Indicators of ecosystem structure and function for the Upper Mississippi River System
Nathan R. De Jager, James T. Rogala, Jason J. Rohweder, Molly Van Appledorn, Kristen L. Bouska, Jeffrey N. Houser, Kathi Jo Jankowski
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1143
This report documents the development of quantitative measures (indicators) of ecosystem structure and function for use in a Habitat Needs Assessment (HNA) for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). HNAs are led periodically by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, which is the primary...
Agricultural conservation practice implementation in the Chesapeake Bay watershed supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
W. Dean Hively, Olivia H. Devereux, Jennifer L. D. Keisman
2018, Data Series 1102
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides cost-share funding and technical assistance to support the implementation of agricultural conservation practices on farms throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Conservation implementation has been substantial in the time period for which digital records are available (from 2007 through 2017). Farmer participation in USDA...
Prioritization framework for ranking riverine ecosystem stressors using example sites from the Tualatin River Basin, Oregon
Steven Sobieszczyk, Krista L. Jones, Stewart A. Rounds, Elena B. Nilsen, Jennifer L. Morace
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5153
As human populations increase, so does their influence over the environment. Altered terrain, degraded water quality, and threatened or endangered species are all-too-common consequences of a growing anthropogenic influence on the landscape. To help manage these effects, researchers have developed new ways to characterize current environmental conditions and help...
Flood-inundation maps for the Salamonie River at Portland, Indiana
Kellan R. Strauch
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5132
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.5-mile reach of the Salamonie River at Portland, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science website at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict...
Event-response ellipses: A method to quantify and compare the role of dynamic storage at the catchment scale in snowmelt-dominated systems
Jessica M. Driscoll, Thomas Meixner, Noah P. Molotch, Ty P. A. Ferre, Mark W. Williams, James O. Sickman
2018, Water (10) 1-17
A method for quantifying the role of dynamic storage as a physical buffer between snowmelt and streamflow at the catchment scale is introduced in this paper. The method describes a quantitative relation between hydrologic events (e.g., snowmelt) and responses (e.g., streamflow) by generating event-response ellipses that can be used to...
Remote sensing vegetation index methods to evaluate changes in greenness and evapotranspiration in riparian vegetation in response to the Minute 319 environmental pulse flow to Mexico
Pamela L. Nagler, Christopher J. Jarchow, Edward P. Glenn
2018, Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (380) 45-54
During the spring of 2014, 130 million m3 of water were released from the United States' Morelos Dam on the lower Colorado River to Mexico, allowing water to reach the Gulf of California for the first time in 13 years. Our study assessed the effects of water transfer or ecological environmental flows from...
Hydrogeochemical controls on brook trout spawning habitats in a coastal stream
Martin A. Briggs, Judson W. Harvey, Stephen T. Hurley, Donald O. Rosenberry, Timothy D. McCobb, Dale D. Werkema, John W. Lane Jr.
2018, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (22) 6383-6398
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) spawn in fall and overwintering egg development can benefit from stable, relatively warm temperatures in groundwater-seepage zones. However, eggs are also sensitive to dissolved oxygen concentration, which may be reduced in discharging groundwater (i.e., seepage). We investigated a 2 km reach of the coastal Quashnet River in...
Estimating metal concentrations with regression analysis and water-quality surrogates at nine sites on the Animas and San Juan Rivers, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
M. Alisa Mast
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5116
The purpose of this report is to evaluate the use of site-specific regression models to estimate metal concentrations at nine U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations on the Animas and San Juan Rivers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Downstream users could use these regression models to determine if metal concentrations...
GSFLOW-GRASS v1.0.0: GIS-enabled hydrologic modeling of coupled groundwater–surface-water systems
G.-H. Crystal Ng, Andrew D. Wickert, Lauren D. Somers, Leila Saberi, Collin Cronkite-Ratcliff, Richard G. Niswonger, Jeffrey M. McKenzie
2018, Geoscientific Model Development (11) 4755-4777
The importance of water moving between the atmosphere and aquifers has led to efforts to develop and maintain coupled models of surface water and groundwater. However, developing inputs to these models is usually time-consuming and requires extensive knowledge of software engineering, often prohibiting their use by many researchers and water...
Baseline water quality of an area undergoing shale-gas development in the Muskingum River watershed, Ohio, 2015–16
S. Alex Covert, Martha L. Jagucki, Carrie A. Huitger
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5113
In 2015–16, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, led a study to assess baseline (2015–16) surface-water quality in six lake drainage basins within the Muskingum River watershed that are in the early years of shale-gas development. In 2015, 9 of the 10 most active...
Flood-inundation maps for the North Fork Kentucky River at Hazard, Kentucky
Justin A. Boldt, Jeremiah G. Lant, Nicholas E. Kolarik
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5122
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 7.1-mile reach of the North Fork Kentucky River at Hazard, Kentucky (Ky.), were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Kentucky Silver Jackets and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the...
Reconnaissance of mixed organic and inorganic chemicals in private and public supply tapwaters at selected residential and workplace sites in the United States
Paul M. Bradley, Dana W. Kolpin, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly L. Smalling, Michael J. Focazio, Juliane B. Brown, Mary C. Cardon, Kurt D. Carpenter, Steven R. Corsi, Laura A. DeCicco, Julie E. Dietze, Nicola Evans, Edward T. Furlong, Carrie E. Givens, James L. Gray, Dale W. Griffin, Christopher P. Higgins, Michelle L. Hladik, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Celeste A. Journey, Kathryn Kuivila, Jason R. Masoner, Carrie A. McDonough, Michael T. Meyer, James L. Orlando, Mark J. Strynar, Christopher P. Weis, Vickie S. Wilson
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 13972-13985
Safe drinking water at the point-of-use (tapwater, TW) is a United States public health priority. Multiple lines of evidence were used to evaluate potential human health concerns of 482 organics and 19 inorganics in TW from 13 (7 public supply, 6 private well self-supply) home and 12 (public supply) workplace...
The Pothole Hydrology-Linked Systems Simulator (PHyLiSS)—Development and application of a systems model for prairie-pothole wetlands
Owen P. McKenna, David M. Mushet, Eric J. Scherff, Kyle McLean, Christopher T. Mills
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1165
The North American Prairie Pothole Region covers about 770,000 square kilometers of the United States and Canada (including parts of 5 States and 3 provinces: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta). The Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the landscape of the region about 12,000 to 14,000...
Landscape drivers and social dynamics shaping microbial contamination risk in three Maya communities in southern Belize, Central America
Peter C. Esselman, Shiguo Jiang, Henry A Peller, David N. Bucklin, Joel D Wainwright
2018, Water (10)
Land transformation can have cascading effects on hydrology, water quality, and human users of water resources, with serious implications for human health. An interdisciplinary analysis is presented, whereby remote-sensing data of changing land use and cover are related to surface hydrology and microbial contamination in domestic use...
Blue Carbon Futures: moving forward on terra firma
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Stephen Crooks, Tiffany Troxler
2018, Book chapter, A blue carbon primer: The state of coastal wetland carbon science, practice and policy
Maintaining coastal carbon sequestration and storage services is economically valuable in providing a potentially long-term contribution toward climate resilience, both in terms of adaptation and mitigation.392The volumetric accumulation of coastal carbon stocks is unique from other terrestrial and aquatic processes, and inconsistent use of terminology is holding back understanding of...
Do we know how much fluvial sediment reaches the sea? Decreased river monitoring of U.S. coastal rivers
Jonathan A. Warrick, John D. Milliman
2018, Hydrological Processes (32) 3561-3567
Given the present and future changing climate and human changes to land use and river control, river sediment fluxes to coastal systems are changing and will continue to change in the future. To delineate these changes and their effects, it is increasingly important to document the fluxes of river-borne...
Filtering of cyclic period infiltration in a layered vadose zone: 1. Approximation of damping and time lags
Jesse E. Dickinson, T. P. A Ferre
2018, Vadose Zone Journal (17) 1-16
Core IdeasWe describe an approximation for filtering of periodic infiltration in layered soil.Transitions in soil‐water properties between soil layers affect the filtering.Errors are smaller in soils where changes in soil‐water properties are small.Infiltration and downward percolation of water in the vadose zone are important processes...
Fire and tree death: Understanding and improving modeling of fire-induced tree mortality
Sharon M. Hood, J. Morgan Varner, Phillip J. van Mantgem, C. Alina Cansler
2018, Environmental Research Letters (13)
Each year wildland fires kill and injure trees on millions of forested hectares globally, affecting plant and animal biodiversity, carbon storage, hydrologic processes, and ecosystem services. The underlying mechanisms of fire-caused tree mortality remain poorly understood, however, limiting the ability to accurately predict mortality and develop robust...
Multi-scale effects of land cover and urbanization on the habitat suitability of an endangered toad
Michael L. Treglia, Adam C Landon, Robert N. Fisher, Gerard Kyle, Lee A. Fitzgerald
2018, Biological Conservation (228) 310-318
Habitat degradation, entwined with land cover change, is a major driver of biodiversity loss. Effects of land cover change on species can be direct (when habitat is converted to alternative land cover types) or indirect (when land outside of the species habitat is altered). Hydrologic and ecological connections between terrestrial and aquatic...
Monitoring framework for evaluating hydrogeomorphic and vegetation responses to environmental flows in the Middle Fork Willamette, McKenzie, and Santiam River Basins, Oregon
J. Rose Wallick, Leslie B. Bach, Mackenzie K. Keith, Melissa Olson, Joseph F. Mangano, Krista L. Jones
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1157
This report summarizes a framework for monitoring hydrogeomorphic and vegetation responses to environmental flows in support of the Willamette Sustainable Rivers Program (SRP). The SRP is a partnership between The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to provide ecologically sustainable flows downstream of dams while still...
The role of a non-native tree in riparian vegetation expansion and channel narrowing along a dryland river
Michael L. Scott, Lindsay V. Reynolds, Patrick B. Shafroth, John R. Spencer
2018, Ecohydrology (11) e1988
Along rivers, native and invasive species may establish and persist on active channel bedforms as part of channel narrowing. Using historical aerial photography and dendrochronology, we quantified spatial and temporal patterns of narrowing and vegetation expansion, including native Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and non‐native Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), along the largely unregulated Escalante River in...
Hydrology and hydrodynamics on the Sacramento River near the Fremont Weir, California—Implications for juvenile salmon entrainment estimates
Paul R. Stumpner, Aaron R. Blake, Jon R. Burau
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5115
Estimates of fish entrainment on the Sacramento River near the Fremont Weir are a critical component in determining the feasibility and design of a proposed notch in the weir to increase access to the Yolo Bypass, a seasonal floodplain of the Sacramento River. Detailed hydrodynamic and velocity measurements were made...
Bias correction of simulated historical daily streamflow at ungauged locations by using independently estimated flow duration curves
William H. Farmer, Thomas M. Over, Julie E. Kiang
2018, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (22) 5741-5758
In many simulations of historical daily streamflow distributional bias arising from the distributional properties of residuals has been noted. This bias often presents itself as an underestimation of high streamflow and an overestimation of low streamflow. Here, 1168 streamgages across the conterminous USA, having at least 14 complete water years of daily data...
Hydrology-driven chemical loads transported by the Green River to the Lower Duwamish Waterway near Seattle, Washington, 2013–17
Kathleen E. Conn, Robert W. Black, Craig A. Senter, Norman T. Peterson, Ann Vanderpool-Kimura
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5133
The sediments in the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site in Seattle, Washington, are contaminated with chemicals including metals such as arsenic, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs), and dioxins/furans from decades of intense anthropogenic activities. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Ecology,...
Human-associated indicator bacteria and human-specific viruses in surface water: a spatial assessment with implications on fate and transport
Peter L. Lenaker, Steven R. Corsi, Sandra L. McLellan, Mark A. Borchardt, Hayley T. Olds, Deborah K. Dila, Susan K. Spencer, Austin K. Baldwin
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 12162-12171
Hydrologic, seasonal, and spatial variability of sewage contamination was studied at six locations within a watershed upstream from water reclamation facility (WRF) effluent to define relative loadings of sewage from different portions of the watershed. Fecal pollution from human sources was spatially quantified by measuring two human-associated indicator bacteria (HIB)...
