Airport deicers: An unrecognized source of phosphorus loading in receiving waters
Owen M. Stefaniak, Steven R. Corsi, Troy D. Rutter, Greg G. Failey
2023, Environmental Science and Technology (57) 17051-17060
Airport ice control products contributed to total phosphorus (TP) loadings in a study of surface water runoff at a medium-sized airport from 2015 to 2021. Eleven airport ice control products had TP concentrations from 1–807 mg L–1 in liquid formulas, while solid pavement deicer had a TP...
Effects of noise from oil and gas development on ungulates and small mammals—A science synthesis to inform National Environmental Policy Act analyses
Tait K. Rutherford, Logan M. Maxwell, Nathan J. Kleist, Elisabeth C. Teige, Richard J. Lehrter, Megan A. Gilbert, David J.A. Wood, Aaron N. Johnston, Claudia Mengelt, John C. Tull, Travis S. Haby, Sarah K. Carter
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5114
The U.S. Geological Survey is working with Federal land management agencies to develop a series of science syntheses to support environmental effects analyses that agencies conduct to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This report synthesizes science information about the potential effects of noise from oil and gas...
Construction and modification of debris-flow alluvial fans as captured in the geomorphic and sedimentary record: Examples from the western Sangre de Cristo Mountains, south-central Colorado
Sylvia Nicovich, James Schmitt, Harrison J. Gray, Ralph E. Klinger, Shannon A. Mahan
2023, Geological Society of America Special Papers (561)
Debris-flow alluvial fans are iconic features of dynamic landscapes and are hypothesized to record tectonic and climatic change. Here, we highlight their complex formation and evolution through an exemplary suite of Quaternary debris-flow alluvial fans emanating from the western range front of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in south-central Colorado,...
Movement behavior, habitat selection, and functional responses to habitat availability among four species of wintering waterfowl in California
Cory T. Overton, Michael L. Casazza
2023, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (11)
Habitat selection analyses provide a window into the perceived value of habitats by animals and how those perceptions compare with other animals, change across time, or change in relation to availability (termed functional responses). Habitat selection analysis and functional responses can be used to develop strategies to avoid habitat limitations,...
Annual and inter-annual variability in the diffuse attenuation coefficient and turbidity in an urbanized Washington lake from 2013 to 2022 assessed using Landsat-8/9
Jennifer A. Schulien, Tessa Julianne Code, Curtis L. DeGasperi, David Beauchamp, Arielle Tonus Ellis, Arni H. Litt
2023, Remote Sensing (15)
Water clarity, defined in this study using measurements of the downwelling diffuse light attenuation coefficient (Kd) and turbidity, is an important indicator of lake trophic status and ecosystem health. We used in-situ measurements to evaluate existing semi-analytical models for Kd and turbidity, developed a regional turbidity model based on spectral shape,...
Conservation genomics of an endangered montane amphibian reveals low population structure, low genomic diversity and selection pressure from disease
Daryl Trumbo, Bennett Hardy, Harry Crockett, Erin L. Muths, Brenna R. Forester, Rebecca Cheek, Shawna J Zimmerman, Sarah Corey-Rivas, Larissa L. Bailey, Chris Funk
2023, Molecular Ecology (32) 6777-6795
Wildlife diseases are a major global threat to biodiversity. Boreal toads (Anaxyrus [Bufo] boreas) are a state-endangered species in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, and a species of concern in Wyoming, largely due to lethal skin infections caused by the...
Opera Dynamic Surface Water extents for Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (DSWX-HLS) validation activities
Nicholas Arena, Grace Bato, David Bekaert, Matthew Bonnema, Steven Chan, Bruce Chapman, John W. Jones, Alexander L. Handwerger, Alex Lewandowski, Charlie Marshak, Simran Sangha, Karthik Venkataramani
2023, Conference Paper
We present the validation methodology and results of Dynamic Surface Water eXtent from Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (DSWx-HLS). The DSWx-HLS product is the first of the DSWx suite, comprised of products each which map water from Earth Observation optical and SAR satellites. We detail the generation of high-resolution (3 m) validation...
Change-point models for identifying behavioral transitions in wild animals
K.P. Gundermann, Duane R. Diefenbach, W. David Walter, A Corondi, J.E. Banfield, B.D. Wallingford, D.P. Stainbrook, C.S. Rosenberry, F.E. Buderman
2023, Movement Ecology (11)
Animal behavior can be difficult, time-consuming, and costly to observe in the field directly. Innovative modeling methods, such as hidden Markov models (HMMs), allow researchers to infer unobserved animal behaviors from movement data, and implementations often assume that transitions between states occur multiple times. However, some...
Monitoring long-term changes of urban surface temperature using time-series land cover and remote sensing data across 50 major cities in the United States
George Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Chase William Mueller, Reza A Hussain, Kristi L. Sayler, Daniel Howard
2023, Conference Paper, IGARSS 2023 - 2023 IEEE international geoscience and remote sensing symposium
The increase of developed land changes the Earth’s ecosystems and, in doing so, impacts the natural environment and further affects the services it provides to humans. Urban growth and associated land cover transitions alter the thermal and physical properties of the land surface, resulting in surface temperature change in urban...
Mapping the Surface Urban Heat Island effect using the Landsat Surface Temperature Product
Chase Mueller, Reza Hussain, George Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Saeed Arab
2023, Conference Paper, IGARSS 2023 - 2023 IEEE international geoscience and remote sensing symposium
Urban development and associated land cover and land use change alter the thermal, hydrological, and physical properties of the land surface. Urban areas usually exhibit relatively warmer air and surface temperatures than surrounding non-urban lands, a phenomenon recognized as Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI). As urban areas continue to develop...
Comparing NISAR (using Sentinel-1), USDA/NASS CDL, and ground truth crop/non-crop areas in an urban agricultural region
Simon Kraatz, Brian T. Lamb, W. Dean Hively, Jyoti Jennewein, Feng Gao, Michael H. Cosh, Paul Siqueira
2023, Sensors (23)
A general limitation in assessing the accuracy of land cover mapping is the availability of ground truth data. At sites where ground truth is not available, potentially inaccurate proxy datasets are used for sub-field-scale resolution investigations at large spatial scales, i.e., in the Contiguous United States. The USDA/NASS Cropland...
Restructuring and serving web-accessible streamflow data from the NOAA National Water Model historic simulations
J. Michael Johnson, David L. Blodgett, Keith C. Clarke, Jon Pollak
2023, Nature, Scientific Data (10)
In 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed the first iteration of an operational National Water Model (NWM) to forecast the water cycle in the continental United States. With many versions, an hourly, multi-decadal historic simulation is made available to the public. In all released...
Ecological associations of non-native ungulates on the Hawaiian Island of Lāna‘i
Steven C. Hess, Kevin W. Brinck, Christina R Leopold, Jacob Muise, Jonathan Sprague
2023, Human-Wildlife Interactions (17)
Sustained-yield hunting of introduced ungulates in the Hawaiian Islands often conflicts with the conservation of native species, but there is little reliable data to guide effective management. European mouflon sheep (Ovis musimon; mouflon) and axis deer (Axis axis; deer) were introduced on the island of Lāna‘i to provide additional...
Landslide initiation thresholds in data-sparse regions: Application to landslide early warning criteria in Sitka, Alaska, USA
Annette Patton, Lisa Luna, Josh J. Roering, Aaron Jacobs, Oliver Korup, Benjamin B. Mirus
2023, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (23) 3261-3284
Probabilistic models to inform landslide early warning systems often rely on rainfall totals observed during past events with landslides. However, these models are generally developed for broad regions using large catalogs, with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of landslide occurrences. This study evaluates strategies for training landslide forecasting models with...
Assessing potential spawning locations of Silver Chub in Lake Erie
Jorden R. McKenna, Anjanette Bowen, John R. Farver, James M. Long, Jeffrey G. Miner, Nathan D. Stott, Patrick M. Kocovsky
2023, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (43) 1166-1179
ObjectiveSilver Chub Macrhybopsis storeriana, a predominately riverine species throughout its native range, exists within Lake Erie as the only known lake population. Its population declined in the 1950s and never fully recovered. Canada has listed Silver Chub in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River as endangered and has initiated...
Inter-comparison of measurements of inorganic chemical components in precipitation from NADP and CAPMoN at collocated sites in the USA and Canada during 1986–2019
Jian Feng, Amanda Cole, Gregory A. Wetherbee, Kulbir Banwait
2023, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (195)
Wet deposition monitoring is a critical part of the long-term monitoring of acid deposition, which aims to assess the ecological impact of anthropogenic emissions of SO2 and NOx. In North America, long-term wet deposition has been monitored through two national networks: the Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CAPMoN) and the...
Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast
Anastasia Piliouras, Benjamin M. Jones, Tabatha Clevenger, Ann E. Gibbs, Joel C. Rowland
2023, Environmental Research Letters (18)
Arctic coastal environments are eroding and rapidly changing. A lack of pan-Arctic observations limits our ability to understand controls on coastal erosion rates across the entire Arctic region. Here, we capitalize on an abundance of geospatial and remotely sensed data, in addition to model output, from the...
High potential but low achievement: Frequent disturbance constrains the light use efficiency of river ecosystems
Audrey Thellman, Philip Savoy, Emily S. Bernhardt
2023, Ecosphere (14)
We rarely consider light limitation in ecosystem productivity, yet light limitation is a major constraint on river autotrophy. Because the light that reaches benthic autotrophs must first pass through terrestrial vegetation and an overlying water column that can be loaded with sediments or colored organic material, there is strong selection...
Arsenic, chromium, uranium, and vanadium in rock, alluvium, and groundwater, Mojave River and Morongo Areas, western Mojave Desert, southern California
John A. Izbicki, Krishangi D. Groover, Whitney A. Seymour
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5089
Trace elements within groundwater that originate from aquifer materials and pose potential public-health hazards if consumed are known as geogenic contaminants. The geogenic contaminants arsenic, chromium, and vanadium can form negatively charged ions with oxygen known as oxyanions. Uranium complexes with bicarbonate and carbonate to form negatively charged ions having...
BatTool: Projecting bat populations facing multiple stressors using a demographic model
Ashton M. Wiens, Amber Schorg, Jennifer Szymanski, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2023, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (23)
Bats provide ecologically and agriculturally important ecosystem services but are currently experiencing population declines caused by multiple environmental stressors, including mortality from white-nose syndrome and wind energy development. Analyses of the current and future health and viability of these species may support conservation management decision making....
Science to support conservation action in a large river system: The Willamette River, Oregon, USA
Rebecca L. Flitcroft, Luke Whitman, James White, J. Rose Wallick, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Cassandra Smith, Robert Plotnikoff, Michael Mulvey, Tobias J. Kock, Krista Jones, Peter Gruendike, Carolyn Gombert, Guillermo Giannico, Andrew Dutterer, Daniel G. Brown, Hannah Barrett, Robert M. Hughes
2023, Water Biology and Security (2)
Management and conservation efforts that support the recovery and protection of large rivers are daunting, reflecting the complexity of the challenge and extent of effort (in terms of policy, economic investment, and spatial extent) needed to afford measurable change. These...
Growth performance of Rainbow Trout in reservoir tributaries and implications for steelhead growth potential above Skagit River dams
Benjamin Lorenz Jensen, Rachelle Carina Johnson, Jeffrey J. Duda, Carl O. Ostberg, Tessa Julianne Code, Jonathan H Mclean, Karl D. Stenberg, Kimberly Larsen, Marshal S. Hoy, David Beauchamp
2023, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (43) 1427-1446
ObjectiveIn the Pacific Northwest (USA), Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. populations have been declining significantly for decades, prompting stakeholders to respond with a variety of conservation and restoration measures. One such measure being considered in the Skagit River basin (Washington, USA) is the introduction of steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss (anadromous Rainbow Trout) above...
Dispersal of juvenile Barrow’s goldeneyes (Bucephala islandica) mirrors that of breeding adults
Tess Forstner, Sean Boyd, Daniel Esler, David Green
2023, Movement Ecology (11)
Barrow’s goldeneyes across western North America have been shown to have a high degree of subpopulation independence using several data types. However, evidence for structured populations based on mitochondrial DNA, band recoveries, and tracking of adults is discordant with evidence from autosomal DNA. We used satellite...
Evaluation of portable Raman spectroscopic analysis for source-rock thermal maturity assessments on bulk crushed rock
Martha Stokes, Aaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Justin E. Birdwell, Elliott P. Barnhart, Clint Scott, Jenna L. Shelton, Margaret M. Sanders, Javin J. Hatcherian
2023, International Journal of Coal Geology (279)
This study presents a simplified method and empirical relationships for determining organic matter thermal maturity using a portable Raman system equipped with a 785 nm laser, for analysis of crushed, whole-rock samples. Suites of rocks represented by shale and coal samples with various mineralogical composition, thermal maturity, and total organic...
The enigmatic Rattlesnake Knoll, Spring Valley, east-central Nevada—A geophysical perspective
Edward A. Mankinen, Peter D. Rowley, Edwin H. McKee
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1002
Rattlesnake Knoll is a small, 30-meter-high mound of igneous breccia in the center of Spring Valley, east-central Nevada. In the past, researchers have disagreed as to whether the unusual-looking outcrop is intrusive or volcanic. The breccia possesses a normal magnetic polarity, but this is not apparent in aeromagnetic survey data....
