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This report is a user guide for the 0.1.2 release of the Python Hyperspectral Analysis Tool (PyHAT) and its graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI is intended to provide an intuitive front end to allow users to apply sophisticated preprocessing and analysis methods to spectroscopic data. Though the PyHAT package...

During 2023–24, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Edwards Aquifer Authority, revised a previous publication of the geologic framework and hydrostratigraphy of the Edwards and Trinity aquifers that was completed during 2018 within Hays County, Texas. The purpose of this report is to present the updated geologic framework...

An ∼3 km long nodal array oriented approximately east–west was deployed in Chugiak, Alaska, by the U.S. Geological Survey during 2021. The array intersects with the permanent NetQuakes station NP.ARTY, where peak ground acceleration (PGA) value of 1.98g was recorded during the 2018  Mw 7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake, in sharp contrast to...

Conservation translocations and reintroductions are widely used to improve conservation outcomes for declining species. Reintroductions are unlikely to be successful if the threats that led to the extirpation of the focal species, such as non-native predators, have not been ameliorated. The non-native brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) was introduced to Guam...

Bats are a taxa of high conservation concern and are facing numerous threats including widespread mortality due to White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) in North America. With this decline comes increasing difficulty in monitoring imperiled bat species due to lower detection probabilities of both mist-netting and acoustic surveys. Lure...

Release of methane, as gas bubbles or in the dissolved phase, from the seafloor has been observed in coastal waters (< 200 m) and deep ocean basins (> 1000 m). Methane dissolution within the water column affects the geochemistry of the surrounding water, leading to localized oxygen loss and potential escape to the atmosphere,...

Texas Tortoises (Gopherus berlandieri) are understudied compared to federally protected congeners. Despite important early studies on the basic ecology of G. berlandieri, quantitative identification of habitat associations with specific environmental conditions has been limited. Gopherus berlandieri inhabits Tamaulipan thornscrub across its range, and coastal populations are historically associated with low-relief clay ridges with...

The installation of offshore wind energy infrastructure (OWEI) at sea may affect marine birds by increasing the risk of mortality from collision with OWEI (Collision Vulnerability) and causing disturbance and displacement from important habitats (Displacement Vulnerability). In 2017, we published the first comprehensive database quantifying marine bird Collision Vulnerability and...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is using collaborative, interdisciplinary planning to develop data and tools needed to optimize the management of water resources and land use by resource management agencies during an ongoing, multidecadal drought in the Colorado River Basin. The USGS Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology team...

Aeromagnetic and gravity surveys of the Skaergaard intrusion in East Greenland were carried out in July–August 1971 as part of a grant to the University of Oregon Center for Volcanology to refine the models of crystallization and differentiation of the intrusion, specifically to test whether the intrusion is underlain by...

Rivers are home to a wide variety of biota, including fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, freshwater mussels, aquatic insects, and microscopic organisms that fill unique niches to support broader ecosystem functions. While the general public may be aware of recreationally relevant biological life (e.g., fishes and insects to model flyfishing flies...

Conventional dietary assessments are challenging in hematophagous species, particularly in sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). However, recent technological developments and molecular approaches have provided an attractive alternative through the use of DNA metabarcoding. While DNA metabarcoding has been used for dietary analyses in numerous species, including lampreys, applications of universal primers...

Improvements in logging practices since the mid-20th century are widely presumed to have reduced suspended sediment loads in streams across the Pacific Northwest. However, there have been few opportunities to directly assess this, particularly in larger rivers. We compare modern (2019–22) and historical (1960s) suspended sediment monitoring in three large,...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 14.6 billion barrels of oil and 83.7 trillion cubic feet of gas in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. ...

The increased demand for clean energy technology and a significant reliance on foreign supply chains have given impetus to understanding critical mineral systems and locating potential resources within the United States. At least thirteen critical mineral-bearing systems have been identified throughout the U.S. southern Midcontinent (Hofstra and Kreiner, 2020) but...

The aquarium trade is a global industry responsible for the movement of live plants and animals, but it also serves as a major pathway for the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species. Invasive species contribute to biodiversity loss, disrupt ecosystems, and can have widespread economic and societal impacts. A...

Wildlife conservation planning increasingly requires collaboration and integration of research from discrete studies spanning large geographic areas. Tracking datasets are essential for analyzing animal movements and species distributions in relation to environmental conditions and combining them can enable powerful analyses to further aid planning efforts. However, combining datasets necessitates addressing variation in study...

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) create costly, detrimental effects when established. Recognition of this in the United States reached a threshold in 1990 with the federal passage of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act. This act created six regional panels, the national Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, and incentivized...

Predicting where runoff-generated debris flows might occur during rainfall on steep, recently burned terrain is challenging. Studies of mass-movement processes in unburned areas indicate that event locations are well-predicted by rainfall anomaly, R*, in which peak observed rainfall is normalized by local rainfall climatology. Here, we use remote and field methods...

Society is fundamentally dependent upon commodities that are used in end-use products for the aerospace, defense, energy, telecommunication, and transportation sectors, resulting in centuries of mining to supply these commodities and materials. Waste from these mining operations can remain on the landscape indefinitely, but there is a lack of national...

The Potomac Tributary Summary outlines change over time for a suite of monitored tidal water quality parameters and associated potential drivers of those trends for the period of 1985 to 2022, and provides a brief description of the current state of knowledge explaining these observed changes. Water quality parameters described...

Pinyon-juniper (PJ) woodlands are a diverse ecosystem type providing a wealth of ecosystem services across western North America. Managing PJ woodlands in the 21st century entails balancing multiple conservation objectives, and resource managers and policy-makers working to sustain PJ woodlands need spatially explicit information about current PJ woodland conditions and...

Many earthquakes occur along the North Coast of California in the vicinity of the Mendocino Triple Junction (MTJ), where the Pacific, Gorda, and North American (NA) plates meet, and on the adjacent plate boundaries. The MTJ marks the nexus of the Mendocino and San Andreas faults with the Cascadia subduction...

Stream temperature controls a variety of physical and biological processes that affect ecosystems, human health, and economic activities. We used 42 years (1979–2021) of data to predict daily summary statistics of stream temperature across >50,000 stream reaches in the contiguous United States using a recurrent graph convolution network. We comprehensively...

With the continued spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), understanding the complex dynamics of virus transfer at the wild – agriculture interface is paramount. Spillover events (i.e., virus transfer from wild birds into poultry) are related to proximity to infected wild bird populations and environmental conditions. By accounting for...