Groundwater-level trends in the U.S. glacial aquifer system, 1964-2013
Glenn A. Hodgkins, Robert W. Dudley, Martha G. Nielsen, Benjamin Renard, Sharon L. Qi
2017, Journal of Hydrology (553) 289-303
The glacial aquifer system in the United States is a major source of water supply but previous work on historical groundwater trends across the system is lacking. Trends in annual minimum, mean, and maximum groundwater levels for 205 monitoring wells were analyzed across three regions of the system (East, Central,...
Climate change and alpine stream biology: progress, challenges, and opportunities for the future
Scott Hotaling, Debra S. Finn, J. Joseph Giersch, David W. Weisrock, Dean Jacobsen
2017, Biological Reviews (92) 2024-2045
In alpine regions worldwide, climate change is dramatically altering ecosystems and affecting biodiversity in many ways. For streams, receding alpine glaciers and snowfields, paired with altered precipitation regimes, are driving shifts in hydrology, species distributions, basal resources, and threatening the very existence of some habitats and biota. Alpine streams harbour...
Simulation of daily streamflow for 12 river basins in western Iowa using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
Daniel E. Christiansen, Adel E. Haj, John C. Risley
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5091
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, constructed Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System models to estimate daily streamflow for 12 river basins in western Iowa that drain into the Missouri River. The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System is a deterministic, distributed-parameter, physical-process-based modeling system developed to evaluate the...
Remote measurement of river discharge using thermal particle image velocimetry (PIV) and various sources of bathymetric information
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Jonathan M. Nelson
2017, Journal of Hydrology (554) 490-506
Although river discharge is a fundamental hydrologic quantity, conventional methods of streamgaging are impractical, expensive, and potentially dangerous in remote locations. This study evaluated the potential for measuring discharge via various forms of remote sensing, primarily thermal imaging of flow velocities but also spectrally-based depth retrieval from passive optical image...
Riverine discharges to Chesapeake Bay: Analysis of long-term (1927–2014) records and implications for future flows in the Chesapeake Bay basin
Karen C. Rice, Douglas L. Moyer, Aaron L. Mills
2017, Journal of Environmental Management (204) 246-254
The Chesapeake Bay (CB) basin is under a total maximum daily load (TMDL) mandate to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads to the bay. Identifying shifts in the hydro-climatic regime may help explain observed trends in water quality. To identify potential shifts, hydrologic data (1927–2014) for 27 watersheds in the...
A coupled metabolic-hydraulic model and calibration scheme for estimating of whole-river metabolism during dynamic flow conditions
Robert A. Payn, Robert O Hall, Theodore A. Kennedy, Geoff C Poole, Lucy A. Marshall
2017, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (15) 847-866
Conventional methods for estimating whole-stream metabolic rates from measured dissolved oxygen dynamics do not account for the variation in solute transport times created by dynamic flow conditions. Changes in flow at hourly time scales are common downstream of hydroelectric dams (i.e. hydropeaking), and hydrologic limitations of conventional metabolic models...
Quantifying the effects of wildfire on changes in soil properties by surface burning of soils from the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory
Celeste Wieting, Brian A. Ebel, Kamini Singha
2017, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (13) 43-57
Study regionThis study used intact soil cores collected at the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory near Boulder, Colorado, USA to explore fire impacts on soil properties.Study focusThree soil scenarios were considered: unburned control soils, and low- and high-temperature burned soils. We explored simulated fire...
Seasonality of stable isotope composition of atmospheric water input at the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Insa Otte, Florian Detsch, Adrian Gutlein, Martha A. Scholl, Ralf Kiese, Tim Appelhans, Thomas Nauss
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 3932-3947
To understand the moisture regime at the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, we analysed the isotopic variability of oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen (δD) of rainfall, throughfall, and fog from a total of 2,140 samples collected weekly over 2 years at 9 study sites along an elevation transect ranging from 950 to...
Simulation of groundwater and surface-water flow in the upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon
Marshall W. Gannett, Kenneth E. Lite Jr., John C. Risley, Esther M. Pischel, Jonathan L. La Marche
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5097
This report describes a hydrologic model for the upper Deschutes Basin in central Oregon developed using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) integrated Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow model (GSFLOW). The upper Deschutes Basin, which drains much of the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, is underlain by large...
HIF evaluation of In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400
Evan F. Tillman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1086
The In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400 (Aqua TROLL 400) was tested at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) against known standards over the Aqua TROLL 400’s operating temperature to verify the manufacturer’s stated accuracy specifications and the USGS recommendations for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and specific conductance (SC)....
Oxygen stable isotopic disparities among sympatric small land snail species from northwest Minnesota, USA
Yurena Yanes, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Jason A. Rech, Jeffery S. Pigati
2017, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (485) 715-722
The oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of land snail shells can be a valuable paleoenvironmental archive if the climatic parameters that influence the isotopic system are fully understood. Previous calibration studies have examined a limited number of species or individuals, and most have focused on larger (> 10 mm) taxa, which do not...
The importance of parameterization when simulating the hydrologic response of vegetative land-cover change
Jeremy T. White, Victoria G. Stengel, Samuel H. Rendon, John Banta
2017, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (21) 3975-3989
Computer models of hydrologic systems are frequently used to investigate the hydrologic response of land-cover change. If the modeling results are used to inform resource-management decisions, then providing robust estimates of uncertainty in the simulated response is an important consideration. Here we examine the importance of parameterization, a necessarily subjective...
Millennial-scale variability in the local radiocarbon reservoir age of south Florida during the Holocene
Lauren T. Toth, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, Erica Ashe, Julie N. Richey
2017, Quaternary Geochronology (42) 130-143
A growing body of research suggests that the marine environments of south Florida provide a critical link between the tropical and high-latitude Atlantic. Changes in the characteristics of water masses off south Florida may therefore have important implications for our understanding of climatic and oceanographic variability over a broad spatial...
Meta-analysis of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity recovery following wildland fire: Applications for hydrologic model parameterization and resilience assessment
Brian A. Ebel, Deborah A. Martin
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 3682-3696
Hydrologic recovery after wildfire is critical for restoring the ecosystem services of protecting of human lives and infrastructure from hazards and delivering water supply of sufficient quality and quantity. Recovery of soil-hydraulic properties, such as field-saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), is a key factor for assessing the duration of watershed-scale flash...
Watershed Data Management (WDM) database for West Branch DuPage River streamflow simulation, DuPage County, Illinois, January 1, 2007, through September 30, 2013
Maitreyee Bera
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1099
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the DuPage County Stormwater Management Department, maintains a database of hourly meteorological and hydrologic data for use in a near real-time streamflow simulation system. This system is used in the management and operation of reservoirs and other flood-control structures in the West...
Description of chronostratigraphic units preserved as channel deposits and geomorphic processes following a basin-scale disturbance by a wildfire in Colorado
John A. Moody, Deborah A. Martin
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1090
The consequence of a 1996 wildfire disturbance and a subsequent high-intensity summer convective rain storm (about 110 millimeters per hour) was the deposition of a sediment superslug in the Spring Creek basin (26.8 square kilometers) of the Front Range Mountains in Colorado. Spring Creek is a tributary to the South...
Modeling summer month hydrological drought probabilities in the United States using antecedent flow conditions
Samuel H. Austin, David L. Nelms
2017, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (53) 1133-1146
Climate change raises concern that risks of hydrological drought may be increasing. We estimate hydrological drought probabilities for rivers and streams in the United States (U.S.) using maximum likelihood logistic regression (MLLR). Streamflow data from winter months are used to estimate the chance of hydrological drought during summer months. Daily...
Estimating daily lake evaporation from biweekly energy‐budget data
Mie Andreasen, Donald O. Rosenberry, David Stannard
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 4530-4539
Estimates of daily lake evaporation based on energy‐budget data are poor because of large errors associated with quantifying change in lake heat storage over periods of less than about 10 days. Energy‐budget evaporation was determined during approximately biweekly periods at a northern Minnesota, USA, lake for 5 years. Various combinations of shortwave radiation,...
Documentation of the dynamic parameter, water-use, stream and lake flow routing, and two summary output modules and updates to surface-depression storage simulation and initial conditions specification options with the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS)
R. Steve Regan, Jacob H. LaFontaine
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-B8
This report documents seven enhancements to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) hydrologic simulation code: two time-series input options, two new output options, and three updates of existing capabilities. The enhancements are (1) new dynamic parameter module, (2) new water-use module, (3) new Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU)...
Short-term and long-term evapotranspiration rates at ecological restoration sites along a large river receiving rare flow events
Margaret Shanafield, Hugo Gutierrez Jurado, Jesus Eliana Rodriguez Burgueno, Jorge Ramirez Hernandez, Christopher Jarchow, Pamela L. Nagler
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 4328-4337
Many large rivers around the world no longer flow to their deltas, due to ever greater water withdrawals and diversions for human needs. However, the importance of riparian ecosystems is drawing increasing recognition, leading to the allocation of environmental flows to restore river processes. Accurate estimates of riparian plant evapotranspiration...
Science advancements key to increasing management value of life stage monitoring networks for endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon in California
Rachel C. Johnson, Sean Windell, Patricia L. Brandes, J. Louise Conrad, John Ferguson, Pascale A. L. Goertler, Brett N. Harvey, Joseph Heublein, Joshua A. Isreal, Daniel W. Kratville, Joseph E. Kirsch, Russell W. Perry, Joseph Pisciotto, William R. Poytress, Kevin Reece, Brycen G. Swart
2017, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (15) 1-41
A robust monitoring network that provides quantitative information about the status of imperiled species at key life stages and geographic locations over time is fundamental for sustainable management of fisheries resources. For anadromous species, management actions in one geographic domain can substantially affect abundance of subsequent life stages that span...
Model parameters for representative wetland plant functional groups
Amber S. Williams, James R. Kiniry, David M. Mushet, Loren M. Smith, Scott T. McMurry, Kelly Attebury, Megan Lang, Gregory W. McCarty, Jill A. Shaffer, William R. Effland, Mari-Vaughn V. Johnson
2017, Ecosphere (8) 1-14
Wetlands provide a wide variety of ecosystem services including water quality remediation, biodiversity refugia, groundwater recharge, and floodwater storage. Realistic estimation of ecosystem service benefits associated with wetlands requires reasonable simulation of the hydrology of each site and realistic simulation of the upland and wetland plant growth cycles. Objectives of...
Irrigation as a fuel pump to freshwater ecosystems
Sandrine Matiasek, Brian A. Pellerin, Robert G.M. Spencer, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Peter J. Hernes
2017, Biogeochemistry (136) 71-90
We generated a detailed time series of total dissolved hydrolyzable amino acids (DHAA) in a watershed dominated by irrigated agriculture in northern California, USA to investigate the roles of hydrologic and seasonal changes on the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM). DHAA are sensitive indicators of the degradation state and...
Taxonomic and compositional differences of ground-dwelling arthropods in riparian habitats in Glen Canyon, Arizona, USA
Barbara Ralston, Neil S. Cobb, Sandra L. Brantley, Jacob Higgins, Charles B. Yackulic
2017, Western North American Naturalist (77) 369-384
The disturbance history, plant species composition, productivity, and structural complexity of a site can exert bottom-up controls on arthropod diversity, abundance, and trophic structure. Regulation alters the hydrology and disturbance regimes of rivers and affects riparian habitats by changing plant quality parameters. Fifty years of regulation along the Colorado River...
Are exposure predictions, used for the prioritization of pharmaceuticals in the environment, fit for purpose?
Emily E. Burns, Jane Thomas-Oates, Dana W. Kolpin, Edward T. Furlong, Alistair B.A. Boxall
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 2823-2832
Prioritization methodologies are often used for identifying those pharmaceuticals that pose the greatest risk to the natural environment and to focus laboratory testing or environmental monitoring toward pharmaceuticals of greatest concern. Risk-based prioritization approaches, employing models to derive exposure concentrations, are commonly used, but the reliability of these models is...
