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Publications

This list of Upper Midwest Water Science Center publications spans from 1899 to present. It includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists. To access the full, searchable catalog of USGS publications, please visit the USGS Publications Warehouse.

Filter Total Items: 2247

Risk-based wellhead protection decision support: A repeatable workflow approach

Environmental water management often benefits from a risk-based approach where information on the area of interest is characterized, assembled, and incorporated into a decision model considering uncertainty. This includes prior information from literature, field measurements, professional interpretation, and data assimilation resulting in a decision tool with a posterior uncertainty assessment acc
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, Nicholas Corson-Dosch, Jeremy T. White, Andrew T. Leaf, Randall J. Hunt

Integrating ecosystem metabolism and consumer allochthony reveals nonlinear drivers in lake organic matter processing

Lakes process both terrestrial and aquatic organic matter, and the relative contribution from each source is often measured via ecosystem metabolism and terrestrial resource use in the food web (i.e., consumer allochthony). Yet, ecosystem metabolism and consumer allochthony are rarely considered together, despite possible interactions and potential for them to respond to the same lake characterist
Authors
Meredith A. Holgerson, Rachel A. Hovel, Patrick T. Kelly, Lauren E Bortolotti, Jennifer A. Brentrup, Amber R Bellamy, Samantha K. Oliver, Alexander J Reisenger

Instruments, methods, rationale, and derived data used to quantify and compare the trapping efficiencies of four types of pressure-difference bedload samplers

Bedload and ancillary data were collected to calculate and compare the bedload trapping efficiencies of four types of pressure-difference bedload samplers as part of episodic, sediment-recirculating flume experiments at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in January–March 2006. The bedload-sampler experiments, which were conceived, organized, and led by the U.S.
Authors
John R. Gray, Gregory E. Schwarz, David Dean, Jonathan A. Czuba, Joel T. Groten

Earlier winter/spring runoff and snowmelt during warmer winters lead to lower summer chlorophyll-a in north temperate lakes

Winter conditions, such as ice cover and snow accumulation, are changing rapidly at northern latitudes and can have important implications for lake processes. For example, snowmelt in the watershed—a defining feature of lake hydrology because it delivers a large portion of annual nutrient inputs—is becoming earlier. Consequently, earlier and a shorter duration of snowmelt are expected to affect an
Authors
Allison R. Hrycik, Peter D. F. Isles, Rita Adrian, Matthew Albright, Linda C. Bacon, Stella A. Berger, Ruchi Bhattacharya, Hans-Peter Grossart, Josef Hejzlar, Amy L. Hetherington, Lesley B. Knoll, Alo Laas, Cory P. McDonald, Kellie Merrell, Jens C. Nejstgaard, Kirsten Nelson, Peeter Noges, Andrew M. Paterson, Rachel M. Pilla, Dale M. Robertson, Lars G. Rudstam, James A. Rusak, Steven Sadro, Eugene A. Silow, Jason D. Stockwell, Huaxia Yao, Kiyoko Yokota, Donald C. Pierson

Appendix E. Water quality and hydrology of Green Lake, Wisconsin, and the response in its near-surface water-quality and metalimnetic dissolved oxygen minima to changes in phosphorus loading

Green Lake is the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin, USA, with a maximum depth of about 72 meters (m). In the early 1900’s, the lake was believed to have very good water quality (low nutrient concentrations and good water clarity), with low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations only in the deepest part of the lake. Because of increased phosphorus (P) inputs from anthropogenic activities in i
Authors
Dale M. Robertson, Benjamin J. Siebers, Robert Ladwig, David P. Hamilton, Paul Reneau, Cory P. McDonald, Stephanie Prellwitz, Richard C Lathrop

Sources and risk factors for nitrate and microbial contamination of private household wells in the fractured dolomite aquifer of northeastern Wisconsin

Background:Groundwater quality in the Silurian dolomite aquifer in northeastern Wisconsin, USA, has become contentious as dairy farms and exurban development expand.Objectives:We investigated private household wells in the region, determining the extent, sources, and risk factors of nitrate and microbial contamination.Methods:Total coliforms, Escherichia coli, and nitrate were evaluated by synopti
Authors
Mark A. Borchardt, Joel P. Stokdyk, Burney A Kieke, Maureen A. Muldoon, Susan K. Spencer, Aaron Firnstahl, Davina Bonness, Randall J. Hunt, Tucker R. Burch

Quantitative microbial risk assessment for contaminated private wells in the fractured dolomite aquifer of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin

Background:Private wells are an important source of drinking water in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. Due to the region’s fractured dolomite aquifer, these wells are vulnerable to contamination by human and zoonotic gastrointestinal pathogens originating from land-applied cattle manure and private septic systems.Objective:We determined the magnitude of the health burden associated with contamination o
Authors
Tucker R. Burch, Joel P. Stokdyk, Susan K. Spencer, Burney A Kieke, Aaron Firnstahl, Maureen A. Muldoon, Mark A. Borchardt

Is there an urban pesticide signature? Urban streams in five U.S. regions share common dissolved-phase pesticides but differ in predicted aquatic toxicity

Pesticides occur in urban streams globally, but the relation of occurrence to urbanization can be obscured by regional differences. In studies of five regions of the United States, we investigated the effect of region and urbanization on the occurrence and potential toxicity of dissolved pesticide mixtures. We analyzed 225 pesticide compounds in weekly discrete water samples collected during 6–12
Authors
Lisa H. Nowell, Patrick W. Moran, Laura M. Bexfield, Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre, Paul M. Bradley, Travis S. Schmidt, Daniel T. Button, Sharon L. Qi

Riparian forest cover modulates phosphorus storage and nitrogen cycling in agricultural stream sediments

Watershed land cover affects in-stream water quality and sediment nutrient dynamics. The presence of natural land cover in the riparian zone can reduce the negative effects of agricultural land use on water quality; however, literature evaluating the effects of natural riparian land cover on stream sediment nutrient dynamics is scarce. The objective of this study was to assess if stream sediment p
Authors
Rebecca Kreiling, Lynn A. Bartsch, Patrik Mathis Perner, Enrika Hlavacek, Victoria Christensen

Appendix C: Central sands lakes study technical report: Modeling documentation

This report provides the necessary documentation of the numerical models developed for the Central Sands Lake study in central Wisconsin and will be included as a technical appendix in the report to the Wisconsin State Legislature by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in response to 2017 Wisconsin Act 10. This legislation directed WDNR to determine whether existing and potential
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, Megan J. Haserodt, Andrew T. Leaf, Stephen, M. Westenbroek

Initial estimates of net infiltration and irrigation from a soil-water-balance model of the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study Area

The Mississippi embayment encompasses about 100,000 square miles and covers parts of eight States. In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey began updating previous work for a part of the embayment known as the Mississippi Alluvial Plain to support informed water use and agricultural policy in the region. Groundwater, water use, economic, and other related models are being combined with field surveys an
Authors
Stephen, M. Westenbroek, Martha G. Nielsen, David E. Ladd

Sediment characteristics of northwestern Wisconsin’s Nemadji River, 1973–2016

In 2015–16, a comparison study of stream sediment collection techniques was done for a U.S. Geological Survey streamgage on the Nemadji River near South Superior, Wisconsin (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04024430) to provide an adjustment factor for comparing suspended-sediment rating curves for two historical periods 1973–86 and 2006–16. During 1973–1986, the U.S. Geological Survey used t
Authors
Faith A. Fitzpatrick