Comparison of TOPMODEL streamflow simulations using NEXRAD-based and measured rainfall data, McTier Creek watershed, South Carolina
Toby D. Feaster, Nancy E. Westcott, Robert J.M. Hudson, Paul Conrads, Paul M. Bradley
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5120
Rainfall is an important forcing function in most watershed models. As part of a previous investigation to assess interactions among hydrologic, geochemical, and ecological processes that affect fish-tissue mercury concentrations in the Edisto River Basin, the topography-based hydrological model (TOPMODEL) was applied in the McTier Creek watershed in Aiken County,...
Development and application of a groundwater/surface-water flow model using MODFLOW-NWT for the Upper Fox River Basin, southeastern Wisconsin
D. T. Feinstein, M.N. Fienen, J.L. Kennedy, C.A. Buchwald, M.M. Greenwood
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5108
The Fox River is a 199-mile-long tributary to the Illinois River within the Mississippi River Basin in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. For the purposes of this study the Upper Fox River Basin is defined as the topographic basin that extends from the upstream boundary of the Fox River...
Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Khanneshin mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter A in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan
Philip A. Davis, Laura E. Cagney, Scott A. Arko, Michelle L. Harbin
2012, Data Series 709-A
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the...
A modified night-netting technique for recapturing quail
Ronald J. Troy, Peter S. Coates, John W. Connelly, Gifford Gillette, David J. Delehanty
2012, Wildlife Society Bulletin (36) 578-581
Difficulties in recapturing radiomarked birds often prevent wildlife researchers from replacing transmitters and continuing to collect data over long time periods. We developed an effective, inexpensive capture technique for radiomarked mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus). Twenty-three of 25 mountain quail in south-central Idaho, USA, in 2006 and 2007 were recaptured for...
Tampa Bay coastal wetlands: nineteenth to twentieth century tidal marsh-to-mangrove conversion
Ellen A. Raabe, Laura C. Roy, Carole C. McIvor
2012, Estuaries and Coasts (35) 1145-1162
Currently, mangroves dominate the tidal wetlands of Tampa Bay, Florida, but an examination of historic navigation charts revealed dominance of tidal marshes with a mangrove fringe in the 1870s. This study's objective was to conduct a new assessment of wetland change in Tampa Bay by digitizing nineteenth century topographic and...
Hydrology and modeling of flow conditions at Bridge 339 and Mile 38-43, Copper River Highway, Alaska
Timothy P. Brabets
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5153
The Copper River basin, the sixth largest watershed in Alaska, drains an area of 24,200 square miles in south-central Alaska. This large, glacier-fed river flows across a wide alluvial fan before it enters the Gulf of Alaska. The Copper River Highway, which traverses the alluvial fan, has been affected by...
Shifting species interactions in terrestrial dryland ecosystems under altered water availability and climate change
Kevin E. McCluney, Jayne Belnap, Scott L. Collins, Angelica L. Gonzalez, Elizabeth M. Hagen, J. Nathaniel Holland, Burt P. Kotler, Fernando T. Maestre, Stanley D. Smith, Blair O. Wolf
2012, Biological Reviews (87) 563-582
Species interactions play key roles in linking the responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to environmental change. For instance, species interactions are an important determinant of the complexity of changes in trophic biomass with variation in resources. Water resources are a major driver of terrestrial ecology and climate change is...
In situ determination of flocculated suspended material settling velocities and characteristics using a floc camera
David H. Schoellhamer, Dan Haught, Andrew Manning
2012, Conference Paper
Estimates of suspended sediment settling are necessary for numerical sediment models, water quality studies, and rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems. Settling of cohesive sediment, which is common in estuaries, is more difficult to quantify than noncohesive sediment because of flocculation. Flocs are composed of an aggregation of finer silts, clays, and...
Sinks for nitrogen inputs in terrestrial ecosystems: a meta-analysis of 15N tracer field studies
P.H. Templer, M.C. Mack, F. S. Chapin III, L.M. Christenson, J.E. Compton, H.D. Crook, W.S. Currie, C.J. Curtis, D.B. Dail, C. M. D’Antonio, B.A. Emmett, H.E. Epstein, C.L. Goodale, P. Gundersen, S.E. Hobbie, K. Holland, D.U. Hooper, B.A. Hungate, S. Lamontagne, K.J. Nadelhoffer, C.W. Osenberg, S.S. Perakis, P. Schleppi, J. Schimel, I.K. Schmidt, M. Sommerkorn, J. Spoelstra, A. Tietema, W.W. Wessel, D.R. Zak
2012, Ecology (93) 1816-1829
Effects of anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition and the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to store carbon (C) depend in part on the amount of N retained in the system and its partitioning among plant and soil pools. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies at 48 sites across four continents that used...
Bioclimatic predictors for supporting ecological applications in the conterminous United States
Michael S. O’Donnel, Drew A. Ignizio
2012, Data Series 691
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed climate indices, referred to as bioclimatic predictors, which highlight climate conditions best related to species physiology. A set of 20 bioclimatic predictors were developed as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) continuous raster surfaces for each year between 1895 and 2009. The Parameter-elevation Regression on...
Probabilistic prediction of barrier-island response to hurricanes
Nathaniel G. Plant, Hilary F. Stockdon
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research (117)
Prediction of barrier-island response to hurricane attack is important for assessing the vulnerability of communities, infrastructure, habitat, and recreational assets to the impacts of storm surge, waves, and erosion. We have demonstrated that a conceptual model intended to make qualitative predictions of the type of beach response to storms (e.g.,...
Estimating tag loss of the Atlantic Horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, using a multi-state model
Catherine Alyssa Butler, Conor P. McGowan, J. Barry Grand, David Smith
2012, Conference Paper
The Atlantic Horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is a valuable resource along the Mid-Atlantic coast which has, in recent years, experienced new management paradigms due to increased concern about this species role in the environment. While current management actions are underway, many acknowledge the need for improved and updated parameter estimates...
Geospatial datasets for watershed delineation and characterization used in the Hawaii StreamStats web application
Alan Rea, Kenneth D. Skinner
2012, Data Series 680
The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaii StreamStats application uses an integrated suite of raster and vector geospatial datasets to delineate and characterize watersheds. The geospatial datasets used to delineate and characterize watersheds on the StreamStats website, and the methods used to develop the datasets are described in this report. The datasets...
Seasonal activity and morphological changes in martian gullies
Colin M. Dundas, Serina Diniega, Candice J. Hansen, Shane Byrne, Alfred S. McEwen
2012, Icarus (220) 124-143
Recent studies of martian dune and non-dune gullies have suggested a seasonal control on present-day gully activity. The timing of current gully activity, especially activity involving the formation or modification of channels (which commonly have been taken as evidence of fluvial processes), has important implications regarding likely gully formation processes...
Analytical resource assessment method for continuous (unconventional) oil and gas accumulations - The "ACCESS" Method
Robert A. Crovelli, Ronald R. revised by Charpentier
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1146
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) periodically assesses petroleum resources of areas within the United States and the world. The purpose of this report is to explain the development of an analytic probabilistic method and spreadsheet software system called Analytic Cell-Based Continuous Energy Spreadsheet System (ACCESS). The ACCESS method is based...
Multivariate statistical approach to estimate mixing proportions for unknown end members
Joshua F. Valder, Andrew J. Long, Arden D. Davis, Scott J. Kenner
2012, Journal of Hydrology (460-461) 65-76
A multivariate statistical method is presented, which includes principal components analysis (PCA) and an end-member mixing model to estimate unknown end-member hydrochemical compositions and the relative mixing proportions of those end members in mixed waters. PCA, together with the Hotelling T2 statistic and a conceptual model of groundwater flow and...
Practical estimates of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity of bedrock outcrops using a modified bottomless bucket method
Benjamin B. Mirus, Kim S. Perkins
2012, Water Resources Research (48)
The bottomless bucket (BB) approach (Nimmo et al., 2009a) is a cost-effective method for rapidly characterizing field-saturated hydraulic conductivity Kfs of soils and alluvial deposits. This practical approach is of particular value for quantifying infiltration rates in remote areas with limited accessibility. A similar approach for bedrock outcrops is also...
Identification of the thiamin pyrophosphokinase gene in rainbow trout: Characteristic structure and expression of seven splice variants in tissues and cell lines and during embryo development
Shinya Yuge, Catherine A. Richter, Maureen K. Wright-Osment, Diane Nicks, Stephanie K. Saloka, Donald E. Tillitt, Weiming Li
2012, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (163) 193-202
Thiamin pyrophosphokinase (TPK) converts thiamin to its active form, thiamin diphosphate. In humans, TPK expression is down-regulated in some thiamin deficiency related syndrome, and enhanced during pregnancy. Rainbow trout are also vulnerable to thiamin deficiency in wild life and are useful models for thiamin metabolism research. We identified the tpk...
Osteosarcoma of the maxilla with concurrent osteoma in a southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis)
J. Rodriguez-Ramos Fernandez, N. J. Thomas, R.R. Dubielzig, R. Drees
2012, Journal of Comparative Pathology (147) 391-396
Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) are threatened marine mammals that belong to the family Mustelidae and are native to the coast of Central California. Neoplasia is reported infrequently in sea otters. An adult female free-ranging southern sea otter was...
Global prediction of continuous hydrocarbon accumulations in self-sourced reservoirs
Jennifer D. Eoff
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1091
This report was first presented as an abstract in poster format at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) 2012 Annual Convention and Exhibition, April 22-25, Long Beach, Calif., as Search and Discovery Article no. 90142. Shale resource plays occur in predictable tectonic settings within similar orders of magnitude of...
A multiple-point geostatistical method for characterizing uncertainty of subsurface alluvial units and its effects on flow and transport
C. Cronkite-Ratcliff, G. A. Phelps, A. Boucher
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1065
This report provides a proof-of-concept to demonstrate the potential application of multiple-point geostatistics for characterizing geologic heterogeneity and its effect on flow and transport simulation. The study presented in this report is the result of collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Stanford University. This collaboration focused on improving...
Sea-floor geology in central Rhode Island Sound south of Sakonnet Point, Rhode Island
K.Y. McMullen, L.J. Poppe, S.D. Ackerman, C.R. Worley, M.A. Nadeau, M. V. Van Hoy
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1004
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working together to study the sea floor along the northeastern coast of the United States. NOAA collected multibeam-echosounder data during hydrographic survey H11995 in a 63-square-kilometer area in central Rhode Island Sound, south of Sakonnet Point,...
Flood-inundation maps for Sweetwater Creek from above the confluence of Powder Springs Creek to the Interstate 20 bridge, Cobb and Douglas Counties, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2012, Scientific Investigations Map 3220
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 10.5-mile reach of Sweetwater Creek, from about 1,800 feet above the confluence of Powder Springs Creek to about 160 feet below the Interstate 20 bridge, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with Cobb County, Georgia. The inundation maps, which can be...
Modeling of depth to base of Last Glacial Maximum and seafloor sediment thickness for the California State Waters Map Series, eastern Santa Barbara Channel, California
Florence L. Wong, Eleyne L. Phillips, Samuel Y. Johnson, Ray W. Sliter
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1161
Models of the depth to the base of Last Glacial Maximum and sediment thickness over the base of Last Glacial Maximum for the eastern Santa Barbara Channel are a key part of the maps of shallow subsurface geology and structure for offshore Refugio to Hueneme Canyon, California, in the California...
Regression modeling of particle size distributions in urban stormwater: Advancements through improved sample collection methods
William R. Selbig, Michael N. Fienen
2012, Journal of Environmental Engineering (138) 1186-1193
A new sample collection system was developed to improve the representation of sediment entrained in urban storm water by integrating water quality samples from the entire water column. The depth-integrated sampler arm (DISA) was able to mitigate sediment stratification bias in storm water, thereby improving the characterization...
