Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) ‐ New functionality for predicting changes in distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation in response to sea level rise
Henry Lee II, Deborah A. Reusser, Melanie R Frazier, Lee M McCoy, Patrick J. Clinton, Jonathan S. Clough
2014, Report
Introduction Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is an ecologically important habitat world‐wide. In Pacific Northwest (PNW) estuaries, SAV in the lower intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats are dominated by the native seagrass, Zostera marina Linnaeus, 1753. Within this report, SAV and seagrass refer to Z. marina seagrass beds in PNW estuaries. Z....
Concentrations, loads, and yields of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended sediment and bacteria concentrations in the Wister Lake Basin, Oklahoma and Arkansas, 2011-13
Stephanie D. Buck
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5170
The Poteau Valley Improvement Authority uses Wister Lake in southeastern Oklahoma as a public water supply. Total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended sediments from agricultural runoff and discharges from wastewater treatment plants and other sources have degraded water quality in the lake. As lake-water quality has degraded, water-treatment cost, chemical...
Hydrologic conditions in urban Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the effect of groundwater pumpage and increased sea level on canal leakage and regional groundwater flow
Joseph D. Hughes, Jeremy T. White
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5162
The extensive and highly managed surface-water system in southeastern Florida constructed during the 20th Century has allowed for the westward expansion of urban and agricultural activities in Miami-Dade County. In urban areas of the county, the surface-water system is used to (1) control urban flooding, (2) supply recharge to production...
Correlations of turbidity to suspended-sediment concentration in the Toutle River Basin, near Mount St. Helens, Washington, 2010-11
Mark A. Uhrich, Jasna Kolasinac, Pamela L. Booth, Robert L. Fountain, Kurt R. Spicer, Adam R. Mosbrucker
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1204
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, investigated alternative methods for the traditional sample-based sediment record procedure in determining suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) and discharge. One such sediment-surrogate technique was developed using turbidity and discharge to estimate SSC for two gaging stations in the Toutle River Basin near Mount...
The 3D Elevation Program: Summary for New Jersey
William J. Carswell Jr.
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3091
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of New Jersey, elevation data are critical for water supply and quality, flood risk management, natural resources conservation, agriculture and precision farming, infrastructure...
Landscape alterations influence differential habitat use of nesting buteos and ravens within sagebrush ecosystem: implications for transmission line development
Peter S. Coates, Kristy B. Howe, Michael L. Casazza, David J. Delehanty
2014, The Condor (116) 341-356
A goal in avian ecology is to understand factors that influence differences in nesting habitat and distribution among species, especially within changing landscapes. Over the past 2 decades, humans have altered sagebrush ecosystems as a result of expansion in energy production and transmission. Our primary study objective was to identify...
Coral communities as indicators of ecosystem-level impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill
Charles R. Fisher, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Erik E. Cordes, Iliana B. Baums, Helen K. White, Jill R. Bourque
2014, BioScience (64) 796-807
The Macondo oil spill released massive quantities of oil and gas from a depth of 1500 meters. Although a buoyant plume carried released hydrocarbons to the sea surface, as much as half stayed in the water column and much of that in the deep sea. After the hydrocarbons reached the...
Chronic sensitivity of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to cadmium, copper, lead, or zinc in laboratory water-only exposures
Ning Wang, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Rebecca A. Dorman, William G. Brumbaugh, Christopher A. Mebane, James L. Kunz, Douglas K. Hardesty
2014, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (33) 2246-2258
Chronic toxicity of cadmium, copper, lead, or zinc to white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was evaluated in water-only exposures started with newly hatched larvae or approximately 1-mo-old juveniles. The 20% effect concentration (EC20) for cadmium from the sturgeon tests was higher than the EC20 from the...
Methods for estimating annual exceedance-probability discharges and largest recorded floods for unregulated streams in rural Missouri
Rodney E. Southard, Andrea G. Veilleux
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5165
Regression analysis techniques were used to develop a set of equations for rural ungaged stream sites for estimating discharges with 50-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities, which are equivalent to annual flood-frequency recurrence intervals of 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500...
Post-Hurricane Sandy coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to Montauk, New York, November 4-6, 2012
Karen L.M. Morgan, M. Dennis Krohn
2014, Data Series 858
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On November 4-6, 2012, approximately one week after the landfall of Hurricane Sandy, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Cape...
Provisional maps of thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, based on satellite thermal infrared imaging and field observations
R. Greg Vaughan, Henry Heasler, Cheryl Jaworowski, Jacob B. Lowenstern, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5137
Maps that define the current distribution of geothermally heated ground are useful toward setting a baseline for thermal activity to better detect and understand future anomalous hydrothermal and (or) volcanic activity. Monitoring changes in the dynamic thermal areas also supports decisions regarding the development of Yellowstone National Park infrastructure, preservation...
Benthos and plankton community data for selected rivers and harbors along Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline, 2012
Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Amanda H. Bell, Daniel J. Burns, Hayley T. Olds
2014, Data Series 824
Four river systems on the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan are designated Areas of Concern (AOCs) because of severe environmental degradation: the Lower Menominee River, Lower Green Bay and Fox River, Sheboygan River, and Milwaukee Estuary. Each AOC has one or more Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) that form the basis...
Magnetic resonance sounding survey data collected in the North Platte, Twin Platte, and South Platte Natural Resource Districts, Western Nebraska, Fall 2012
Mason A. Kass, Benjamin R. Bloss, Trevor P. Irons, James C. Cannia, Jared D. Abraham
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1138
This report is a release of digital data and associated survey descriptions from a series of magnetic resonance soundings (MRS, also known as surface nuclear magnetic resonance) that was conducted during October and November of 2012 in areas of western Nebraska as part of a cooperative hydrologic study by the...
Evidence of Absence software
Daniel Dalthorp, Manuela M. P. Huso, David Dail, Jessica Kenyon
2014, Data Series 881
Evidence of Absence software (EoA) is a user-friendly application used for estimating bird and bat fatalities at wind farms and designing search protocols. The software is particularly useful in addressing whether the number of fatalities has exceeded a given threshold and what search parameters are needed to give assurance that...
Base of principal aquifer for parts of the North Platte, South Platte, and Twin Platte Natural Resources Districts, western Nebraska
Christopher M. Hobza, Jared D. Abraham, James C. Cannia, Michaela R. Johnson, Steven S. Sibray
2014, Scientific Investigations Map 3310
Water resources in the North and South Platte River valleys of Nebraska, including the valley of Lodgepole Creek, are critical to the social and economic health of the area, and for the recovery of threatened and endangered species in the Platte River Basin. Groundwater and surface water are heavily used...
Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California: 2013
Jessica Dyke, Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Amy E. Kleckner, Francis Parcheso, Michelle I. Hornberger, Samuel N. Luoma
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1174
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in South San Francisco Bay, Calif....
One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MODFLOW-OWHM)
Randall T. Hanson, Scott E. Boyce, Wolfgang Schmid, Joseph D. Hughes, Steffen W. Mehl, Stanley A. Leake, Thomas Maddock III, Richard G. Niswonger
2014, Techniques and Methods 6-A51
The One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM) is a MODFLOW-based integrated hydrologic flow model (IHM) that is the most complete version, to date, of the MODFLOW family of hydrologic simulators needed for the analysis of a broad range of conjunctive-use issues. Conjunctive use is the combined use of groundwater and surface...
Stream classification of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System to support modeling of aquatic habitat response to climate change
Caroline M. Elliott, Robert B. Jacobson, Mary Freeman
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5080
A stream classification and associated datasets were developed for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin to support biological modeling of species response to climate change in the southeastern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of the Interior’s National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center established the Southeast Regional Assessment...
Insights for empirically modeling evapotranspiration influenced by riparian and upland vegetation in semiarid regions
Daniel P. Bunting, Shirley A. Kurc, Edward P. Glenn, Pamela L. Nagler, Russell L. Scott
2014, Journal of Arid Environments (111) 42-52
Water resource managers aim to ensure long-term water supplies for increasing human populations. Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the water balance and accurate estimates are important to quantify safe allocations to humans while supporting environmental needs. Scaling up ET measurements from small spatial scales has been problematic due...
The influence of controlled floods on fine sediment storage in debris fan-affected canyons of the Colorado River basin
Erich R. Mueller, Paul E. Grams, John C. Schmidt, Joseph E. Hazel Jr., Jason S. Alexander, Matt Kaplinski
2014, Geomorphology (226) 65-75
Prior to the construction of large dams on the Green and Colorado Rivers, annual floods aggraded sandbars in lateral flow-recirculation eddies with fine sediment scoured from the bed and delivered from upstream. Flows greater than normal dam operations may be used to mimic this process in an attempt to increase...
Legacy data for a northern prairie grassland: Woodworth Study Area, North Dakota, 1963-89
Shelby H. Williams, Jane E. Austin
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1188
Ecological data commonly become more valuable through time. Such legacy data provide baseline records of past biological, physical, and social information that provide historical perspective and are necessary for assessment of stasis or change. Legacy data collected at the Woodworth Study Area (WSA), a contiguous block of grasslands, croplands, and...
Common raven occurrence in relation to energy transmission line corridors transiting human-altered sagebrush steppe
Peter S. Coates, Kristy B. Howe, Michael L. Casazza, David J. Delehanty
2014, Journal of Arid Environments (111) 68-78
Energy-related infrastructure and other human enterprises within sagebrush steppe of the American West often results in changes that promote common raven (Corvus corax; hereafter, raven) populations. Ravens, a generalist predator capable of behavioral innovation, present a threat to many species of conservation concern. We evaluate the effects of detailed features...
A comprehensive analysis of small-passerine fatalities from collisions with turbines at wind energy facilities
Wallace P. Erickson, Melissa M. Wolfe, Kimberly J. Bay, Douglas H. Johnson, Joelle L. Gehring
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Small passerines, sometimes referred to as perching birds or songbirds, are the most abundant bird group in the United States (US) and Canada, and the most common among bird fatalities caused by collision with turbines at wind energy facilities. We used data compiled from 39 studies conducted in the US...
Two decision-support tools for assessing the potential effects of energy development on hydrologic resources as part of the Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area interactive energy atlas
Joshua I. Linard, Anne Marie Matherne, Kenneth J. Leib, Natasha B. Carr, James E. Diffendorfer, Sarah J. Hawkins, Natalie Latysh, Drew A. Ignizio, Nils C. Babel
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1158
The U.S. Geological Survey project—Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area (EERMA)—has developed a set of virtual tools in the form of an online interactive energy atlas for Colorado and New Mexico to facilitate access to geospatial data related to energy resources, energy infrastructure, and natural resources that may...
The 3D Elevation Program initiative: a call for action
Larry J. Sugarbaker, Eric W. Constance, Hans Karl Heidemann, Allyson L. Jason, Vicki Lukas, David L. Saghy, Jason M. Stoker
2014, Circular 1399
The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative is accelerating the rate of three-dimensional (3D) elevation data collection in response to a call for action to address a wide range of urgent needs nationwide. It began in 2012 with the recommendation to collect (1) high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data for...
