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This article assesses the ability of regionally specific, frequency‐dependent crustal attenuation (⁠1/Q">1/Q⁠) to reduce mean magnitude discrepancies between seismic stations in the northern Appalachian and Grenville provinces (NAP and GP)...

The present-day acid-base chemistry of surface waters can be directly linked to contemporary observations of acid deposition; however, pre-industrial conditions are key to predicting the potential future recovery of stream ecosystems under decreasing loads of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) deposition. The integrated biogeochemical model PnET-BGC was applied to...

Habitat Loss is a primary cause of species decline, and predicting the distribution of quality habitats across broad scales is needed for conservation of rare species. Secretive marsh birds are a group of emergent-wetland specialists that include multiple threatened and endangered species whose populations have been impacted by wetland loss...

Geological Surveys have long filled the role of providing Earth system science data and knowledge. These functions are increasingly complicated by accelerating environmental and societal change. Here we describe the USGS response to these evolving conditions. Underpinning the USGS approach is the recognition that many of the issues...

Understanding how populations respond to spatially heterogeneous habitat disturbance is as critical to conservation as it is challenging. Here, we present a new, free, and open-source metapopulation model: Dynamic Habitat Disturbance and Ecological Resilience (DyHDER), which incorporates subpopulation habitat condition and connectivity into a population viability analysis framework. Modeling temporally...

Few studies have examined the electrical properties of volcanic ash or considered the effects of physical characteristics, such as grain size and shape on its electrification. This study measures the resistivity of eight volcanic ash samples, three milled-samples and five natural ashfall samples from Alaska, U.S.A., using a current amplifier and examines the...

To compare the effectiveness of proposed alternative water-supply scenarios on future water availability in the Mississippi Delta, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality are collaborating on the update and enhancement of an existing regional groundwater-flow model of the area. Through this collaboration, the model has...

The selective use of seasonal precipitation by vegetation is critical to understanding the residence time and flow path of water in watersheds, yet there are limited datasets to test how climate alters these dynamics. Here, we use measurements of the seasonal cycle of tree ring 18O for two widespread conifer...

The 2016–2017 eruption of Bogoslof volcano involved at least 70 detected eruptive events between mid-December 2016 and August 30, 2017. Acquisition of high-resolution satellite imagery throughout the duration of the eruptive period allowed us to document and map the various morphologic changes that occurred on the...

Since 2015 the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation and its partners have been supporting regional programmes and bilateral collaborations to develop an open global earthquake risk model. These efforts led to the development of a repository of probabilistic seismic hazard models, a global exposure dataset comprising structural and occupancy information...

Salt loads in the Colorado River Basin are a primary water quality concern. Natural groundwater brine discharge to the Dolores River where it passes through the collapsed salt anticline of the Paradox Valley in western Colorado is a significant source of salt to the Colorado River. An airborne...

Management agencies are often charged with providing fisheries that lead to angler participation. Catch rate is one of the primary drivers of angler participation but can be influenced by a suite of factors, including population structure (e.g., density and size structure). The complexity of understanding how population structure influences angler...

Here, we use ocean color measurements (Figure 1) and sea surface temperature (SST) data collected using sensors mounted on low-flying aircraft to characterize NCCS water masses and identify patterns among seasons and between years. To accomplish this, we applied k-means clustering to measured and derived ecologically-relevant physical and bio-optical variables...

The Grand Calumet River (GCR), located in northern Indiana, is contaminated due to a wide range of historical industrial activities. This study was conducted to determine the influence of sediment remediation within the GCR on concentrations of chemical contaminants and toxicity to sediment-dwelling organisms. Between 2005 and 2016, sediments with...

Waters co-produced during petroleum extraction are the largest waste stream from oil and gas development. Reuse or disposal of these waters is difficult due to their high salinities and the sheer volumes generated. Produced waters may also contain valuable mineral commodities. While an understanding of produced water trace element composition...

Surface waters across much of New York State’s Adirondack Mountains were acidified in the late 20th century but began to recover following the 1990 Title IV Amendments to the Clean Air Act. Previous assessments of acidification recovery in the Adirondacks have generally been based on surface water chemistry data and...

Documenting the distribution and composition of non-native species populations can be challenging, especially when species cross jurisdictional boundaries that require interagency coordination. Herein I report the development of three tools that have been used in Florida over the past seven years to assist with tracking of non-native fishes: 1) an...

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revolutionized our understanding of shale petroleum systems through microstructural characterization of dispersed organic matter (OM). However, due to the low atomic weight of carbon, all OM appears black in SEM (BSE image) regardless of differences in thermal maturity or OM type (kerogen types or solid...

Recent Hawaiʻi state clean energy policy mandates and federal interest in developing offshore renewable energy resources have prompted unsolicited lease requests for offshore wind energy infrastructure (OWEI) to be located in ocean waters off Hawaiʻi. This study describing at-sea ranging behaviors for five seabirds was intended to provide new information...

Determining hydrologic conditions prior to instrumental records is a challenge for restoration of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Paleoecologic data provide this information on past conditions and when these data are used to adjust hydrologic models, allow conditions to be hindcast that may not be directly estimated from the paleo-data alone....

A prototype system to explore Linked Data that semantically integrates geospatial data in various formats from different publication sources with data from The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey is presented. The focus is on accessing advanced feature descriptions for data from The National Map with data coreferenced from...

Assessing wetland vulnerability to chronic and episodic physical drivers is fundamental for establishing restoration priorities. We synthesized multiple data sets from E.B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, to establish a wetland vulnerability metric that integrates a range of physical processes, regulatory information and physical/biophysical features. The geospatial data are based on aerial imagery,...

Since the 1990s, increased chloride concentrations of water pumped from wells (much of which is used for drinking water) and the effects of withdrawals on groundwater-dependent ecosystems have led to concerns over groundwater availability on the island of Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi. An improved understanding of the hydrologic effects of proposed groundwater...

Over the last several decades in forest and woodland ecosystems of the southwestern United States, wildfire size and severity have increased, thereby increasing the vulnerability of these systems to type conversions, invasive species, and other disturbances. A combination of land use history and climate change is widely thought to be...

Controlled and natural source seismic data are used to build a 3-D P wave model for southern North Island, New Zealand, where the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Australian Plate at a rate of ~41 mm/year. Our analysis reveals an abrupt along-strike transition in overthrusting plate structure within Cook...