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: 18418
Precipitation-runoff processes in the Merced River Basin, Central California, with prospects for streamflow predictability, water years 1952–2013
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), has constructed a new spatially detailed Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) model for the Merced River Basin, California, which is a tributary of the San Joaquin River in California. Operated through an Object User Interface (OUI) with Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) and daily climate
Authors
Kathryn M. Koczot, John C. Risley, JoAnn M. Gronberg, John M. Donovan, Kelly R. McPherson
Occurrence, fate, and transport of aerially applied herbicides to control invasive buffelgrass within Saguaro National Park Rincon Mountain District, Arizona, 2015–18
The spread of the invasive and fire-adapted buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) threatens desert ecosystems by competing for resources, increasing fuel loads, and creating wildfire connectivity. The Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Park addressed this natural resource threat with the use of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs). In 2010, the Rincon Mountain District initiated an aerial res
Authors
Nicholas V. Paretti, Kimberly R. Beisner, Bruce Gungle, Michael T. Meyer, Bethany K. Kunz, Edyth Hermosillo, Jay R. Cederberg, Justine P. Mayo
Aquatic-terrestrial linkages control metabolism and carbon dynamics in a mid-sized, urban stream influenced by snowmelt
Freshwater streams can exchange nutrients and carbon with the surrounding terrestrial environment through various mechanisms including physical erosion, flooding, leaf drop, and snowmelt. These aquatic-terrestrial interactions are crucial in carbon mobilization, transformation, ecosystem productivity, and have important implications for the role of freshwater ecosystems in the global carbon budget
Authors
Ariel P. Reed, Edward G. Stets, Sheila F. Murphy, Emily Mullins
Critical aquifer overdraft accelerates degradation of groundwater quality in California’s Central Valley during drought
Drought-induced pumpage has precipitated dramatic groundwater-level declines in California’s Central Valley over the past 30 years, but the impacts of aquifer overdraft on water quality are poorly understood. This study coupled over 160,000 measurements of nitrate from ∼6,000 public-supply wells with a 30-year reconstruction of groundwater levels throughout the Central Valley to evaluate dynamic r
Authors
Zeno Levy, Bryant Jurgens, Karen R. Burow, Stefan Voss, Kirsten Faulkner, Jose Alfredo Arroyo-Lopez, Miranda S. Fram
Using regional watershed data to assess water-quality impairment in the Pacific Drainages of the United States
Two datasets containing the first complete estimates of reach-scale nutrient, water use, dissolved oxygen, and pH conditions for the Pacific drainages of the United States were created to help inform water-quality management decisions in that region. The datasets were developed using easily obtainable watershed data, most of which have not been available until recently, and the techniques that wer
Authors
Daniel R. Wise
Comparison of passive and pumped sampling methods for analysis of groundwater quality, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2019
A plume of ethylene dibromide (EDB) dissolved in groundwater extends northeast from the Bulk Fuels Facility on Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The leading edge of the EDB plume is upgradient from several water-supply wells. In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and the U.S. Air Force, installed four sentinel w
Authors
Rebecca E. Travis, Kate Wilkins
Electrical signatures of dual domain mass transfer observed in rock cores
No abstract available.
Authors
S. Falzone, B. B. Parker, Frederick Day-Lewis, L. Slater
Phytoplankton and cyanobacteria abundances in mid-21st century lakes depend strongly on future land use and climate projections
Land use and climate change are anticipated to affect phytoplankton of lakes worldwide. The effects will depend on the magnitude of projected land use and climate changes and lake sensitivity to these factors. We used random forests fit with long-term (1971–2016) phytoplankton and cyanobacteria abundance time series, climate observations (1971–2016), and upstream catchment land use (global Clumond
Authors
Karan Kakouei, B.M. Kraemer, O. Anneville, L. Carvalho, H. Feuchtmayr, Jennifer L. Graham, S. Higgins, F. Pomati, L.G. Rudstam, J.D. Stockwell, S.J. Thackeray, M. Vanni, R. Adrian
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
Interagency Ecological Program long-term monitoring element review: Pilot approach and methods development (2020)
This report describes the first-year, pilot-phase of what is intended to be a larger, multiple-year review of all IEP core long-term monitoring elements (LTMEs). Here we hope to provide evidence that the review team arrangement and communication schedule was effective at developing a framework to objectively evaluate a suite of LTMEs. We focused on developing methods for an effective review, docum
Authors
Jereme W. Gaeta, Samuel M. Bashevkin, Frederick V. Feyrer, Brock Huntsman, Brian Mahardja, Steven D Culberson, Michael P Beakes, Stephanie Fong, Stephen Louie
Geohydrology and water quality of the stratified-drift aquifers in West Branch Cayuga Inlet and Fish Kill Valleys, Newfield, Tompkins County, New York
From 2011 to 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Town of Newfield and the Tompkins County Planning Department, performed a study of the stratified-drift aquifers in the West Branch Cayuga Inlet and Fish Kill Valleys in Newfield, Tompkins County, New York. Both confined and unconfined aquifers were identified, mostly in the valleys. The confined aquifer consists of a discontin
Authors
Benjamin N. Fisher, Paul M. Heisig, William M. Kappel
Surface energy balance of sub-Arctic roads with varying snow regimes and properties in permafrost regions
Surface energy balance (SEB) strongly influences the thermal state of permafrost, cryohydrological processes, and infrastructure stability. Road construction and snow accumulation affect the energy balance of underlying permafrost. Herein, we use an experimental road section of the Alaska Highway to develop a SEB model to quantify the surface energy components and ground surface temperature (GST)
Authors
Lin Chen, Clifford I. Voss, Daniel Fortier, Jeffrey M. McKenzie