Merapi 2010 eruption—Chronology and extrusion rates monitored with satellite radar and used in eruption forecasting
John S. Pallister, David J. Schneider, Julia P. Griswold, Ronald H. Keeler, William C. Burton, Christopher Noyles, Christopher G. Newhall, Antonius Ratdomopurbo
2013, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (261) 144-152
Despite dense cloud cover, satellite-borne commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) enabled frequent monitoring of Merapi volcano's 2010 eruption. Near-real-time interpretation of images derived from the amplitude of the SAR signals and timely delivery of these interpretations to those responsible for warnings, allowed satellite remote sensing for the first time to...
Meeting the Science Needs of the Nation in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy-- A U.S. Geological Survey Science Plan for Support of Restoration and Recovery
Herbert T. Buxton, Matthew E. Andersen, Michael J. Focazio, John W. Haines, Robert A. Hainly, Daniel J. Hippe, Larry J. Sugarbaker
2013, Circular 1390
n late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy came ashore during a spring high tide on the New Jersey coastline, delivering hurricane-force winds, storm tides exceeding 19 feet, driving rain, and plummeting temperatures. Hurricane Sandy resulted in 72 direct fatalities in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States, and widespread and substantial physical,...
National assessment of hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards: Southeast Atlantic Coast
Hilary F. Stockdon, Kara S. Doran, David M. Thompson, Kristin L. Sopkin, Nathaniel G. Plant
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1130
Beaches serve as a natural barrier between the ocean and inland communities, ecosystems, and natural resources. However, these dynamic environments move and change in response to winds, waves, and currents. During extreme storms, changes to beaches can be large, and the results are sometimes catastrophic. Lives may be lost, communities...
Modeled distribution and abundance of a pelagic seabird reveal trends in relation to fisheries
Martin Renner, Julia K. Parrish, John F. Piatt, Kathy J. Kuletz, Ann E. Edwards, George L. Hunt Jr.
2013, Marine Ecology Progress Series (484) 259-277
The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis is one of the most visible and widespread seabirds in the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. However, relatively little is known about its abundance, trends, or the factors that shape its distribution. We used a long-term pelagic dataset to model changes in fulmar at-sea...
Application of a hydrodynamic and sediment transport model for guidance of response efforts related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Northern Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Alabama and Florida
Nathaniel G. Plant, Joseph W. Long, P. Soupy Dalyander, David M. Thompson, Ellen A. Raabe
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1234
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists have provided a model-based assessment of transport and deposition of residual Deepwater Horizon oil along the shoreline within the northern Gulf of Mexico in the form of mixtures of sand and weathered oil, known as surface residual balls (SRBs). The results of this USGS research,...
Integrating satellite observations and modern climate measurements with the recent sedimentary record: An example from Southeast Alaska
Jason A. Addison, Bruce P. Finney, John M. Jaeger, Joseph S. Stoner, Richard D. Norris, Alexandra Hangsterfer
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (118) 3444-3461
Assessments of climate change over time scales that exceed the last 100 years require robust integration of high-quality instrument records with high-resolution paleoclimate proxy data. In this study, we show that the recent biogenic sediments accumulating in two temperate ice-free fjords in Southeast Alaska preserve evidence of North Pacific Ocean...
The Regional Salmon Outmigration Study--survival and migration routing of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta during the winter of 2008-09
Jason G. Romine, Russell W. Perry, Scott J. Brewer, Noah S. Adams, Theresa L. Liedtke, Aaron R. Blake, Jon R. Burau
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1142
Juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) emigrating from natal tributaries of the Sacramento River may use a number of migration routes to navigate the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (hereafter called “the Delta”), each of which may influence their probability of surviving. We applied a mark-recapture model to data from acoustically tagged...
Brookian sequence well log correlation sections and occurrence of gas hydrates, north-central North Slope, Alaska
Kristen A. Lewis, Timothy S. Collett
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5050
Gas hydrates are naturally occurring crystalline, ice-like substances that consist of natural gas molecules trapped in a solid-water lattice. Because of the compact nature of their structure, hydrates can effectively store large volumes of gas and, consequently, have been identified as a potential unconventional energy source. First recognized to exist...
Assessing the use of existing data to compare plains fish assemblages collected from random and fixed sites in Colorado
Robert E. Zuellig, Harry J. Crockett
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1115
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, assessed the potential use of combining recently (2007 to 2010) and formerly (1992 to 1996) collected data to compare plains fish assemblages sampled from random and fixed sites located in the South Platte and Arkansas River Basins in Colorado....
The relative contribution of methanotrophs to microbial communities and carbon cycling in soil overlying a coal-bed methane seep
Christopher T. Mills, Gregory F. Slater, Robert F. Dias, Stephanie A. Carr, Christopher M. Reddy, Raleigh Schmidt, Kevin W. Mandernack
2013, FEMS Microbiology Ecology (84) 474-494
Seepage of coal-bed methane (CBM) through soils is a potential source of atmospheric CH4 and also a likely source of ancient (i.e. 14C-dead) carbon to soil microbial communities. Natural abundance 13C and 14C compositions of bacterial membrane phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and soil gas CO2 and CH4 were used to...
Estimates of the volume of water in five coal aquifers, Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, southeastern Montana
L.K. Tuck, Daniel K. Pearson, M. R. Cannon, DeAnn M. Dutton
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5209
The Tongue River Member of the Tertiary Fort Union Formation is the primary source of groundwater in the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana. Coal beds within this formation generally contain the most laterally extensive aquifers in much of the reservation. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the...
Human-caused mortality influences spatial population dynamics: pumas in landscapes with varying mortality risks
Jesse R. Newby, L. Scott Mills, Toni K. Ruth, Daniel H. Pletscher, Michael S. Mitchell, Howard B. Quigley, Kerry M. Murphy, Rich DeSimone
2013, Biological Conservation (159) 230-239
An understanding of how stressors affect dispersal attributes and the contribution of local populations to multi-population dynamics are of immediate value to basic and applied ecology. Puma (Puma concolor) populations are expected to be influenced by inter-population movements and susceptible to human-induced source–sink dynamics. Using long-term datasets we quantified the...
Geophysical logging and geologic mapping data in the vicinity of the GMH Electronics Superfund site near Roxboro, North Carolina
Melinda J. Chapman, Timothy W. Clark, John H. Williams
2013, Data Series 762
Geologic mapping, the collection of borehole geophysical logs and images, and passive diffusion bag sampling were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey North Carolina Water Science Center in the vicinity of the GMH Electronics Superfund site near Roxboro, North Carolina, during March through October 2011. The study purpose was to...
SSR_pipeline--computer software for the identification of microsatellite sequences from paired-end Illumina high-throughput DNA sequence data
Mark P. Miller, Brian J. Knaus, Thomas D. Mullins, Susan M. Haig
2013, Data Series 778
SSR_pipeline is a flexible set of programs designed to efficiently identify simple sequence repeats (SSRs; for example, microsatellites) from paired-end high-throughput Illumina DNA sequencing data. The program suite contains three analysis modules along with a fourth control module that can be used to automate analyses of large volumes of data....
Measuring the relative resilience of subarctic lakes to global change: redundancies of functions within and across temporal scales
David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Richard K. Johnson
2013, Journal of Applied Ecology (50) 572-584
1. Ecosystems at high altitudes and latitudes are expected to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of global change. We assessed the responses of littoral invertebrate communities to changing abiotic conditions in subarctic Swedish lakes with long-term data (1988–2010) and compared the responses of subarctic lakes with those of more...
National wildlife refuge visitor survey 2012--Individual refuge results
Alia M. Dietsch, Natalie R. Sexton, Lynne M. Koontz, Shannon J. Conk
2013, Data Series 754
The National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System), established in 1903 and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), is the leading network of protected lands and waters in the world dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and their habitats. There are 560 national wildlife refuges and 38...
Water-level altitudes 2013 and water-level changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers and compaction 1973--2012 in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, Houston-Galveston region, Texas
Mark C. Kasmarek, Michaela R. Johnson, Jason K. Ramage
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3263
Most of the subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas, has occurred as a direct result of groundwater withdrawals for municipal supply, commercial and industrial use, and irrigation that depressured and dewatered the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, thereby causing compaction mostly in the clay and silt layers of the aquifer sediments....
Mapping polar bear maternal denning habitat in the National Petroleum Reserve -- Alaska with an IfSAR digital terrain model
George M. Durner, Kristin S. Simac, Steven C. Amstrup
2013, Arctic (66) 139-245
The National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A) in northeastern Alaska provides winter maternal denning habitat for polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and also has high potential for recoverable hydrocarbons. Denning polar bears exposed to human activities may abandon their dens before their young are able to survive the severity of Arctic winter weather....
Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project, 2013 Update
E. Robert Thieler, Theresa L. Smith, Julia M. Knisel, Daniel W. Sampson
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1189
Information on rates and trends of shoreline change can be used to improve the understanding of the underlying causes and potential effects of coastal erosion on coastal populations and infrastructure and can support informed coastal management decisions. In this report, we summarize the changes in the historical positions of the...
Model documentation for relations between continuous real-time and discrete water-quality constituents in Cheney Reservoir near Cheney, Kansas, 2001--2009
Mandy L. Stone, Jennifer L. Graham, Jackline W. Gatotho
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1123
Cheney Reservoir, located in south-central Kansas, is one of the primary water supplies for the city of Wichita, Kansas. The U.S. Geological Survey has operated a continuous real-time water-quality monitoring station in Cheney Reservoir since 2001; continuously measured physicochemical properties include specific conductance, pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence...
Geochemical evidence of groundwater flow paths and the fate and transport of constituents of concern in the alluvial aquifer at Fort Wingate Depot Activity, New Mexico, 2009
Andrew J. Robertson, David W. Henry, Jeffery B. Langman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5098
As part of an environmental investigation at Fort Wingate Depot Activity, New Mexico, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, interpreted aqueous geochemical concentrations to better understand the groundwater flow paths and the fate and transport of constituents of concern in the alluvial aquifer...
Finite-fault source inversion using teleseismic P waves: Simple parameterization and rapid analysis
C. Mendoza, S. Hartzell
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 834-844
We examine the ability of teleseismic P waves to provide a timely image of the rupture history for large earthquakes using a simple, 2D finite‐fault source parameterization. We analyze the broadband displacement waveforms recorded for the 2010 Mw∼7 Darfield (New Zealand) and El Mayor‐Cucapah (Baja California) earthquakes using a single...
Estimating suitable environments for invasive plant species across large landscapes: a remote sensing strategy using Landsat 7 ETM+
Kendal E. Young, Laurie B. Abbott, Colleen A. Caldwell, T. Scott Schrader
2013, International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation (5) 122-134
The key to reducing ecological and economic damage caused by invasive plant species is to locate and eradicate new invasions before they threaten native biodiversity and ecological processes. We used Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus imagery to estimate suitable environments for four invasive plants in Big Bend National Park, southwest...
Exploration Review
D.R. Wilburn, K.A. Stanley
2013, Mining Engineering (65) 32-52
This summary of international mineral exploration activities for 2012 draws upon information from industry sources, published literature and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) specialists. The summary provides data on exploration budgets by region and mineral commodity, identifies significant mineral discoveries and areas of mineral exploration, discusses government programs affecting the mineral...
Characterization of major lithologic units underlying the lower American River using water-borne continuous resistivity profiling, Sacramento, California, June 2008
Lyndsay B. Ball, Andrew Teeple
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1050
The levee system of the lower American River in Sacramento, California, is situated above a mixed lithology of alluvial deposits that range from clay to gravel. In addition, sand deposits related to hydraulic mining activities underlie the floodplain and are preferentially prone to scour during high-flow events. In contrast, sections...
