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  • USACE waives day use fees at recreation areas in observance of National Public Lands Day

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will waive day use fees at recreation areas nationwide in observance of National Public Lands Day on Sept. 28, 2024.

  • MKARNS Nav Notice No. SWL 24-74 Lock 9 Tow Haulage Out of Service

    The tow haulage equipment at Ormond Lock (No. 9) NM 176.9 is currently out of service due to electrical issues. Double cut tows will have to be locked the conventional way (without the use of tow haulage). A follow up notice will be distributed when the tow haulage equipment is back in service.

  • Environmental Lab combats HABs with UV light and 3D-printed structures

    Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory are testing a new, ultraviolet light-based treatment technology to treat Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) without introducing chemicals that may have undesirable secondary effects.

  • Comparing the Thermal Infrared Signatures of Shallow Buried Objects and Disturbed Soil

    Abstract: The alteration of physical and thermal properties of native soil during object burial produces a signature that can be detected using thermal infrared (IR) imagery. This study explores the thermal signature of disturbed soil compared to buried objects of different compositions (e.g., metal and plastic) buried 5 cm below ground surface (bgs) to better understand the mechanisms by which soil disturbance can impact the performance of aided target detection and recognition (AiTD/R). IR imagery recorded every five minutes were coupled with meteorological data recorded on 15-minute intervals from 1 July to 31 October 2022 to compare the diurnal and long-term fluctuations in raw radiance within a 25 × 25 pixel area of interest (AOI) above each target. This study examined the diurnal pattern of the thermal signature under several varying environmental conditions. Results showed that surface effects from soil disturbance increased the raw radiance of the AOI, strengthening the contrast between the object and background soil for several weeks after object burial. Enhancement of the thermal signature may lead to expanded windows of object visibility. Target age was identified as an important element in the development of training data sets for machine learning (ML) classification algorithms.

  • Thermography Conversion for Optimal Noise Reduction

    Abstract: Computer vision applications in terms of raw thermal radiance are limited by byte size. Normalizing the raw imagery reduces functional complexities that could otherwise aide a computer processing algorithm. This work explores a method to normalize 16-bit signed integer (I16) into unsigned 8-bit (U8) while maintaining the integrity of the correlation coefficients between the raw data sets and the environmental parameters that affects thermal anomaly detectability.

  • Accelerated Concrete Flexural Strengths for Airfield Pavements

    Abstract: Mixture-proportioning studies and submittals are an integral part of the pavement design and planning process as outlined in the Unified Facilities Guide Specification 32 13 14.13 for Department of Defense airfield pavements. Many aspects of the required testing are time-consuming due to the duration of the test (e.g., alkali–silica reaction experiments) or to the required concrete age at testing (e.g., compressive or flexural strength testing). Time awaiting testing results often delays projects and adds cost. The objective was to develop an accelerated testing requirement for flexural strength (currently 650 psi or greater at 90 days), thereby reducing the time to pavement acceptance. Potential accelerated testing methodologies were evaluated in a literature review. A statistical analysis generated under a design of experiments protocol determined concrete flexural strength gain and correlation ratios. Results of the statistical analysis showed that a reduced flexural strength of 600 psi could be accepted at 14 days and still reach the minimum flexural strength requirement of 650 psi at 90 days with high certainty (i.e., greater than 95% certainty). Additionally, the results stemming from the design of experiments compared favorably with data gathered from four mixture-proportioning submittals acquired via the Transportation Systems Center.

  • FUDS Facts: Discover the environmental clean-up initiative resulting from World War II

    A brief overview of the Formerly Used Defense Site program and the history of how it came to be.

  • USACE closes regulatory Kenai Field Office in Soldotna

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District’s Regulatory Division closed its Kenai Field Office Sept. 23 located in Soldotna. While the physical office will no longer be operational, the staff remain committed to providing support and ensuring uninterrupted service to the community and stakeholders.

  • USACE Omaha District starts three new CAP projects, expands efforts to serve disadvantaged communities

    OMAHA, Neb. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, has initiated three new Continuing Authorities Program pilot projects to support communities in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado. These efforts are part of a national pilot program, announced last month by the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works, that will support and partner with 12 rural or economically disadvantaged communities across the United States.

  • Validation of Sample Extraction and Analysis Techniques for Simultaneous Determination of Legacy and Insensitive Munitions (IM) Constituents

    Abstract: Currently, no standardized method exists for the analysis of insensitive munitions (IM) in environmental matrices such as water, soils, and tis-sues. However, standardized methods, such as United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 8330B, exist for legacy munitions for water and soil matrices. The lack of standardized methods for IM analysis leads researchers to use a wide variety of incomplete and overlapping analytical methodologies. The overall project’s first phase, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Environmental Restoration (ER)–2722, was to develop and optimize methods to address these methodological gaps by creating analytical methods for simultaneous analysis of IM and legacy munitions in water, soil, and tissue matrices. The main objective of the current project phase, Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) ER19-5078, is to build upon the previous work in phase one and to focus on the validation of the newly developed methods. Synergizing with the main objective of the overall project, the methods were validated and submitted to the EPA for inclusion as a possible addendum to EPA 8330B.