Estimating selected low-flow frequency statistics and harmonic-mean flows for ungaged, unregulated streams in Indiana
Gary R. Martin, Kathleen K. Fowler, Leslie D. Arihood
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5102
Information on low-flow characteristics of streams is essential for the management of water resources. This report provides equations for estimating the 1-, 7-, and 30-day mean low flows for a recurrence interval of 10 years and the harmonic-mean flow at ungaged, unregulated stream sites in Indiana. These equations were developed...
Extending ordinal regression with a latent zero-augmented beta distribution
Kathryn M. Irvine, T.J. Rodhouse, Ilai. N. Keren
2016, Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics (21) 619-640
Ecological abundance data are often recorded on an ordinal scale in which the lowest category represents species absence. One common example is when plant species cover is visually assessedwithin bounded quadrats and then assigned to pre-defined cover class categories.We present an ordinal beta hurdle model that directly models ordinal category probabilitieswith a biologically realistic...
Assessment of hydrogeologic terrains, well-construction characteristics, groundwater hydraulics, and water-quality and microbial data for determination of surface-water-influenced groundwater supplies in West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Katherine S. Paybins
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5048
In January 2014, a storage tank leaked, spilling a large quantity of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol into the Elk River in West Virginia and contaminating the water supply for more than 300,000 people. In response, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 373, which requires the West Virginia Department of Health and...
Changes in phosphorus concentrations and loads in the Assabet River, Massachusetts, October 2008 through April 2014
Jennifer G. Savoie, Leslie A. DeSimone, John R. Mullaney, Marc J. Zimmerman, Marcus C. Waldron
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5063
Treated effluent discharged from municipal wastewater-treatment plants to the Assabet River in central Massachusetts includes phosphorus, which leads to increased growth of nuisance aquatic plants that decrease the river’s water quality and aesthetics in impounded reaches during the growing season. To improve the river’s water quality and aesthetics, the U.S....
Estimating denning date of wolves with daily movement and GPS location fix failure
Patrick B. Walsh, Suresh Sethi, Bryce C. Lake, Buck A. Mangipane, Ryan Nielson, Stacey Lowe
2016, Wildlife Society Bulletin (40) 663-668
We used Global Positioning System (GPS) radiotelemetry data from 7 breeding female wolves (Canis lupus; n = 14 dennings) in 3 regions across Alaska, USA, during 2008–2011 to develop and compare methods for estimating the onset of denning, and thus infer timing of parturition. We developed and tested 2 estimators based on a...
Statistical correction of lidar-derived digital elevation models with multispectral airborne imagery in tidal marshes
Kevin J. Buffington, Bruce D. Dugger, Karen M. Thorne, John Y. Takekawa
2016, Remote Sensing of Environment (186) 616-625
Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) is a valuable tool for collecting large amounts of elevation data across large areas; however, the limited ability to penetrate dense vegetation with lidar hinders its usefulness for measuring tidal marsh platforms. Methods to correct lidar elevation data are available, but a reliable method...
Mapping annual forest cover in sub-humid and semi-arid regions through analysis of landsat and PALSAR imagery
Yuanwei Qin, Xiangming Xiao, Jie Wang, Jinwei Dong, Kayti Ewing, Bruce Hoagland, Daniel J Hough, Todd D Fagin, Zhenhua Zou, George L. Geissler, George Z. Xian, Thomas Loveland
2016, Remote Sensing (8)
Accurately mapping the spatial distribution of forests in sub-humid to semi-arid regions over years is a challenging task and causes difficulty to forest management. Relatively large uncertainties still exist in the spatial distribution of forests and deforestation in the sub-humid and semi-arid regions. Numerous publications have used either optical or...
Selected techniques for monitoring water movement through unsaturated alluvium during managed aquifer recharge
Joseph M. Nawikas, David R. O’Leary, John A. Izbicki, Matthew K. Burgess
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1180
Managed aquifer recharge is used to augment natural recharge to aquifers. It can be used to replenish aquifers depleted by pumping or to store water during wetter years for withdrawal during drier years. Infiltration from ponds is a commonly used, inexpensive approach for managed aquifer recharge.At some managed...
Abstract volume for the 2016 biennial meeting of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
Jacob B. Lowenstern, editor(s)
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1104
IntroductionEvery two years, scientists, natural resource managers, outreach specialists, and a variety of other interested parties get together for the biennial meeting of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO). Each time, the theme varies. In past years, we have focused the meeting around topics including monitoring plans, emergency response, geodesy,...
Roseate Tern breeding dispersal and fidelity: Responses to two newly restored colony sites
Jeffrey A. Spendelow, David Monticelli, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Ian Nisbet, Grace Cormons, Helen Hays, Jeremy Hatch, Carolyn Mostello
2016, Ecosphere (7) 1-16
We used 22 yr of capture–mark–reencounter (CMR) data collected from 1988 to 2009 on about 12,500 birds at what went from three to five coastal colony sites in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut, United States, to examine spatial and temporal variation in breeding dispersal/fidelity rates of adult Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii)....
Probing the volcanic-plutonic connection and the genesis of crystal-rich rhyolite in a deeply dissected supervolcano in the Nevada Great Basin: Source of the late Eocene Caetano Tuff
Kathryn E. Watts, David A. John, Joseph P. Colgan, Christopher D. Henry, Ilya N. Bindeman, Axel K. Schmitt
2016, Journal of Petrology (57) 1599-1644
Late Cenozoic faulting and large-magnitude extension in the Great Basin of the western USA has created locally deep windows into the upper crust, permitting direct study of volcanic and plutonic rocks within individual calderas. The Caetano caldera in north–central Nevada, formed during the mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up, offers one of the...
Flood-inundation maps for the Peckman River in the Townships of Verona, Cedar Grove, and Little Falls, and the Borough of Woodland Park, New Jersey, 2014
Michal J. Niemoczynski, Kara M. Watson
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5105
Digital flood-inundation maps for an approximate 7.5-mile reach of the Peckman River in New Jersey, which extends from Verona Lake Dam in the Township of Verona downstream through the Township of Cedar Grove and the Township of Little Falls to the confluence with the Passaic River in the Borough of...
Statistical analysis of lake levels and field study of groundwater and surface-water exchanges in the northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, 2002 through 2015: Chapter A of Water levels and groundwater and surface-water exchanges in lakes of the northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, 2002 through 2015
Perry M. Jones, Jared J. Trost, Aliesha L. Diekoff, Donald O. Rosenberry, Eric A. White, Melinda L. Erickson, Daniel L. Morel, Jessica M. Heck
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5139-A
Water levels declined from 2003 to 2011 in many lakes in Ramsey and Washington Counties in the northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota; however, water levels in other northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area lakes increased during the same period. Groundwater and surface-water exchanges can be important in determining lake levels...
Identification and classification of very low frequency waves on a coral reef flat
Matthijs Gawehn, Ap van Dongeran, Arnold van Rooijen, Curt D. Storlazzi, Olivia Cheriton, Ad Reniers
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (121) 7560-7574
Very low frequency (VLF, 0.001–0.005 Hz) waves are important drivers of flooding of low-lying coral reef-islands. In particular, VLF wave resonance is known to drive large wave runup and subsequent overwash. Using a 5 month data set of water levels and waves collected along a cross-reef transect on Roi-Namur Island...
Daniel Goodman’s empirical approach to Bayesian statistics
Tim Gerrodette, Eric Ward, Rebecca L. Taylor, Lisa K. Schwarz, Tomoharu Eguchi, Paul Wade, Gina Himes Boor
2016, PeerJ
Bayesian statistics, in contrast to classical statistics, uses probability to represent uncertainty about the state of knowledge. Bayesian statistics has often been associated with the idea that knowledge is subjective and that a probability distribution represents a personal degree of belief. Dr. Daniel Goodman considered this viewpoint problematic for issues...
Biomarkers reveal sea turtles remained in oiled areas following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Hannah B. Vander Zanden, Alan B. Bolten, Anton D. Tucker, Kristen M. Hart, Margaret M. Lamont, Ikuko Fujisaki, Kimberly J. Reich, David S. Addison, Katherine L. Mansfield, Katrina F. Phillips, Mariela Pajuelo, Karen A. Bjorndal
2016, Ecological Applications (26) 2145-2155
Assessments of large-scale disasters, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, are problematic because while measurements of post-disturbance conditions are common, measurements of pre-disturbance baselines are only rarely available. Without adequate observations of pre-disaster organismal and environmental conditions, it is impossible to assess the impact of such catastrophes on animal...
Estimating spatially and temporally varying recharge and runoff from precipitation and urban irrigation in the Los Angeles Basin, California
Joseph A. Hevesi, Tyler D. Johnson
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5068
A daily precipitation-runoff model, referred to as the Los Angeles Basin watershed model (LABWM), was used to estimate recharge and runoff for a 5,047 square kilometer study area that included the greater Los Angeles area and all surface-water drainages potentially contributing recharge to a 1,450 square kilometer groundwater-study area...
Comparison of mercury mass loading in streams to atmospheric deposition in watersheds of Western North America: Evidence for non-atmospheric mercury sources
Joseph L. Domagalski, Michael S. Majewski, Charles N. Alpers, Chris S. Eckley, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Liam N. Schenk, Susan Wherry
2016, Science of the Total Environment (568) 638-650
Annual stream loads of mercury (Hg) and inputs of wet and dry atmospheric Hg deposition to the landscape were investigated in watersheds of the Western United States and the Canadian-Alaskan Arctic. Mercury concentration and discharge data from flow gauging stations were used to compute annual mass loads with regression models....
FishVis, A regional decision support tool for identifying vulnerabilities of riverine habitat and fishes to climate change in the Great Lakes Region
Jana S. Stewart, S. Alex Covert, Nick J. Estes, Stephen M. Westenbroek, Damon Krueger, Daniel J. Wieferich, Michael T. Slattery, John D. Lyons, James E. McKenna Jr., Dana M. Infante, Jennifer L. Bruce
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5124
Climate change is expected to alter the distributions and community composition of stream fishes in the Great Lakes region in the 21st century, in part as a result of altered hydrological systems (stream temperature, streamflow, and habitat). Resource managers need information and tools to understand where fish species and stream...
Through a fish's eye: The status of fish habitats in the United States 2015
Steve Crawford, Gary Whelan, Dana M. Infante, Kristan Blackhart, Wesley M. Daniel, Pam Fuller, Timothy W. Birdsong, Daniel J. Wieferich, Ricardo McClees-Funinan, Susan Stedman, Kyle Herreman, Peter M. Ruhl
2016, Report
This report updates and revises the 2010 “ Status of Fish Habitats in the United States” that summarized initial results of a comprehensive national assessment of aquatic habitats at an unprecedented scale and level of detail. This 2015 report provides even greater detail and improves our knowledge of the condition...
Detecting and inferring cause of change in an Alaska nearshore marine ecosystem
H. A. Coletti, James L. Bodkin, Daniel Monson, Brenda E. Ballachey, T. A. Dean
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Community composition, species abundance, and species distribution are expected to change while monitoring ecosystems over time, and effective management of natural resources requires understanding mechanisms contributing to change. Marine ecosystems in particular can be difficult to monitor, in part due to large, multidimensional spatial scales and complex...
Occurrence and distribution of arsenic and radon in water from private wells in the Rancocas aquifer, southern New Castle and northern Kent Counties, Delaware, 2015
Judith M. Denver
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1143
Water samples were collected and analyzed for arsenic and radon from 36 private, mostly domestic wells that tap the Rancocas aquifer in southern New Castle and northern Kent Counties, Delaware, during the summer of 2015. Both arsenic and radon are from natural mineral sources, in particular glauconitic and other marine-derived...
Flood inundation maps for the Wabash River at New Harmony, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5119
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.68-mile reach of the Wabash River extending 1.77 miles upstream and 1.91 miles downstream from streamgage 03378500 at New Harmony, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The flood-inundation maps, which can...
Evaluating models of population process in a threatened population of Steller’s eiders: A retrospective approach
Kylee Dunham, J. Barry Grand
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1062
The Alaskan breeding population of Steller’s eiders (Polysticta stelleri) was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1997 in response to perceived declines in abundance throughout their breeding and nesting range. Aerial surveys suggest the breeding population is small and highly variable in number, with zero birds counted...
Household evacuation characteristics in American Samoa during the 2009 Samoa Islands tsunami
Emma J. I. Apatu, Chris E. Gregg, Nathan J. Wood, Liang Wang
2016, Disasters (40) 779-798
Tsunamis represent significant threats to human life and development in coastal communities. This quantitative study examines the influence of household characteristics on evacuation actions taken by 211 respondents in American Samoa who were at their homes during the 29 September 2009 Mw 8.1 Samoa Islands earthquake and tsunami disaster. Multiple...
