Search Results

Since its implementation in 2003, the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) in Louisiana has facilitated the creation of a comprehensive dataset that includes, but is not limited to, vegetation, hydrologic, and soil metrics on a coastwide scale. The primary impetus for this data collection is to assess land management activities,...

Mohave ground squirrels Xerospermophilus mohavensis Merriam are small ground-dwelling rodents that have a highly restricted range in the northwest Mojave Desert, California, USA. Their small natural range is further reduced by habitat loss from agriculture, urban development, military training and recreational activities. Development of wind and solar resources for renewable...

A central challenge of conservation biology is using limited data to predict rare species occurrence and identify conservation areas that play a disproportionate role in regional persistence. Where species occupy discrete patches in a landscape, such predictions require data about environmental quality of individual patches and the connectivity among high...

While fire shapes the structure of forests and acts as a keystone process, the details of how fire modifies forest structure have been difficult to evaluate because of the complexity of interactions between fires and forests. We studied this relationship across 69.2 km2 of Yosemite National Park, USA, that was...

Results from 548,507 indoor radon tests from a database compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Radiation Protection, Radon Division, are evaluated in this report in an effort to determine areas where concentrations of radon are highest. Indoor radon concentrations were aggregated according to geologic unit and...

A multiyear research effort at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) evaluated several commercially available nitrate reductase (NaR) enzymes as replacements for toxic cadmium in longstanding automated colorimetric air-segmented continuous-flow analyzer (CFA) methods for determining nitrate plus nitrite (NOx) in water. This research culminated in USGS...

The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift within the basin. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin were...

Remote sensing datasets are increasingly being used to provide spatially explicit large scale evapotranspiration (ET) estimates. Extensive evaluation of such large scale estimates is necessary before they can be used in various applications. In this study, two monthly MODIS 1 km ET products, MODIS global ET (MOD16) and Operational Simplified...

Identifying the rates and trends associated with the position of the shoreline through time presents vital information on potential impacts these changes may have on coastal populations and infrastructure, and supports informed coastal management decisions. This report publishes the historical shoreline data used to assess the scale and timing of...

We document evidence for surface-rupturing earthquakes (events) at two trench sites on the southern Green Valley fault, California (SGVF). The 75-80-km long dextral SGVF creeps ~1-4 mm/yr. We identify stratigraphic horizons disrupted by upward-flowering shears and in-filled fissures unlikely to have formed from creep alone. The Mason Rd site exhibits...

Hydrologic manipulations have the potential to exacerbate or remediate eutrophication in productive reservoirs. Dam operations at Kabetogama Lake, Minnesota, were modified in 2000 to restore a more natural water regime and improve water quality. The US Geological Survey and National Park Service evaluated nutrient, algae, and nuisance bloom data in...

The prospect of natural gas development from the Marcellus and Utica Shales has raised concerns about freshwater aquifers being vulnerable to contamination. Well owners are asking questions about subsurface methane, such as, “Does my well water have methane and is it safe to drink the water?” and “Is my well...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Southern Utah Valley Municipal Water Association, updated an existing USGS model of southern Utah and Goshen Valleys for hydrologic and climatic conditions from 1991 to 2011 and used the model for projection and groundwater management simulations. All model files used in...

A hydrologic model of the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin (ACFB) has been developed as part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center effort to provide integrated science that helps resource managers understand the effect of climate change on a range of ecosystem responses. The hydrologic...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.3-mi reach of the Wabash River from 0.1 mi downstream of the Interstate 70 bridge to 1.1 miles upstream of the Route 63 bridge, Terre Haute, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The inundation...

Multibeam-echosounder and sidescan-sonar data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in northeastern Block Island Sound, combined with sediment samples and bottom photography collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, are used to interpret sea-floor features and sedimentary environments in this 52-square-kilometer-area offshore Rhode Island. Boulders, which are often overgrown...

The Landsat era that began in 1972 will continue into the future, since the February 2013 launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (renamed Landsat 8 on May 30, 2013). The Landsat 8 satellite provides 16-bit high-quality land-surface data, with instruments advancing future measurement capabilities while ensuring compatibility with historical...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, did a baseline assessment in 2010-11 of physical characteristics and selected aquatic biota (fish and mussels) collected at the mesohabitat scale for three stream reaches in the Big Cypress...

Tsunami modeling has shown that tsunami sources located along the Alaska Peninsula segment of the Aleutian-Alaska subduction zone have the greatest impacts on southern California shorelines by raising the highest tsunami waves for a given source seismic moment. The most probable sector for a Mw ~ 9 source within this...

Shenandoah National Park in northern and central Virginia protects 777 square kilometers of mountain terrain in the Blue Ridge physiographic province and more than 90 streams containing diverse aquatic biota. Park managers and visitors are interested in the water quality of park streams and its ability to support healthy coldwater communities...

We used broad-scale landscape feature variables to model redd densities of spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Methow River watershed. Redd densities were estimated from redd counts conducted from 2005 to 2007 and 2009 for steelhead trout and 2005 to 2009 for spring Chinook...

In 2009, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service promulgated permit regulations for the unintentional lethal take (anthropogenic mortality) and disturbance of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). Accurate population trend and size information for golden eagles are needed so agency biologists can make informed decisions when eagle take permits are requested....

Once considered dry compared with Earth, laboratory analyses of igneous components of lunar samples have suggested that the Moon’s interior is not entirely anhydrous. Water and hydroxyl have also been detected from orbit on the lunar surface, but these have been attributed to nonindigenous sources, such as interactions with the...

A vegetation mapping and characterization effort was conducted at Fort Bowie National Historic Site in 2008-10 by the Sonoran Desert Network office in collaboration with researchers from the Office of Arid lands studies, Remote Sensing Center at the University of Arizona. This vegetation mapping effort was completed under the National...

Successful bird migration can depend on individual learning, social learning, and innate navigation programs. Using 8 years of data on migrating whooping cranes, we were able to partition genetic and socially learned aspects of migration. Specifically, we analyzed data from a reintroduced population wherein all birds were captive bred and...