Conference Papers
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse almost 5,000 conference papers authored by our scientists and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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Integrated modeling approach for fate and transport of submerged oil and oil-particle aggregates in a freshwater riverine environment
The Enbridge Line 6B pipeline release of diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River downstream of Marshall, Michigan, U.S.A., in July 2010 was one of the largest oil spills into freshwater in North American history. A portion of the oil interacted with river sediment and submerged requiring the development and implementation of new approaches for detection and recovery of oil mixed with river sedime
Authors
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Rex Johnson, Zhenduo Zhu, David Waterman, Richard D. McCulloch, Earl Hayter, Marcelo H. Garcia, Michel C. Boufadel, Timothy Dekker, Jacob S. Hassan, David T. Soong, Christopher J. Hoard, Kenneth Lee
Measuring distance “as the horse runs”: Cross-scale comparison of terrain-based metrics
Distance metrics play significant roles in spatial modeling tasks, such as flood inundation (Tucker and Hancock 2010), stream extraction (Stanislawski et al. 2015), power line routing (Kiessling et al. 2003) and analysis of surface pollutants such as nitrogen (Harms et al. 2009). Avalanche risk is based on slope, aspect, and curvature, all directly computed from distance metrics (Gutiérrez 2012).
Authors
Barbara P. Buttenfield, M Ghandehari, S Leyk, Larry V. Stanislawski, M E Brantley, Yi Qiang
Ocean acidification buffering effects of seagrass in Tampa Bay
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified ocean acidification as a critical threat to marine and estuarine species in ocean and coastal ecosystems around the world. However, seagrasses are projected to benefit from elevated atmospheric pCO2, are capable of increasing seawater pH and carbonate mineral saturation states through photosynthesis, and may help buffer against the chemi
Authors
Kimberly K. Yates, Ryan P. Moyer, Christopher Moore, David A. Tomasko, Nathan A. Smiley, Legna Torres-Garcia, Christina E. Powell, Amanda R. Chappel, Ioana Bociu
Photoperiod and nesting phenology of whooping cranes at two captive sites
Increasing daylight is known to be a breeding stimulus in many avian species breeding in northern latitudes. This is thought to be true for cranes that breed in such latitudes including the Whooping Crane (Grus americana). For this reason, the captive breeding centers use artificial light to lengthen daylight hours, but no study has been done to look at the effect of such lighting on the reproduct
Authors
Glenn H. Olsen
Rating curve uncertainty: A comparison of estimation methods
The USGS is engaged in both internal development and collaborative efforts to evaluate existing methods for characterizing the uncertainty of streamflow measurements (gaugings), stage-discharge relations (ratings), and, ultimately, the streamflow records derived from them. This paper provides a brief overview of two candidate methods that may be used to characterize the uncertainty of ratings, and
Authors
Robert R. Mason,, Julie E. Kiang, Timothy A. Cohn
Regional and local correlations of feldspar geochemistry of the Peach Spring Tuff, Alvord Mountain, California
The chemical composition of feldspar grains in an ignimbrite from the Spanish Canyon Formation in the Alvord Mountain area, California, have been used to confirm similarities in three measured sections locally, and they are similar to exposures of the Peach Spring Tuff (PST) regionally. Feldspar grains were identified on the basis of texture (zoning, as mantled feldspars, or in crystal clusters),
Authors
David C. Buesch
Significance of beating observed in earthquake responses of buildings
The beating phenomenon observed in the recorded responses of a tall building in Japan and another in the U.S. are examined in this paper. Beating is a periodic vibrational behavior caused by distinctive coupling between translational and torsional modes that typically have close frequencies. Beating is prominent in the prolonged resonant responses of lightly damped structures. Resonances caused by
Authors
Mehmet Çelebi, S. F. Ghahari, E. Taciroglu
Simulating regional groundwater flow in the vicinity of the Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada
No abstract available.
Authors
Wayne Belcher, Donald S. Sweetkind, Claudia C. Faunt
Sources of subsidence at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field
At the Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF) in Southern California, surface deformation associated with geologic processes including sediment compaction, tectonic strain, and fault slip may be augmented by energy production activities. Separating the relative contributions from natural and anthropogenic sources is especially important at the SSGF, which sits at the apex of a complex tectonic transit
Authors
Andrew J. Barbour, Eileen Evans, Stephen H. Hickman, Mariana Eneva
The development of small, cabled, real-time video based observation systems for near shore coastal marine science including three examples and lessons learned
The effects of climate change on the near shore coastal environment including ocean acidification, accelerated erosion, destruction of coral reefs, and damage to marine habitat have highlighted the need for improved equipment to study, monitor, and evaluate these changes [1]. This is especially true where areas of study are remote, large, or beyond depths easily accessible to divers. To this end,
Authors
Gerry Hatcher, Craig Okuda
The potential carbon benefit of reforesting Hawai‘i Island non-native grasslands with endemic Acacia koa trees
Large areas of forest in the tropics have been cleared and converted to pastureland. Hawai‘i Island is no exception, with over 100,000 ha of historically forested land now dominated by non-native grasses. Passive forest restoration has been unsuccessful because these grasslands tend to persist even after grazers have been removed, yet active outplanting of native tree species can be cost-prohibiti
Authors
Paul Selmants, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Nicholas Koch, James B. Friday
The value of closed-circuit rebreathers for biological research
Closed-circuit rebreathers have been used for underwater biological research since the late 1960s, but have only started to gain broader application within scientific diving organizations within the past two decades. Rebreathers offer certain specific advantages for such research, especially for research involving behavior and surveys that depend on unobtrusive observers or for a stealthy approach
Authors
Richrad L. Pyle, Phillip S. Lobel, Joseph A. Tomoleoni