Publications
This list of Water Resources Mission Area publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists. A searchable database of all USGS publications can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 18420
Remote sensing of river flow in Alaska—New technology to improve safety and expand coverage of USGS streamgaging
The U.S. Geological Survey monitors water level (water surface elevation relative to an arbitrary datum) and measures streamflow in Alaska rivers to compute and compile river flow records for use by water resource planners, engineers, and land managers to design infrastructure, manage floodplains, and protect life, property, and aquatic resources. Alaska has over 800,000 miles of rivers including
Authors
Jeff Conaway, John R. Eggleston, Carl J. Legleiter, John Jones, Paul J. Kinzel, John W. Fulton
Assessing water-quality changes in U.S. rivers at multiple geographic scales using results from probabilistic and targeted monitoring
Two commonly used approaches for water quality monitoring are probabilistic and targeted. In a probabilistic approach like the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Rivers and Streams Assessment, monitoring sites are selected using a statistically representative approach. In a targeted approach like that used by many monitoring organizations, monitoring sites are chosen individually to ans
Authors
Lori A. Sprague, Richard M. Mitchell, Amina I. Pollard, James A. Falcone
Preliminary stage and streamflow data at selected U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in New England for the floods of April 2019
The combination of rainfall and snowmelt in northern New England and rainfall in southern New England resulted in minor to major flooding from April 15 to 24, 2019, according to stage and streamflow data collected at 63 selected U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages. A typical USGS streamgage measures and records stream stage and estimates streamflow based on a relation (rating curve) of discr
Authors
Richard G. Kiah, Brianna A. Smith, Nicholas W. Stasulis
Soil physical, hydraulic, and thermal properties in interior Alaska, USA: Implications for hydrologic response to thawing permafrost conditions
Boreal forest regions are a focal point for investigations of coupled water and biogeochemical fluxes in response to wildfire disturbances, climate warming, and permafrost thaw. Soil hydraulic, physical, and thermal property measurements for mineral soils in permafrost regions are limited, despite substantial influences on cryohydrogeologic model results. This work expands mineral soil property qu
Authors
Brian A. Ebel, Joshua C. Koch, Michelle A. Walvoord
Groundwater quality in the Sacramento Metropolitan shallow aquifer, California
The Sacramento metropolitan (SacMetro) study unit covers approximately 3,250 square kilometers of the Central Valley along the eastern edge of the northern and southern ends of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, respectively. Groundwater withdrawals supply a significant portion of the water-resource needs of the region. In the southern portion of the study unit, groundwater accounts for nearl
Authors
George L. Bennett V
Spatial and temporal variability of fish assemblages in acidified streams: Implications for long-term monitoring
Numerous studies have established strong linkages between acid deposition, soil and surface-water acidification, and toxicity to aquatic biota. Little is known however, about the effects of acidification on fish assemblages in headwater streams because they are highly variable, and pre-acidification data are often lacking. The primary purpose of this study was to describe spatial and interannual (
Authors
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Gregory B. Lawrence
Spatially-structured statistical network models for landscape genetics
A basic understanding of how the landscape impedes, or creates resistance to, the dispersal of organisms and hence gene flow is paramount for successful conservation science and management. Spatially structured ecological networks are often used to represent spatial landscape‐genetic relationships, where nodes represent individuals or populations and resistance to movement is represented using non
Authors
Mevin Hooten
A synthesis of ecosystem management strategies for forests in the face of chronic N deposition
The relative importance of nitrogen (N) deposition as a stressor to global forests is likely to increase in the future, as N deposition increases in Asia and Africa, and as sulfur declines more than nitrogen in Europe, the US, and Canada. Even so, it appears that decreased N deposition may not be sufficient to induce recovery, suggesting that management interventions may be necessary to promote re
Authors
Christopher M. Clark, J. Richkus, Philip W Jones, Jennifer Phelan, Douglas A. Burns, Wim deVries, Enzai Du, Mark E. Fenn, Laurence Jones, Shaun A. Watmough
Historical changes in New York State streamflow: Attribution of temporal shifts and spatial patterns from 1961 to 2016
To better understand the effects of climate change on streamflow, the hydrologic response to both temperature and precipitation needs to be examined at the mesoscale. New York State provides a hydrologically diverse mesoscale region, where sub-regional clusters of watersheds may respond differently to changes in temperature and in seasonal precipitation rates. Connections between streamflow and cl
Authors
Robin Glas, Douglas A. Burns, Laura K. Lautz
Temporal variability in stream fish assemblage metrics and implications for long-term monitoring
High natural variability in the condition of fish communities in headwater streams complicates detection of long-term responses to changes in water quality. As a result, little is known about the impacts and recovery of fishes from acid deposition in streams of New York. Twenty-one fish metrics from annual electrofishing surveys at 13 streams sites in the Catskill and Adirondack mountains were ass
Authors
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Daniel S. Stich
Kinetic study on clogging of a geothermal pumping well triggered by mixing-induced biogeochemical reactions
The sustainability of ground-source geothermal systems can be severely impacted by microbially mediated clogging processes. Biofouling of water wells by hydrous ferric oxide is a widespread problem. Although the mechanisms and critical environmental factors associated with clogging development are widely recognized, effects of mixing processes within the wells and time scales for clogging processe
Authors
Luc Burté, Charles A. Cravotta, Lorine Bethencourt, Julien Farasin, Mathieu Pedrot, Alexis Dufresne, Marie-Françoise Gérard, Catherine Baranger, Tanguy Le Borgne, Luc Aquilina
Cryptic introduction of water chestnut (Trapa) in the northeastern United States
Trapa natans, characterized by four-horned fruits, has been recognized as an introduced species in the northeastern United States since the 1920′s. However, in 2014 a two-horned morphotype of Trapa was discovered in the Potomac River in Virginia. As such, we hypothesize the two-horned variety represents a cryptic introduction of a Trapa taxon distinct from the four-horned T. natans previously iden
Authors
Greg Chorak, Lynde Dodd, Nancy B. Rybicki, Kadiera Ingram, Murat Buyukyoruk, Yasuro Kadono, Yuan Yuan Chen, Ryan Thum