Using corrected and imputed polarity measurements to improve focal mechanisms in a regional earthquake catalog near the Mt. Lewis Fault Zone, California
Robert Skoumal, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, David R. Shelly
2023, Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth (128)
We utilized relative polarity measurements and machine learning techniques to better resolve focal mechanisms and stress orientations considering a catalog of ∼29,000 relocated earthquakes that occurred during 1984–2021 in the southeastern San Francisco Bay Area. Earthquake focal mechanisms are commonly produced using P wave first motion polarities, which traditionally...
National Civil Applications Center
Paul M. Young
2023, Fact Sheet 2022-3085
Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Civil Applications Center (NCAC) analyzes remote-sensing data from the Intelligence Community (IC) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to support public safety missions and to study land-surface and environmental changes. The NCAC provides remotely sensed images to USGS scientists and other civilian Federal...
Sampling and analysis plan for the Koocanusa Reservoir and upper Kootenai River, Montana, water-quality monitoring program, 2021
Sara L. Caldwell Eldridge, Melissa A. Schaar, Chad B. Reese, Ashley M. Bussell, Thomas Chapin
2023, Open-File Report 2022-1113
In 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey will collect water-quality samples and environmental data from 3 sites in Koocanusa Reservoir and from 1 site in the Kootenai River. The transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir is in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northwestern Montana, United States, and was formed with the construction of Libby...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida)
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Melvin P. Nenneman, Betty R. Euliss
2023, Professional Paper 1842-Z
Keys to Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) management include providing grasslands with a shrub or forb component or shrub-dominated edge habitat, which includes dense grass and moderately high litter cover, and avoiding disturbances that completely eliminate woody vegetation. Clay-colored Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 20–186 centimeters (cm) average...
Advancing best practices for the analysis of the vulnerability of military installations in the Pacific Basin to coastal flooding under a changing climate – RC-2644
John Marra, William Sweet, Eric Leuliette, Michael Kruk, Ayesha Genz, Curt D. Storlazzi, Peter Ruggiero, Meredith Leung, Dylan L. Anderson, Mark Merrifield, Janet Becker, Ian Robertson, Matthew J. Widlansky, Philip R. Thompson, Fernando Mendez, Ana Rueda, Jose A.A. Antolinez, Laura Cagigal, Melissa Menendez, Hector Lobeto, Jayantha Obeysekera, Chris Chiesa
2023, Report
Coastal flooding takes many forms, ranging from major flooding associated with storms to minor flooding associated with exceptionally high tides and other oceanic and atmospheric phenomena on storm-free days. A major societal challenge is to understand and predict how flood magnitude and frequency will manifest at particular places and times, now...
Landscape configuration influences Oma‘o (Myadestes obscurus) song diversity
Nicole Fernandez, Kristina L. Paxton, Eben H. Paxton, Adam A. Pack, Patrick J. Hart
2023, Pacific Science (76) 325-335
Acoustic communication in the form of songs is a learned behavior in oscine that can be passed down from one generation to the next through cultural transmission. Over time songs can change when populations become isolated from one another, creating dialects that are distinct to a population. Habitat fragmentation is...
Genetic diversity, structure, and effective population size of an endangered, endemic hoary bat, ʻōpeʻapeʻa, across the Hawaiian Islands
Corinna Pinzari, Mona Renee Bellinger, Donald K. Price, Frank J Bonaccorso
2023, Peer J (11)
Island bat species are disproportionately at risk of extinction, and Hawaiʻi’s only native terrestrial land mammal, the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus semotus) locally known as ʻōpeʻapeʻa, is no exception. To effectively manage this bat species with an archipelago-wide distribution, it is important to determine the population size on each island...
Context-dependent representation of within- and between-model uncertainty: Aggregating probabilistic predictions in infectious disease epidemiology
Emily Howerton, Michael C. Runge, Tiffany L. Bogich, Rebecca K. Borchering, Hidetoshi Inamine, Justin Lessler, Luke C Mullany, William J.M. Probert, Claire P. Smith, Shaun Truelove, Cècile Viboud, Katriona Shea
2023, Journal of the Royal Society Interface (20)
Probabilistic predictions support public health planning and decision making, especially in infectious disease emergencies. Aggregating outputs from multiple models yields more robust predictions of outcomes and associated uncertainty. While the selection of an aggregation method can be guided by retrospective performance evaluations, this is not always possible....
Improvements to estimate ADCP uncertainty sources for discharge measurements
Jose M. Diaz Lozada, Carlos M. Garcia, Kevin Oberg, Thomas M. Over, Federico Flores Nieto
2023, Flow Measurement and Instrumentation (90)
The use of moving boat ADCPs (Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers) for discharge measurements requires identification of the sources and magnitude of uncertainty to ensure accurate measurements. Recently, a tool known as QUant was developed to estimate the contribution to the uncertainty estimates for each transect of moving-boat ADCP discharge...
Survey of fish communities in tributaries to the Mohawk River, New York, 2019
Scott D. George, Dylan R. Winterhalter, Barry P. Baldigo
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5121
Fish communities of the Mohawk River and associated sections of the New York State Canal System have been well documented but little information is available regarding the status of fish communities in the extensive network of tributaries that feed the Mohawk River. This lack of information is problematic because changes...
Estimating flood magnitude and frequency for unregulated streams in Wisconsin
Sara B. Levin, Christopher A. Sanocki
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5118
Flood frequency characteristics and estimated flood discharges for the 50-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities were computed at 299 streamgaged locations in Wisconsin. The State was divided into four flood frequency regions using a cluster analysis to produce regions which are homogeneous with respect...
Over half a century record of limnology data from Lake Powell, desert southwest United States: From reservoir filling to present day (1964–2021)
Bridget Deemer, Caitlin M. Andrews, Kristin E. Strock, Nicholas Voichick, James Hensleigh, John Beaver, Robert Radtke
2023, Limnology and Oceanography Letters (8) 580-594
Lake Powell is a large water storage reservoir in the arid southwestern United States. Here, we present a 58-yr limnology dataset that captures water quality parameters from reservoir filling to present day (temperature, salinity, major ions, total suspended solids), as well as a 38-yr record of...
A novel non-destructive workflow for examining germanium and co-substituents in ZnS
Sarah M. Hayes, Ryan J. McAleer, Nadine M. Piatak, Sarah Jane White, Robert R. Seal, II
2023, Frontiers in Earth Science (11)
A suite of complementary techniques was used to examine germanium (Ge), a byproduct critical element, and co-substituent trace elements in ZnS and mine wastes from four mineral districts where germanium is, or has been, produced within the United States. This contribution establishes a comprehensive workflow for characterizing Ge...
Stochastic watershed model ensembles for long-range planning: Verification and validation
Ghazal Shabestanipour, Zachary P Brodeur, William H. Farmer, Scott Steinschneider, Richard M Vogel, Jonathan Lamontagne
2023, Water Resource Research (59)
Deterministic watershed models (DWMs) are used in nearly all hydrologic planning, design, and management activities, yet they cannot generate streamflow ensembles needed for hydrologic risk management (HRM). The stochastic component of DWMs is often ignored in practice, leading to a systematic bias in extreme events. Since traditional...
Investigations of ambient noise velocity variations in a region of induced seismicity near Greeley, Colorado
Thomas Clifford, Anne Sheehan, Morgan P. Moschetti
2023, The Seismic Record (3) 12-20
Wastewater injection has induced earthquakes in Northeastern Colorado since 2014. We apply ambient noise correlation techniques to determine temporal changes in seismic velocities in the region. We find no clear correlation between seismic velocity fluctuations and either injection volumes or seismicity patterns. We...
Maps of elevation of top of Pierre Shale and surficial deposit thickness with hydraulic properties from borehole geophysics and aquifers tests within and near Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 2020–21
Colton J. Medler, William G. Eldridge, Todd M. Anderson, Stephanie N. Phillips
2023, Scientific Investigations Map 3502
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center, collected borehole geophysical data and completed simple aquifer tests to estimate the thickness and hydraulic properties of surficial deposits. The purpose of data collection was to create generalized contour maps of Pierre Shale elevation and surficial...
First nests of Endangered Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer found in over 40 years indicate nesting plasticity
Konstantin S. Maslovsky, Philipp N. Maleko, Vladimir V. Pronkevich, Jonathan C. Slaght, Abby Powell
2023, Bird Conservation International (33)
Knowledge of the breeding ecology of Endangered Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer is necessary to develop a comprehensive species-specific conservation plan. We found nine greenshank nests in Schaste Bay, Russian Far East during the summers of 2019–2021. These are the first nests found in over 40 years and the...
The EDMAP Program: Training the next generation of geologic mappers
Jenna L. Shelton, Christopher S. Swezey, Michael Marketti
2023, Fact Sheet 2023-3002
Introduction Detailed geologic maps are the basis of most earth science investigations and can be used for natural hazard mitigation, resource identification and exploration, infrastructure planning, and more. As a part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) congressionally mandated National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP), the EDMAP program (referred to as...
Estimating geomagnetically induced currents in southern Brazil using 3-D Earth resistivity model
Karen V. Espinosa Sarmiento, Antonio L. Padilha, Livia R. Alves, Adam Schultz, Anna Kelbert
2023, Space Weather (21)
Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) result from the interaction of the time variation of ground magnetic field during a geomagnetic disturbance with the Earth's deep electrical resistivity structure. In this study, we simulate induced GICs in a hypothetical representation of a low-latitude power transmission network located mainly over...
Masting is shaped by tree-level attributes and stand structure, more than climate, in a Rocky Mountain conifer species
Andreas Wion, Ian Pearse, Kyle C. Rodman, Thomas T. Veblen, Miranda Redmond
2023, Forest Ecology and Management (531)
Masting describes the spatiotemporal variability in seed production by a population of plants. Both abiotic and biotic factors drive masting, but the importance of these factors can vary among individuals and populations. To better understand how a changing climate, altered disturbance regimes, or novel management strategies might affect future seed...
Recent and future declines of a historically widespread pollinator linked to climate, land cover, and pesticides
William Michael Janousek, Margaret R. Douglas, Syd Cannings, Marion Clement, Casey Delphia, Jeffrey Everett, Richard G. Hatfield, Douglas A. Keinath, Jonathan B Koch, Lindsie M. McCabe, John Michael Mola, Jane Ogilvie, Imtiaz Rangwala, Leif L Richardson, Ashley T. Rohde, James P. Strange, Lusha M. Tronstad, Tabitha A. Graves
2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (120)
The acute decline in global biodiversity includes not only the loss of rare species, but also the rapid collapse of common species across many different taxa. The loss of pollinating insects is of particular concern because of the ecological and economic values these species provide. The western bumble bee (Bombus...
Effectiveness of a decade of treatments to reduce invasive buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare)
Yue M. Li, Seth M. Munson, Ya-Ching Lin, Perry Grissom
2023, Invasive Plant Science and Management (16) 27-37
The invasion of nonnative grasses threatens biodiversity and ecosystem function globally through competition with native plant species and increases to wildfire frequency and intensity. Management actions to reduce buffelgrass [Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link], an invasive warm-season perennial bunchgrass, are widely implemented, with chemical and mechanical treatments extending...
Optimization and application of non-native Phragmites australis transcriptome assemblies
Feng Tao, Chuanzhu Fan, Yimin Liu, Subashini Sivakumar, Kurt P. Kowalski, Edward M Golenberg
2023, PLoS ONE (18)
Phragmites australis (common reed) has a cosmopolitan distribution and has been suggested as a model organism for the study of invasive plant species. In North America, the non-native subspecies (ssp. australis) is widely distributed across the contiguous 48 states in the United States and large parts of Canada....
A global perspective on bacterial diversity in the terrestrial deep subsurface
A. Soares, A. L. Edwards, A. Bagnoud, J. Bradley, Elliott Barnhart, M. Bomberger Brown, K. Budwill, S. M. Caffrey, M. Fields, J. Gralnick., V. Kadnikov, L. Momper, M. Osburn, A. Mu, J.W. Moreau, D. Moser, L. Purkamo, S. M. Rassner, C. S. Sheik, B. Sherwood Lollar, B. M. Toner, G. Voordouw, K. Wouters, A. C. Mitchell
2023, Microbiology (169)
While recent efforts to catalogue Earth’s microbial diversity have focused upon surface and marine habitats, 12–20 % of Earth’s biomass is suggested to exist in the terrestrial deep subsurface, compared to ~1.8 % in the deep subseafloor. Metagenomic studies of the terrestrial deep subsurface have yielded a trove of divergent and functionally...
Nitrogen-15 NMR study on the incorporation of nitrogen into aquatic NOM upon chloramination
Kevin A. Thorn
2023, Aquatic Sciences (85)
Chloramination is being used increasingly in water treatment to lower the formation of regulated disinfection byproducts (DBPs). How monochloramine nitrogen becomes incorporated into aquatic natural organic matter (NOM) and potentially affects the formation of nitrogenous DBPs is an unresolved question in the chemistry of humic...
