Oregon and Landsat
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3021
Oregon’s landscape is as complex and diverse as it is beautiful. Mountain peaks in the Cascade Range soar higher than 10,000 feet. Crater Lake sinks to a depth of 1,943 feet, making it the deepest lake in the United States. Oregon’s lands feature forests, farm fields, grasslands, ocean coastline, rivers,...
The productivity of Cascadia aftershock sequences
Joan S. Gomberg, Paul Bodin
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (111) 1494-1507
This study addresses questions about the productivity of Cascadia mainshock–aftershock sequences using earthquake catalogs produced by the Geological Survey of Canada and the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. Questions concern the likelihood that future moderate to large intermediate depth intraslab earthquakes in Cascadia would have as few detectable aftershocks as those...
Gonad size measured by ultrasound to assign stage of maturity in Burbot
Lauren M. McGarvey, Jason E. Ilgen, Molly A. H. Webb, Christopher S. Guy, Jason G. McLellan
2021, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (12) 241-249
We measured gonad size (diameter and circumference) by ultrasound and used it as a metric to assign stage of maturity in Burbot Lota lota from Lake Roosevelt, Washington. We collected paired gonad tissue and ultrasound measurements monthly from November 2017 to March 2018 and processed gonad tissue for histological analysis to confirm...
Integrating ecological impacts: Perspectives on drought in the Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States
Amanda E. Cravens, Jamie McEvoy, Dionne Zoanni, Shelley Crausbay, Aaron R. Ramirez, Ashley E. Cooper
2021, Weather, Climate and Society (2) 363-376
Drought is a complex challenge experienced in specific locations through diverse impacts, including ecological impacts. Different professionals involved in drought preparedness and response approach the problem from different points of view, which means they may...
Regional calibration of hybrid ground‐motion simulations in moderate seismicity areas: Application to the Upper Rhine Graben
Hoby N. T. Razafindrakoto, Fabrice Cotton, Dino Bindi, Marco Pilz, Robert Graves, Sanjay Bora
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (111) 1422-1444
This study presents the coupling of the spectral decomposition results for anelastic attenuation, stress drop, and site effects with the Graves‐Pitarka (GP) hybrid ground‐motion simulation methodology, as implemented on the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) broadband platform (BBP). It is targeted to applications in the...
An ecohydrological typology for thermal refuges in streams and rivers
C. Sullivan, J. Vokoun, A. M. Helton, Martin A. Briggs, B. Kurylyk
2021, Ecohydrology (14)
Thermal refuges are thermally distinct riverscape features used by aquatic organisms during unfavorable thermal events, facilitating resilience in marginal environments. However, the thermal refuge concept is nebulous, and the often interchangeable use of the term ‘thermal refugia’ creates additional ambiguity. We argue that lexical differences resulting from divergent scholarly trainings...
Golden Eagle
Todd E. Katzner, Michael N. Kochert, Karen Steenhof, Carol L. McIntyre, Erica H. Craig, Tricia A. Miller
2021, Book chapter, Birds of the world
The Golden Eagle inhabits a wide range of latitudes and habitats throughout the Palearctic and into northern Africa, where it is largely resident. In North America, its breeding distribution includes most of Canada and Alaska, as well as the western half of the United States and northern and western Mexico....
Geophysical and video logs of selected wells at and near the former Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 2017-19
Lisa A. Senior, J. Alton Anderson, Philip H. Bird
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1025
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected borehole geophysical and video logs in 17 open-hole wells in Northampton, Warminster, and Warwick Townships, Bucks County, Pennsylvania during 2017–19 to support detailed groundwater investigations at and near the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Warminster, where groundwater contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...
Evidence for the use of mucus swabs to detect Renibacterium salmoninarum in brook trout
Tawni B. Riepe, Victoria Vincent, Vicki Milano, Eric R. Fetherman, Dana L. Winkelman
2021, Pathogens (10)
Efforts to advance fish health diagnostics have been highlighted in many studies to improve the detection of pathogens in aquaculture facilities and wild fish populations. Typically, the detection of a pathogen has required sacrificing fish; however, many hatcheries have valuable and sometimes irreplaceable broodstocks, and lethal sampling is undesirable. Therefore,...
The effects of urban land cover dynamics on urban heat Island intensity and temporal trends
George Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Roger F. Auch, Kevin Gallo, Qiang Zhou, Zhuoting Wu, Michael Kolian
2021, GIScience & Remote Sensing (58) 501-515
Assessments of surface urban heat island (UHI) have focused on using remote sensing and land cover data to quantify UHI intensity and spatial distribution within a certain time period by including land cover information. In this study, we implemented a prototype approach to characterize the spatiotemporal...
Foraging in marine habitats increases mercury concentrations in a generalist seabird
Corey A. Clatterbuck, Rebecca L. Lewison, Rachael A Orben, Josh T. Ackerman, Leigh G Torres, Robert M. Suryan, Peter Warzybok, Jaime Jahncke, Scott A. Shaffer
2021, Chemosphere (279)
Methylmercury concentrations vary widely across geographic space and among habitat types, with marine and aquatic-feeding organisms typically exhibiting higher mercury concentrations than terrestrial-feeding organisms. However, there are few model organisms to directly compare mercury concentrations as a result of foraging in marine, estuarine, or terrestrial food webs. The ecological impacts of...
Linking climate niches across seasons to assess population vulnerability in a migratory bird
Kristen Ruegg, Eric Anderson, Marius Somveille, Rachael A. Bay, Mary J. Whitfield, Eben H. Paxton, Thomas B. Smith
2021, Global Change Biology (27) 3519-3531
Global loss of biodiversity has placed new urgency on the need to understand factors regulating species response to rapid environmental change. While specialists are often less resilient to rapid environmental change than generalists, species-level analyses may obscure the extent of specialization when locally adapted populations vary...
Regression relations and long-term water-quality constituent concentrations, loads, yields, and trends in the North Fork Ninnescah River, south-central Kansas, 1999–2019
Ariele R. Kramer, Brian J. Klager, Mandy L. Stone, Patrick J. Eslick-Huff
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5006
Cheney Reservoir, in south-central Kansas, is the primary water supply for the city of Wichita, Kansas. The North Fork Ninnescah River is the largest tributary to Cheney Reservoir and contributes about 70 percent of the inflow. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Wichita, has been continuously...
Abundance of a recently discovered Alaskan rhodolith bed in a shallow, seagrass-dominated lagoon
David H. Ward, Courtney Amundson, Patrick Fitzmorris, Damian M. Menning, Joel Markis, Kristine M. Sowl, Sandra C. Lindstrom
2021, Botanica Marina (64) 119-127
Rhodoliths are important foundation species of the benthic photic zone but are poorly known and rarely studied in Alaska. A bed of Lithothamnion soriferum rhodoliths was discovered in 2008 in Kinzarof Lagoon, Alaska, a shallow-water embayment dominated by eelgrass (Zostera marina). Rhodolith presence and biomass were estimated to...
Predicted vulnerability of carbon in permafrost peatlands With future climate change and permafrost thaw in western Canada
Claire C. Treat, Miriam C. Jones, Jay R. Alder, A. Britta K. Sannel, Philip Camill, Steve Frolking
2021, JGR Biogeosciences (126)
Climate warming in high-latitude regions is thawing carbon-rich permafrost soils, which can release carbon to the atmosphere and enhance climate warming. Using a coupled model of long-term peatland dynamics (Holocene Peat Model, HPM-Arctic), we quantify the potential loss of carbon with future climate warming for six sites with differing climates...
Delineation of the freshwater-saltwater interface on southwestern Long Island, New York, through use of surface and borehole geophysical methods
Frederick Stumm, Michael D. Como, Marie A. Zuck
2021, Conference Paper
The U.S. Geological Survey used surface and borehole geophysical methods to delineate the freshwater-saltwater interface in coastal plain aquifers along the southwestern part of Long Island, New York. Over pumping of groundwater in the early 20th century combined with freshwater-saltwater interfaces at the coastline created saltwater intrusion in the upper...
Acoustic tag retention and tagging mortality of juvenile cisco Coregonus artedi
James E. McKenna Jr., Suresh Sethi, Grant Marvin Scholten, Jeremy W. Kraus, Marc Chalupnicki
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 937-942
Release of hatchery-reared juvenile cisco (Coregonus artedi) is an important tool for recovering Great Lakes populations, but post-release survival is unknown. Telemetry using small acoustic tags provides opportunities to assess the efficacy of hatchery-reared fish releases. However, better understanding of the tolerance of juvenile cisco to acoustic tags is needed. Juvenile cisco...
Nitrogen biogeochemistry in a boreal headwater stream network in interior Alaska
Richard L. Smith, Deborah A. Repert, Joshua C. Koch
2021, Science of the Total Environment (764)
High latitude, boreal watersheds are nitrogen (N)-limited ecosystems that export large amounts of organic carbon (C). Key controls on C cycling in these environments are the biogeochemical processes affecting the N cycle. A study was conducted in Nome Creek, an upland headwater tributary of the Yukon River,...
Regional target loads of atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition for the protection of stream and watershed soil resources of the Adirondack Mountains, USA
Todd C. McDonnell, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Sullivan, Douglas A. Burns, Barry P. Baldigo, Shuai Shao, Gregory B. Lawrence
2021, Environmental Pollution (281)
Acidic deposition contributes to a range of environmental impacts across forested landscapes, including acidification of soil and drainage water, toxic aluminum mobilization, depletion of available soil nutrient cations, and impacts to forest and aquatic species health and biodiversity. In response to decreasing levels of...
3-D geologic controls of hydrothermal fluid flow at Brady geothermal field, Nevada, USA
Drew L. Siler, Jeff D. Pepin
2021, Geothermics (94)
In many hydrothermal systems, fracture permeability along faults provides pathways for groundwater to transport heat from depth. Faulting generates a range of deformation styles that cross-cut heterogeneous geology, resulting in complex patterns of permeability, porosity, and hydraulic conductivity. Vertical connectivity (a throughgoing network of permeable areas...
Characterization of water-resource threats and needs for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges in the Legacy Mountain-Prairie Region, 2020
Nancy J. Bauch, Michael S. Kohn, Brian S. Caruso
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1007
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), began a study in 2019 to complete the compilation and quality assurance of water-resource threats and needs data for the 117 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in the FWS Legacy Mountain-Prairie Region (LMPR) and to characterize the...
Remote sensing analysis to quantify change in woodland canopy cover on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona (1935 vs. 2017)
Barry R. Middleton, Laura M. Norman
2021, Land (10)
Since the late 1800s, pinyon–juniper woodland across the western U.S. has increased in density and areal extent and encroached into former grassland areas. The San Carlos Apache Tribe wants to gain qualitative and quantitative information on the historical conditions of their tribal woodlands to use as a baseline for restoration...
Exploring the regional dynamics of U.S. irrigated agriculture from 2002 to 2017
Dinesh Shrestha, Jesslyn F. Brown, Trenton D Benedict, Daniel Howard
2021, Land (10) 394
The United States has a geographically mature and stable land use and land cover system including land used as irrigated cropland; however, changes in irrigation land use frequently occur related to various drivers. We applied a consistent methodology at a 250 m spatial resolution across the lower 48 states to...
Metabarcoding of environmental samples suggest wide distribution of eelgrass (Zostera marina) pathogens in the north Pacific
Damian M. Menning, Hunter A Gravley, Melissa N. Cady, Daniel J Pepin, Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, David H. Ward, Sandra L. Talbot
2021, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics (5) 35-42
Seagrass meadows provide important ecological services to the marine environment but are declining worldwide. Although eelgrass meadows in the north Pacific are thought to be relatively healthy, few studies have assessed the presence of known disease pathogens in these meadows. In a pilot study to test the efficacy...
Alternating wet and dry depositional environments recorded in the stratigraphy of Mt Sharp at Gale Crater, Mars
William Rapin, Gilles Dromart, Dave Rubin, Laticia Le Deit, Nicolas Mangold, Lauren A. Edgar, Olivier Gasnault, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, S. Lemouelic, Ryan B. Anderson, S. Maurice, V. Fox, B. L. Ehlmann, J. L. Dickson, R. C. Wiens
2021, Geology (49) 842-846
The Curiosity rover is exploring Hesperian-aged stratigraphy in Gale crater, Mars, where a transition from clay-bearing units to a layered sulfate-bearing unit has been interpreted to represent a major environmental transition of unknown character. We present the first description of key facies in the sulfate-bearing unit, recently observed in the...
