Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

New York Water Science Center publications

►To fine-tune a search for USGS publications, try the USGS Publications Warehouse.

Filter Total Items: 683

Machine-learning predictions of high arsenic and high manganese at drinking water depths of the glacial aquifer system, northern continental United States

Globally, over 200 million people are chronically exposed to arsenic (As) and/or manganese (Mn) from drinking water. We used machine-learning (ML) boosted regression tree (BRT) models to predict high As (>10 μg/L) and Mn (>300 μg/L) in groundwater from the glacial aquifer system (GLAC), which spans 25 states in the northern United States and provides drinking water to 30 million people. Our BRT mo
Authors
Melinda L. Erickson, Sarah M. Elliott, Craig J. Brown, Paul Stackelberg, Katherine Marie Ransom, James E. Reddy, Charles A. Cravotta

Climate change indicators: Streamflow

No abstract available.
Authors
Caelan E. Simeone, Robert W. Dudley, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Michael McHale

Considerations of variability and power for long-term monitoring of stream fish assemblages

Little attention has been given to optimizing statistical power for monitoring stream fish assemblages. We explored the relationship between temporal variability and statistical power using 34 metrics from fish community data collected annually at six sites over 10 years via electrofishing. Metric variability differed by the life stage and group of species considered, use of abundance or mass data
Authors
Scott D. George, Daniel Stich, Barry P. Baldigo

SFRmaker and Linesink-Maker: Rapid construction of streamflow routing networks from hydrography data

Groundwater models have evolved to encompass more aspects of the water cycle, but the incorporation of realistic boundary conditions representing surface water remains time-consuming and error-prone. We present two Python packages that robustly automate this process using readily available hydrography data as the primary input. SFRmaker creates input for the MODFLOW SFR package, while Linesink-mak
Authors
Andrew T. Leaf, Michael N. Fienen, Howard W. Reeves

Eastward expansion of Round Goby in New York: Assessment of detection methods and current range

The Round Goby Neogobius melanostomus has spread rapidly around the Great Lakes region since its introduction to North America in 1990. In 2014, a specimen was captured in the New York State Canal System west of Utica, prompting concerns that Round Goby would soon reach the ecologically and economically valuable watersheds of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River estuary. The establishment of Round
Authors
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Christopher B. Rees, Meredith L. Bartron, Dylan R. Winterhalter

Machine learning predicted redox conditions in the glacial aquifer system, northern continental United States

Groundwater supplies 50% of drinking water worldwide and 30% in the United States. Geogenic and anthropogenic contaminants can, however, compromise water quality, thus limiting groundwater availability. Reduction/oxidation (redox) processes and redox conditions affect groundwater quality by influencing the mobility and transport of common geogenic and anthropogenic contaminants. In the glacial aqu
Authors
Melinda L. Erickson, Sarah M. Elliott, Craig J. Brown, Paul Stackelberg, Katherine Marie Ransom, James E. Reddy

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: A history of change

The Chesapeake Bay watershed has been the focus of pioneering studies of the role of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition as a nutrient source and driver of estuarine trophic status. Here, we review the history and evolution of scientific investigations of the role of atmospheric N deposition, examine trends from wet and dry deposition networks, and present century-long (1950–2050) atmospheric N de
Authors
Douglas A. Burns, Gopal Bhatt, Lewis C. Linker, Jesse Bash, Paul Capel, Gary W. Shenk

Spatial and temporal variability of nutrients and algae in the Republican River and Milford Lake, Kansas, June through November 2017 and May through November 2018

Milford Lake has been listed as impaired and designated hypereutrophic because of excessive nutrient loading, specifically biologically available orthophosphate. It is the largest lake by surface area in Kansas and is a reservoir built for purposes including water supply and recreation. In 2015, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) divided the lake into three zones (Zones A, B, a
Authors
Brianna M. Leiker, Justin R. Abel, Jennifer L. Graham, Guy M. Foster, Lindsey R. King, Tom C. Stiles, Riley P. Buley

Environmental and anthropogenic drivers of contaminants in agricultural watersheds with implications for land management

If not managed properly, modern agricultural practices can alter surface and groundwater quality and drinking water resources resulting in potential negative effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Exposure to agriculturally derived contaminant mixtures has the potential to alter habitat quality and negatively affect fish and other aquatic organisms. Implementation of conservation practices
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Olivia Devereux, Stephanie Gordon, Patrick J. Phillips, Vicki S. Blazer, Michelle Hladik, Dana W. Kolpin, Michael T. Meyer, Adam Sperry, Tyler Wagner

Biological and chemical recovery of acidified Catskill Mountain streams in response to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990

Decades of acidic deposition have adversely affected aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in acid-sensitive watersheds in parts of the eastern United States. The national Acid Rain Program (Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments - CAAA) helped reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and resulted in sharp decreases in the acidity of atmospheric deposition. The decrea
Authors
Barry P. Baldigo, Scott D. George, Dylan R. Winterhalter, Michael McHale

Beware of spatial autocorrelation when applying machine learning algorithms to borehole geophysical logs

Although many of the algorithms now considered to be machine learning algorithms (MLAs) have existed for nearly a century (e.g., Rosenblatt 1958), interest in MLAs has recently increased exponentially for solving data-driven problems across a variety of fields due to the expanded availability of large, complex datasets that may be difficult to interrogate using other methods, increases in computin
Authors
Neil Terry, Carole D. Johnson, Frederick Day-Lewis, Beth L. Parker, Lee D. Slater

Assessment of flood forecast products for a coupled tributary-Coastal model

Compound flooding, resulting from a combination of riverine and coastal processes, is a complex but important hazard to resolve along urbanized shorelines in the vicinity of river mouths. However, inland flooding models rarely consider oceanographic conditions, and vice versa for coastal flood models. Here, we describe the development of an operational, integrated coastal-watershed flooding model
Authors
Robert Cifelli, Lynn E. Johnson, Jungho Kim, Tim Coleman, Greg Pratt, Liv M. Herdman, Rosanne C. Martyr-Koller, Juliette Finzi-Hart, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard, Michael Anderson