Future marsh evolution due to tidal changes induced by human adaptation to sea level rise
Celina Balderas-Guzman, Kevin Buffington, Karen M. Thorne, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Michelle A. Hummel, Mark T. Stacey
2023, Earth's Future (11)
With sea level rise threatening coastal development, decision-makers are beginning to act by modifying shorelines. Previous research has shown that hardening or softening shorelines may change the tidal range under future sea level rise. Tidal range can also be changed by natural factors. Coastal marshes, which humans...
Spatial distribution of elevation change monitoring in coastal wetlands across protected lands of the lower 48 United States
Justine Annaliese Neville, Glenn R. Guntenspergen
2023, Fact Sheet 2023-3039
IntroductionTidally influenced coastal wetlands, both saline and fresh, appear where terrestrial and marine environments meet and are considered important ecosystems for identifying the impacts of climate change. Coastal wetlands provide valuable benefits to society and the environment in the form of flood protection, water-quality improvements, and shoreline erosion reduction, making...
Geology, hydrology, and groundwater contamination in the vicinity of Central Chemical facility, Hagerstown, Maryland
Trevor P. Needham, Alex R. Fiore, Scott W. Ator, Jeff P. Raffensperger, Madison B. Smith, Nicole M. Bellmyer, Caitlyn M. Dugan, Carol J. Morel
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5011
The soil and groundwater at the Central Chemical facility, Hagerstown, Maryland, are contaminated due to the blending and production of pesticides and fertilizers during much of the 20th century. Remedial investigations focus on two operable units (OU) consisting of the surface soils and waste disposal lagoon (OU-1) and the groundwater...
USGS READI-Net: A FY23 end-of-year update
Adam Sepulveda
2023, Newsletter
No abstract available....
Evaluating the utility of effective breeding size estimates for monitoring sea lamprey spawning abundance
Ellen M. Weise, Kim T Scribner, Olivia Boeberitz, Gale Bravener, Nicholas S. Johnson, John D Robinson
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is an invasive species that is a significant source of mortality for populations of valued fish species across the North American Great Lakes. Large annual control programs are needed to reduce the species' impacts; however, the number of successfully spawning adults...
Statewide sampling to determine spatial distribution, prevalence, and occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Illinois community water supplies, 2020–21
Amy M. Gahala, Jennifer B. Sharpe, Andrew M. Williams
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5078
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of synthetic chemicals that have been manufactured and used globally since the 1940s. PFAS are used for their oil- and water-repellent properties, ability to reduce friction, and their flame-retardant nature. PFAS are widely used in a variety of products, including clothing, carpet,...
Responses of juvenile mussels to metals in sediment and water of the Tri-State Mining District
John M. Besser, Chris D. Ivey, James L. Kunz, Nile E. Kemble, Danielle M. Cleveland, Jeffery A. Steevens, Heidi Dunn, Ryan Foley
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1024
The U.S. Geological Survey and collaborators from EcoAnalysts, Inc., completed field and laboratory studies during 2016–19 to evaluate the toxicity of metals to freshwater mussels in streams draining the Tri-State Mining District. This project consisted of (1) sampling and analysis of metals in water and sediment, (2) surveys of mussel...
Lawetlat'la—Mount St. Helens—Land in transformation
Carolyn L. Driedger, Alysa Adams, Michael A. Clynne, Kristi Cochrane, Abi Groskopf, Emma Johnson, Heather Monti, Elizabeth Westby
2023, General Information Product 220
This poster provides an overview of Mount St. Helens’ eruption history and emphasizes the continuous transformation of the volcanic landscape and its ecosystems. After each eruption, the landscape and ecosystems are not so much restored as they are morphed into new forms and patterns....
Implications of water, sediment, and nutrient budgets for the restoration of a shallow, turbid lake in semiarid southeastern Oregon
Cassandra D. Smith, Tamara M. Wood
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5098
Malheur Lake is the largest lake in the endorheic Harney Basin in southeastern Oregon. Since the 1990s, Malheur Lake—which averages depths of about 1 meter—has been in a degraded, turbid state lacking submergent and emergent vegetation. The goals of this study were to identify the major sources of sediment and...
Regression equations for estimating the 4-day, 3-year low-flow frequency and adjusted harmonic mean streamflow at ungaged sites for unregulated, perennial streams in New Mexico
Meghan T. Bell, Anne C. Tillery
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5058
The Federal Clean Water Act stipulates that States adopt water-quality standards to protect and enhance the quality of water in those States and to protect water quality through the creation of planning documents and discharge permits. Critical low-flow values, including the 4-day, 3-year low-flow frequency (4Q3) and harmonic mean streamflows,...
Developing satellite-estimated precipitation monthly reports for selected locations in the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Gabriel B. Senay, David A. Helweg, Stefanie Kagone, John B. Taylor, Thomas Cecere, Tiare Eastmond, Amy Koch, Kurtis Nelson, Lajikit Rufus
2023, Data Report 1181
The Republic of the Marshall Islands (also known as the Marshall Islands) is a nation of more than 30 low-lying atolls and islands, most of which are inhabited, dispersed across an Exclusive Economic Zone over 770,000 square miles in the tropical central north Pacific Ocean. Monitoring environmental conditions for potential...
Strategic monitoring to minimize misclassification errors from conservation status assessments
Kylee Denise Dunham, Patrick K. Devers, Abigail Jean Lawson, James E. Lyons, Conor P. McGowan, Andy Royle
2023, Biological Conservation (286)
Classifying species into risk categories is a ubiquitous process in conservation decision-making affecting regulatory procedures, conservation actions, and guiding resource allocation at global, national, and regional scales. However, monitoring programs often do not provide data required for accurate species classification...
Intramolecular carbon isotope geochemistry of butane isomers from laboratory maturation and Monte-Carlo simulations of kerogen types I, II, and III
Xiaoqiang Li, Hao Xie, Justin E. Birdwell, Gregory McGovern, Juske Horita
2023, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (360) 57-67
Position-specific (PS) carbon isotope compositions of light hydrocarbons such as propane and butane isomers (n-butane and i-butane) can provide a wealth of information on the history of natural gases in the subsurface reservoirs and other environments. For PS carbon isotope analysis...
Spectral characterization of dissolved organic matter in groundwater to assess mixing with oil-field water near selected oil fields, southern California
Angela Hansen, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Matthew K. Landon, Peter B. McMahon
2023, Science of the Total Environment (905)
Samples of oil-field water (oil wells, injectate, disposal ponds) and groundwater near selected oil and gas fields in southern California were analyzed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and by optical spectroscopic techniques (i.e., absorbance and fluorescence) to assess whether these measurements can be used to distinguish between oil-field water...
Social and biological perspectives to investigate and address illegal shooting of raptors
Eve C. Thomason, Kenneth Wallen, Todd E. Katzner
2023, Global Ecology and Conservation (46)
Humans have shot raptors for centuries. However, in many countries these actions have been illegal since the mid-twentieth century. Despite this history, there is not a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of this activity, its frequency, and why it occurs. We...
Groundwater quality in abandoned underground coal mine aquifers across West Virginia
Mitchell A. McAdoo, Gregory T. Connock, Mark D. Kozar
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5091
Abandoned underground coal mine aquifers cover a large part of West Virginia and could supply substantial quantities of water for agricultural, industrial, residential, and public use. Several Federal, State, and academic institutions have studied the availability and quality of water stored in abandoned underground coal mine aquifers for a variety...
Early Pliocene (Zanclean) stratigraphic framework for PRISM5/PlioMIP3 time slices
Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson, Kevin M. Foley, Steve Hunter, Aisling M Dolan, Julia C. Tindall
2023, Stratigraphy (20) 225-231
Global reconstructions of Pliocene climate provide important insights into how the climate system operates under elevated temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels. These reconstructions have been used extensively in paleoclimate modeling experiments for comparison to simulated conditions, and as boundary conditions.Most previous work focused on the Late Pliocene interval known as...
What evidence exists on the ecological and physical effects of built structures in shallow, tropical coral reefs? A systematic map protocol
Avery Paxton, Tom Swannack, Candice Piercy, Safra Altman, Leanne Poussard, Brandon Puckett, Curt D. Storlazzi, T. Shay Viehman
2023, Environmental Evidence (12)
BackgroundShallow, tropical coral reefs face compounding threats from habitat degradation due to coastal development and pollution, impacts from storms and sea-level rise, and pulse disturbances like blast fishing, mining, dredging, and ship groundings that reduce coral reefs’ height and variability. One approach toward restoring coral reef structure from...
Global projections of storm surges using high-resolution CMIP6 climate models
Sanne Muis, Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts, Jose A. A. Antolinez, Job C. Dullaart, Trang Minh Duong, Li H. Erikson, Rein J. Haarsma, Maialen Irazoqui Apecechea, Matthias Mengel, Dewi Le Bars, Andrea C. O'Neill, Roshanka Ranasinghe, Malcolm J. Roberts, Martin Verlaan, Philip J. Ward, Kun Yan
2023, Earth's Future (11)
In the coming decades, coastal flooding will become more frequent due to sea-level rise and potential changes in storms. To produce global storm surge projections from 1950 to 2050, we force the Global Tide and Surge Model with a ∼25-km resolution climate model ensemble from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project...
Characteristics of a sea louse (Caligus clemensi) epizootic in wild Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii)
David James Paez, Jacob L. Gregg, Ashley MacKenzie, Sophie Amanda Hall, Paul Hershberger
2023, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (80) 1847-1856
We characterized a natural sea louse epizootic of Caligus clemensi and the effects of parasitism on Pacific herring Clupea pallasii in Port Angeles Harbor, WA, USA. Infestation prevalence on newly metamorphosed age 0 Pacific herring reached 100% prevalence by mid-August. At this time, the mean louse intensity was 4.6 lice/fish, and a positive correlation...
Leaf nitrogen affects photosynthesis and water use efficiency similarly in nitrogen-fixing and non-fixing trees
Thomas A. Bytnerowicz, Jennifer L. Funk, Duncan N. L. Menge, Steven Perakis, Amelia A. Wolf
2023, Journal of Ecology (111) 2457-2471
Nitrogen (N)-fixing trees are thought to break a basic rule of leaf economics: higher leaf N concentrations do not translate into higher rates of carbon assimilation. Understanding how leaf N affects photosynthesis and water use efficiency (WUE) in this ecologically important group is critical.We grew six N-fixing and four...
Karst groundwater vulnerability determined by modeled age and residence time tracers
MaryLynn Musgrove, Bryant Jurgens, Stephen P. Opsahl
2023, Geophysical Research Letters (50)
Karst aquifers are a vital groundwater resource globally, but features such as rapid recharge and conduit flow make them highly vulnerable to land-surface contamination. We apply environmental age tracers to the south-central Texas Edwards aquifer, a karst resource in a rapidly urbanizing and drought-prone region, to assess vulnerability to land-surface...
Inventory of glaciers and perennial snowfields of the conterminous USA
Andrew Fountain, Bryce Glenn, Christopher J. McNeil
2023, Earth System Science Data (15) 4077-4104
This report summarizes an updated inventory of glaciers and perennial snowfields of the conterminous United States. The inventory is based on interpretation of mostly aerial imagery provided by the National Agricultural I magery Program, US Department of Agriculture, with some satellite imagery in places where aerial imagery was not suitable....
Toward probabilistic post-fire debris-flow hazard decision support
Nina S. Oakley, Tao Liu, Luke McGuire, Matthew Simpson, Benjamin J. Hatchett, Alexander Tardy, Jason W. Kean, Christopher Castellano, Jayme L. Laber, Daniel Steinhoff
2023, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (104) E1587-E1605
Post-wildfire debris flows (PFDF) threaten life and property in western North America. They are triggered by short-duration, high-intensity rainfall. Following a wildfire, rainfall thresholds are developed that, if exceeded, indicate high likelihood of a PFDF. Existing weather forecast products allow forecasters to identify favorable atmospheric conditions for rainfall intensities that...
Evaluation of replicate sampling using hierarchical spatial modeling of population surveys accounting for imperfect detectability
Richard J. Camp, Chauncey K. Asing, Paul C. Banko, Lainie Berry, Kevin W. Brinck, Chris Farmer, Ayesha Genz
2023, Wildlife Society Bulletin (47)
Effective species management and conservation benefit from knowledge of species distribution and status. Surveys to obtain that information often involve replicate sampling, which increases survey effort and costs. We simultaneously modeled species distribution, abundance and spatial correlation, and compared the uncertainty in replicate abundance estimates of the endangered palila (Loxioides...
