Publications
The following list of California Water Science Center publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1734
Regional Water Table (2010) in the Mojave River and Morongo Groundwater Basins, Southwestern Mojave Desert, California
Since 1992, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Mojave Water Agency (MWA), has constructed a series of regional water-table maps for intermittent years in a continuing effort to monitor groundwater conditions in the Mojave River and Morongo groundwater basins. The previously published data, which were used to construct these maps, can be accessed on the interactive map. The
Authors
Gregory A. Smith, Christina L. Stamos, Carolyn S. Glockhoff, Sally F. House, Dennis A. Clark
Summary of suspended-sediment concentration data, San Francisco Bay, California, water year 2008
Suspended-sediment concentration data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in San Francisco Bay during water year 2008 (October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008). Optical sensors and water samples were used to monitor suspended-sediment concentration at two sites in Suisun Bay, two sites in Central San Francisco Bay, and one site in South San Francisco Bay. Sensors were positioned at two depths
Authors
Paul A. Buchanan, Tara L. Morgan
Taking the pulse of snowmelt: in situ sensors reveal seasonal, event and diurnal patterns of nitrate and dissolved organic matter variability in an upland forest stream
Highly resolved time series data are useful to accurately identify the timing, rate, and magnitude of solute transport in streams during hydrologically dynamic periods such as snowmelt. We used in situ optical sensors for nitrate (NO3-) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter fluorescence (FDOM) to measure surface water concentrations at 30 min intervals over the snowmelt period (March 21–May 13
Authors
Brian A. Pellerin, John Franco Saraceno, James B. Shanley, Stephen D. Sebestyen, George R. Aiken, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Brian A. Bergamaschi
Subsurface transport of orthophosphate in five agricultural watersheds, USA
Concentrations of dissolved orthophosphate (ortho P) in the unsaturated zone, groundwater, tile drains, and groundwater/stream water interfaces were assessed in five agricultural watersheds to determine the potential for subsurface transport. Concentrations of iron oxides were measured in the aquifer material and adsorption of ortho P on oxide surfaces was assessed by geochemical modeling. Attenua
Authors
Joseph L. Domagalski, Henry M. Johnson
Carbon gas fluxes in re-established wetlands on organic soils differ relative to plant community and hydrology
We measured CO2 and CH4 fluxes for 6 years following permanent flooding of an agriculturally managed organic soil at two water depths (~25 and ~55 cm standing water) in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, as part of research studying C dynamics in re-established wetlands. Flooding rapidly reduced gaseous C losses, and radiocarbon data showed that this, in part, was due to reduced oxidati
Authors
Robin L. Miller
Historical legacies, information and contemporary water science and management
Hydrologic science has largely built its understanding of the hydrologic cycle using contemporary data sources (i.e., last 100 years). However, as we try to meet water demand over the next 100 years at scales from local to global, we need to expand our scope and embrace other data that address human activities and the alteration of hydrologic systems. For example, the accumulation of human impacts
Authors
Daniel J. Bain, Jennifer A.S. Arrigo, Mark B. Green, Brian A. Pellerin, Charles J. Vörösmarty
Applications of Groundwater Helium
Helium abundance and isotope variations have widespread application in groundwater-related studies. This stems from the inert nature of this noble gas and the fact that its two isotopes ? helium-3 and helium-4 ? have distinct origins and vary widely in different terrestrial reservoirs. These attributes allow He concentrations and 3He/4He isotope ratios to be used to recognize and quantify the infl
Authors
Justin T. Kulongoski, David R. Hilton
How reservoirs alter drinking water quality: Organic matter sources, sinks, and transformations
Within reservoirs, production, transformation, and loss of dissolved organic matter (DOM) occur simultaneously. While the balance between production and loss determines whether a reservoir is a net sink or source of DOM, changes in chemical composition are also important because they affect DOM reactivity with respect to disinfection by-product (DBP) formation. The composition of the DOM pool also
Authors
Tamara E.C. Kraus, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Peter J. Hernes, Daniel H. Doctor, Carol Kendall, Bryan D. Downing, Richard F. Losee
Comment on “An unconfined groundwater model of the Death Valley Regional Flow System and a comparison to its confined predecessor” by R.W.H. Carroll, G.M. Pohll and R.L. Hershey [Journal of Hydrology 373/3–4, pp. 316–328]
Carroll et al. (2009) state that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Death Valley Regional Flow System (DVRFS) model, which is based on MODFLOW, is “conceptually inaccurate in that it models an unconfined aquifer as a confined system and does not simulate unconfined drawdown in transient pumping simulations.” Carroll et al. (2009) claim that “more realistic estimates of water availability”
Authors
Claudia C. Faunt, Alden M. Provost, Mary C. Hill, Wayne R. Belcher
Effects of baseline conditions on the simulated hydrologic response to projected climate change
Changes in temperature and precipitation projected from five general circulation models, using one late-twentieth-century and three twenty-first-century emission scenarios, were downscaled to three different baseline conditions. Baseline conditions are periods of measured temperature and precipitation data selected to represent twentieth-century climate. The hydrologic effects of the climate proje
Authors
Kathryn M. Koczot, Steven L. Markstrom, Lauren E. Hay
From deposition to erosion: Spatial and temporal variability of sediment sources, storage, and transport in a small agricultural watershed
The spatial and temporal variability of sediment sources, storage, and transport were investigated in a small agricultural watershed draining the Coast Ranges and Sacramento Valley in central California. Results of field, laboratory, and historical data analysis in the Willow Slough fluvial system document changes that transformed a transport-limited depositional system to an effective erosion and
Authors
J.L. Florsheim, B.A. Pellerin, N.H. Oh, N. Ohara, P.A.M. Bachand, Sandra M. Bachand, B.A. Bergamaschi, P.J. Hernes, M.L. Kavvas
Projected evolution of California's San Francisco bay-delta-river system in a century of climate change
Background: Accumulating evidence shows that the planet is warming as a response to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Strategies of adaptation to climate change will require quantitative projections of how altered regional patterns of temperature, precipitation and sea level could cascade to provoke local impacts such as modified water supplies, increasing risks of coastal flooding, and growing
Authors
James E. Cloern, Noah Knowles, Larry R. Brown, Daniel R. Cayan, Michael D. Dettinger, Tara L. Morgan, David H. Schoellhamer, Mark T. Stacey, Mick Van der Wegen, R.W. Wagner, Alan D. Jassby