[californiadisasters] Re: USGS Science at American Geophysical Union Conference, San Francisco, 12/13-17/2010

I went to an AGU meeting once, the first one after Landers, and if you're interested in geoscience, it's a nonstop candy store of new information.

Vic

--- In californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com, Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@...> wrote:
>
> *USGS Science at American Geophysical Union Conference, San Francisco, Dec.
> 13-17*
>
>
> SAN FRANCISCO­ â€" The U.S. Geological Survey participates in the American
> Geophysical Union's fall meeting with hundreds of technical presentations.
> Selected here are some highlights of USGS science at AGU. Tips about the
> technical sessions are presented in chronological order with session
> numbers, and room numbers in Moscone Convention Center (either Moscone
> South, MS, or Moscone West, MW).
>
> News media representatives are invited to visit the USGS booth in the AGU
> Exhibit Hall. This is an easy place to connect with USGS data, publications,
> and information.
>
> *USGS participation in AGU press conferences:
> *(all AGU press conferences are scheduled in Room 3000 Moscone West)
>
> Monday, 12/13, 5 p.m.
> *Forest tipping points and climate change in southwestern US
> *Craig Allen
> If temperature and aridity rise as projected, the worrisome forecast
> suggested for southwestern forests includes slower-growing trees, more
> severe fires, more bark beetle outbreaks, a lot more dead trees, and big
> changes in where various trees species are dominant in southwestern U.S.
> forests.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 9 a.m.
> *Ice volcanoes on Titan
> *Randolph Kirk
> Topography on Saturn's moon Titan that makes the best case yet for an ice
> volcano on Titan and reveals the most Earth-like volcano in the outer solar
> system.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 11 a.m.
> *Carbon consumption and Earth’s carrying capacity
> *Jennifer Harden
> Increasing consumption of Earth’s plant material raises questions about
> carrying capacity, biodiversity, landscapes, imbalances, and vulnerabilities
> to climate change.
>
> Wednesday, 12/15, 11 a.m.
> *Volcanic ash and aviation
> *Tom Casadevall and Marianne Guffanti
> The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano earlier this year brought questions
> of volcanic ash and global aviation traffic to the forefront. How can
> science help shape aviation safety policy?
>
> Thursday, 12/16, 9 a.m.
> *The last Arctic sea-ice refuge?
> *George Durner
> Arctic ocean circulation models suggest enough ice would accumulate in an
> area of the Canadian Archipelago and northern Greenland to potentially serve
> as a refuge for polar bears as Arctic sea ice is otherwise projected to
> decline.
>
> *USGS town hall meeting and customer listening session
> *Seeking your help to shape the development of our 10-year strategic science
> plans
>
> *Talking Hazards*: A dialogue on the future of USGS Natural Hazards science,
> Thursday, 12/16, 12:30-1:30 p.m., MW 3006
>
> *Talking Water*: A dialogue on the future of USGS Water science* *Thursday,
> 12/16, 6:15-7:30 p.m., Courtyard San Francisco Hotel, 299 Second St, Rincon
> Hill Room, 2nd Floor
>
> *AGU recognizes USGS scientists:
> *Wednesday, 12/15, 7- 9 p.m.
> AGU's 2010 honors ceremony, San Francisco Marriott Marquis, Yerba Buena
> Ballroom
> John R. Filson will receive the Edward A. Flinn III Award, given to an
> “individual who personifies the AGU’s motto ‘unselfish cooperation in
> research’ through their facilitating, coordinating, and implementing
> activities.”
>
> Carol Kendall is elected to AGU Fellowship this year
>
> *Finn named AGU President-elect*
>
> Dr. Carol A. Finn, a USGS geophysicist, was recently named President-elect
> of AGU. Finn, an AGU member since 1980 and USGS scientist since 1978, will
> be the third female president of the 91-year-old organization, and third
> USGS employee to hold the post.
>
> *Bowie lecture* (invited)
> MS, Gateway Ballroom, 103, Tuesday, 12/14, 4:05 â€" 5 p.m.
*Ultra-High
> Resolution Four Dimension Imaging Across the Earth Sciences
> *Gerald Bawden
> G24A
> A 3-D presentation about ground-based or terrestrial LIDAR at the forefront
> of scientific applications that allows visualization of natural processes in
> ultra-high resolution like never before, from glacial retreat to
> earthquake-induced land surface changes.
>
> *Technical Sessions*
>
> Monday, 12/13, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Aerial surveys using consumer electronics
> *David Lynch
> V11C-2309
> Using a Nikon D90 with a GPS device attached, scientists obtained over 5000
> high-resolution photographs of the San Andreas Fault, which had been
> revealed by wildfire.
>
> Monday, 12/13, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Modeling lahar hazards within Lassen Volcanic National Park
> *Joel Robinson
> V11C-2300
> The 1915 Lassen Peak eruption generated lahars flowed north into Lost Creek
> and Hat Creek, Ca. Geologic mapping of these deposits is used to guide an
> assessment of present-day lahar inundation zones.
>
> Monday, 12/13, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Corn-based feedstock for biofuels: Implications for agricultural
> sustainability
> *Zhengxi Tan
> B11C-0365
> Increasing demand for renewable energy and the potential for use of corn
> stover, or the leaves, stalks, and husks left as residue after harvest, as
> biofuel in the U.S. raise concerns about the agricultural sustainability of
> corn stover. USGS scientists examine the minimum residue level required to
> maintain soil fertility and the maximum amount of raw stover harvestable for
> biofuels in the future.
>
> *(Note: Those interested in this presentation may also be interested in
> H51D-0934: "Different Effects of Corn Ethanol and Switchgrass-Based Biofuels
> on Soil Erosion and Nutrients Loads in the Iowa River Basin," B23D-0412:
> "Ecosystem performance assessment for grasslands in the Greater Platte River
> Basin: implications for cellulosic biofuel development," and/or **H51G-09:
> “Effects of the Biofuels Initiative on water quality and quantity in the
> Mississippi alluvial plain”**)*
>
> Monday, 12/13, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Lava flow risk on Mauna Loa
> *Frank Trusdell
> V11C-2308
> Mauna Loa will undoubtedly erupt again and emergency managers will need to
> know the areas threatened with inundation, lava flow frequency, and the
> people, property, and facilities at risk. USGS scientists have prepared a
> geologic map, with probabilities of lava flow inundation, calculated for
> different sectors of the volcano.
>
> Monday, 12/13, 8 a.m. MS 104
> *The 12 January 2010 M7.0 Haiti earthquake
> *co-chaired by USGS seismologist Susan Hough
> UA11A
> In the 11 months since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, USGS scientists
> have spent months on the ground installing instruments, monitoring
> aftershocks, learning more about the quake, and defining the hardest hit
> areas, leading to a safer future for Haiti.
>
> 8:15 a.m.
> *The role of science and engineering in rebuilding a more resilient Haiti
> *David Applegate
>
> 9a.m.
> *The Enriquillo-Plantian Garden Fault in Haiti: Geologically recent offsets
> and seismic hazard
> *Carol Prentice
>
> Monday, 12/13, 2:55 p.m., MW 2002
> *Methylmercury production across San Francisco Bay regional habitats
> *Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
> B13G-06
> Results of more than a decade of methylmercury research in the San Francisco
> Bay, which are widely applicable to other diverse freshwater, estuarine, and
> coastal environments suggest that microbial iron-reduction may play a larger
> role then previously thought with respect to methylmercury production across
> a diverse range of estuarine habitats.
>
> Monday, 12/13, 4 p.m., MW 3018
> *Water security â€" National and global issues
> *James Tindall
> H14F-01
> Devising concepts and counter measures to protect water supplies will assist
> the public, policy makers, and planners at local, Tribal, State, and Federal
> levels to develop solutions for national and international water-security
> and sustainability issues. Disruption of water supplies by man-made,
> natural, and technological hazards could threaten the delivery of vital
> human services, endanger public health and the environment, potentially
> cause mass casualties, and threaten population sustainability, social
> stability, and homeland security.
>
> *(Note: See also H21A-1013, "Energyâ€"Water Interdependence," Moran)*
>
> Monday, 12/13, 4 p.m., MS 104
> *USGS scientists in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Making a difference
> *USGS Director Marcia McNutt
> U14A-01
> From the first call to action after the discovery of the underwater oil
> discharge, the USGS has been at the forefront addressing the research and
> information needs for this disaster. USGS geospatial experts, biologists,
> geologists, and geophysicists played a crucial role helping the nation
> understand and ultimately shut down the failed well. With the imminent
> danger removed, USGS coastal and marine geologists continue to work on the
> oil budget, refining models for the sinks of oil in the environment and the
> time scales over which oil remains an environmental hazard.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Fire in the Mojave Desert: The role of microtopography on floral
> re-establishment following fire
> *Chris Soulard
> G21A-0788
> A groundbreaking use of terrestrial LiDAR technology to determine the impact
> of fire on desert flora, which can be used by land-use managers and policy
> makers to make prudent decisions related to critical desert changes.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Carbon sequestration rates and the energy balance of turf in the Denver
> urban ecosystem and in an adjacent native grassland under contrasting
> management practices
> *Dean E. Anderson
> B21E-0352
> Well watered, fertilized lawns in metropolitan Denver were found to
> sequester, or capture, substantially more carbon than nearby native
> grassland over a growing season. These findings are significant because
> lawns are the largest irrigated crop in the U.S., and urban areas and the
> associated number of lawns are rapidly expanding.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *El Nino’s effect on agriculture in Guatemala
> *Diego Pedreros
> NH21A-1401
> Scientists looked at the effects of El Nino on rainfall patterns at regional
> scales and specifically measured the effects on agricultural water balances
> in Guatemala. The study builds on rainfall and water balance modeling
> techniques developed by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 10:20 a.m., MS 310
> *Sediment budget for a polluted Hawaiian reef using hillslope monitoring and
> process mapping
> *Jonathan Stock
> EP22A-01
> Pollution from coastal watersheds threatens the ecology of tropical reefs.
> Changing land uses have accelerated erosion rates, leading to toxic levels
> of sediment off the reefs of Molokai, Hawaii. USGS scientists are using
> advanced remote sensing and sensor networks on the ground to map the sources
> and quantify the rates of this erosion, in an effort to forecast the effects
> of climate change on sediment loading to reefs.
>
> Tuesday, 12/14, 1:40 p.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Mercury export from the Yukon river basin
> *Paul Schuster
> B23F-0435
> In response to a warming climate in Northern regions, permafrost is thawing,
> becoming a potential significant pool of mercury that had not been
> previously considered under changing climatic conditions. Mercury is a
> ubiquitous pollutant posing a serious threat to human health and aquatic
> biota.
>
> Wednesday, 12/15, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Arctic exploration
> *T31A
> New information from Arctic Ocean seafloor mapping, seismic-reflection
> profiling, and seafloor sampling undertaken by Arctic nations to determine
> where they might have sovereign rights.
>
> Poster 2128:
> *A new look at Northwind Ridge: Implications for the history of the Canada
> Basin*
>
> Debbie Hutchinson
> Poster 2124:
> *Gravity and magnetic anomalies of the western Arctic Ocean and its margins
> provide an imperfect window to a complex, multi-stage tectonic history
> *Richard Saltus
>
> Wednesday, 12/15, 8:00 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *How much water does Africa have?
> *Gabriel B. Senay
> H31H-1099
> For the first time ever, a water balance for Africa has been developed â€"
> which is the first step in being able to manage water resources. A lack of
> consistent data or access to important data such as rainfall, stream flow
> and evapotranspiration has been a barrier to developing an Africa-wide water
> atlas in the past. Scientists used globally available and consistent weather
> and remotely-sensed datasets to develop the water balance estimation.
>
> Wednesday, 12/15, 1:40 p.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Is the rate of global tsunami occurrence increasing?
> *Eric Geist
> S33B-2091
> Examining the variation in the number of tsunamis that occur every year in
> an effort to develop short-term tsunami forecasts.
>
> Wednesday, 12/15, 1:40 p.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Outstanding issues in the assessment of Enhanced Geothermal Systems
> resources
> *H33D-1164
> Colin Williams
> The successful implementation of Enhanced Geothermal Systems technology has
> the potential to dramatically expand both the magnitude and spatial extent
> of geothermal energy production, and the USGS has been working to develop a
> comprehensive EGS resource assessment for the U.S. However, a number of
> outstanding scientific and technical issues must be resolved in order to
> ensure the accuracy and reliability of this assessment.
>
> Thursday, 12/16, 9:25 a.m., MW 2002
> *Coal-tar pavement sealant: A PAH source indoors and out
> *Barbara Mahler
> B41J-06
> The coal-tar-based pavement sealant used on parking lots, driveways, and
> playgrounds is the largest source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in
> house dust and lake sediment studied by the USGS. Several PAHs are probable
> human carcinogens, and they are toxic to fish and other aquatic life.
>
> Thursday, 12/16, 1:40 p.m., MS Poster Hall
> *River regulation’s effect on aeolian landscapes in the Grand Canyon
> *Amy Draut
> H43D-1283
> A 7-year study examined the effects of river regulation at Glen Canyon Dam
> and provides strong evidence that regulation affects landscape evolution
> even above the high water line. Hear why it is likely that, if current
> operations at Glen Canyon Dam (with occasional controlled floods) continue,
> greater differences between modern and ancient landscapes in the Grand
> Canyon will occur.
>
> Thursday, 12/16, 1:40 p.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Gigapixel panoramas of Glacier National Park
> *Daniel B. Fagre
> ED43A-0665
> New high-resolution, interactive images of glaciers at Glacier National Park
> are available through the use of a robotically controlled camera system. The
> Gigapan system is used to capture panoramic images of glaciers, which can be
> georeferenced in Google Earth, and embedded in websites. These images build
> upon USGS repeat photographs of glaciers used to vividly document their rate
> of disappearance.
>
> Thursday, 12/16, MW 2020
> *Volcanology 2010 - 2020: the next decade in volcano science
> *V43E
>
> 1:55 p.m. *Punctuated evolution of volcanology: An observatory perspective
> *Bill Burton and John Eichelberger
>
> 2:10 p.m. *Challenges to integrating geographically-dispersed data and
> expertise at U.S. Volcano Observatories
> *Tom Murray and John Ewert
>
> 2:40 p.m. *The international Volcano Distaster Assistance Program â€" Past and
> future
> *John Ewert and John Pallister
>
> Thursday, 12/16, MW 3010
> *Transmitting hazard science to end users: what works, what doesn't, and
> what's needed?
> *Co-convened by USGS scientists David Applegate and Lucile Jones
> NH43B
>
> 2:40 p.m., *Flood hazards: Communicating hydrology and complexity to the
> public
> *Robert Holmes
>
> 2:55 p.m., *Scientific studies in support of shutting in the Macondo Well
> (Deepwater Horizon) blowout, Gulf of Mexico
> *Steve Hickman
>
> 3:25 p.m., *Assessing the utility of and improving USGS Earthquake Hazards
> Program products
> *Joan Gomberg
>
> NH44A
>
> 4 p.m., *Science for decision making: Transmitting hazard science using
> catastrophic scenarios
> *Anne Wein
>
> 5 p.m., *Lessons learned from an emergency release of a post-fire
> debris-flow hazard assessment for the 2009 Station fire, San Gabriel
> Mountains, Southern California
> *Susan Cannon
>
> 5:30 p.m., *Reducing community vulnerability to wildland fires in Southern
> California
> *Jon Keeley
>
> 5:45 p.m., *Anticipating and communicating plausible environmental and
> health concerns associated with future disasters: The ShakeOut and ARkStorm
> scenarios as examples
> *Geoff Plumlee
>
> Friday, 12/17, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *The use of deep moonquakes for constraining the internal structure of the
> Moon
> *Renee C. Weber
> U51B-0037
> The installation of seismometers on the Moon's surface during the Apollo era
> provided a wealth of information that transformed our understanding of lunar
> formation and evolution. Here we present new modeling in support of seismic
> missions that plan to build upon the knowledge of the Moon's interior
> gathered by Apollo.
>
> Friday, 12/17, 8 a.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Packrats hoard ancient climate information
> *Robert S. Thompson
> PP51A-1586
> Ancient middens left behind by packrats give scientists temperature,
> precipitation and other climatic information for the past 25,000 years. The
> plant remains they contain can be identified at the species level and
> provide excellent material for radiocarbon dating.
>
> Friday, 12/17, 9:45 a.m., MW 3018
> *Effects of the Biofuels Initiative on water quality and quantity in the
> Mississippi alluvial plain
> *Heather L. Welch
> H51G-09
> The Biofuels Initiative in the Mississippi Delta created a 47 percent
> decrease in cotton acreage and 288 percent increase in corn acreage in 2007.
> Corn uses 80 percent more water and nitrogen fertilizer than cotton, which
> affects water quantity and quality. A mathematical model calibrated to
> existing conditions in the Delta confirms that fertilizer application rates
> are contributing to hypoxic conditions in the Gulf of Mexico.
>
> Friday, 12/17, 9 a.m., MW 2007
> *Lessons learned from a decade of "Did You Feel It?" collection
> *David Wald
> S51E-01
> The public has logged over 1.8 million online “Did You Feel It?” responses
> over the past decade immediately following earthquakes. Come hear how the
> USGS is using this data.
>
> Friday, 12/17, 2:10 p.m., MS Poster Hall
> *Long-term groundwater contamination after source removal
> *Richard L. Smith
> H53D-1069
> The consequences of groundwater contamination can remain long after a
> contaminant source has been removed. This can be the case even for
> constituents that are primarily water-soluble, such as treated wastewater.
> Learn about a Massachusetts’s study that found wastewater contaminants after
> 14 years.
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> ###
>

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