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Rapids are common in steep rivers, often forming where flow transitions from supercritical (Froude number, Fr > 1) to subcritical (Fr < 1) through a hydraulic jump. When upstream Fr is supercritical but close to 1, this transition may occur as an undular hydraulic jump, exhibiting a train of stationary waves downstream of the jump toe. Previous...

Ciénegas are rare wetlands in arid landscapes of the North American Southwest, historically providing critical ecological and hydrological functions but increasingly threatened by changing climate and land use pressures. This study quantifies changes in ciénega condition and floodplain dynamics using a state-and-transition model (STM) informed by expert...

Executive Summary The use of field-deployable fluorescence sensors to better understand dissolved organic matter concentrations and composition has grown immensely in recent years. Applications of these sensors to critical monitoring efforts have also grown, encompassing post-fire monitoring, wastewater tracking, and use as a proxy for various contaminants. Despite the growth, it...

The Working Group on American Eel (WGAMEEL) met virtually three times in 2022-2024 to address the five Terms of Reference (ToRs) of its three-year term. The first two ToRs tasked WGAMEEL with listing and evaluating data on American eel landings, abundance indices, and spatial and habitat data and also...

Land cover information is essential for understanding Earth’s surface dynamics and how vegetation, water, soil, climate, and terrain interact. The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) has been the authoritative source for consistent U.S. land cover mapping. To extend NLCD’s temporal resolution and reduce production latency, we developed the...

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val (Calibration and Validation) Center of Excellence is a global leader in improving the accuracy, precision, and quality of remote-sensing data. Calibration is the process of quantitatively defining a system’s response to known and controlled signal inputs. Validation is the process...

A new oceanographic radar instrument package was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to measure storm waves and water levels in the nearshore, capable of being deployed rapidly and transmitting data in near real-time. To test the performance and accuracy of the sensor, multiple years of data were collected...

In arid and semi-arid regions, groundwater sustains vegetation through subsurface water access, yet the responses of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) to changing hydroclimate and groundwater availability are relatively understudied. This study investigates seasonal and spatial patterns in vegetation greenness using Landsat Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) values across riparian and upland zones...

Large magnitude snow avalanches (destructive size ≥ D3) impact settlements, transportation corridors, and public safety worldwide. In Colorado, United States, avalanches have killed more people than any other natural hazard since 1950. In March 2019, a large magnitude avalanche cycle occurred throughout the entire mountainous portion of Colorado resulting in more...

Igneous activity, including shallow intrusions and volcanism, has the potential to disrupt underground critical infrastructure. Notably, future underground infrastructure projects like high-level radioactive waste repositories must be sited in areas of extremely low disruption probability by igneous activity. In Germany, according to the Repository Site Selection Act of 2017 (Standortauswahlgesetz,...

Flooding and channel change in the Taiya River Basin in recent decades have directly affected park infrastructure and cultural resources. The complexities of flooding and channel change are compounded by the changing sediment and flow regime from a changing climate and shrinking glaciers, which will continue to drive dynamic riverine change. Streamflow...

Retrieving the phytoplankton absorption coefficient (aphy; m−1), one of the most spectrally rich inherent optical properties, remains challenging in optically complex coastal waters worldwide. Leveraging NASA's new hyperspectral mission, PACE, we introduce Hyper-MoE-VAE, a deep-learning architecture that integrates a Mixture-of-Experts with a Variational Autoencoder to retrieve high-dimensional aphy and subsequent estimation...

The U.S. Geological Survey, with funding from the Idaho Department of Water Resources, developed a groundwater budget for the Mountain Home area in southern Idaho for irrigation year 2023 (November 1, 2022–October 31, 2023). This study focused on the water balance across the Cinder Cone Butte Critical Groundwater Area (CGWA),...

Intersections of drainage networks and road networks represent a critical nexus between natural waterways and human infrastructure. Managing these systems involves decisions related to management of infrastructure, hydrologic and geomorphic processes, and ecological connectivity. Interactions among these systems influence multiple values, including the intactness of transportation networks, public safety, water...

Centered on Fort Morgan, Colorado, this study is intended to build from previous work by adding a three-dimensional (3D) view of the subsurface to better understand the depositional history of Quaternary deposits. A 1:100,000 scale geologic map was made by combining previous geologic maps, regional soil maps, and recent field...

Acadia National Park has had increases in the frequency and magnitude of precipitation in recent years, leading to increased flood flows, stream erosion, and costly infrastructure damage. To improve infrastructure management in a changing climate, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, has developed multiple datasets...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wyoming Water Development Office, developed regional regression equations based on basin characteristics and streamflow statistics for streamgages through water year 2021 (October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021). The regression equations allow estimates of mean annual maximum, mean annual, mean seasonal, and...

Magnitude and frequency of annual peak streamflows were computed for 813 streamgages on rural, unregulated streams with annual peak streamflow data from 1791 through the 2021 water years in and near Virginia and West Virginia. The study was done in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the West Virginia...

Tree islands are patchy upland forested habitats in Florida's Everglades that face degradation and disappearance due to altered hydrologic patterns. The U.S. Geological Survey coordinated with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida to co-develop a decision-support tool based on tree-island...

Cyanobacterial and other algal blooms are an environmental concern in waterbodies worldwide. While these blooms are a nuisance for recreational activities, they can also be harmful to human and wildlife health when the algae produce and release toxins. Algal community composition can be monitored and analyzed by...

In the summer, juvenile Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) are vulnerable to extreme water quality conditions (i.e., temperature, dissolved oxygen [DO], and salinity) in the estuaries they inhabit. The effects of climate change on Atlantic sturgeon are largely unknown, but it may exacerbate these water quality issues....

Lake and seabed environments are home to fisheries and other biota that are important to ecosystems and economies, yet these environments and the species that use them are difficult to accurately assess and monitor. Traditional benthic survey techniques, like bottom trawling used by the U.S. Geological Survey, are limited by...

Satellite-based earth observation is a robust tool for tracking change in ecosystems. While terrestrially focused applications of remote sensing have empowered wide adoption for research and management, remote sensing of inland aquatic ecosystems remains comparably nascent. This divergence, in part, stems from the lack of standardized, accessible,...

Monitoring volcanoes involves a variety of data sources and methods to maintain complete continuity of coverage. Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) are commonly used complementary methods to assess the deformation state of a volcano as magma migrates beneath the surface. The...

Purpose of ReviewBlue carbon is an important concept for environmental policy. Blue carbon strategies (conservation and restoration for carbon gain) have been primarily implemented with mangroves, though are likely to be suitable for other tidal forested wetlands. Here, we discuss the expanding definition of blue carbon encompassing all...