Living with wildfire in Santa Fe, New Mexico: 2024 data report
James Meldrum, Colleen Donovan, Suzanne Wittenbrink, Porfirio Chavarria, Patricia A. Champ, Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Christopher M. Barth, Carolyn Wagner
2026, Research Note RMRS-RN-111
Community wildfire readiness includes homeowner wildfire risk mitigation and wildfire evacuation preparedness. This report presents results from a household survey distributed to homeowners in the study area around Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2024 which was a follow-up to a previous survey of homeowners of the same residences, consisting of...
Long- versus short-term changes in seafloor elevation and volume of the Upper Florida Keys Reef Tract: 1935–2002 and 2002–2016
Selena Anne-Marie Johnson, David G. Zawada, Kimberly Yates, Connor Monroe Jenkins
2026, Remote Sensing (18)
Coral reefs provide immense ecosystem and economic value, supporting biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection worth billions annually. However, widespread degradation from thermal stress, storms, disease, and human impacts has caused significant coral cover and reef structure loss, increasing coastal vulnerability and economic risks. While coral loss is well-documented, degradation...
Frameworks for assessing tsunami hazard and risk
Natalia Zamora, Anita Grezio, Maria Papathoma-Kohle, Fatemeh Jalayer, Dimitra Salmanidou, Thomas E. Parsons, Eric L. Geist, Jacopo Selva, Mathilde B. Sørensen, Irina Rafliana
Mathilde B. Sørensen, Jorn Behrens, Fatemeh Jalayer, Finn Løvholt, Stefano Lorito, Irina Rafliana, Mario A. Salgado-Gálvez, Jacopo Selva, editor(s)
2026, Book chapter, Probabilistic tsunami hazard and risk analysis
Tsunamis are multiscale phenomena resulting from a water column displacement that may be induced by multiple sources, and range from local scale inundation processes to ocean-wide scale wave propagation. Different strategies may be required to model tsunami evolution at different scales and to characterize various intensity measures. Research in tsunami...
Constraining the onset of carboniferous cyclicity in the Arkoma Basin of the Midcontinent, North America: Implications for calibrating a globally significant latest Bashkirian transgression
Neil Patrick Griffis, Marieke Dechesne, Tyson Michael Smith, Mark R. Hudson, Charles M. Henderson, Roland Mundil, Mikel Shinn, Justin E. Birdwell, Laura Pianowski, Brandon Michael Lutz, Cameron Mark Mercer, Leah E. Morgan, Leland Robson Spangler
2026, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (687)
Cyclothems are defined by the repeat juxtaposition of littoral and open marine successions over short stratigraphic distances (meters to 10's of meters) and are interpreted to be driven by glacioeustatic forcing of sea level during the late Paleozoic Ice Age. The concept of cyclothems was defined in...
Carbon sequestration along a gradient of tidal marsh degradation in response to sea level rise
Mona Huyzentruyt, Maarten Wens, Gregory S. Fivash, David Walters, Steven Bouillon, Joel Carr, Glenn Guntenspergen, Matt L. Kirwan, Stijn Temmerman
2026, Biogeosciences (23) 851-865
Tidal marshes are considered one of the world's most efficient ecosystems for belowground organic carbon sequestration and hence climate mitigation. Marsh systems are however also vulnerable to degradation due to climate-induced sea level rise, whereby marsh vegetation conversion to open water often follows distinct spatial patterns: levees...
Groundwater-level elevations in the bedrock aquifers of the Denver Basin aquifer system, Elbert County, Colorado, 2015–23
Kelli M. Palko, Cory A. Russell, Nicholas J. Pieseski
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5115
Water users in Elbert County, Colorado, rely on groundwater from bedrock aquifers in the Denver Basin aquifer system (upper Dawson, lower Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers) for approximately half of their water uses. Withdrawals from the bedrocks aquifers have increased to meet the water use needs of expanding...
Restoration based on cost-benefit optimization: A grasslands pilot study
Sarah R. Weiskopf, Toni Lyn Morelli, Tina G. Mozelewski, Alexey N. Shiklomanov, Susannah B. Lerman
2026, Ecological Applications (36)
Ecological restoration is essential to meeting global biodiversity conservation goals. Given limited conservation budgets, deciding where to restore habitat is a key challenge for the coming decade. We developed a spatially explicit framework to optimize ecological restoration site selection by integrating land use history, species distributions, and economic costs. The...
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the Greater Carpathian area, 2024
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller
2026, Fact Sheet 2026-3060
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 208 million barrels of oil and 4.1 trillion cubic feet of gas in the greater Carpathian area....
Millennial-scale climatic and cultural impacts on vegetation and fire at the southern edge of the Rocky Mountains, USA
Paul Henne, Susann Stolze, Natalie Kehrwald, Rebecca Lynn Brice, Craig Allen
2026, Quaternary Science Reviews (376)
Mountain forests and woodlands in semiarid regions of the world are threatened by climatic change and other human impacts. In the southwestern USA, climate and culturally driven changes to the structure and fire regimes of dry coniferous forests over recent centuries are well documented by tree-ring archives. However, the roles...
Toward a four-dimensional petrogenetic model of a distributed volcanic field on the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau
Marissa E. Mnich, Christopher D. Condit
2026, Professional Paper 1890-N
A detailed characterization of the >3,000 square kilometer (km2) Springerville volcanic field, located on the southern tip of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, United States, with its more than 501 volcanic units and widely distributed >420 cinder cones and lava flows, provides constraints toward an integrated petrogenetic model for the...
Vegetation cover and composition in environments surrounding uranium mines in the Grand Canyon ecosystem, Northern Arizona
Rebecca K. Mann, Michael C. Duniway, Jo Ellen Hinck
2026, Open-File Report 2025-1024
Mining uranium from breccia-pipe deposits in the greater Grand Canyon region has occurred since the mid-1900s. However, possible ecosystem contamination with harmful levels of radionuclides may have occurred due to mining activities in the 21st century. In response, a 20-year Federal moratorium on new mining claims in the Grand Canyon...
Seasonal and decadal changes in winter body condition of four sympatric diving ducks
Mason A. Hill, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Laurie Anne Hall, Stacy M. Moskal, John Y. Takekawa, John M. Eadie
2026, Journal of Wildlife Management
Winter body condition is an important driver of survival, reproductive output, and overall population health in waterfowl. Diving duck species use distinct habitats, exploit unique resources, and can collectively provide an integrated index of winter habitat quality. The San Francisco Bay (SFB) is the largest estuary on...
Decadal trends and occurrence of geogenic constituents and mixtures in groundwater across the continental United States
Melinda L. Erickson, Sarah M. Elliott, MaryLynn Musgrove, Elise Danica Hinman, Margaux Jeanne Sleckman, Sarah M. Stackpoole, Bruce D. Lindsey
2026, Environmental Science and Technology - Water (6) 664-678
Worldwide, about 50% of the population is served by groundwater-sourced drinking water. Numerous groundwater quality assessments have found that geogenic constituents are among the most common contaminants in drinking-water aquifers. Documenting changing groundwater quality is a crucial aspect of water availability assessments. We assess trends and occurrence of geogenic constituent...
ECCOE Landsat Quarterly Calibration and Validation Report—Quarter 2, 2025
Md Obaidul Haque, Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Daniel Steinwand, Paul Bresnahan, Jerad L. Shaw, Kathryn Ruslander, Esad Micijevic, Michael J. Choate, Cody Anderson, Jeff Clauson, Kurt Thome, Amit Angal, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller, Leibo Ding, Cibele Teixeira Pinto
2026, Open-File Report 2026-1059
Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote- sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team...
Latest Pleistocene to 19th-century earthquakes on bending-moment reverse faults of the Seattle fault zone, Washington
Stephen J. Angster, Brian L. Sherrod, Jessie K. Pearl, Lydia M. Staisch, Wes Johns, Richard J. Blakely
2026, GSA Bulletin
Fault-related folds and their associated secondary faults play a critical yet often underrecognized role in accommodating strain and generating earthquakes in active fold-and-thrust belts. In the Seattle fault zone (SFZ), Washington, USA, we present new paleoseismic, geomorphic, and geophysical evidence for late Pleistocene and Holocene earthquakes on...
A matter of timing: Sagebrush steppe restoration seeding outcomes altered by species responses to warmer spring temperatures and interannual weather variation
Stella M Copeland, Jonathan D Bates, Kirk W Davies, Matthew Germino
2026, Restoration Ecology
IntroductionRestoration outcomes in cold desert ecosystems like sagebrush steppe are affected by weather variability, particularly during the spring, a critical time period for seedling establishment. Seedling emergence phenology is also highly variable among species in these ecosystems. Seed-based restoration outcomes are likely affected by the emergence timing...
Sea-level rise in a coastal marsh: Linking increasing tidal inundation, decreasing soil strength and increasing pond expansion
Mona Huyzentruyt, Lennert Schepers, Matt L. Kirwan, Glenn Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman
2026, Biogeosciences (23) 751-766
Coastal marsh conversion into ponds, which may be triggered by sea-level rise, is considered an important driver of marsh loss and their valuable ecosystem services. Previous studies have focused on the role of wind waves in driving the expansion of interior marsh ponds, through lateral erosion of marsh edges surrounding...
Recent scientific contributions by the U.S. Geological Survey in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Estuary
Judith Z. Drexler, Jake Weltzin
2026, Fact Sheet 2025-3058
Introduction The San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Estuary (hereafter, Bay-Delta) is the largest estuary on the West Coast of the United States. The Bay- Delta covers more than 1,600 square miles and drains a watershed of more than 75,000 square miles, which is greater than 40 percent of California....
Multi-year cut-to-drown management limits Phragmites australis growth, belowground resources, and rhizome viability in Great Lakes wetlands
Wesley A. Bickford, Kaira A. Schaefer, Spenser L. Widin, Kurt P. Kowalski
2026, Journal of Great Lakes Research
The distribution and abundance of Phragmites in the Great Lakes coastal zone has expanded in part due to its unique ventilation physiology and its ability to take advantage of changes in lake levels over the past several decades. During an extended period of low lake levels in the early...
Teach me how to pycap: A high-capacity well decision support tool using analytical solutions in Python
Michael N. Fienen, Aaron Pruitt, Howard W. Reeves
2026, Groundwater
Regulatory agencies in humid temperate environments rely on timely evaluations of streamflow depletion and drawdown to protect aquatic ecosystems and existing water users. Numerical models offer detailed insights, but their complexity and time demands often preclude their practical use in rapid decision-making. We present pycap-dss, an open-source Python package that...
Modeling carbon fluxes in tidal forested wetlands in the Mississippi river deltaic plain under various hydrologic conditions: Implications for river diversions
Hongqing Wang, Ken W. Krauss, Gary P. Shaffer, Brett Patton, Daniel Kroes, Gregory E. Noe, Zhaohua Dai, Lindsey Dettwiller, Carl C. Trettin
2026, Wetlands Ecology and Management (34)
Our understanding of the impacts of climate change, sea-level rise (SLR), and freshwater management on the magnitude and variability of carbon fluxes in tidal forested wetlands remains limited. In this study, we applied a process-driven wetland biogeochemistry model, Wetland Carbon Assessment Tool—DeNitrification-DeComposition (WCAT-DNDC) model to explore responses of carbon fluxes...
Prioritizing resource protection and understanding potential susceptibility of springs to surficial changes in a low-temperature geothermal system
Connor P. Newman, Jeff D. Pepin
2026, Geothermics (136)
Geothermal systems are vulnerable to changes in water budget and composition, requiring science-based management. This study uses a dataset of spring water temperatures, time series of groundwater residence time tracers (tritium and carbon-14), and stable isotopes of water to understand geothermal flow in a low-temperature geothermal system in north west...
Earthquake-hazard exposure of residents with potential access and functional needs in the United States
Nathan J. Wood, Alice Pennaz, Jeanne M. Jones
2026, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (134)
Earthquake response plans and earthquake early warning (EEW) systems designed for general populations may not consider potential access and functional needs (AFN) of individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or social limitations. Previous efforts to map the distribution of these populations have focused on social-vulnerability indices that ignore or oversimply these...
A conceptual framework and methods for studying the connectivity of fishes
Jordanna N. Bergman, Jessica A. Robichaud, Jasper McCutcheon, Michael Thomas Booth, Brendan Campbell, Grace A. Casselberry, Cienna R. Cooper, Bronwyn M. Gillanders, Lucas P. Griffin, Edward Hale, Luc LaRochelle, Karen J. Murchie, Mary M. Peacock, Reid G. Swanson, Simon D. Stewart, Ryan. J. Woodland, Daniel P. Zielinski, Steven J. Cooke, Morgan L. Piczak
2026, Fish and Fisheries (27) 342-369
Connectivity is a multifaceted concept that has important implications for the management and conservation of marine and freshwater fishes. We developed a conceptual framework that encompasses multiple, interrelated categories of connectedness, including landscape (e.g., structural, functional) connectivity and ecological (e.g., trophic, genetic, demographic) connectivity, that together shape...
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants of concern in tribal waters of Montana
Kelly L. Smalling, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, John T. Doyle, Margaret J. Eggers, Christine Martin, Elliott P. Barnhart, Picabo Binette, Eric M. Castro, Madisan Chavez, Stephanie A. Ewing, Stephanie E. Gordon, Mathew W. Fields, James L. Gray, Ashley M. Groshong, Chiachi Hwang, Leslie K. Kanagy, JoRee WClay LaFrance, Keith A. Loftin, Carrie Mae Long, R. Blaine McCleskey, Shannon M. Meppelink, Crystal L. Richards, Molly L. Schreiner, Jonathan I. Shikany, Mahelat Tesfamariam
2026, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
We assessed potential exposures to a broad suite of contaminants (inorganic, organic and microbial) in culturally important surface waters from three watersheds in a northern plains Native American community (Apsáalooke [Crow Tribe of Montana]) in south-central Montana, United States, with water insecurity concerns. Inorganic (37), organic (435)...
