Fort Collins Science Center fiscal year 2010 science accomplishments
Juliette T. Wilson
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1114
The scientists and technical professionals at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Fort Collins Science Center (FORT), apply their diverse ecological, socioeconomic, and technological expertise to investigate complicated ecological problems confronting managers of the Nation's biological resources. FORT works closely with U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) agency scientists, the academic...
Geology and geochemistry of volcanic centers within the eastern half of the Sonoma volcanic field, northern San Francisco Bay region, California
Donald S. Sweetkind, James J. Rytuba, Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert J. Fleck
2011, Geosphere (7) 629-657
Volcanic rocks in the Sonoma volcanic field in the northern California Coast Ranges contain heterogeneous assemblages of a variety of compositionally diverse volcanic rocks. We have used field mapping, new and existing age determinations, and 343 new major and trace element analyses of whole-rock samples...
Development of a precipitation-runoff model to simulate unregulated streamflow in the South Fork Flathead River Basin, Montana
K.J. Chase
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5095
This report documents the development of a precipitation-runoff model for the South Fork Flathead River Basin, Mont. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System model, developed in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, can be used to simulate daily mean unregulated streamflow upstream and downstream from Hungry Horse Reservoir for water-resources planning. Two...
Evaluation of angler effort and harvest of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Lake Scanewa, Washington, 2010
Theresa L. Liedtke, Tobias J. Kock, Brian K. Ekstrom, Ryan G. Tomka, Dennis W. Rondorf
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1178
A creel evaluation was conducted in Lake Scanewa, a reservoir on the Cowlitz River, to monitor catch rates of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and determine if the trout fishery was having negative impacts on juvenile anadromous salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the system. The trout fishery, which is supported by releases...
Development of industrial minerals in Colorado
Belinda F. Arbogast, Daniel H. Knepper, William H. Langer, James A. Cappa, John W. Keller, Beth L. Widmann, Karl J. Ellefsen, Terry L. Klein, Jeffrey E. Lucius, John S. Dersch
2011, Circular 1368
Technology and engineering have helped make mining safer and cleaner for both humans and the environment. Inevitably, mineral development entails costs as well as benefits. Developing a mine is an environmental, engineering, and planning challenge that must conform to many Federal, State, and local regulations. Community collaboration, creative design, and...
Genetic landscapes GIS Toolbox: Tools to map patterns of genetic divergence and diversity.
Amy G. Vandergast, William M. Perry, Roberto V. Lugo, Stacie A. Hathaway
2011, Molecular Ecology Resources (11) 158-161
The Landscape Genetics GIS Toolbox contains tools that run in the Geographic Information System software, ArcGIS®, to map genetic landscapes and to summarize multiple genetic landscapes as average and variance surfaces. These tools can be used to visualize the distribution of genetic diversity across geographic space and to study associations...
Application of a watershed model (HSPF) for evaluating sources and transport of pathogen indicators in the Chino Basin drainage area, San Bernardino County, California
Joseph Hevesi, Lorraine E. Flint, Clinton D. Church, Gregory O. Mendez
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5219
A watershed model using Hydrologic Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) was developed for the urbanized Chino Basin in southern California to simulate the transport of pathogen indicator bacteria, evaluate the flow-component and land-use contributions to bacteria contamination and water-quality degradation throughout the basin, and develop a better understanding of the potential effects...
The international charter for space and major disasters--project manager training
Brenda Jones
2011, General Information Product 131
Regional Project Managers for the Charter are developed through training courses, which typically last between 3 and 5 days and are held in a central location for participants. These courses have resulted in increased activations and broader use of Charter data and information by local emergency management authorities. Project Managers...
Mapping perennial vegetation cover in the Mojave Desert
Cynthia S.A. Wallace
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3077
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Geographic Science Center have recently created a regional map of perennial vegetation cover for the Mojave Desert. The scientists used existing field data collected for a variety of previous studies and satellite data available for free through USGS archives to create a calibrated...
Three types of gas hydrate reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico identified in LWD data
Myung Woong Lee, Timothy S. Collett
2011, Book, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Gas Hydrates
High quality logging-while-drilling (LWD) well logs were acquired in seven wells drilled during the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II in the spring of 2009. These data help to identify three distinct types of gas hydrate reservoirs: isotropic reservoirs in sands, vertical fractured reservoirs in shale,...
Beaufort Sea deep-water gas hydrate recovery from a seafloor mound in a region of widespread BSR occurrence
Patrick E. Hart, John W. Pohlman, T.D. Lorenson, Brian D. Edwards
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 7th international conference on gas hydrates (ICGH 2011)
Gas hydrate was recovered from the Alaskan Beaufort Sea slope north of Camden Bay in August 2010 during a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy expedition (USCG cruise ID HLY1002) under the direction of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Interpretation of multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection data collected in 1977 by the...
Developing seismogenic source models based on geologic fault data
Kathleen M. Haller, Roberto Basili
2011, Seismological Research Letters (82) 519-525
Calculating seismic hazard usually requires input that includes seismicity associated with known faults, historical earthquake catalogs, geodesy, and models of ground shaking. This paper will address the input generally derived from geologic studies that augment the short historical catalog to predict ground shaking at time scales of tens, hundreds, or...
USGS library for S-PLUS for Windows -- Release 4.0
David L. Lorenz, Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Janet M. Carter, Timothy A. Cohn, Wendy J. Danchuk, Jeffrey W. Frey, Dennis R. Helsel, Kathy Lee, David C. Leeth, Jeffrey D. Martin, Virginia L. McGuire, Kathleen M. Neitzert, Dale M. Robertson, James R. Slack, J. Jeffrey Starn, Aldo V. Vecchia, Donald H. Wilkison, Joyce E. Williamson
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1130
Release 4.0 of the U.S. Geological Survey S-PLUS library supercedes release 2.1. It comprises functions, dialogs, and datasets used in the U.S. Geological Survey for the analysis of water-resources data. This version does not contain ESTREND, which was in version 2.1. See Release 2.1 for information and access to that...
Modeling hydrodynamics, water temperature, and water quality in the Klamath River upstream of Keno Dam, Oregon, 2006-09
Annett B. Sullivan, Stewart A. Rounds, Michael L. Deas, Jessica R. Asbill, Roy E. Wellman, Marc A. Stewart, Matthew W. Johnston, I. Ertugrul Sogutlugil
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5105
A hydrodynamic, water temperature, and water-quality model was constructed for a 20-mile reach of the Klamath River downstream of Upper Klamath Lake, from Link River to Keno Dam, for calendar years 2006-09. The two-dimensional, laterally averaged model CE-QUAL-W2 was used to simulate water velocity, ice cover, water temperature, specific conductance,...
Unravelling long-term vegetation change patterns in a binational watershed using multitemporal land cover data and historical photography
Miguel L. Villarreal, Laura M. Norman, Robert H. Webb, Diane E. Boyer, Raymond M. Turner
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings of MULTITEMP 2011, 6th International Workshop on the Analysis of Multitemporal Remote Sensing Images
A significant amount of research conducted in the Sonoran Desert of North America has documented, both anecdotally and empirically, major vegetation changes over the past century due to human land use activities. However, many studies lack coincidental landscape-scale data characterizing the spatial and temporal manifestation of these changes. Vegetation changes...
Ictalurids in Iowa’s streams and rivers: Status, distribution, and relationships with biotic integrity
Anthony R. Sindt, Jesse R. Fischer, Michael C. Quist, Clay Pierce
2011, American Fisheries Society Symposium (77) 335-347
Anthropogenic alterations to Iowa’s landscape have greatly altered lotic systems with consequent effects on the biodiversity of freshwater fauna. Ictalurids are a diverse group of fishes and play an important ecological role in aquatic ecosystems. However, little is known about their distribution and status in lotic systems throughout Iowa. The...
Hydrogeophysical investigations at Hidden Dam, Raymond, California
Burke J. Minsley, Bethany L. Burton, Scott Ikard, Michael H. Powers
2011, Journal of Environmental & Engineering Geophysics (16) 145-164
Self-potential and direct current resistivity surveys are carried out at the Hidden Dam site in Raymond, California to assess present-day seepage patterns and better understand the hydrogeologic mechanisms that likely influence seepage. Numerical modeling is utilized in conjunction with the geophysical measurements to predict variably-saturated flow through typical two-dimensional...
Combined multibeam and LIDAR bathymetry data from eastern Long Island Sound and westernmost Block Island Sound-A regional perspective
L. J. Poppe, W. W. Danforth, K. Y. McMullen, Castle E. Parker, E. F. Doran
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1003
Detailed bathymetric maps of the sea floor in Long Island Sound are of great interest to the Connecticut and New York research and management communities because of this estuary's ecological, recreational, and commercial importance. The completed, geologically interpreted digital terrain models (DTMs), ranging in area from 12 to 293 square...
Density estimation in a wolverine population using spatial capture-recapture models
J. Andrew Royle, Audrey J. Magoun, Beth Gardner, Patrick Valkenbury, Richard E. Lowell
Kevin McKelvey, editor(s)
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 604-611
Classical closed-population capture-recapture models do not accommodate the spatial information inherent in encounter history data obtained from camera-trapping studies. As a result, individual heterogeneity in encounter probability is induced, and it is not possible to estimate density objectively because trap arrays do not have a well-defined sample area. We applied...
Treatment of anchor pixels in the METRIC model for improved estimation of sensible and latent heat fluxes
Ramesh K. Singh, A. Irmak
2011, Hydrological Sciences Journal (56) 895-906
Reliable estimation of sensible heat flux (H) is important in energy balance models for quantifying evapotranspiration (ET). This study was conducted to evaluate the value of adding the Priestley-Taylor (PT) equation to the METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) model. METRIC was used to estimate energy fluxes...
Development and application of indices to assess the condition of benthic algal communities in U.S. streams and rivers
Marina Potapova, Daren M. Carlisle
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1126
Multi-metric indices (MMIs) are a measure of a combination of characteristics of biological communities and are used as indicators of water quality and ecological health. Although MMIs for algal communities have been developed for specific regions of the United States, none of the indices have national applicability. The MMIs described...
Availability of groundwater data for California, water year 2010
Mary Ray, Patricia Orlando
2011, Fact Sheet 2011-3060
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Federal, State, and local agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the groundwater resources of California each water year (October 1-September 30). These data constitute a valuable database for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. This...
Simulation of specific conductance and chloride concentration in Abercorn Creek, Georgia, 2000-2009
Paul Conrads, Edwin A. Roehl Jr., Steven R. Davie
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5074
The City of Savannah operates an industrial and domestic water-supply intake on Abercorn Creek approximately 2 miles from the confluence with the Savannah River upstream from the Interstate 95 bridge. Chloride concentrations are a major concern for the city because industrial customers require water with low chloride concentrations, and elevated...
The effect of offering distance education on enrollment in onsite training at the National Conservation Training Center
Joan M. Ratz, Rudy M. Schuster, Ann H. Marcy
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1138
The objective of this study was to explore the effect that providing distance education courses would have on enrollment in courses offered on the campus of the National Conservation Training Center. This is an exploratory study and the results should be interpreted as preliminary rather than conclusive. The study included...
Biosolids, crop, and groundwater data for a biosolids-application area near Deer Trail, Colorado, 2007 and 2008
Tracy J.B. Yager, David B. Smith, James G. Crock
2011, Data Series 589
During 2007 and 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey monitored the chemical composition of biosolids, crops, and groundwater related to biosolids applications near Deer Trail, Colorado, in cooperation with the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District. This monitoring effort was a continuation of the monitoring program begun in 1999 in cooperation with the...
