Turbidity–suspended-sediment concentration regression equations for monitoring stations in the upper Esopus Creek watershed, Ulster County, New York, 2016–19
Jason Siemion, Donald B. Bonville, Michael R. McHale, Michael R. Antidormi
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1065
Upper Esopus Creek is the primary tributary to the Ashokan Reservoir, part of the New York City water-supply system. Elevated concentrations of suspended sediment and turbidity in the watershed of the creek are of concern for the system.Water samples were collected through a range of streamflow and turbidity at 14...
Global cropland-extent product at 30-m resolution (GCEP30) derived from Landsat satellite time-series data for the year 2015 using multiple machine-learning algorithms on Google Earth Engine cloud
Prasad S. Thenkabail, Pardhasaradhi G. Teluguntla, Jun Xiong, Adam Oliphant, Russell G. Congalton, Mutlu Ozdogan, Murali Krishna Gumma, James C. Tilton, Chandra Giri, Cristina Milesi, Aparna Phalke, Richard Massey, Kamini Yadav, Temuulen Sankey, Ying Zhong, Itiya Aneece, Daniel Foley
2021, Professional Paper 1868
Executive SummaryGlobal food and water security analysis and management require precise and accurate global cropland-extent maps. Existing maps have limitations, in that they are (1) mapped using coarse-resolution remote-sensing data, resulting in the lack of precise mapping location of croplands and their accuracies; (2) derived by collecting and collating national...
The U.S. Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat): Development, applications, and opportunities
Abigail J. Lynch, Nick Sievert, Holly Susan Embke, Ashley Robertson, Bonnie Jean Evaline Myers, M. S. Allen, Zach S. Feiner, Fritz Hoogakker, Scott Knoche, Rebecca Krogman, Stephen R. Midway, Chelsey L. Nieman, Craig Paukert, Kevin L. Pope, Mark W. Rogers, L. S. Wszola, Beard Jr.
2021, Fisheries Magazine (46) 574-583
Inland recreational fishing, defined as primarily leisure-driven fishing in freshwaters, is a popular pastime in the USA. State natural resource agencies endeavor to provide high-quality and sustainable fishing opportunities for anglers. Managers often use creel and other angler survey data to inform state- and waterbody-level management efforts. Despite the broad...
Depth of groundwater used for drinking-water supplies in the United States
James R. Degnan, Leon J. Kauffman, Melinda L. Erickson, Kenneth Belitz, Paul E. Stackelberg
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5069
Groundwater supplies 35 percent of drinking water in the United States. Mapping the quantity and quality of groundwater at the depths used for potable supplies requires an understanding of locational variation in the characteristics of drinking-water wells (depth and open interval). Typical depths of domestic- and public-drinking-water supply wells...
Growing as slow as a turtle: Unexpected maturational differences in a small, long-lived species
Devin Edmonds, Michael J. Dreslik, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Thomas P. Wilson, Carl H. Ernst
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
Turtle body size is associated with demographic and other traits like mating success, reproductive output, maturity, and survival. As such, growth analyses are valuable for testing life history theory, demographic modeling, and conservation planning. Two important but unsettled research areas relate to growth after maturity and...
Documentation and mapping of flooding from the January and March 2018 nor’easters in coastal New England
Pamela J. Lombard, Scott A. Olson, Luke P. Sturtevant, Rena D. Kalmon
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5109
In January and March 2018, coastal Massachusetts experienced flooding from two separate nor’easters. To put the January and March floods into historical context, the USGS computed statistical stillwater elevations. Stillwater elevations recorded in January 2018 in Boston (9.66 feet relative to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988) have an...
Cyanobacteria, cyanotoxin synthetase gene, and cyanotoxin occurrence among selected large river sites of the conterminous United States, 2017–18
Robert E. Zuellig, Jennifer L. Graham, Erin A. Stelzer, Keith A. Loftin, Barry H. Rosen
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5121
The U.S. Geological Survey measured cyanobacteria, cyanotoxin synthetase genes, and cyanotoxins at 11 river sites throughout the conterminous United States in a multiyear pilot study during 2017–19 through the National Water Quality Assessment Project to better understand the occurrence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in large inland and coastal rivers. This...
Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 Science Products
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3055
The U.S. Geological Survey produces research quality, applications ready, Level-2 Science Products derived from Landsat Collection 2 Level-1 data. These products are used to monitor, assess, and project changes in land use, land cover, and environmental conditions affecting the human condition, natural processes, and biological habitats. Landsat Collection 2 Level-2...
Space-for-time is not necessarily a substitution when monitoring the distribution of pelagic fishes in the San Francisco Bay-Delta
Adam Duarte, James T. Peterson
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 16727-16744
Occupancy models are often used to analyze long-term monitoring data to better understand how and why species redistribute across dynamic landscapes while accounting for incomplete capture. However, this approach requires replicate detection/non-detection data at a sample unit and many long-term monitoring programs lack temporal replicate surveys. In such cases, it...
3D Elevation Program supports broadband internet access
Cindy A. Thatcher, Vicki Lukas
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3056
According to the Federal Communications Commission, millions of Americans in rural parts of the country currently lack access to broadband (high-speed, always-on internet). Federal and State agencies have launched initiatives to enhance broadband access in rural America. High-resolution light detection and ranging (lidar) data can play a role in improving...
Are drought indices and climate data good indicators of ecologically relevant soil moisture dynamics in drylands?
David Barnard, Matthew J. Germino, John B. Bradford, Rory O’Connor, Caitlin M. Andrews, Robert K Shriver
2021, Ecological Indicators (133)
Droughts are disproportionately impacting global dryland regions where ecosystem health and function are tightly coupled to moisture availability. Drought severity is commonly estimated using algorithms such as the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI), which can estimate climatic water balance impacts at various...
Factors affecting uncertainty of public supply, self-supplied domestic, irrigation, and thermoelectric water-use data, 1985–2015—Evaluation of information sources, estimation methods, and data variability
Carol L. Luukkonen, Kenneth Belitz, Samantha L. Sullivan, Pierre Sargent
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5082
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water-Use Program is responsible for compiling and disseminating the Nation's water-use data. Working in cooperation with local, State, and Federal agencies, the USGS has collected and published national water-use estimates every 5 years, beginning in 1950. These water-use data may vary because of actual changes...
Context dependency of disease-mediated competitive release in bat assemblages following white-nose syndrome
Sara Bombaci, Robin E. Russell, Michael J. St. Germain, Christopher A. Dobony, W. Mark Ford, Susan Loeb, David S. Jachowski
2021, Ecosphere (12)
White-nose syndrome (WNS) has caused dramatic declines of several cave-hibernating bat species in North America since 2006, which has increased the activity of non-susceptible species in some geographic areas or during times of night formerly occupied by susceptible species—indicative of disease-mediated competitive release (DMCR). Yet, this...
Total phosphorus loadings for the Cedar River at Palo, Iowa, 2009–20
Jessica D. Garrett
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5127
In support of nutrient reduction efforts, total phosphorus loads and yields were computed using turbidity-surrogate and LOAD ESTimator (LOADEST) models for the Cedar River at Palo, Iowa, for January 1, 2009, to December 15, 2020. Sample data were used to create a total phosphorus concentration turbidity-surrogate model. Total phosphorus loads...
Water and sediment chemistry of selected existing and potential habitats of the Mohave tui chub, Mojave National Preserve, California, 2018
Katherine J. Earp, Angela P. Paul
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5106
The Mohave tui chub (Siphateles bicolor mohavensis) was nearly extirpated from the Mojave River drainage in California by the mid-twentieth century and was listed as endangered in 1970. A source population of Mohave tui chub exists at MC Spring in Zzyzx, California, and has been used for several re-establishment efforts...
Nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed—A century of change, 1950–2050
John W. Clune, Paul D. Capel, Matthew P. Miller, Douglas A. Burns, Andrew J. Sekellick, Peter R. Claggett, Richard H. Coupe, Rosemary M. Fanelli, Ana Maria Garcia, Jeff P. Raffensperger, Silvia Terziotti, Gopal Bhatt, Joel D. Blomquist, Kristina G. Hopkins, Jennifer L. Keisman, Lewis C. Linker, Gary W. Shenk, Richard A. Smith, Alexander M. Soroka, James S. Webber, David M. Wolock, Qian Zhang
2021, Circular 1486
ForewordSustaining the quality of the Nation’s water resources and the health of our diverse ecosystems depends on the availability of sound water-resources data and information to develop effective, science-based policies. Effective management of water resources also brings more certainty and efficiency to important economic sectors. Taken together, these actions lead...
Continuous monitoring and Bayesian estimation of nutrient and sediment loads from Illinois watersheds, for water years 2016–2020
Timothy O. Hodson, Paul J. Terrio, Colin S. Peake, David J. Fazio
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5092
The State of Illinois is one of the leading contributors of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. During water years 2016–20, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, operated continuous monitoring stations on eight major rivers in...
Preliminary geohydrologic assessment of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Altar Valley, southeastern Arizona
Sandra J. Owen-Joyce, James B. Callegary, Amy Elizabeth Rosebrough
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5050
The Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge is located in the southern part of Altar Valley, southwest of Tucson in southeastern Arizona. The primary water-supply well at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge has experienced a two-decade decrease in groundwater levels in the well, as have other wells in the southern...
Multilayer perceptrons (MLPs)
C. Ozgen Karacan
2021, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of Mathematical Geosciences
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are adaptable systems that can solve problems that are difficult to describe with a mathematical relationship. They seek relationships between different types of datasets with their abilities to learn either with supervision or without. ANNs recognize patterns between input and output space...
Strong evidence for two disjunct populations of Black Scoters Melanitta americana in North America
Timothy D. Bowman, Scott G. Gilliland, Jason L Schamber, Paul L. Flint, Daniel Esler, W. Sean Boyd, Daniel H. Rosenberg, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Matthew Perry, Jason E. Osenkowski
2021, Wildfowl (71) 179-192
Black Scoters Melanitta americana were marked with satellite transmitters on Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America to examine continental-scale population delineation. Scoters marked on the different coasts did not overlap at any stage of the annual cycle, suggesting that birds in the two regions could be monitored and managed as separate...
Decision-support framework for linking regional-scale management actions to continental-scale conservation of wide-ranging species
Erik E. Osnas, G. Scott Boomer, James H. Devries, Michael C. Runge
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1084
Anas acuta (Northern pintail; hereafter pintail) was selected as a model species on which to base a decision-support framework linking regional actions to continental-scale population and harvest objectives. This framework was then used to engage stakeholders, such as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives’ (LCCs’) habitat management partners within areas of importance to...
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 5.1 user guide
Emily A. Himmelstoss, Rachel E. Henderson, Meredith G. Kratzmann, Amy S. Farris
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1091
The Digital Shoreline Analysis System version 5 software is an add-in to Esri ArcGIS Desktop version 10.4–10.7 that enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from a time series of vector shoreline positions. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System provides an automated method for establishing measurement locations, performs rate calculations, provides...
Carbon and ecohydrological priorities in managing woody encroachment: UAV perspective 63 years after a control treatment
Temuulen T. Sankey, Jackson Leonard, Margaret Moore, Joel B. Sankey, Adam Belmonte
2021, Environmental Research Letters
Woody encroachment, including both woody species expansion and density increase, is a globally observed phenomenon that deteriorates arid and semi-arid rangeland health, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Mechanical and chemical control treatments are commonly performed to reduce woody cover and restore ecohydrologic function. While the immediate impacts of...
Exposure of predatory and scavenging birds to anticoagulant rodenticides in France: Exploration of data from French surveillance programs
Meg-Anne Moriceau, Sebastien Lefebvre, Isabelle Fourel, Etienne Benoit, Florence Buronfosse, Pascal Orabi, Barnett A. Rattner, Virginie Lattard
2021, Science of the Total Environment (810)
Wild raptors are widely used to assess exposure to different environmental contaminants, including anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). ARs are used on a global scale for rodent control, and act by disruption of the vitamin K cycle that results in haemorrhage usually accompanied by death within...
The Boreal-Arctic Wetland and Lake Dataset (BAWLD)
David Olefeldt, Mikael Hovemyr, M.A. Kuhn, D Bastviken, T.J. Bohn, J. Connolly, P.M. Crill, E.S. Euskirchen, S.A. Finkelstein, H. Genet, G. Grosse, L.I. Harris, L. Heffernan, M. Helbig, G. Hugelium, R. Hutchins, S. Juutinen, M.J. Lara, A. Malhotra, Kristen L. Manies, A.D. McGuire, S.M. Natali, J. A. O’Donnell, F-J.W. Parmentier, A. Rasanen, C. Schaedel, O. Sonnentag, M. Strack, S.E. Tank, C. C. Treat, R.K. Varner, T. Virtanen, J.D. Watts, R.K. Warren
2021, Earth System Science Data (13) 5127-5149
Methane emissions from boreal and arctic wetlands, lakes, and rivers are expected to increase in response to warming and associated permafrost thaw. However, the lack of appropriate land cover datasets for scaling field-measured methane emissions to circumpolar scales has contributed to a large uncertainty for our understanding of present-day and...
