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: 18468
Effects of harvesting forest biomass on water and climate regulation services: A synthesis of long-term ecosystem experiments in eastern North America
Demand for woody biomass fuels is increasing amidst concerns about global energy security and climate change, but there may be negative implications of increased harvesting for forest ecosystem functions and their benefits to society (ecosystem services). Using new methods for assessing ecosystem services based on long-term experimental research, post-harvest changes in ten potential benefits were
Authors
Jesse Caputo, Colin D Beier, Peter M Groffman, Douglas A. Burns, Frederick D Beall, Paul W. Hazlett, Thad E Yorks
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
Groundwater chemistry in the vicinity of the Puna Geothermal Venture Power Plant, Hawai‘i, after two decades of production
We report chemical data for selected shallow wells and coastal springs that were sampled in 2014 to determine whether geothermal power production in the Puna area over the past two decades has affected the characteristics of regional groundwater. The samples were analyzed for major and minor chemical species, trace metals of environmental concern, stable isotopes of water, and two organic compound
Authors
W.C. Evans, D. Bergfeld, A.J. Sutton, R.C. Lee, T.D. Lorenson
Strategy to evaluate persistent contaminant hazards resulting from sea-level rise and storm-derived disturbances—Study design and methodology for station prioritization
Coastal communities are uniquely vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR) and severe storms such as hurricanes. These events enhance the dispersion and concentration of natural and anthropogenic chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms that could adversely affect the health and resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems in coming years. The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a strategy to define
Authors
Timothy J. Reilly, Daniel Jones, Michael J. Focazio, Kimberly C. Aquino, Chelsea L. Carbo, Erika E. Kaufhold, Elizabeth K. Zinecker, William Benzel, Shawn C. Fisher, Dale W. Griffin, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Keith A. Loftin, William B. Schill
Declining acidic deposition begins reversal of forest-soil acidification in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada
Decreasing trends in acidic deposition levels over the past several decades have led to partial chemical recovery of surface waters. However, depletion of soil Ca from acidic deposition has slowed surface water recovery and led to the impairment of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Nevertheless, documentation of acidic deposition effects on soils has been limited, and little is known regard
Authors
Gregory B. Lawrence, Paul W. Hazlett, Ivan J. Fernandez, Rock Ouimet, Scott W. Bailey, Walter C. Shortle, Kevin T. Smith, Michael R. Antidormi
Characteristics of sediment transport at selected sites along the Missouri River, 2011–12
Extreme flooding in the Missouri River in 2011, followed by a year of more typical streamflows in 2012, allowed the sediment-transport regime to be compared between the unprecedented conditions of 2011 and the year immediately following the flooding. As part of a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this report follows up U.S. Geological Surve
Authors
David L. Rus, Joel M. Galloway, Jason S. Alexander
U.S. Geological Survey Chesapeake science strategy, 2015-2025—Informing ecosystem management of America’s largest estuary
Executive Summary
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has the critical role of providing scientific information to improve the understanding and management of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The USGS works with Federal, State, and academic science partners to provide research and monitoring, and communicate results of these activities to enhance ecosystem management for both the Chesapeake and other N
Authors
Scott Phillips, Joel D. Blomquist, Mark Bennett, Alicia Berlin, Vicki Blazer, Peter R. Claggett, Stephen Faulkner, Kenneth Hyer, Cassandra Ladino, Douglas Moyer, Rachel Muir, Gregory Noe, Patrick J. Phillips
Suspended-sediment dynamics in the tidal reach of a San Francisco Bay tributary
To better understand suspended-sediment transport in a tidal slough adjacent to a large wetland restoration project, we deployed continuously measuring temperature, salinity, depth, turbidity, and velocity sensors in 2010 at a near-bottom location in Alviso Slough (Alviso, California, USA). Alviso Slough is the downstream reach of the Guadalupe River and flows into the far southern end of San Fran
Authors
Gregory Shellenbarger, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz, David H. Schoellhamer
Topographic and hydrographic survey data for the São Francisco River near Torrinha, Bahia, Brazil, 2014
Navigable inland waterways, including lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, are important transportation routes for people and goods in Brazil. Natural and anthropogenic effects coupled with recent severe droughts have led to decreased inland waterway navigation. The Company for Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba River Valleys (CODEVASF) has recognized the decrease in waterway navigation and i
Authors
Ryan L. Fosness, Benjamin J. Dietsch
Particle tracking for selected groundwater wells in the lower Yakima River Basin, Washington
The Yakima River Basin in south-central Washington has a long history of irrigated agriculture and a more recent history of large-scale livestock operations, both of which may contribute nutrients to the groundwater system. Nitrate concentrations in water samples from shallow groundwater wells in the lower Yakima River Basin exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water standard
Authors
Matthew P. Bachmann
Water-level data for the Albuquerque Basin and adjacent areas, central New Mexico, period of record through September 30, 2014
The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is hydrologically defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin were obtained solely from groundwater resources until December 2008, when treatme
Authors
Joseph E. Beman
1-Meter Digital Elevation Model specification
In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous United States (lower 48 States), Ha
Authors
Samantha T. Arundel, Christy-Ann M. Archuleta, Lori A. Phillips, Brittany L. Roche, Eric W. Constance