Effects of future climate change, CO2 enrichment, and vegetation structure variation on hydrological processes in China
Qiuan Zhu, Hong Jiang, Changhui Peng, Jinxun Liu, Xiuqin Fang, Xiaohua Wei, Shirong Liu, Guomo Zhou
2012, Global and Planetary Change (80-81) 123-135
Investigating the relationship between factors (climate change, atmospheric CO2 concentrations enrichment, and vegetation structure) and hydrological processes is important for understanding and predicting the interaction between the hydrosphere and biosphere. The Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) was used to evaluate the effects of climate change, rising CO2, and vegetation structure on...
Directional connectivity in hydrology and ecology
Laurel G. Larsen, Jungyill Choi, Martha K. Nungesser, Judson W. Harvey
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 2204-2220
Quantifying hydrologic and ecological connectivity has contributed to understanding transport and dispersal processes and assessing ecosystem degradation or restoration potential. However, there has been little synthesis across disciplines. The growing field of ecohydrology and recent recognition that loss of hydrologic connectivity is leading to a global decline in biodiversity underscore...
A half-million-year record of paleoclimate from the Lake Manix Core, Mojave Desert, California
Marith C. Reheis, Jordon Bright, Steve P. Lund, David M. Miller, Gary Skipp, Robert J. Fleck
2012, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (365-366) 11-37
Pluvial lakes in the southwestern U.S. responded sensitively to past climate through effects on rainfall, runoff, and evaporation. Although most studies agree that pluvial lakes in the southwestern U.S. reached their highest levels coeval with glacial stages, the specific timing of increased effective moisture and lake-level rise is debated, particularly...
Hydromechanical effects of continental glaciation on groundwater systems
C. E. Neuzil
2012, Geofluids (12) 22-37
Hydromechanical effects of continental ice sheets may involve considerably more than the widely recognized direct compression of overridden terrains by ice load. Lithospheric flexure, which lags ice advance and retreat, appears capable of causing comparable or greater stress changes. Together, direct and flexural loading may increase fluid pressures by tens...
Linking soil moisture balance and source-responsive models to estimate diffuse and preferential components of groundwater recharge
M.O. Cuthbert, R. Mackay, J. R. Nimmo
2012, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (9) 8455-8492
Results are presented of a detailed study into the vadose zone and shallow water table hydrodynamics of a field site in Shropshire, UK. A conceptual model is developed and tested using a range of numerical models, including a modified soil moisture balance model (SMBM) for estimating groundwater recharge in the...
Hillslope hydrology and stability
Ning Lu, Jonathan Godt
2012, Book
Landslides are caused by a failure of the mechanical balance within hillslopes. This balance is governed by two coupled physical processes: hydrological or subsurface flow and stress. The stabilizing strength of hillslope materials depends on effective stress, which is diminished by rainfall. This book presents a cutting-edge quantitative approach to...
A national geographic framework for guiding conservation on a landscape scale
Michael J. Millard, Craig A. Czarnecki, John M. Morton, Laura A. Brandt, Jennifer S. Briggs, Frank S. Shipley, Roger G. Sayre, Pamela J. Sponholtz, David Perkins, Darin G. Simpkins, Janith Taylor
2012, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (3) 175-183
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the global conservation community, has recognized that the conservation challenges of the 21st century far exceed the responsibilities and footprint of any individual agency or program. The ecological effects of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors do not recognize geopolitical boundaries and,...
Drought drove forest decline and dune building in eastern upper Michigan, USA, as the upper Great Lakes became closed basins
Walter L. Loope, Henry M. Loope, Ronald J. Goble, Timothy G. Fisher, David E. Lytle, Robert J. Legg, Douglas A. Wysocki, Paul R. Hanson, Aaron R. Young
2012, Geology (40) 315-318
Current models of landscape response to Holocene climate change in midcontinent North America largely reconcile Earth orbital and atmospheric climate forcing with pollen-based forest histories on the east and eolian chronologies in Great Plains grasslands on the west. However, thousands of sand dunes spread across 12,000 km2 in eastern upper...
Drainage network structure and hydrologic behavior of three lake-rich watersheds on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska
C.D. Arp, M.S. Whitman, Benjamin M. Jones, R. Kemnitz, G. Grosse, F.E. Urban
2012, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (44) 385-394
Watersheds draining the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) of Alaska are dominated by permafrost and snowmelt runoff that create abundant surface storage in the form of lakes, wetlands, and beaded streams. These surface water elements compose complex drainage networks that affect aquatic ecosystem connectivity and hydrologic behavior. The 4676 km2 Fish...
The ICDP Snake River Geothermal Drilling Project: preliminary overview of borehole geophysics
Douglas R. Schmitt, Lee M. Liberty, James E. Kessler, Jochem Kuck, Randolph Kofman, Ross Bishop, John W. Shervais, James P. Evans, Duane E. Champion
2012, Geothermal Resources Council Transactions (36) 1017-1022
Hotspot: The Snake River Geothermal Drilling Project was undertaken to better understand the geothermal systems in three locations across the Snake River Plain with varying geological and hydrological structure. An extensive series of standard and specialized geophysical logs were obtained in each of the wells. Hydrogen-index neutron and γ-γ density...
Wintering waterfowl respond to Wetlands Reserve Program lands in the Central Valley of California
Jeffrey J. Buler, Wylie C. Barrow Jr., Lori A. Randall
2012, Report
Daytime use by wintering waterfowl at Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) sites within the northern Central Valley of California (CVC) increased dramatically after wetland restoration and was sustained for up to 8 years post-restoration. The magnitude of the increase in waterfowl density at WRP sites after wetland restoration was greater with...
Assessing potential effects of changes in water use with a numerical groundwater-flow model of Carson Valley, Douglas County, Nevada, and Alpine County, California
Richard M. Yager, Douglas K. Maurer, C.J. Mayers
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5262
Rapid growth and development within Carson Valley in Douglas County, Nevada, and Alpine County, California, has caused concern over the continued availability of groundwater, and whether the increased municipal demand could either impact the availability of water or result in decreased flow in the Carson River. Annual pumpage of groundwater...
Thermal and hydrologic suitability of Lake Erie and its major tributaries for spawning of Asian carps
Patrick M. Kocovsky, Duane Chapman, James E. McKenna
2012, Journal of Great Lakes Research (38) 159-166
Bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, silver carp H. molitrix, and grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella (hereafter Asian carps) have expanded throughout the Mississippi River basin and threaten to invade Lakes Michigan and Erie. Adult bighead carp and grass carp have been captured in Lake Erie, but self-sustaining populations probably do not exist....
Characterizing invertebrate traits in wadeable streams of the contiguous US: differences among ecoregions and land uses
Robert E. Zuellig, Travis S. Schmidt
2012, Freshwater Science (31) 1042-1056
Much is known about invertebrate community traits in basins across Europe, but no comprehensive description of traits exists for the continental US. Little is known about the trait composition of invertebrates in reference or least-disturbed basins of the US, how trait composition varies among ecoregions, or how consistently traits respond...
Advanced methods for modeling water-levels and estimating drawdowns with SeriesSEE, an Excel add-in
Keith Halford, C. Amanda Garcia, Joe Fenelon, Benjamin B. Mirus
2012, Techniques and Methods 4-F4
Water-level modeling is used for multiple-well aquifer tests to reliably differentiate pumping responses from natural water-level changes in wells, or “environmental fluctuations.” Synthetic water levels are created during water-level modeling and represent the summation of multiple component fluctuations, including those caused by environmental forcing and pumping. Pumping signals are modeled...
Estimating seasonal evapotranspiration from temporal satellite images
Ramesh K. Singh, Shu-Guang Liu, Larry L. Tieszen, Andrew E. Suyker, Shashi B. Verma
2012, Irrigation Science (30) 303-313
Estimating seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) has many applications in water resources planning and management, including hydrological and ecological modeling. Availability of satellite remote sensing images is limited due to repeat cycle of satellite or cloud cover. This study was conducted to determine the suitability of different methods namely cubic spline, fixed,...
Groundwater levels and water-quality observations pertaining to the Austin Group, Bexar County, Texas, 2009-11
J.R. Banta, Allan K. Clark
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5278
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the San Antonio Water System, examined groundwater-level altitudes (groundwater levels) and water-quality data pertaining to the Austin Group in Bexar County, Texas, during 2009–11. Hydrologic data collected included daily mean groundwater levels collected at seven sites in the study area. Water-quality samples were...
Approaches in highly parameterized inversion: TSPROC, a general time-series processor to assist in model calibration and result summarization
Stephen M. Westenbroek, John Doherty, John F. Walker, Victor A. Kelson, Randall J. Hunt, Timothy B. Cera
2012, Techniques and Methods 7-C7
The TSPROC (Time Series PROCessor) computer software uses a simple scripting language to process and analyze time series. It was developed primarily to assist in the calibration of environmental models. The software is designed to perform calculations on time-series data commonly associated with surface-water models, including calculation of flow volumes,...
Simulation of groundwater flow and hydrologic effects of groundwater withdrawals from the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system in the Pinelands of southern New Jersey
Emmanuel G. Charles, Robert S. Nicholson
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5122
The Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system is an important source of present and future water supply in southern New Jersey. Because this unconfined aquifer system also supports sensitive wetland and aquatic habitats within the New Jersey Pinelands (Pinelands), water managers and policy makers need up-to-date information, data, and projections that show the...
Contemporary seismicity in and around the Yakima-Fold-and-Thrust Belt in eastern Washington
J. Gomberg, B. Sherrod, M. Trautman, E. Burns, Diane Snyder
2012, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (102) 309-320
We examined characteristics of routinely cataloged seismicity from 1970 to the present in and around the Yakima fold‐and‐thrust belt (YFTB) in eastern Washington to determine if the characteristics of contemporary seismicity provide clues about regional‐scale active tectonics or about more localized, near‐surface processes. We employed new structural and hydrologic models...
Numerical simulation of groundwater movement and managed aquifer recharge from Sand Hollow Reservoir, Hurricane Bench area, Washington County, Utah
Thomas M. Marston, Victor M. Heilweil
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5236
The Hurricane Bench area of Washington County, Utah, is a 70 square-mile area extending south from the Virgin River and encompassing Sand Hollow basin. Sand Hollow Reservoir, located on Hurricane Bench, was completed in March 2002 and is operated primarily as a managed aquifer recharge project by the Washington County...
Hydrologic and geochemical data collected near Skewed Reservoir, an impoundment for coal-bed natural gas produced water, Powder River Basin, Wyoming
Richard W. Healy, Cynthia A. Rice, Timothy T. Bartos
2012, Data Series 715
The Powder River Structural Basin is one of the largest producers of coal-bed natural gas (CBNG) in the United States. An important environmental concern in the Basin is the fate of groundwater that is extracted during CBNG production. Most of this produced water is disposed of in unlined surface impoundments....
Identifying bubble collapse in a hydrothermal system using hiddden Markov models
Phillip B. Dawson, M.C. Benitez, Jacob B. Lowenstern, Bernard A. Chouet
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
Beginning in July 2003 and lasting through September 2003, the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park exhibited an unusual increase in ground temperature and hydrothermal activity. Using hidden Markov model theory, we identify over five million high-frequency (>15 Hz) seismic events observed at a temporary seismic station deployed in...
Role of surface-water and groundwater interactions on projected summertime streamflow in snow dominated regions : An integrated modeling approach
Justin L. Huntington, Richard G. Niswonger
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
Previous studies indicate predominantly increasing trends in precipitation across the Western United States, while at the same time, historical streamflow records indicate decreasing summertime streamflow and 25th percentile annual flows. These opposing trends could be viewed as paradoxical, given that several studies suggest that increased annual precipitation will equate to...
Spatial patterns of March and September streamflow trends in Pacific Northwest Streams, 1958-2008
Heejun Chang, Il-Won Jung, Madeline Steele, Marshall Gannett
2012, Geographical Analysis (44) 177-201
Summer streamflow is a vital water resource for municipal and domestic water supplies, irrigation, salmonid habitat, recreation, and water-related ecosystem services in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in the United States. This study detects significant negative trends in September absolute streamflow in a majority of 68 stream-gauging stations located on unregulated...
