass of plant will be submerged for decaying, resulting in organism decomposition and release a large amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). This may lead to negative impacts on water environment of TGR. The typical herbaceous plants from water-level fluctuation zone were collected and inundated in the laboratory for dynamic measurements of DOC concentration of overlying water. According to the determination, the DOC release rates and fluxes have been calculated. Results showed that the release process of DOC variation fitted in a parabolic curve. The peak DOC concentrations emerge averagely in the 15th day of inundation, indicating that DOC released quickly with organism decay of herbaceous plant. The release process of DOC could be described by the logarithm equation. There are significant differences between the concentration of DOC (the maximum DOC concentration is 486.88 mg x L(-1) +/- 35.97 mg x L(-1) for Centaurea picris, the minimum is 4.18 mg x L(-1) +/- 1.07 mg x L(-1) for Echinochloacrus galli) and the release amount of DOC (the maximum is 50.54 mg x g(-1) for Centaurea picris, the minimum is 6.51 mg x g(-1) for Polygonum hydropiper) due to different characteristics of plants, especially, the values of C/N of herbaceous plants. The cumulative DOC release quantities during the whole inundation period were significantly correlated with plants' C/N values in linear equations.

Spawning Habitat Studies of Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Final Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geist, David R.; Arntzen, Evan V.; Chien, Yi-Ju (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

2009-03-02

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted this study for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) with funding provided through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council(a) and the BPA Fish and Wildlife Program. The study was conducted in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. The goal of study was to determine the physical habitat factors necessary to define the redd capacity of fall Chinook salmon that spawn in large mainstem rivers like the Hanford Reach and Snake River. The study was originally commissioned in FY 1994 and then recommissioned in FY 2000 through the Fish and Wildlife Program rolling review of the Columbia River Basin projects. The work described in this report covers the period from 1994 through 2004; however, the majority of the information comes from the last four years of the study (2000 through 2004). Results from the work conducted from 1994 to 2000 were covered in an earlier report. More than any other stock of Pacific salmon, fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) have suffered severe impacts from the hydroelectric development in the Columbia River Basin. Fall Chinook salmon rely heavily on mainstem habitats for all phases of their life cycle, and mainstem hydroelectric dams have inundated or blocked areas that were historically used for spawning and rearing. The natural flow pattern that existed in the historic period has been altered by the dams, which in turn have affected the physical and biological template upon which fall Chinook salmon depend upon for successful reproduction. Operation of the dams to produce power to meet short-term needs in electricity (termed power peaking) produces unnatural fluctuations in flow over a 24-hour cycle. These flow fluctuations alter the physical habitat and disrupt the cues that salmon use to select spawning sites, as well as strand fish in near-shore habitat that becomes dewatered. The quality of spawning gravels has been affected by dam construction, flood protection, and

Yakima Habitat Improvement Project Master Plan, Technical Report 2003.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Golder Associates, Inc.

2003-04-22

result of the planning effort leading to this Master Plan, a Technical Working Group (TWG) was established that represents most, if not all, fish and wildlife agencies/interests in the subbasin. This TWG met regularly throughout the planning process to provide input and review and was instrumental in the development of this plan. Preparation of this plan included the development of a quantitative prioritization process to rank 40,000 parcels within the Urban Growth Area based on the value of fish and wildlife habitat each parcel provided. Biological and physical criteria were developed and applied to all parcels through a GIS-based prioritization model. In the second-phase of the prioritization process, the TWG provided local expert knowledge and review of the properties. In selecting the most critical areas within the Urban Growth Area for protection, this project assessed the value of fish and wildlife habitat on the Yakima River. Well-developed habitat acquisition efforts (e.g., Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project by the Bureau of Reclamation and Yakama Nation acquisition projects) are already underway on the Yakima River mainstem. These efforts, however, face several limitations in protection of floodplain function that could be addressed through the support of the Yakima Habitat Improvement Project. This Master Plan integrates tributary habitat acquisition efforts with those ongoing on the Yakima River to best benefit fish and wildlife in the Urban Growth Area. The parcel ranking process identified 25 properties with the highest fish and wildlife value for habitat acquisition in the Yakima Urban Area. These parcels contain important fish and wildlife corridors on Ahtanum and Wide Hollow Creeks and the Naches River. The fifteen highest-ranking parcels of the 25 parcels identified were considered very high priority for protection of fish and wildlife habitat. These 15 parcels were subsequently grouped into four priority acquisition areas. This Master Plan

European red list of habitats. Part 1: Marine habitats

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gubbay, S.; Sanders, N.; Haynes, T.; Janssen, J.A.M.; Rodwell, J.R.; Nieto, A.; Garcia Criado, M.; Beal, S.; Borg, J.

2016-01-01

The European Red List of Habitats provides an overview of the risk
of collapse (degree of endangerment) of marine, terrestrial and
freshwater habitats in the European Union (EU28) and adjacent
regions (EU28+), based on a consistent set of categories and
criteria, and detailed data

Wildlife habitats in managed rangelands—the Great Basin of southeastern Oregon: manmade habitats.

Science.gov (United States)

Chris Maser; Jack Ward Thomas; Ira David Luman; Ralph. Anderson

1979-01-01

Manmade structures on rangelands provide specialized habitats for some species. These habitats and how they function as specialized habitat features are examined in this publication. The relationships of the wildlife of the Great Basin to such structures are detailed.

Mapping Dynamics of Inundation Patterns of Two Largest River-Connected Lakes in China: A Comparative Study

OpenAIRE

Guiping Wu; Yuanbo Liu

2016-01-01

Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake are the two largest freshwater lakes in China. The lakes are located approximately 300 km apart on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and are differently connected through their respective tributary systems, which will lead to different river–lake water exchanges and discharges. Thus, differences in their morphological and hydrological conditions should induce individual lake spatio-temporal inundation patterns. Quantitative comparative analyses of the dynam...

Effective field theory dimensional regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehmann, Dirk; Prezeau, Gary

2002-01-01

A Lorentz-covariant regularization scheme for effective field theories with an arbitrary number of propagating heavy and light particles is given. This regularization scheme leaves the low-energy analytic structure of Greens functions intact and preserves all the symmetries of the underlying Lagrangian. The power divergences of regularized loop integrals are controlled by the low-energy kinematic variables. Simple diagrammatic rules are derived for the regularization of arbitrary one-loop graphs and the generalization to higher loops is discussed

Effective field theory dimensional regularization

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, Dirk; Prézeau, Gary

2002-01-01

A Lorentz-covariant regularization scheme for effective field theories with an arbitrary number of propagating heavy and light particles is given. This regularization scheme leaves the low-energy analytic structure of Greens functions intact and preserves all the symmetries of the underlying Lagrangian. The power divergences of regularized loop integrals are controlled by the low-energy kinematic variables. Simple diagrammatic rules are derived for the regularization of arbitrary one-loop graphs and the generalization to higher loops is discussed.

Modeling and simulation of storm surge on Staten Island to understand inundation mitigation strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Kress, Michael E.; Benimoff, Alan I.; Fritz, William J.; Thatcher, Cindy A.; Blanton, Brian O.; Dzedzits, Eugene

2016-01-01

Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012, near Brigantine, New Jersey, and had a transformative impact on Staten Island and the New York Metropolitan area. Of the 43 New York City fatalities, 23 occurred on Staten Island. The borough, with a population of approximately 500,000, experienced some of the most devastating impacts of the storm. Since Hurricane Sandy, protective dunes have been constructed on the southeast shore of Staten Island. ADCIRC+SWAN model simulations run on The City University of New York's Cray XE6M, housed at the College of Staten Island, using updated topographic data show that the coast of Staten Island is still susceptible to tidal surge similar to those generated by Hurricane Sandy. Sandy hindcast simulations of storm surges focusing on Staten Island are in good agreement with observed storm tide measurements. Model results calculated from fine-scaled and coarse-scaled computational grids demonstrate that finer grids better resolve small differences in the topography of critical hydraulic control structures, which affect storm surge inundation levels. The storm surge simulations, based on post-storm topography obtained from high-resolution lidar, provide much-needed information to understand Staten Island's changing vulnerability to storm surge inundation. The results of fine-scale storm surge simulations can be used to inform efforts to improve resiliency to future storms. For example, protective barriers contain planned gaps in the dunes to provide for beach access that may inadvertently increase the vulnerability of the area.

Flood-inundation maps for Sweetwater Creek from above the confluence of Powder Springs Creek to the Interstate 20 bridge, Cobb and Douglas Counties, Georgia

Science.gov (United States)

Musser, Jonathan W.

2012-01-01

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 10.5-mile reach of Sweetwater Creek, from about 1,800 feet above the confluence of Powder Springs Creek to about 160 feet below the Interstate 20 bridge, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with Cobb County, Georgia. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Sweetwater Creek near Austell, Georgia (02337000). Current stage at this USGS streamgage may be obtained at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ and can be used in conjunction with these maps to estimate near real-time areas of inundation. The National Weather Service (NWS) is incorporating results from this study into the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/). The NWS forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that commonly are collocated at USGS streamgages. The forecasted peak-stage information for the USGS streamgage at Sweetwater Creek near Austell (02337000), which is available through the AHPS Web site, may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation. A one-dimensional step-backwater model was developed using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC–RAS) software for Sweetwater Creek and was used to compute flood profiles for a 10.5-mile reach of the creek. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-discharge relations at the Sweetwater Creek near Austell streamgage (02337000), as well as high-water marks collected during annual peak-flow events in 1982 and 2009. The hydraulic model was then used to determine 21 water-surface profiles for flood stages at the Sweetwater Creek streamgage at 1-foot intervals referenced to the

The impact of habitat fragmentation on tsetse abundance on the plateau of eastern Zambia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ducheyne, E; Mweempwa, C; De Pus, C; Vernieuwe, H; De Deken, R; Hendrickx, G; Van den Bossche, P

2009-09-01

Tsetse-transmitted human or livestock trypanosomiasis is one of the major constraints to rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. The epidemiology of the disease is determined largely by tsetse fly density. A major factor, contributing to tsetse population density is the availability of suitable habitat. In large parts of Africa, encroachment of people and their livestock resulted in a destruction and fragmentation of such suitable habitat. To determine the effect of habitat change on tsetse density a study was initiated in a tsetse-infested zone of eastern Zambia. The study area represents a gradient of habitat change, starting from a zone with high levels of habitat destruction and ending in an area where livestock and people are almost absent. To determine the distribution and density of the fly, tsetse surveys were conducted throughout the study area in the dry and in the rainy season. Landsat ETM+ imagery covering the study area were classified into four land cover classes (munga, miombo, agriculture and settlements) and two auxiliary spectral classes (clouds and shadow) using a Gaussian Maximum Likelihood Classifier. The classes were regrouped into natural vegetation and agricultural zone. The binary images were overlaid with hexagons to obtain the spatial spectrum of spatial pattern. Hexagonal coverage was selected because of its compact and regular form. To identify scale-specific spatial patterns and associated entomological phenomena, the size of the hexagonal coverage was varied (250 and 500 m). Per coverage, total class area, mean patch size, number of patches and patch size standard deviation were used as fragmentation indices. Based on the fragmentation index values, the study zone was classified using a Partitioning Around Mediods (PAM) method. The number of classes was determined using the Wilks' lambda coefficient. To determine the impact of habitat fragmentation on tsetse abundance, the correlation between the fragmentation indices and the index

Development of a model to simulate groundwater inundation induced by sea-level rise and high tides in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Science.gov (United States)

Habel, Shellie; Fletcher, Charles H; Rotzoll, Kolja; El-Kadi, Aly I

2017-05-01

Many of the world's largest cities face risk of sea-level rise (SLR) induced flooding owing to their limited elevations and proximities to the coastline. Within this century, global mean sea level is expected to reach magnitudes that will exceed the ground elevation of some built infrastructure. The concurrent rise of coastal groundwater will produce additional sources of inundation resulting from narrowing and loss of the vertical unsaturated subsurface space. This has implications for the dense network of buried and low-lying infrastructure that exists across urban coastal zones. Here, we describe a modeling approach that simulates narrowing of the unsaturated space and groundwater inundation (GWI) generated by SLR-induced lifting of coastal groundwater. The methodology combines terrain modeling, groundwater monitoring, estimation of tidal influence, and numerical groundwater-flow modeling to simulate future flood scenarios considering user-specified tide stages and magnitudes of SLR. We illustrate the value of the methodology by applying it to the heavily urbanized and low-lying Waikiki area of Honolulu, Hawaii. Results indicate that SLR of nearly 1 m generates GWI across 23% of the 13 km 2 study area, threatening $5 billion of taxable real estate and 48 km of roadway. Analysis of current conditions reveals that 86% of 259 active cesspool sites in the study area are likely inundated. This suggests that cesspool effluent is currently entering coastal groundwater, which not only leads to degradation of coastal environments, but also presents a future threat to public health as GWI would introduce effluent at the ground surface. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hierarchical regular small-world networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boettcher, Stefan; Goncalves, Bruno; Guclu, Hasan

2008-01-01

Two new networks are introduced that resemble small-world properties. These networks are recursively constructed but retain a fixed, regular degree. They possess a unique one-dimensional lattice backbone overlaid by a hierarchical sequence of long-distance links, mixing real-space and small-world features. Both networks, one 3-regular and the other 4-regular, lead to distinct behaviors, as revealed by renormalization group studies. The 3-regular network is planar, has a diameter growing as √N with system size N, and leads to super-diffusion with an exact, anomalous exponent d w = 1.306..., but possesses only a trivial fixed point T c = 0 for the Ising ferromagnet. In turn, the 4-regular network is non-planar, has a diameter growing as ∼2 √(log 2 N 2 ) , exhibits 'ballistic' diffusion (d w = 1), and a non-trivial ferromagnetic transition, T c > 0. It suggests that the 3-regular network is still quite 'geometric', while the 4-regular network qualifies as a true small world with mean-field properties. As an engineering application we discuss synchronization of processors on these networks. (fast track communication)

75 FR 76006 - Regular Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-07

... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Regular Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board. ACTION: Regular meeting. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). Date and Time: The meeting of the Board will be held...

Scenario based tsunami wave height estimation towards hazard evaluation for the Hellenic coastline and examples of extreme inundation zones in South Aegean

Science.gov (United States)

Melis, Nikolaos S.; Barberopoulou, Aggeliki; Frentzos, Elias; Krassanakis, Vassilios

2016-04-01

A scenario based methodology for tsunami hazard assessment is used, by incorporating earthquake sources with the potential to produce extreme tsunamis (measured through their capacity to cause maximum wave height and inundation extent). In the present study we follow a two phase approach. In the first phase, existing earthquake hazard zoning in the greater Aegean region is used to derive representative maximum expected earthquake magnitude events, with realistic seismotectonic source characteristics, and of greatest tsunamigenic potential within each zone. By stacking the scenario produced maximum wave heights a global maximum map is constructed for the entire Hellenic coastline, corresponding to all expected extreme offshore earthquake sources. Further evaluation of the produced coastline categories based on the maximum expected wave heights emphasizes the tsunami hazard in selected coastal zones with important functions (i.e. touristic crowded zones, industrial zones, airports, power plants etc). Owing to its proximity to the Hellenic Arc, many urban centres and being a popular tourist destination, Crete Island and the South Aegean region are given a top priority to define extreme inundation zoning. In the second phase, a set of four large coastal cities (Kalamata, Chania, Heraklion and Rethymno), important for tsunami hazard, due i.e. to the crowded beaches during the summer season or industrial facilities, are explored towards preparedness and resilience for tsunami hazard in Greece. To simulate tsunamis in the Aegean region (generation, propagation and runup) the MOST - ComMIT NOAA code was used. High resolution DEMs for bathymetry and topography were joined via an interface, specifically developed for the inundation maps in this study and with similar products in mind. For the examples explored in the present study, we used 5m resolution for the topography and 30m resolution for the bathymetry, respectively. Although this study can be considered as

General inverse problems for regular variation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damek, Ewa; Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; Rosinski, Jan

2014-01-01

Regular variation of distributional tails is known to be preserved by various linear transformations of some random structures. An inverse problem for regular variation aims at understanding whether the regular variation of a transformed random object is caused by regular variation of components ...

Extreme drought alters frequency and reproductive success of floaters in Willow Flycatchers

Science.gov (United States)

Theimer, Tad; Sogge, Mark K.; Cardinal, Suzanne N.; Durst, Scott L.; Paxton, Eben H.

2018-01-01

Changes in habitat quality, including those caused by extreme events like droughts and floods, could alter costs and benefits of territoriality and thereby the prevalence and reproductive consequences for individuals capable of breeding that do not do so (floaters). We studied floating behavior in a population of Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus) in central Arizona during one year of extreme drought, one year of lake inundation, and three years of near average precipitation. In all years, most floaters were second year (SY) males, and most subsequently settled outside of the patch where they were detected in the floating year, suggesting that floaters did not “queue” at high-quality territories in order to achieve higher reproductive success in subsequent years. Instead, cohorts that floated in non-drought years had lower apparent survival and lower reproductive success compared to territorial birds. In the extreme drought year, however, the number of floaters was 1.5 times greater than in all other years combined, more females floated, and apparent survival and mean annual productivity in subsequent years was higher for males that floated in that year than for those that were territorial. Inundation of habitat due to rising reservoir levels did not result in an increase in floaters because many birds nested in inundated areas where trees projected above the water so that the relative amount of available habitat was not reduced to the extent habitat models predicted. Overall, our results indicate that the prevalence and reproductive and demographic consequences of floating can change under extreme climatic events like severe drought.

Flow paths of water and sediment in a tidal marsh: relations with marsh developmental stage and tidal inundation height

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Temmerman, S.; Bouma, T.J.; Govers, G.; Lauwaet, D.

2005-01-01

This study provides new insights in the relative role of tidal creeks and the marsh edge in supplying water and sediments to and from tidal marshes for a wide range of tidal inundation cycles with different high water levels and for marsh zones of different developmental stage. Net import or export

A NEW HABITAT CLASSIFICATION AND MANUAL FOR STANDARDIZED HABITAT MAPPING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. KUN

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Today the documentation of natural heritage with scientific methods but for conservation practice – like mapping of actual vegetation – becomes more and more important. For this purpose mapping guides containing only the names and descriptions of vegetation types are not sufficient. Instead, new, mapping-oriented vegetation classification systems and handbooks are needed. There are different standardised systems fitted to the characteristics of a region already published and used successfully for surveying large territories. However, detailed documentation of the aims and steps of their elaboration is still missing. Here we present a habitat-classification method developed specifically for mapping and the steps of its development. Habitat categories and descriptions reflect site conditions, physiognomy and species composition as well. However, for species composition much lower role was given deliberately than in the phytosociological systems. Recognition and mapping of vegetation types in the field is highly supported by a definition, list of subtypes and list of ‘types not belonging to this habitat category’. Our system is two-dimensional: the first dimension is habitat type, the other is naturalness based habitat quality. The development of the system was conducted in two steps, over 200 mappers already tested it over 7000 field days in different projects.

Inundation, run-up heights, cross-section profiles and littoral environment along the Tamil Nadu coast after 26 th December 2004 Tsunami

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Ilangovan, D.; Jayakumar, S.; Gowthaman, R.; Tirodkar, G.; Ganesan, P.; Naik, G.N.; ManiMurali, R.; Michael, G.S.; Ramana, M.V.; Naik, K.A.

of Oceanography (NIO) and under the leadership of Dr. G. C. Battacharya, Scientist F, NIO,) surveys were carried out along several coastal areas of India for eliciting information about the inundation and several related aspects of the Tsunami. Different locations...

Continuum-regularized quantum gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan Huesum; Halpern, M.B.

1987-01-01

The recent continuum regularization of d-dimensional Euclidean gravity is generalized to arbitrary power-law measure and studied in some detail as a representative example of coordinate-invariant regularization. The weak-coupling expansion of the theory illustrates a generic geometrization of regularized Schwinger-Dyson rules, generalizing previous rules in flat space and flat superspace. The rules are applied in a non-trivial explicit check of Einstein invariance at one loop: the cosmological counterterm is computed and its contribution is included in a verification that the graviton mass is zero. (orig.)

Habitat Ecology Visual Surveys of Demersal Fishes and Habitats off California

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Since 1992, the Habitat Ecology team has been conducting fishery independent, visual surveys of demersal fishes and associated habitats in deep water (20 to 900...

Online co-regularized algorithms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruijter, T. de; Tsivtsivadze, E.; Heskes, T.

2012-01-01

We propose an online co-regularized learning algorithm for classification and regression tasks. We demonstrate that by sequentially co-regularizing prediction functions on unlabeled data points, our algorithm provides improved performance in comparison to supervised methods on several UCI benchmarks

Long-term habitat changes in a protected area: Implications for herpetofauna habitat management and restoration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chantel E Markle

Full Text Available Point Pelee National Park, located at the southern-most tip of Canada's mainland, historically supported a large number of herpetofauna species; however, despite nearly a century of protection, six snake and five amphibian species have disappeared, and remaining species-at-risk populations are thought to be in decline. We hypothesized that long-term changes in availability and distribution of critical habitat types may have contributed to the disappearance of herpetofauna. To track habitat changes we used aerial image data spanning 85 years (1931-2015 and manually digitized and classified image data using a standardized framework. Change-detection analyses were used to evaluate the relative importance of proportionate loss and fragmentation of 17 habitat types. Marsh habitat diversity and aquatic connectivity has declined since 1931. The marsh matrix transitioned from a graminoid and forb shallow marsh interspersed with water to a cattail dominated marsh, altering critical breeding, foraging, and overwintering habitat. Reduced diversity of marsh habitats appears to be linked to the expansion of invasive Phragmites australis, which invaded prior to 2000. Loss of open habitats such as savanna and meadow has reduced availability of high quality thermoregulation habitat for reptiles. Restoration of the northwestern region and tip of Point Pelee National Park to a mixed landscape of shallow wetlands (cattail, graminoid, forb, open water and eradication of dense Phragmites stands should improve habitat diversity. Our results suggest that long-term landscape changes resulting from habitat succession and invasive species can negatively affect habitat suitability for herpetofauna and protection of land alone does not necessarily equate to protection of sensitive herpetofauna.

Long-term habitat changes in a protected area: Implications for herpetofauna habitat management and restoration.

Science.gov (United States)

Markle, Chantel E; Chow-Fraser, Gillian; Chow-Fraser, Patricia

2018-01-01

Point Pelee National Park, located at the southern-most tip of Canada's mainland, historically supported a large number of herpetofauna species; however, despite nearly a century of protection, six snake and five amphibian species have disappeared, and remaining species-at-risk populations are thought to be in decline. We hypothesized that long-term changes in availability and distribution of critical habitat types may have contributed to the disappearance of herpetofauna. To track habitat changes we used aerial image data spanning 85 years (1931-2015) and manually digitized and classified image data using a standardized framework. Change-detection analyses were used to evaluate the relative importance of proportionate loss and fragmentation of 17 habitat types. Marsh habitat diversity and aquatic connectivity has declined since 1931. The marsh matrix transitioned from a graminoid and forb shallow marsh interspersed with water to a cattail dominated marsh, altering critical breeding, foraging, and overwintering habitat. Reduced diversity of marsh habitats appears to be linked to the expansion of invasive Phragmites australis, which invaded prior to 2000. Loss of open habitats such as savanna and meadow has reduced availability of high quality thermoregulation habitat for reptiles. Restoration of the northwestern region and tip of Point Pelee National Park to a mixed landscape of shallow wetlands (cattail, graminoid, forb, open water) and eradication of dense Phragmites stands should improve habitat diversity. Our results suggest that long-term landscape changes resulting from habitat succession and invasive species can negatively affect habitat suitability for herpetofauna and protection of land alone does not necessarily equate to protection of sensitive herpetofauna.

Geometric continuum regularization of quantum field theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halpern, M.B.

1989-01-01

An overview of the continuum regularization program is given. The program is traced from its roots in stochastic quantization, with emphasis on the examples of regularized gauge theory, the regularized general nonlinear sigma model and regularized quantum gravity. In its coordinate-invariant form, the regularization is seen as entirely geometric: only the supermetric on field deformations is regularized, and the prescription provides universal nonperturbative invariant continuum regularization across all quantum field theory. 54 refs

Dynamic inundation mapping of Hurricane Harvey flooding in the Houston metro area using hyper-resolution modeling and quantitative image reanalysis

Science.gov (United States)

Noh, S. J.; Lee, J. H.; Lee, S.; Zhang, Y.; Seo, D. J.

2017-12-01

Hurricane Harvey was one of the most extreme weather events in Texas history and left significant damages in the Houston and adjoining coastal areas. To understand better the relative impact to urban flooding of extreme amount and spatial extent of rainfall, unique geography, land use and storm surge, high-resolution water modeling is necessary such that natural and man-made components are fully resolved. In this presentation, we reconstruct spatiotemporal evolution of inundation during Hurricane Harvey using hyper-resolution modeling and quantitative image reanalysis. The two-dimensional urban flood model used is based on dynamic wave approximation and 10 m-resolution terrain data, and is forced by the radar-based multisensor quantitative precipitation estimates. The model domain includes Buffalo, Brays, Greens and White Oak Bayous in Houston. The model is simulated using hybrid parallel computing. To evaluate dynamic inundation mapping, we combine various qualitative crowdsourced images and video footages with LiDAR-based terrain data.

Habitat Blocks and Wildlife Corridors

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — Habitat blocks are areas of contiguous forest and other natural habitats that are unfragmented by roads, development, or agriculture. Vermonts habitat blocks are...

Bypassing the Limits of Ll Regularization: Convex Sparse Signal Processing Using Non-Convex Regularization

Science.gov (United States)

Parekh, Ankit

Sparsity has become the basis of some important signal processing methods over the last ten years. Many signal processing problems (e.g., denoising, deconvolution, non-linear component analysis) can be expressed as inverse problems. Sparsity is invoked through the formulation of an inverse problem with suitably designed regularization terms. The regularization terms alone encode sparsity into the problem formulation. Often, the ℓ1 norm is used to induce sparsity, so much so that ℓ1 regularization is considered to be `modern least-squares'. The use of ℓ1 norm, as a sparsity-inducing regularizer, leads to a convex optimization problem, which has several benefits: the absence of extraneous local minima, well developed theory of globally convergent algorithms, even for large-scale problems. Convex regularization via the ℓ1 norm, however, tends to under-estimate the non-zero values of sparse signals. In order to estimate the non-zero values more accurately, non-convex regularization is often favored over convex regularization. However, non-convex regularization generally leads to non-convex optimization, which suffers from numerous issues: convergence may be guaranteed to only a stationary point, problem specific parameters may be difficult to set, and the solution is sensitive to the initialization of the algorithm. The first part of this thesis is aimed toward combining the benefits of non-convex regularization and convex optimization to estimate sparse signals more effectively. To this end, we propose to use parameterized non-convex regularizers with designated non-convexity and provide a range for the non-convex parameter so as to ensure that the objective function is strictly convex. By ensuring convexity of the objective function (sum of data-fidelity and non-convex regularizer), we can make use of a wide variety of convex optimization algorithms to obtain the unique global minimum reliably. The second part of this thesis proposes a non-linear signal

Using Tikhonov Regularization for Spatial Projections from CSR Regularized Spherical Harmonic GRACE Solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Save, H.; Bettadpur, S. V.

2013-12-01

It has been demonstrated before that using Tikhonov regularization produces spherical harmonic solutions from GRACE that have very little residual stripes while capturing all the signal observed by GRACE within the noise level. This paper demonstrates a two-step process and uses Tikhonov regularization to remove the residual stripes in the CSR regularized spherical harmonic coefficients when computing the spatial projections. We discuss methods to produce mass anomaly grids that have no stripe features while satisfying the necessary condition of capturing all observed signal within the GRACE noise level.

Regularized maximum correntropy machine

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Wang, Yunji; Jing, Bing-Yi; Gao, Xin

2015-01-01

In this paper we investigate the usage of regularized correntropy framework for learning of classifiers from noisy labels. The class label predictors learned by minimizing transitional loss functions are sensitive to the noisy and outlying labels of training samples, because the transitional loss functions are equally applied to all the samples. To solve this problem, we propose to learn the class label predictors by maximizing the correntropy between the predicted labels and the true labels of the training samples, under the regularized Maximum Correntropy Criteria (MCC) framework. Moreover, we regularize the predictor parameter to control the complexity of the predictor. The learning problem is formulated by an objective function considering the parameter regularization and MCC simultaneously. By optimizing the objective function alternately, we develop a novel predictor learning algorithm. The experiments on two challenging pattern classification tasks show that it significantly outperforms the machines with transitional loss functions.

Regularized maximum correntropy machine

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan

2015-02-12

In this paper we investigate the usage of regularized correntropy framework for learning of classifiers from noisy labels. The class label predictors learned by minimizing transitional loss functions are sensitive to the noisy and outlying labels of training samples, because the transitional loss functions are equally applied to all the samples. To solve this problem, we propose to learn the class label predictors by maximizing the correntropy between the predicted labels and the true labels of the training samples, under the regularized Maximum Correntropy Criteria (MCC) framework. Moreover, we regularize the predictor parameter to control the complexity of the predictor. The learning problem is formulated by an objective function considering the parameter regularization and MCC simultaneously. By optimizing the objective function alternately, we develop a novel predictor learning algorithm. The experiments on two challenging pattern classification tasks show that it significantly outperforms the machines with transitional loss functions.

75 FR 34975 - Notice of Estuary Habitat Restoration Council's Intent to Revise its Estuary Habitat Restoration...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-21

... Estuary Habitat Restoration Council's Intent to Revise its Estuary Habitat Restoration Strategy; Request... interagency Estuary Habitat Restoration Council, is providing notice of the Council's intent to revise the ''Estuary Habitat Restoration Strategy'' and requesting public comments to guide its revision. DATES...

Vacant habitats in the Universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Cockell, Charles S

2011-02-01

The search for life on other planets usually makes the assumption that where there is a habitat, it will contain life. On the present-day Earth, uninhabited habitats (or vacant habitats) are rare, but might occur, for example, in subsurface oils or impact craters that have been thermally sterilized in the past. Beyond Earth, vacant habitats might similarly exist on inhabited planets or on uninhabited planets, for example on a habitable planet where life never originated. The hypothesis that vacant habitats are abundant in the Universe is testable by studying other planets. In this review, I discuss how the study of vacant habitats might ultimately inform an understanding of how life has influenced geochemical conditions on Earth. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-scale analysis to uncover habitat use of red-crowned cranes: Implications for conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunyue LIU, Hongxing JIANG, Shuqing ZHANG, Chunrong LI,Yunqiu HOU, Fawen QIAN

2013-10-01

Full Text Available A multi-scale approach is essential to assess the factors that limit avian habitat use. Numerous studies have examined habitat use by the red-crowned crane, but integrated multi-scale habitat use information is lacking. We evaluated the effects of several habitat variables quantified across many spatial scales on crane use and abundance in two periods (2000 and 2009 at Yancheng National Nature Reserve, China. The natural wetlands decreased in area by 30,601 ha (-6.9% from 2000 to 2009, predominantly as a result of conversion to aquaculture ponds and farmland, and the remaining was under degradation due to expansion of the exotic smooth cordgrass. The cranes are focusing in on either larger patches or those that are in close proximity to each other in both years, but occupied patches had smaller size, less proximity and more regular boundaries in 2009. At landscape scales, the area percentage of common seepweed, reed ponds and paddy fields had a greater positive impact on crane presence than the area percentage of aquaculture ponds. The cranes were more abundant in patches that had a greater percent area of common seepweed and reed ponds, while the percent area of paddy fields was inversely related to crane abundance in 2009 due to changing agricultural practices. In 2009, cranes tended to use less fragmented plots in natural wetlands and more fragmented plots in anthropogenic paddy fields, which were largely associated with the huge loss and degradation of natural habitats between the two years. Management should focus on restoration of large patches of natural wetlands, and formation of a relatively stable area of large paddy field and reed pond to mitigate the loss of natural wetlands [Current Zoology 59 (5: 604–617, 2013].

Identification of erosional and inundation hazard zones in Ken-Betwa river linking area, India, using remote sensing and GIS.

Science.gov (United States)

Avtar, Ram; Singh, Chander Kumar; Shashtri, Satayanarayan; Mukherjee, Saumitra

2011-11-01

Ken-Betwa river link is one of the pilot projects of the Inter Linking of Rivers program of Government of India in Bundelkhand Region. It will connect the Ken and Betwa rivers through a system of dams, reservoirs, and canals to provide storage for excess rainfall during the monsoon season and avoid floods. The main objective of this study is to identify erosional and inundation prone zones of Ken-Betwa river linking site in India using remote sensing and geographic information system tools. In this study, Landsat Thematic Mapper data of year 2005, digital elevation model from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission, and other ancillary data were analyzed to create various thematic maps viz. geomorphology, land use/land cover, NDVI, geology, soil, drainage density, elevation, slope, and rainfall. The integrated thematic maps were used for hazard zonation. This is based on categorizing the different hydrological and geomorphological processes influencing the inundation and erosion intensity. Result shows that the southern part of the study area which lies in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh, India, is more vulnerable than the other areas.

Relationship between the Prediction Accuracy of Tsunami Inundation and Relative Distribution of Tsunami Source and Observation Arrays: A Case Study in Tokyo Bay

Science.gov (United States)

Takagawa, T.

2017-12-01

A rapid and precise tsunami forecast based on offshore monitoring is getting attention to reduce human losses due to devastating tsunami inundation. We developed a forecast method based on the combination of hierarchical Bayesian inversion with pre-computed database and rapid post-computing of tsunami inundation. The method was applied to Tokyo bay to evaluate the efficiency of observation arrays against three tsunamigenic earthquakes. One is a scenario earthquake at Nankai trough and the other two are historic ones of Genroku in 1703 and Enpo in 1677. In general, rich observation array near the tsunami source has an advantage in both accuracy and rapidness of tsunami forecast. To examine the effect of observation time length we used four types of data with the lengths of 5, 10, 20 and 45 minutes after the earthquake occurrences. Prediction accuracy of tsunami inundation was evaluated by the simulated tsunami inundation areas around Tokyo bay due to target earthquakes. The shortest time length of accurate prediction varied with target earthquakes. Here, accurate prediction means the simulated values fall within the 95% credible intervals of prediction. In Enpo earthquake case, 5-minutes observation is enough for accurate prediction for Tokyo bay, but 10-minutes and 45-minutes are needed in the case of Nankai trough and Genroku, respectively. The difference of the shortest time length for accurate prediction shows the strong relationship with the relative distance from the tsunami source and observation arrays. In the Enpo case, offshore tsunami observation points are densely distributed even in the source region. So, accurate prediction can be rapidly achieved within 5 minutes. This precise prediction is useful for early warnings. Even in the worst case of Genroku, where less observation points are available near the source, accurate prediction can be obtained within 45 minutes. This information can be useful to figure out the outline of the hazard in an early

Habitat quality influences population distribution, individual space use and functional responses in habitat selection by a large herbivore.

Science.gov (United States)

Bjørneraas, Kari; Herfindal, Ivar; Solberg, Erling Johan; Sæther, Bernt-Erik; van Moorter, Bram; Rolandsen, Christer Moe

2012-01-01

Identifying factors shaping variation in resource selection is central for our understanding of the behaviour and distribution of animals. We examined summer habitat selection and space use by 108 Global Positioning System (GPS)-collared moose in Norway in relation to sex, reproductive status, habitat quality, and availability. Moose selected habitat types based on a combination of forage quality and availability of suitable habitat types. Selection of protective cover was strongest for reproducing females, likely reflecting the need to protect young. Males showed strong selection for habitat types with high quality forage, possibly due to higher energy requirements. Selection for preferred habitat types providing food and cover was a positive function of their availability within home ranges (i.e. not proportional use) indicating functional response in habitat selection. This relationship was not found for unproductive habitat types. Moreover, home ranges with high cover of unproductive habitat types were larger, and smaller home ranges contained higher proportions of the most preferred habitat type. The distribution of moose within the study area was partly related to the distribution of different habitat types. Our study shows how distribution and availability of habitat types providing cover and high-quality food shape ungulate habitat selection and space use.

Estimated Flood-Inundation Mapping for the Upper Blue River, Indian Creek, and Dyke Branch in Kansas City, Missouri, 2006-08

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Brian P.; Huizinga, Richard J.

2008-01-01

In the interest of improved public safety during flooding, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city of Kansas City, Missouri, completed a flood-inundation study of the Blue River in Kansas City, Missouri, from the U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gage at Kenneth Road to 63rd Street, of Indian Creek from the Kansas-Missouri border to its mouth, and of Dyke Branch from the Kansas-Missouri border to its mouth, to determine the estimated extent of flood inundation at selected flood stages on the Blue River, Indian Creek, and Dyke Branch. The results of this study spatially interpolate information provided by U.S. Geological Survey gages, Kansas City Automated Local Evaluation in Real Time gages, and the National Weather Service flood-peak prediction service that comprise the Blue River flood-alert system and are a valuable tool for public officials and residents to minimize flood deaths and damage in Kansas City. To provide public access to the information presented in this report, a World Wide Web site (http://mo.water.usgs.gov/indep/kelly/blueriver) was created that displays the results of two-dimensional modeling between Hickman Mills Drive and 63rd Street, estimated flood-inundation maps for 13 flood stages, the latest gage heights, and National Weather Service stage forecasts for each forecast location within the study area. The results of a previous study of flood inundation on the Blue River from 63rd Street to the mouth also are available. In addition the full text of this report, all tables and maps are available for download (http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/5068). Thirteen flood-inundation maps were produced at 2-foot intervals for water-surface elevations from 763.8 to 787.8 feet referenced to the Blue River at the 63rd Street Automated Local Evaluation in Real Time stream gage operated by the city of Kansas City, Missouri. Each map is associated with gages at Kenneth Road, Blue Ridge Boulevard, Kansas City (at Bannister Road), U.S. Highway 71

Regularities of Multifractal Measures

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

First, we prove the decomposition theorem for the regularities of multifractal Hausdorff measure and packing measure in R R d . This decomposition theorem enables us to split a set into regular and irregular parts, so that we can analyze each separately, and recombine them without affecting density properties. Next, we ...

Adaptive Regularization of Neural Classifiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lars Nonboe; Larsen, Jan; Hansen, Lars Kai

1997-01-01

We present a regularization scheme which iteratively adapts the regularization parameters by minimizing the validation error. It is suggested to use the adaptive regularization scheme in conjunction with optimal brain damage pruning to optimize the architecture and to avoid overfitting. Furthermo......, we propose an improved neural classification architecture eliminating an inherent redundancy in the widely used SoftMax classification network. Numerical results demonstrate the viability of the method...

Habitat loss and gain: Influence on habitat attractiveness for estuarine fish communities

Science.gov (United States)

Amorim, Eva; Ramos, Sandra; Elliott, Michael; Franco, Anita; Bordalo, Adriano A.

2017-10-01

Habitat structure and complexity influence the structuring and functioning of fish communities. Habitat changes are one of the main pressures affecting estuarine systems worldwide, yet the degree and rate of change and its impact on fish communities is still poorly understood. In order to quantify historical modifications in habitat structure, an ecohydrological classification system using physiotopes, i.e. units with homogenous abiotic characteristics, was developed for the lower Lima estuary (NW Portugal). Field data, aerial imagery, historical maps and interpolation methods were used to map input variables, including bathymetry, substratum (hard/soft), sediment composition, hydrodynamics (current velocity) and vegetation coverage. Physiotopes were then mapped for the years of 1933 and 2013 and the areas lost and gained over the 80 years were quantified. The implications of changes for the benthic and demersal fish communities using the lower estuary were estimated using the attractiveness to those communities of each physiotope, while considering the main estuarine habitat functions for fish, namely spawning, nursery, feeding and refuge areas and migratory routes. The lower estuary was highly affected due to urbanisation and development and, following a port/harbour expansion, its boundary moved seaward causing an increase in total area. Modifications led to the loss of most of its sandy and saltmarsh intertidal physiotopes, which were replaced by deeper subtidal physiotopes. The most attractive physiotopes for fish (defined as the way in which they supported the fish ecological features) decreased in area while less attractive ones increased, producing an overall lower attractiveness of the studied area in 2013 compared to 1933. The implications of habitat alterations for the fish using the estuary include potential changes in the nursery carrying capacity and the functioning of the fish community. The study also highlighted the poor knowledge of the impacts of

Understanding Coastal Wetland Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise Enhanced Inundation Using Real-Time Stage Monitoring, LiDAR, and Monte Carlo Simulation in Everglades National Park

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, H.; Zhang, C.

2017-12-01

Coastal wetlands are one of the most productive ecological systems in the world, providing critical habitat area and valuable ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. However, due to their location in low lying areas, coastal wetlands are particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR). Everglades National Park (ENP) encompasses the southern-most portion of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and is the largest subtropical wetland in the USA. Water depths have shown to have a significant relationship to vegetation community composition and organization while also playing a crucial role in vegetation health throughout the Everglades. Live plants play a vital role in maintaining soil structure (i.e. elevation), and decreases in vegetation health can cause peat collapse or wetland loss resulting in dramatic habitat, organic soil, and elevation loss posing concerns for Everglades management and restoration. One suspected mechanism for peat collapse is enhanced inundation due to SLR, thus mapping and modeling water depths is a critical component to understanding the potential impacts of future SLR. Previous research in the Everglades focused on a conventional Water Depth Model (WDM) approach where a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is subtracted from a Water Table Elevation Model (WTEM). In this study, the conventional WDM approach is extended to a more rigorous WDM technique so that the accuracy and precision of the underlying data may be considered. Monte Carlo simulation is used to propagate probability distributions through our SLR depth model using our Random Forest-based LiDAR DEM, Empirical Bayesian Kriging-based WTEMs, uncertainties in vertical datums, soil accretion projections, and regional sea-level rise projections. Water depth maps were produced for the wet and dry seasons in April and October, which successfully revealed the potential spatial and temporal water depth variations due to future SLR. It is concluded that a more rigorous WDM technique helps

Condition Number Regularized Covariance Estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Won, Joong-Ho; Lim, Johan; Kim, Seung-Jean; Rajaratnam, Bala

2013-06-01

Estimation of high-dimensional covariance matrices is known to be a difficult problem, has many applications, and is of current interest to the larger statistics community. In many applications including so-called the "large p small n " setting, the estimate of the covariance matrix is required to be not only invertible, but also well-conditioned. Although many regularization schemes attempt to do this, none of them address the ill-conditioning problem directly. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood approach, with the direct goal of obtaining a well-conditioned estimator. No sparsity assumption on either the covariance matrix or its inverse are are imposed, thus making our procedure more widely applicable. We demonstrate that the proposed regularization scheme is computationally efficient, yields a type of Steinian shrinkage estimator, and has a natural Bayesian interpretation. We investigate the theoretical properties of the regularized covariance estimator comprehensively, including its regularization path, and proceed to develop an approach that adaptively determines the level of regularization that is required. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of the regularized estimator in decision-theoretic comparisons and in the financial portfolio optimization setting. The proposed approach has desirable properties, and can serve as a competitive procedure, especially when the sample size is small and when a well-conditioned estimator is required.

Potential for timing high-energy marine inundation events in the recent geological past through age-dating of reef boulders in Fiji

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, James P.; Etienne, Samuel

2014-12-01

Transported coastal boulders have increasingly come to represent a valuable element of investigations within the broader framework of multi-proxy approaches applied to coastal hazard studies. Through a case study on Taveuni Island in Fiji, this paper outlines some approaches and hindrances to effective timing of prehistorical high-energy marine inundation events (storms and tsunamis) on tropical coastlines from the evidence of reef-platform carbonate boulders. Various sources of errors are outlined that investigators must consider when attempting to use carbonate boulder ages as a surrogate for timing past events. On Taveuni, uranium : thorium dates with a high level of precision (1-7 years) suggest that major inundation events have a return period of approximately 40-45 years since 1650 AD. Of particular importance, considerably different age dates are provided by coral samples sourced from the top and bottom (i.e. opposite faces) of individual boulders, so highlighting interpretation biases that must be avoided.

Anopheline larval habitats seasonality and species distribution: a prerequisite for effective targeted larval habitats control programmes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliningaya J Kweka

Full Text Available Larval control is of paramount importance in the reduction of malaria vector abundance and subsequent disease transmission reduction. Understanding larval habitat succession and its ecology in different land use managements and cropping systems can give an insight for effective larval source management practices. This study investigated larval habitat succession and ecological parameters which influence larval abundance in malaria epidemic prone areas of western Kenya.A total of 51 aquatic habitats positive for anopheline larvae were surveyed and visited once a week for a period of 85 weeks in succession. Habitats were selected and identified. Mosquito larval species, physico-chemical parameters, habitat size, grass cover, crop cycle and distance to nearest house were recorded. Polymerase chain reaction revealed that An. gambiae s.l was the most dominant vector species comprised of An.gambiae s.s (77.60% and An.arabiensis (18.34%, the remaining 4.06% had no amplification by polymerase chain reaction. Physico-chemical parameters and habitat size significantly influenced abundance of An. gambiae s.s (P = 0.024 and An. arabiensis (P = 0.002 larvae. Further, larval species abundance was influenced by crop cycle (P≤0.001, grass cover (P≤0.001, while distance to nearest houses significantly influenced the abundance of mosquito species larvae (r = 0.920;P≤0.001. The number of predator species influenced mosquito larval abundance in different habitat types. Crop weeding significantly influenced with the abundance of An.gambiae s.l (P≤0.001 when preceded with fertilizer application. Significantly higher anopheline larval abundance was recorded in habitats in pasture compared to farmland (P = 0.002. When habitat stability and habitat types were considered, hoof print were the most productive followed by disused goldmines.These findings suggest that implementation of effective larval control programme should be targeted with larval

Habitat specialization through germination cueing: a comparative study of herbs from forests and open habitats.

Science.gov (United States)

Ten Brink, Dirk-Jan; Hendriksma, Harmen Pieter; Bruun, Hans Henrik

2013-02-01

This study examined the adaptive association between seed germination ecology and specialization to either forest or open habitats across a range of evolutionary lineages of seed plants, in order to test the hypotheses that (1) species' specialization to open vs. shaded habitats is consistently accompanied by specialization in their regeneration niche; and (2) species are thereby adapted to utilize different windows of opportunity in time (season) and space (habitat). Seed germination response to temperature, light and stratification was tested for 17 congeneric pairs, each consisting of one forest species and one open-habitat species. A factorial design was used with temperature levels and diurnal temperature variation (10 °C constant, 15-5 °C fluctuating, 20 °C constant, 25-15 °C fluctuating), and two light levels (light and darkness) and a cold stratification treatment. The congeneric species pair design took phylogenetic dependence into account. Species from open habitats germinated better at high temperatures, whereas forest species performed equally well at low and high temperatures. Forest species tended to germinate only after a period of cold stratification that could break dormancy, while species from open habitats generally germinated without cold stratification. The empirically derived germination strategies correspond quite well with establishment opportunities for forest and open-habitat plant species in nature. Annual changes in temperature and light regime in temperate forest delimit windows of opportunity for germination and establishment. Germination strategies of forest plants are adaptations to utilize such narrow windows in time. Conversely, lack of fit between germination ecology and environment may explain why species of open habitats generally fail to establish in forests. Germination strategy should be considered an important mechanism for habitat specialization in temperate herbs to forest habitats. The findings strongly suggest that

California Condor Critical Habitat

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — These Data identify (in general) the areas where critical habitat for the California Condor occur. Critical habitat for the species consists of the following 10...

Headwater Stream Management Dichotomies: Local Amphibian Habitat vs. Downstream Fish Habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, C. R.

2002-12-01

Small headwater streams in mountainous areas of the Pacific Northwest often do not harbor fish populations because of low water depth and high gradients. Rather, these streams provide habitat for dense assemblages of stream-dwelling amphibians. A variety of management goals have been suggested for such streams such as encouraging large woody debris recruitment to assist in sediment trapping and valley floor formation, encouraging large woody debris recruitment to provide downstream wood when debris flows occur, providing continuous linear stream buffers within forest harvest areas to provide shade and bank stability, etc. A basic problem with analying the geomorphic or biotic benefits of any of these strategies is the lack of explicit management goals for such streams. Should managers strive to optimize downstream fish habitat, local amphibian habitat, or both? Through observational data and theoretical considerations, it will be shown that these biotic goals will lead to very different geomorphic management recommendations. For instance, woody debris greater than 60 cm diameter may assist in valley floor development, but it is likely to create subsurface channel flow of unknown value to amphibians. Trapping and retention of fine sediments within headwater streams may improve downstream spawning gravels, but degrades stream-dwelling amphibian habitat. In response to the need for descriptive information on habitat and channel morphology specific to small, non-fish-bearing streams in the Pacific Northwest, morphologies and wood frequencies in forty-two first- and second-order forested streams less than four meters wide were surveyed. Frequencies and size distributions of woody debris were compared between small streams and larger fish-bearing streams as well as between second-growth and virgin timber streams. Statistical models were developed to explore dominant factors affecting channel morphology and habitat. Findings suggest geomorphological relationships

L-Reactor Habitat Mitigation Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-02-01

The L-Reactor Fish and Wildlife Resource Mitigation Study was conducted to quantify the effects on habitat of the L-Reactor restart and to identify the appropriate mitigation for these impacts. The completed project evaluated in this study includes construction of a 1000 acre reactor cooling reservoir formed by damming Steel Creek. Habitat impacts identified include a loss of approximately 3,700 average annual habitat units. This report presents a mitigation plan, Plan A, to offset these habitat losses. Plan A will offset losses for all species studied, except whitetailed deer. The South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department strongly recommends creation of a game management area to provide realistic mitigation for loss of deer habitats. 10 refs., 5 figs., 3 tabs

Calibration of HEC-Ras hydrodynamic model using gauged discharge data and flood inundation maps

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Rui; Komma, Jürgen

2017-04-01

The estimation of flood is essential for disaster alleviation. Hydrodynamic models are implemented to predict the occurrence and variance of flood in different scales. In practice, the calibration of hydrodynamic models aims to search the best possible parameters for the representation the natural flow resistance. Recent years have seen the calibration of hydrodynamic models being more actual and faster following the advance of earth observation products and computer based optimization techniques. In this study, the Hydrologic Engineering River Analysis System (HEC-Ras) model was set up with high-resolution digital elevation model from Laser scanner for the river Inn in Tyrol, Austria. 10 largest flood events from 19 hourly discharge gauges and flood inundation maps were selected to calibrate the HEC-Ras model. Manning roughness values and lateral inflow factors as parameters were automatically optimized with the Shuffled complex with Principal component analysis (SP-UCI) algorithm developed from the Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE-UA). Different objective functions (Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient, the timing of peak, peak value and Root-mean-square deviation) were used in single or multiple way. It was found that the lateral inflow factor was the most sensitive parameter. SP-UCI algorithm could avoid the local optimal and achieve efficient and effective parameters in the calibration of HEC-Ras model using flood extension images. As results showed, calibration by means of gauged discharge data and flood inundation maps, together with objective function of Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient, was very robust to obtain more reliable flood simulation, and also to catch up with the peak value and the timing of peak.

Condition Number Regularized Covariance Estimation*

Science.gov (United States)

Won, Joong-Ho; Lim, Johan; Kim, Seung-Jean; Rajaratnam, Bala

2012-01-01

Estimation of high-dimensional covariance matrices is known to be a difficult problem, has many applications, and is of current interest to the larger statistics community. In many applications including so-called the “large p small n” setting, the estimate of the covariance matrix is required to be not only invertible, but also well-conditioned. Although many regularization schemes attempt to do this, none of them address the ill-conditioning problem directly. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood approach, with the direct goal of obtaining a well-conditioned estimator. No sparsity assumption on either the covariance matrix or its inverse are are imposed, thus making our procedure more widely applicable. We demonstrate that the proposed regularization scheme is computationally efficient, yields a type of Steinian shrinkage estimator, and has a natural Bayesian interpretation. We investigate the theoretical properties of the regularized covariance estimator comprehensively, including its regularization path, and proceed to develop an approach that adaptively determines the level of regularization that is required. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of the regularized estimator in decision-theoretic comparisons and in the financial portfolio optimization setting. The proposed approach has desirable properties, and can serve as a competitive procedure, especially when the sample size is small and when a well-conditioned estimator is required. PMID:23730197

Coastal Critical Habitat Designations

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires the Federal government to designate critical habitat, areas of habitat essential to the species' conservation, for ESA...

New England wildlife: management forested habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Richard M. DeGraaf; Mariko Yamasaki; William B. Leak; John W. Lanier

1992-01-01

Presents silvicultural treatments for six major cover-type groups in New England to produce stand conditions that provide habitat opportunities for a wide range of wildlife species. Includes matrices for species occurrence and utilization by forested and nonforested habitats, habitat breadth and size class, and structural habitat features for the 338 wildlife species...

The history of safety factors for Dutch regional dykes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Gast, T.; Vardon, P.J.; Jommi, C.; Hicks, M.A.

2015-01-01

Regular dyke assessment is part of reducing the risk of flooding in the Netherlands. 18 000 km of dykes are assessed at regular intervals, of which 14 000 km are classified as regional dykes and their main aim is to defend polders from inundating. The methods of assessing regional dykes are strongly

The History of Safety Factors for Dutch Regional Dykes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Gast, T.; Vardon, P.J.; Jommi, C.; Hicks, M.A.

2015-01-01

Regular dyke assessment is part of reducing the risk of flooding in the Netherlands. 18 000 km of dykes are assessed at regular intervals, of which 14 000 km are classified as regional dykes and their main aim is to defend polders from inundating. The methods of assessing regional dykes are strongly

Wildlife habitat considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Helen Y. Smith

2000-01-01

Fire, insects, disease, harvesting, and precommercial thinning all create mosaics on Northern Rocky Mountain landscapes. These mosaics are important for faunal habitat. Consequently, changes such as created openings or an increase in heavily stocked areas affect the water, cover, and food of forest habitats. The “no action” alternative in ecosystem management of low...

Mechanisms Affecting Population Density in Fragmented Habitat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lutz Tischendorf

2005-06-01

Full Text Available We conducted a factorial simulation experiment to analyze the relative importance of movement pattern, boundary-crossing probability, and mortality in habitat and matrix on population density, and its dependency on habitat fragmentation, as well as inter-patch distance. We also examined how the initial response of a species to a fragmentation event may affect our observations of population density in post-fragmentation experiments. We found that the boundary-crossing probability from habitat to matrix, which partly determines the emigration rate, is the most important determinant for population density within habitat patches. The probability of crossing a boundary from matrix to habitat had a weaker, but positive, effect on population density. Movement behavior in habitat had a stronger effect on population density than movement behavior in matrix. Habitat fragmentation and inter-patch distance may have a positive or negative effect on population density. The direction of both effects depends on two factors. First, when the boundary-crossing probability from habitat to matrix is high, population density may decline with increasing habitat fragmentation. Conversely, for species with a high matrix-to-habitat boundary-crossing probability, population density may increase with increasing habitat fragmentation. Second, the initial distribution of individuals across the landscape: we found that habitat fragmentation and inter-patch distance were positively correlated with population density when individuals were distributed across matrix and habitat at the beginning of our simulation experiments. The direction of these relationships changed to negative when individuals were initially distributed across habitat only. Our findings imply that the speed of the initial response of organisms to habitat fragmentation events may determine the direction of observed relationships between habitat fragmentation and population density. The time scale of post

Sound solutions for habitat monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Mary M. Rowland; Lowell H. Suring; Christina D. Vojta

2015-01-01

For agencies and organizations to effectively manage wildlife, knowledge about the status and trend of wildlife habitat is critical. Traditional wildlife monitoring, however, has focused on populations rather than habitat, because ultimately population status drives long-term species viability. Still, habitat loss has contributed to the decline of nearly all at-risk...

Geochemical and sedimentological signature of catastrophic saltwater inundations (tsunami), New Zealand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chague-Goff, C.; Goff, J.R.

1999-01-01

Three tidal marshes in Able Tasman National Par, New Zealand, were studied using geochemical, sedimentological and radiometric dating techniques. Charcoal and plant material samples were taken from one core in each inlet for 14 C analysis. radiocarbon ages were converted to dendrocalibrated years . All samples produced a terrestrial 13 C signal. Near surface samples were date d by measuring 137 Cs. A 1700 year record of catastrophic saltwater inundations (CSI) events (Tsunami) was produced. Up to four such events were identified, with ruptures of one or more of the Wellington, Wairarapa and Alpine Faults being the most likely tsunamigenic source. CSI signatures include: peaks in Fe and/or S, a peak in fines and contemporaneous or delayed peaks in organic content and/or loss on ignition (LOI). Geochemical data in association with grain size analyses proved to be a valuable tool in the interpretation of these events

Partitioning of metals in a degraded acid sulfate soil landscape: influence of tidal re-inundation.

Science.gov (United States)

Claff, Salirian R; Sullivan, Leigh A; Burton, Edward D; Bush, Richard T; Johnston, Scott G

2011-11-01

The oxidation and acidification of sulfidic soil materials results in the re-partitioning of metals, generally to more mobile forms. In this study, we examine the partitioning of Fe, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni and Zn in the acidified surface soil (0-0.1 m) and the unoxidised sub-soil materials (1.3-1.5 m) of an acid sulfate soil landscape. Metal partitioning at this acidic site was then compared to an adjacent site that was previously acidified, but has since been remediated by tidal re-inundation. Differences in metal partitioning were determined using an optimised six-step sequential extraction procedure which targets the "labile", "acid-soluble", "organic", "crystalline oxide", "pyritic" and "residual" fractions. The surficial soil materials of the acidic site had experienced considerable losses of Cr, Cu, Mn and Ni compared to the underlying parent material due to oxidation and acidification, yet only minor losses of Fe and Zn. In general, the metals most depleted from the acidified surface soil materials exhibited the greatest sequestration in the surface soil materials of the tidally remediated site. An exception to this was iron, which accumulated to highly elevated concentrations in the surficial soil materials of the tidally remediated site. The "acid-soluble", "organic" and "pyritic" fractions displayed the greatest increase in metals following tidal remediation. This study demonstrates that prolonged tidal re-inundation of severely acidified acid sulfate soil landscapes leads to the immobilisation of trace metals through the surficial accumulation of iron oxides, organic material and pyrite. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) Report; Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Technical Report 2000-2001.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allard, Donna

2001-09-01

Steigenvald Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR, refuge) was established as a result of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) transferring ownership of the Stevenson tract located in the historic Steigerwald Lake site to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS, Service) for the mitigation of the fish and wildlife losses associated with the construction of a second powerhouse at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and relocation of the town of North Bonneville (Public Law 98-396). The construction project was completed in 1983 and resulted in the loss of approximately 577 acres of habitat on the Washington shore of the Columbia River (USFWS, 1982). The COE determined that acquisition and development of the Steigenvald Lake area, along with other on-site project management actions, would meet their legal obligation to mitigate for these impacts (USCOE, 1985). Mitigation requirements included restoration and enhancement of this property to increase overall habitat diversity and productivity. From 1994 to 1999, 317 acres of additional lands, consisting of four tracts of contiguous land, were added to the original refuge with Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) funds provided through the Washington Wildlife Mitigation Agreement. These tracts comprised Straub (191 acres), James (90 acres), Burlington Northern (27 acres), and Bliss (9 acres). Refer to Figure 1. Under this Agreement, BPA budgeted $2,730,000 to the Service for 'the protection, mitigation, and enhancement of wildlife and wildlife habitat that was adversely affected by the construction of Federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River or its tributaries' in the state of Washington (BPA, 1993). Lands acquired for mitigation resulting from BPA actions are evaluated using the habitat evaluation procedures (HEP) methodology, which quantifies how many Habitat Units (HUs) are to be credited to BPA. HUs or credits gained lessen BPA's debt, which was formally tabulated in the Federal Columbia

Regular-, irregular-, and pseudo-character processing in Chinese: The regularity effect in normal adult readers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dustin Kai Yan Lau

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Background Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese uses a logographic script. However, the pronunciation of many character’s phonetic radical has the same pronunciation as the character as a whole. These are considered regular characters and can be read through a lexical non-semantic route (Weekes & Chen, 1999. Pseudocharacters are another way to study this non-semantic route. A pseudocharacter is the combination of existing semantic and phonetic radicals in their legal positions resulting in a non-existing character (Ho, Chan, Chung, Lee, & Tsang, 2007. Pseudocharacters can be pronounced by direct derivation from the sound of its phonetic radical. Conversely, if the pronunciation of a character does not follow that of the phonetic radical, it is considered as irregular and can only be correctly read through the lexical-semantic route. The aim of the current investigation was to examine reading aloud in normal adults. We hypothesized that the regularity effect, previously described for alphabetical scripts and acquired dyslexic patients of Chinese (Weekes & Chen, 1999; Wu, Liu, Sun, Chromik, & Zhang, 2014, would also be present in normal adult Chinese readers. Method Participants. Thirty (50% female native Hong Kong Cantonese speakers with a mean age of 19.6 years and a mean education of 12.9 years. Stimuli. Sixty regular-, 60 irregular-, and 60 pseudo-characters (with at least 75% of name agreement in Chinese were matched by initial phoneme, number of strokes and family size. Additionally, regular- and irregular-characters were matched by frequency (low and consistency. Procedure. Each participant was asked to read aloud the stimuli presented on a laptop using the DMDX software. The order of stimuli presentation was randomized. Data analysis. ANOVAs were carried out by participants and items with RTs and errors as dependent variables and type of stimuli (regular-, irregular- and pseudo-character as repeated measures (F1 or between subject�

Indicators: Physical Habitat Complexity

Science.gov (United States)

Physical habitat complexity measures the amount and variety of all types of cove at the water’s edge in lakes. In general, dense and varied shoreline habitat is able to support more diverse communities of aquatic life.

Effect of uncertainty in Digital Surface Models on the boundary of inundated areas

Science.gov (United States)

Nalbantis, I.; Papageorgaki, I.; Sioras, P.; Ioannidis, Ch.

2012-04-01

The planning, design and operation of flood damage reduction works or non-structural measures require the construction of maps that indicate zones to be potentially inundated during floods. Referring to floods due to heavy rainfall, the common procedure for flood mapping consists of the following five computational steps: (1) Frequency analysis of extreme rainfall; (2) construction of design hyetographs for various return periods; (3) construction of the related direct runoff hydrographs; (4) routing of these hydrographs through the hydrographic network; (5) mapping of the inundated area that corresponds to the temporally maximum depth for each location in the flood plain. Steps 3 through 5 require the use of spatial information which can be easily obtained from a Digital Surface Model (DSM). The DSM contains grid-based elevations of the ground or overlying objects that influence the propagation of flood waves. In this work, the SCS-CN method is used in step 3 in combination with a synthetic Unit Hydrograph based on the SCS dimensionless Unit Hydrograph. In step 4, the full one-dimensional Saint Venant equations for non-uniform unsteady flow on fixed bed are used, which are numerically solved. The impact of uncertainty in the DSM on the inundated area boundary is investigated. For this the Monte Carlo simulation method is employed to produce a large number of erroneous DSMs through introducing errors in elevation with a standard deviation equal to σ. These DSMs are then used for delineating potentially flooded areas. The standard deviation of the distance (from the riverbed axis) of the boundary of these areas, herein denoted as σF, is used as the measure of the resulting uncertainty. The link between σ and σF is examined for a spectrum of large return periods (100 to 10000). A computer experiment was set up based on data from two drainage basins. The first basin is located in East Attica and is drained by a branch of the Erasinos Torrent named the South

Regularity effect in prospective memory during aging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geoffrey Blondelle

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Regularity effect can affect performance in prospective memory (PM, but little is known on the cognitive processes linked to this effect. Moreover, its impacts with regard to aging remain unknown. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine regularity effect in PM in a lifespan perspective, with a sample of young, intermediate, and older adults. Objective and design: Our study examined the regularity effect in PM in three groups of participants: 28 young adults (18–30, 16 intermediate adults (40–55, and 25 older adults (65–80. The task, adapted from the Virtual Week, was designed to manipulate the regularity of the various activities of daily life that were to be recalled (regular repeated activities vs. irregular non-repeated activities. We examine the role of several cognitive functions including certain dimensions of executive functions (planning, inhibition, shifting, and binding, short-term memory, and retrospective episodic memory to identify those involved in PM, according to regularity and age. Results: A mixed-design ANOVA showed a main effect of task regularity and an interaction between age and regularity: an age-related difference in PM performances was found for irregular activities (older < young, but not for regular activities. All participants recalled more regular activities than irregular ones with no age effect. It appeared that recalling of regular activities only involved planning for both intermediate and older adults, while recalling of irregular ones were linked to planning, inhibition, short-term memory, binding, and retrospective episodic memory. Conclusion: Taken together, our data suggest that planning capacities seem to play a major role in remembering to perform intended actions with advancing age. Furthermore, the age-PM-paradox may be attenuated when the experimental design is adapted by implementing a familiar context through the use of activities of daily living. The clinical

J-regular rings with injectivities

OpenAIRE

Shen, Liang

2010-01-01

A ring $R$ is called a J-regular ring if R/J(R) is von Neumann regular, where J(R) is the Jacobson radical of R. It is proved that if R is J-regular, then (i) R is right n-injective if and only if every homomorphism from an $n$-generated small right ideal of $R$ to $R_{R}$ can be extended to one from $R_{R}$ to $R_{R}$; (ii) R is right FP-injective if and only if R is right (J, R)-FP-injective. Some known results are improved.

3.10. Habitat restoration and creation

OpenAIRE

2016-01-01

1.12.1 Terrestrial habitat Based on the collated evidence, what is the current assessment of the effectiveness of interventions for terrestrial habitat restoration and creation? Beneficial ● Replant vegetation Likely to be beneficial ● Clear vegetation● Create artificial hibernacula or aestivation sites● Create refuges● Restore habitat connectivity Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence) ● Change mowing regime No evidence found (no assessment) ● Create habitat connectivity Beneficial Repla...

Habitat Heterogeneity Variably Influences Habitat Selection by Wild Herbivores in a Semi-Arid Tropical Savanna Ecosystem.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor K Muposhi

Full Text Available An understanding of the habitat selection patterns by wild herbivores is critical for adaptive management, particularly towards ecosystem management and wildlife conservation in semi arid savanna ecosystems. We tested the following predictions: (i surface water availability, habitat quality and human presence have a strong influence on the spatial distribution of wild herbivores in the dry season, (ii habitat suitability for large herbivores would be higher compared to medium-sized herbivores in the dry season, and (iii spatial extent of suitable habitats for wild herbivores will be different between years, i.e., 2006 and 2010, in Matetsi Safari Area, Zimbabwe. MaxEnt modeling was done to determine the habitat suitability of large herbivores and medium-sized herbivores. MaxEnt modeling of habitat suitability for large herbivores using the environmental variables was successful for the selected species in 2006 and 2010, except for elephant (Loxodonta africana for the year 2010. Overall, large herbivores probability of occurrence was mostly influenced by distance from rivers. Distance from roads influenced much of the variability in the probability of occurrence of medium-sized herbivores. The overall predicted area for large and medium-sized herbivores was not different. Large herbivores may not necessarily utilize larger habitat patches over medium-sized herbivores due to the habitat homogenizing effect of water provisioning. Effect of surface water availability, proximity to riverine ecosystems and roads on habitat suitability of large and medium-sized herbivores in the dry season was highly variable thus could change from one year to another. We recommend adaptive management initiatives aimed at ensuring dynamic water supply in protected areas through temporal closure and or opening of water points to promote heterogeneity of wildlife habitats.

Iterative Regularization with Minimum-Residual Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Toke Koldborg; Hansen, Per Christian

2007-01-01

subspaces. We provide a combination of theory and numerical examples, and our analysis confirms the experience that MINRES and MR-II can work as general regularization methods. We also demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the same is not true, in general, for GMRES and RRGMRES their success......We study the regularization properties of iterative minimum-residual methods applied to discrete ill-posed problems. In these methods, the projection onto the underlying Krylov subspace acts as a regularizer, and the emphasis of this work is on the role played by the basis vectors of these Krylov...... as regularization methods is highly problem dependent....

Iterative regularization with minimum-residual methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Toke Koldborg; Hansen, Per Christian

2006-01-01

subspaces. We provide a combination of theory and numerical examples, and our analysis confirms the experience that MINRES and MR-II can work as general regularization methods. We also demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the same is not true, in general, for GMRES and RRGMRES - their success......We study the regularization properties of iterative minimum-residual methods applied to discrete ill-posed problems. In these methods, the projection onto the underlying Krylov subspace acts as a regularizer, and the emphasis of this work is on the role played by the basis vectors of these Krylov...... as regularization methods is highly problem dependent....

Natural Propagation and Habitat Improvement, Volume I, Oregon, Supplement C, White River Habitat Inventory, 1983 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heller, David

1984-04-01

More than 130 miles of stream fish habitat was inventoried and evaluated on the Mt. Hood National Forest during the first year of this multi-year project. First year tasks included field inventory and evaluation of habitat conditions on the White River and tributary streams thought to have the highest potential for supporting anadromous fish populations. All streams inventoried were located on the Mt. Hood National Forest. The surveyed area appears to contain most of the high quality anadromous fish habitat in the drainage. Habitat conditions appear suitable for steelhead, coho, and chinook salmon, and possibly sockeye. One hundred and twenty-four miles of potential anadromous fish habitat were identifed in the survey. Currently, 32 miles of this habitat would be readily accessible to anadromous fish. An additional 72 miles of habitat could be accessed with only minor passage improvement work. About 20 miles of habitat, however, will require major investment to provide fish passage. Three large lakes (Boulder, 14 acres; Badger, 45 acres; Clear, 550 acres) appear to be well-suited for rearing anadromous fish, although passage enhancement would be needed before self-sustaining runs could be established in any of the lakes.

Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Bensmail, Halima; Gao, Xin

2012-11-19

Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods. To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods. The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications.

Short-term Inundation Forecasting for Tsunamis Version 4.0 Brings Forecasting Speed, Accuracy, and Capability Improvements to NOAA's Tsunami Warning Centers

Science.gov (United States)

Sterling, K.; Denbo, D. W.; Eble, M. C.

2016-12-01

Short-term Inundation Forecasting for Tsunamis (SIFT) software was developed by NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) for use in tsunami forecasting and has been used by both U.S. Tsunami Warning Centers (TWCs) since 2012, when SIFTv3.1 was operationally accepted. Since then, advancements in research and modeling have resulted in several new features being incorporated into SIFT forecasting. Following the priorities and needs of the TWCs, upgrades to SIFT forecasting were implemented into SIFTv4.0, scheduled to become operational in October 2016. Because every minute counts in the early warning process, two major time saving features were implemented in SIFT 4.0. To increase processing speeds and generate high-resolution flooding forecasts more quickly, the tsunami propagation and inundation codes were modified to run on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). To reduce time demand on duty scientists during an event, an automated DART inversion (or fitting) process was implemented. To increase forecasting accuracy, the forecasted amplitudes and inundations were adjusted to include dynamic tidal oscillations, thereby reducing the over-estimates of flooding common in SIFTv3.1 due to the static tide stage conservatively set at Mean High Water. Further improvements to forecasts were gained through the assimilation of additional real-time observations. Cabled array measurements from Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPRs) in the Oceans Canada NEPTUNE network are now available to SIFT for use in the inversion process. To better meet the needs of harbor masters and emergency managers, SIFTv4.0 adds a tsunami currents graphical product to the suite of disseminated forecast results. When delivered, these new features in SIFTv4.0 will improve the operational tsunami forecasting speed, accuracy, and capabilities at NOAA's Tsunami Warning Centers.

Anthropogenic areas as incidental substitutes for original habitat.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Abraín, Alejandro; Jiménez, Juan

2016-06-01

One speaks of ecological substitutes when an introduced species performs, to some extent, the ecosystem function of an extirpated native species. We suggest that a similar case exists for habitats. Species evolve within ecosystems, but habitats can be destroyed or modified by natural and human-made causes. Sometimes habitat alteration forces animals to move to or remain in a suboptimal habitat type. In that case, the habitat is considered a refuge, and the species is called a refugee. Typically refugee species have lower population growth rates than in their original habitats. Human action may lead to the unintended generation of artificial or semiartificial habitat types that functionally resemble the essential features of the original habitat and thus allow a population growth rate of the same magnitude or higher than in the original habitat. We call such areas substitution habitats and define them as human-made habitats within the focal species range that by chance are partial substitutes for the species' original habitat. We call species occupying a substitution habitat adopted species. These are 2 new terms in conservation biology. Examples of substitution habitats are dams for European otters, wheat and rice fields for many steppeland and aquatic birds, and urban areas for storks, falcons, and swifts. Although substitution habitats can bring about increased resilience against the agents of global change, the conservation of original habitat types remains a conservation priority. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Characteristics of peak streamflows and extent of inundation in areas of West Virginia and southwestern Virginia affected by flooding, June 2016

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Samuel H.; Watson, Kara M.; Lotspeich, R. Russell; Cauller, Stephen J.; White , Jeremy S.; Wicklein, Shaun M.

2017-11-17

Heavy rainfall occurred across central and southern West Virginia in June 2016 as a result of repeated rounds of torrential thunderstorms. The storms caused major flooding and flash flooding in central and southern West Virginia with Kanawha, Fayette, Nicholas, and Greenbrier Counties among the hardest hit. Over the duration of the storms, from 8 to 9.37 inches of rain was reported in areas in Greenbrier County. Peak streamflows were the highest on record at 7 locations, and streamflows at 18 locations ranked in the top five for the period of record at U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations used in this study. Following the storms, U.S. Geological Survey hydrographers identified and documented 422 high-water marks in West Virginia, noting location and height of the water above land surface. Many of these high-water marks were used to create flood-inundation maps for selected communities of West Virginia that experienced flooding in June 2016. Digital datasets of the inundation areas, mapping boundaries, and water depth rasters are available online.

Higher derivative regularization and chiral anomaly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagahama, Yoshinori.

1985-02-01

A higher derivative regularization which automatically leads to the consistent chiral anomaly is analyzed in detail. It explicitly breaks all the local gauge symmetry but preserves global chiral symmetry and leads to the chirally symmetric consistent anomaly. This regularization thus clarifies the physics content contained in the consistent anomaly. We also briefly comment on the application of this higher derivative regularization to massless QED. (author)

Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan

2012-11-19

Background: Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods.Results: To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods.Conclusion: The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications. 2012 Wang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Bensmail, Halima; Gao, Xin

2012-01-01

Background: Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods.Results: To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods.Conclusion: The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications. 2012 Wang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Jim

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods. Results To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods. Conclusion The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications.

Limits to seaward expansion of mangroves: Translating physical disturbance mechanisms into seedling survival gradients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balke, T.; Swales, A.; Lovelock, C.E.; Herman, P.M.J.; Bouma, T.J.

2015-01-01

Mangroves are valuable coastal habitats that are globally under pressure due to climate change and coastal development. Small-scale physical disturbance by tidal inundation and wave-induced sediment dynamics has been described as the main bottlenecks to mangrove seedling establishment on exposed

Habitat Suitability Index Models: Yellow-headed blackbird

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Richard L.

1982-01-01

Habitat preferences of the yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) are described in this publication. It is one of a series of Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models and was developed through an analysis of available infomration on the species-habitat requirements of the species. Habitat use information is presented in a review of the literature, followed by the development of an HSI model, designed for use in impact assessment and habitat management activities.

75 FR 53966 - Regular Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-02

... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Regular Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). DATE AND TIME: The meeting of the Board will be held at the offices of the Farm...

Dispatch from the field: ecology of ground-web-building spiders with description of a new species (Araneae, Symphytognathidae)

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Abstract Crassignatha danaugirangensis sp. n. (Araneae: Symphytognathidae) was discovered during a tropical ecology field course held at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysia. A taxonomic description and accompanying ecological study were completed as course activities. To assess the ecology of this species, which belongs to the ground-web-building spider community, three habitat types were surveyed: riparian forest, recently inundated riverine forest, and oil palm plantation. Crassignatha danaugirangensis sp. n. is the most abundant ground-web-building spider species in riparian forest; it is rare or absent from the recently inundated forest and was not found in a nearby oil palm plantation. The availability of this taxonomic description may help facilitate the accumulation of data about this species and the role of inundated riverine forest in shaping invertebrate communities. PMID:24891829

Dispatch from the field: ecology of ground-web-building spiders with description of a new species (Araneae, Symphytognathidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeremy Miller

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Crassignatha danaugirangensis sp. n. (Araneae: Symphytognathidae was discovered during a tropical ecology field course held at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysia. A taxonomic description and accompanying ecological study were completed as course activities. To assess the ecology of this species, which belongs to the ground-web-building spider community, three habitat types were surveyed: riparian forest, recently inundated riverine forest, and oil palm plantation. Crassignatha danaugirangensis sp. n. is the most abundant ground-web-building spider species in riparian forest; it is rare or absent from the recently inundated forest and was not found in a nearby oil palm plantation. The availability of this taxonomic description may help facilitate the accumulation of data about this species and the role of inundated riverine forest in shaping invertebrate communities.

Bioprospecting and indexing the microalgal diversity of different ecological habitats of India.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratha, Sachitra Kumar; Prasanna, Radha; Gupta, Vishal; Dhar, Dolly Wattal; Saxena, Anil Kumar

2012-04-01

Our study reports the collection, biodiversity analyses, isolation and identification of microalgae from different habitats of India. Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae were the most dominant algal groups recorded, with the highest number being recorded for non-heterocystous cyanobacteria (48), followed by 44 unicellular forms. Sagar Island, Sunderbans recorded the greatest number of algae, and unicellular/colonial green algae were present in all the samples. Shannon's Diversity Index was highest in Koikhali, Sunderbans, followed by Rushikulya River, Odisha. Selective enrichment, purification through serial dilution followed by plating and regular observations led to the isolation of sixteen strains. Identification was done by using microscopic observations, supported with standard monographs and classified as belonging to seven genera (Chlorella, Chlorococcum, Kirchneria, Scenedesmus, Chlamydomonas, Tetracystis and Ulothrix). 18S rDNA sequencing was undertaken for four strains. The set of sixteen strains were screened under standard cultural conditions for their growth kinetics and Chlorella sorokiniana MIC-G5, followed by Chlorella sp. MIC-G4 exhibited the highest growth rates. The strain Chlorococcum sp. MIC-G2 recorded highest chlorophyll, while MIC-G3 ranked highest for carbohydrates. The study aided in identifying the dominant microalgae in the diverse habitats and characterizing their growth rate and carbohydrate content, providing a valuable germplasm for further utilization in agriculture and industry.

Work and family life of childrearing women workers in Japan: comparison of non-regular employees with short working hours, non-regular employees with long working hours, and regular employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Seto, Masako; Morimoto, Kanehisa; Maruyama, Soichiro

2006-05-01

This study assessed the working and family life characteristics, and the degree of domestic and work strain of female workers with different employment statuses and weekly working hours who are rearing children. Participants were the mothers of preschoolers in a large Japanese city. We classified the women into three groups according to the hours they worked and their employment conditions. The three groups were: non-regular employees working less than 30 h a week (n=136); non-regular employees working 30 h or more per week (n=141); and regular employees working 30 h or more a week (n=184). We compared among the groups the subjective values of work, financial difficulties, childcare and housework burdens, psychological effects, and strains such as work and family strain, work-family conflict, and work dissatisfaction. Regular employees were more likely to report job pressures and inflexible work schedules and to experience more strain related to work and family than non-regular employees. Non-regular employees were more likely to be facing financial difficulties. In particular, non-regular employees working longer hours tended to encounter socioeconomic difficulties and often lacked support from family and friends. Female workers with children may have different social backgrounds and different stressors according to their working hours and work status.

Hypoxic conditions and oxygen supply in nests of the mangrove ant, Camponotus anderseni, during and after inundation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Mogens Gissel; Christian, K.; Malte, H.

2009-01-01

The small ant Camponotus anderseni lives exclusively in twigs of the mangrove tree Sonneratia alba, and during inundation, the entrance hole is blocked with a soldier's head which effectively prevents flooding. The nests can be very crowded, with the ants and coccids filling up to 50% of the volume...... is to avoid drowning without suffering anoxia or hypercapnia, and they show a remarkable ability to adapt to the extreme conditions in the mangrove and exploit a niche where the density of other ants is insignificant....

Habitat selection and risk of predation: re-colonization by lynx had limited impact on habitat selection by roe deer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gustaf Samelius

Full Text Available Risk of predation is an evolutionary force that affects behaviors of virtually all animals. In this study, we examined how habitat selection by roe deer was affected by risk of predation by Eurasian lynx - the main predator of roe deer in Scandinavia. Specifically, we compared how habitat selection by roe deer varied (1 before and after lynx re-established in the study area and (2 in relation to habitat-specific risk of predation by lynx. All analyses were conducted at the spatial and temporal scales of home ranges and seasons. We did not find any evidence that roe deer avoided habitats in which the risk of predation by lynx was greatest and information-theoretic model selection showed that re-colonization by lynx had limited impact on habitat selection by roe deer despite lynx predation causing 65% of known mortalities after lynx re-colonized the area. Instead we found that habitat selection decreased when habitat availability increased for 2 of 5 habitat types (a pattern referred to as functional response in habitat selection. Limited impact of re-colonization by lynx on habitat selection by roe deer in this study differs from elk in North America altering both daily and seasonal patterns in habitat selection at the spatial scales of habitat patches and home ranges when wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Our study thus provides further evidence of the complexity by which animals respond to risk of predation and suggest that it may vary between ecosystems and predator-prey constellations.

Habitat selection and risk of predation: re-colonization by lynx had limited impact on habitat selection by roe deer.

Science.gov (United States)

Samelius, Gustaf; Andrén, Henrik; Kjellander, Petter; Liberg, Olof

2013-01-01

Risk of predation is an evolutionary force that affects behaviors of virtually all animals. In this study, we examined how habitat selection by roe deer was affected by risk of predation by Eurasian lynx - the main predator of roe deer in Scandinavia. Specifically, we compared how habitat selection by roe deer varied (1) before and after lynx re-established in the study area and (2) in relation to habitat-specific risk of predation by lynx. All analyses were conducted at the spatial and temporal scales of home ranges and seasons. We did not find any evidence that roe deer avoided habitats in which the risk of predation by lynx was greatest and information-theoretic model selection showed that re-colonization by lynx had limited impact on habitat selection by roe deer despite lynx predation causing 65% of known mortalities after lynx re-colonized the area. Instead we found that habitat selection decreased when habitat availability increased for 2 of 5 habitat types (a pattern referred to as functional response in habitat selection). Limited impact of re-colonization by lynx on habitat selection by roe deer in this study differs from elk in North America altering both daily and seasonal patterns in habitat selection at the spatial scales of habitat patches and home ranges when wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Our study thus provides further evidence of the complexity by which animals respond to risk of predation and suggest that it may vary between ecosystems and predator-prey constellations.

Dynamic approach to space and habitat use based on biased random bridges.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon Benhamou

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although habitat use reflects a dynamic process, most studies assess habitat use statically as if an animal's successively recorded locations reflected a point rather than a movement process. By relying on the activity time between successive locations instead of the local density of individual locations, movement-based methods can substantially improve the biological relevance of utilization distribution (UD estimates (i.e. the relative frequencies with which an animal uses the various areas of its home range, HR. One such method rests on Brownian bridges (BBs. Its theoretical foundation (purely and constantly diffusive movements is paradoxically inconsistent with both HR settlement and habitat selection. An alternative involves movement-based kernel density estimation (MKDE through location interpolation, which may be applied to various movement behaviours but lacks a sound theoretical basis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: I introduce the concept of a biased random (advective-diffusive bridge (BRB and show that the MKDE method is a practical means to estimate UDs based on simplified (isotropically diffusive BRBs. The equation governing BRBs is constrained by the maximum delay between successive relocations warranting constant within-bridge advection (allowed to vary between bridges but remains otherwise similar to the BB equation. Despite its theoretical inconsistencies, the BB method can therefore be applied to animals that regularly reorientate within their HRs and adapt their movements to the habitats crossed, provided that they were relocated with a high enough frequency. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Biased random walks can approximate various movement types at short times from a given relocation. Their simplified form constitutes an effective trade-off between too simple, unrealistic movement models, such as Brownian motion, and more sophisticated and realistic ones, such as biased correlated random walks (BCRWs, which are too

Seasonal variation in coastal marine habitat use by the European shag: Insights from fine scale habitat selection modeling and diet

Science.gov (United States)

Michelot, Candice; Pinaud, David; Fortin, Matthieu; Maes, Philippe; Callard, Benjamin; Leicher, Marine; Barbraud, Christophe

2017-07-01

Studies of habitat selection by higher trophic level species are necessary for using top predator species as indicators of ecosystem functioning. However, contrary to terrestrial ecosystems, few habitat selection studies have been conducted at a fine scale for coastal marine top predator species, and fewer have coupled diet data with habitat selection modeling to highlight a link between prey selection and habitat use. The aim of this study was to characterize spatially and oceanographically, at a fine scale, the habitats used by the European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis in the Special Protection Area (SPA) of Houat-Hœdic in the Mor Braz Bay during its foraging activity. Habitat selection models were built using in situ observation data of foraging shags (transect sampling) and spatially explicit environmental data to characterize marine benthic habitats. Observations were first adjusted for detectability biases and shag abundance was subsequently spatialized. The influence of habitat variables on shag abundance was tested using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). Diet data were finally confronted to habitat selection models. Results showed that European shags breeding in the Mor Braz Bay changed foraging habitats according to the season and to the different environmental and energetic constraints. The proportion of the main preys also varied seasonally. Rocky and coarse sand habitats were clearly preferred compared to fine or muddy sand habitats. Shags appeared to be more selective in their foraging habitats during the breeding period and the rearing of chicks, using essentially rocky areas close to the colony and consuming preferentially fish from the Labridae family and three other fish families in lower proportions. During the post-breeding period shags used a broader range of habitats and mainly consumed Gadidae. Thus, European shags seem to adjust their feeding strategy to minimize energetic costs, to avoid intra-specific competition and to maximize access

Incremental projection approach of regularization for inverse problems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Souopgui, Innocent, E-mail: innocent.souopgui@usm.edu [The University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Marine Science (United States); Ngodock, Hans E., E-mail: hans.ngodock@nrlssc.navy.mil [Naval Research Laboratory (United States); Vidard, Arthur, E-mail: arthur.vidard@imag.fr; Le Dimet, François-Xavier, E-mail: ledimet@imag.fr [Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann (France)

2016-10-15

This paper presents an alternative approach to the regularized least squares solution of ill-posed inverse problems. Instead of solving a minimization problem with an objective function composed of a data term and a regularization term, the regularization information is used to define a projection onto a convex subspace of regularized candidate solutions. The objective function is modified to include the projection of each iterate in the place of the regularization. Numerical experiments based on the problem of motion estimation for geophysical fluid images, show the improvement of the proposed method compared with regularization methods. For the presented test case, the incremental projection method uses 7 times less computation time than the regularization method, to reach the same error target. Moreover, at convergence, the incremental projection is two order of magnitude more accurate than the regularization method.

Geometric regularizations and dual conifold transitions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Landsteiner, Karl; Lazaroiu, Calin I.

2003-01-01

We consider a geometric regularization for the class of conifold transitions relating D-brane systems on noncompact Calabi-Yau spaces to certain flux backgrounds. This regularization respects the SL(2,Z) invariance of the flux superpotential, and allows for computation of the relevant periods through the method of Picard-Fuchs equations. The regularized geometry is a noncompact Calabi-Yau which can be viewed as a monodromic fibration, with the nontrivial monodromy being induced by the regulator. It reduces to the original, non-monodromic background when the regulator is removed. Using this regularization, we discuss the simple case of the local conifold, and show how the relevant field-theoretic information can be extracted in this approach. (author)

Habitat Suitability Index Models: Red-winged blackbird

Science.gov (United States)

Short, Henry L.

1985-01-01

A review and synthesis of existing information were used to develop a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) model for the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus L.). The model consolidates habitat use information into a framework appropriate for field application, and is scaled to produce an index between 0.0 (unsuitable habitat) to 1.0 (optimum habitat). HSI models are designed to be used with Habitat Evaluation Procedures previously developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Adaptive regularization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Lars Kai; Rasmussen, Carl Edward; Svarer, C.

1994-01-01

Regularization, e.g., in the form of weight decay, is important for training and optimization of neural network architectures. In this work the authors provide a tool based on asymptotic sampling theory, for iterative estimation of weight decay parameters. The basic idea is to do a gradient desce...

Asotin Creek instream habitat alteration projects : habitat evaluation, adult and juvenile habitat utilization and water temperature monitoring : 2001 progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bumgarner, Joseph D.

2002-01-01

Asotin Creek originates from a network of deeply incised streams on the slopes of the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington. The watershed drains an area of 322 square miles that provides a mean annual flow of 74 cfs. The geomorphology of the watershed exerts a strong influence on biologic conditions for fish within the stream. Historic and contemporary land-use practices have had a profound impact on the kind, abundance, and distribution of anadromous salmonids in the watershed. Fish habitat in Asotin Creek and other local streams has been affected by agricultural development, grazing, tilling practices, logging, recreational activities and implementation of flood control structures (Neilson 1950). The Asotin Creek Model Watershed Master Plan was completed in 1994. The plan was developed by a landowner steering committee for the Asotin County Conservation District (ACCD), with technical support from various Federal, State and local entities. Actions identified within the plan to improve the Asotin Creek ecosystem fall into four main categories: (1) Stream and Riparian, (2) Forestland, (3) Rangeland, and (4) Cropland. Specific actions to be carried out within the stream and in the riparian area to improve fish habitat were: (1) create more pools, (2) increase the amount of large organic debris (LOD), (3) increase the riparian buffer zone through tree planting, and (4) increase fencing to limit livestock access. All of these actions, in combination with other activities identified in the Plan, are intended to stabilize the river channel, reduce sediment input, increase the amount of available fish habitat (adult and juvenile) and protect private property. Evaluation work described within this report was to document the success or failure of the program regarding the first two items listed (increasing pools and LOD). Beginning in 1996, the ACCD, with cooperation from local landowners and funding from Bonneville Power Administration began constructing instream

Regularizing portfolio optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Still, Susanne; Kondor, Imre

2010-01-01

The optimization of large portfolios displays an inherent instability due to estimation error. This poses a fundamental problem, because solutions that are not stable under sample fluctuations may look optimal for a given sample, but are, in effect, very far from optimal with respect to the average risk. In this paper, we approach the problem from the point of view of statistical learning theory. The occurrence of the instability is intimately related to over-fitting, which can be avoided using known regularization methods. We show how regularized portfolio optimization with the expected shortfall as a risk measure is related to support vector regression. The budget constraint dictates a modification. We present the resulting optimization problem and discuss the solution. The L2 norm of the weight vector is used as a regularizer, which corresponds to a diversification 'pressure'. This means that diversification, besides counteracting downward fluctuations in some assets by upward fluctuations in others, is also crucial because it improves the stability of the solution. The approach we provide here allows for the simultaneous treatment of optimization and diversification in one framework that enables the investor to trade off between the two, depending on the size of the available dataset.

Regularizing portfolio optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Still, Susanne; Kondor, Imre

2010-07-01

The optimization of large portfolios displays an inherent instability due to estimation error. This poses a fundamental problem, because solutions that are not stable under sample fluctuations may look optimal for a given sample, but are, in effect, very far from optimal with respect to the average risk. In this paper, we approach the problem from the point of view of statistical learning theory. The occurrence of the instability is intimately related to over-fitting, which can be avoided using known regularization methods. We show how regularized portfolio optimization with the expected shortfall as a risk measure is related to support vector regression. The budget constraint dictates a modification. We present the resulting optimization problem and discuss the solution. The L2 norm of the weight vector is used as a regularizer, which corresponds to a diversification 'pressure'. This means that diversification, besides counteracting downward fluctuations in some assets by upward fluctuations in others, is also crucial because it improves the stability of the solution. The approach we provide here allows for the simultaneous treatment of optimization and diversification in one framework that enables the investor to trade off between the two, depending on the size of the available dataset.

Moving Targets and Biodiversity Offsets for Endangered Species Habitat: Is Lesser Prairie Chicken Habitat a Stock or Flow?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Todd K. BenDor

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The US Fish and Wildlife Service will make an Endangered Species Act listing decision for the lesser prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; “LPC” in March 2014. Based on the findings of a single, Uzbek antelope study, conservation plans put forth for the LPC propose to modify and re-position habitat in the landscape through a series of temporary preservation/restoration efforts. We argue that for certain species, including the LPC, dynamic habitat offsets represent a dangerous re-interpretation of habitat provision and recovery programs, which have nearly-universally viewed ecosystem offsets (habitat, wetlands, streams, etc. as “stocks” that accumulate characteristics over time. Any effort to create a program of temporary, moving habitat offsets must consider species’ (1 life history characteristics, (2 behavioral tendencies (e.g., avoidance of impacted areas, nesting/breeding site fidelity, and (3 habitat restoration characteristics, including long temporal lags in reoccupation. If misapplied, species recovery programs using temporary, moving habitat risk further population declines.

A meta-analysis of lesser prairie-chicken nesting and brood-rearing habitats: implications for habitat management

Science.gov (United States)

Hagen, Christian A.; Grisham, Blake A.; Boal, Clint W.; Haukos, David A.

2013-01-01

The distribution and range of lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has been reduced by >90% since European settlement of the Great Plains of North America. Currently, lesser prairie-chickens occupy 3 general vegetation communities: sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), sand shinnery oak (Quercus havardii), and mixed-grass prairies juxtaposed with Conservation Reserve Program grasslands. As a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act, there is a need for a synthesis that characterizes habitat structure rangewide. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of vegetation characteristics at nest sites and brood habitats to determine whether there was an overall effect (Hedges' d) of habitat selection and to estimate average (95% CI) habitat characteristics at use sites. We estimated effect sizes (di) from the difference between use (nests and brood sites) and random sampling sites for each study (n = 14), and derived an overall effect size (d++). There was a general effect for habitat selection as evidenced by low levels of variation in effect sizes across studies and regions. There was a small to medium effect (d++) = 0.20-0.82) of selection for greater vertical structure (visual obstruction) by nesting females in both vegetation communities, and selection against bare ground (d++ = 0.20-0.58). Females with broods exhibited less selectivity for habitat components except for vertical structure. The variation of d++ was greater during nesting than brooding periods, signifying a seasonal shift in habitat use, and perhaps a greater range of tolerance for brood-rearing habitat. The overall estimates of vegetation cover were consistent with those provided in management guidelines for the species.

Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Handbook.

Science.gov (United States)

Neilson, Edward L., Jr.; Benson, Delwin E.

The National 4-H Wildlife Invitational is a competitive event to teach youth about the fundamentals of wildlife management. Youth learn that management for wildlife means management of wildlife habitat and providing for the needs of wildlife. This handbook provides information about wildlife habitat management concepts in both urban and rural…

Habitat suitability—density relationship in an endangered woodland species: the case of the Blue Chaffinch (Fringilla polatzeki

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis M. Carrascal

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background Understanding constraints to the distribution of threatened species may help to ascertain whether there are other suitable sectors for reducing the risks associated with species that are recorded in only one protected locality, and to inform about the suitability of other areas for reintroduction or translocation programs. Methods We studied the Gran Canaria blue chaffinch (Fringilla polatzeki, a habitat specialist endemic of the Canary Islands restricted to the pine forest of Inagua, the only area where the species has been naturally present as a regular breeder in the last 25 years. A suitability distribution model using occurrences with demographic relevance (i.e., nest locations of successful breeding attempts analysed using boosted classification trees was built considering orographic, climatic and habitat structure predictors. By means of a standardized survey program we monitored the yearly abundance of the species in 100 sectors since the declaration of Inagua as a Strict Nature Reserve in 1994. Results The variables with the highest relative importance in blue chaffinch habitat preferences were pine height, tree cover, altitude, and rainfall during the driest trimester (July–September. The observed local abundance of the blue chaffinch in Inagua (survey data was significantly correlated with habitat suitability derived from modelling the location of successful nesting attempts (using linear and quantile regressions. The outcomes of the habitat suitability model were used to quantify the suitability of other natural, historic, pine forests of Gran Canaria. Tamadaba is the forest with most suitable woodland patches for the species. We estimated a population size of 195–430 blue chaffinches in Inagua since 2011 (95% CI, the smallest population size of a woodland passerine in the Western Palearctic. Discussion Habitat suitability obtained from modelling the location of successful breeding attempts is a good surrogate of the

Domestic dogs in a fragmented landscape in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: abundance, habitat use and caring by owners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PC. Torres

Full Text Available This study aimed at estimating the population size and attitudes of residents towards caring for domestic dogs, through questionnaire surveys, as well as the frequency of these animals in different habitats (anthropic and forest patch, using scent stations. The study was conducted in a severely fragmented area of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. A large number of unrestricted dogs was recorded, averaging 6.2 ind/km². These dogs have owners and are regularly fed. Dog records decreased from the anthropogenic matrix to the forest patch edge, which suggests that dogs act as an edge effect on forest patches. Encounters between domestic dog and wild animals can still be frequent in severely fragmented landscapes, mainly at the forest edges. However the fact that most dogs have an owner and are more frequent in the anthropic habitat suggests that their putative effects are less severe than expected for a carnivore of such abundance, but the reinforcement of responsible ownership is needed to further ameliorate such effects.

Tessellating the Sphere with Regular Polygons

Science.gov (United States)

Soto-Johnson, Hortensia; Bechthold, Dawn

2004-01-01

Tessellations in the Euclidean plane and regular polygons that tessellate the sphere are reviewed. The regular polygons that can possibly tesellate the sphere are spherical triangles, squares and pentagons.

Developing an Event-Tree Probabilistic Tsunami Inundation Model for NE Atlantic Coasts: Application to a Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Omira, R.; Matias, L.; Baptista, M. A.

2016-12-01

This study constitutes a preliminary assessment of probabilistic tsunami inundation in the NE Atlantic region. We developed an event-tree approach to calculate the likelihood of tsunami flood occurrence and exceedance of a specific near-shore wave height for a given exposure time. Only tsunamis of tectonic origin are considered here, taking into account local, regional, and far-field sources. The approach used here consists of an event-tree method that gathers probability models for seismic sources, tsunami numerical modeling, and statistical methods. It also includes a treatment of aleatoric uncertainties related to source location and tidal stage. Epistemic uncertainties are not addressed in this study. The methodology is applied to the coastal test-site of Sines located in the NE Atlantic coast of Portugal. We derive probabilistic high-resolution maximum wave amplitudes and flood distributions for the study test-site considering 100- and 500-year exposure times. We find that the probability that maximum wave amplitude exceeds 1 m somewhere along the Sines coasts reaches about 60 % for an exposure time of 100 years and is up to 97 % for an exposure time of 500 years. The probability of inundation occurrence (flow depth >0 m) varies between 10 % and 57 %, and from 20 % up to 95 % for 100- and 500-year exposure times, respectively. No validation has been performed here with historical tsunamis. This paper illustrates a methodology through a case study, which is not an operational assessment.

Effects of Changes in Lugu Lake Water Quality on Schizothorax Yunnansis Ecological Habitat Based on HABITAT Model

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Wei; Mynnet, Arthur

Schizothorax Yunnansis is an unique fish species only existing in Lugu Lake, which is located in the southwestern China. The simulation and research on Schizothorax Yunnansis habitat environment have a vital significance to protect this rare fish. With the development of the tourism industry, there bring more pressure on the environmental protection. The living environment of Schizothorax Yunnansis is destroyed seriously because the water quality is suffering the sustaining pollution of domestic sewage from the peripheral villages. This paper analyzes the relationship between water quality change and Schizothorax Yunnansis ecological habitat and evalutes Schizothorax Yunnansis's ecological habitat impact based on HABITAT model. The results show that when the TP concentration in Lugu Lake does not exceed Schizothorax Yunnansis's survival threshold, Schizothorax Yunnansis can get more nutrients and the suitable habitat area for itself is increased. Conversely, it can lead to TP toxicity in the Schizothorax Yunnansis and even death. Therefore, unsuitable habitat area for Schizothorax Yunnansis is increased. It can be seen from the results that HABITAT model can assist in ecological impact assessment studies by translating results of hydrological, water quality models into effects on the natural environment and human society.

Accretion onto some well-known regular black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jawad, Abdul; Shahzad, M.U.

2016-01-01

In this work, we discuss the accretion onto static spherically symmetric regular black holes for specific choices of the equation of state parameter. The underlying regular black holes are charged regular black holes using the Fermi-Dirac distribution, logistic distribution, nonlinear electrodynamics, respectively, and Kehagias-Sftesos asymptotically flat regular black holes. We obtain the critical radius, critical speed, and squared sound speed during the accretion process near the regular black holes. We also study the behavior of radial velocity, energy density, and the rate of change of the mass for each of the regular black holes. (orig.)

Accretion onto some well-known regular black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jawad, Abdul; Shahzad, M.U. [COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Department of Mathematics, Lahore (Pakistan)

2016-03-15

In this work, we discuss the accretion onto static spherically symmetric regular black holes for specific choices of the equation of state parameter. The underlying regular black holes are charged regular black holes using the Fermi-Dirac distribution, logistic distribution, nonlinear electrodynamics, respectively, and Kehagias-Sftesos asymptotically flat regular black holes. We obtain the critical radius, critical speed, and squared sound speed during the accretion process near the regular black holes. We also study the behavior of radial velocity, energy density, and the rate of change of the mass for each of the regular black holes. (orig.)

Accretion onto some well-known regular black holes

Science.gov (United States)

Jawad, Abdul; Shahzad, M. Umair

2016-03-01

In this work, we discuss the accretion onto static spherically symmetric regular black holes for specific choices of the equation of state parameter. The underlying regular black holes are charged regular black holes using the Fermi-Dirac distribution, logistic distribution, nonlinear electrodynamics, respectively, and Kehagias-Sftesos asymptotically flat regular black holes. We obtain the critical radius, critical speed, and squared sound speed during the accretion process near the regular black holes. We also study the behavior of radial velocity, energy density, and the rate of change of the mass for each of the regular black holes.

Habitat segregation in fish assemblages

OpenAIRE

Ibbotson, A.T.

1990-01-01

The segregation of habitats of fish assemblages found in the chalk streams and rivers within the Wessex, South West and Southern Water Authority boundaries in southern England have been examined. Habitat segregation is the most frequent type of resource partitioning in natural communities. The habitat of individual fish species will be defined in order to determine the following: (1) the requirements of each species in terms of depth, current velocity, substrate, cover etc.; (2) identify the ...

Critical Habitat :: NOAA Fisheries

Science.gov (United States)

occupied by the species at the time of listing, if they contain physical or biological features essential essential for conservation. Critical Habitat Maps NOTE: The critical habitat maps provided here are for Data Leatherback Turtle (U.S. West Coast) » Biological Report » Economic Report 2012 77 FR 4170 Go to

Diagrammatic methods in phase-space regularization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bern, Z.; Halpern, M.B.; California Univ., Berkeley

1987-11-01

Using the scalar prototype and gauge theory as the simplest possible examples, diagrammatic methods are developed for the recently proposed phase-space form of continuum regularization. A number of one-loop and all-order applications are given, including general diagrammatic discussions of the nogrowth theorem and the uniqueness of the phase-space stochastic calculus. The approach also generates an alternate derivation of the equivalence of the large-β phase-space regularization to the more conventional coordinate-space regularization. (orig.)

Riparian Habitat - Product of 2 riparian habitat workshops

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — In two riparian habitat workshops held between 2001 and 2002, scientists and managers identified the need for determining the scope of a consistent and acceptable...

Habitat stability, predation risk and 'memory syndromes'.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalesman, S; Rendle, A; Dall, S R X

2015-05-27

Habitat stability and predation pressure are thought to be major drivers in the evolutionary maintenance of behavioural syndromes, with trait covariance only occurring within specific habitats. However, animals also exhibit behavioural plasticity, often through memory formation. Memory formation across traits may be linked, with covariance in memory traits (memory syndromes) selected under particular environmental conditions. This study tests whether the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, demonstrates consistency among memory traits ('memory syndrome') related to threat avoidance and foraging. We used eight populations originating from three different habitat types: i) laboratory populations (stable habitat, predator-free); ii) river populations (fairly stable habitat, fish predation); and iii) ditch populations (unstable habitat, invertebrate predation). At a population level, there was a negative relationship between memories related to threat avoidance and food selectivity, but no consistency within habitat type. At an individual level, covariance between memory traits was dependent on habitat. Laboratory populations showed no covariance among memory traits, whereas river populations showed a positive correlation between food memories, and ditch populations demonstrated a negative relationship between threat memory and food memories. Therefore, selection pressures among habitats appear to act independently on memory trait covariation at an individual level and the average response within a population.

Metric regularity and subdifferential calculus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ioffe, A D

2000-01-01

The theory of metric regularity is an extension of two classical results: the Lyusternik tangent space theorem and the Graves surjection theorem. Developments in non-smooth analysis in the 1980s and 1990s paved the way for a number of far-reaching extensions of these results. It was also well understood that the phenomena behind the results are of metric origin, not connected with any linear structure. At the same time it became clear that some basic hypotheses of the subdifferential calculus are closely connected with the metric regularity of certain set-valued maps. The survey is devoted to the metric theory of metric regularity and its connection with subdifferential calculus in Banach spaces

Implications of Inundation by the 2011 Tohoku-oki Tsunami for Coastal Agriculture on the Sendai Plain

Science.gov (United States)

Chague-Goff, C.; Goff, J. R.; Wong, H. K.; Sugawara, D.; SzczuciEski, W.

2013-05-01

The 11 March 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami inundated large areas of farmland on the Sendai Plain, leaving behind a discontinuous, but extensive, sandy to muddy deposit coating paddy rice fields. Two months after the tsunami, many areas were still inundated on the low-lying plain. Salt crusts were also observed in many places where saltwater had evaporated. Field surveys were carried out in May, August, October 2011 and February 2012 along a ~ 5 km transect north of Sendai airport, to assess the environmental impact and temporal extent of the tsunami on farmland, with particular emphasis on contamination by salts. Evaporation led to elevated conductivity in ponded water, canals and channels in May 2011 (from brackish to saline), and while rainfall resulted in dilution, brackish water was still recorded in August and October 2011, and even in a few areas in February 2012. Our study revealed that not only the sediment deposited by the tsunami (sand-dominated up to 2.9 km inland, and mud-dominated up to 4.65 km inland) but also the underlying soil was contaminated by saltwater. Concentrations of up to 10.5% Cl, 6.6% Na, 2.8% SO4 and 440 mg kg-1 Br were recorded in May 2011 in surface sediment where seawater had ponded for a long time, as shown by extensive salt crust residues. The underlying rice paddy soil was also contaminated by saltwater, down to 15 cm depth, as revealed by high levels of water-leachable ions and cations. Data gathered over four sampling seasons 2, 5, 9 and 11 months after the tsunami show that the salt content generally decreased with time. Ion concentrations were however higher in February 2012 than in October 2011, probably due to evaporation following long periods with low precipitation. In February 2012, the area with chloride concentrations likely to result in brine damage in rice seedlings still extended from ~2.3 to ~3.3 km inland, with soil contamination by salt measured down to 15 cm depth in some places. Rice production was halted in 2011, and

NEPR Benthic Habitat Map 2015

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This benthic habitat map was created from a semi-automated habitat mapping process, using a combination of bathymetry, satellite imagery, aerial imagery and...

Temporal regularity of the environment drives time perception

OpenAIRE

van Rijn, H; Rhodes, D; Di Luca, M

2016-01-01

It’s reasonable to assume that a regularly paced sequence should be perceived as regular, but here we show that perceived regularity depends on the context in which the sequence is embedded. We presented one group of participants with perceptually regularly paced sequences, and another group of participants with mostly irregularly paced sequences (75% irregular, 25% regular). The timing of the final stimulus in each sequence could be var- ied. In one experiment, we asked whether the last stim...

Assessment of Fluctuating Reservoir Elevations Using Hydraulic Models and Impacts to Larval Pacific Lamprey Rearing Habitat in the Bonneville Pool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mueller, Robert P. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Rakowski, Cynthia L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Perkins, William A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Richmond, Marshall C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-02-24

This report presents the results of a modeling assessment of likely lamprey larval habitat that may be impacted by dewatering of the major tributary delta regions in the Bonneville Pool of the Columbia River. This assessment was conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Portland District (CENWP). The goal of the study was to provide baseline data about how the regions of interest would potentially be impacted at three river flows (10, 50, and 90 percent exceedance flow) for four different forebay elevations at Bonneville Dam. Impacts of unsteady flows at The Dalles Dam and changing forebay elevation at Bonneville Dam for a 2-week period were also assessed. The area of dewatered regions was calculated by importing modeled data outputs into a GIS and then calculating the change in inundated area near tributary deltas for the four Bonneville forebay surface elevations. From the modeled output we determined that the overall change in area is less sensitive to elevations changes during higher river discharges. Changing the forebay elevation at Bonneville and the resulting impact to total dewatered regions was greater at the lowest modeled river flow (97 kcfs) and showed the greatest variation at the White Salmon/Hood River delta regions followed by the Wind, Klickitat and the Little White Salmon rivers. To understand how inundation might change on a daily and hourly basis. Unsteady flow models were run for a 2-week period in 2002 and compared to 2014. The water surface elevation in the upstream pool closely follows that of the Bonneville Dam forebay with rapid changes of 1 to 2-ft possible. The data shows that 2.5-ft variation in water surface elevation occurred during this period in 2002 and a 3.7-ft change occurred in 2014. The duration of these changes were highly variable and generally did not stay constant for more than a 5-hr period.

Ice processes affect habitat use and movements of adult cutthroat trout and brook trout in a Wyoming foothills stream

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, J.W.; Hubert, W.A.

2004-01-01

Habitat use and movements of 25 adult cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii and 25 adult brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis from fall through winter 2002-2003 were assessed by means of radiotelemetry in a 7-km reach of a Rocky Mountains foothills stream. Temporal dynamics of winter habitat conditions were evaluated by regularly measuring the features of 30 pools and 5 beaver Castor canadensis ponds in the study reach. Groundwater inputs at three locations raised mean daily water temperatures in the stream channel during winter to 0.2-0.6??C and kept at least 250 m of the downstream channel free of ice, but the lack of surface ice further downstream led to the occurrence of frazil ice and anchor ice in pools and unstable habitat conditions for trout. Pools in segments that were not affected by groundwater inputs and beaver ponds tended to be stable and snow accumulated on the surface ice. Pools throughout the study reach tended to become more stable as snow accumulated. Both cutthroat trout and brook trout selected beaver ponds as winter progressed but tended to use lateral scour pools in proportion to their availability. Tagged fish not in beaver ponds selected lateral scour pools that were deeper than average and stable during winter. Movement frequencies by tagged fish decreased from fall through winter, but some individuals of both species moved during winter. Ice processes affected both the habitat use and movement patterns of cutthroat trout and brook trout in this foothills stream.

Plant distribution and stand characteristics in brackish marshes: Unravelling the roles of abiotic factors and interspecific competition

Science.gov (United States)

Carus, Jana; Heuner, Maike; Paul, Maike; Schröder, Boris

2017-09-01

Due to increasing pressure on estuarine marshes from sea level rise and river training, there is a growing need to understand how species-environment relationships influence the zonation and growth of tidal marsh vegetation. In the present study, we investigated the distribution and stand characteristics of the two key brackish marsh species Bolboschoenus maritimus and Phragmites australis in the Elbe estuary together with several abiotic habitat factors. We then tested the effect of these habitat factors on plant growth and zonation with generalised linear models (GLMs). Our study provides detailed information on the importance of single habitat factors and their interactions for controlling the distribution patterns and stand characteristics of two key marsh species. Our results suggest that flow velocity is the main factor influencing species distribution and stand characteristics and together with soil-water salinity even affects the inundation tolerance of the two specie investigated here. Additionally, inundation height and duration as well as interspecific competition helped explain the distribution patterns and stand characteristics. By identifying the drivers of marsh zonation and stand characteristics and quantifying their effects, this study provides useful information for evaluating a future contribution of tidal marsh vegetation to ecosystem-based shore protection.

Deep Space Habitat Concept Demonstrator

Science.gov (United States)

Bookout, Paul S.; Smitherman, David

2015-01-01

This project will develop, integrate, test, and evaluate Habitation Systems that will be utilized as technology testbeds and will advance NASA's understanding of alternative deep space mission architectures, requirements, and operations concepts. Rapid prototyping and existing hardware will be utilized to develop full-scale habitat demonstrators. FY 2014 focused on the development of a large volume Space Launch System (SLS) class habitat (Skylab Gen 2) based on the SLS hydrogen tank components. Similar to the original Skylab, a tank section of the SLS rocket can be outfitted with a deep space habitat configuration and launched as a payload on an SLS rocket. This concept can be used to support extended stay at the Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit to support the Asteroid Retrieval Mission and provide a habitat suitable for human missions to Mars.

Salmon River Habitat Enhancement, 1984 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Konopacky, Richard C.

1986-04-01

This report has four volumes: a Tribal project annual report (Part 1) and three reports (Parts 2, 3, and 4) prepared for the Tribes by their engineering subcontractor. The Tribal project annual report contains reports for four subprojects within Project 83-359. Subproject I involved habitat and fish inventories in Bear Valley Creek, Valley County, Idaho that will be used to evaluate responses to ongoing habitat enhancement. Subproject II is the coordination/planning activities of the Project Leader in relation to other BPA-funded habitat enhancement projects that have or will occur within the traditional Treaty (Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868) fishing areas of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho. Subproject III involved habitat and fish inventories (pretreatment) and habitat problem identification on the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River (including Jordan Creek). Subproject IV during 1985 involved habitat problem identification in the East Fork of the Salmon River and habitat and fish inventories (pretreatment) in Herd Creek, a tributary to the East Fork.

Loss and modification of habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Lemckert, Francis; Hecnar, Stephen; Pilliod, David S.; Wilkinson, John W.; Heatwole, Harold

2012-01-01

Amphibians live in a wide variety of habitats around the world, many of which have been modified or destroyed by human activities. Most species have unique life history characteristics adapted to specific climates, habitats (e.g., lentic, lotic, terrestrial, arboreal, fossorial, amphibious), and local conditions that provide suitable areas for reproduction, development and growth, shelter from environmental extremes, and predation, as well as connectivity to other populations or habitats. Although some species are entirely aquatic or terrestrial, most amphibians, as their name implies, lead a dual life and require a mosaic of habitats in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. With over 6 billion people on Earth, most species are now persisting in habitats that have been directly or indirectly influenced by human activities. Some species have disappeared where their habitats have been completely destroyed, reduced, or rendered unsuitable. Habitat loss and degradation are widely considered by most researchers as the most important causes of amphibian population decline globally (Barinaga 1990; Wake and Morowitz 1991; Alford and Richards 1999). In this chapter, a background on the diverse habitat requirements of amphibians is provided, followed by a discussion of the effects of urbanization, agriculture, livestock grazing, timber production and harvesting, fire and hazardous fuel management, and roads on amphibians and their habitats. Also briefly discussed is the influence on amphibian habitats of natural disturbances, such as extreme weather events and climate change, given the potential for human activities to impact climate in the longer term. For amphibians in general, microhabitats are of greater importance than for other vertebrates. As ectotherms with a skin that is permeable to water and with naked gelatinous eggs, amphibians are physiologically constrained to be active during environmental conditions that provide appropriate body temperatures and adequate

NORTHWOODS Wildlife Habitat Data Base

Science.gov (United States)

Mark D. Nelson; Janine M. Benyus; Richard R. Buech

1992-01-01

Wildlife habitat data from seven Great Lakes National Forests were combined into a wildlife-habitat matrix named NORTHWOODS. Several electronic file formats of NORTHWOODS data base and documentation are available on floppy disks for microcomputers.

The uniqueness of the regularization procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brzezowski, S.

1981-01-01

On the grounds of the BPHZ procedure, the criteria of correct regularization in perturbation calculations of QFT are given, together with the prescription for dividing the regularized formulas into the finite and infinite parts. (author)

Coupling regularizes individual units in noisy populations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ly Cheng; Ermentrout, G. Bard

2010-01-01

The regularity of a noisy system can modulate in various ways. It is well known that coupling in a population can lower the variability of the entire network; the collective activity is more regular. Here, we show that diffusive (reciprocal) coupling of two simple Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (O-U) processes can regularize the individual, even when it is coupled to a noisier process. In cellular networks, the regularity of individual cells is important when a select few play a significant role. The regularizing effect of coupling surprisingly applies also to general nonlinear noisy oscillators. However, unlike with the O-U process, coupling-induced regularity is robust to different kinds of coupling. With two coupled noisy oscillators, we derive an asymptotic formula assuming weak noise and coupling for the variance of the period (i.e., spike times) that accurately captures this effect. Moreover, we find that reciprocal coupling can regularize the individual period of higher dimensional oscillators such as the Morris-Lecar and Brusselator models, even when coupled to noisier oscillators. Coupling can have a counterintuitive and beneficial effect on noisy systems. These results have implications for the role of connectivity with noisy oscillators and the modulation of variability of individual oscillators.

Learning regularization parameters for general-form Tikhonov

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Julianne; Español, Malena I

2017-01-01

Computing regularization parameters for general-form Tikhonov regularization can be an expensive and difficult task, especially if multiple parameters or many solutions need to be computed in real time. In this work, we assume training data is available and describe an efficient learning approach for computing regularization parameters that can be used for a large set of problems. We consider an empirical Bayes risk minimization framework for finding regularization parameters that minimize average errors for the training data. We first extend methods from Chung et al (2011 SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 33 3132–52) to the general-form Tikhonov problem. Then we develop a learning approach for multi-parameter Tikhonov problems, for the case where all involved matrices are simultaneously diagonalizable. For problems where this is not the case, we describe an approach to compute near-optimal regularization parameters by using operator approximations for the original problem. Finally, we propose a new class of regularizing filters, where solutions correspond to multi-parameter Tikhonov solutions, that requires less data than previously proposed optimal error filters, avoids the generalized SVD, and allows flexibility and novelty in the choice of regularization matrices. Numerical results for 1D and 2D examples using different norms on the errors show the effectiveness of our methods. (paper)

5 CFR 551.421 - Regular working hours.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Regular working hours. 551.421 Section... Activities § 551.421 Regular working hours. (a) Under the Act there is no requirement that a Federal employee... distinction based on whether the activity is performed by an employee during regular working hours or outside...

Regular extensions of some classes of grammars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus

Culik and Cohen introduced the class of LR-regular grammars, an extension of the LR(k) grammars. In this report we consider the analogous extension of the LL(k) grammers, called the LL-regular grammars. The relations of this class of grammars to other classes of grammars are shown. Every LL-regular

50 CFR 17.94 - Critical habitats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... habitats. (a) The areas listed in § 17.95 (fish and wildlife) and § 17.96 (plants) and referred to in the... physical constituent elements within the defined area of Critical Habitat that are essential to the... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Critical habitats. 17.94 Section 17.94...

Regular non-twisting S-branes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Obregon, Octavio; Quevedo, Hernando; Ryan, Michael P.

2004-01-01

We construct a family of time and angular dependent, regular S-brane solutions which corresponds to a simple analytical continuation of the Zipoy-Voorhees 4-dimensional vacuum spacetime. The solutions are asymptotically flat and turn out to be free of singularities without requiring a twist in space. They can be considered as the simplest non-singular generalization of the singular S0-brane solution. We analyze the properties of a representative of this family of solutions and show that it resembles to some extent the asymptotic properties of the regular Kerr S-brane. The R-symmetry corresponds, however, to the general lorentzian symmetry. Several generalizations of this regular solution are derived which include a charged S-brane and an additional dilatonic field. (author)

Investigating fish hydraulic habitat preferences using a passive integrated transponder antenna network: Scope on spatial scales and individual mobility

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, M. L.; Roy, A. G.

2009-12-01

velocity locations across the reach with ADVs on a regular grid at 10 cm above the bed at low flow. We examined fish preferences at the microhabitat scale (nose velocity), at the feeding habitat scale (1.5 X 1.5 m), at a scale of surrounding feeding habitats (2.5 X 2.5 m) and at a scale of morphological units (pools and riffles). Over the study period, the antenna grid generated 106208 detections. Fish monitoring revealed a variability of spatial behaviors among individuals, some fish showing strong attachment to a small number of adjacent micro-habitats whereas others used a large number of micro-habitats located far apart, in both pools and riffles. Juvenile salmon exhibited preferences for medium to high velocity micro-habitats. However, fish presented hydraulic habitat preferences occurring at the scale of flow patches (≈ 6 m2). Furthermore, juvenile Atlantic salmon also showed an active habitat selection dynamics, where temporal individual preference curves for several hours were similar to that of the entire group of fish for a short time period. These observations highlight the importance of patch scale habitat features which provide valuable information for fish management.

The areal extent of brown shrimp habitat suitability in Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA: Targeting vegetated habitat restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, L.M.; Nestlerode, J.A.; Harwell, L.C.; Bourgeois, P.

2010-01-01

The availability of wetlands and shallow water habitats significantly influences Gulf of Mexico (GOM) penaeid shrimp fishery productivity. However, the GOM region has the highest rate of wetland loss in the USA. Protection and management of these vital GOM habitats are critical to sustainable shrimp fisheries. Brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus) are a major component of GOM fisheries. We present an approach for estimating the areal extent of suitable habitat for post-larval and juvenile brown shrimp in Mobile Bay, Alabama, using an existing habitat suitability index model for the northern GOM calculated from probabilistic survey of water quality and sediment data, land cover data, and submerged aquatic vegetation coverages. This estuarine scale approach is intended to support targeted protection and restoration of these habitats. These analyses indicate that approximately 60% of the area of Mobile Bay is categorized as suitable to near optimal for post-larval and juvenile shrimp and 38% of the area is marginally to minimally suitable. We identify potential units within Mobile Bay for targeted restoration to improve habitat suitability. ?? 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Automating Flood Hazard Mapping Methods for Near Real-time Storm Surge Inundation and Vulnerability Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Weigel, A. M.; Griffin, R.; Gallagher, D.

2015-12-01

Storm surge has enough destructive power to damage buildings and infrastructure, erode beaches, and threaten human life across large geographic areas, hence posing the greatest threat of all the hurricane hazards. The United States Gulf of Mexico has proven vulnerable to hurricanes as it has been hit by some of the most destructive hurricanes on record. With projected rises in sea level and increases in hurricane activity, there is a need to better understand the associated risks for disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response. GIS has become a critical tool in enhancing disaster planning, risk assessment, and emergency response by communicating spatial information through a multi-layer approach. However, there is a need for a near real-time method of identifying areas with a high risk of being impacted by storm surge. Research was conducted alongside Baron, a private industry weather enterprise, to facilitate automated modeling and visualization of storm surge inundation and vulnerability on a near real-time basis. This research successfully automated current flood hazard mapping techniques using a GIS framework written in a Python programming environment, and displayed resulting data through an Application Program Interface (API). Data used for this methodology included high resolution topography, NOAA Probabilistic Surge model outputs parsed from Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and the NOAA Census tract level Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI). The development process required extensive data processing and management to provide high resolution visualizations of potential flooding and population vulnerability in a timely manner. The accuracy of the developed methodology was assessed using Hurricane Isaac as a case study, which through a USGS and NOAA partnership, contained ample data for statistical analysis. This research successfully created a fully automated, near real-time method for mapping high resolution storm surge inundation and vulnerability for the

LiDAR and IFSAR-Based Flood Inundation Model Estimates for Flood-Prone Areas of Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, W. C.; Goldade, M. M.; Kastens, J.; Dobbs, K. E.; Macpherson, G. L.

2014-12-01

Extreme flood events are not unusual in semi-arid to hyper-arid regions of the world, and Afghanistan is no exception. Recent flashfloods and flashflood-induced landslides took nearly 100 lives and destroyed or damaged nearly 2000 homes in 12 villages within Guzargah-e-Nur district of Baghlan province in northeastern Afghanistan. With available satellite imagery, flood-water inundation estimation can be accomplished remotely, thereby providing a means to reduce the impact of such flood events by improving shared situational awareness during major flood events. Satellite orbital considerations, weather, cost, data licensing restrictions, and other issues can often complicate the acquisition of appropriately timed imagery. Given the need for tools to supplement imagery where not available, complement imagery when it is available, and bridge the gap between imagery based flood mapping and traditional hydrodynamic modeling approaches, we have developed a topographic floodplain model (FLDPLN), which has been used to identify and map river valley floodplains with elevation data ranging from 90-m SRTM to 1-m LiDAR. Floodplain "depth to flood" (DTF) databases generated by FLDPLN are completely seamless and modular. FLDPLN has been applied in Afghanistan to flood-prone areas along the northern and southern flanks of the Hindu Kush mountain range to generate a continuum of 1-m increment flood-event models up to 10 m in depth. Elevation data used in this application of FLDPLN included high-resolution, drone-acquired LiDAR (~1 m) and IFSAR (5 m; INTERMAP). Validation of the model has been accomplished using the best available satellite-derived flood inundation maps, such as those issued by Unitar's Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). Results provide a quantitative approach to evaluating the potential risk to urban/village infrastructure as well as to irrigation systems, agricultural fields and archaeological sites.

Near-Regular Structure Discovery Using Linear Programming

KAUST Repository

Huang, Qixing

2014-06-02

Near-regular structures are common in manmade and natural objects. Algorithmic detection of such regularity greatly facilitates our understanding of shape structures, leads to compact encoding of input geometries, and enables efficient generation and manipulation of complex patterns on both acquired and synthesized objects. Such regularity manifests itself both in the repetition of certain geometric elements, as well as in the structured arrangement of the elements. We cast the regularity detection problem as an optimization and efficiently solve it using linear programming techniques. Our optimization has a discrete aspect, that is, the connectivity relationships among the elements, as well as a continuous aspect, namely the locations of the elements of interest. Both these aspects are captured by our near-regular structure extraction framework, which alternates between discrete and continuous optimizations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework on a variety of problems including near-regular structure extraction, structure-preserving pattern manipulation, and markerless correspondence detection. Robustness results with respect to geometric and topological noise are presented on synthesized, real-world, and also benchmark datasets. © 2014 ACM.

Regular Expression Matching and Operational Semantics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asiri Rathnayake

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Many programming languages and tools, ranging from grep to the Java String library, contain regular expression matchers. Rather than first translating a regular expression into a deterministic finite automaton, such implementations typically match the regular expression on the fly. Thus they can be seen as virtual machines interpreting the regular expression much as if it were a program with some non-deterministic constructs such as the Kleene star. We formalize this implementation technique for regular expression matching using operational semantics. Specifically, we derive a series of abstract machines, moving from the abstract definition of matching to increasingly realistic machines. First a continuation is added to the operational semantics to describe what remains to be matched after the current expression. Next, we represent the expression as a data structure using pointers, which enables redundant searches to be eliminated via testing for pointer equality. From there, we arrive both at Thompson's lockstep construction and a machine that performs some operations in parallel, suitable for implementation on a large number of cores, such as a GPU. We formalize the parallel machine using process algebra and report some preliminary experiments with an implementation on a graphics processor using CUDA.

Tetravalent one-regular graphs of order 4p2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feng, Yan-Quan; Kutnar, Klavdija; Marusic, Dragan

2014-01-01

A graph is one-regular if its automorphism group acts regularly on the set of its arcs. In this paper tetravalent one-regular graphs of order 4p2, where p is a prime, are classified.......A graph is one-regular if its automorphism group acts regularly on the set of its arcs. In this paper tetravalent one-regular graphs of order 4p2, where p is a prime, are classified....