USGS has developed a working “Shake Alert” system that will send early warnings that arrive from a few seconds to as much as 90 seconds before earthquake vibrations. Unfortunately, very few people/institutions are able to receive these potentially life-saving warnings. The reason: the project needs more funding.
“Decision-support systems can be used to help synthesize, visualize, and analyze the natural-science and socioeconomic information needed for making risk-reduction and land-use choices.”
Sinkholes are a common geological hazard in many parts of Pennsylvania. The state geological survey has an educational publication and small website to inform the public about sinkholes.
If you didn’t get to see the Dig It! The Secrets of Soil exhibit at the Smithsonian, you can see videos and other information from the exhibit on the Smithsonian website.
Pictured at right are two of the interactive topics.
This time-lapse video shows the draining of the Condit Dam in southeastern Washington. The dam is 125-feet high and has thick sediment deposits behind it. The water erupting from the hole in the dam appears black in color from suspended sediments. Time-lapse views behind the dam show sediments slumping and flowing as the water level declines.
When a development project destroys an acre of wetlands the responsible company is often required to create another acre of new wetlands in the same watershed. This has fueled a new business of “mitigation banks”.
“Six full-size pickup trucks took a wild ride on a 16-foot-high steel bridge when it shook violently in a series of never-before-conducted experiments to investigate the seismic behavior of a curved bridge with vehicles in place.” Quoted from the University of Nevada, Reno news release.
“After years of planning for the largest project of its kind, the Department of the Interior will begin the removal of two dams on the Elwha River, Washington, in September 2011.” Quoted from the USGS news release.
“This video podcast looks at the science behind understanding coastal vulnerability and hazards posed by extreme storms. It documents how USGS scientists study the response of coastal environments to the extreme winds, waves, and currents brought by such storms.” Quoted from the USGS video release.
“This process of longshore transport is responsible for moving sediment up and down coastlines. It can sometimes lead to the development of barrier islands and spits—thin strips of beach that generally form parallel to the mainland.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
“The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is engaged in a research project of national scope to measure, report, and interpret historical shoreline change along open-ocean coasts of the United States. One of the primary goals of this project is to understand shoreline change hazards using methods that are comparable from one area of the country to another and that will allow for future, repeatable analyses of shoreline movement, coastal erosion, and land loss.” Quoted from the USGS Fact Sheet.
Over 20,000 Louisiana homes valued at over $2 billion could be flooded as waters flow into the Morganza Spillway. An estimated 50% of these homes do not have flood insurance.
The Three Gorges Dam was built on the Yangtze River in China for hydroelectric power, flood control and transportation. Unfortunately building the dam has created a number of environmental and economic problems.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article titled: “Fighting Back the Waves” that explores the role of engineered structures that protect important cities around the world. Rising sea levels and underestimated hazards are being recognized as an enormous problem.
Residents in Butte La Rose, Louisiana, a community that will be flooded if the Army Corps of Engineers opens the Morganza Spillway are shocked when they hear that parts of their town will be under 15 feet of water.
The Mississippi River isn’t the only place where levees are being intentionally broken. Today, a levee on the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, Canada is being intentionally breached to reduce the risk of flooding along other parts of the stream.
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Need triangular graph paper for ternary plots? Here is where you can download a free .pdf file and print all that you need. You can also get isometric paper, polar paper, grid paper, axis paper and more.
National Assessment of Shoreline Change: Historical Shoreline Change along the New England and Mid-Atlantic Coasts is a new open file report (2010-1118) by the United States Geological Survey. It contains an interesting set of graphs illustrating sea level change, based upon tidal gauges, for several locations on the Atlantic Ocean coast (shown below) The variable rates of sea level rise are attributed to a combination of “residual post-glacial isostatic rebound, hydrostatic loading, differential increases in tidal range, and neotectonics.”
“Our growing reliance on coastal waters for food, trade and tourism means that these delicate ecosystems need to be more closely monitored to guarantee their future sustainability.” Quoted from the European Space Agency press release.
A new sewer system in the Cleveland, Ohio area will require a tunnel to carry sewage to be built for a distance of over 1/2 mile under the floor of Lake Erie.
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Here’s where you can get a variety of free printable graph papers in easy to use .pdf files. Grid paper, axis paper, isometric paper, ternary paper, polar paper and more.
Coastal erosion and melting permafrost are threatening many archaeological sites in Nunavut, Canada. Researchers are mapping many areas with ground-penetrating radar to quickly assess before they are washed away.
Several of the sites are near the community of Pond Inlet, which is also threatened by coastal erosion. In the satellite image above you can see where erosion has occurred and where riprap has been placed.View Larger Map
A new report suggests that 60% of the public school buildings in Utah are not prepared to stand up to a major earthquake and up to 8% of the buildings are “virtually certain” to collapse when the “big one” hits the Wasatch front.
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