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J. Smith

Publications and source records attributed to J. Smith.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2024

A journey to the center of the USGS National Strong-motion Project processing and beyond

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Strong Motion Project (NSMP) has the primary U.S. government responsibility to acquire, process, and disseminate significant strong-motion earthquake ground motion records measured at surficial free-field stations, structures (buildings, dams, and bridges, and geotechnical arrays to the earthquake engineering community. As a result of the deployment of modern seismic instrumentation and growth of tools such as web-services, earthquake data from U.S. and international seismic networks are more accessible than ever. Our mission is to provide raw and processed strong-motion waveforms with PGA values greater than 0.1%g for M3.0 earthquakes and larger in California and M4.0 and larger within the conterminous US, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska. Datasets of interest to the engineering and geophysics communities, such as event sequences in areas of induced seismicity and significant global events, are also processed and posted at the Center for Engineering Strong Motion Data (CESMD) at strongmotioncenter.org when available through collaboration with the international strong-motion data community. Here we outline (1) the NSMP’s current workflow to acquire, process, and distribute data at CESMD; (2) our new endeavours and collaborations focusing on comparison and integration of waveform processing software, development of techniques for metadata quality checks before and after earthquakes, and construction of a dynamic site characterization repository; and (3) our topics for possible collaboration topics across the global strong-motion community.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2012

The role of mangroves in attenuating storm surges

Field observations and numerical simulations indicate that the 6-to-30-km-wide mangrove forest along the Gulf Coast of South Florida effectively attenuated stormsurges from a Category 3 hurricane, Wilma, and protected the inland wetland by reducing an inundation area of 1800 km 2 and restricting surge inundation inside the mangrove zone. The surge amplitude decreases at a rate of 40&ndash;50 cm/km across the mangrove forest and at a rate of 20 cm/km across the areas with a mixture of mangrove islands with open water. In contrast, the amplitudes of stormsurges at the front of the mangrove zone increase by about 10&ndash;30% because of the "blockage" of mangroves to surge water, which can cause greater impacts on structures at the front of mangroves than the case without mangroves. The mangrove forest can also protect the wetlands behind the mangrove zone against surge inundation from a Category 5 hurricane with a fast forward speed of 11.2 m/s (25 mph). However, the forest cannot fully attenuate stormsurges from a Category 5 hurricane with a slow forward speed of 2.2 m/s (5 mph) and reduced surges can still affect the wetlands behind the mangrove zone. The effects of widths of mangrove zones on reducing surge amplitudes are nonlinear with large reduction rates (15&ndash;30%) for initial width increments and small rates (<5%) for subsequent width increments.

Florida↗
USGS2005

Changing numbers of spawning cutthroat trout in tributary streams of Yellowstone Lake and estimates of grizzly bears visiting streams from DNA

Spawning Yellowstone cutthroat trout ( Oncorhynchus clarki ) provide a source of highly digestible energy for grizzly bears ( Ursus arctos ) that visit tributary streams to Yellowstone Lake during the spring and early summer. During 1985&ndash;87, research documented grizzly bears fishing on 61% of the 124 tributary streams to the lake. Using track measurements, it was estimated that a minimum of 44 grizzly bears fished those streams annually. During 1994, non-native lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) were discovered in Yellowstone Lake. Lake trout are efficient predators and have the potential to reduce the native cutthroat population and negatively impact terrestrial predators that use cutthroat trout as a food resource. In 1997, we began sampling a subset of streams ( n = 25) from areas of Yellowstone Lake surveyed during the previous study to determine if changes in spawner numbers or bear use had occurred. Comparisons of peak numbers and duration suggested a considerable decline between study periods in streams in the West Thumb area of the lake. The apparent decline may be due to predation by lake trout. Indices of bear use also declined on West Thumb area streams. We used DNA from hair collected near spawning streams to estimate the minimum number of bears visiting the vicinity of spawning streams. Seventy-four individual bears were identified from 429 hair samples. The annual number of individuals detected ranged from 15 in 1997 to 33 in 2000. Seventy percent of genotypes identified were represented by more than 1 sample, but only 31% of bears were documented more than 1 year of the study. Sixty-two (84%) bears were only documented in 1 segment of the lake, whereas 12 (16%) were found in 2&ndash;3 lake segments. Twenty-seven bears were identified from hair collected at multiple streams. One bear was identified on 6 streams in 2 segments of the lake and during 3 years of the study. We used encounter histories derived from DNA and the Jolly-Seber procedure in Program MARK to produce annual estimates of grizzly bears visiting streams. Approximately 68 grizzly bears visited the vicinity of cutthroat trout spawning streams annually. Thus, approximately 14&ndash;21% of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) may have used this threatened food resource annually. Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is attempting to control the lake trout population in Yellowstone Lake; our results underscore the importance of that effort to grizzly bears.

Wyoming↗
USGS2003

GCIP water and energy budget synthesis (WEBS)

As part of the World Climate Research Program's (WCRPs) Global Energy and Water-Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Continental-scale International Project (GCIP), a preliminary water and energy budget synthesis (WEBS) was developed for the period 1996-1999 fromthe "best available" observations and models. Besides this summary paper, a companion CD-ROM with more extensive discussion, figures, tables, and raw data is available to the interested researcher from the GEWEX project office, the GAPP project office, or the first author. An updated online version of the CD-ROM is also available at http://ecpc.ucsd.edu/gcip/webs.htm/. Observations cannot adequately characterize or "close" budgets since too many fundamental processes are missing. Models that properly represent the many complicated atmospheric and near-surface interactions are also required. This preliminary synthesis therefore included a representative global general circulation model, regional climate model, and a macroscale hydrologic model as well as a global reanalysis and a regional analysis. By the qualitative agreement among the models and available observations, it did appear that we now qualitatively understand water and energy budgets of the Mississippi River Basin. However, there is still much quantitative uncertainty. In that regard, there did appear to be a clear advantage to using a regional analysis over a global analysis or a regional simulation over a global simulation to describe the Mississippi River Basin water and energy budgets. There also appeared to be some advantage to using a macroscale hydrologic model for at least the surface water budgets. Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres↗
USGS2002

Evaluation of Brucella abortus strain RB51 and strain 19 in pronghorn antelope

Free-roaming elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone Area remain the only wildlife reservoirs for Brucella abortus in the United States, and the large number of animals and a lack of holding facilities make it unreasonable to individually vaccinate each animal. Therefore, oral delivery is being proposed as a possible option to vaccinate these wild ungulates. One of the main problems associated with oral vaccination is the potential exposure of nontarget species to the vaccines. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of two Brucella vaccines, strain 19 (S19) and the rough strain RB51 (SRB51), in pregnant pronghorn antelope. We conclude that S19 and SRB51 rarely colonize maternal and fetal tissues of pregnant pronghorn and were not associated with fetal death. Oral delivery of either vaccine at this dose appears to be nonhazardous to pregnant pronghorn.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1970

Search for organic compounds in the lunar dust from the Sea of Tranquillity

A sample of lunar dust was examined for organic compounds. Carbon detected in concentrations of 157 micrograms per gram had a δ 13 C per mil (PDB) value of + 20. Treatment with hydrochloric acid yielded hydrocarbons of low molecular weight, suggesting the presence of carbides. The gas chromatogram of the acylated and esterified derivatives of the hydrolyzate was similar to that obtained for the Pueblito de Allende meteorite. There were no detectable amounts of extractable high-molecular-weight alkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, isoprenoid hydrocarbons, normal alkanes, fatty acids, amino acids, sugars, or nucleic acid bases. Traces of porphyrins were found, perhaps arising from rocket exhaust materials.

Science↗