Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE)
Carrie Jucht
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3080
Remote sensing data are vital to understanding the physical world and to answering many of its needs and problems. The United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Remote Sensing Technologies (RST) Project, working with its partners, is proud to sponsor the annual Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) Workshop to help understand...
A climate trend analysis of Kenya-August 2010
Christopher C. Funk
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3074
Introduction This brief report draws from a multi-year effort by the United States Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) to monitor and map rainfall and temperature trends over the last 50 years (1960-2009) in Kenya. Observations from seventy rainfall gauges and seventeen air temperature stations were...
Groundwater quality in the North San Francisco Bay groundwater basins, California
Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3060
Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California's drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program provides a comprehensive assessment of the State's groundwater quality and increases public access to...
Source, Use, and Disposition of Freshwater in Puerto Rico, 2005
Wanda L. Molina-Rivera
2010, Fact Sheet 2009-3080
Water diverted from streams and pumped from wells constitutes the main sources of water for the 78 municipios of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A better understanding is needed about water-use patterns, particularly about the amount of water used, where and how this water is used and disposed, and how...
Northwest Area Science
Tracy L. Fuentes, Marijke van Heeswijk, Eric E. Grossman
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3064
Northwest Area Facts * Population about 12 million * 43 federally recognized Tribes * Hydropower provides about two-thirds of electricity supply * 78 federally listed threatened and endangered species * 12 active or potentially active...
Locating inputs of freshwater to Lynch Cove, Hood Canal, Washington, using aerial infrared photography
Rich W. Sheibley, Edward G. Josberger, Chris Chickadel
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3072
The input of freshwater and associated nutrients into Lynch Cove and lower Hood Canal (fig. 1) from sources such as groundwater seeps, small streams, and ephemeral creeks may play a major role in the nutrient loading and hydrodynamics of this low dissolved-oxygen (hypoxic) system. These disbursed sources exhibit a high...
Response of Florida shelf ecosystems to climate change: from macro to micro scales
Lisa Robbins, Ellen Raabe
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3065
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research in St. Petersburg, Fla., is focusing attention on marine environments of the Florida shelf at three levels, from regional to estuarine to the individual organism. The USGS is partnering on this project with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS), National Oceanic and...
Recent (2001-09) hydrologic history and regionalization studies in Texas-Statistical characterization of storms, floods, and rainfall-runoff relations
William H. Asquith
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3063
As part of numerous cooperative studies investigating rainfall and streamflow during 1991-2009 with the Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published about 20 reports describing either historical streamflow conditions (hydrologic history) in Texas or the results of studies involving regional rainfall...
Aligning USGS senior leadership structure with the USGS science strategy
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3066
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is realigning its management and budget structure to further enhance the work of its science programs and their interdisciplinary focus areas related to the USGS Science Strategy as outlined in 'Facing Tomorrow's Challenges-U.S. Geological Survey Science in the Decade 2007-2017' (U.S. Geological Survey, 2007). In...
Historic flooding in northern Georgia, September 16-22, 2009
Brian E. McCallum, Anthony J. Gotvald
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3061
A primary mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the measurement and documentation of the magnitude and extent of hydrologic hazards, such as floods, droughts, and hurricane storm surge. USGS personnel were deployed to document historic, widespread flooding that occurred throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area and northwestern Georgia in...
Aquatic macroinvertebrates of the lower Missouri River
Barry C. Poulton
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3045
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC), in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), has been conducting research on the aquatic macroinvertebrates of the lower Missouri River since the mid-1990s....
USGS Activities at Lake Roosevelt and the Upper Columbia River
Cynthia Barton, Gary L. Turney
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3056
Lake Roosevelt (Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake) is the impoundment of the upper Columbia River behind Grand Coulee Dam, and is the largest reservoir within the Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project (CBP). The reservoir is located in northeastern Washington, and stretches 151 miles from Grand Coulee Dam north to the...
Water use trends in Washington, 1985-2005
R. C. Lane
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3057
Since 1950, the U.S. Geological Survey Washington Water Science Center (USGS-WAWSC) has collected, compiled, and published, at 5-year intervals, statewide estimates of the amounts of water withdrawn and used for various purposes in Washington State. As new data and methods became available, some of the original datasets were recompiled. The...
Divisions of geologic time-major chronostratigraphic and geochronologic units
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Names Committee
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3059
Effective communication in the geosciences requires consistent uses of stratigraphic nomenclature, especially divisions of geologic time. A geologic time scale is composed of standard stratigraphic divisions based on rock sequences and is calibrated in years. Over the years, the development of new dating methods and the refinement of previous methods...
Impacts and predictions of coastal change during hurricanes
Hilary Stockdon, Abby Sallenger
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3012
Beaches serve as a natural barrier between the ocean and inland communities, ecosystems, and resources. These dynamic environments move and change in response to winds, waves, and currents. During a powerful hurricane, changes to beaches can be large, and the results are sometimes catastrophic. Lives are lost, communities are destroyed,...
The National Map: New Viewer, Services, and Data Download
Robert M. Dollison
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3055
Managed by the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geospatial Program, The National Map has transitioned data assets and viewer applications to a new visualization and product and service delivery environment, which includes an improved viewing platform, base map data and overlay services, and an integrated data download service. This new...
The Hazards Data Distribution System update
Brenda K. Jones, Rynn M. Lamb
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3053
After a major disaster, a satellite image or a collection of aerial photographs of the event is frequently the fastest, most effective way to determine its scope and severity. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Emergency Operations Portal provides emergency first responders and support personnel with easy access to imagery and...
Use of semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) in petroleum polluted waters
David A. Alvarez
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3051
Passive samplers, in particular semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs), can be used in monitoring petroleum spills. This document is intended to provide a brief discussion of issues surrounding the use and capabilities of the SPMD....
Gulf of Mexico Climate-History Calibration Study
Jessica W. Spear, Richard Z. Poore
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3044
Reliable instrumental records of past climate are available for about the last 150 years only. To supplement the instrumental record, reconstructions of past climate are made from natural recorders such as trees, ice, corals, and microfossils preserved in sediments. These proxy records provide information on the rate and magnitude of...
U.S. Geological Survey Streamgage Operation and Maintenance Cost Evaluation...from the National Streamflow Information Program
J. Michael Norris
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3025
To help meet the goal of providing earth-science information to the Nation, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates and maintains the largest streamgage network in the world, with over 7,600 active streamgages in 2010. This network is operated in cooperation with over 850 Federal, tribal, State, and local funding partners....
Estuaries of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem: Laboratories of Long-term Change
G.L. Wingard, J.W. Hudley, F.E. Marshall
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3047
Restoring the greater Everglades ecosystem of south Florida is arguably the largest ecosystem restoration effort to date. A critical goal is to return more natural patterns of flow through south Florida wetlands and into the estuaries, but development of realistic targets requires acknowledgement that ecosystems are constantly evolving and changing...
In-Place Oil Shale Resources Underlying Federal Lands in the Piceance Basin, Western Colorado
Tracey J. Mercier, Ronald C. Johnson, Michael E. Brownfield, Jesse G. Self
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3041
Using a geologic-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated an in-place oil shale resource of 1.07 trillion barrels under Federal mineral rights, or 70 percent of the total oil shale in place, in the Piceance Basin, Colorado. More than 67 percent of the total oil shale in-place resource, or...
Geospatial Information Response Team
Emitt C. Witt III
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3039
Extreme emergency events of national significance that include manmade and natural disasters seem to have become more frequent during the past two decades. The Nation is becoming more resilient to these emergencies through better preparedness, reduced duplication, and establishing better communications so every response and recovery effort saves lives and...
Visualizing NetCDF Files by Using the EverVIEW Data Viewer
Craig Conzelmann, Stephanie S. Romañach
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3046
Over the past few years, modelers in South Florida have started using Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) as the standard data container format for storing hydrologic and ecologic modeling inputs and outputs. With its origins in the meteorological discipline, NetCDF was created by the Unidata Program Center at the University...
Topographic Science
Sandra K. Poppenga, Gayla Evans, Dean Gesch, Jason M. Stoker, Vivian R. Queija, Bruce Worstell, Dean J. Tyler, Jeff Danielson, Norman Bliss, Susan Greenlee
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3049
The mission of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Topographic Science is to establish partnerships and conduct research and applications that facilitate the development and use of integrated national and global topographic datasets. Topographic Science includes a wide range of research and applications that result...
