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These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

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State of the Earth’s cryosphere at the beginning of the 21st century : glaciers, global snow cover, floating ice, and permafrost and periglacial environments: Chapter A in Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world

This chapter is the tenth in a series of 11 book-length chapters, collectively referred to as “this volume,” in the series U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386, Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. In the other 10 chapters, each of which concerns a specific glacierized region of Earth, the authors used remotely sensed images, primarily from the Landsat 1, 2, and 3 series of sp
Authors
Richard S. Williams, Jane G. Ferrigno

Total nitrogen and suspended-sediment loads and identification of suspended-sediment sources in the Laurel Hill Creek watershed, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, water years 2010-11

Laurel Hill Creek is a watershed of 125 square miles located mostly in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, with small areas extending into Fayette and Westmoreland Counties. The upper part of the watershed is on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection 303(d) list of impaired streams because of siltation, nutrients, and low dissolved oxygen concentrations. The objectives of this study we
Authors
Ronald A. Sloto, Allen C. Gellis, Daniel G. Galeone

Comparison of two regression-based approaches for determining nutrient and sediment fluxes and trends in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Nutrient and sediment fluxes and changes in fluxes over time are key indicators that water resource managers can use to assess the progress being made in improving the structure and function of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The U.S. Geological Survey collects annual nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment flux data and computes trends that describe the extent to which water-quality conditi
Authors
Douglas Moyer, Robert M. Hirsch, Kenneth Hyer

Occurrence model for volcanogenic beryllium deposits

Current global and domestic mineral resources of beryllium (Be) for industrial uses are dominated by ores produced from deposits of the volcanogenic Be type. Beryllium deposits of this type can form where hydrothermal fluids interact with fluorine and lithophile-element (uranium, thorium, rubidium, lithium, beryllium, cesium, tantalum, rare earth elements, and tin) enriched volcanic rocks that con
Authors
Nora K. Foley, Albert H. Hofstra, David A. Lindsey, Robert R. Seal, Brian W. Jaskula, Nadine M. Piatak

Program SPACECAP: software for estimating animal density using spatially explicit capture-recapture models

1. The advent of spatially explicit capture-recapture models is changing the way ecologists analyse capture-recapture data. However, the advantages offered by these new models are not fully exploited because they can be difficult to implement. 2. To address this need, we developed a user-friendly software package, created within the R programming environment, called SPACECAP. This package impl
Authors
Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, J. Andrew Royle, James E. Hines, Pallavi Singh, Devcharan Jathanna, N. Samba Kumar, K. Ullas Karanth

Balancing precision and risk: should multiple detection methods be analyzed separately in N-mixture models?

Using multiple detection methods can increase the number, kind, and distribution of individuals sampled, which may increase accuracy and precision and reduce cost of population abundance estimates. However, when variables influencing abundance are of interest, if individuals detected via different methods are influenced by the landscape differently, separate analysis of multiple detection methods
Authors
Tabitha A. Graves, J. Andrew Royle, Katherine C. Kendall, Paul Beier, Jeffrey B. Stetz, Amy C. Macleod

Interbasin water transfer, riverine connectivity, and spatial controls on fish biodiversity

Background Large-scale inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) projects are commonly proposed as solutions to water distribution and supply problems. These problems are likely to intensify under future population growth and climate change scenarios. Scarce data on the distribution of freshwater fishes frequently limits the ability to assess the potential implications of an IBWT project on freshwater fis
Authors
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Heather J. Lynch, Rachata Muneepeerakul, Arunachalam Muthukumarasamy, Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe, William F. Fagan

Density estimation in tiger populations: combining information for strong inference

A productive way forward in studies of animal populations is to efficiently make use of all the information available, either as raw data or as published sources, on critical parameters of interest. In this study, we demonstrate two approaches to the use of multiple sources of information on a parameter of fundamental interest to ecologists: animal density. The first approach produces estimates si
Authors
Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, J. Andrew Royle, Mohan Delampady, James D. Nichols, K. Ullas Karanth, David W. Macdonald

Demonstration/validation of the snap sampler passive groundwater sampling device at the former McClellan Air Force Base

No abstract available.
Authors
L. Parker, Nathan Mulherin, T. Hall, Constance Scott, K. Gagnon, Jay Clausen, William Major, Jacob Gibs, Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Donald Gronstal

Demonstration/validation of the Snap sampler passive groundwater sampling device

Laboratory studies and a field demonstration were conducted to determine the ability of the Snap Sampler to recover representative concentrations of several types of inorganic analytes from ground water. Analytes included non-metals, transition metals, alkaline earth metals, alkali metals, and a metalloid. In the laboratory studies, concentrations of analytes in Snap Sampler samples were com-parab
Authors
Louise Parker, Nathan Mulherin, Gordon Gooch, William Major, Richard Willey, Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Jacob Gibs, Donald Gronstal

Demonstration and validation of a regenerated cellulose dialysis membrane diffusion sampler for monitoring groundwater quality and remediation progress at DoD sites: Perchlorate and ordnance compounds

This final technical report documents the demonstration and validation of regenerated cellulose dialysis membrane diffusion samplers (RCDM samplers) for use in collecting groundwater samples for perchlorate and a suite of explosives compounds. This project, ER-0313, was funded by the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). The primary objectives of the project were; (1) to
Authors
Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Joseph S. Trotsky

DDT, DDD, and DDE in birds

This chapter summarizes residue levels of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), DDD, and DDE three compounds in birds that are diagnostic for or are associated with mortality and important sublethal effects and suggests improvements in design of contemporary field studies that will result in maximum usefulness in interpreting residue data. Heath et al. first documented eggshell thinning and assoc
Authors
Lawrence J. Blus