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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Dune management challenges on developed coasts
From October 26-28, 2015, nearly 100 members of the coastal management and research communities met in Kitty Hawk, NC, USA to bridge the apparent gap between the coastal dune research of scientists and engineers and the needs of coastal management practitioners. The workshop aimed to identify the challenges involved in building and managing dunes on developed coasts, assess the extent to which sci
Authors
Nicole A. Elko, Kate Brodie, Hilary F. Stockdon, Karl F. Nordstrom, Chris Houser, Kim McKenna, Laura Moore, Julie D. Rosati, Peter Ruggiero, Roberta Thuman, Ian J. Walker
Using hydrophones as a surrogate monitoring technique to detect temporal and spatial variability in bedload transport
Collecting physical bedload measurements is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor that rarely captures the spatial and temporal variability of sediment transport. Technological advances can improve monitoring of sediment transport by filling in temporal gaps between physical sampling periods. We have developed a low-cost hydrophone recording system designed to record the sediment-generated nois
Authors
Mathieu D. Marineau, J. Toby Minear, Scott Wright
Using maximum topology matching to explore differences in species distribution models
Species distribution models (SDM) are used to help understand what drives the distribution of various plant and animal species. These models are typically high dimensional scalar functions, where the dimensions of the domain correspond to predictor variables of the model algorithm. Understanding and exploring the differences between models help ecologists understand areas where their data or under
Authors
Jorge Poco, Harish Doraiswamy, Marian Talbert, Jeffrey Morisette, Claudio Silva
Landsat-8: Status and on-orbit performance
Landsat 8 and its two Earth imaging sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) have been operating on-orbit for 2 ½ years. Landsat 8 has been acquiring substantially more images than initially planned, typically around 700 scenes per day versus a 400 scenes per day requirement, acquiring nearly all land scenes. Both the TIRS and OLI instruments are exceeding thei
Authors
Brian L. Markham, Julia A. Barsi, Ron Morfitt, Michael J. Choate, Matthew Montanaro, Terry Arvidson, James R. Irons
Monitoring ground-surface heating during expansion of the Casa Diablo production well field at Mammoth Lakes, California
The Long Valley hydrothermal system supports geothermal power production from 3 binary plants (Casa Diablo) near the town of Mammoth Lakes, California. Development and growth of thermal ground at sites west of Casa Diablo have created concerns over planned expansion of a new well field and the associated increases in geothermal fluid production. To ensure that all areas of ground heating are ident
Authors
D. Bergfeld, R. Greg Vaughan, William C. Evans, Eric Olsen
A case study demonstrating analysis of stormflows, concentrations, and loads of nutrients in highway runoff and swale discharge with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Decisionmakers need information about the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff, the risk for adverse effects of runoff on receiving waters, and the potential effectiveness of mitigation measures to reduce these risks. The Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) uses Monte Carlo methods to generate stormflows, concentrations, and loads from a highway site and an upstream basin
Authors
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
Predicting watershed post-fire sediment yield with the InVEST sediment retention model: Accuracy and uncertainties
Increased sedimentation following wildland fire can negatively impact water supply and water quality. Understanding how changing fire frequency, extent, and location will affect watersheds and the ecosystem services they supply to communities is of great societal importance in the western USA and throughout the world. In this work we assess the utility of the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosys
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Jason McVay, Jason R. Kreitler, Todd Hawbaker, Nicole Vaillant, Scott Lowe
Automated extraction of natural drainage density patterns for the conterminous United States through high performance computing
Hydrographic networks form an important data foundation for cartographic base mapping and for hydrologic analysis. Drainage density patterns for these networks can be derived to characterize local landscape, bedrock and climate conditions, and further inform hydrologic and geomorphological analysis by indicating areas where too few headwater channels have been extracted. But natural drainage densi
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Jeff T. Falgout, Barbara P. Buttenfield
Geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of REE in granite-derived regolith: a model for the Southeast United States
Rare earth element (REE) ion-adsorption clay deposits are of global economic importance because they currently supply a significant portion of the world’s annual production of both light (LREE) and heavy REE (HREE). There is considerable ambiguity regarding the origin of
this deposit type: The main criteria include the presence of large, generally granitic, igneous suites; long periods of intense
Authors
Nora K. Foley, Carleton R. Bern, Robert A. Ayuso, Bernard E. Hubbard, Anjana K. Shah
Sharpening the boundaries - 3D terracing applied to physical property inversions
Physical property inversions typically result in smooth property distributions, without the sharp boundaries expected of true geologic sources. Here we explore the use of 3D terracing as a way to force the inverted physical properties to have sharp boundaries. Terracing during inversion is preferable to post-inversion terracing because it results in a better fit to the observed data.
Authors
Jeffrey Phillips, Robert W. Simpson
Drivers and synergies in the management of inland fisheries: Searching for sustainable solutions
Freshwater is a shared resource. Water challenges (i.e., too much, too little, too dirty) are recognized to have global implications. Many sectors rely upon water and, in some cases, the limited availability of water leads to tough decisions. Though inland fish and fisheries play important roles in providing food security, human well-being, and ecosystem productivity, this sector is often under
Authors
Abigail Lynch, T. Douglas Beard
Using 15-minute acoustic data to analyze suspended-sediment dynamics in the Rio Grande in the Big Bend Region
The Rio Grande in the Big Bend region is subject to rapid geomorphic change consisting of channel narrowing during years of low flow, and channel widening during rare, large, long duration floods. Since the 1940s, there have been large declines in mean and peak stream flow, and the channel has progressively narrowed. Large, channel widening floods are infrequent and have failed to widen the channe
Authors
David Dean, David Topping, Ronald E. Griffiths, Thomas A. Sabol, John C. Schmidt, Jeffery B. Bennett