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: 18422
Using models to identify the best data: An example from northern Wisconsin
Linear-based data-worth analysis is an efficient and straightforward method for identifying the most important data for model forecasts.
Authors
Andrew T. Leaf
Structural equation model of total phosphorus loads in the Red River of the North Basin, USA and Canada
Attribution of the causes of trends in nutrient loading is often limited to correlation, qualitative reasoning, or references to the work of others. This paper represents efforts to improve causal attribution of water-quality changes. The Red River of the North basin provides a regional test case because of international interest in the reduction of total phosphorus loads and the availability of l
Authors
Karen R. Ryberg
Low-flow characteristics of streams in South Carolina
An ongoing understanding of streamflow characteristics of the rivers and streams in South Carolina is important for the protection and preservation of the State’s water resources. Information concerning the low-flow characteristics of streams is especially important during critical flow periods, such as during the historic droughts that South Carolina has experienced in the past few decades.Betwee
Authors
Toby D. Feaster, Wladmir B. Guimaraes
Annual estimates of recharge, quick-flow runoff, and ET for the contiguous U.S. using empirical regression equations
This study presents new data-driven, annual estimates of the division of precipitation into the recharge, quick-flow runoff, and evapotranspiration (ET) water budget components for 2000-2013 for the contiguous United States (CONUS). The algorithms used to produce these maps ensure water budget consistency over this broad spatial scale, with contributions from precipitation influx attributed to eac
Authors
Meredith Reitz, Ward E. Sanford, Gabriel Senay, J. Cazenas
Nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in an unconfined eogenetic karst aquifer in two sites with different redox potential
This study integrates push-pull tracer tests (PPTT) with microbial characterization of extracted water via quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and reverse transcriptase qPCR (RT-qPCR) of selected functional N transformation genes to quantify nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in sites with different redox potential in a karst aquifer. PPTT treatments with nitrate (AN) and nitrate-fum
Authors
Wesley R. Henson, Laibin Huang, Wendy D. Graham, Andrew Ogram
The land-sea interface: A source of high-quality phytoplankton to support secondary production
Coastal-estuarine systems are among the most productive marine ecosystems and their special role in producing
harvestable fish and shellfish has been attributed to high primary production fueled by nutrient runoff
from land and efficient trophic transfer. Here we ask if phytoplankton species composition and their food
quality based on the percentage of long-chain essential fatty acids (LCEFA) is a
Authors
Monika Winder, Jacob Carstensen, Aaron W.E. Galloway, Hans H. Jakobsen, James E. Cloern
A rare and cryptic endemic of the Central Rocky Mountains, U.S.A: The distribution of the Arapahoe snowfly, Arsapnia arapahoe (Nelson & Kondratieff, 1988) (Plecoptera: Capniidae)
The Arapahoe snowfly, Arsapnia arapahoe (Nelson & Kondratieff, 1988) (Plecoptera: Capniidae) is a candidate species warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Prior to this study, A. arapahoe was known from only two tributaries of the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County, Colorado: Young Gulch and Elkhorn Creek. The objectives of this study were to determine the distribution of thi
Authors
Matthew P. Fairchild, Thomas P. Belcher, Robert E. Zuellig, Nicole M. K. Vieira, Boris C. Kondratieff
Estimated fecal coliform bacteria concentrations using near real-time continuous water-quality and streamflow data from five stream sites in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 2007–16
Several streams used for recreational activities, such as fishing, swimming, and boating, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, are known to have periodic elevated concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria, a type of bacteria used to indicate the potential presence of fecally related pathogens that may pose health risks to humans exposed through water contact. The availability of near real-time continu
Authors
Lisa A. Senior
Documentation of a daily mean stream temperature module—An enhancement to the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
A module for simulation of daily mean water temperature in a network of stream segments has been developed as an enhancement to the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS). This new module is based on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Stream Network Temperature model, a mechanistic, one-dimensional heat transport model. The new module is integrated in PRMS. Stream-water
Authors
Michael J. Sanders, Steven L. Markstrom, R. Steven Regan, R. Dwight Atkinson
Channel response to sediment release: insights from a paired analysis of dam removal
Dam removals with unmanaged sediment releases are good opportunities to learn about channel response to abruptly increased bed material supply. Understanding these events is important because they affect aquatic habitats and human uses of floodplains. A longstanding paradigm in geomorphology holds that response rates to landscape disturbance exponentially decay through time. However, a previous st
Authors
Mathias J. Collins, Noah P. Snyder, Graham Boardman, William S. Banks, Mary Andrews, Matthew E. Baker, Maricate Conlon, Allen C. Gellis, Serena McClain, Andrew Miller, Peter Wilcock
Novel analyses of long-term data provide a scientific basis for chlorophyll-a thresholds in San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay (SFB), USA, is highly enriched in nitrogen and phosphorus, but has been resistant to the classic symptoms of eutrophication associated with over-production of phytoplankton. Observations in recent years suggest that this resistance may be weakening, shown by: significant increases of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) and decreases of dissolved oxygen (DO), common occurrences of phytoplankton
Authors
Martha Sutula, Raphael Kudela, James D. Hagy, Lawrence W. Harding, David Senn, James E. Cloern, Suzanne B. Bricker, Gry Mine Berg, Marcus W. Beck
U.S. Geological Survey geohydrologic studies and monitoring at the Idaho National Laboratory, southeastern Idaho
BackgroundThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geohydrologic studies and monitoring at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is an ongoing, long-term program. This program, which began in 1949, includes hydrologic monitoring networks and investigative studies that describe the effects of waste disposal on water contained in the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer and the availability of water for
Authors
Roy C. Bartholomay