Seismic techniques and suggested instrumentation to monitor volcanoes
Weston A. Thelen, John J. Lyons, Aaron G. Wech, Seth C. Moran, Matthew M. Haney, Ashton F. Flinders
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-B
IntroductionChanges in the pressure or location of magma can stress or break surrounding rocks and trigger flow of nearby waters and gases, causing seismic signals, such as discrete earthquakes and tremor. These phenomena are types of seismic unrest that commonly precede eruption and can be used to forecast volcanic activity....
Special topic—Rapid-response instrumentation
Ashton F. Flinders
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-M
IntroductionBased on the reports of Ewert and others (2005, 2018) and Moran and others (2008), most U.S. volcanoes are currently under-monitored and are likely to remain so until the goals of the National Volcano Early Warning System are fulfilled. In addition, volcanoes determined to have low to moderate threat...
Special topic—Unoccupied aircraft systems
Angela K. Diefenbach
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-L
IntroductionUnoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) increasingly support volcano monitoring and eruption response activities in the United States and abroad (James and others, 2020). Advances in UAS platforms and miniaturization of sensors over the past decade have expanded the use of this technology for a wide range of applications within volcanology...
Special topic—Boreholes
Shaul Hurwitz, Jacob B. Lowenstern
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-K
IntroductionInstallation of instrument packages in deep (several hundred to several thousand meters) boreholes near volcanoes is relatively expensive (a few million to tens of millions of U.S. dollars), but can provide a low-noise, high-quality source of geophysical (seismic, strain, tilt, and pore pressure), physical (temperature and water level), and geochemical...
Special topic—Eruption plumes and clouds
David J. Schneider, Alexa R. Van Eaton
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-J
IntroductionExplosive eruptions create plumes of volcanic ash and gas that can rise more than 30,000 feet (9.1 kilometers [km]) above sea level within minutes of eruption onset. The resulting clouds disperse under prevailing winds and may cause hazardous conditions hundreds to thousands of kilometers from the volcano, including in international...
Monitoring marine eruptions
Gabrielle Tepp
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-I
IntroductionSubmarine volcanoes produce much of the same seismicity and eruptive activity as subaerial volcanoes and can pose hazards to society. Although they can be monitored with similar techniques and methods as described in other chapters of this volume, their submerged location brings unique challenges. This chapter addresses these challenges and...
Monitoring lahars
Weston A. Thelen, John J. Lyons, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Seth C. Moran
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-H
IntroductionLahars, or debris flows that originate from a volcano (Pierson and Scott, 1985; Pierson, 1995), are among the most destructive, far-reaching, and persistent hazards on stratovolcanoes. Lahars may be triggered by syneruptive rapid melting of snow and ice, lake breakouts, or heavy rains in conjunction with large eruptive columns. Alternatively,...
Tracking surface changes caused by volcanic activity
Tim R. Orr, Hannah R. Dietterich, Michael P. Poland
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-G
IntroductionDynamic volcanic landscapes produce various changes at the surface of volcanic edifices. For example, rising magma can induce thermal emissions, formation of ground cracks, and variations in glacier and edifice morphology; volcanic deposits from eruptions can transform the land surface with tephra fall, pyroclastic flows, lava flows and domes, and...
Streams, springs, and volcanic lakes for volcano monitoring
Steven E. Ingebritsen, Shaul Hurwitz
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-F
IntroductionVolcanic unrest can trigger appreciable change to surface waters such as streams, springs, and volcanic lakes. Magma degassing produces gases and soluble salts that are absorbed into groundwater that feeds streams and lakes. As magma ascends, the amount of heat and degassing will increase, and so will any related geochemical...
Volcanic gas monitoring
Jennifer L. Lewicki, Christoph Kern, Peter J. Kelly, Patricia A. Nadeau, Tamar Elias, Laura E. Clor
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-E
IntroductionAs magma rises through the crust, decreasing pressure conditions allow volatiles to exsolve from the magma. These volatiles then migrate upward through the crust, where they can be stored at shallower levels or escape to the atmosphere. Rising magma also heats rock masses beneath volcanic centers, causing water in shallow...
Ground deformation and gravity for volcano monitoring
Emily K. Montgomery-Brown, Kyle R. Anderson, Ingrid A. Johanson, Michael P. Poland, Ashton F. Flinders
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-D
IntroductionWhen magma accumulates or migrates, it can cause pressurization and related ground deformation. Characterization of surface deformation provides important constraints on the potential for future volcanic activity, especially in combination with seismic activity, gas emissions, and other indicators. A wide variety of techniques and instrument types have been applied to...
Infrasound for volcano monitoring
John J. Lyons, David Fee, Weston A. Thelen, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Aaron G. Wech
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062-C
IntroductionVolcanic eruptions produce acoustic waves when volcanic gases and hot material rapidly expand in the atmosphere. Volcanic activity can produce acoustic signals with a wide range of frequencies, from very long period (>10 seconds) to audible (>20 hertz [Hz]), but the most energetic band is typically in the infrasound from...
Recommended capabilities and instrumentation for volcano monitoring in the United States
Ashton F. Flinders, Jacob B. Lowenstern, Michelle L. Coombs, Michael P. Poland, editor(s)
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5062
The National Volcano Early Warning System (NVEWS) was authorized and partially funded by the U.S. Government in 2019. In response, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program asked its scientists to reflect on and summarize their views of best practices for volcano monitoring. The goal was to review and...
Quantifying fine sediment infiltration in spawning gravel used by Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Sauk River Basin, Washington, 2018–21
Kristin L. Jaeger, Scott W. Anderson, Anya C. Leach, Scott T. Morris
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5077
Fine sediment can infiltrate into river substrate that salmonid fish species (Oncorhynchus spp.) use to spawn. High levels of sediment infiltration can increase egg-to-fry mortality, which corresponds to the period when salmonids are still residing in the subsurface gravels. This study quantifies fine sediment infiltration of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)...
Comparison of water quality in shallow groundwater near agricultural areas in the Delaware Coastal Plain, 2014 and 2019
Alexander M. Soroka, Betzaida Reyes, Brandon Fleming, Michael Brownley
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5076
The State of Delaware has encouraged agricultural conservation practices to improve nutrient uptake by crops and mitigate nutrient transport to groundwater in the surficial aquifer. To study recent changes in groundwater quality, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) developed a network of shallow wells near...
Evaluation of the lakes and impoundments drought index for the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan
Travis L. Smith
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5081
The condition of surface water storage in lakes and impoundments is used as an index of drought in the Massachusetts drought management plan. The U.S. Geological Survey visited 28 of these lakes and impoundments at 14 single and multiple waterbody systems to evaluate their appropriateness for characterizing drought. The data...
Estimating groundwater level records using MOVE.1 and computing monthly percentiles from estimated groundwater records in Massachusetts
Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Dee-Ann E. Crozier
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5080
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, performed record extensions on groundwater levels at select wells using the Maintenance of Variance Extension type 1 (MOVE.1) method. The groundwater levels estimated from these record extensions were used to compute monthly percentiles to improve future determinations...
Simulated mean monthly groundwater-transported nitrogen loads in watersheds on the north shore of Long Island Sound, 1993–2022
Janet R. Barclay, Madeleine J. Holland, John R. Mullaney
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5090
Elevated nitrogen loads are pervasive in the Long Island Sound, an estuary that receives freshwater and nutrients from both surface-water and groundwater discharge. Surface-water nitrogen loads to the Long Island Sound are relatively well characterized, but less is known about groundwater-transported nitrogen loads. Prior work on the northern shore of...
Groundwater quality near the Placerita Oil Field, California, 2018
Jennifer S. Stanton, Matthew K. Landon, David H. Shimabukuro, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew G. Hunt, Peter B. McMahon, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Robert Anders, Theron A. Sowers
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5042
Groundwater-quality data and potential fluid-migration pathways near the Placerita Oil Field in Los Angeles County, California, were examined by the U.S. Geological Survey to determine if oil-field fluids (water and gas from oil-producing and non-producing zones) have mixed with groundwater resources. Six of the 13 new groundwater samples collected for...
Pesticides in surface water downstream of and near agricultural and developed land in Hawai‘i, 2015–19
Adam G. Johnson, Joseph J. Kennedy, David A. Alvarez
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5071
Pesticides and pesticide degradates (herein referred to as pesticides) in surface water were assessed at 78 sites on 4 Hawaiian Islands (Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, and Island of Hawaiʻi) during 2015–19. Each site was downstream of or near agricultural land, developed land, or both. Most (58) sites were streams; the remaining...
Evaluation and review of ecology-focused stream studies to support cooperative monitoring, Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado
Robert E. Zuellig, Charles F. Wahl, Erin K. Hennessy, Alex Jouney, Paul Foutz
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5074
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs Utilities and Colorado Springs Stormwater Enterprise, synthesized previous studies and evaluated recent monitoring data to understand the distribution of fish and invertebrates in the Fountain Creek Basin and documented response to streamflow, water temperature, and water quality. The goal was to...
Groundwater and surface-water interactions in the Lower Duwamish Waterway, Seattle, Washington
Jackson N. Mitchell, Kathleen E. Conn
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5046
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), conducted a study to describe the current understanding of the regional groundwater system of the lower Duwamish River valley and groundwater and surface-water interactions in the lower Duwamish Waterway. The lower Duwamish Waterway is the...
Peak streamflow trends in Iowa and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Padraic S. O'Shea
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-C
This study summarizes trends and change points for peak and daily streamflow in Iowa from water years 1921 through 2020. Nonstationarity in peak streamflow in Iowa can include monotonic trends, change points, and changes in seasonality. Spatial patterns of nonstationarity in peak streamflow, daily streamflow, and monthly climatic data (observed...
Geomorphic change, hydrology, and hydraulics of Caulks Creek, Wildwood, Missouri
Jessica Z. LeRoy, David C. Heimann, Kyle D. Hix, Charles V. Cigrand, Tyler J. Burk
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5079
Caulks Creek is a small stream that flows through the city of Wildwood in western St. Louis County, Missouri. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city of Wildwood, has documented historical and recent geomorphic change along Caulks Creek, simulated the hydrologic and hydraulic response of Caulks Creek to...
Low-flow statistics computed for streamflow gages and methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics for ungaged stream locations in Ohio, water years 1975–2020
Branden L. VonIns, G.F. Koltun
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5075
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Ohio Water Development Authority and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, to compute low-flow frequency, flow-duration, and harmonic mean flow statistics for long-term streamflow gages and to develop regression equations to estimate those statistics at unregulated, ungaged stream...
