Methods for estimating flow-duration curve and low-flow frequency statistics for ungaged locations on small streams in Minnesota
Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, David L. Lorenz, Christopher A. Sanocki, Christiana R. Czuba
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5170
Knowledge of the magnitude and frequency of low flows in streams, which are flows in a stream during prolonged dry weather, is fundamental for water-supply planning and design; waste-load allocation; reservoir storage design; and maintenance of water quality and quantity for irrigation, recreation, and wildlife conservation. This report presents the...
Back-Island and Open-Ocean Shorelines, and Sand Areas of the Undeveloped Areas of New Jersey Barrier Islands, March 9, 1991, to July 30, 2013
Kristy K. Guy
2015, Data Series 960
Assessing the physical change to shorelines and wetlands is critical for determining the resiliency of wetland systems that protect adjacent habitat and communities. The wetland and back-barrier shorelines of the New Jersey barrier islands were changed by wave action and storm surge from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The U.S. Geological...
Chemical concentrations and instantaneous loads, Green River to the Lower Duwamish Waterway near Seattle, Washington, 2013–15
Kathleen E. Conn, Robert W. Black, Ann M. Vanderpool-Kimura, James R. Foreman, Norman T. Peterson, Craig A. Senter, Stephen K. Sissel
2015, Data Series 973
In November 2013, U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging equipment was installed at a historical water-quality station on the Duwamish River, Washington, within the tidal influence at river kilometer 16.7 (U.S. Geological Survey site 12113390; Duwamish River at Golf Course at Tukwila, WA). Publicly available, real-time continuous data includes river streamflow, stream...
Hydrogeology of the Owego-Apalachin Elementary School geothermal fields, Tioga County, New York
John H. Williams, William M. Kappel
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5155
The hydrogeology of the Owego-Apalachin Elementary School geothermal fields, which penetrate saline water and methane in fractured upper Devonian age bedrock in the Owego Creek valley, south-central New York, was characterized through the analysis of drilling and geophysical logs, water-level monitoring data, and specific-depth water samples. Hydrogeologic insights gained during...
Evaluating connection of aquifers to springs and streams, Great Basin National Park and vicinity, Nevada
David E. Prudic, Donald S. Sweetkind, Tracie R. Jackson, K. Elaine Dotson, Russell W. Plume, Christine E. Hatch, Keith J. Halford
2015, Professional Paper 1819
Federal agencies that oversee land management for much of the Snake Range in eastern Nevada, including the management of Great Basin National Park by the National Park Service, need to understand the potential extent of adverse effects to federally managed lands from nearby groundwater development. As a result, this study...
Benthic response to water quality and biotic pressures in lower south San Francisco Bay, Alviso Slough, and Coyote Creek
Francis Parchaso, Janet K. Thompson, Jeff S. Crauder, Rosa I. Anduaga, Sarah A. Pearson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1234
Benthic invertebrate communities are monitored because the composition of those communities can effect and be affected by the water quality of an aquatic system. Benthic communities use and sometimes regulate the cycling of essential elements (for example, carbon). Benthic invertebrate taxa may also indicate acutely and chronically stressful environments...
Estimating natural recharge in San Gorgonio Pass watersheds, California, 1913–2012
Joseph A. Hevesi, Allen H. Christensen
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5122
A daily precipitation-runoff model was developed to estimate spatially and temporally distributed recharge for groundwater basins in the San Gorgonio Pass area, southern California. The recharge estimates are needed to define transient boundary conditions for a groundwater-flow model being developed to evaluate the effects of pumping and climate on...
Simulated responses of streams and ponds to groundwater withdrawals and wastewater return flows in southeastern Massachusetts
Carl S. Carlson, Donald A. Walter, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5168
Water use, such as withdrawals, wastewater return flows, and interbasin transfers, can alter streamflow regimes, water quality, and the integrity of aquatic habitat and affect the availability of water for human and ecosystem needs. To provide the information needed to determine alteration of streamflows and pond water levels in southeastern...
Regional potentiometric surface of the Ozark aquifer in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, November 2014–January 2015
Anna M. Nottmeier
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3348
The Ozark aquifer, within the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system (herein referred to as the “Ozark system”), is the primary groundwater source in the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province (herein referred to as the “Ozark Plateaus”) of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Groundwater from the Ozark system has historically been an important...
Quality of surface water in Missouri, water year 2014
Miya N. Barr
2015, Data Series 971
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During the 2014 water year (October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2014), data were collected at...
Beyond annual streamflow reconstructions for the Upper Colorado River Basin: a paleo-water-balance approach
Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Gregory J. McCabe, Connie A. Woodhouse
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 9763-9774
In this paper, we present a methodology to use annual tree-ring chronologies and a monthly water balance model to generate annual reconstructions of water balance variables (e.g., potential evapotrans- piration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), snow water equivalent (SWE), soil moisture storage (SMS), and runoff (R)). The method involves resampling monthly...
Upstream factors affecting Tualatin River algae—Tracking the 2008 Anabaena algae bloom to Wapato Lake, Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, Kurt D. Carpenter, Kristel J. Fesler, Jessica L. Dorsey
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5178
Significant Findings A large bloom that included floating mats of the blue-green algae Anabaena flos-aquae occurred in the lower 20 miles of the Tualatin River in northwestern Oregon between July 7 and July 17, 2008. The floating bloom was deemed a hazard to recreational users of the river due to the potential...
csa2sac—A program for computing discharge from continuous slope-area stage data
Stephen M. Wiele
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1229
Introduction Continuous Slope-Area (CSA) gages were developed by the Arizona Water Science Center to enable the estimation of hydrographs when direct measurements of discharge cannot be made (Smith and others, 2010). CSA gages extend standard U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) methods for determining peak discharges to mid and high flows over a...
Avian influenza ecology in North Atlantic sea ducks: Not all ducks are created equal
Jeffrey S. Hall, Robin E. Russell, J. Christian Franson, Catherine Soos, Robert J. Dusek, R. Bradford Allen, Sean W. Nashold, Joshua L. Teslaa, Jon Einar Jonsson, Jennifer R. Ballard, Naomi Jnae Harms, Justin D. Brown
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-16
Wild waterfowl are primary reservoirs of avian influenza viruses (AIV). However the role of sea ducks in the ecology of avian influenza, and how that role differs from freshwater ducks, has not been examined. We obtained and analyzed sera from North Atlantic sea ducks and determined the seroprevalence in those...
Standard operating procedures for collection of soil and sediment samples for the Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) strategy pilot study
Shawn C. Fisher, Timothy J. Reilly, Daniel K. Jones, William Benzel, Dale W. Griffin, Keith A. Loftin, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Jonathan A. Cohl
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1188-B
An understanding of the effects on human and ecological health brought by major coastal storms or flooding events is typically limited because of a lack of regionally consistent baseline and trends data in locations proximal to potential contaminant sources and mitigation activities, sensitive ecosystems, and recreational facilities where exposures are...
Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus maculosus ) spatial distribution, breeding water depth, and use of artificial spawning habitat in the Detroit River
Jaquelyn M. Craig, David A. Mifsud, Andrew S. Briggs, James C. Boase, Gregory W. Kennedy
2015, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (10) 926-934
Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus maculosus) populations have been declining in the Great Lakes region of North America. However, during fisheries assessments in the Detroit River, we documented Mudpuppy reproduction when we collected all life stages from egg through adult as by-catch in fisheries assessments. Ten years of fisheries sampling resulted in...
Desert wetlands—Archives of a wetter past
Jeffery S. Pigati, Kathleen B. Springer, Craig R. Manker
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3077
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are finding evidence of a much wetter past in the deserts of the American Southwest using a most unlikely source—wetlands. Wetlands form in arid environments where water tables approach or breach the ground surface. Often thought of as stagnant and unchanging, new evidence...
Reintroduction of Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) into the St. Regis River, NY: Post-release assessment of habitat use and growth
Dawn E. Dittman, Marc A. Chalupnicki, James H. Johnson, James Snyder
2015, Northeastern Naturalist (22) 704-716
One of the depleted endemic fish species of the Great Lakes, Acipenser fulvescens (Lake Sturgeon), has been the target of extensive conservation efforts. One strategy is reintroduction into historically productive waters. The St. Regis River, NY, represents one such adaptive-management effort, with shared management between New York and the St....
California State Waters map series — Offshore of Pigeon Point, California
Guy R. Cochrane, Janet Watt, Peter Dartnell, H. Gary Greene, Mercedes D. Erdey, Bryan E. Dieter, Nadine E. Golden, Samuel Y. Johnson, Charles A. Endris, Stephen R. Hartwell, Rikk G. Kvitek, Clifton W. Davenport, Lisa M. Krigsman, Andrew C. Ritchie, Ray W. Sliter, David P. Finlayson, Katherine L. Maier
Guy R. Cochrane, Susan A. Cochran, editor(s)
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1232
Introduction In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration,...
Air- and stream-water-temperature trends in the Chesapeake Bay region, 1960-2014
John D. Jastram, Karen C. Rice
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1207
Water temperature is a basic, but important, measure of the condition of all aquatic environments, including the flowing waters in the streams that drain our landscape and the receiving waters of those streams. Climatic conditions have a strong influence on water temperature, which is therefore naturally variable both in time...
Sediment transport and evaluation of sediment surrogate ratings in the Kootenai River near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Water Years 2011–14
Molly S. Wood, Ryan L. Fosness, Alexandra B. Etheridge
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5169
The Kootenai River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and other native fish species are culturally important to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, but their habitat and recruitment have been affected by anthropogenic changes to the river. Although the interconnections among anthropogenic changes and their impacts on fish are complex, the Kootenai...
The role of dynamic surface water-groundwater exchange on streambed denitrification in a first-order, low-relief agricultural watershed
Mina N. Rahimi Kazerooni, Hedeff I. Essaid, John T. Wilson
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 9514-9538
The role of temporally varying surface water-groundwater (SW-GW) exchange on nitrate removal by streambed denitrification was examined along a reach of Leary Weber Ditch (LWD), Indiana, a small, first-order, low-relief agricultural watershed within the Upper Mississippi River basin, using data collected in 2004 and 2005. Stream stage, GW heads (H),...
Hydrologic data for the Walker River Basin, Nevada and California, water years 2010–14
Michael T. Pavelko, Erin L. Orozco
2015, Data Series 967
Walker Lake is a threatened and federally protected desert terminal lake in western Nevada. To help protect the desert terminal lake and the surrounding watershed, the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey have been studying the hydrology of the Walker River Basin in Nevada and California since 2004. Hydrologic...
Potentiometric surface of the Catahoula aquifer in central Louisiana, 2013
Fendick, Kayla Carter
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3339
The Catahoula aquifer is an important source of fresh groundwater in central Louisiana. In 2010, about 3.96 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) were withdrawn from the Catahoula aquifer in Louisiana. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources began a study to document current...
smwrBase—An R package for managing hydrologic data, version 1.1.1
David L. Lorenz
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1202
This report describes an R package called smwrBase, which consists of a collection of functions to import, transform, manipulate, and manage hydrologic data within the R statistical environment. Functions in the package allow users to import surface-water and groundwater data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Information System database...
