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At least 1,459 records · Page 81Linked to original sources

Recording and processing procedures for multi-channel seismic-reflection data collected in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica

During 1984, over 2300 km of multichannel seismic-reflection data were recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey in the western Ross Sea and Iselin Bank regions. A temporary loss and sinking of the streamer led to increasing the streamer tow depth to 20 m, which resulted in some attenuation of frequencies in the 30-50 Hz range but no significant difference in resolution of the stacked data. Severe water bottom multiples were encountered and removed by dip-filtering, weighted stacking, and severe post-NMO muting.

Book chapter↗

Total chemical management in photographic processing

The mission of the U. S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center is to produce high-quality photographs of the earth taken from aircraft and Landsat satellite. In order to meet the criteria of producing research-quality photographs, while at the same time meeting strict environmental restrictions, a total photographic chemical management system was installed. This involved a three-part operation consisting of the design of a modern chemical analysis laboratory, the implementation of a chemical regeneration system, and the installation of a waste treatment system, including in-plant pretreatment and outside secondary waste treatment. Over the last ten years the result of this program has yielded high-quality photographs while saving approximately 30,000 per year and meeting all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions.

Journal of Imaging Technology↗

Processes on a glacier-dominated coast, Alaska

The 500 km long Gulf of Alaska coastline between Cape Suckling and Cape Spencer can be characterized by constant rapid change in an environment of glaciers, stormy climate, high relief, and extreme oceanographic parameters. During a more than 200-year history of observation, bays have completely filled with sediment, new bays have appeared, glaciers have advanced and retreated as much as 40 km, streams have been captured, and spits have grown as much as 10 km in length, earthquakes have uplifted the coast as much as 15 m, and in general, few features have been static. More than 250 km of coastline have undergone erosion and retreat, with maximum retreat exceeding 4 km at Icy Bay.

Alaska↗

Raster and vector processing for scanned linework

An investigation of raster editing techniques, including thinning, filling, and node detecting, was performed by using specialized software. The techniques were based on encoding the state of the 3-by-3 neighborhood surrounding each pixel into a single byte. A prototypical method for converting the edited raster linkwork into vectors was also developed. Once vector representations of the lines were formed, they were formatted as a Digital Line Graph, and further refined by deletion of nonessential vertices and by smoothing with a curve-fitting technique.

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing↗

Image processing techniques for digital orthophotoquad production

Orthophotographs have long been recognized for their value as supplements or alternatives to standard maps. Recent trends towards digital cartography have resulted in efforts by the US Geological Survey to develop a digital orthophotoquad production system. Digital image files were created by scanning color infrared photographs on a microdensitometer. Rectification techniques were applied to remove tile and relief displacement, thereby creating digital orthophotos. Image mosaicking software was then used to join the rectified images, producing digital orthophotos in quadrangle format.

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing↗

A broadscale fish-habitat model development process: Genesee Basin, New York

We describe a methodology for developing species-habitat models using available fish and stream habitat data from New York State, focusing on the Genesee basin. Electrofishing data from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation were standardized and used for model development and testing. Four types of predictive models (multiple linear regression, stepwise multiple linear regression, linear discriminant analysis, and neural network) were developed and compared for 11 fish species. Predictive models used as many as 25 habitat variables and explained 35-91% of observed species abundance variability. Omission rates were generally low, but commission rates varied widely. Neural network models performed best for all species, except for rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss , gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum , and brown trout Salmo trutta . Linear discriminant functions generally performed poorly. The species-environment models we constructed performed well and have potential applications to management issues.

Book chapter↗

Landslide processes in saprolitic soils of a tropical rain forest, Puerto Rico

Shallow soil slips, earth and debris slides appear to be a primary mechanism of hillslope denudation in the rainforest of eastern Puerto Rico. Annual rainfall in excess of 4,000 mm, and thick sequences (up to 20 m) of residual soils (saprolite) combine to produce these landslides. Shear strength testing and observatons of tension cracks indicate that landslides may start as tensile failure of saprolitic material. The tension cracks provide avenues for rapid infiltration of rainwater and saturation of the underlying soil. During or shortly after intense or prolonged precipitation, shear failure then occurs as a result of pore-pressure buildup along zones of low permeability within the saprolite. Tensile stresses in the unsaturated, low-density upper saprolite zone range from 3 to 10 kPa, and mean seismic refraction velocities are 476 +/- 127 m/s. Denser, clay-rich, less permeable saprolitic zones having mean seismic velocities of 1420 +/- 157 m/s represent zones that are commonly associated with perched ground water and are zones where exess pore-water pressure is most likely to trigger movement. These zones of translocated clay show marked density increases. Slickensides are present in the saprolite along relict fractures and joints derived from the parent rock; they are common in quartz-diorite bedrock, and less so in marine-deposited volcaniclastic bedrock. The failure planes of many landslides have exposed these relict fractures and joints as slickensides, and landslides appear to move on these pre-existing planes of weakness in the saprolite. The larges landslides (areas greater than 20,000 m 2 , however, are those that fail along saprolite-bedrock boundaries, which are zones of contrasting density and permeability within or at the base of the weathered profile.

Conference Paper↗

Central San Francisco Bay suspended-sediment transport processes study and comparison of continuous and discrete measurements of suspended-solids concentrations

Sediments are an important component of the San Francisco Bay estuarine system. Potentially toxic substances, such as metals and pesticides, adsorb to sediment particles. The sediments on the bottom of the Bay provide the habitat for benthic communities which can ingest these substances and introduce them into the food web. The bottom sediments are also a reservoir of nutrients. The transport and fate of suspended sediment is an important factor in determining the transport and fate of the constituents adsorbed on the sediment. Suspended sediments also limit light availability in the bay, which limits photosynthesis and primary production, and deposit in ports and shipping channels, which require dredging. Dredged materials are disposed in Central San Francisco Bay.

California↗