Publications
All of our publications are accessible through the USGS Publication Warehouse. Publications by scientists of the Oregon Water Science Center are listed below.
Filter Total Items: 761
Advancing sustainable groundwater management with a hydro-economic system model: Investigations in the Harney Basin, Oregon
Groundwater resources frequently trend toward unsustainable levels because, absent effective institutions, individual water users generally act independently without considering the impacts on other users. Hydro-economic models (HEMs) of human-natural systems can play a positive role toward successful groundwater management by yielding valuable knowledge and insight. The current study explores how
Authors
William K. Jaeger, John M. Antle, Stephen B. Gingerich, Daniel Bigelow
Managing water for birds— A tool for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
The “Water for Birds Tool” is an Excel-based model designed for resource managers to assess the spatial extent and types of bird habitats in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The model quantifies the area of open water, partial water, and water depths on a monthly timescale during the irrigation season (April–July) from 2021–2024. This model combines previously published datasets and incorpora
Authors
Cassandra Smith
Evaluating hydrologic model performance for characterizing streamflow drought in the conterminous United States
Hydrologic models are the primary tools that are used to simulate streamflow drought and assess impacts. However, there is little consensus about how to evaluate the performance of these models, especially as hydrologic modeling moves toward larger spatial domains. This paper presents a comprehensive multi-objective approach to systematically evaluating the critical features in streamflow drought
Authors
Caelan Simeone, Sydney Foks, Erin Towler, Timothy O. Hodson, Thomas M. Over
Declining reservoir reliability and increasing reservoir vulnerability: Long-term observations reveal longer and more severe periods of low reservoir storage for major United States reservoirs
Hydrological drought is a pervasive and reoccurring challenge in managing water resources. Reservoirs are critical for lessening the impacts of drought on water available for many uses. We use a novel and generalized approach to identify periods of unusually low reservoir storage—via comparisons to operational rule curves and historical patterns—to investigate how droughts affect storage in 250 re
Authors
Caelan Simeone, John C. Hammond, Stacey A. Archfield, Dan Broman, Laura Condon, Hisham Eldardiry, Carolyn G. Olson, Jen Steyaert
Low-flow period seasonality, trends, and climate linkages across the United States
Low-flow period properties, including timing, magnitude, and duration, influence many key processes for water resource managers and ecosystems. We computed annual low-flow period duration and timing metrics from 1951 to 2020 for 1032 conterminous United States (CONUS) streamgages and analyzed spatial patterns, trends through time, and relationships to climate. Results show northwestern and eastern
Authors
Caelan Simeone, Gregory J. McCabe, Jory Seth Hecht, John C. Hammond, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Carolyn G. Olson, Michael Wieczorek, David M. Wolock
Assessment of long-term changes in surface-water extent within Klamath Marsh, south-central Oregon, 1985–2021
The annual maximum extent of surface water in Klamath Marsh has naturally fluctuated in response to periods of wet and dry conditions in the surrounding basin. Field observations during the 2010s indicate that the annual maximum extent of surface water has been declining and the marsh is not responding to hydrologic inputs as it had historically. This report describes the results of a hydrologic e
Authors
Joseph J. Kennedy, Henry M. Johnson, Stephen B. Gingerich
Integrating depth measurements from gaging stations with image archives for spectrally based remote sensing of river bathymetry
Remote sensing can be an effective tool for mapping river bathymetry, but the need for direct measurements to calibrate image-derived depth estimates impedes broader application of this approach. One way to circumvent the need for field campaigns dedicated to calibration is to capitalize upon existing data. In this study, we introduce a framework for Bathymetric Mapping using Gage Records and Imag
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Brandon Overstreet, Paul J. Kinzel
Total phosphorus and suspended-sediment concentrations and loads from two main tributaries to Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2014–20
Total phosphorus (TP) and suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC) and loads were computed at two U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in the upper Klamath River Basin on the Sprague (USGS site ID 11501000) and Williamson (USGS site ID 11502500) Rivers using high temporal resolution turbidity and streamflow data to develop surrogate regression models. Regression models were updated and validat
Authors
Liam N. Schenk, Caelan Simeone
Restoring Pacific Lamprey in the Umpqua River Basin of Oregon: A workshop summary
The Umpqua River Basin in southwestern Oregon (Figure 1) is part of the lands inhabited by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and an area of active co-management authority. This Basin supports a unique fish fauna, including important populations of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead (O. mykiss), and other native fishes that are endemic to the region (Mims et al. 2018). Amo
Authors
Jason B. Dunham, Krista Jones, Kelly C. Coates, Travis Mackie
Reservoir evolution, downstream sediment transport, downstream channel change, and synthesis of geomorphic responses of Fall Creek and Middle Fork Willamette River to water years 2012–18 streambed drawdowns at Fall Creek Lake, Oregon
Executive SummaryChapter A. IntroductionFall Creek Dam impounds Fall Creek Lake, a 10-kilometer-long reservoir in western Oregon and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) primarily for flood-risk management (or flood control) in late autumn through early spring months, as well as for water quality, irrigation, recreation, and habitat in late spring through early autumn. Since 201
Authors
Mackenzie K. Keith, J. Rose Wallick, Liam N. Schenk, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Gabriel W. Gordon, Heather M. Bragg
Comparing modern identification methods for wild bees: Metabarcoding and image-based morphological taxonomic assignment
With the decline of bee populations worldwide, studies determining current wild bee distributions and diversity are increasingly important. Wild bee identification is often completed by experienced taxonomists or by genetic analysis. The current study was designed to compare two methods of identification including: (1) morphological identification by experienced taxonomists using images of field-c
Authors
Cassandra Smith, Robert S. Cornman, Jennifer A. Fike, Johanna M. Kraus, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Carrie E Givens, Michelle Hladik, Mark W. Vandever, Dana W. Kolpin, Kelly Smalling
Timing and source of recharge to the Columbia River Basalt groundwater system in northeastern Oregon
Recharge to and flow within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) groundwater flow system of northeastern Oregon were characterized using isotopic, gas, and age-tracer samples from wells completed in basalt, springs, and stream base flow. Most groundwater samples were late-Pleistocene to early-Holocene; median age of well samples was 11,100 years. The relation between mean groundwater age and com
Authors
Henry M. Johnson, Kate E. Ely, Anna-Turi Maher