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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: 18398

Field evaluation of semi-automated moisture estimation from geophysics using machine learning

Geophysical methods can provide three-dimensional (3D), spatially continuous estimates of soil moisture. However, point-to-point comparisons of geophysical properties to measure soil moisture data are frequently unsatisfactory, resulting in geophysics being used for qualitative purposes only. This is because (1) geophysics requires models that relate geophysical signals to soil moisture, (2) geoph
Authors
Neil Terry, F.D. Day-Lewis, John W. Lane, Carole D. Johnson, Dale Werkema

Creek and quarry water quality at Pipestone National Monument and pilot study of pathogen detection methods in waterfall mist at Winnewissa Falls, Pipestone, Minnesota, 2018–19

Pipestone National Monument is a 301-acre site sacred to many Native American Tribes, providing cultural exhibits and walking trails to Pipestone Creek, Winnewissa Falls, and historical pipestone quarries for numerous visitors each year. However, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has determined turbidity and fecal coliform bacteria occur in Pipestone Creek in high enough numbers to be a poten
Authors
Aliesha L. Krall, Kerensa A. King, Victoria G. Christensen, Joel P. Stokdyk, Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, S. A. Stevenson

Improving understanding and coordination of science activities for PFAS in the Chesapeake watershed

No abstract available.
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Michelle Lorah, Greg Allen, Lee Blaney, Mark Cantwell, Lara Fowler, Thomas F. Ihde, Mark Mank, Emily Majcher, George Onyullo, Scott W. Phillips

Ecology and ecosystem impacts of submerged and floating aquatic vegetation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Substantial increases in non-native aquatic vegetation have occurred in the upper San Francisco Estuary over the last 2 decades, largely from the explosive growth of a few submerged and floating aquatic plant species. Some of these species act as ecosystem engineers by creating conditions that favor their further growth and expansion as well as by modifying habitat for other organisms. Over the la
Authors
Mairgareth A. Christman, Shruti Khanna, Judith Z. Drexler, Matthew J. Young

Change in climatically suitable breeding distributions reduces hybridization potential between Vermivora warblers

AimClimate change is affecting the distribution of species and subsequent biotic interactions, including hybridization potential. The imperiled Golden-winged Warbler (GWWA) competes and hybridizes with the Blue-winged Warbler (BWWA), which may threaten the persistence of GWWA due to introgression. We examined how climate change is likely to alter the breeding distributions and potential for hybrid
Authors
Jessica N. Hightower, Dolly L. Crawford, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Kyle R. Aldinger, Sara Barker Swarthout, David A. Buehler, John Confer, Christian Friis, Jeff Larkin, James D. Lowe, Martin Piorkowski, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Curtis G. Smalling, Petra B. Wood, Rachel Vallender, Amber M. Roth

Can hydrological models benefit from using global soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and runoff products as calibration targets?

Hydrological models are usually calibrated to in-situ streamflow observations with reasonably long and uninterrupted records. This is challenging for poorly gage or ungaged basins where such information is not available. Even for gaged basins, the single-objective calibration to gaged streamflow cannot guarantee reliable forecasts because, as has been documented elsewhere, the inverse problem is m
Authors
Yiwen Mei, Juliane Mai, Hong Xuan Do, Andrew Gronewold, Howard W. Reeves, Sandra M. Eberts, Richard G. Niswonger, R. Steve Regan, Randall J. Hunt

Linear regression model documentation for computing water-quality constituent concentrations or densities using continuous real-time water-quality data for the Kansas River above Topeka Weir at Topeka, Kansas, November 2018 through June 2021

The Kansas River and its associated alluvial aquifer provide drinking water to more than 950,000 people in northeastern Kansas. Water suppliers that rely on the Kansas River as a water-supply source use physical and chemical processes to treat and remove contaminants before public distribution. An early-notification system of changing water-quality conditions allows water suppliers to proactively
Authors
Thomas J. Williams

Using cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton to assess trophic conditions: A qPCR-based, multi-year study in twelve large rivers across the United States

Phytoplankton is the essential primary producer in fresh surface water ecosystems. However, excessive phytoplankton growth due to eutrophication significantly threatens ecologic, economic, and public health. Therefore, phytoplankton identification and quantification are essential to understanding the productivity and health of freshwater ecosystems as well as the impacts of phytoplankton overgrowt
Authors
Chiqian Zhang, Kyle D. McIntosh, Nathan Sienkiewicz, Erin A. Stelzer, Jennifer L. Graham, Jingrang Lu

Changes in suspended-sediment yields under divergent land-cover disturbance histories: A comparison of two large watersheds, Olympic Mountains, USA

Improvements in timber harvest practices and reductions in harvest volumes over the past half century are commonly presumed to have reduced sediment loads in many western US rivers. However, direct assessments in larger watersheds are relatively sparse. Here, we compare 2019–21 sediment concentrations against those of the late 1970s in the Bogachiel and Calawah  River watersheds, adjacent and simi
Authors
Kristin Jaeger, Scott W. Anderson, Sarah B. Dunn

Interaction of a legacy groundwater contaminant plume with the Little Wind River from 2015 through 2017, Riverton Processing site, Wyoming

The Riverton Processing site was a uranium mill 4 kilometers southwest of Riverton, Wyoming, that prepared uranium ore for nuclear reactors and weapons from 1958 to 1963. The U.S. Department of Energy completed surface remediation of the uranium tailings in 1989; however, groundwater below and downgradient from the tailings site and nearby Little Wind River was not remediated. Beginning in 2010, a
Authors
David L. Naftz, Christopher C. Fuller, Robert L. Runkel, John Solder, W. Payton Gardner, Neil Terry, Martin A. Briggs, Terry M. Short, Daniel J. Cain, William L Dam, Patrick A. Byrne, James R. Campbell

Assessment of habitat use by juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Willamette River Basin, 2020–21

We conducted a field study during 2020–21 to describe habitat use patterns of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the mainstem Willamette, McKenzie, and Santiam Rivers and to evaluate how habitat suitability criteria affected the predictive accuracy of a hydraulic habitat model. Two approaches were used to collect habitat use data: a stratified sampling design was used to ensure

Authors
Gabriel S. Hansen, Russell W. Perry, Tobias J. Kock, James S. White, Philip V. Haner, John M. Plumb, J. Rose Wallick

Simulation of regional groundwater flow and advective transport of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and vicinity, New Jersey, 2018

A three-dimensional numerical model of groundwater flow was developed and calibrated for the unconsolidated New Jersey Coastal Plain aquifers underlying Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) and vicinity, New Jersey, to evaluate groundwater flow pathways of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination associated with use of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) at the base. The regional
Authors
Alex R. Fiore, Susan J. Colarullo