USGS National Water Quality Monitoring Network
Melissa L. Riskin, Casey J. Lee
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3019
What is the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Monitoring Network?Understanding the water quality of U.S. streams and rivers requires consistent data collection and analysis over decades. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water Quality Network (NWQN) was established to facilitate national-scale understanding of surface-water quality conditions through the collection...
EverForecast—A near-term forecasting application for ecological decision support
Saira M. Haider, Stephanie S. Romañach, Mark McKelvy, Kevin J. Suir, Leonard Pearlstine
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3005
The Everglades Forecasting application (EverForecast) provides decision makers with a support tool to examine optimal allocations of water across the managed landscape while explicitly quantifying the conflicting needs of multiple species. Covering the Greater Everglades (a vast, subtropical wetland ecosystem in South Florida), EverForecast provides 6-month forecasts of daily projected...
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021
David W. Houseknecht, Tracey J. Mercier, Christopher J. Schenk, Thomas E. Moore, William A. Rouse, Julie A. Dumoulin, William H. Craddock, Richard O. Lease, Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, Rebecca A. Smith, Christopher D. Connors, Christopher P. Garrity, Katherine J. Whidden, Jared T. Gooley, John W. Counts, Joshua H. Long, Christina A. DeVera
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3003
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska....
Oregon and Landsat
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3021
Oregon’s landscape is as complex and diverse as it is beautiful. Mountain peaks in the Cascade Range soar higher than 10,000 feet. Crater Lake sinks to a depth of 1,943 feet, making it the deepest lake in the United States. Oregon’s lands feature forests, farm fields, grasslands, ocean coastline, rivers,...
Water resources of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana
Maxwell A. Lindaman, Vincent E. White
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3007
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. In 2014, about...
Water resources of Iberville Parish, Louisiana
Maxwell A. Lindaman, Vincent E. White
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3014
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-supply management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. In 2014, about 589.87 million...
3D Elevation Program—Federal best practices
Vicki Lukas, Vanessa Baez
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3062
The goal of the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is to complete nationwide data acquisition in 8 years, by 2023, to provide the first-ever national baseline of consistent high-resolution three-dimensional data—including bare earth elevations and three-dimensional point clouds—collected in a timeframe of less than a decade. Successful implementation of 3DEP depends...
Groundwater quality in the Colorado Plateaus aquifers, western United States
James R. Degnan, MaryLynn Musgrove
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3012
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Colorado Plateaus aquifers constitute one of the important areas being evaluated....
Groundwater quality in selected Stream Valley aquifers, western United States
James A. Kingsbury
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3011
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Stream Valley aquifers constitute one of the important aquifer systems being...
Groundwater quality in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system
MaryLynn Musgrove
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3010
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Edwards-Trinity aquifer system constitutes one of the important aquifers being evaluated....
The transformation of dryland rivers: The future of introduced tamarisk in the U.S.
Pamela L. Nagler, Julia B. Hull, Charles van Riper III, Patrick B. Shafroth, Charles B. Yackulic
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3061
Tamarix spp. (tamarisk or saltcedar), a shrub-like tree, was intentionally introduced to the U.S. from Asia in the mid-1800s. Tamarisk thrives in today’s human-altered streamside (riparian) habitats and can be found along wetlands, rivers, lakes, and streams across the western U.S. In 2001, a biological control agent, Diorhabda spp. (tamarisk...
Texas and Landsat
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3017
The State of Texas has the largest land area of any in the contiguous United States, and its sprawling landscapes show rich geographic diversity. The Lone Star State has cactus flats in the high plains of its far western panhandle, rolling hills in its western Trans-Pecos region, farms and ranchlands...
U.S. Geological Survey Arctic ecosystem assessments
John M. Pearce, Caroline R. Van Hemert
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3016
The U.S Geological Survey (USGS) conducts natural hazard and resource assessments of the Earth’s ecosystems and the response of those ecosystems to environmental change, human activities, and land use. Arctic regions of Alaska are important for cultural and economic sustainability and host a wide variety of wildlife species, many of...
Assessment of continuous gas resources in the Horn River Basin, Cordova Embayment, and Liard Basin, Canada, 2019
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Thomas M. Finn, Phuong A. Le, Michael E. Brownfield, Kristen R. Marra, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Janet K. Pitman
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3015
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 135.4 trillion cubic feet of continuous gas in Devonian–Mississippian shales in the Horn River Basin, Cordova Embayment, and Liard Basin of Canada....
Earth Resources Observation and Science Center hosting services
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3018
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has a long history of leveraging technology in support of Earth science and business applications including data management, processing, and virtualization and complex solutions to visualize and distribute data. It is the aim of EROS to offer operational excellence and service as...
Peak streamflow determinations in Nevada: A cooperative program with the USGS and Nevada Department of Transportation
Kurtiss Schmidt
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3015
BackgroundFloods are one of the most costly and frequent natural disasters in Nevada. For example, the 1997 New Year’s flood has been estimated to have caused more than $1 billion in damage across northern Nevada (Truckee River Flood Management Authority, 2017). In 2014, more than 2 miles of Interstate 15...
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Mowry Shale, Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming, 2020
Thomas M. Finn, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Kristen R. Marra, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Geoffrey S. Ellis
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3006
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 288 million barrels of oil and 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Mowry Shale in the Wind River Basin Province, Wyoming....
Trolley Operated Automatic Discharge System (TOADS)—An automated system for horizontal profiling of water velocity and river discharge measurements
Kevin K. Johnson, Clayton J. Bosch
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3008
Hydroacoustics have revolutionized how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measures streamflow by increasing the efficiency and quality of the measurement. However, the ability to determine the full range of streamflow at a streamflow-gaging station remains limited because in-person flow measurements still must be made by qualified personnel. As a result,...
Geomagnetic monitoring in the mid-Atlantic United States
Jeffrey J. Love, Kristen A. Lewis
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3001
Near historic battlegrounds of the American Civil War, southeast of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on a secluded grassy glade surrounded by forest, a specially designed observatory records the Earth’s changing magnetic field. This facility, the Fredericksburg Magnetic Observatory, is 1 of 14 observatories the U.S. Geological Survey Geomagnetism Program operates at various...
Nutrient trends and drivers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Kenneth Hyer, Scott W. Phillips, Scott W. Ator, Douglas L. Moyer, James S. Webber, Rachel Felver, Jennifer L. Keisman, Lee A. McDonnell, Rebecca Murphy, Emily M. Trentacoste, Qian Zhang, William C. Dennison, Sky Swanson, Brianne Walsh, Jane Hawkey, Dylan Taillie
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3069
The Chesapeake Bay Program maintains an extensive nontidal monitoring network, measuring nitrogen and phosphorus (nutrients) at more than 100 locations on rivers and streams in the watershed. Data from these locations are used by United States Geological Survey to assess the ecosystem’s response to nutrient-reduction efforts. This fact sheet summarizes...
Microplastics in the Delaware River, northeastern United States
Austin K. Baldwin, Andrew R. Spanjer, Brett Hayhurst, Donald Hamilton
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3071
Microplastics are a contaminant of increasing concern in aquatic environments. Our understanding of microplastics in freshwater environments has increased dramatically over the past decade, but we still lack information on microplastic occurrence and biological uptake in National Park Service (NPS) waters. During 2015–19, the U.S. Geological Survey and the NPS...
USGS permafrost research determines the risks of permafrost thaw to biologic and hydrologic resources
Mark P. Waldrop, Lesleigh Anderson, Mark Dornblaser, Li H. Erikson, Ann E. Gibbs, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Stephanie R. James, Miriam C. Jones, Joshua C. Koch, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Kristen L. Manies, Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, Vijay Patil, Frank Urban, Michelle A. Walvoord, Kimberly P. Wickland, Christian Zimmerman
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3058
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with university, Federal, Tribal, and independent partners, conducts fundamental research on the distribution, vulnerability, and importance of permafrost in arctic and boreal ecosystems. Scientists, land managers, and policy makers use USGS data to help make decisions for development, wildlife habitat, and other needs....
Landsat collection 2
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3002
Landsat Collections ensure that all Landsat Level-1 data are consistently calibrated and processed and retain traceability of data quality provenance. Landsat Collection 2 introduces improvements that harness recent advancements in data processing, algorithm development, data access, and distribution capabilities. Collection 2 includes Landsat Level-1 data for all sensors since 1972...
Assessment of water and proppant quantities associated with petroleum production from the Eagle Ford Group, Gulf Coast, Texas, 2019
Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Lauri A. Burke, Ronald M. Drake II, Thomas M. Finn, Katherine L. French, Karen E. Jenni, Scott A. Kinney, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Brian N. Shaffer, Chilisa M. Shorten, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Cheryl A. Woodall
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3037
Building on a geology-based assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable petroleum resources in the Eagle Ford Group in south Texas, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the required water and proppant demands and formation water production volumes associated with possible future development of these petroleum resources. The results of the water...
Early warning pesticide monitoring in Nevada’s surface waters
Jena M. Huntington, Derek C. Entz, Carl E. Thodal
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3070
A pesticide is a substance, or mixture of substances, used to kill or control insects, weeds, plant diseases, and other pest organisms. Commercial pesticide applicators, farmers, and homeowners apply about 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides annually to agricultural land, non-crop land, and urban areas throughout the United States. Although intended...
