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Environmental Sciences Division Publications: 2002
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This page lists publication titles, citations and abstracts produced by NERL's Environmental Sciences Division for the year 2002, organized by Publication Type. Your search has returned
114 Matching Entries.
See also Environmental Sciences Division citations with abstracts:
1999,
2000,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008
Technical Information Manager: Chris Sibert - (702) 798-2234 or sibert.christopher@epa.gov
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Presented/Published |
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The Phototoxoicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Theoretical Study of Excited States and Correlation to Experiment |
05/21/2002
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Betowski, L. D., M. Enlow, AND L. A. Riddick. The Phototoxoicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Theoretical Study of Excited States and Correlation to Experiment. COMPUTERS AND CHEMISTRY 26(4):371-377, (2002).
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Investigators using models to determine the phototoxic effects of sunlight on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) have invoked the excited states of the molecule as important in elucidating the mechanism of these reactions. Energies of actual excited states were calculated for ten PAHs by several ab initio methods. The main method used for these calculations was the Configuration Interaction approach, modeling excited states as combinations of single substitutions out of the Hartree-Fock ground state. These calculations correlate well with both experimentally measured singlet and triplet state energies and also previous HOMO-LUMO gap energies that approximate the singlet state energies. The excited state calculations then correlate well with general models of photo-induced toxicity based for the PAHS. (D 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| JOURNAL |
Testing the Floristic Quality Assessment Index as An Indicator of Wetland Condition Along Gradients of Human Influence |
06/24/2002
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Lopez, R. D. AND M. S. Fennessy. Testing the Floristic Quality Assessment Index as An Indicator of Wetland Condition Along Gradients of Human Influence. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS 12(2):487-497, (2002).
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Biological indicators of ecosystem integrity are increasingly being sought for use in ecosystem assessment and goal-setting for restoration projects. We tested the effectiveness of a plant community-based bioassessment tool, the floristic quality assessment index (FQAI) in 20 depressional wetlands in Ohio, USA. A priori, the 20 depressional wetlands were classified by type and ranked to form a disturbance gradient according to the local landscape condition. Ranks were based on surrounding land cover characteristics, vegetated buffer characteristics, and the extent of human-induced hydrologic alteration at the wetland site. The index was negatively correlatedwith the disturbance rank of a wetland and with the distance to neighboring wetlands (P = 0.01). Index values were lower for wetlands surrounded by agricultural or urban land use, wetlands with less vegetation on the wetland perimeter, and wetlands with more hydrologic modification, and at sites with greater distances to other wetlands.The wetlands with lower FQAI values tended to be dominated by plants that are typical of heavily cultivated landscapes or urban regions. Thus, the index is interpreted as a measure of environmental factors that maintain and control plant communities. The index was not correlated with differences in wetland surface water chemistry ( = 0.05) but was positively correlated with soil total organic carbon (P = 0.01), phosphorus (P = 0.05), and calcium (P = 0.05). Repeated wetland sampling in the summer and autumn revealed that the floristic quality assessment index could be useful for the assessment and monitoring of wetland ecosystems and for tracking wetland restorationprojects over time.
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Ecological Relationships Between Landscape Change and Plant Guilds in Depressional Wetlands |
08/02/2002
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Lopez, R. D., C. B. Davis, AND M. S. Fennessy. Ecological Relationships Between Landscape Change and Plant Guilds in Depressional Wetlands. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY 17(1):43-56, (2002).
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Plant guilds used to measure the relationships between wetland plant community characteristics and landscape change around 31 depressional wetlands in central Ohio, USA. Characteristics of certain plant guilds within each wetland site are correlated with changes in: (a) area of urban land cover, forest, grassland, agriculture, and open-water in the local vicinity of the wetland; (b) inter-wetland distance; and (c) wetland size (area). Taxa richness is negatively correlated with inter-wetland distance for all plant guilds, except submersed herbaceous plants. Taxa richness of the submersed herbaceous plant guild (usually less than 20% of the total number of plant species at a wetland) is positively correlated with the area of open-water in the local landscape and with the area of the wetland site itself. Significant positive correlations also exist between the area of open-water in the vicinity of the wetland and the proportion of submersed herbaceous plant taxa at the site, the number of native submersed herbaceous plant species, the submersed herbaceous plant perennial-to-annual ratio, and the number of avian-dispersed submersed herbaceous plant species at a site. The results suggest that a) the dominance of submersed herbaceous plant species at a site is related to dispersal constraints between wetlands, and (b ) the relatively slower physiological response of woody plants to local landscape change may result in their contribution to greater,ecological inertia' in the plant community as a whole. For these reasons, relationships between the plant community and land cover change may not always be observed unless analyzed at the level of plant-guild.
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Suppression of Afterpulsing in Photomultipliers By Gating the Photocathode |
09/20/2002
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Bristow, M. P. Suppression of Afterpulsing in Photomultipliers By Gating the Photocathode. APPLIED OPTICS 41(27):1-13, (2002).
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A number of gating schemes to minimize the long-term afterpulse signal in photomultipliers have been evaluated. Blocking the excitation pulse by gating the photocathode was found to reduce the gate-on afterpulse background by a factor of 230 over that for nongated operation. This afterpulse or signal-induced background (SIB), which is particularly troublesome in stratospheric lidar measurements, appears as a weak exponentially decaying signal extending into the millisecond region after the photomultiplier tube (PMT) is exposed to an intense submicrosecond optical pulse. Photocathode gating is not feasible in PMTs with semitransparent bialkali photocathodes because of their slow gate response time, but is easily implemented in PMTs with opaque bialkali or semitransparent multialkali (S-20) photocathodes that can be gated with nanosecond response. In those PMTs with semitransparent bialkali photocathodes, a gated ( adjacent) focus. grid (if available) also produces a significant reduction in the SIB. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America. (26 References)
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Nalc/Mexico Land-Cover Mapping Results: Implications for Assessing Landscape Condition |
08/12/2002
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Lunetta, R. S., R. Alvarez, C. M. Edmonds, J. G. Lyon, C. D. Elvidge, R. Bonifaz, AND C. Garcia. Nalc/Mexico Land-Cover Mapping Results: Implications for Assessing Landscape Condition. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING 23(16):3129-3168, (2002).
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An inventory of land-cover conditions throughout Mexico was performed using North American Landscap Characterization ( NALC) Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) 'triplicate' images, corresponding to the 1970s, 1980s and1990s epoch periods. The equivalent of 300 image scenes were analysed using an unsupervised classification approach by aconsortium of 13 universities and institutes across Mexico. Accuracy assessments were conducted to validate the 1970s and 1990s results using independent land-cover classifications (reference data) developed from the interpretation of 1: 100000-scale aerial photography collected in 1973, and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery collected between 1990 and1993. The 1980s epoch classifications were compared with both reference datasets, collectively. The relative accuracy of the classifications results were 60% for both the 1970s and 1990s epoch and 67% for the 1980s epoch. The significantly ( p=0.05) higher accuracy for the 1980s epoch ( 67%) was thought to be an aberration resulting from the combined application of two reference datasets, resulting in a random compensation of reference data error. Significantly different ( p= 0.05) resultswere documented for a subset of Mexico's major habitat regions. Desert and xeric shrublands were most accurate (74%),followed by conifer and xeric dominated habitats (64%) and other mixed habitats (54%). Scenes representing the highestaccuracies ( 15 percentile) almost exclusively represented desert and xeric shrub habitat regions, and the lowest (17percentile) represented predominantly mixed habitat regions.Significant differences among the 13 member consortium universities and institutes were attributed to habitat regionassignments. Results indicated that large area spectral based land-cover categorizations should be stratified and processed on a habitat or ecoregion basis. Results also suggested that any future land-cover conversion analysis for Mexico would probably best be accomplished using a post-classification approach, based on major habitat regions, rather than on a scene-by-scene
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Correction Factors for Covariance Between Concentration and Deposition Velocity on Castnet Hno3 Deposition Estimates |
02/10/2002
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Sickles II, J. E. AND D. S. Shadwick. Correction Factors for Covariance Between Concentration and Deposition Velocity on Castnet Hno3 Deposition Estimates. WATER, AIR, & SOIL POLLUTION, AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION 1(3):29-38, (2002).
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The covariance between hourly concentration (C) and deposition velocity (V) for various atmospheric; species may act to bias the, deposition (D) computed from the product of the weekly average C and 'V. This is a potential problem for the CASTNet filter pack (FP) species, nitric acid (H.NO3'. Using ozone (03) behavior as a surrogate for the FP species, correction factors (CF) are developed to estimate this bias. Weekly CF for 03 depend on both site and season, and seasonal average weekly, C.F for 03 at a given site may be as high as 1.25. The seasonal magnitude of these CF is generally largest in summer and is ordered> summer > fall > spring > winter. The CF is driven to a large extent by the diurnal correlation between C and V (i.e., both are generally higher during the day and lower at night). However, since the diurnal C profile at elevated sites is relatively constant, the resulting correlation between C and V is small, and the CF at montane sites is generally negligible. The sampling protocol using daytime integrated sampling for a week and nighttime integrated sampling for a week captures the diurnal correlation between C and V adequately may be used to aggregate relatively unbiased weekly D estimates. Day-night CF for 03 are close to unity, and limited results suggest similar behavior for HN03. Using these limited FP results, the site- and seasonally-.specific weekly CF for 03 are refined to estimate the corresponding CF for HN03. Worst-case adjustments for IIN03 as high as 30% are indicated for summer periods at a given site.
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Agkistrodon Piscivorus Piscivorus (Eastern Cottonmouth) Diet |
08/25/2002
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Cross, C. L. Agkistrodon Piscivorus Piscivorus (Eastern Cottonmouth) Diet. HERPETOLOGICAL-REVIEW 33(1):55-56, (2002).
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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Assessing Mine Drainage Water Quality from the Color and Spectral Reflectance of Chemical Precipitates |
12/03/2002
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Williams, D. J., J. M. Bigham, C. A. Cravotta III, S. J. Traina, J. Anderson, AND J. G. Lyon. Assessing Mine Drainage Water Quality from the Color and Spectral Reflectance of Chemical Precipitates. APPLIED GEOCHEMISTRY 17(10):1273-1286, (2002).
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The pH and dissolved sulfate concentrations of mine impacted waters were estimated on the basis of the spectral reflectance of resident sediments composed mostly of chemical precipitates. Mine drainage sediments were collected from sites in the Anthracite Region of eastern Pennsylvania, representing acid to near neutral pH. The mineralogy of sediments occurring in acidic waters was primarily schwertmannite and goethite while near neutral waters produced ferrihydrite. The minerals comprising the sediments occurring at each pH mode were spectrally separable. Spectral angle difference mapping was used to correlate sediment color with stream water pH, and resulted in an r2 of 0.76. Band-center and band-depth analysis of mineral spectral absorption features was used to discriminate ferrihydrite rich and goethitic (sediments having a mixture of goethite and schwertmannite) chemical precipitates. Sediment mineralogy was determined by analyzing the 4T1 6A1 crystal field transition (900 - 1000 nm). The presence of these minerals accurately predicted stream water pH (r2 = 0.87) and provided a qualitative estimate of dissolved sulfate concentrations. Spectral analysis results were used to analyze airborne Digital MultiSpectral Video (DMSV) imagery for several sites in the region. The high spatial resolution of the DMSV sensor allowed for precise mapping of the mine drainage sediments. Spectroscopy results from this study can be used by airborne and space-borne imaging spectrometers to accurately predict water quality.
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Integrating Landscape Assessment and Hydrologic Modeling for Land Cover Change Analysis |
10/15/2002
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Miller, S. N., W. G. Kepner, M. H. Mehaffey, M. Hernandez, D. C. Goodrich, R. C. Miller, D. T. Heggem, P. Miller, AND F. K. Devonald. Integrating Landscape Assessment and Hydrologic Modeling for Land Cover Change Analysis. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION 38(4):915-929, (2002).
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This study is based on the assumption that land cover change and rainfall spatial variability affect the r-ainfall-runoff relationships on the watershed. Hydrologic response is an integrated indicator of watershed condition, and changes in land cover may affect the overall health and function of a watershed. This paper argon watershed response were quantified using describes a study wherein the effects of land coyer c* hydrologic simulation models in two distinctly different watersheds, one a semi-arid watershed in southeast Arizona, and the other a forested watershed in upstate New York- One of the models is event-based with a c)ne-minute time step (KINEROS), and the second is a continuous model with a daily time step (SWAT). Inputs to the models were derived from a geographic information system (GIS) based tool utilizing USGS digital elevation models, the State Soil Geographic Database (STATSGO) and Landsat-based North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) imagery in conjunction with available literature and look up ables. Continuous rainfall data from available National Weather Service rain gauges were used as input to SWAT, while design storms were created from historical data to provide rainfall input to KINEROS. Landscape composition and pattern metrics have been generated from digital land cover maps derived from the images and compared across a nearly 25-year period. Results about changes in land cover for the study period indicate that in the San Pedro study area, grasslands and desertscrub not only decreased in extent but also became more fragmented due to the encroachment of xerophytic mesquite woodland. In the Cannonsville watershed change has been subtle with shifts in composition resulting in a net 'increase in forest cover. These change have important implications for hydrology since alterations in land cover types can impact energy and water balance characteristics. Hydrologic simulations were carried out for both study areas over the periods of record covered by the interpreted satellite data, and simulation results underscore the role of land cover in determining runoff volume and rate as well as water quality.
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Changes in Anthropogenic Impervious Surfaces, Precipitation and Daily Streamflow Discharge: A Historical Perspective in a Mid-Atlantic Sub-Watershed |
09/22/2002
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Jennings, D. B. AND S. T. Jarnagin. Changes in Anthropogenic Impervious Surfaces, Precipitation and Daily Streamflow Discharge: A Historical Perspective in a Mid-Atlantic Sub-Watershed. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY 17(5):471-489, (2002).
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Aerial photography provides a historical vehicle for determining long term urban landscape change and, with concurrent daily streamflow and precipitation records, allows the historical relationship of impervious surfaces and streamflow to be explored. Impervious surface area in the upper Accotink Creek subwatershed was mapped from six dates of rectified historical aerial photography ranging from 1949 to 1994. Results show that anthropogenic impervious surface area has grown from approximately 3% in 1949 to 33% in 1994. Coincident to this time period, analysis of historical mean daily streamflow rate shows a statistically significant increase in standardized streamflow discharge rates (per meter of precipitation) associated with "normal" and "extreme" daily precipitation thresholds. Simultaneously, the magnitude and frequency of "normal" and "extreme" precipitation events show no statistically significant change. Historical changes in streamflow discharge rate in this basin appear to be related to increases in impervious surface cover. Historical aerial photography is a viable tool for revealing long-term landscape and ecosystem relationships, and allows landscape investigations to extend beyond the temporal and spatial constraints of historical satellite remote sensing data.
The views expressed here are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The manuscript was prepared by scientists in EPAs Office of Research and Development (ORD) and has been administratively reviewed and approved for publication. Mention of trade names does not constitute endorsement or recommendation.
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Determination of Total Mercury in Fish Tissues Using Pyrolysis Atomic Absorption Spectrometry With Gold Amalgamation |
04/02/2002
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Cizdziel, J. V., T. A. Hinners, AND E. M. Heithmar. Determination of Total Mercury in Fish Tissues Using Pyrolysis Atomic Absorption Spectrometry With Gold Amalgamation. WATER, AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION:FOCUS 135(1-4):355-370, (2002).
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A simple and rapid procedure for measuring total mercury in fish tissues is evaluated and compared with conventional techniques. Using an automated instrument incorporating combustion, preconcentration by amalgamation with gold, and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), milligram quantities of wet fish tissue were analyzed directly for mercury (i.e., without acid digestion). Seven tissue types (skeletal muscle, liver, blood, gonad, brain, 01, and heart) from five species offish were analyzed. Because of the small quantities of tissue needed for analysis, we document the homogeneity of mercury within the tissues and determine a preferred sampling technique and location for skeletal muscle. The precision was found to be generaHy<10%(rsd),and the accuracy was determined by using certified reference materials (dogfish muscle, dogfish liver, and oyster tissue). Comparisons to conventional cold-vapor AAS (CV-AAS) and isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry found that the methods give statistically equivalent (p > 0.05) results. Because the combustion-AAS method is faster than conventional CV-AAS and produces no waste reagents, it should be particularly useful for laboratories that analyze large numbers of fish for mercury. The method detection limit for fish-muscle homogenate was estimated at 0.9 ng/g.
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Application of Two Indices of Benthic Community Condition in Chesapeake Bay |
09/22/2002
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Ranasinghe, J. A., J. B. Frithsen, F. W. Kutz, J. F. Paul, D. E. Russell, R. Batiuk, J. L. Hyland, J. Scott, AND D. M. Dauer. Application of Two Indices of Benthic Community Condition in Chesapeake Bay. ENVIROMETRICS 13(5-6):499-511, (2002).
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The Chesapeake Bay Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (B-161) and the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's Virginian Province Benthic Index (EMAP-VP BI) were applied to 294 sampling events in Chesapeake Bay and the results were compared. These benthic indices are intended to identify benthic invertebrate assemblages that have been degraded by low bottom dissolved oxygen concentrations or high concentrations of sediment chemical contaminants, that are the most common effects of pollution in estuaries. The B-IBI includes several benthic community measures and weights them equally using a simple scoring system that compares them against values expected in undegraded habitats. It includes eleven measures of species diversity, productivity, indicator species, and trophic composition that vary from habitat to habitat. The EMAP-VP BI uses discriminant function coefficients to weight contributions of another measure of species diversity and the abundance of two indicator families. In our comparisons, the two indices agreed on degraded or undegraded classifications for benthos at 81.3% of the sites. This level of agreement is within the level of accuracy achieved during benthic index development and, therefore, may
approach the limits that can be achieved. The indices were strongly associated with Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients of 0.75 and 0.74, respectively.
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Impacts of Patch Size and Land Cover Heterogeneity on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy |
01/06/2002
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Smith, J. H., J. D. Wickham, S. V. Stehman, AND L. Yang. Impacts of Patch Size and Land Cover Heterogeneity on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING AND REMOTE SENSING 68(1):65-70, (2002).
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Landscape characteristics such as small patch size and land cover heterogeneity have been hypothesized to increase the likelihood of miss-classifying pixels during thematic image classification. However, there has been a lack of empirical evidence to support these hypotheses, This study utilizes data gathered as part of the accuracy assessment of the I M National Land Cover Data (NLCD) set to identify and quantify the impacts of landscape heterogeneity and patch size. Logistic regression was utilized to assess the impacts of these variables, as well as the impact of land cover information. Guided step-wise procedures were utilized to assess the explanatory variables individually and with one another. The results reveal that accuracy decreases as land cover heterogeneity increases and as patch size decreases. These impacts remain significant in the presence of the land cover variables, thus signifying that they transcend the classification system utilized.
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Robust Estimation of Mean and Variance Using Environmental Data Sets With Below Detection Limit Observations |
01/28/2002
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Singh, A. AND J. M. Nocerino. Robust Estimation of Mean and Variance Using Environmental Data Sets With Below Detection Limit Observations. CHEMOMETRICS AND INTELLIGENT LABORATORY SYSTEMS 60(1-2):69-86, (2002).
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Scientists, especially environmental scientists often encounter trace level concentrations that are typically reported as less than a certain limit of detection, L. Type 1, left-censored data arise when certain low values lying below L are ignored or unknown as they cannot be measured accurately In many environmental quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), and groundwater monitoring applications of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), values smaller than L are not required to be reported. However, practitioners still need to obtain reliable estimates of the population mean, u, and the standard deviation (sd), cy. The problem gets complex when a small number of high concentrations are observed with a substantial number of concentrations below the detection limit. The high outlying values contaminate the underlying censored sample, leading to distorted estimates of u and a. The U.S. EPA, through the National Exposure Research Laboratory- Las Vegas (NERL-LV), under the Office of Research and Development (ORD), has research interests in developing statistically rigorous robust estimation procedures for contaminated left-censored data sets. Robust estimation procedures based upon a proposed (PROP) influence function are shown to result in reliable estimates of population parameters of mean and sd using contaminated left-censored samples. it is also observed that the robust estimates thus obtained with or without the outliers are in close agreement with the corresponding classical estimates after the removalof outliers. Several classical and robust methods for the estimation of u and a using left-censored (truncated) data sets with potential outliers have been reviewed and evaluated.
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Mercury Concentrations in Skeletal Muscle of Fish from Lake Mead, USA, Related to Fish Size, Condition, Trophic Level, Location, and Consumption Risk |
10/16/2002
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Cizdziel, J. V., T. A. Hinners, J. E. Pollard, E. M. Heithmar, AND C. L. Cross. Mercury Concentrations in Skeletal Muscle of Fish from Lake Mead, USA, Related to Fish Size, Condition, Trophic Level, Location, and Consumption Risk. ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY 43(3):309-317, (2002).
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In this first large-scale study of mercury (Hg) in Lake Mead, USA, the nation's largest man- made reservoir, total-Hg concentrations were determined in the skeletal muscle of 339 fish collected during the Fall of 1998 and the Spring of 1999. Five species of fish representing a range of trophic levels and the take's major game fish were studied. As expected, Hg generally increased with trophic level and fish size. Median Hg concentrations in ng/g wet mass, were 277, 168, 160, 75, and 8 for striped bass (Roccus saxitilis), channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), bluegill (Lepomis macrochius) and blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus), respectively. In general fish from Las Vegas Bay had the lowest Hg concentrations, possibly a result of biodilution during a lean-food season) were inversely correlated (rl = 0.80, p < 0.0001) with a fish-condition factor, which reflects overall nutritional status. This is consistent with "starvation-concentration;" whereby, Hg in fish muscle is lost at a slower rate than the overall muscle mass. The median concentration found for striped bass in this study corresponds to a risk-based consumption limit of three 8-oz (227g) meals per month for the general population.
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Application of U.S. EPA Methods to the Analysis of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Determination of Clofibric Acid in Sewage Effluent By Gc-MS |
08/16/2002
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Patterson, D. B., W. C. Brumley, V. Kelliher, AND P. L. Ferguson. Application of U.S. EPA Methods to the Analysis of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Determination of Clofibric Acid in Sewage Effluent By Gc-MS. AMERICAN LABORATORY 34(1-4):20-28, (2002).
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An emerging area of research concerns pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment and their possible impact on biota and ecosystems. The long term effects of
constant perfusion of PPCPs into the aquatic environment are presently unknown. Some
compounds are known to have physiological effects on nontarget biota at extremely low
concentrations (e.g., estrogens and estrogenic mimics and certain antidepressants) (1). Among the possible target analytes are several compounds possessing chemical structures that are resistant to microbial degradation and/or capable of being bioaccumulated. Acidic metabolites of pharmaceuticals present one type of analyte that appear in the effluent of many publically operated treatment facilities. The subject of the present study is to assess the potential exposure of biota and associated ecosystems to these compounds. This study is a first step in an overall strategy to understand the fate and transport of these compounds in the affected environment. Such studies are mission relevant and given high priority since the Environmental Chemistry Branch of the Environmental Sciences Division is charged with the assessment of emerging areas of risk under Strategic Plan 2000 for the Environmental Protection Agency Clofibric acid [2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methylpropanoic] acid is the bioactive metabolite of various lipid regulating pro-drugs (1). Its structure is suggestive of chlorophenoxy acid herbicides (it is in fact an isomer of one such herbicide, mecoprop [2-(4-chloro-2- rnethylphenoxy) propionic acid]). However, clofibric acid appears to persist in the environment
much longer than do these herbicides (2). Thus, clofibric acid is a common contaminant of
sewage systems (3, 4, 5). It has also been detected in Swiss lakes and in the North Sea.
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Rana Catesbeiana (American Bullfrog) Diet |
05/21/2002
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Cross, C. L. AND S. L. Gerstenberger. Rana Catesbeiana (American Bullfrog) Diet. HERPETOLOGICA 33(1):55-56, (2002).
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RANA CATESBELANA (American Bullfrog). DIET. Data were obtained opportunistically from 28 adult (M = 14; F = 14) bullftogs collected in April 2001 from the Meadow Valley Wash
located between the cities of Carp and Elgin, Lincoln County, Nevada, USA (N37'17':WI14'30'). Although there are two large summary reports on the bull frog that provide
publication lists of bullfrog food/diet literature (Bury and Whelan 1984. Ecology and
management of the bullfrog. USDI, FWS Resource Publ. 155. 23 pp.; Casper and Hendricks. In Press. Status and Conservation of U. S. Reptiles. M. Lannoo, Ed.), there are, to our knowledge, no published reports discussing bullfrog diets from this region. Sportsmen collected frogs using gigging techniques with the intention of removing the hind legs for consumption. After collection, frogs were assigned an identification number, weighed to the nearest gram, and measured from the tip of the snout to the vent (to the nearest millimeter). After the hind legs were removed by the sportsmen, the frogs were placed in plastic bags indicating the assigned specimen number and placed immediately on ice and transported to the laboratory. Stomachs were dissected and all contents placed in 10% formalin. As part of a related study, liver, brain, kidney, and muscle tissues were dissected and analyzed for mercury (Gerstenberger and Pearson. In Review. Mercury concentrations in bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) collected from a southern Nevada wetland. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology).
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Large Area Land Cover Mapping Through Scene-Based Classification Compositing |
06/05/2002
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Guindon, B. AND C. M. Edmonds. Large Area Land Cover Mapping Through Scene-Based Classification Compositing. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING AND REMOTE SENSING 68(6):589-596, (2002).
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Over the past decade, a number of initiatives have been undertaken to create definitive national and global data sets consisting of precision corrected Landsat MSS and TM scenes. One important application of these data is the derivation of large area land cover products spanning multiple satellite scenes. A popular approach to land cover mapping on this scale involves merging constituent scenes into image mosaics prior to image clustering and cluster labelling thereby eliminating redundant geographic coverage arising from the overlapping image swaths of adjacent orbital tracks. In this paper, arguments are presented to support the view that multiple coverage contains important information that can be used to assess and improve classification performance. A methodology is presented for the creation of large area land cover products through the compositing of independently classified scenes. Statistical analyses of classification consistency between scenes in overlapping regions are employed to both identify mislabelled clusters and to provide a measure of classification confidence for each scene at the cluster level. During classification compositing, confidence measures are used to rationalize conflicting classifications in overlap regions and to create a relative confidence layer, sampled at the pixel level, which characterizes the spatial variation in classification quality over the final product. The procedure is illustrated with results from a synoptic mapping project of the Great Lakes watershed that involved the classification and compositing of 46 Landsat MSS scenes.
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Literature Forensics? Door to What Was Known but Now Forgotten |
02/18/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Literature Forensics? Door to What Was Known but Now Forgotten. ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSICS 4(2):277-282, (2002).
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Science's all-consuming drive to make new discoveries often risks losing sight of what was already known at one time - that which already exists in the published literature. Inadequate attention to the published literature and insufficient time devoted to its mining and synthesis into new knowledge is a problem faced by all disciplines, especially highly interdisciplinary fields such as environmental forensics, whose knowledge base is fragmented across numerous disciplines. While the conduct of science applies principles of quality assurance to a wide array of its processes, how pervasive are quality controls designed to ensure that planned or ongoing research has not been undertaken before? Has sufficient energy been devoted to mining what has already been discovered and synthesizing it into a larger, more useful perspective? This paper touches on the liabilities associated with insufficient examination of an exponentially growing published literature ("literature forensics") and offers some suggestions for achieving a better balance between original work and capturing what has already been reported all essential to the growing responsibility of knowledge management. By lessening the importance of the published literature, are we asymptotically approaching a point where science may be preoccupied with publishing "new" findings while few have time to assimilate what has already been published?
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| JOURNAL |
Gy Sampling Theory in Environmental Studies 1: Assessing Soil Splitting Protocols |
06/26/2002
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Gerlach, R. W., J. M. Nocerino, D. E. Dobb, AND G. A. Raab. Gy Sampling Theory in Environmental Studies 1: Assessing Soil Splitting Protocols. JOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS 16(7):321-328, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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Five soil sample splitting methods (riffle splitting, paper cone riffle splitting, fractional shoveling, coning and quartering, and grab sampling) were evaluated with synthetic samples to verify Pierre Gy sampling theory expectations. Individually prepared samples consisting of layers of sand, NaCl, and magnetite were left layered until splitting to simulate stratification from transport or density effects. Riffle splitting performed the best with approximate 99% confidence levels of less than 2%, followed by paper cone riffle splitting. Coning and quartering and fractional shoveling were associated with significantly higher variability, and also took much longer to perform. Common grab sampling was the poorest performer, with approximate 99% confidence levels of I00 to I5O% and biases of 15 to 20%. Method performance rankings were in qualitative agreement with expectations from Pierre Gy sampling theory. Precision results depended on the number of increments, the type of increment, and other factors influencing the probability of selecting a particle at random, and were all much higher than Pierre Gy's fundamental error estimate of I%. A critical factor associated with good performance for these
methods is a low conditional probability of sampling adjacent particles. Accuracy levels were
dominated by the sampling process rather than by the analytical method. Sampling accuracy was at least two orders of magnitude worse than the accuracy of the analytical method.
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| JOURNAL |
Investigation of Ce/Lif as a Tool in the Characterization of Sewage Effluent for Fluorescent Acidics: Determination of Salicylic Acid |
07/31/2002
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Flaherty, S., G. Street, J. W. Farley, AND W. C. Brumley. Investigation of Ce/Lif as a Tool in the Characterization of Sewage Effluent for Fluorescent Acidics: Determination of Salicylic Acid. ELECTROPHORESIS 23(14):2327-2332, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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The investigation of emerging contaminant issues is a proactive effort in environmental analysis. As a part of this effort, sewage effluent is of current analytical interest because of the presence of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites and personal care products The environmental impact of these components is still under investigation but their constant perfusion into receiving waters and their potential effect on biota is of concern. This paper examines a tool for the characterization of sewage effluent using capillary electrophoresis/laser-induced fluorescence (CE/LIF) with a frequency-doubled laser operated in the ultraviolet (UV). Fluorescent acidic analytes are targeted because they present special problems for techniques such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) but are readily accessible to CE/LIF. As an example of the application of this tool, salicylic acid is determined near the 100 ng/L level in sewage effluent. Salicylic acid is a metabolite of various analgesics Relatively stable in the environment, it is a common contaminant of municipal sewage systems. Salicylic acid was recovered from freshly collected samples of the effluent by liquid-liquid extraction as part of a broad characterization effort. Confirmation of identity was by electron ionization GC/MS after conversion of the salicylic acid to the methyl ester by means of trimethylsilyidiazomethane CE/LIF in the UV has revealed more than 50 individual peaks in the extract and a background response that suggests a large and indeterminate number of additional compounds are present These data together with complementary techniques provide information on the complexity and components in these effluent streams.
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| JOURNAL |
Literature Forensics: Navigating Through Flotsam, Jetsam, and Lagan |
02/18/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Literature Forensics: Navigating Through Flotsam, Jetsam, and Lagan. THE SCIENTIST 16(4):12, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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Intimidation and bewilderment are but two feelings scientists often confront when facing the ever- expanding universe of the published scientific literature. With the birth of any hypothesis, all fantasies of a one-way freeway for a scientific endeavor evaporate when the journey abruptly confronts a forked-road dilemma. One direction (what is known and what was known) leads back in time. A twisted, rutted, convoluted course, it can reveal how, and from where, pioneers from other, unrelated journeys arrived at the same juncture; but it can make for a punishing and, at first thought, boring ride. The other (what is unknown or pretends to be the unknown) quickly recedes into what at least appears to be the unexplored horizon - and its seductive siren can easily win our attention.
Proper navigation of this juncture of old vs. new, past vs. future, dull vs. exciting, known vs. unknown is critical in avoiding a morass of ill fates, including reinventions duplication, and attendant ridicule or censure by our colleagues for failing to build upon or acknowledge what those before us have done. Following the siren of exploration without investigating where others have traveled is fraught with risks - the worst being when the fork's two branches loop back on one another, revealing that they are one continuum. What had seemed to be uncharted territory is unveiled as a Mobius path towards the fool's gold of rediscovery. Much like the disoriented spelunker seeking a "new" route out of the cave, the much sought destination and the point of departure can become one and the same when their route circles back.
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| JOURNAL |
The Consequences of Landscape Change on Ecological Resources: An Assessment of the United States Mid-Atlantic Region |
08/05/2002
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Jones, K. B., A. C. Neale, T. G. Wade, J. D. Wickham, C. L. Cross, C. M. Edmonds, T. R. Loveland, M. S. Nash, AND K. H. Riitters. The Consequences of Landscape Change on Ecological Resources: An Assessment of the United States Mid-Atlantic Region. ECOSYSTEM HEALTH 7(4):229-242, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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Spatially explicit identification of changes in ecological conditions over large areas is key to targeting and prioritizing areas for environmental protection and restoration by managers at watershed, basin, and regional scales. A critical limitation to this point has been the development of methods to conduct such broad-scale assessments. Field-based methods have proven to be too costly and too inconsistent in their application to make estimates of ecological conditions over large areas. New spatial data derived from satellite imagery and other sources, the development of statistical models relating landscape composition and pattern to ecological endpoints, and geographic information systems (GIS) make it possible to evaluate ecological conditions at multiple scales over broad geographic areas. In this study, we demonstrate the application of spatially distributed models for bird habitat quality and nitrogen yield to streams to assess the consequences of land-cover change across the Mid-Atlantic region between the 1970s and 1990s. Moreover, we present a way to evaluate spatial concordance between models related to different environmental endpoints. Results of this study should help environmental managers in the Mid-Atlantic region target those areas in need of conservation and Protection
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| JOURNAL |
Estimates of the Atmospheric Deposition of Sulfur and Nitrogen Species: Clean Air Status and Trends Network. 1990 Through 2000 |
06/15/2002
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Baumgardner, R. E., S. Isil, T. L. Lavery, AND C. Rogers. Estimates of the Atmospheric Deposition of Sulfur and Nitrogen Species: Clean Air Status and Trends Network. 1990 Through 2000. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 36(12):2614-2629, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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The Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet) was established by EPA in response to the requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. To satisfy these requirements CASTNet was designed to assess and report on geographic patterns and long-term, temporal trends in ambient air pollution and acid deposition in order to gauge the effectiveness of current and future mandated emission reductions. This paper presents an analysis of the spatial patterns of deposition of sulfur and nitrogen pollutants for the period 1990 through 2000. Estimates of deposition are provided for two four-year periods: 1990-1993 and 1997-2000. These two periods were selected to contrast deposition before and after the large decrease in S02 emissions that occurred in 1995.
Estimates of dry deposition were obtained from measurements at CASTNet sites combined with deposition velocities that were modeled using the Multi-Layer Model (MLM), a 20-layer model that simulates the various atmospheric processes that contribute to dry deposition. Estimates of wet deposition were obtained from measurements at sites operated by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). The estimates of dry and wet deposition were combined to calculate total deposition of atmospheric sulfur (dry S02, dry and Wet S04) and nitrogen (dry HN03, dry and wet N03, dry and wet NH4+)-
An analysis of the deposition estimates showed a significant decline in sulfur deposition and no change in nitrogen deposition. The highest rates of sulfur deposition were observed in the Ohio River Valley and downwind states. This region also observed the largest decline in sulfur deposition. The highest rates of nitrogen deposition were observed in the Midwest from Illinois to southern New York State. Sulfur and nitrogen deposition fluxes were significantly higher in the eastern U.S. as compared to the western sites. Dry deposition contributed approximately 3 8% of total sulfur deposition and 3 0% of total nitrogen deposition in the eastern U. S. Percentages are similar for the two four-year periods. Wet sulfate and dry S02 depositions were the largest contributors to sulfur deposition. Wet nitrate, wet ammonium, and dry HN03 depositions were the largest contributors to nitrogen deposition.
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| JOURNAL |
Impacts of Vegetation Dynamics on the Identification of Land Cover Change in a Biologically Complex Community in North Carolina, USA |
08/12/2002
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Lunetta, R. S., J. Ediriwickrema, D. M. Johnson, J. G. Lyon, AND A. McKerrow. Impacts of Vegetation Dynamics on the Identification of Land Cover Change in a Biologically Complex Community in North Carolina, USA. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT 82(2/3):258-270, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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A land-cover (LC) change detection experiment was performed in the biologically complex landscape of the Neuse Rive Basin (NRB), NC using Landsat 5 and 7 imagery collected in May of 1993 and 2000. Methods included pixel-wise Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Multiband Image Difference (MID) techniques. The NDVI method utilized non-normalized (raw) imagery data, while the MID) method required normalized imagery. Image normalization techniques included both Automatic Scattergram-Controlled Regression (ASCR) and Localized Relative Radiometric Normalization(LRRN) techniques. Change/no-change thresholds for each method were optimized using calibration curves developed from reference data and a series of method specific binary change masks. Cover class specific thresholds were derived fro each of the four methods using a previously developed NRB-LC classification (1998-1999) to support data stratification. An independent set of accuracy assessment points was selected using a disproportionate stratified sampling strategy to support the develpment of error matrices. Area weighted conditional probability accuracy statistics were calculated based on the areal extent of change and no change for each cover class. All methods tested exhibited acceptable accuracies, ranging between 84% and 92%. However, change omission errors for woody cover types were unacceptably high for all methods, with values ranging between 60% and 79%. Overall commission errors in the change category were high as well (42% to 51%) and strongly affected by the agriculture class. There were no significant differences in overall Kappa coefficient between the NDVI, MID ASCR AND LRRN normalization methods. The MID non-normalized method was inferior to both the NDVI and MID ASCR methods. Stratification by major LC type had no effect on overall accuracies, regardless of method.
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| JOURNAL |
An Integral Equation Representation of Wide-Band Electromagnetic Scattering By Thin Sheets |
06/03/2002
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Song, Y., H. J. Kim, AND K. H. Lee. An Integral Equation Representation of Wide-Band Electromagnetic Scattering By Thin Sheets. GEOPHYSICS 67(3):746-754, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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An efficient, accurate numerical modeling scheme has been developed, based on the integral equation solution to compute electromagnetic (EM) responses of thin sheets over a wide frequency band. The thin-sheet approach is useful for simulating the EM response of a fracture system in the earth. The focus of this development has been the accuracy of the numerical solution over a wide-band frequency range of up to 100 MHz. The effect of displacement currents is included to correctly evaluate high-frequency EM scattering
Currently, EM responses of two thin sheets with different geometrical and electrical properties embedded in a three-layer earth can be modeled over a frequency band of IO-' to IO' Hz. The layered earth and the sheets can be electrically dispersive, an important feature that allows analysis of frequency-dependent characteristics of the model under investigation. The source field can be generated by a remote or local electric or magnetic dipole located on the surface or in a borehole. A plane-wave source can also be used, and numerical analyses have been made for magnetotellurics and the high-frequency impedance method.
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| JOURNAL |
Utility of Three Types of Mass Spectrometers for Determining Elemental Compositions of Ions Formed from Chromatographically Separated Compounds |
11/20/2002
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Grange, A. H., F. A. Genicola, AND G. W. Sovocool. Utility of Three Types of Mass Spectrometers for Determining Elemental Compositions of Ions Formed from Chromatographically Separated Compounds. RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY 16(24):2356-2369, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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Sponsor Referee: Douglas F. Barofsky, Oregon State University Concentration factors of 1000 and more reveal dozens of compounds in extracts of water supplies. Library mass spectra for most of these compounds are not available, and alternative means of identification are needed. Determination of the elemental compositions of the ions in mass spectra makes feasible searches of commercial and chemical literature that often lead to compound identification. Instrumental capabilities that constrain the utility of a mass spectrometer for determining ion compositions for compounds that elute from a chromatographic column are scan speed, mass accuracy, linear dynamic range, and resolving power. Mass Peak Profiling from Selected Ion Recording Data (MPPSIRD) performed with a double focusing mass spectrometer provides the best combination of these capabilities. This technique provides unique ion compositions for higher mass ions than data acquired with orthogonal acceleration time-of- flight (oa-TOF) or Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometers. Multiple compositions are usually possible for an ion with a mass exceeding 150 Da within the error limits of the mass measurement. The correct composition is selected based on measured exact masses of the profiles higher in mass by I and 2 Da and accurate measurement of the summed abundances of the isotopic ions contributing to these two profiles relative to the monoisotopic ion. A Profile Generation Model (PGM) automatically determines which compositions are consistent with measured exact masses and relative abundances. The utility of oa-TOF and double focusing mass spectrometry using Ion Composition Elucidation (MPPSIRD plus the PGM) are considered for determining ion compositions of two compounds found in drinking water extracts and a third compound from a monitoring well at a landfill.
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| JOURNAL |
Meeting Data Quality Objectives With Interval Information |
12/05/2002
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Bayne, C. K., A. B. Dindal, R. A. Jenkins, D. Crumbling, AND E. N. Koglin. Meeting Data Quality Objectives With Interval Information. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 35(16):3350-3355, (2002).
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| Abstract:
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Immunoassay test kits are promising technologies for measuring analytes under field conditions. Frequently, these field-test kits report the analyte concentrations as falling in an interval between minimum and maximum values. Many project managers use field-test kits only for screening purposes when Characterizing waste sites because the results are presented as semi quantitative intervals. However, field-test kits that report results as intervals can also be used to make project-related decisions in compliance with false-rejection and false-acceptance decision error rates established during a quantitative data quality objective process. Sampling and analysis plans can be developed that rely on field-test kits to meet certain data needs of site remediation projects.
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| NEWSLETTER |
Reva in a Nutshell |
01/03/2002
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Pritchard, S., W. V. Thomas, AND E. R. Smith. Reva in a Nutshell. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Direct Mercury Analysis in Environmental Solids By Icpms With on-Line Sample Ashing and Mercury Pre-Concentration Using the Direct Mercury Analyzer |
01/06/2002
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Heithmar, E. M., C. G. Rosal, AND J. V. Cizdziel. Direct Mercury Analysis in Environmental Solids By Icpms With on-Line Sample Ashing and Mercury Pre-Concentration Using the Direct Mercury Analyzer. Presented at 2002 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Scottsdale, AZ, January 6-11, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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A Direct Mercury Analyzer based on sample combustion and mercury concentration by gold amalgamation, followed by atomic absorption determination, was interfaced with a quadrupole and a magnet sector ICPMS. In this paper, we discuss design and operating parameters and evaluate performance compared to alternative methods.
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| PRESENTATION |
Determination of Roxarsone, An Arsenic Animal-Feed Additive, and Its Transformation Products in Chicken Manure By Ce-Icpms and Hplc-Icpms |
01/06/2002
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Rosal, C. G., G. M. Momplaisir, AND E. M. Heithmar. Determination of Roxarsone, An Arsenic Animal-Feed Additive, and Its Transformation Products in Chicken Manure By Ce-Icpms and Hplc-Icpms. Presented at 2002 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Scottsdale,, AZ, January 6-11, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Disposal of arsenic-bearing wastes from poultry houses is currently unregulated and poses a potential environmental concern. Determination of roxarsone and its transformation products in chicken manure is necessary to understand their possible impacts on human health and the environment. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) and microbore high performance liquid chromatography (uHPLC) are investigated to separate arsenic compounds in roxarsone-fed chicken manure. The performance of each of these two powerful separation techniques coupled with inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICPMS) using either a high-efficiency nebulizer (HEN) or a direct-injection high-efficiency nebulizer (DIHEN) is evaluated.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors |
02/02/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors. Presented at Las Vegas Association of Engineering Geologists, Las Vegas, NV, February 12, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Air and Space-Borne Remote Sensing: What's It All About? Plus... Selected Applications to Environmental Assessment |
01/04/2002
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Garofalo, D. Air and Space-Borne Remote Sensing: What's It All About? Plus... Selected Applications to Environmental Assessment. Presented at National Continuing Legal Education(CLE) Conference, Steamboat, CO, January 4-9, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Factors Adversely Affecting Amphibian Populations in the US |
03/07/2002
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Bradford, D. F. Factors Adversely Affecting Amphibian Populations in the US. Presented at Annual Meeting of the Wildlife Society, Western Section, Visalia, CA, March 7-8, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Factors known or suspected to be adversely affecting native amphibian populations in the US were identified using information from species accounts written in a standardized format by multiple authors in a forthcoming book. Specific adverse factors were identified for 53 (58%) of the 91 anurans and 93 (53%) of the 176 caudates. Land use was the most frequently implicated factor for both anurans and caudates. The predominant land use factors were agriculture, urban development, and timber harvest/silviculture, followed by road construction/use, livestock grazing, altered fire regime, recreational use/development, and mining. Exotic species were the second most frequently implicated adverse factor for anurans, and third for caudates. Exotic taxa implicated consisted of a number of introduced fishes, American bullfrogs, crayfish, defoliating insects, and other amphibians. Chemical contamination ranked third for anurans and second for caudates, and included acid precipitation, pesticides/herbicides, and mine water pollution. A regional analysis revealed that exotic species were implicated significantly more frequently among anurans in the western US than elsewhere, whereas chemical contamination was implicated significantly more frequently among caudates in the non-western US. Less frequently implicated factors were disease, water source modification, collecting/harvesting, and UV-B radiation.
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| PRESENTATION |
Adding the Third Dimension to Landscape Ecology |
04/23/2002
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Pitchford, A., J. M. Denver, A. C. Neale, S. W. Ator, D. W. Ebert, AND R. VanRemortel. Adding the Third Dimension to Landscape Ecology. Presented at 2002 US International Association of Landscape Ecology Symposium, Lincoln, NE, April 23-27, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Landscape indicator statistical models for water quality in streams are commonly developed using land use/land cover and elevation data. However, surficial soils and geologic conditions have many roles in controlling the occurrence and movement of chemicals into shallow ground water and streams. We have incorporated these factors in the Landscape Indicators for Pesticides Study--Mid-Atlantic Coastal Streams. Our study focused on fresh headwater streams for the Coastal Plain to provide data to develop landscape indicator statistical models, characterize regional conditions, and compare subregions within the study area. We used a hydrogeologic framework that combines surficial geology and physiographic setting to delineate 7 distinct subregions within the Coastal Plain. Surface water stream data were collected during a one-time-only stream survey with each subregion represented by 23 - 25 sites. We developed landscape indicator statistical models using stepwise regression to estimate in- stream concentrations of herbicides, nitrate + nitrite, and chloride. Significant variables selected by the stepwise process varied with the parameter modeled and between subregions. Overall variability explained by these models ranged from 44% to 90%. Soil metrics were important in about half the models, sometimes explaining more than 25% of the variability.
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| PRESENTATION |
Forest Fragmentation in the United States |
07/08/2002
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Riitters, K. H., T. G. Wade, K. B. Jones, AND J. D. Wickham. Forest Fragmentation in the United States. Presented at ESRI Conference, San Diego, CA, July 8, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Modeling Potential Pathogen Infected Waters Utilizing Landscape Indices |
06/06/2002
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Smith, J. H. AND J. D. Wickham. Modeling Potential Pathogen Infected Waters Utilizing Landscape Indices. Presented at Linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem health and human health, Washington, DC, June 6-11, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states, territories and tribal lands to assess their waters on a biennial schedule and identify, list and prioritize impaired waters not meeting water quality standards. Once a water body is listed, the state is required to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLS) for the pollutants causing the impairment. A TMDL is a pollution budget for a specific river, lake or stream and is calculated to estimate the amount of pollutant a water body can receive and still meet the standards set. One non-point source (NPS) pollutant that has caused many water bodies to be listed as impaired are pathogens derived from animal wastes, including humans. The potential presence of pathogens is identified by testing the water for fecal coliform, a bacteria also associated with animal wastes. Water contaminated by animal wastes are most often associated with areas that contain large concentrations of animals, such as urban and agricultural areas. It has been postulated that by utilizing landscape indices, measures of various land covers and associated landscape characteristics, those water bodies that my be at risk of fecal coliform contamination may be identified. This study utilized land cover information derived from the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) set to analyze fecal coliform contamination in South Carolina, Various landscape induces were developed for individual watersheds and then analyzed using a step-wise logistic recession. The results reveal the probability of each of the watersheds exceeding TMDL limits. Watersheds with large proportions of urbanization and agriculture on steep slopes had very high probabilities of exceeding these limits, This model will allow South Carolina watershed managers to make knowledgeable decisions on resource use and assess impacts of future land cover changes.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Wastewater |
01/09/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Wastewater. Presented at Las Vegas Chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association, Las Vegas, NV, January 9, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Performance Verification Test for Field-Portable Measurements of Lead in Dust |
06/03/2002
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Dindal, A. B., R. A. Jenkins, C. K. Bayne, AND E. N. Koglin. Performance Verification Test for Field-Portable Measurements of Lead in Dust. Presented at 2002 American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Exposition, San Diego, CA, June 3-6, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program (www.epa.jzov/etv) conducts performance verification tests of technologies used for the characterization and monitoring of contaminated media. The program exists to provide high-quality and credible performance data through third-party testing organizations, to those involved in the approval, selection, purchase, and use of environmental technologies. Under the ETV Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducted a performance verification test of field-portable technologies for the measurement of lead in dust. A strong technical panel of the nation's experts, with representation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Research Triangle Institute, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Massachusetts Childhood Lead Poisoning and Prevention Program, and several EPA offices, including the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), assisted with the design of the verification test and the reporting of results. no test consisted of vendors of commercially available technologies capable of measuring lead on dust wipe samples operating their equipment in a field setting. The types of technologies that participated included x-ray fluorescence (XRF) instruments and anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) systems. The vendors blindly analyzed approximately 150 dust wipe samples containing known amounts of lead, ranging in concentration from 2 to 2000 pg/wipe, with multiple concentrations centered around the clearance levels of 40, 250, and 400. Archived samples from the Environmental Lead Proficiency Analytical Testing (ELPAT) program were utilized. A suite of samples was also sent for simultaneous analysis to a fixed-site laboratory that was recognized under the National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program (NLLAP). Performance characteristics for each of the participating technologies were evaluated, including accuracy, precision, and comparability to the NLLAP-recognized laboratory performance.
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| PRESENTATION |
Beyond Regulation to Protection. the Application of National Reconnaissance Systems in the Science Mission of the Environmental Protection Agency |
02/04/2002
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Williams, D. J. Beyond Regulation to Protection. the Application of National Reconnaissance Systems in the Science Mission of the Environmental Protection Agency. Presented at Federal Reconnaissance Users Conference, Chantilly, VA, February 4-7, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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The use of National Technical Means (NTM) data and advanced geospatial technologies has an important role in supporting the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA's responsibilities have grown beyond pollution compliance monitoring and enforcement to include the characterization and assessments of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, global change research, environmental information collection and management, international activities, national preparedness and homeland defense. With this increasingly complex mission, the use of advance data collection systems such as civil, commercial and national remotely sensed data has become critically important. Information derived from national reconnaissance systems is used in many scientific activities throughout the agency. NTM data supports many activities in EPA's Landscape Sciences Program and provides a dependable, highly accurate and cost effective way to assist in developing useful, sensitive indicators of environmental condition and change. Data from national reconnaissance assets is also used by EPA to characterize the Nation's landscapes at multiple scales and to- document land cover changes and is utilized to perform accuracy assessments of multi-agency national land cover products such as the Multi-Resolution Land Cover database. NTM data has also been used in a non-regulatory context for domestic and international emergency response activities by providing timely information to on-scene personnel. EPA's Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) provides scientific and technical assistance within the EPA regarding the use of NTM data and remote sensing technologies and to other civil agencies and members of the Intelligence Community.
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| PRESENTATION |
Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape Assessments (Attila) Arcview Extention |
03/25/2002
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Ebert, D. W., T. G. Wade, J. Harrison, AND D. H. Yankee. Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape Assessments (Attila) Arcview Extention. Presented at Towson University GIS Conference, Towson, MD, March 25-26, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become a powerful tool in the field of landscape ecology. A common application of GIS is the generation of landscape metrics, which are quantitative measurements of the status or potential health of an area (e.g. ecological region, watershed or county). The generation of these metrics can be a complex, lengthy undertaking, requiring substantial GIS expertise. The U.S. EPA, in cooperation with TVA, has developed a user friendly interface to facilitate this process. ATTILA is an easy to use ArcView extension that calculates many commonly used landscape metrics. By providing an intuitive interface, the extension provides the ability to generate landscape metrics to a wide range of users, regardless of their GIS knowledge level.
Four groups of metrics are included in the extension: landscape characteristics, riparian characteristics, human stresses and physical characteristics. Each group has a dialog to accept user input on which metrics to calculate and what input data to use. Once metric values have been calculated, the extension provides four output display options. Areas may be ranked by individual metric values or by an index made up of two or more metrics. Bar charts or histograms may also be displayed.
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| PRESENTATION |
Quality Assurance Project Plans: A Useless Paper Exercise or Valuable Aid? |
04/08/2002
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Schumacher, B. A. Quality Assurance Project Plans: A Useless Paper Exercise or Valuable Aid? Presented at 21st Annual National Conference on Managing Quality Systems for Environmental Programs, Phoenix, AZ, April 8-11, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Two perspectives on the fundamental question "Are quality assurance project plans (QAPPS) a useless paper exercise or a valuable aid?" will be explored. These perspectives include those of a Branch Chief (i.e., the supervisor/manager) and an active researcher. As a Branch Chief, when I approach my staff and mention the letters QA, their general autonomic response is a sigh, eyes rolling up to the heavens looking for divine escape possibilities, or the "I knew I should have stayed home today" look. To either exasperate one's staff, tell them that for their new project, they will have to prepare a QAPP or that they need to reexamine and update an existing QAPP. Little do the scientists realize the true value of the QAPP from the managerial perspective, QAPPs are a vital source of information that the branch chief can use for a multitude of different purposes. Research conducted within Characterization and Monitoring Branch (CMB) generally are basic research with a few projects falling into the applied research category. Research areas within CMB are diverse and include: improving soil sampling methods with an emphasis on soils contaminated with volatile organic compounds, geophysics, chemometrics, geostatistics, ground water research, technology verification studies, laboratory accreditation, and technology support projects. With this marked diversity of projects, a Branch Chief can not be an expert in all the different areas. However, through the proper reading and reviewing of the QAPPS, the basic premise(s) of the research project can be learned. This basic knowledge can, in turn, be used during planning exercises as well as during progress and peer reviews. Additionally, the branch chief's review provides the scientist with a different perspective on the project and can help ensure that the research is on the right track. As a research scientist, one of the two greatest benefits to preparing a QAPP (besides getting the boss off your back) is that it gets all your ideas down in writing so that you can remember them, think about them, edit them, and come up with a scientifically sound approach to the research that needs to be accomplished. The other benefit of preparing the QAPP is the opportunity of peer review. The benefit added by getting the opinions and viewpoints of different scientists, not directly involved in the research, is invaluable. It is during the peer review process that ideas the researcher did not originally think about are presented, different approaches are introduced, and questions are asked that make the scientist think about exactly what they are proposing to do. This peer review process, which probably would not occur unless a QAPP was prepared, can only make for a better research project. Thus, to answer the question of "Are QAPPs a useless paper exercise or a valuable aid?", this branch chief/research scientist would have to answer "a valuable aid." This is an abstract for presentation which has been reviewed by the U.S. EPA; views expressed do not necessarily represent EPA policy.
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| PRESENTATION |
An Evaluation of 25 Years of Landscape Change in a Southwest Watershed |
01/20/2002
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Kepner, W. G., C. J. Watts, C. M. Edmonds, D. C. Goodrich, AND S. E. Marsh. An Evaluation of 25 Years of Landscape Change in a Southwest Watershed. Presented at Southwest Landscape Change Workshop, Las Cruces, NM, January 20-21, 2002.
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Vegetation change in the American West has been a subject of concern throughout the twentieth century. Although many of the changes have been recorded qualitatively through the use of comparative photography and historical reports, little quantitative information has been available on the regional or watershed scale. Additionally, little research effort has been dedicated to improving human understanding regarding changing conditions and trend relative to planning and management of common resources at regional landscape scales. During the past two decades, important advances in the integration of remote imagery, computer processing, and spatial analysis technologies have been used to better understand the distribution of natural communities and ecosystems, and the ecological processes that affect these patterns. These technologies provide the basis for developing landscape measurements that can be integrated within hydrologic and nonequilibrium models to determine long-term change.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Changing Watershed: A 25-Year History of Land Cover Change in the San Pedro River |
01/20/2002
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Kepner, W. G., C. J. Watts, C. M. Edmonds, J. K. Maingi, S. E. Marsh, B. C. McClure, AND J. J. Juen. The Changing Watershed: A 25-Year History of Land Cover Change in the San Pedro River. Presented at Southwest Landscape Change Workshop, Las Cruces, NM, January 20-21, 2002.
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Vegetation change in the American West has been a subject of concern throughout this century. Although many of the changes have been recorded qualitatively through the use of comparative photography and historical reports, little quantitative information has been available on the regional or watershed scale. It is currently possible to measure change over large areas and determine trends in ecological and hydrological condition using advanced space-based technologies. Specifically, this is being tested in the Upper San Pedro Watershed using a system of landscape pattern measurements derived from satellite remote sensing, spatial statistics, process modeling, and geographic information systems technology. These technologies provide the basis for developing landscape composition and pattern indicators as sensitive measures of large-scale environmental change and thus, may provide an effective and economical method for evaluating watershed condition related to disturbance from human and natural stresses.
Land managers in the Southwest have traditionally been interested in status and trend in environmental conditions. The principal degradation processes that have occurred throughout the western rangelands involves 1) changes of vegetative cover which result in the introduction of exotic annual species or woody shrubs and trees, and 2) acceleration of water and wind erosion processes which result in soil loss and decrease water infiltration and storage potential. Historically, these have been linked to livestock grazing and short-term drought. However, rapid urbanization in the arid and semi-arid Southwest within the last 25 years has become an important anthropogenic factor in altering land cover composition and pattern.
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| PRESENTATION |
A Landscape Approach to Monitoring and Assessing Environmental Condition in the Upper San Pedro River Basin |
01/20/2002
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Kepner, W. G., C. J. Watts, C. M. Edmonds, H. A. Richter, W. Childress, B. Alberti, R. Blanchard, S. Stone, J. Guerra, R. Koehler, G. Luna, AND D. C. Goodrich. A Landscape Approach to Monitoring and Assessing Environmental Condition in the Upper San Pedro River Basin. Presented at Southwest Landscape Change Workshop, Las Cruces, NM, January 20-21, 2002.
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Vegetation change in the American West has been the subject of much concern and controversy throughout the twentieth century. Over the years, a considerable number and variety of claims have been made regarding cause related to changes in land cover. The evidence for vegetation change has primarily been provided through the use of comparative photography and anecdotal accounts. Rarely, have changes been documented or quantitatively measured at scales as large as watersheds or entire biogeographic provinces. This research examines the potential to measure vegetation change over large areas and determine trends in ecological condition using advanced space-based technologies. Specifically, a suite of landscape pattern measurements were developed from satellite remote sensing, spatial statistics, and geographic information systems technology for a semi-arid watershed in southeast Arizona and northeast Sonora, Mexico. Results from this study will provide the basis for developing landscape composition and pattern indicators as sensitive measures of large-scale environmental change and thus, will further the understanding of disturbance regimes related to human and natural stress in the Southwest.
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| PRESENTATION |
Assessing the Accuracy of Satellite-Derived Land Cover Classification Using Historical Aerial Photography, Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles, and Airborne Video Data |
01/20/2002
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Kepner, W. G., S. M. Skirvin, S. E. Marsh, S. E. Drake, J. K. Maingi, C. M. Edmonds, C. J. Watts, AND D. R. Williams. Assessing the Accuracy of Satellite-Derived Land Cover Classification Using Historical Aerial Photography, Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles, and Airborne Video Data. Presented at Southwest Landscape Change Workshop, Las Cruces, NM, January 20-21, 2002.
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As the rapidly growing archives of satellite remote sensing imagery now span decades' worth of data, there is increasing interest in the study of long-term regional land cover change across multiple image dates. In most cases, however, temporally coincident ground sampled data are not available for accuracy assessment of the image-derived land cover classes, and other data and methods must be employed. The feasibility of utilizing historical aerial photography, digital orthophoto quadrangle (DOQ) images, and high-resolution airborne color video data to determine the accuracy of satellite derived land cover maps was investigated for a Southwestern U.S. watershed. Satellite imagery included Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data acquired over an approximately 25-year period.
This poster summarizes the results of three methods used to assess overall and individual accuracy for ten land cover classes for the upper San Pedro River watershed, in southeastern Arizona and northeastern Sonora, Mexico. Land cover maps were produced from classifications of MSS imagery (5 June 1973, 10 June 1986, and 2 June 1992) and TM imagery (8 June 1997). The MSS imagery was projected to Universal Transverse Mercator ground coordinates with a pixel size of 60 meters; the 30 meter TM imagery was resampled and mapped with a pixel size of 60 meters to facilitate comparison.
Aerial photography provided reference data to assess the 1973 and 1986 land cover maps, using a total of 429 and 384 sample points, respectively. Sample points were allocated to land cover classes through random sampling stratified by land cover class area, with a 20-point minimum sample size for the smallest classes. Map labels for the sample points were compared with reference photographs, and an error matrix was generated for each map. Overall classification accuracies of approximately 70% and 68% were obtained for the 1973 and 1986 land cover maps, respectively.
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| PRESENTATION |
The San Pedro River Spatial Data Archive, a Database Browser for Community-Based Environmental Protection |
01/20/2002
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Kepner, W. G., D. T. Heggem, R. P. Czaja, E. J. Evanson, AND C. M. Edmonds. The San Pedro River Spatial Data Archive, a Database Browser for Community-Based Environmental Protection. Presented at Southwest Landscape Change Workshop, Las Cruces, NM, January 20-21, 2002.
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It is currently possible to measure landscape change over large areas and determine trends in ecological and hydrological condition using advanced space-based technologies accompanied by geospatial data. Specifically, this process is being tested in a community-based watershed in southeast Arizona and northeast Sonora, Mexico using a system of landscape pattern measurements derived from satellite remote sensing, spatial statistics, process modeling, and geographic information systems technology. These technologies provide the basis for developing landscape composition and pattern indicators as sensitive measures of large-scale environmental change and thus may provide an effective and economical method for evaluating watershed condition related to disturbance from human and natural stresses. This project utilizes spatial data from a number of sources. The information has been modified to fit the community project area and assembled into a database browser with search functionality. We have produced all spatial data into a one-stop, easy-access product that will be useful to all others who utilize geographic information systems and could benefit from the information in regard to research, natural resource management, human-use planning, and policy development. The San Pedro Data Browser is currently available on-line via the EPA server (htip://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/land- sci/san-pedro.htm) and distributed as CD-ROMS. The purpose of the database is to disseminate available data that could be used by the stakeholder community to address environmental issues and improve environmental decision-making.
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| PRESENTATION |
Remote Sensing and Spatially Explicit Landscape-Based Nitrogen Modeling Methods Development in the Neuse River Basin, Nc |
11/11/2002
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Lunetta, R. S. AND R. G. Greene. Remote Sensing and Spatially Explicit Landscape-Based Nitrogen Modeling Methods Development in the Neuse River Basin, Nc. Presented at PECORA Symposium, Denver, CO, November 11-15, 2002.
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The objective of this research was to model and map the spatial patterns of excess nitrogen (N) sources across the landscape within the Neuse River Basin (NRB) of North Carolina. The process included an initial land cover characterization effort to map landscape "patches" at multiple resolutions throughout the NRB to provide the basis for subsequent mass balance and hydrologic transport modeling. Two complete SPOT 4 (XS) data acquisitions (20 scenes) and three complete sets of Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (fTM@) level-IG (I 2 scenes) were collected between fall 1998 and summer 1999. Classifications were performed using a hybrid approach that combined supervised, unsupervised, and rule-based classification tnhniques. The final classification included forests (deciduous, evergreen, and mixed), agricultural land (tallow, hay and pasture, corn, cotton, soybeans, and tobacco), herbaceous vegetation (natural and maintained grasses), barren land (i.e., non-vegated), wetlands (herbaceous and woody), open water, and urban. Urban areas were defused based oil percentage of impervious surfaces corresponding to. 1) low (10-35% impervious), 2) medium (36-70"/o impervious,and3) high (_>71%impervious). Cover types were mapped at a nominal landscape 'Patch" size of 0.4 ha for the general watershed areas, while locations adjacent to streams (riparian buffer zones) were rnapped at 0.1 ha. Modeling results provided estimates of excess nitrogen on a seasonal time-step to adequately characterize the annual N budget. Excess N was transported from individual landscape "patches" to receiving streams using a modified form of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Runoff Curve Number method. The modifications included a soil moisture accounting procedure and components for calculating subsurface runoff and percolation. Output products included both seasonal statistics quantifying N loadings by major land cover types by 14-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCS) and spatially explicit landscape- based GIS coverages of N sources and sinks. The statistical N loadings product were developed as an input perameter for stream denitrification modeling efforts, while the spatially explicit N source-sink product was designed to support the development of Best Management Practices 03MPs) to obtain N reduction goals established for the. NRB. Spatially explicit N source-sink products were processed by individual 14-digit HUC (n--l 88), and then assembled to provide seamless data that was overlaid on panchromatic Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quads (DOQQs).
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| PRESENTATION |
Characterization or Identification of Organic Compounds By Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice) Using Gas Chromatography/High Resolution Mass Spectrometry |
10/21/2002
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Grange, A. H. AND G. W. Sovocool. Characterization or Identification of Organic Compounds By Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice) Using Gas Chromatography/High Resolution Mass Spectrometry. Presented at 18th Annual International Conference on Contamination in Soils, Sediments, and Water, Amherst, MA, October 21-24, 2002.
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Only a small fraction of the compounds found in contaminated sites and water supplies is found in mass spectral libraries or has known toxicological effects. The EPA lists 2800 high production volume chemicals. These compounds, byproducts, and degradation products might be found in drinking water sources, air, and contaminated sites. Identification of these compounds is necessary to assess risk to humans and aquatic ecosystems. Hence, there is a need for more powerful analytical techniques to identify such compounds. To limit tedious pre-analysis fractionations, compound identification techniques must isolate signals from low-level contaminants in complex mixtures. Excellent component separation is realized by high resolution gas chromatography (separation in time) coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (selection by exact mass).
Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) employs a software adaptation for double focusing mass spectrometers to measure the exact masses and relative abundances of the mass peak profiles of monoisotopic ions and the profiles higher in mass by 1 and 2 amu that arise from heavier isotopes such as 'IC, "N, 180, and "S. Three measured exact masses and two relative abundances are entered into a Profile Generation Model to provide the composition of the molecular ion or fragment ion. Tables of ion compositions limit the number of possible compounds that could produce the mass spectrum and make feasible library searches of chemical and commercial literature to reach tentative identifications. If a standard can be obtained, the tentative identification can be confirmed. If not, the compound can be tracked to its source using the compound's retention time and ion compositions, which provide greater specificity than a low resolution mass spectrum.
Two applications of ICE will be discussed: identification of isomeric compounds found in a municipal well that served Toms River, NJ, and characterization of two families of compounds found in Superfund sites - one chemical byproducts and one of microbial origin.
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| PRESENTATION |
When a Phylogenetic Trichotomy Makes Senses: Phylogeography of Bufo Punctatus and the Evolution of the Warm Deserts |
03/07/2002
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Jaeger, J. R., B. R. Riddle, AND D. F. Bradford. When a Phylogenetic Trichotomy Makes Senses: Phylogeography of Bufo Punctatus and the Evolution of the Warm Deserts. Presented at Annual meeting of the Wildlife Society, Western Section, Visalia, CA, March 7-8, 2002.
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Bufo punctatus, the red-spotted toad, is a common, desert-adapted anuran with a widespread distribution throughout warm, and regions of North America. This distribution makes this species ideal for evaluating alternative scenarios of biotic response to geotectonically and climatically mediated episodes of landscape transformation of aridlands (e.g., earth history since the late Tertiary). We used 654 base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence data from II 9 samples to evaluate phylogeography throughout most of the species range. Analyses of these data reveal three deep evolutionary lineages with sequences divergences of about 7-7.5 %, after adjusting for intra-lineage variation. The geographic distribution of haplotypes within theses three lineages are roughly concordant with the general boundaries of the Baja California Peninsular Desert, a combined Sonoran-Mojave deserts region, and a Chihuahuan Desert-Colorado Plateau region. This general concordance between haplotypes and ecoregions, and the depth of these lineages, indicate that the B. punctatus (as currently recognized) evolved independently within, and along with, each of three core warm desert regions.
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| PRESENTATION |
Comparison of Time-of-Flight and Double Focusing Mass Spectrometry for Reaching Tentative Identifications for Unanticipated Compounds Added to Drinking Water By Terrorists |
06/02/2002
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Grange, A. H., F. A. Genicola, AND G. W. Sovocool. Comparison of Time-of-Flight and Double Focusing Mass Spectrometry for Reaching Tentative Identifications for Unanticipated Compounds Added to Drinking Water By Terrorists. Presented at Annual American Society of Mass Spectrometry meeting, Orlando, FL, June 2-6, 2002.
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Local monitoring of post-treatment drinking water using bench-top mass spectrometers could identify target compounds in a mass spectral library. However, a terrorist might seek to incite greater hysteria by injecting or infusing a mixture of unanticipated compounds of unknown toxicity. GC/MS using time-of-flight (TOF) and double focusing mass spectrometry will be compared for reaching tentative identifications of two compounds that were found in drinking water, but not found in mass spectral libraries. Recent articles demonstrate 5-10 ppm error limits for exact mass determinations made using TOF mass spectrometry for ions produced from compounds introduced into the mass spectrometer by chromatographic techniques. These exact masses provide confirmatory evidence for target compound identities, but seldom correlate to unique elemental compositions.
METHODS
Determination of the exact masses of the +1 and +2 mass peak profiles and their abundances relative to the monoisotopic ion provide four additional measurements for rejecting incorrect compositions that are possible based on the exact mass of an ion and the error limits of its measurement. These values are obtained from mass peak profiles plotted from selected ion recording data (MPPSIRD) acquired as compounds elute into a double focusing mass spectrometer. A profile generation model (PGM) automatically determines the correct ion composition by rejecting all ion compositions with calculated values of three exact masses and two relative abundances that are inconsistent with the measured values. Knowledge of the molecular and fragment ion compositions in a mass spectrum constrains the number of possible isomers and can lead to compound identification based on modest library searches.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pesticide Levels in Adipose Tissue and Non-Hodgkins's Lymphoma |
08/11/2002
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Jones, E. L., P. E. Quintana, R. J. Delfino, A. Ziogas, AND F. W. Kutz. Pesticide Levels in Adipose Tissue and Non-Hodgkins's Lymphoma. Presented at 2002 Joint Meeting of the International Society of Exposure Assessment and International Society of Environmental Epidemiology, Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 11-15, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants |
02/26/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants. Presented at USGS - Nevada District, Las Vegas, NV, February 26, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Factors Implicated in Amphibian Population Declines in the US, and An Evaluation of the Case for Invasive Species |
04/04/2002
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Bradford, D. F. Factors Implicated in Amphibian Population Declines in the US, and An Evaluation of the Case for Invasive Species. Presented at Annual meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology, Hood River, OR, April 4, 2002.
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Factors known or suspected to be adversely affecting native amphibian populations in the US were identified using information from 267 species accounts written in a standardized format by multiple authors in a forthcoming book. Land use was the most frequently implicated adverse factor for both anurans and caudates. The predominant land use factors were agriculture, urban development, and timber harvest/silviculture, followed by road construction/use, livestock grazing, altered fire regime, recreational use/development, and mining. Exotic animal species were the second most frequently implicated adverse factor for anurans, and third for caudates. Exotic taxa implicated consisted of a number of introduced fishes, American bullfrogs, crayfish, defoliating insects, and other amphibians. Chemical contamination ranked third for anurans and second for caudates, and included acid precipitation, pesticides/herbicides, and mine water pollution. A regional analysis revealed that exotic species were implicated significantly more frequently among anurans in the western US than elsewhere, whereas chemical contamination was implicated significantly more frequently among caudates in the non-western US. Less frequently implicated factors were disease, water source modification, collecting/harvesting, and UV-B radiation.
The case for invasive species as agents of amphibian population declines is frequently poorly substantiated, a situation that has impeded remediation. Even in thoroughly documented cases, however, such as the effects of introduced trout on the mountain yellow- legged frog in California, resource management agencies can be remarkably resistant to arguments for action. This situation begs for a better understanding of the effects of invasive species on amphibians, and further development of tools for restoration.
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| PRESENTATION |
Phylogeography of Bufo Punctatus: Long Term Evolution Within the Warm Deserts of North America and Late Quaternary Range Shifting |
07/03/2002
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Jaeger, J. R., B. R. Riddle, AND D. F. Bradford. Phylogeography of Bufo Punctatus: Long Term Evolution Within the Warm Deserts of North America and Late Quaternary Range Shifting. Presented at Annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Kansas City, MO, July 3-8, 2002.
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Bufo punctatus, the red-spotted toad, is a widespread anuran of the warm-desert regions of western North America. This distribution makes this species ideal for evaluating biotic response to geotectonically and climatically mediated episodes of landscape transformation (e.g., earth history since the late Tertiary, and Pleistocene pluvial-interpluvial cycles). To identify phylogenetic patterns across the species range, we evaluated mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence data. Analysis of these data reveals three evolutionary lineages (clades) with sequence divergences of about 7 - 7.5 %, after adjusting for intra-lineage variation. The geographic distribution of haplotypes within these three lineages are roughly concordant with the boundaries of the Baja California Peninsular Desert, a combined Sonoran-Mojave deserts region, and a Chihuahuan Desert-Colorado Plateau region. The general concordance between the distribution of these deeply- divergent haplotype lineages, desert regional boundaries, and lineage distributions in other codistributed taxa, indicate that B. punctatus (as currently recognized) probably evolved independently along with each of three core warm desert regions. These patterns indicate late Miocene-Pliocene divergence times between lineages. This cryptic divergence has implications for accurate recognition of taxa and definition of regional biotas. Contrasting within-lineage haplotype distributions across the three haplotype groups indicates differing responses to more recent (Pleistocene-Holocene) climatic variation within each of the main desert regions.
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| PRESENTATION |
Remote Sensing and GIS for Wetlands |
04/21/2002
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Lyon, J. G. Remote Sensing and GIS for Wetlands. Presented at Annual meeting of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Washington, DC, April 21, 2002.
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In identifying and characterizing wetland and adjacent features, the use of remote sensor and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies has been valuable. Remote sensors such as photographs and computer-sensor generated images can illustrate conditions of hydrology, extent, change over time, and impact of events such as hurricanes and tornados. Information derived from remote sensors can be stored in map or spatial form and used in a GIS or CADD system for measurements and modeling. The technologies can also be used to evaluate adjacent non-wetland resources and determine how best to manage the resource. This presentation will show how remote sensing and GIS research can help to characterize wetlands.
1. Ground features and images 11. Features of wetlands
111. Aerial view of wetlands
IV. Multispectral advantages
V. Interpretation of color infrared images VI. High attitude imagery
VII. Imagery from spacecraft
VIII. Land cover thematic maps
IX. Detailed multispectral sensing
X. Geographic information systems
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| PRESENTATION |
Epic's Products and Services |
04/08/2002
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Garofalo, D. Epic's Products and Services. Presented at U.S. EPA On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) Readiness Training Program for 2001, Tampa, FL, April 8-12, 2002.
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EPIC completes approximately 150 site characterizations annually using current and historical aerial photographs. This work is done in support of EPA Regional and Program offices. Site characterization provides detailed information about a site and its history, often going back as many as 60 years in the past, and may include, depending upon the Region's request, information on: landscape characteristics including land use and land cover; sensitive habitats such as nearby wetlands and other water bodies; evidence of contamination at the site including stains, spills, breaches in lagoons; presence of barrels/drums, tanks or other potential pollutant sources; excavations and trenches; when a site became an active waste disposal site; how long the site was in operation; when waste disposal activity terminated; the current
landscape ecological status of a site (and how it changed over time); presence of outfalls.
Through the use of photogrammetry (the science of making highly accurate measurements on aerial photographs) information about areal dimensions, height and depth of features, volumes of material in mounds or the capacity of excavations, and topography can be derived for a site or an area. In addition, EPIC provides emergency response support by mobilizing aircraft to acquire current aerial photographic information on an environmental disaster, to monitor condition and changes at the disaster site/area (pre-, post-, and during the disaster), and to document the success of environmental cleanup, EPIC also provides courtroom documents in the form of enlarged aerial photographs, and expert witness testimony support through its experienced image analysts and remote sensing scientists in support of EPA litigation.
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| PRESENTATION |
Mid-Atlantic Coastal Streams Study: Statistical Design for Regional Assessment and Landscape Model Development |
05/07/2002
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Pitchford, A. M., S. W. Ator, J. M. Denver, A. R. Olsen, AND A. C. Neale. Mid-Atlantic Coastal Streams Study: Statistical Design for Regional Assessment and Landscape Model Development. Presented at Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) Symposium 2002, Kansas City, MO, May 7-9, 2002.
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A network of stream-sampling sites was developed for the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (New Jersey through North Carolina) as part of collaborative research between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey. A stratified random sampling with unequal weighting was used to select 175 first-order nontidal streams for synoptic sampling of base-flow water quality and benthic and riparian ecology during early 2000. Site replacement during reconnaissance yielded a final network of 174 streams. Additional streams were selected for sampling to allow comparison of data from this base network to downstream conditions and to assess seasonal and temporal variability. We designed the base network to provide data for two distinct but complementary objectives: a probabilistic assessment of regional conditions, and a gradient study over a range of land cover and hydrogeologic conditions. The base network includes twenty-five sites within each of seven hydrogeologic subregions that were delineated on the basis of physiography and the bulk texture of surficial sediments. Within each subregion, selection probabilities were adjusted to provide an approximately even distribution of network sites along a gradient of forested-to-developed (urban or agricultural) land in the contributing watershed. Alternative sites were selected in the same manner for use if the primary base-network sites were unsuitable for sampling. With these data, we developed landscape indicator models using stepwise regression to estimate in-stream concentrations of herbicides, nitrate + nitrite, and chloride. By applying weights to the data to compensate for land-use bias incorporated in the network design, we estimated concentrations of pesticides and nutrients for the entire population of first-order streams in the study area.
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| PRESENTATION |
Mojave Desert Spring: the Amphibian Point of View |
05/05/2002
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Bradford, D. F., A. C. Neale, M. S. Nash, D. W. Sada, AND J. R. Jaeger. Mojave Desert Spring: the Amphibian Point of View. Presented at Spring-fed Wetlands: Important Scientific and Cultural Resources of the Intermountain Region, Las Vegas, NV, May 5-7, 2002.
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Numerous springs are scattered throughout the eastern Mojave Desert, most of which are concentrated near the bases of mountain ranges. Spring-fed wetlands in this region comprise nearly all the available habitat for amphibians. We surveyed 128 springs for amphibians and habitat throughout a 20,000 km' area below 173 5 in elevation. Wetlands were typically small, extending a median distance of only 200 m with a median water area of only 72 ml during the spring time. Most springs are ephemeral, and only 14% contained endemic animal taxa characteristic of geologically persistent water. A study of the red-spotted toad (Bufo punctatus) revealed that it occurs at 73% of the spring sites, populations can withstand considerable site disturbance, and site occupancy is determined primarily by local environmental factors rather than metapopulation processes (e.g., isolation by distance). In contrast, the Vegas Valley leopard frog (Ranafisheri) was eliminated by water development and possibly by introduced American bullfrogs (R. catesbeiana) in the Las Vegas Valley in the 1940s. The southwestern toad (B. microscaphus) has also been eliminated from the Valley, whereas Woodhouse's toad (B. woodhousii) has invaded this area. The relict leopard frog (R. onca), which formerly ranged from southwestern Utah to below Hoover Darn, now persists at only five wetlands fed by geothermal springs, and numbers approximately I I 00 individuals. The Pacific treefrog (Pseudacris regilla) persists at nearly all historical localities, and is particularly abundant on the east side of the Spring Mountains. Most springs have been substantially disturbed by anthropogenic activities, the most ubiquitous of which has been water development for livestock grazing. Restoration of many springs is needed to protect them for amphibians and the many other wildlife taxa that cannot exist in the region without them.
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| PRESENTATION |
Mid-Atlantic Coastal Streams Study: Statistical Design for Regional Assessment and Landscape Model Development |
04/03/2002
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Pitchford, A. M., S. W. Ator, J. M. Denver, A. R. Olsen, AND A. C. Neale. Mid-Atlantic Coastal Streams Study: Statistical Design for Regional Assessment and Landscape Model Development. Presented at National Alliance Treaty Organization, Considering Changes for Modern Society, Las Vegas, NV, April 3-5, 2002.
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A network of stream-sampling sites was developed for the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (New Jersey through North Carolina) a collaborative study between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey. A stratified random sampling with unequal weighting was used to select 175 first-order nontidal streams for synoptic sampling of base-flow water quality and benthic and riparian ecology during early 2000. Additional streams were selected for sampling to allow comparison of data from the base network to downstream conditions and to assess seasonal and temporal variability. The base network was designed to provide data for two distinct but complementary objectives: a probabilistic assessment of regional conditions, and a gradient study over a range of land cover and hydrogeologic conditions. The base network included 25 sites within each of seven hydrogeologic subregions that were delineated on the basis of physiography and bulk texture of surficial sediments. Field reconnaissance resulted in several site replacements that yielded a final network of 174 streams. Alternative sampling sites were selected in the same manner if the primary base-network sites were unsuitable. Within each subregion, selection probabilities were adjusted to provide an approximately even distribution of network sites along a gradient of forested-to-developed (urban or agricultural) land in the contributing watershed. With these data, landscape indicator models were developed using stepwise regression to estimate in- stream concentrations of herbicides, nitrate plus nitrite, and chloride. By applying weights to the data to compensate for land-use bias incorporated in the network design, concentrations of pesticides and nutrients were estimated for the entire population of first-order streams in the study area.
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| PRESENTATION |
EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment Program: Tools to Facilitate Regional to Local Decision-Making |
04/03/2002
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O'Connell, M. AND E. R. Smith. EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment Program: Tools to Facilitate Regional to Local Decision-Making. Presented at First Working Group Meeting of the NATO/CCMS Pilot Study on the use of Landscape Sciences for Environmental Assessment, Las Vegas, NV, April 3-5, 2002.
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EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) program is developing and testing approaches to conducting comparative environmental risk assessments at the regional scale, considering impacts to ecological human, and fiscal health endpoints. It seeks an objective and quantifiable answer to answer the question, "What are the greatest threats accompanying socioeconomic growth in a region and which ecosystems are most vulnerable?" ReVA builds oil the environmental monitoring base developed by the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) and monitoring done, by other agencies, and incorporates the latest developments in remote sensing, landscape ecology, spatially-explicit modeling, and ecological risk assessment. The, research is being conducted in concert with EPA Region 3 as part of the Mid-Atlantic, Integrated Assessment (MAIA) and includes collaboration across ORD and with other federal agencies (USFS, USGS, TVA).
lN addition to peer-reviewed publications an these new approaches, ReVA is producing a number of decision-support tools that illustrate trade-offs associated with alternative management actions and policies. ReVA's prototype web-based application facilitates decision-making by allowing, users to view maps of, and relationships between individu4 indicators, or integrated indices of relative vulnerability. Trade-offs can be evaluated by comparing different sets of indicators (e.g those relating to water quality or human health) and by differentially weighting selected indicators (or derision criteria) based on stakeholder input, The web-site will soon incorporate future scenarios as well, allowing insights into the impacts associated with projected land use change and population growth. The web-based application has been developed as a flexible framework that can be used in any region, and with any scale data, This tool will be a critical aid to state and local governments, and regional EPA offices and planning bodies in developing efficient and effective strategies for community-based environmental protection.
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| PRESENTATION |
Daubert Decision Applied to Geospatial Analysis |
04/07/2002
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Brilis, G. M. Daubert Decision Applied to Geospatial Analysis. Presented at EPA 21st Annual Conference on Managing Quality Systems, Phoenix, AZ, April 7-12, 2002.
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Protection of the environment is, in part, dependent on the quality of data used in decision making. Whether the decisions are part of the scientific process or relate to application of the laws governing people and their living conditions, good quality data are required/needed by two disciplines with distinct differences. This presentation examines some differences between science and the law, provides a brief history of science in law, discusses the effects of law on science, compares U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) guidance and U.S. Supreme Court credible science criteria, and speculates on the future use of science data by the courts.
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| PRESENTATION |
Development of a Mid-Atlantic Land Use/Land Cover Change Data Set (1970s to 1990s) |
09/02/2002
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Edmonds, C. M., D. T. Heggem, A. C. Neale, R. D. Lopez, AND K. B. Jones. Development of a Mid-Atlantic Land Use/Land Cover Change Data Set (1970s to 1990s). Presented at 11th Australasian Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry, Brisbane, Australia, September 2-6, 2002.
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The Mid-Atlantic region (MAIA) is comprised of southern New York, southern and western New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. in the lower-48 American States. It is an ecosystem rich in streams, wetlands, forests, estuaries, breeding birds, biological diversity and a large human population. This collection of data provides the resources to document the alteration of critical landscape ecological components and processes within the MAIA region. This poster will demonstrate the creation of a land use/ land cover change data set along with examples of ecological change in the MAIA area. The data set is developed from the 1970s North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) imagery and the National Land Cover Data (NLCD).
The NALC program, a U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program was created in
the early 1990s. This program packaged Multispectral Scanner(MSS) satellite images from the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s along with a file containing a model of the elevations covered by the grouped images. There are 530 groupings called triplicates, which when combined, cover the Lower 48 States and Mexico. The National Land Cover Characterization project was created in 1995 to support the original Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MRLC) initiative of developing a nationally consistent land cover data set of the Lower 48 States from Thematic Mapper (TM) data called National Land Cover Data 1992 (NLCD 92).
The MAIA land use/land cover change data set was developed from a digital land use/land cover map derived from the 1970s NALC coverage and the NLCD aggregated to the same land
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| PRESENTATION |
Landscape Scale Indicators of Mining Activity |
05/07/2002
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Heggem, D. T., C. M. Edmonds, A. C. Neale, AND R. K. Hall. Landscape Scale Indicators of Mining Activity. Presented at U.S. EPA Hardrock Mining 2002 Conference, Westminster, CO, May 7-9, 2002.
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Ecological indicators of stress are used by the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) to quantify the status, trends and changes of ecological goods and services. The purpose of developing landscape indicators of stress is to identify environmental and ecological alterations that are geographically widespread. The Humboldt River Watershed, Nevada, is an area of historical and current gold mining activity. Landscape scale indicators are needed to determine the spatial extent of mining activity, and any association with increased metal concentrations in stream water, sediment and aquatic biota. National Land Cover Data (NLCD) data is used to develop landscape scale indicators of present and historical mining activity. The landscape metric of Natural Land Cover Index (N-Index) is derived from the NLCD and is used to describe land use patterns from highly managed areas to undisturbed natural areas. The initial N-Index was able to define agricultural areas and large open pit mines. It was unable to identify smaller historical mine sites. To improve the capability of the NLCD in identifying these areas, the historical mine locations are given estimated spacial boundaries, converted to grid format and then added back to the original database. The results show a net increase in identifiable areas of high human activity, and potentially stressed aquatic habitat and resources. This improved landscape data is then statistically related to the stream water and sediment data.
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| PRESENTATION |
Wenatchee Fruit Tree Test Pilot Study |
05/06/2002
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Koglin, E. N., D. Crumbling, D. Powell, AND K. Lynch. Wenatchee Fruit Tree Test Pilot Study. Presented at Special Session of the National Alliance Treaty Organization, Considering Changes for Modern Society, Rome, Italy, May 6-10, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Triad Approach: A New Strategy for Efficient Site Characterization |
05/06/2002
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Koglin, E. N. AND D. Crumbling. The Triad Approach: A New Strategy for Efficient Site Characterization. Presented at Special Session of the National Alliance Treaty Organization, Considering Changes for Modern Society, Rome, Italy, May 6-10, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
How to Approach Environmental Problem Solving |
05/06/2002
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Koglin, E. N. How to Approach Environmental Problem Solving. Presented at Special Session of the National Alliance Treaty Organization, Considering Changes for Modern Society, Rome, Italy, May 5-6, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Effects of Intense, Short-Duration Grazing on Microtopography in a Chihuahuan Desert Grassland |
08/04/2002
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Nash, M. S., E. Jackson, AND W. G. Whitford. Effects of Intense, Short-Duration Grazing on Microtopography in a Chihuahuan Desert Grassland. Presented at Ecological Society Meeting, Tucson, AZ, August 4-9, 2002.
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We measured the effects of short-term intense grazing by domestic cattle on the microtopography of a black-grama grass (Bouteloua eriopoda) dominated desert grassland. Plots were grazed during winter or summer for 24-36 hours by 20-40 yearlings in 1995 and 1996. Soil microtopography was measured with an erosion bridge by measuring pin lengths above the leveled bridge. Short-duration intense grazing resulted in significant loss of microtopographic relief There were significant reductions in the numbers of mounds and depressions in grazed plots compared with ungrazed plots. Average mound height was significantly lower in grazed plots than in ungrazed plots, and average depth of depressions was significantly reduced in grazed plots. The reduced microtopography resulting from short-duration, intense grazing affects water storage patterns and soil nutrient patterns.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Ubiquitous Pollutants from Personal Use and Activities |
10/14/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Ubiquitous Pollutants from Personal Use and Activities. Presented at California - Nevada American Water Works Association, Reno, NV, October 14-17, 2002.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the individual activities of consumers and their environment. In contrast to other types of pollutants, PPCPs owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but aggregate/cumulative usage and disposal by multitudes of individuals. An overview of this multi-faceted issue can be found at a U.S. EPA web site (http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/chemistry/pharma/index.htm), which also provides a reprint of a review article published in Environmental Health Perspectives as well as many other resources including several chapters from a new American Chemical Society book.
PPCPs can enter the environment following their ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/expired PPCPs in landfills and to domestic sewage are additional routes to the environment. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPS; the efficiencies with which they are removed from sewage vary from nearly complete to ineffective. The aquatic environment serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for most PPCPS. Little is known with respect to actual or even potential adverse effects on non-target species; human exposure via drinking water is poorly defined. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-lig/L), the consequences of exposure, over multiple generations to multitudes of compounds having different as well as similar
modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. Although the environmental issues involved with two classes - antibiotics (e.g., selection for pathogen resistance) and sex steroids and certain other endocrine disruptors (e.g., aromatase disruption) - are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPs pose a wide range of additional and different environmental concerns.
The occurrence of PPCPs in the environment is undoubtedly not a new phenomenon - probably having taken place ever since any given PPCP first enjoyed commercial use. The continual advancement in the capabilities of analytical chemistry enabling identification of ever-lower concentrations (and increasing polarities) of pollutants has brought visibility to the issue only over the last IO years. The U.S. EPA, USGS, and other U.S. federal and state agencies are just beginning to consider the many scientific aspects.
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| PRESENTATION |
Microtopography Indices on Grazing Gradients in Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands |
07/11/2002
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Nash, M. S., E. Jackson, AND W. G. Whitford. Microtopography Indices on Grazing Gradients in Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands. Presented at 12th Annual Jornada Symposium, United Stated Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Station, Las Cruces, NM, July 11, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Vulnerability Assessment |
06/17/2002
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Smith, E. R. Mid-Atlantic Regional Vulnerability Assessment. Presented at EPA Critical Ecosystems Workshop, Keystone, CO, June 17-21, 2002.
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ORD's Regional Vulnerability Assessment (REVA) Program is developing and demonstrating approaches to assess current and future environmental vulnerabilities so that risk management activities can be targeted. The sister program to EMA.P (Environmental Monitoring Assessment Program), REVA is being piloted in the Mid-Atlantic region and is the second phase of the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) led by Region 3. REVA defines Vulnerability as a function of current condition, ecosystem sensitivity and resiliency, and estimated stressor distributions, such that it can be considered somewhat analogous to sustainability. To estimate vulnerability REVA uses primarily existing data or model results and integrates spatial coverages using a suite of methods ranging from simple overlays to complex combinations of multivariate statistics and fuzzy set theory. Building on the work of EPA's Landscape Sciences Program, REVA supports the development of broad-scale models that provide spatially-explicit estimates of condition for every point on the map. The assessment focuses on both an evaluation of current conditions and vulnerabilities, and a suite of alternative future scenarios developed in cooperation with clients and decision--makers. Our decision-support tools include the Capability to have the user specify weightings for variables or groups of variables, allowing an assessment of different endpoints that reflect differences in what society values, With this we provide a flexible integration framework with which ranks ecosystems based on condition and vulnerability, so that alternative risk management scenarios and their associated trade-offs can be evaluated.
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| PRESENTATION |
A Sub-Pixel Coefficient Model to Form Aggregate Imperviouus Surface Estimates from National Land Cover Data |
07/08/2002
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Jennings, D. B. A Sub-Pixel Coefficient Model to Form Aggregate Imperviouus Surface Estimates from National Land Cover Data. Presented at ESRI GIS Conference, San Diego, CA, July 8-12, 2002.
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Using GIS to produce impervious surface coefficients from National Land Cover Data
National Laud Cover Data (NLCD) and county level planimetric impervious surface data were utilized to derive an impervious coefficient per NLCD class. Results show that coefficients fall into two distinct groupings (rural and urban) based upon the apriori percent imperviousness per sample area. Coefficients for most NLCD classes are larger for urban/suburban sample areas due to the greater "mixed-pixel" relationship of land cover. This is particularly evident for the forested and agricultural classes. Also evident is the need for scale dependent sampling strategies. Results are limited to the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, however the methods can be extended to any physiographic region covered by the NLCD.
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| PRESENTATION |
On-Site Solid Phrase Extraction and Laboratory Analysis of Ultra-Trace Synthetic Musks in Municipal Sewage Effluent Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Full-Scan Mode |
09/29/2002
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Osemwengie, L. I. On-Site Solid Phrase Extraction and Laboratory Analysis of Ultra-Trace Synthetic Musks in Municipal Sewage Effluent Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Full-Scan Mode. Presented at International Ion Chromatography Symposium, Baltimore, MD, September 29-October 2, 2002.
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Fragrance materials, such as synthetic musks in aqueous samples, are normally analyzed by GC/MS in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode to provide maximum sensitivity after liquid-liquid extraction of I -L samples. A I -L sample, however, usually provides too little analyte for full-scan data acquisition. An on-site extraction method for extracting synthetic musks from 60 L of wastewater effluent has been developed. Such a large sample volume permits high-quality, full-scan mass spectra to be obtained for various synthetic musk compounds. Quantification of these compounds was conveniently achieved from the full-scan data directly, without preparing SIM descriptors for each compound to acquire SIM data.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview of Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors |
07/13/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview of Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors. Presented at Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Riverside, CA, July 13, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
GIS-Based Hydrologic Modeling: the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool |
08/06/2003
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Miller, S. N., D. J. Semmens, R. C. Miller, M. Hernandez, D. C. Goodrich, W. P. Miller, W. G. Kepner, AND D. W. Ebert. GIS-Based Hydrologic Modeling: the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool. 2nd Federal Interagency Hyddrologic Modeling Conference, Las Vegas, NV, July 28-August 1, 2002.
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Planning and assessment in land and water resource management are evolving from simple, local scale problems toward complex, spatially explicit regional ones. Such problems have to be addressed with distributed models that can compute runoff and erosion at different spatial and temporal scales The extensive data requirements and the difficult task of building input
parameter files, however, have long represented an obstacle to the timely and cost-effective use of such complex models by resource managers. The USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center, in cooperation with the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, has developed a GIS tool to facilitate this process. A geographic information system(GIS) provides the framework within which spatially distributed data are collected and used to prepare model input files and evaluate model results. The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment tool
(AGWA) uses widely available standardized spatial datasets that can be obtained via the internet, The data are used to develop input parameter files for KINEROS and SWAT, two watershed runoff and erosion models that operate at different spatial and temporal scales. AGWA automates the process of transforming digital data into simulation results and provides a visualization tool to help the user interpret results. The (use) of AGWA in joint hydrologic and ecological investigations has been demonstrated on such diverse landscapes as southeastern
Arizona, southern Nevada, central Colorado, and upstate New York.
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| PRESENTATION |
GIS-Based Hydrologic Modeling: the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool |
07/28/2002
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Miller, S. N., D. J. Semmens, R. C. Miller, M. Hernandez, D. C. Goodrich, W. P. Miller, W. G. Kepner, AND D. W. Ebert. GIS-Based Hydrologic Modeling: the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool. Presented at 2nd Federal Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conference, Las Vegas, NV, July 28-August 1, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Planning and assessment in land and water resource management are evolving from simple, local scale problems toward complex, spatially explicit regional ones. Such problems have to be addressed with distributed models that can compute runoff and erosion at different spatial and temporal scales The extensive data requirements and the difficult task of building input
parameter files, however, have long represented an obstacle to the timely and cost-effective use of such complex models by resource managers. The USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center, in cooperation with the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, has developed a GIS tool to facilitate this process. A geographic information system(GIS) provides the framework within which spatially distributed data are collected and used to prepare model input files and evaluate model results. The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment tool
(AGWA) uses widely available standardized spatial datasets that can be obtained via the internet, The data are used to develop input parameter files for KINEROS and SWAT, two watershed runoff and erosion models that operate at different spatial and temporal scales. AGWA automates the process of transforming digital data into simulation results and provides a visualization tool to help the user interpret results. The (use) of AGWA in joint hydrologic and ecological investigations has been demonstrated on such diverse landscapes as southeastern
Arizona, southern Nevada, central Colorado, and upstate New York.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Environmental Chemistry Branch Providing Chemical Answers to Environmental Exposure and Risk Problems |
08/11/2002
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Heithmar, E. M. The Environmental Chemistry Branch Providing Chemical Answers to Environmental Exposure and Risk Problems. Presented at Water-Testing and Quality Assurance Symposium, Arlington, VA, August 11-14, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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The Environmental Chemistry Branch (ECB) is part of the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) within EPA's Office of Research and Development. ECB is located in NERL's Environmental Sciences Division in Las Vegas, Nevada. We are 15 Research Chemists and Environmental Scientists with a range of expertise representing the major areas of environmental analytical chemistry.
Our mission is to provide chemical answers to environmental exposure and risk problems. We strive to ensure that environmental decision makers have reliable environmental chemical measurements and studies on which to base exposure and risk assessments. Our clients comprise EPA Program Offices, including OSWER and OW; EPA Regions; States; and Tribes. We provide both short-term technical support and long-term method development and research. To maximize our impact, we focus solely on non-routine problems. We are committed to providing the most relevant and responsive environmental chemistry research anywhere. This poster describes some of our capabilities. We encourage potential clients that could use our talents to contact us.
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| PRESENTATION |
Ubiquitous Pollutants from Cumulative Personal Practices Stewardship of the Water Cycle |
09/18/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Ubiquitous Pollutants from Cumulative Personal Practices Stewardship of the Water Cycle. Presented at Groundwater Resources Association (GRA) 11th Annual Meeting and Conference, Newport Beach, CA, September 18-19, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) as environmental pollutants is a multifaceted issue whose scope continues to become better delineated since the escalation of concerted attention beginning in the 1980s. PPCPs typically occur as trace environmental pollutants (primarily in surface but also in ground waters) as a result of their widespread, continuous, combined usage in a broad range of human and veterinary therapeutic activities and practices. With respect to the risk-assessment paradigm, the growing body of published work has focused primarily on the origin and occurrence of these substances. Comparatively less is known about human and ecological exposure, and even less about the known or even potential hazards associated with exposure to these anthropogenic substances, many of which are highly bioactive.
The continually growing, worldwide importance of freshwater resources underscores the need for ensuring that any aggregate or cumulative impacts on water supplies and resultant potential for human or ecological exposure be minimized. This has prompted the more recent investigations on waste treatment processes for one of the major sources of environmental disposition, namely sewage.
Despite the paucity of health effects data for long-term, simultaneous exposure to multiple xenobiotics (particularly PPCPS) at low doses (a major toxicological issue that can be described by the "4T's" --- Toxicant Totality Tolerance Trajectory), a wide range of proactive actions could be implemented in the near-term (and research initiated for the longer term) for reducing or minimizing the introduction of PPCPs to the environment. These actions and activities fall in the category of pollution prevention (or source reduction, minimization, or elimination), a particular aspect of the risk paradigm (i.e., risk management) that has received very little attention.
Many of the actions that can be envisioned for pollution prevention fall under what could be envisioned as a holistic ("cradle-to-cradle") life-cycle stewardship program - overseen by the healthcare industry and consumers alike. Significantly, such a stewardship program would benefit not just the environment - additional, seemingly unrelated benefits could automatically accrue, including lessening medication expense for the consumer and improving overall patient health and consumer safety.
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| PRESENTATION |
Personal-Practices Pollutants: Ubiety, Ubiquity, Significance, Solutions, Stewardship |
10/03/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Personal-Practices Pollutants: Ubiety, Ubiquity, Significance, Solutions, Stewardship. Presented at RTC-SRA Fall Workshop: Emerging Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment - Risk and Regulatory Perspectives, Raleigh, NC, October 3-4, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) as environmental pollutants is a multifaceted issue whose scope continues to become better delineated with the escalation of attention that began in the 1980s. PPCPs typically occur as trace environmental pollutants (primarily in surface but also in ground waters) as a result of their widespread, continuous, combined usage in a broad range of human and veterinary therapeutic activities and practices. With respect to the risk-assessment paradigm, the growing body of published work has focused primarily on the origin and occurrence of these substances. Comparatively less is known about human and ecological exposure, and even less about the known or even potential hazards associated with exposure to these anthropogenic substances, many of which are highly bioactive.
The continually growing, worldwide importance of freshwater resources underscores the need for ensuring that any aggregate impacts on water supplies and resultant potential for human or ecological cumulative exposure be minimized. This has prompted the more recent investigations on waste treatment processes for one of the major sources of environmental disposition, namely sewage.
Despite the paucity of health effects data for long-term, simultaneous exposure to multiple xenobiotics (particularly PPCPS) at low doses (a major toxicological issue that can be described by the "4T's" - Toxicant Totality Tolerance Trajectory), a wide range of proactive actions could be implemented in the near-term (and research initiated for the longer term) for reducing or minimizing the introduction of PPCPs to the environment. These actions and activities fall in the category of pollution prevention (or source reduction, minimization, or elimination), a particular aspect of the risk paradigm (i.e., risk management) that has received very little attention.
Many of the actions that can be envisioned for pollution prevention fall under what could be envisioned as a holistic ("cradle-to-cradle") life-cycle stewardship program - overseen by the healthcare industry and consumers alike. Significantly, such a stewardship program would benefit not just the environment - additional, seemingly unrelated benefits could automatically accrue, including lessening medication expense for the consumer and improving overall patient health and consumer safety.
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| PRESENTATION |
Overview of An Integrative Sampler for Monitoring Waterborne Polar Organic Environmental Contaminants |
09/26/2002
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Alvarez, D. A., J. D. Petty, J. N. Huckins, T. JonesLepp, D. T. Getting, A. Rastall, AND B. L. McGee. Overview of An Integrative Sampler for Monitoring Waterborne Polar Organic Environmental Contaminants. Presented at Passive Monitoring Symposium, London, United Kingdom, September 26-27, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Anthropogenic pollution is recognized as a global problem contributing to degradation of ecosystem quality, to loss of numerous plant and animal species, and to adverse impacts on human health. There is an increasing realization that a holistic hazard assessment of complex environmental contaminant mixtures requires data on the concentrations of hydrophilic organic contaminants as well. An approach to provide a time-weighted average (TWA) assessment is critical in understanding organism exposure to the complex mixture of pollutants present in the environment. A recently developed device, the polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS), is designed to integratively sample the more polar waterborne organic chemicals. Laboratory trials and field deployments have demonstrated that the POCIS is very effective for sequestering hydrophilic chemicals such as antibiotics, hormones, other pharmaceutically derived chemicals, polar pesticides, surfactants, etc. Environmentally derived sample extracts from the integrative samplers are readily amenable for assays utilizing bio-indicator tests. An overview of the POCIS and selected environmental applications will be presented.
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| PRESENTATION |
EPA's Landscape Sciences Research: Nutrient Pollution, Flooding, and Habitat |
10/31/2002
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Jones, K. B. EPA's Landscape Sciences Research: Nutrient Pollution, Flooding, and Habitat. Presented at Natura 2000, Montpellier, France, October 31, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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There is a growing need to understand the pattern of landscape change at regional scales and to determine how such changes affect environmental values. Key to conducting these assessments is the development of land-cover databases that permit large-scale analyses, such as an examination of simple landscape change or the construction of predictive models, to be easily conducted; the latter, for example, provides a model that can be used to assess the consequences of change. This type of approach is needed to extend estimates of ecological conditions and potential environmental risks in areas not directly monitored by field investigations. The Landscape Sciences program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Exposure Research Laboratory has been developing a number of landscape indicators, models, and statistical approaches to evaluate nutrient loading, flooding risks, and changes in habitat quality at a variety of spatial scales over broad geographic areas. This oral presentation highlights research being conducted in these areas and findings to date.
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| PRESENTATION |
Overview of EPA's Landscape Science Program |
10/30/2002
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Jones, K. B. Overview of EPA's Landscape Science Program. Presented at Natura 2000, Montpellier, France, October 30, 2002.
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| Abstract:
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Over the past 10 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development's National Exposure Research Laboratory has expanded it's ecological research program to include the development of landscape metrics and indicators to assess ecological risk and vulnerability at multiple scales over large geographic regions . The goal has been to develop landscape metrics, indicators, and models that can be generated from newly available, wall-to-wall spatial data in a geographic information system. Landscape metrics and indicators capture spatial aspects and patterns of a range of environmentally important characteristics, including land cover, soils, topography, and geology. Additionally, the Landscape Sciences program has been developing a number of change detection methods to analyze historical landscape changes, and to determine how observed changes in landscape composition and pattern have affected ecological resources and associated processes. Finally, the Landscape Sciences program has been developing models and assessment tools to evaluate how alternative future landscape scenarios (e.g., different landscape futures based on different management options) might affect ecological resources. This oral presentation discusses the wide range of projects being conducted by the Landscape Sciences program, including the NATO/CCMS landscape initiative involving 15 European countries.
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| PRESENTATION |
Overview of EPA's Landscape Sciences Program |
10/28/2002
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Jones, K. B. Overview of EPA's Landscape Sciences Program. Presented at Natura 2000, Montpellier, France, October 28, 2002.
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Over the past 10 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development's National Exposure Research Laboratory has expanded it's ecological research program to include the development of landscape metrics and indicators to assess ecological risk and vulnerability at multiple scales over large geographic regions . The goal has been to develop landscape metrics, indicators, and models that can be generated from newly available, wall-to-wall spatial data in a geographic information system. Landscape metrics and indicators capture spatial aspects and patterns of a range of environmentally important characteristics, including land cover, soils, topography, and geology. Additionally, the Landscape Sciences program has been developing a number of change detection methods to analyze historical landscape changes, and to determine how observed changes in landscape composition and pattern have affected ecological resources and associated processes. Finally, the Landscape Sciences program has been developing models and assessment tools to evaluate how alternative future landscape scenarios (e.g., different landscape futures based on different management options) might affect ecological resources. This oral presentation discusses the wide range of projects being conducted by the Landscape Sciences program, including the NATO/CCMS landscape initiative involving 15 European countries.
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| PRESENTATION |
Use of Landscape Science Fro Environmental Assessment Pilot Study |
10/09/2002
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Kepner, W. G. AND F. Mueller. Use of Landscape Science Fro Environmental Assessment Pilot Study. Presented at North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Committee on the Challenges to Modern Society Plenary Meeting, Vienna, Austria, October 9-11, 2002.
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Landscape metrics or indicators are calculated by combining various scientific databases using technologies from geographic information systems. These metrics facilitate the understanding that events that might occur in one ecosystem or resource can affect the conditions of many other adjacent and distant systems. Some important aspects of environmental change occur at broad spatial scales of whole landscapes, and these cannot always be detected in small-scale studies. For example, the condition of a forest has a direct effect on the condition of streams that flow through the forest. Forests in poor condition because of disease- and insect-induced defoliation and other stresses will export higher nutrient and sediment loads into streams than forests in healthy condition. Additionally, the shape, size and condition of natural resources have a direct bearing on their intrinsic plant and animal communities which they support and adjacent communities which might be dependent upon them for some part of their development. Landscape research has progressed to a stage where these approaches can be used to conduct ecological monitoring and assessments on areas of different sizes, particularly very large geographic regions including multiple countries.
On 22-23 March 2001 the NATO/CCMS in Brussels, Belgium accepted a proposal for the use of landscape sciences in environmental assessment developed by NERL, ESD/LEB. The proposal was to establish a working group representative of member Nations and Partners, to exchange information about landscape approaches useful for environmental assessment and to transfer landscape technologies to member Nations for use in environmental protection and preservation programs. The pilot project convened its first organizational meeting in Las Vegas during the week of 3-5 April 2002. Currently, 18 countries have committed to the project, i.e. Armenia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Lithuania, Moldova, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Australia (a non-member).
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| PRESENTATION |
Northwest Orgeon Pilot Study Area (USA): the Use of Landscape Science for Environmental Assessment Pilot Study |
11/19/2002
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Kepner, W. G. AND D. T. Heggem. Northwest Orgeon Pilot Study Area (USA): the Use of Landscape Science for Environmental Assessment Pilot Study. Presented at North Atlantic Treaty Organization Committee on the Challenges to Modern Society Plenary Meeting, Kiel, Germany, November 19-24, 2002.
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The Northwest Oregon Pilot Study Area encompasses approximately 59,167 km2 and varies in elevation from sea level to 3,200 m. Annual precipitation varies with elevation and meridian and ranges from 25 - 460cm. The study area comprises a mixture of federal, state, and privately owned lands and includes estuarine, forest, and rangeland with both rural and metropolitan urban centers and agricultural areas. The pilot area supports 2.6 million inhabitants and the economy is primarily based on forest products, tourism, and agriculture. This project proposes to develop two digital land cover maps using a 2 1 -class system. Landsat TM satellite imagery for two periods, i.e. 1995 and 2000, will be converted into land cover and analyzed for change. Specific landscape metric and indicators will be developed related to important environmental endpoints, e.g. watershed condition, using spatial analysis tools developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and USDA Agricultural Research Service, e.g. ATtILA and AGWA. These analyses in addition to the change detection information will be summarized in an interpretative report, i.e. landscape assessment atlas. We anticipate that the digital land cover maps will be complete by January 2003 and the primary data acquisition will beorganized into a spatial data archive by that same period. Subsequently, indicator development and analysis will follow land cover production and data acquisition and should be completed by winter of 2004. Change detection analysis will be complete by June 2004 and the information from both the indicator and change analyses will be integrated into a final project report, i.e. landscape assessment, by December of 2004.
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| PRESENTATION |
Application of Land-Cover Data for Environmental Assessments |
11/01/2002
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Wickham, J. D. Application of Land-Cover Data for Environmental Assessments. Presented at Land cover Map 2000, Monks Woods, United Kingdom, November 1, 2002.
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In many parts of the United States, urbanization is a pervasive dynamic that has many environmental consequences. Land-cover and related (e.g. Landsat) data are fundamental for studying urbanization itself and its environmental effects.
Well established models in economic geography are useful for forecasting where urbanization is likely to occur in the future, and these forecast can be used in turn to evaluate environmental consequences of urbanization. Economic geography models include retail gravity, rent theory, population decay, and von Thunen. All of these theories share a common framework for identifying the relative location of economic activity on mass (e.g., population) and distance. Using GIS, it is possible incorporate the concepts of mass and distance to create modeled surfaces of land demand, and evaluate these surfaces relative to land-cover change and the spatial pattern of natural resources. For the southside economic region of the state of Virginia, USA, we modeled splined surfaces of land demand and correlated these surfaces with NDVI-based land-cover change and estimates of forest fragmentation. All expression of splined land demand show significant correlation with estimates of forest fragmentation (0.543 - 0.71 1) and NDVI-based land-cover change (0.924 - 0.945). The relationship between NDVI-based land-cover change and land demand surfaces was also examined at the larger, regional scale of the mid-Atlantic states, and showed similar correlations (0.76 - 0.97).
Changing land-cover patterns also affect export of nutrients (Nitrogen M, phosphorus [PI) from watersheds. We development a model of nutrient export risk to examine land cover - nutrient export relationships. Evaluation of watershed nutrient export risk as a function of land-cover composition (proportion of forest, urban, and agriculture) revealed that N and P export risk was nonlinearly related to the proportion of forest in the watershed and increased significantly when the proportion of forest dropped below about 85 percent. We also linked the nutrient export risk model with a model of forecasted urbanization to identify which localities across a broader region were most vulnerable to increases in nutrient export risk as a result of future (forecasted) urbanization. For a locality to be identified as vulnerable, changes in nutrient export risk had to be greater than accumulated uncertainties in the nutrient export and urbanization models. As a result of the vulnerability analysis, 43 localities were identified as vulnerable to increased N export and 3 85 localities were identified as vulnerable to increased P export. The majority of localities vulnerable to increased N export drained to the Gulf of Mexico and the majority of localities vulnerable to increased P export drained to the Atlantic Ocean.
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| PRESENTATION |
Overview of US National Land-Cover Mapping Program |
10/28/2002
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Wickham, J. D. Overview of US National Land-Cover Mapping Program. Presented at Workshops on EON 2000, Montpelier, France, October 28-30, 2002.
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Because of escalating costs amid growing needs for large-scale, satellite-based landscape information, a group of US federal agencies agreed to pool resources and operate as a consortium to acquire the necessary data land-cover mapping of the nation . The consortium was initiated in the mid- I 990s and focused on acquiring Landsat TM and ancillary data for the conterminous United States. Three successful mapping programs were: 1) Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), whose objective was to map current land cover and back-cast for change assessment in coastal areas of the US; 2) GAP, whose objective was to create detailed maps of vegetation on a state-by-state basis for identification of habitats most in need of protection, and; 3) the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) mapping program, whose objectives were to map general land-cover classes for the conterminous United States and provide an accuracy assessment of that data.
NLCD land-cover mapping for the 1990s, led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), was completed in 2001, and represents the first consistently classified, seamless land-cover map of the conterminous U.S. despite 20 years of Landsat TM availability. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been one of the principal partners in the NLCD mapping project, and has led the accuracy assessment of the land- cover data. Accuracy assessments have been conducted by U.S. federal administrative regions, have
been completed for 9 out of IO of those regions, with the remaining region in progress. Reference data were collected for approximately 16,000 points to conduct the accuracy assessment using an innovative, two-stage cluster sampling design that maintained geographic spread among the sample points, collected 100 samples per class, and minimized cost. A primary finding of the assessment was that overall land- cover accuracy at the Anderson et al. (1976) Level I thematic detail (water, urban, barren, forest, agriculture, wetland) approached Anderson's nominal standard of 85% correct.
The success of the NLCD program has fostered its continuation, and in 2001 the Consortium re- convened to initiate acquisition of Landsat and ancillary data to continue the NLCD, GAP, and C-CAP mapping programs. NLCD has undertaken a new methodological approach to land-cover mapping that includes: 1) "smart" scene selection using seasonal (temporal) NDVI to select Landsat TM data; 2) regression-based land-cover "derivatives" (e.g., impervious surface) for input into the land-cover mapping process and database development; 3) rule-based (e.g., CART) land-cover mapping, and 4) mapping by ecoregion-like mapping zone to improve spectral separation of classes and improve edge- matching. The mapping is again being led by the USGS. As mapping zones are completed, EPA will be conducting change detection accuracy assessments. Pilot studies of change detection accuracy assessment of the Chesapeake Bay region are now in the planning stages and will be undertaken when the ca. 2000 land cover for that region are completed.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products as Ubiquitous Pollutants from Personal Use and Activities |
10/16/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products as Ubiquitous Pollutants from Personal Use and Activities. Presented at Environmental Science and Health Graduate Program, Reno, NV, October 16, 2002.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the individual activities of consumers and their environment. In contrast to other types of pollutants, PPCPs owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but aggregate/cumulative usage and disposal by multitudes of individuals. An overview of this multi-faceted issue can be found at a U.S. EPA web site (http://www.epa.gov/neriesdl/chemistry/phanna/index.htm), which also provides a reprint of a review article published in Environmental Health Perspectives as well as many other resources including several chapters from a new American Chemical Society book.
PPCPs can enter the environment following their ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/expired PPCPs in landfills and to domestic sewage are additional routes to the environment. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPS; the efficiencies with which they are removed from sewage vary from nearly complete to ineffective. The aquatic environment serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for most PPCPS. Little is known with respect to actual or even potential adverse effects on non-target species; human exposure via drinking water is poorly defined. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-ug/L), the consequences of exposure over multiple generations to multitudes of compounds having different as well as similar
modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. Although the environmental issues involved with two classes - antibiotics (e.g., selection for pathogen resistance) and sex steroids and certain other endocrine disruptors (e.g., aromatase disruption) - are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPs pose a wide range of additional and different environmental concerns.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Ubiety, Ubiquity, Significance, Solutions, and Stewardship |
09/30/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Ubiety, Ubiquity, Significance, Solutions, and Stewardship. Presented at Oregon State University's Fall Water Resoures Seminar Series, Corvallis, OR, October 30, 2002.
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The OSU Water- Resources Seminar Series bm a 3 0-year history, serves as a meeting place for " graduate students and faculty with a common interest in water resource issues but diverse major fields - from sociology to civil engineering to public health to fisheries and wildlife." Attendance for each hour-long presentation (this one is scheduled from 4:00-5:00) is usually about 50-75 people, with many of the students participating in OSUs Graduate Minor it Water Resources. Among the benefits for the students is the chance to interact with and hear from professionals outside the academic community. The seminar is also open to the public and is advertised to other educational institutions and water-focused organizations. The focus of this year's fall seminar series is drinking water. At the request of OSU, this remote presentation will make use of two large video screens at OSU - one for the presenter and one for the slide show.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Land Pharm Pollution: Hormones and Healthcare Products |
10/09/2002
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Daughton, C. G. The Land Pharm Pollution: Hormones and Healthcare Products. Presented at The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Twelfth Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, October 9-13, 2002.
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The Society Of Environmental Journalists (SEJ, web page at http://www.sej.org/) comprises members who are working journalists who want news and a background on developing topics. The SEJ (currently with over 1,200 members) was "founded in 1990 by a small group of award-winning reporters, editors and producers workings, in print and broadcast news media. SEJ is the only North-American organization of professional journalists dedicated to improvements in environmental news coverage." The SEJ's vision is "An informed society through excellence in environmental journalism," and their mission is to advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting." SEJ's Annual Conference (http://www.sej.org/confer/index1.htm)-brings together journalists, scientists, government officials, advocacy leaders and others to explore the many facets of environmental stories in order to improve the quality and accuracy of environmental reporting.
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| PRESENTATION |
A First Approximation of Impervious Surfaces Across the Danube River Basin Using the Corine Land Cover Database and Potential Relationships to Flooding Risks |
11/19/2002
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Jones, K. B., T. G. Wade, S. T. Jarnagin, AND J. D. Wickham. A First Approximation of Impervious Surfaces Across the Danube River Basin Using the Corine Land Cover Database and Potential Relationships to Flooding Risks. Presented at NATO/CCMS Landscape Project Workshop, Kiel, Germany, November 19-24, 2002.
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This last year, broad geographic areas in Europe experienced significant levels of flooding causing extensive loss of human lives and property. In North America, the US Environmental Protection Agency has been using GIS and remotely sensed data to assess the distribution and extent of impervious surfaces at watershed and basin scales and the relationships between these patterns and discharge levels in streams and rivers. This paper applies the landscape assessment approach being developed by the EPA to the Danube River Basin, an area that has experienced significant recent flooding, to demonstrate how broad scale landscape analysis can shed some light on critical environmental issues common to many countries in Europe.
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| PRESENTATION |
Quantifying the Relationships Between Landscape Imperviousness and Aquatic Biological Community Response |
03/04/2002
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Williams, D. J., L. Yuan, C. Y. Wu, V. Ramprakash, S. B. Norton, AND R. Ramirez. Quantifying the Relationships Between Landscape Imperviousness and Aquatic Biological Community Response. Presented at Association of American Geographers, New Orleans, LA, March 4-8, 2003.
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The relationship between landscape impervious surface area and instream biological integrity was investigated for watersheds in the Eastern CornBelt Plains ecoregion (ECBP) in western Ohio. Landsat TM imagery was classified to create an impervious surface map for the ECBP. The accuracy of the map was determined by multi- scheme sampling using digital orthophotography. A detailed reference map of impervious land use was developed using I meter imagery for a small subsample of the ECBP representing moderate rural to suburban landscape conversion. Housing, transportation (including roads and driveways), and commercial spaces, as well as non-impervious features were digitized, Comparison between the reference map and the classified Landsat imagery was accomplished by calculating percent impervious surface area, in subdivisions of <5%, 5-10%, 10-25% and >25%, within a 90 by 90 meter moving window. Systematic, random, and stratified random sampling schemes were employed to determine the scheme that best described the variance in the Landsat derived impervious surface map for the entire ECBP. Representative statistics for impervious surfaces in riparian zones and in catchments upstream from biological sampling points were selected. Regression models were then computed relating impervious surfaces to the index of biological integrity measured at the sampling point. The effects of impervious surfaces on biological integrity were compared to the effects computed using percent urban land use.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Role of Remote Sensing in Identifying Buried World War 1 Munitions at the American University, Washington, D.C. |
10/03/2002
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Slonecker, E. T. The Role of Remote Sensing in Identifying Buried World War 1 Munitions at the American University, Washington, D.C. Presented at Cultrual Geography Class, Warrenton, VA, October 3, 2002.
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During World War 1, The American University in Washington D.C. was used by the U.S. Army as an experiment station for the development and testing of a variety of battlefield munitions including chemical weapons such as Mustard Gas, Phosgene, Ricin and Lewisite, among others. After the end of the War in 1918, many of the weapons and chemical agents were haphazardly buried in and around the American University testing area which is now known as Spring Valley. In 1993, chemical-laden mortar shells were accidentally unearthed by a construction crew setting off a series of investigations that, to date, has cost over 40 million dollars and is still on-going. The EPA/Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) is supporting the on-going Superfund investigation efforts using remote sensing technology. Both conventional and research applications of remotely sensed imagery, along with GIS database developments, are playing a critical role in the discovery and removal of chemical weapons and contamination in this area. This presentation will document the EPIC's use of historical imagery, GIS, photogrammetry and hyperspectral remote sensing in locating and removing these weapons from the environment.
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| PRESENTATION |
Geospatial QA |
10/15/2002
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Brilis, G. M. Geospatial QA. Presented at EPA/ORD Annual Meeting, Duluth, MN, October 15-16, 2002.
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Geospatial Science is increasingly becoming an important tool in making Agency decisions. Quality Control and Quality Assurance are required to be integrated during the planning, implementation and assessment of geospatial databases, processes and products. In order to ensure Agency-wide consistency in the implementation of QA/QC in geospatial science, practical QA guidance documents and evaluation tools must be developed. To accomplish this, the EPA Geospatial Quality Council has been pursuing a plan that includes: 1) Educating the QA community about geospatial science
2) Tailoring QA guidance documents to suit applications of geospatial science
3) Educating the GIS community about QA
4) Addressing future needs of Geospatial-QA as technology changes
5) Working with various government, business and public entities to ensure the application of basic QA principles in geospatial science.
This poster gives an updated status of the progress and products of the Geospatial Quality Council and opens the door for participation.
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| PRESENTATION |
Analysis of Year 2002 Seasonal Forest Dynamics Using Time Series in Situ Lai Measurements and Modis Lai Satellite Products |
12/03/2002
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Pilant, A., J. Iiames, R. S. Lunetta, T. E. Lewis, AND J. Ediriwickrema. Analysis of Year 2002 Seasonal Forest Dynamics Using Time Series in Situ Lai Measurements and Modis Lai Satellite Products. Presented at Conference on Spectral Remote Sensing of Vegetation, Las Vegas, NV, December 3-5, 2002.
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Multitemporal satellite images are the standard basis for regional-scale land-cover (LC) change detection. However, embedded in the data are the confounding effects of vegetation dynamics (phenology). As photosynthetic vegetation progresses through its annual cycle, the spectral signals of the landscape change. This research seeks to incorporate vegetation phenology as a tool for improving LC change detection. The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft provides two geophysical products used in this analysis: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI: MOD I 3Q 1) and Leaf Area Index (LAI: MOD I 5A2). NDVI is related to ecosystem state, and LAI is an important input to ecosystem and landscape process models. LAI is of interest as an input to landscape process and biogenic volatile organic compounds emissions models. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a number of long-term forest research sites in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of the Albemarle-Pamlico Basin of North Carolina and Virginia (USA) to establish in situ reference data for validation of satellite geophysical products (e.g., NDVI and LAI). At each site, we conduct biophysical surveys of vegetation species composition and landscape characteristics, as well as time series optical surveys of LAI at various phenotogical stages. LAI is estimated indirectly using combined hemispherical photography and TRAC (Tracing Architecture and Radiation of Canopies) instrument optical surveys arranged in permanent grids and transacts. This report focuses on the architectural rather than spectral aspects of remote sensing of forest canopy. We present results of an analysis of in situ and MODIS LAI time series data for 2002.
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| PRESENTATION |
Aerial Photo Interpretation for Site Characterization, Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (Epic) |
11/19/2002
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Garofalo, D. Aerial Photo Interpretation for Site Characterization, Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (Epic). Presented at EPA GIS Day Celebration, Washington, DC, November 19, 2002.
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The Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) is a field station of the Landscape Ecology Branch (LEB), Environmental Sciences Division - Las Vegas, Office of Research and Development EPIC provides remote sensing technical support to help the Agency achieve its multi-media mission requirements. EPIC also performs research on existing and developing remote sensing systems in order to evaluate their capabilities for supporting EPA mission requirements, and develops new tools and methods for applying these systems to the solution of environmental problems. Products and services offered by EPIC include the search and acquisition of remote sensing data, its processing and analysis, and conversion into images, maps, and reports for use by EPA client offices. EPIC conducts site-specific to wide area landscape assessments for determining and documenting environmental status and trends and for relating these conditions and changes to both anthropogenic and natural processes. EPIC also provides remote sensing technology transfer support to EPA client offices.
EPIC completes approximately 150 site characterizations annually using current and historical aerial photographs. This work is done in support of EPA Regional and Program offices. Site characterization provides detailed information about a site and its history, often going back as many as 70 years in the past, and may include, depending upon the Region's request, information on: landscape characteristics including land use and land cover; sensitive habitats such as nearby wetlands and other water bodies; evidence of contamination at the site including stains, spills, breaches in lagoons; presence of barrels/drums, tanks or other potential pollutant sources; excavations and trenches; when a site became an active waste disposal site; how long the site was in operation; when waste disposal activity terminated; the current landscape ecological status of a site (and how it changed over time); presence of outfalls; and other detailed information on landscape and anthropogenic features and processes.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Role of Historical Aerial Photographs in the Remediation of Wwi Chemical Contamination in the Spring Valley Superfund Site, Washington, Dc |
11/06/2002
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Slonecker, E. T. The Role of Historical Aerial Photographs in the Remediation of Wwi Chemical Contamination in the Spring Valley Superfund Site, Washington, Dc. Presented at Geography 412: Aerial Photography Interpretation, Fairfax, VA, November 6, 2002.
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During World War 1, The American University in Washington D.C. was used by the U.S. Army as an experiment station for the development and testing of a variety of battlefield munitions including chemical weapons such as Mustard Gas, Phosgene, Ricin and Lewisite, among others. After the end of the War in 1918, many of the weapons and chemical agents were haphazardly buried in and around the American University testing area which is now known as Spring Valley. In 1993, chemical-laden mortar shells were accidentally unearthed by a construction crew setting off a series of investigations that, to date, has cost over 40 million dollars and is still on-going. The EPA/Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) is supporting the on-going Superfund investigation efforts using several spatial technologies. Both conventional and research applications of historical aerial photographs and other remotely sensed imagery, along with GIS database developments, are playing a critical role in the discovery and removal of chemical weapons and contamination in this area. This presentation will document the EPIC's use of historical imagery, GIS, photogrammetry and hyperspectral remote sensing in locating and removing these weapons from the environment.
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| PRESENTATION |
Antibiotics in the Environments; Less Recognized Issues and Needs |
12/09/2002
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Daughton, C. G. Antibiotics in the Environments; Less Recognized Issues and Needs. Presented at National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine(IOM), Washington, DC, December 9, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
GIS Application of Landscape Metrics to Identify Wetland Restoration Targets in Arkansas White River Basin |
07/27/2002
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Lopez, R. D., D. T. Heggem, AND J. G. Lyon. GIS Application of Landscape Metrics to Identify Wetland Restoration Targets in Arkansas White River Basin. Presented at American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Las Vegas, NV, July 27-30, 2003.
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Techniques for the broad-scale identification of wetland restoration sites are increasingly being sought for the purposes of improving the functions of wetlands that infIuence watershed hydrology, e.g., groundwater recharge potential of watersheds and reduction of nutrient and sediment loads to the watersheds, particularly in heavily agricultural landscapes. We utilized 'landscape metrics', publicly available geospatial data, GIS technologies, and the National Water Quality Assessment water sampling program to prioritize watersheds for riparian wetland restoration in Arkansas'101,533 square kilometer White River Basin. The White River Basin includes the southern portion of the heavily forested Ozark Mountains and the heavily agricultural Mississippi Alluvial Valley, permitting gradient analyses among watersheds. Results of the combined GIS and surface water sampling models for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment suggest that the following seven landscape metrics are practical for targeting sub-watershed and riparian areas for restoration: (1) percent cover of forest, (2) mean forest patch area, (3) largest forest patch area, (4) percent row-crop agriculture, (5) percent total agriculture, (6) percent cover of nonagricultural vegetated land cover, and (7) percent agriculture on steep slopes. We demonstrate the efficacy of using landscape metric! as 'indicators' of ecological condition and as a cost-effective technique to provide supplementary information about the ecological functions of wetlands, otherwise unavailable at finer scales. We suggest a methodology for developing 'landscape indicators' and using them to guide detailed field-based investigations, and to inform the decision-making processes for wetland restoration in the White River Basin.
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| PRESENTATION |
Geospatial QA Concerns |
03/18/2002
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Brilis, G. M. Geospatial QA Concerns. Presented at Association of Environmental Health Science and US Navy Eleventh Annual West Coast Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments, and Water, San Diego, CA, March 18-22, 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Imaging Spectroscopy for Determining Rangeland Stressors to Western Watersheds |
05/15/2002
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Williams, D. J. AND W. G. Kepner. Imaging Spectroscopy for Determining Rangeland Stressors to Western Watersheds. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/004 (NTIS PB2002-107278), 2002.
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The Environmental Protection Agency is developing rangeland ecological indicators in twelve western states using advanced remote sensing techniques. Fine spectral resolution (hyperspectral) sensors, or imaging spectrometers, can detect the subtle spectral features that make vegetation and soil discrimination possible. This study will use hyperspectral remote sensing data, such as NASA's Airborne Visible-Infra-Red Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), a system capable of 5 to 20 meter spatial resolution. Airborne and satellite remote sensing will provide vegetation mapping at the species level, soil types and characteristics, and landscape information such as erosional features. Vegetation community structure, spatial distribution, and health can then be determined and combined with climatic data to classify rangeland condition and identify disturbed regions.
Accurate determination of rangeland vegetation and soils is required to establish reliable landscape indicators. Rangelands in the West encompass a range of ecological conditions or states from healthy to at risk to degraded. This gradient of conditions can be quantitatively determined and used to develop landscape indicators. Vegetation communities differ over the gradient of rangeland conditions. Soil attributes such as organic matter content, salinity, moisture, mineralogy, and physical condition influence and are influenced by vegetation cover. The water quality of the watershed is directly impacted by these rangeland variables. Imaging spectroscopy can detect these variables and allows for landscape scale assessment and monitoring of stressors to water resources in the West.
Potential research with the Bureau of Land Management, US Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Geological Survey will correlate remote sensing data with ground measurements. The long-term goal of this work is to develop a methodology using current technologies for use with the forthcoming hyperspectral satellite platforms scheduled for operational service within the next 2 to 3 years.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
A Landscape Assessment of the Catskill/Delaware Watersheds 1975 1998 |
05/08/2002
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Mehaffey, M. H., M. S. Nash, T. G. Wade, C. M. Edmonds, K. B. Jones, AND A. H. Rager. A Landscape Assessment of the Catskill/Delaware Watersheds 1975 1998. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/075 (NTIS PB2002-107277), 2002.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference; Constitution, Bylaws and Standards: Approved May 25, 2001 |
04/02/2002
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Hankins, J. National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference; Constitution, Bylaws and Standards: Approved May 25, 2001. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/100 (NTIS PB2004-101319), 2002.
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The principles and operating procedures for the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) are contained in the NELAC Constitution and Bylaws. The major portion of this document (standards) contains detailed requirements for accrediting environmental laboratories. The standards also include requirements for state or federal agencies which elect to become accrediting authorities. The standards were developed through a consensus process by the states, territories, EPA, and other federal agencies with input from the private sector.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
US EPA Global Positioning Systems Technical Implementation Guidance |
04/30/2002
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Brilis, G. M. US EPA Global Positioning Systems Technical Implementation Guidance. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/031 (NTIS PB2002-107532), 2002.
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The U.S. EPA Geospatial Quality Council (GQC) was formed in 1998 to provide Quality Assurance guidance for the development, use, and products of geospatial activities and research. The long-term goals of the GQC are expressed in a living document, currently the EPA Geospatial Quality Council Strategy Plan, FY-02, EPA/600/R-01/1063. The GQC is approaching the development of guidance and technical documents in the flow order of the Geospatial Information Lifecycle. The first two major products of the GQC are: a training course GIS for QA Professionals, which can be located at http://www.epa.gov/Region O6/6en/gis-ga/index.htm, and the EPA QA Guidance for Developing Geospatially-related Quality Assurance Projects, EPA/600/R-01/062. It is important to note that the GQC operates without a budget.
A survey conducted jointly by the EPA Data Acquisition Branch (DAB) of the Office of Information Collection in the Office of Environmental Information and the GQC determined that the approach to GPS data collection and disposition throughout the EPA was inconsistent. GQC literature research
determined that existing documents were technically outdated and did not address legal considerations, data disposition, and information management. This document is intended to fill that gap and be treated as a living document by its organizational custodian.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Mid-Atlantic Landcover Change Data Browser |
09/25/2002
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Edmonds, C., D. T. Heggem, K. B. Jones, AND E. Evenson. Mid-Atlantic Landcover Change Data Browser. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/035, 2002.
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The Mid-Atlantic region is comprised of southern New York, southern and western New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, Delaware, and Washington, DC. It is an ecosystem rich in streams, wetlands, forests, estuaries, breeding birds, biological diversity and a large human population, This collection of digital coverages willprovide researchers with the resources to document the alteration of critical landscape ecological components and processes within the Mid-Atlantic region, Examples are provided which demonstrate the changes In land use and land cover within the region., The researcher will be able to take advantage of the combined resources of 1979 North American Landscape Characterization ,(NALC) imagery processed into land use / land cover and the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) aggregated to the same land rover class. These coverages are available in both 60 and 120 meter resolution,
Early analysis has shown that research preformed using the 120 resolutions coverages tended to minimize collection, sensor difference.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems for Decision Analysis in Public Resource Administration: A Case Study of 25 Years of Landscape Change in a Southwestern Watershed |
06/13/2002
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Kepner, W. G., C. J. Watts, AND C. M. Edmonds. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems for Decision Analysis in Public Resource Administration: A Case Study of 25 Years of Landscape Change in a Southwestern Watershed. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/039 (NTIS PB2002-107522), 2002.
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Alternative futures analysis is a scenario-based approach to regional land planning that attempts to synthesize existing scientific information in a format useful to community decision-makers. Typically, this approach attempts to investigate the impacts of several alternative sets of choices preferred by representative stakeholder groups relative to selected environmental or economical endpoints. Potential impacts from each of the scenarios are compared to current conditions of the region in terms of a set of processes that are modeled within a geographic information system. Future conditions are generally examined from the perspective of a recent baseline condition (versus empirically determined using a series of retrospective measurements).
During the past two decades, important advances in the integration of remote imagery, computer processing, and spatial analysis technologies have been linked to the study of distribution patterns of communities and ecosystems and the ecological processes that affect these patterns. Because of the 25 year availability of commercial satellite imagery, it is possible to examine environmental change and establish models which can narrow the actual choice of possible and probable change scenarios.
This research A) examines the potential to establish reference condition and measure change over large geographic areas; B) determine trends in environmental condition; and C) model and predict future landscape scenarios using advanced space-based technologies. Specifically, landscape pattern measurements were developed from satellite remote sensing, spatial statistics, and geographic information systems technology for a semi-arid watershed in southeast Arizona and northeast Sonora, Mexico and evaluated for their use in a decision-making framework.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
An Accuracy Assessment of 1992 Landsat-Mss Derived Land Cover for the Upper San Pedro Watershed (U.S./Mexico) |
06/24/2002
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Maingi, J. K., S. E. Marsh, W. G. Kepner, AND C. M. Edmonds. An Accuracy Assessment of 1992 Landsat-Mss Derived Land Cover for the Upper San Pedro Watershed (U.S./Mexico). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/040 (NTIS PB2002-107521), 2002.
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The utility of Digital Orthophoto Quads (DOQS) in assessing the classification accuracy of land cover derived from Landsat MSS data was investigated. Initially, the suitability of DOQs in distinguishing between different land cover classes was assessed using high-resolution airborne color video data. A cross-tabulation of the analyst's DOQ labels and the reference video label was produced and had an overall accuracy of 92%. This indicated that the DOQ data could be used to identify and distinguish between the different land cover classes.
A 1992 land cover map for the Upper San Pedro Watershed was available for accuracy assessment. The map was interpreted and generated by Instituto del Medio Ambiente y el Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sonora (B4ADES), Hermosillo, Sonora. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supplied Arizona Remote Sensing Center (ARSC) with approximately 60 DOQs for 1992. Most of the land cover classes were fairly well represented in the DOQs and covered between 24% and 4 1 % in eight out of ten land cover classes. Only the Barren and Agriculture classes were poorly represented in the available DOQs covering 5.3% and 14.2% of the map area, respectively.
A total of 457 sample points was used for the accuracy assessment. Allocation of sample points to land cover classes was through stratified (by land cover class area) random sampling, with a 20-sample minimum for the smallest classes. Map labels for the sample points were compared with reference DOQ labels and an error matrix generated. An overall classification accuracy of about 75% was obtained.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report Lead in Dust Wipe Measurement Technology, Niton Corporation, X-Ray Flurescence Spectrum Analyzer, Xl-700 |
10/18/2002
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report Lead in Dust Wipe Measurement Technology, Niton Corporation, X-Ray Flurescence Spectrum Analyzer, Xl-700. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/055 (NTIS PB2003-106617), 2002.
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ETV works in partnership with recognized standards and testing organizations and stakeholder groups consisting of regulators, buyers, and vendor organizations, with the full participation of individual technology developers. The program evaluates the performance of innovative technologies by developing verification test plans that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, conducting field or laboratory tests (as appropriate), collecting and analyzing data, and preparing peer- reviewed reports. All evaluations are conducted in accordance with rigorous quality assurance (QA) protocols to ensure that data of known and adequate quality are generated and that the results are defensible.
ETV is a voluntary program that seeks to provide objective performance information to all of the participants in the environmental marketplace and to assist them in making informed technology decisions. ETV does not rank technologies or compare their performance, label or list technologies as acceptable or unacceptable, seek to determine "best available technology," or approve or disapprove technologies. The program does not evaluate technologies at the bench or pilot scale and does not conduct or support research. Rather, it conducts and reports on testing designed to describe the performance of technologies under a range of environmental conditions and matrices.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT - LEAD IN DUST WIPE MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY, PALINTEST, SCANNING ANALYZER , SA-5000 SYSTEM |
10/18/2002
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT - LEAD IN DUST WIPE MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY, PALINTEST, SCANNING ANALYZER , SA-5000 SYSTEM. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/057 (NTIS PB2003-106616), 2002.
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ETV works in partnership with recognized standards and testing organizations and stakeholder groups consisting of regulators, buyers, and vendor organizations, with the full participation of individual technology developers. The program evaluates the performance of innovative technologies by developing verification test plans that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, conducting field or laboratory tests (as appropriate), collecting and analyzing data, and preparing peer- reviewed reports. All evaluations are conducted in accordance with rigorous quality assurance (QA) protocols to ensure that data of known and adequate quality are generated and that the results are defensible.
ETV is a voluntary program that seeks to provide objective performance information to all of the participants in the environmental marketplace and to assist them in making informed technology decisions. ETV does not rank technologies or compare their performance, label or list technologies as acceptable or unacceptable, seek to determine "best available technology," or approve or disapprove technologies. The program does not evaluate technologies at the bench or pilot scale and does not conduct or support research. Rather, it conducts and reports on testing designed to describe the performance of technologies under a range of environmental conditions and matrices.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report Lead in Dust Wipe Measurement Technology, Keymaster Technologies, X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument Pb-Test |
10/18/2002
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report Lead in Dust Wipe Measurement Technology, Keymaster Technologies, X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument Pb-Test. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/058 (NTIS PB2003-106615), 2002.
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ETV works in partnership with recognized standards and testing organizations and stakeholder groups consisting of regulators, buyers, and vendor organizations, with the full participation of individual technology developers. The program evaluates the performance of innovative technologies by developing verification test plans that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, conducting field or laboratory tests (as appropriate), collecting and analyzing data, and preparing peer- reviewed reports. All evaluations are conducted in accordance with rigorous quality assurance (QA) protocols to ensure that data of known and adequate quality are generated and that the results are defensible.
ETV is a voluntary program that seeks to provide objective performance information to all of the participants in the environmental marketplace and to assist them in making informed technology decisions. ETV does not rank technologies or compare their performance, label or list technologies as acceptable or unacceptable, seek to determine "best available technology," or approve or disapprove technologies. The program does not evaluate technologies at the bench or pilot scale and does not conduct or support research. Rather, it conducts and reports on testing designed to describe the performance of technologies under a range of environmental conditions and matrices.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report Lead in Dust Wipe Measurement Technology, Niton Corporation, X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrum Analyser, Xl-300 Series |
10/18/2002
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report Lead in Dust Wipe Measurement Technology, Niton Corporation, X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrum Analyser, Xl-300 Series. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/059 (NTIS PB2003-106614), 2002.
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ETV works in partnership with recognized standards and testing organizations and stakeholder groups consisting of regulators, buyers, and vendor organizations, with the full participation of individual technology developers. The program evaluates the performance of innovative technologies by developing verification test plans that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, conducting field or laboratory tests (as appropriate), collecting and analyzing data, and preparing peer- reviewed reports. All evaluations are conducted in accordance with rigorous quality assurance (QA) protocols to ensure that data of known and adequate quality are generated and that the results are defensible.
ETV is a voluntary program that seeks to provide objective performance information to all of the participants in the environmental marketplace and to assist them in making informed technology decisions. ETV does not rank technologies or compare their performance, label or list technologies as acceptable or unacceptable, seek to determine "best available technology," or approve or disapprove technologies. The program does not evaluate technologies at the bench or pilot scale and does not conduct or support research. Rather, it conducts and reports on testing designed to describe the performance of technologies under a range of environmental conditions and matrices.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Report Lead Dust Wipe Measurement Technology Monitoring Technologies International, Pdv 5000 Trace Element Analyzer |
10/18/2002
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Report Lead Dust Wipe Measurement Technology Monitoring Technologies International, Pdv 5000 Trace Element Analyzer. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/060 (NTIS PB2003-106613), 2002.
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| Abstract:
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ETV works in partnership with recognized standards and testing organizations and stakeholder groups consisting of regulators, buyers, and vendor organizations, with the full participation of individual technology developers. The program evaluates the performance of innovative technologies by developing verification test plans that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, conducting field or laboratory tests (as appropriate), collecting and analyzing data, and preparing peer- reviewed reports. All evaluations are conducted in accordance with rigorous quality assurance (QA) protocols to ensure that data of known and adequate quality are generated and that the results are defensible.
ETV is a voluntary program that seeks to provide objective performance information to all of the participants in the environmental marketplace and to assist them in making informed technology decisions. ETV does not rank technologies or compare their performance, label or list technologies as acceptable or unacceptable, seek to determine "best available technology," or approve or disapprove technologies. The program does not evaluate technologies at the bench or pilot scale and does not conduct or support research. Rather, it conducts and reports on testing designed to describe the performance of technologies under a range of environmental conditions and matrices.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Methods for the Determination of Total Organic Carbon (Toc) in Soils and Sediments |
08/24/2002
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Schumacher, B. A. Methods for the Determination of Total Organic Carbon (Toc) in Soils and Sediments. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/069 (NTIS PB2003-100822), 2002.
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Organic matter in soils and sediments is widely distributed over the earth's surface occurring in almost all terrestrial and aquatic environments (Schnitzer, 1978). Soils and sediments contain a large variety of organic materials ranging from simple sugars and carbohydrates to the more complex proteins, fats, waxes, and organic acids. Important characteristics of the organic matter include their ability to: form water-soluble and water- insoluble complexes with metal ions and hydrous oxides; interact with clay minerals and bind particles together; sorb and desorb both naturally-occurring and anthropogenically-introduced organic compounds; absorb and release plant nutrients; and hold water in the soil environment. As a result of these characteristics, the determination of total organic carbon (a measure of one of the chemical components of organic matter that is often used as an indicator of its presence in a soil or sediment) is an essential part of any site characterization since its presence or absence can markedly influence how chemicals will react in the soil or sediment. Soil and sediment total organic carbon (TOC) determinations are typically requested with contaminant analyses as part of an ecological risk assessment data package. TOC contents may be used qualitatively to assess the nature of the sampling location (e.g., was it a depositional area) or may be used to normalize portions of the analytical chemistry data set (e.g., equilibrium partitioning).
The purpose of this document, as defined by the Ecological Risk Assessment Forum, is to answer the question of "What is the most appropriate method for soil and/or sediment TOC analyses and what factors should be considered when selecting the method?"
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Estimation of the Exposure Point Concentration Term Using a Gamma Distribution |
12/04/2002
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Singh, A., A. K. Singh, AND R. J. Iaci. Estimation of the Exposure Point Concentration Term Using a Gamma Distribution. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-02/084 (NTIS PB2003-106618), 2002.
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The Technology Support Projects, Technology Support Center (TSC) for Monitoring and Site Characterization was established in 1987 as a result of an agreement between the Office of Research and Development (ORD), the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) and all ten Regional Offices. The objectives of the Technology Support Project and the TSC were to make available and provide ORD's state-of-the-science contaminant characterization technologies and expertise to Regional staff, facilitate the evaluation and application of site characterization technologies at Superfund and RCRA sites, and to improve communications between Regions and ORD Laboratories. The TSC identified a need to provide federal, state, and private environmental scientists working on hazardous waste sites with a technical issue paper that identifies data assessment applications that can be implemented to better define and identify the distribution of hazardous waste site contaminants. The examples given in this Issue paper and the recommendations provided were the result of numerous data assessment approaches performed by the TSC at hazardous waste sites.
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