One-meter topobathymetric digital elevation model for Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1944 to 2016
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Sandra K. Poppenga, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Dean J. Tyler, Dean B. Gesch, Maria Kottermair, Andrea Jalandoni, Edward Carlson, Cindy A. Thatcher, Matthew M. Barbee
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5047
Atoll and island coastal communities are highly exposed to sea-level rise, tsunamis, storm surges, rogue waves, king tides, and the occasional combination of multiple factors, such as high regional sea levels, extreme high local tides, and unusually strong wave set-up. The elevation of most of these atolls averages just under...
A North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) of the Common Era
Jessica R. Rodysill, Lesleigh Anderson, Thomas M. Cronin, Miriam C. Jones, Robert S. Thompson, David B. Wahl, Debra A. Willard, Jason A. Addison, Jay R. Alder, Katherine H. Anderson, Lysanna Anderson, John A. Barron, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Steven W. Hostetler, Natalie M. Kehrwald, Nicole Khan, Julie N. Richey, Scott W. Starratt, Laura E. Strickland, Michael Toomey, Claire C. Treat, G. Lynn Wingard
2018, Global and Planetary Change (162) 175-198
This study presents a synthesis of century-scale hydroclimate variations in North America for the Common Era (last 2000 years) using new age models of previously published multiple proxy-based paleoclimate data. This North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) examines regional hydroclimate patterns and related environmental indicators, including vegetation, lake water elevation, stream flow...
Evaluating and monitoring forest fuel treatments using remote sensing applications in Arizona, U.S.A.
Roy E. Petrakis, Miguel L. Villarreal, Zhuoting Wu, Robert Hetzler, Barry R. Middleton, Laura M. Norman
2018, Forest Ecology and Management (413) 48-61
The practice of fire suppression across the western United States over the past century has led to dense forests, and when coupled with drought has contributed to an increase in large and destructive wildfires. Forest management efforts aimed at reducing flammable fuels through various fuel treatments can help to restore...
The Ozark Plateaus Regional Aquifer Study—Documentation of a groundwater-flow model constructed to assess water availability in the Ozark Plateaus
Brian R. Clark, Joseph M. Richards, Katherine J. Knierim
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5035
Recent short-term drought conditions have emphasized the need to better understand the delicate balance between abundance, sustainability, and scarcity of groundwater in the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey began construction of a groundwater-flow model as a tool for the assessment of groundwater availability in the...
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 2015 through September 2016) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana
Kent A. Dodge, Michelle I. Hornberger, Matthew A. Turner
2018, Open-File Report 2017-1136
Water, bed sediment, and biota were sampled in selected streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the upper Clark Fork Basin of western Montana. The sampling program was led by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to...
GIS database and discussion for the distribution, composition, and age of Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Pacific Northwest Volcanic Aquifer System study area
David R. Sherrod, Mackenzie K. Keith
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1030
A substantial part of the U.S. Pacific Northwest is underlain by Cenozoic volcanic and continental sedimentary rocks and, where widespread, these strata form important aquifers. The legacy geologic mapping presented with this report contains new thematic categorization added to state digital compilations published by the U.S. Geological Survey for Oregon,...
Effects of contemporary land-use and land-cover change on the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in the United States
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Jinxun Liu, Colin Daniel, Bronwyn Rayfield, Jason T. Sherba, Todd Hawbaker, Zhiliang Zhu, Paul Selmants, Thomas R. Loveland
2018, Environmental Research Letters (13)
Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) can have profound effects on terrestrial carbon dynamics, yet their effects on the global carbon budget remain uncertain. While land change impacts on ecosystem carbon dynamics have been the focus of numerous studies, few efforts have been based on observational data incorporating...
Phylogeny and species traits predict bird detectability
Peter Solymos, Steven M. Matsuoka, Diana Stralberg, Nicole K. S. Barker, Erin M. Bayne
2018, Ecography (41) 1595-1603
Avian acoustic communication has resulted from evolutionary pressures and ecological constraints. We therefore expect that auditory detectability in birds might be predictable by species traits and phylogenetic relatedness. We evaluated the relationship between phylogeny, species traits, and field‐based estimates of the two processes that determine species detectability (singing rate and...
A consistent global approach for the morphometric characterization of subaqueous landslides
Michael Clare, Jason Chaytor, Oliver Dabson, Davide Gamboa, Aggeliki Georgiopoulou, Harry Eady, James Hunt, Christopher Jackson, Oded Katz, Sebastian Krastel, Ricardo Leon, Aaron Micallef, Jasper Moernaut, Roberto Moriconi, Lorena Moscardelli, Christof Mueller, Alexandre Normandeau, Marco Patacci, Michael Steventon, Morelia Urlaub, David Volker, Lesli Wood, Zane R. Jobe
2018, Geological Society, London, Special Publications (477)
Landslides are common in aquatic settings worldwide, from lakes and coastal environments to the deep sea. Fast-moving, large-volume landslides can potentially trigger destructive tsunamis. Landslides damage and disrupt global communication links and other critical marine infrastructure. Landslide deposits act as foci for localized, but important, deep-seafloor biological communities. Under...
Hierarchical modeling assessment of the influence of watershed stressors on fish and invertebrate species in Gulf of Mexico estuaries
Jonathan Miller, Peter C. Esselman, Ibrahim Alameddine, Kristan Blackhart, Daniel R. Obenour
2018, Ecological Indicators (90) 142-153
The northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) spans five U.S. states and encompasses estuaries that vary greatly in size, shape, upstream river input, eutrophication status, and biotic communities. Given the variability among these estuaries, assessing their biological condition relative to anthropogenic stressors is challenging, but...
Spatiotemporal heterogeneity in prey abundance and vulnerability shapes the foraging tactics of an omnivore
Nathaniel D. Rayl, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, John F. Organ, Matthew A. Mumma, Shane P. Mahoney, Colleen Soulliere, Keith Lewis, Robert Otto, Dennis Murray, Lisette Waits, Todd Fuller
2018, Journal of Animal Ecology (87) 874-887
Prey abundance and prey vulnerability vary across space and time, but we know little about how they mediate predator–prey interactions and predator foraging tactics. To evaluate the interplay between prey abundance, prey vulnerability and predator space use, we examined patterns of black bear (Ursus americanus) predation of caribou (Rangifer...
Modeling habitat for Marbled Murrelets on the Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon, using lidar data
Joan C. Hagar, Ramiro Aragon, Patricia Haggerty, Jeff P. Hollenbeck
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1035
Habitat models using lidar-derived variables that quantify fine-scale variation in vegetation structure can improve the accuracy of occupancy estimates for canopy-dwelling species over models that use variables derived from other remote sensing techniques. However, the ability of models developed at such a fine spatial scale to maintain accuracy at...
Decadal changes in channel morphology of a freely meandering river—Powder River, Montana, 1975–2016
John A. Moody, Robert H. Meade
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1012
Few studies exist on the long-term geomorphic effects of floods. However, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was able to begin such a study after a 50-year recurrence interval flood in 1978 because 20 channel cross sections along a 100-kilometer reach of river were established in 1975 and 1977 as part...
Flood-inundation and flood-mitigation modeling of the West Branch Wapsinonoc Creek Watershed in West Branch, Iowa
Charles V. Cigrand
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5002
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the city of West Branch and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site of the National Park Service assessed flood-mitigation scenarios within the West Branch Wapsinonoc Creek watershed. The scenarios are intended to demonstrate several means of decreasing peak streamflows and improving the...
Geologic map of the Nepenthes Planum Region, Mars
James A. Skinner, Kenneth L. Tanaka
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3389
This map product contains a map sheet at 1:1,506,000 scale that shows the geology of the Nepenthes Planum region of Mars, which is located between the cratered highlands that dominate the southern hemisphere and the less-cratered sedimentary plains that dominate the northern hemisphere. The map region contains cone- and mound-shaped landforms...
Archie’s saturation exponent for natural gas hydrate in coarse-grained reservoirs
Ann E. Cook, William F. Waite
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (123) 2069-2089
Accurately quantifying the amount of naturally occurring gas hydrate in marine and permafrost environments is important for assessing its resource potential and understanding the role of gas hydrate in the global carbon cycle. Electrical resistivity well logs are often used to calculate gas hydrate saturations, Sh, using Archie's equation. Archie's equation,...
Inferring species interactions through joint mark–recapture analysis
Charles B. Yackulic, Josh Korman, Michael D. Yard, Maria C. Dzul
2018, Ecology (99) 812-821
Introduced species are frequently implicated in declines of native species. In many cases, however, evidence linking introduced species to native declines is weak. Failure to make strong inferences regarding the role of introduced species can hamper attempts to predict population viability and delay effective management responses. For many species, mark–recapture...
Identifying optimal remotely-sensed variables for ecosystem monitoring in Colorado Plateau drylands
Travis B. Poitras, Miguel L. Villarreal, Eric K. Waller, Travis W. Nauman, Mark E. Miller, Michael C. Duniway
2018, Journal of Arid Environments (153) 76-87
Water-limited ecosystems often recover slowly following anthropogenic or natural disturbance. Multitemporal remote sensing can be used to monitor ecosystem recovery after disturbance; however, dryland vegetation cover can be challenging to accurately measure due to sparse cover and spectral confusion between soils and non-photosynthetic vegetation. With the goal of optimizing...
Nonhydrostatic and surfbeat model predictions of extreme wave run-up in fringing reef environments
Christopher H. Lashley, Dano Roelvink, Ap R. van Dongeren, Mark L. Buckley, Ryan J. Lowe
2018, Coastal Engineering (137) 11-27
The accurate prediction of extreme wave run-up is important for effective coastal engineering design and coastal hazard management. While run-up processes on open sandy coasts have been reasonably well-studied, very few studies have focused on understanding and predicting wave run-up at coral reef-fronted coastlines. This paper applies the short-wave resolving,...
Long-term population dynamics and conservation risk of migratory bull trout in the upper Columbia River basin
Ryan Kovach, Jonathan Armstrong, David Schmetterling, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Clint C. Muhlfeld
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 1960-1968
We used redd count data from 88 bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) populations in the upper Columbia River basin to quantify local and regional patterns in population dynamics, including adult abundance, long-term trend, and population synchrony. We further used this information to assess conservation risk of metapopulations using eight population dynamic...
The role of frozen soil in groundwater discharge predictions for warming alpine watersheds
Sarah G. Evans, Shemin Ge, Clifford I. Voss, Noah P. Molotch
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 1599-1615
Climate warming may alter the quantity and timing of groundwater discharge to streams in high alpine watersheds due to changes in the timing of the duration of seasonal freezing in the subsurface and snowmelt recharge. It is imperative to understand the effects of seasonal freezing and recharge on groundwater discharge...
The sedimentological characteristics and geochronology of the marshes of Dauphin Island, Alabama
Alisha M. Ellis, Christopher G. Smith, Marci E. Marot
2018, Open-File Report 2017-1165
In August 2015, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected 11 push cores from the marshes of Dauphin Island and Little Dauphin Island, Alabama. Sample site environments included high marshes, low salt marshes, and salt flats, and varied in distance from the shoreline....
Natural and man-made hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), in groundwater near a mapped plume, Hinkley, California—study progress as of May 2017, and a summative-scale approach to estimate background Cr(VI) concentrations
John A. Izbicki, Krishangi D. Groover
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1045
This report describes (1) work done between January 2015 and May 2017 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), background study and (2) the summative-scale approach to be used to estimate the extent of anthropogenic (man-made) Cr(VI) and background Cr(VI) concentrations near the Pacific Gas and...
Model methodology for estimating pesticide concentration extremes based on sparse monitoring data
Aldo V. Vecchia
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5159
This report describes a new methodology for using sparse (weekly or less frequent observations) and potentially highly censored pesticide monitoring data to simulate daily pesticide concentrations and associated quantities used for acute and chronic exposure assessments, such as the annual maximum daily concentration. The new methodology is based on a...
Delineation of the hydrogeologic framework of the Big Sioux aquifer near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, using airborne electromagnetic data
Kristen J. Valseth, Gregory C. Delzer, Curtis V. Price
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3393
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, began developing a groundwater-flow model of the Big Sioux aquifer in 2014 that will enable the City to make more informed water management decisions, such as delineation of areas of the greatest specific yield, which is...
