Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16691
Reducing wastewater nitrogen loading by >90% with carbon-amended septic systems: A field demonstration in Barnstable (Cape Cod), Massachusetts
Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) are a major source of excess nutrients and co-pollutants in watersheds across the United States. In Barnstable County (Cape Cod), Massachusetts, effluent from septic systems and cesspools contributes approximately 80% of the controllable reactive nitrogen (N) load to numerous impaired estuaries and degrades water quality in the region's sole...
Authors
Laura Erban, Sara Wigginton, Brian Baumgaertel, Bryan Horsley, Timothy D. McCobb, Zee Crocker, Scott Horsley, Timothy Gleason
Predictive understanding of stream salinization in a developed watershed using machine learning
Stream salinization is a global issue, yet few models can provide reliable salinity estimates for unmonitored locations at the time scales required for ecological exposure assessments. Machine learning approaches are presented that use spatially limited high-frequency monitoring and spatially distributed discrete samples to estimate the daily stream-specific conductance across a...
Authors
Jared David Smith, Lauren Elizabeth Koenig, Margaux Jeanne Sleckman, Alison P. Appling, Jeffrey M Sadler, Vincent T. DePaul, Zoltan Szabo
Controls on the stratigraphic architecture of the US Atlantic margin: Processes forming the accommodation space
Accommodation space governs the spatial and temporal distributions of sediments in continental margins. Mapping the sedimentation patterns, therefore, offers insights into the solid-Earth processes that shape accommodation space. We assembled an unprecedented amount of seismic and borehole data along the Eastern North American Margin and used it to divide the margin's sedimentary package...
Authors
Guy Lang, Uri S. ten Brink, Deborah Hutchinson, Gregory S. Mountain, Uri Schattner
Historical insights, current challenges: Tracking marine biodiversity in an urban harbor ecosystem in the face of climate change
The Boston Harbor Islands is the only coastal drumlin archipelago in the USA, featuring a distinctive and uncommon geological intertidal habitat known as mixed coarse substrate, which supports a range of coastal species and ecological processes. Recently designated as one of America’s 11 most endangered historic places due to climate change impacts, coastal adaptation and restoration...
Authors
Alysha B. Putnam, Sarah C. Endyke, Ally Rose Jones, Lucy A.D. Lockwood, Justin Taylor, Marc Albert, Michelle Staudinger
Shaping the coast: Accounting for the human wildcard in projections of future change
Coastal change and evolution are the product of physical drivers (e.g., waves) tightly coupled with human behavior. As climate change impacts intensify, demand is increasing for information on where, when, and how coastal areas may change in the future. Although considerable research investments have been made in understanding the physical drivers and processes that modify and shape...
Authors
Erika Lentz, Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, Sara Zeigler, Renee C. Collini, Margaret L. Palmsten, Davina Passeri
Mixed contaminant exposure in tapwater and the potential implications for human-health in disadvantaged communities in California
Water is an increasingly precious resource in California as years of drought, climate change, pollution, as well as an expanding population have all stressed the state's drinking water supplies. Currently, there are increasing concerns about whether regulated and unregulated contaminants in drinking water are linked to a variety of human-health outcomes particularly in socially...
Authors
Kelly Smalling, Kristin M. Romanok, Paul M. Bradley, Michelle Hladik, James L. Gray, Leslie K. Kanagy, R. Blaine McCleskey, Diana A. Stavreva, Annika K. Alexander-Ozinskas, Jesus Alonso, Wendy Avila, Sara E. Breitmeyer, Roberto Bustillo, Stephanie Gordon, Gordon L. Hager, Rena R. Jones, Dana W. Kolpin, Seth Newton, Peggy Reynolds, John Sloop, Andria Ventura, Julie Von Behren, Mary H. Ward, Gina M. Solomon
Editorial: From cold seeps to hydrothermal vents: Geology, chemistry, microbiology, and ecology in marine and coastal environments
This Research Topic compiles contemporary studies on cold seeps, hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, and related seafloor features that are associated with focused fluid emissions and the transfer of carbon, other chemical species, and sometimes heat from the geosphere to the ocean. Because these features sometimes tap fluids and gas originating kilometers below the seafloor, they provide...
Authors
Glen T. Snyder, Andrew R. Thurber, Stéphanie Dupré, Marcelo Ketzer, Carolyn D. Ruppel
Boundary spanning increases knowledge and action on invasive species in a changing climate
Challenges associated with global change stressors on ecosystems have prompted calls to improve actionable science, including through boundary-spanning activities, which aim to build connections and communication between researchers and natural resource practitioners. By synthesizing and translating research and practitioner knowledge, boundary-spanning activities could support proactive...
Authors
Annette E. Evans, Eva M. Colberg, Jenica M. Allen, Evelyn M. Beaury, Carrie Jean Brown-Lima, Toni Lyn Morelli, Bethany A. Bradley
Fall 2024
This issue highlights our long history of outreach on Cape Cod in an article and video. It also features a story about our crest-stage gage network in Vermont, which provisionally hit high-water records during flash floods this summer. Also, we discuss a USGS study that examined trends of extreme low-flows across multiple continents.
Authors
Katrina Rossos
Evaluation of the lakes and impoundments drought index for the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan
The condition of surface water storage in lakes and impoundments is used as an index of drought in the Massachusetts drought management plan. The U.S. Geological Survey visited 28 of these lakes and impoundments at 14 single and multiple waterbody systems to evaluate their appropriateness for characterizing drought. The data collection and computation methods at each system were then...
Authors
Travis L. Smith
Where there's a when there's a way. Shifting phenology & windows of opportunity for control
No abstract available.
Authors
Dan Buonaiuto, Audrey Barker Plotkin, Sarah Bois, Matthew Brincka, Eva Colberg, Brian Colleran, Toni Lyn Morelli
Estimating groundwater level records using MOVE.1 and computing monthly percentiles from estimated groundwater records in Massachusetts
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, performed record extensions on groundwater levels at select wells using the Maintenance of Variance Extension type 1 (MOVE.1) method. The groundwater levels estimated from these record extensions were used to compute monthly percentiles to improve future determinations of a...
Authors
Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Dee-Ann E. Crozier