Large scale snow water status monitoring: Comparison of different snow water products in the upper Colorado basins
G. A. Artan, J. P. Verdin, R. Lietzow
2013, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (17) 5127-5139
We illustrate the ability to monitor the status of snow water content over large areas by using a spatially distributed snow accumulation and ablation model that uses data from a weather forecast model in the upper Colorado Basin. The model was forced with precipitation fields from the National Weather Service...
Using isotopes for design and monitoring of artificial recharge systems
International Atomic Energy Agency
2013, IAEA TECDOC 1723
Over the past years, the IAEA has provided support to a number of Member States engaged in the implementation of hydrological projects dealing with the design and monitoring of artificial recharge ( A R ) systems, primarily situated in arid and semiarid regions. AR is defined as any engineered system...
Spatial, seasonal, and source variability in the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of tap waters throughout the USA
Jurate M. Landwehr, Tyler B. Coplen, David W. Stewart
2013, Hydrological Processes
To assess spatial, seasonal, and source variability in stable isotopic composition of human drinking waters throughout the entire USA, we have constructed a database of δ18O and δ2H of US tap waters. An additional purpose was to create a publicly available dataset useful for evaluating the forensic applicability of these...
Tools for beach health data management, data processing, and predictive model implementation
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3068
This fact sheet describes utilities created for management of recreational waters to provide efficient data management, data aggregation, and predictive modeling as well as a prototype geographic information system (GIS)-based tool for data visualization and summary. All of these utilities were developed to assist beach managers in making decisions to...
Climate change and watershed mercury export: a multiple projection and model analysis
Heather E. Golden, Christopher D. Knightes, Paul Conrads, Toby D. Feaster, Gary M. Davis, Stephen T. Benedict, Paul M. Bradley
2013, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (32) 2165-2174
Future shifts in climatic conditions may impact watershed mercury (Hg) dynamics and transport. An ensemble of watershed models was applied in the present study to simulate and evaluate the responses of hydrological and total Hg (THg) fluxes from the landscape to the watershed outlet and in-stream THg concentrations to contrasting...
A sediment budget for the southern reach in San Francisco Bay, CA: Implications for habitat restoration
Gregory Shellenbarger, Scott Wright, David H. Schoellhamer
2013, Marine Geology (345) 281-293
The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project is overseeing the restoration of about 6000 ha of former commercial salt-evaporation ponds to tidal marsh and managed wetlands in the southern reach of San Francisco Bay (SFB). As a result of regional groundwater overdrafts prior to the 1970s, parts of the project...
Groundwater and surface-water interaction within the upper Smith River Watershed, Montana 2006-2010
Rodney R. Caldwell, Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5051
The 125-mile long Smith River, a tributary of the Missouri River, is highly valued as an agricultural resource and for its many recreational uses. During a drought starting in about 1999, streamflow was insufficient to meet all of the irrigation demands, much less maintain streamflow needed for boating and viable...
Creating potentiometric surfaces from combined water well and oil well data in the midcontinent of the United States
Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Philip H. Nelson
2013, Book, 125th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Expo: The Geological Society of America
For years, hydrologists have defined potentiometric surfaces using measured hydraulic-head values in water wells from aquifers. Down-dip, the oil and gas industry is also interested in the formation pressures of many of the same geologic formations for the purpose of hydrocarbon recovery. In oil and gas exploration, drillstem tests (DSTs)...
Improving regression-model-based streamwater constituent load estimates derived from serially correlated data
Brent T. Aulenbach
2013, Journal of Hydrology (503) 55-66
A regression-model based approach is a commonly used, efficient method for estimating streamwater constituent load when there is a relationship between streamwater constituent concentration and continuous variables such as streamwater discharge, season and time. A subsetting experiment using a 30-year dataset of daily suspended sediment observations from the Mississippi River...
Emergency assessment of post-fire debris-flow hazards for the 2013 Rim Fire, Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park, California
Dennis M. Staley
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1260
Wildfire can significantly alter the hydrologic response of a watershed to the extent that even modest rainstorms can produce dangerous flash floods and debris flows. In this report, empirical models are used to predict the probability and magnitude of debris-flow occurrence in response to a 10-year rainstorm for the 2013...
Hurricane Sandy science plan: coastal topographic and bathymetric data to support hurricane impact assessment and response
Jakob M. Stronko
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3099
Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to...
Hurricane Sandy science plan: impacts of environmental quality and persisting contaminant exposure
Sarah A. Caskie
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3091
Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to...
Hurricane Sandy science plan: impacts to coastal ecosystems, habitats, and fish and wildlife
Warren H. Campbell
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3096
Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to...
Hurricane Sandy science plan: coastal impact assessments
Jakob M. Stronko
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3090
Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to...
Hurricane Sandy science plan: impacts of storm surge, including disturbed estuarine and bay hydrology
Sarah A. Caskie
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3092
Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to...
Hurricane Sandy science plan: New York
Clarice N. Ransom
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3089
Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. More than one-half of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of a coast, and this number is increasing. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is one of the largest providers of geologic and hydrologic...
Transient calibration of a groundwater-flow model of Chimacum Creek Basin and vicinity, Jefferson County, Washington: a supplement to Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5160
Joseph L. Jones, Kenneth H. Johnson
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1258
A steady-state groundwater-flow model described in Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5160, ”Numerical Simulation of the Groundwater-Flow System in Chimacum Creek Basin and Vicinity, Jefferson County, Washington” was developed to evaluate potential future impacts of growth and of water-management strategies on water resources in the Chimacum Creek Basin. This supplement to that...
Chuckwalla Valley multiple-well monitoring site, Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County
Rhett R. Everett
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1221
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, is evaluating the geohydrology and water availability of the Chuckwalla Valley, California. As part of this evaluation, the USGS installed the Chuckwalla Valley multiple-well monitoring site (CWV1) in the southeastern portion of the Chuckwalla Basin. Data collected...
Evaluation of Pleistocene groundwater flow through fractured tuffs using a U-series disequilibrium approach, Pahute Mesa, Nevada, USA
James B. Paces, Paul J. Nichols, Leonid A. Neymark, Harihar Rajaram
2013, Chemical Geology (358) 101-118
Groundwater flow through fractured felsic tuffs and lavas at the Nevada National Security Site represents the most likely mechanism for transport of radionuclides away from underground nuclear tests at Pahute Mesa. To help evaluate fracture flow and matrix–water exchange, we have determined U-series isotopic compositions on more than 40...
Emergency assessment of post-fire debris-flow hazards for the 2013 Powerhouse fire, southern California
Dennis M. Staley, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Ryan R. Reeves
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1248
Wildfire dramatically alters the hydrologic response of a watershed such that even modest rainstorms can produce dangerous flash floods and debris flows. Existing empirical models were used to predict the probability and magnitude of debris-flow occurrence in response to a 10-year recurrence interval rainstorm for the 2013 Powerhouse fire near...
Emergency assessment of post-fire debris-flow hazards for the 2013 Mountain fire, southern California
Dennis M. Staley, Joseph E. Gartner, Greg M. Smoczyk, Ryan R. Reeves
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1249
Wildfire dramatically alters the hydrologic response of a watershed such that even modest rainstorms can produce dangerous flash floods and debris flows. We use empirical models to predict the probability and magnitude of debris flow occurrence in response to a 10-year rainstorm for the 2013 Mountain fire near Palm Springs,...
Rates and probable causes of freshwater tidal marsh failure, Potomac River Estuary, Northern Virginia, USA
Ronald J. Litwin, Joseph P. Smoot, Milan J. Pavich, Helaine W. Markewich, Erik T. Oberg, Brent W. Steury, Ben Helwig, Vincent L. Santucci, Geoffrey Sanders
2013, Wetlands (33) 1037-1061
Dyke Marsh, a distal tidal marsh along the Potomac River estuary, is diminishing rapidly in areal extent. This study documents Dyke Marsh erosion rates from the early-1860s to the present during pre-mining, mining, and post-mining phases. From the late-1930s to the mid-1970s, Dyke Marsh and the adjacent shallow riverbottom were...
Links between climate change, water-table depth, and water chemistry in a mineralized mountain watershed
Andrew H. Manning, Philip L. Verplanck, Jonathan S. Caine, Andrew S. Todd
2013, Applied Geochemistry (37) 64-78
Recent studies suggest that climate change is causing rising solute concentrations in mountain lakes and streams. These changes may be more pronounced in mineralized watersheds due to the sensitivity of sulfide weathering to changes in subsurface oxygen transport. Specific causal mechanisms linking climate change and accelerated weathering rates have been...
Temporal dynamics of biogeochemical processes at the Norman Landfill site
Bhavna Arora, Binayak P. Mohanty, Jennifer T. McGuire, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2013, Water Resources Research (49) 6909-6926
The temporal variability observed in redox sensitive species in groundwater can be attributed to coupled hydrological, geochemical, and microbial processes. These controlling processes are typically nonstationary, and distributed across various time scales. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate biogeochemical data sets from a municipal landfill site to...
Complex resistivity signatures of ethanol biodegradation in porous media
Yves Robert Personna, Lee Slater, Dimitrios Ntarlagiannis, Dale D. Werkema, Zoltan Szabo
2013, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (153) 37-50
Numerous adverse effects are associated with the accidental release of ethanol (EtOH) and its persistence in the subsurface. Geophysical techniques may permit non-invasive, real time monitoring of microbial degradation of hydrocarbon. We performed complex resistivity (CR) measurements in conjunction with geochemical data analysis on three microbial-stimulated and two control columns...
