Anomalous atmospheric circulation and large winter floods in six subregions of the southwestern United States

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): We examined atmospheric circulation conditions conducive to occurrence of winter floods that exceed the 10-year peak discharge on rivers in six hydroclimatic subregions in Arizona, southern Utah, Nevada, and California. ... This relationship between flooding and broad-scale atmospheric patterns in the modern record will aid in paleoclimatic interpretations of paleoflood records over the last few thousand years.

CMIP5 climate model analyses: Climate extremes in the United States

Given the increases in spatial resolution and other improvements in climate modeling capabilities over the last decade since the CMIP3 simulations were completed, CMIP5 provides a unique opportunity to assess scientific understanding of climate variability and change over a range of historical and future conditions. With participation from over 20 modeling groups and more than 40 global models, CMIP5 represents the latest and most ambitious coordinated international climate model intercomparison exercise to date. Observations dating back to 1900 show that the temperatures in the twenty-first century have the largest spatial extent of record breaking and much above normal mean monthly maximum and minimum temperatures. The 20-yr return value of the annual maximum or minimum daily temperature is one measure of changes in rare temperature extremes.

Speech of Hon. John Lowndes McLaurin, of South Carolina, in the Senate of the United States, Monday, December 9, 1901

This document contains a speech by John L. McLaurin of South Carolina presented in the Senate of the United States. Sections of the speech include: sectionalism the cause, conditions in South Carolina, the federal administration in South Carolina, should not array class against class, freedom of thought and speech, the issues, under caucus dictation the Senate no longer a deliberative body, the beginning of the fight, matter of arraying class against class, freedom of thought and speech, and issues.

Should the U.S. adapt to the world? The first debate on american exceptionalism and its impact on the founding of the United States

This paper aims at putting into perspective the recent, post 9/11 debate on the United States‘ alleged exceptionalism and its impact on the definition of American foreign policy. It reminds the readers that the United States was born as a result of a similar debate, at a time when a crucial choice for its future was to be made. Indeed, the Founding Fathers discarded the revolutionary idea that America was altogether different from other (European) nations and, as such, could succeed in saving republicanism and concentrate on domestic affairs. As Gordon Wood and Harvey Mansfield have shown, the 1787 version of republicanism stood as a departure from its earlier version, and such a change was necessary to the creation of a full-fledged federation, therefore paving the way to the current powerful Federal Republic. The early failure of the exceptionalist creed did not cause its disappearance, as the contemporary form of exceptionalism demonstrates, but created conditions that made an enduring and powerful influence very difficult.

Sedimentology and micromorphology of drumlin sediments at Chimney Bluffs State Park, New York, United States of America

The drumlin sediments at Chimney Bluffs, New York appear to represent a block-inmatrix style glacial melange. This melange comprises sand stringers, lenses and intraclasts juxtaposed in an apparently massive diamicton. Thin section examination of these glacigenic deposits has revealed microstructures indicative of autokinetic subglacial defonnation which are consistent with a deformable bed origin for the diamicton. These features include banding and. necking of matrix grains, oriented plasma fabrics and the formation of pressure shadows at the long axis ends of elongate clasts. Preservation of primary stratification within the sand intraclasts appears to suggest that these features were pre-existing up-ice deposits that were frozen, entrained, then deposited as part of a defonning till layer beneath an advancing ice sheet. Multi-directional micro-shearing within the sand blocks is thought to reflect the frozen nature of the sand units in such a high strain environment. It is also contended that dewatering of the sediment pile leading to the eventual immobilisation of the defonning till layer was responsible for opening sub-horizontal fissures within the diamicton. These features were subsequently infilled with mass flow poorly sorted sands and silts which were subjected to ductile defonnation during the waning stages of an actively deforming till layer. Microstructures indicative of the dewatering processes in the sand units include patches of fine-grained particles within a coarser-grained matrix and the presence of concentrated zones of translocated clays. However, these units were probably confined within an impermeable diamicton casing that prevented massive pore water influxes from the deforming till layer~ Hence, these microstructures probably reflect localised dewatering of the sand intraclasts. A layered subglacial shear zone model is proposed for the various features exhibited by the drumlin sediments. The complexity of these structures is explained in terms of ii superposing deformation styles in response to changing pore water pressures. Constructional glaciotectonics, as implied by the occurrence of sub-horizontal fissuring, is suggested as the mechanism for the stacking of the sand intraclast units within the diamicton. The usefulness of micromorphology in complimenting the traditional sedimentology of glacigenic deposits is emphasised by the current study. An otherwise massive diamicton was shown to contain microstructures indicative of the very high strain rates expected in a complexly deforming till layer. . It is quite obvious from this investigation that the classification of diamictons needs to be re-examined for evidence of microstructures that could lead to the re-interpretation of diamicton forming processes. RESUME Le pacquet de sediments drumlinaire de Chimney Bluffs, New York, represent un "bloc-en-matrice" genre de melange glaciale. Des structures microscopique comprennent l'evidence pour la defonnation intrinseque attribuee a l'origine lit non resistant du drumlin. PreselVation des structures primaires au coeur des blocs arenaces suggere que ceux sont des depots preexistant qui furent geles, entraines et par la suite sedimentes au milieu d'une couche de debris sous-glaciaires en voie de deformation. Des failles microscopiques a l'interieur des blocs arenaces appuient aussi l'idee d'un bloc cohesif (c'est-a-dire gele) au centre d'un till non resistant. Des implications significatives s'emergent de cette etude pour les conditions sous-glaciaire et les processus de la formation des drumlin.

Message from the President of the United States, transmitting communications from the plenipotentiaries of the United States charged with negotiating peace with Great Britain

Full Title: Message from the President of the United States, transmitting communications from the plenipotentiaries of the United States charged with negotiating peace with Great Britain : showing the conditions on which alone that government is willing to put an end to the war 13th Congress, 3d session. House. Doc. 6. October 10, 1814. Referred to the Committee of Foreign Relations. Printed by Roger C. Weightman

Some considerations on the possible effects of the failure of the United States Congress to renew the ATPDEA

Includes bibliography

Estimating the effects of United States food safety and agricultural health standards on agro-food exports from Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

EXTRALIMITAL RECORDS OF THE MEXICAN FREE-TAILED BAT (TADARIDA BRASILIENSIS MEXICANA) IN THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES AND THEIR BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Two new records of Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana are reported from Nebraska. The literature records of this taxon from the central United States are summarized. In this region of North America, these bats occupy a “natal range” where the species carries on regular reproductive activities and the populations are relatively stable, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. To the north of the natal range of T. b. mexicana is a “pioneering zone” where, under favorable conditions, the species is capable of reproducing and conducting its normal activities. The pioneering zone of the Mexican free-tailed bat includes Barber and Comanche counties in Kansas and as far north as Mesa and Saguache counties in southwestern Colorado. Finally, to the north of the pioneering zone, there is a much larger area that is proposed as the “exploring zone” in which only a few individuals of the species are found. Reproductive activities do not occur on any regular basis in the exploring zone, which encompasses the remainder of Colorado and Kansas as well as the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and southeastern South Dakota.

Assessing the Relevance of Anomie Theory for Explaining Spatial Variation in Lethal Criminal Violence: An Aggregate-Level Analysis of Homicide within the United States

One of the most influential statements in the anomie theory tradition has been Merton’s argument that the volume of instrumental property crime should be higher where there is a greater imbalance between the degree of commitment to monetary success goals and the degree of commitment to legitimate means of pursing such goals. Contemporary anomie theories stimulated by Merton’s perspective, most notably Messner and Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory, have expanded the scope conditions by emphasizing lethal criminal violence as an outcome to which anomie theory is highly relevant, and virtually all contemporary empirical studies have focused on applying the perspective to explaining spatial variation in homicide rates. In the present paper, we argue that current explications of Merton’s theory and IAT have not adequately conveyed the relevance of the core features of the anomie perspective to lethal violence. We propose an expanded anomie model in which an unbalanced pecuniary value system – the core causal variable in Merton’s theory and IAT – translates into higher levels of homicide primarily in indirect ways by increasing levels of firearm prevalence, drug market activity, and property crime, and by enhancing the degree to which these factors stimulate lethal outcomes. Using aggregate-level data collected during the mid-to-late 1970s for a sample of relatively large social aggregates within the U.S., we find a significant effect on homicide rates of an interaction term reflecting high levels of commitment to monetary success goals and low levels of commitment to legitimate means. Virtually all of this effect is accounted for by higher levels of property crime and drug market activity that occur in areas with an unbalanced pecuniary value system. Our analysis also reveals that property crime is more apt to lead to homicide under conditions of high levels of structural disadvantage. These and other findings underscore the potential value of elaborating the anomie perspective to explicitly account for lethal violence.

Episodic Stream Acidification Caused by Atmospheric Deposition of Sea Salts at Acadia National Park, Maine, United States

Major episodic acidifications were observed on several occasions in first-order brooks at Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine. Short-term declines of up to 2 pH units and 130-mu-eq L-1 acid-neutralizing capacity were caused by HCl from soil solutions, rather than by H2SO4 or HNO3 from precipitation, because (1) SO4 concentrations were constant or decreased during the pH depression, (2) Cl concentrations were greatest at the time of lowest pH, and (3) Na:Cl ratios decreased from values much greater than those in precipitation (a result of chemical weathering), to values equal to or less than those in precipitation. Dilution, increases in NO3 concentrations, or increased export or organic acidity from soils were insufficient to cause the observed decreases in pH. These data represent surface water acidifications due primarily to an ion exchange "salt effect" of Na+ for H+ in soil solution, and secondarily to dilution, neither of which is a consequence of acidic deposition. The requisite conditions for a major episodic salt effect acidification include acidic soils, and either an especially salt-laden wet precipitation event, or a period of accumulation of marine salts from dry deposition, followed by wet inputs.

Field investigation of dried lakes in western United States as an analogue to desiccation fractures on Mars

Potential Desiccation Polygons (PDPs), tens to hundreds of meters in size, have been observed in numerous regions on Mars, particularly in ancient (>3Gyr old) terrains of inferred paleolacustrine/playa geologic setting, and in association with hydrous minerals such as smectites. Therefore, a better understanding of the conditions in which large desiccation polygons form could yield unique insight into the ancient climate on Mars. Many dried lakebeds/playas in western United States display large (>50m wide) desiccation polygons, which we consider to be analogues for PDPs on Mars. Therefore, we have carried out fieldwork in seven of these dried lakes in San Bernardino and the Death Valley National Park regions complemented with laboratory and spectral analysis of collected samples. Our study shows that the investigated lacustrine/playa sediments have (a) a soil matrix containing 40-75% clays and fine silt (by volume) where the clay minerals are dominated by illite/muscovite followed by smectite, (b) carbonaceous mineralogy with variable amounts of chloride and sulfate salts, and significantly, (c) roughly similar spectral signatures in the visible-near-infrared (VIS-NIR) range. We conclude that the development of large desiccation fractures is consistent with water table retreat. In addition, the comparison of the mineralogical to the spectral observations further suggests that remote sensing VIS-NIR spectroscopy has its limitations for detailed characterization of lacustrine/playa deposits. Finally, our results imply that the widespread distribution of PDPs on Mars indicates global or regional climatic transitions from wet conditions to more arid ones making them important candidate sites for future in situ missions.

Ecosystem impacts of three sequential hurricanes (Dennis, Floyd, and Irene) on the United States' largest lagoonal estuary, Pamlico Sound, NC

Three sequential hurricanes, Dennis, Floyd, and Irene, affected coastal North Carolina in September and October 1999. These hurricanes inundated the region with up to 1 m of rainfall, causing 50- to 500-year flooding in the watershed of the Pamlico Sound, the largest lagoonal estuary in the United States and a key West Atlantic fisheries nursery. We investigated the ecosystem-level impacts on and responses of the Sound to the floodwater discharge. Floodwaters displaced three-fourths of the volume of the Sound, depressed salinity by a similar amount, and delivered at least half of the typical annual nitrogen load to this nitrogen-sensitive ecosystem. Organic carbon concentrations in floodwaters entering Pamlico Sound via a major tributary (the Neuse River Estuary) were at least 2-fold higher than concentrations under prefloodwater conditions. A cascading set of physical, chemical, and ecological impacts followed, including strong vertical stratification, bottom water hypoxia, a sustained increase in algal biomass, displacement of many marine organisms, and a rise in fish disease. Because of the Sound's long residence time (≈1 year), we hypothesize that the effects of the short-term nutrient enrichment could prove to be multiannual. A predicted increase in the frequency of hurricane activity over the next few decades may cause longer-term biogeochemical and trophic changes in this and other estuarine and coastal habitats.

Field experiences with floating breakwaters in the eastern United States /

In the past 10 years, the use of floating breakwaters as temporary coastal structures has become increasingly widespread in the United States as an inexpensive means for suppressing waves. However, as with any new technology, there have been many failures and a substantial number of imaginative, successful innovations. One of the chief problems contributing to the failure rate has been a lack of awareness by designers of reliable, up-to-date technical information. As part of a large research effort to remedy this problem, a survey was conducted on field experience with floating breakwaters in the Eastern United States. Results of the survey confirmed that state-of-the-art technical literature is not being properly disseminated. Structures built according to early design manuals were shown to have failed before the completion of their design life. Conversely, floating breakwaters built to the standards set by recent research have fared well and show promise of meeting their design golas. The weakest areas of the present technology are flotation and the anchoring systems. It is recommended that a concentrated research effort be directed toward these problem areas; it is also recommended that the monitoring of state-of-the-art projects continue. (Author).

Book trade bibliography in the United States in the nineteenth century,

A reproduction of "subscriber's copy," no.7 of an edition of 50 copies printed for non-members of the Dibdin Club (including original t.p. with imprint: New York : Printed for the Dibdin Club and for sale by Sampson Low, Marston & Company, London, Eng., 1898)