Publications
Browse more than 160,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
Mission Area Publications
Mission Area Publications
We are focused on some of the most significant issues society faces, and our science is making a substantial contribution to the well-being of the Nation and the world. Learn more about the major topics our research covers and the programs focused on those topics.
Filter Total Items: 171750
U.S. Geological Survey climate science plan—Future research directions
Executive Summary Climate is the primary driver of environmental change and is a key consideration in defining science priorities conducted across all mission areas in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Recognizing the importance of climate change to its future research agenda, the USGS’s Climate Science Steering Committee requested the development of a Climate Science Plan to identify future rese
Authors
Tamara Wilson, Ryan P. Boyles, Nicole DeCrappeo, Judith Z. Drexler, Kevin D. Kroeger, Rachel A. Loehman, John M. Pearce, Mark P. Waldrop, Peter D. Warwick, Anne M. Wein, Sara L. Zeigler, T. Douglas Beard,
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Volcano Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, California Water Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Chloride concentrations in groundwater from the western part of the Southern Hills regional aquifer system, Louisiana, 2021–22
Groundwater is heavily used for public supply and industrial uses in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. Lowered water levels resulting from groundwater withdrawals have induced the movement of saltwater towards wells in East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge Parishes. Saltwater intrusion has the potential to affect water supply infrastructure, reduce water availability for some uses, and increase tr
Authors
M.A. Lindaman
The U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Science Center’s response plan for significant volcanic events
This publication describes the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Science Center (VSC) Response Plan for Significant Volcanic Events (hereinafter referred to as “the plan”) that has been developed for U.S volcano observatories over the past several years in consultation with the lead scientist, or Scientist-in-Charge (SIC), of each of the five U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) volcano observatories. The g
Authors
Seth C. Moran, Christina A. Neal, Thomas L. Murray
Testing food web theory in a large lake: The role of body size in habitat coupling in Lake Michigan
The landscape theory of food web architecture (LTFWA) describes relationships among body size, trophic position, mobility, and energy channels that serve to couple heterogenous habitats, which in turn promotes long-term system stability. However, empirical tests of the LTFWA are rare and support differs among terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems. Further, it is unclear whether the theory ap
Authors
Bryan M. Maitland, Harvey A. Bootsma, Charles R. Bronte, David Bunnell, Zachary S. Feiner, Kari Fenske, William Fetzer, Carolyn Foley, Brandon Gerig, Austin Happell, Tomas O. Hook, Friedrich W. Keppeler, Matthew Kornis, Ryan F. Lepak, Andrew McNaught, Brian Roth, Ben Turschak, Joel C. Hoffman, Olaf P. Jensen
Three-dimensional geologic framework model of the Rio San Jose groundwater basin and adjacent areas, New Mexico
As part of a U.S. Geological Survey study in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico, and the Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico, a digital three-dimensional geologic framework model was constructed for the Rio San Jose and its surface-water drainage basin in west-central New Mexico. This three-dimensional model defines the altitude, thickness, and extent of 18 geo
Authors
Donald S. Sweetkind, Amy E. Galanter
Water-quality monitoring strategy for Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River Estuary, southeastern Massachusetts
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), began a study in 2018 to develop a water-quality monitoring strategy (WQMS) for Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River Estuary in southeastern Massachusetts. MassDEP is interested in water-quality data in Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River Estuary to characterize current water-qualit
Authors
David S. Armstrong
A novel surface energy balance method for thermal inertia studies of terrestrial analogs
Surface thermal inertia derived from satellite imagery offers a valuable tool for remotely mapping the physical structure and water content of planetary regolith. Efforts to quantify thermal inertia using surface temperatures on Earth, however, have consistently yielded large uncertainties and suffered from a lack of reproducibility. Unlike dry or airless bodies, Earth's abundant water and dense a
Authors
Ari Koeppel, Christopher S. Edwards, Lauren A. Edgar, Scott A Nowicki, Kristen A. Bennett, Amber Gullikson, Sylvain Piqueux, Helen A. Eifert, Daphne Chapline, A. Deanne Rogers
New U-Pb geochronology and geochemistry of Paleozoic metaigneous rocks from western Yukon and eastern Alaska, cross-border synthesis, and implications for tectonic models
The tectonic evolution of and relation between the Yukon-Tanana terrane and the Lake George assemblage, as well as other associated tectonic assemblages in western Yukon and eastern Alaska, have been debated for decades. The Yukon-Tanana terrane is widely considered to be an allochthonous rifted fragment derived from the Laurentian continental margin, whereas the Lake George assemblage and associa
Authors
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, James K. Mortensen
Classifying plant communities in the North American Coastal Plain with PRISMA spaceborne hyperspectral imagery and the spectral mixture residual
The effort to map terrestrial biodiversity, in recent years limited mostly to the use of broadband multispectral remote sensing at decameter scales, can be greatly enhanced by harnessing hyperspectral imagery. Interpretation of hyperspectral imagery may be aided by the Mixture Residual (MR) spectral preprocessing transformation. MR integrates the benefits of spectral mixture analysis with the abso
Authors
Jennifer A. Rogers, Kevin M. Robertson, Todd Hawbaker, Daniel J. Sousa
Ranking of 10 global one-arc-second DEMs reveals limitations in terrain morphology representation
At least 10 global digital elevation models (DEMs) at one-arc-second resolution now cover Earth. Comparing derived grids, like slope or curvature, preserves surface spatial relationships, and can be more important than just elevation values. Such comparisons provide more nuanced DEM rankings than just elevation root mean square error (RMSE) for a small number of points. We present three new compar
Authors
Peter L. Guth, Sebastiano Trevisani, Carlos H. Grohmann, John Lindsay, Dean B. Gesch, Laurence Hawker, Conrad Bielski
Modelling effects of flow withdrawal scenarios on riverine and riparian features of the Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monument
The National Park Service (NPS) is charged with maintaining natural riverine resources and processes in its parks along the Yampa River and downstream along the Green River. This mission requires information on how proposed water withdrawals would affect resources. We present a methodology that quantifies the impact on natural riverine and riparian features of Dinosaur National Monument based on a
Authors
Rebecca Diehl, J. M. Friedman
RegionGrow3D: A deterministic analysis for characterizing discrete three-dimensional landslide source areas on a regional scale
Regional-scale characterization of shallow landslide hazards is important for reducing their destructive impact on society. These hazards are commonly characterized by (a) their location and likelihood using susceptibility maps, (b) landslide size and frequency using geomorphic scaling laws, and (c) the magnitude of disturbance required to cause landslides using initiation thresholds. Typically, t
Authors
Nicolas Wahde Mathews, Ben Leshchinksy, Benjamin B. Mirus, Michael J. Olsen, Adam M. Booth