Discharge, suspended sediment, and salinity in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and adjacent surface waters in South-Central Louisiana, 1997–2008
Christopher M. Swarzenski, Scott M. Perrien
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5132
Discharge, suspended sediment, and salinity data collected between 1997 and 2008 indicate that the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) is an important distributary of river water and suspended sediments to coastal wetlands in south-central coastal Louisiana. Following natural hydraulic gradients, the GIWW passively distributes freshwater and suspended sediments from the Atchafalaya...
Hydrogeology of Valley-Fill Aquifers and Adjacent Areas in Eastern Chemung County, New York
Paul M. Heisig
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5092
The extent, hydrogeologic framework, and potential well yields of valley-fill aquifers within a 151-square-mile area of eastern Chemung County, New York, were investigated, and the upland distribution of till thickness over bedrock was characterized. The hydrogeologic framework of these valleyfill aquifers was interpreted from multiple sources of surficial and subsurface...
Hindcast storm events in the Bering Sea for the St. Lawrence Island and Unalakleet Regions, Alaska
Li H. Erikson, Robert T. McCall, Arnold van Rooijen, Benjamin Norris
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1193
This study provides viable estimates of historical storm-induced water levels in the coastal communities of Gambell and Savoonga situated on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, as well as Unalakleet located at the head of Norton Sound on the western coast of Alaska. Gambell, Savoonga, and Unalakleet are small...
Initial characterization of the groundwater system near the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project, Imperial Valley, California
Alissa L. Coes, Michael Land, Jill N. Densmore, Michael T. Landrum, Kimberly R. Beisner, Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Jamie P. Macy, Fred D. Tillman
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5102
In 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city of Needles, began a study of the hydrogeology along the All-American Canal, which conveys water from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley. The focus of this study was to gain a better understanding of the effect of...
Simulation of daily streamflow for nine river basins in eastern Iowa using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
Adel E. Haj, Daniel E. Christiansen, Kasey J. Hutchinson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5129
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, constructed Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System models to estimate daily streamflow for nine river basins in eastern Iowa that drain into the Mississippi River. The models are part of a suite of methods for estimating daily streamflow at ungaged...
Surrogate Analysis and Index Developer (SAID) tool
Marian M. Domanski, Timothy D. Straub, Mark N. Landers
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1177
The use of acoustic and other parameters as surrogates for suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC) in rivers has been successful in multiple applications across the Nation. Tools to process and evaluate the data are critical to advancing the operational use of surrogates along with the subsequent development of regression models from which...
Flood-inundation maps for South Fork Peachtree Creek from the Brockett Road bridge to the Willivee Drive bridge, DeKalb County, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3347
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5.3-mile reach of South Fork Peachtree Creek that extends from about 500 feet above the Brockett Road bridge to the Willivee Drive bridge were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with DeKalb County, Georgia. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through...
Barrier Island Shorelines Extracted from Landsat Imagery
Kristy K. Guy
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1179
Introduction Changes to barrier islands occur at time scales that vary from the few hours it takes an individual storm to pass (Morton, 2008) to the millennia it takes for coastal systems to undergo geologic evolution. Developing an understanding of how barrier islands will respond to climate change, sea level rise,...
Relating subsurface temperature changes to microbial activity at a crude oil-contaminated site
Ean Warren, Barbara A. Bekins
2015, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (182) 183-193
Crude oil at a spill site near Bemidji, Minnesota has been undergoing aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation for over 30 years, creating a 150–200 m plume of primary and secondary contaminants. Microbial degradation generates heat that should be measurable under the right conditions. To measure this heat, thermistors were installed in wells in...
Basement and regional structure along strike of the Queen Charlotte Fault in the context of modern and historical earthquake ruptures
Maureen A. L. Walton, Sean P. S. Gulick, Peter J. Haeussler, Emily C. Roland, Anne M. Trehu
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 1090-1105
The Queen Charlotte fault (QCF) is a dextral transform system located offshore of southeastern Alaska and western Canada, accommodating ∼4.4 cm/yr of relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates. Oblique convergence along the fault increases southward, and how this convergence is accommodated is still debated. Using seismic reflection data,...
Identifying trout refuges in the Indian and Hudson Rivers in northern New York through airborne thermal infrared remote sensing
Anne G. Ernst, Barry P. Baldigo, Fred J. Calef, Douglas A. Freehafer, Robert L. Kremens
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1078
The locations and sizes of potential cold-water refuges for trout were examined in 2005 along a 27-kilometer segment of the Indian and Hudson Rivers in northern New York to evaluate the extent of refuges, the effects of routine flow releases from an impoundment, and how these refuges and releases might...
Mortality, movement and behaviour of native mussels during a planned water-level drawdown in the Upper Mississippi River
Teresa J. Newton, Steven J. Zigler, Brian R. Gray
2015, Freshwater Biology (60) 1-15
Managers in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) are using reductions in the River's water levels during summer to mimic historical water regimes and rehabilitate habitats for vegetation and other species. Concerns for the unintended effects of these actions on mussel populations threatened to halt these projects. Our objective...
Archive of bathymetry data collected at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 2014
Mark E. Hansen, Nathaniel G. Plant, David M. Thompson, Rodolfo J. Troche, Christine J. Kranenburg, Emily S. Klipp
2015, Data Series 957
Remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of the sea floor, acquired by boat- and aircraft-based survey systems, were produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, Florida, for the area at Cape Canaveral. The work was conducted as part of a study to...
Installation of a groundwater monitoring-well network on the east side of the Uncompahgre River in the Lower Gunnison River Basin, Colorado, 2014
Judith C. Thomas
2015, Data Series 955
The east side of the Uncompahgre River Basin has been a known contributor of dissolved selenium to recipient streams. Discharge of groundwater containing dissolved selenium contributes to surface-water selenium concentrations and loads; however, the groundwater system on the east side of the Uncompahgre River Basin is not well characterized. The...
Analysis of bathymetric surveys to identify coastal vulnerabilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida
David M. Thompson, Nathaniel G. Plant, Mark E. Hansen
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1180
Cape Canaveral, Florida, is a prominent feature along the Southeast U.S. coastline. The region includes Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and a large portion of Canaveral National Seashore. The actual promontory of the modern Cape falls within the jurisdictional boundaries of...
Biological data for water in Lake Powell and from Glen Canyon Dam releases, Utah and Arizona, 1990–2009
William S. Vernieu
2015, Data Series 959
Biological samples from various locations on Lake Powell and in the Colorado River in the tail water downstream of Glen Canyon Dam were collected by the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey from December 1990 through December 2009 as part of a long-term water-quality monitoring program that began in...
Simulating realistic predator signatures in quantitative fatty acid signature analysis
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2015, Ecological Informatics (30) 68-71
Diet estimation is an important field within quantitative ecology, providing critical insights into many aspects of ecology and community dynamics. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a prominent method of diet estimation, particularly for marine mammal and bird species. Investigators using QFASA commonly use computer simulation to evaluate statistical...
Statistical models for the analysis and design of digital polymerase chain (dPCR) experiments
Robert Dorazio, Margaret Hunter
2015, Analytical Chemistry (87) 10886-10893
Statistical methods for the analysis and design of experiments using digital PCR (dPCR) have received only limited attention and have been misused in many instances. To address this issue and to provide a more general approach to the analysis of dPCR data, we describe a class of statistical models for...
Classification of rocky headlands in California with relevance to littoral cell boundary delineation
Douglas A. George, John L. Largier, Curt D. Storlazzi, Patrick L. Barnard
2015, Marine Geology (369) 137-152
Despite extensive studies of hydrodynamics and sediment flux along beaches, there is little information on the processes, pathways and timing of water and sediment transport around rocky headlands. In this study, headlands along the California coast are classified to advance understanding of headland dynamics and littoral cell boundaries in support...
Projected wave conditions in the Eastern North Pacific under the influence of two CMIP5 climate scenarios
Li H. Erikson, Christie Hegermiller, Patrick L. Barnard, Peter Ruggiero, Martin van Ormondt
2015, Ocean Modelling (96) 171-185
Hindcast and 21st century winds, simulated by General Circulation Models (GCMs), were used to drive global- and regional-scale spectral wind-wave generation models in the Pacific Ocean Basin to assess future wave conditions along the margins of the North American west coast and Hawaiian Islands. Three-hourly winds simulated by four separate...
Preliminary estimates of annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 2013
Nancy T. Baker
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1176
Summary This report provides preliminary estimates of annual agricultural use of 387 pesticide compounds in counties of the conterminous United States in 2013, compiled by means of methods described in Thelin and Stone (2013) and Baker and Stone (2015). U.S. Department of Agriculture county-level data for harvested-crop acreage were used in...
The influence of coral reefs and climate change on wave-driven flooding of tropical coastlines
Ellen Quataert, Curt D. Storlazzi, Arnold van Rooijen, Ap van Dongeren, Olivia Cheriton
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 6407-6415
A numerical model, XBeach, calibrated and validated on field data collected at Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of Marshall Islands, was used to examine the effects of different coral reef characteristics on potential coastal hazards caused by wave-driven flooding and how these effects may be altered by...
Status and trends of adult Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) sucker populations in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2014
David A. Hewitt, Eric C. Janney, Brian S. Hayes, Alta C. Harris
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1189
Executive Summary Data from a long-term capture-recapture program were used to assess the status and dynamics of populations of two long-lived, federally endangered catostomids in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) have been captured and tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags during...
Aeromagnetic survey map of Sacramento Valley, California
Victoria E. Langenheim
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1186
Three aeromagnetic surveys were flown to improve understanding of the geology and structure in the Sacramento Valley. The resulting data serve as a basis for geophysical interpretations, and support geological mapping, water and mineral resource investigations, and other topical studies. Local spatial variations in the Earth's magnetic field (evident...
Documentation of a restart option for the U.S. Geological Survey coupled Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow (GSFLOW) model
R. Steve Regan, Richard G. Niswonger, Steven L. Markstrom, Paul M. Barlow
2015, Techniques and Methods 6-D3
A new option to write and read antecedent conditions (also referred to as initial conditions) has been developed for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow (GSFLOW) numerical, hydrologic simulation code. GSFLOW is an integration of the USGS Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) and USGS Modular Groundwater-Flow Model (MODFLOW),...
