Publications

CoastalImageLib is a Python library that produces common coastal image products intended for quantitative analysis of coastal environments. This library contains functions to georectify and merge multiple oblique camera views, produce statistical image products for a given set of images, and create subsampled pixel instruments for use in bathymetric inversion, surface current estimation, run-up ca

Two radioactive elements, uranium (U) and radon (Rn), which are of potential concern in New Hampshire (NH) groundwater, are investigated. Exceedance probability maps are tools to highlight locations where the concentrations of undesirable substances in the groundwater may be elevated. Two forms of statistical analysis are used to create exceedance probability maps for U and Rn in NH groundwater. T

In 2015, U.S. Geological Survey scientists in collaboration with scientists from other institutions began a study of the Queen Charlotte fault—the first systematic study of the fault in more than three decades. The primary goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of the earthquake, tsunami, and underwater-landslide hazards throughout southeastern Alaska, as well as gather data to devel

IntroductionDuring the last 12 decades (1900–2020), the amounts of raw materials used in the United States have increased significantly due to economic development, technological innovations, and population growth. Data on materials are presented here to provide an overview of the annual quantities (measured in physical terms) required for the standard of living in the United States and to provide

Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are broadly applicable hierarchical models that derive their utility from separating state processes from observation processes yielding the data. Multistate models such as mark–recapture and dynamic multistate occupancy models are HMMs frequently used in ecology. In their early formulations, states, such as pathogen infection status, were assumed to be perfectly observ

Marking birds with transmitters allows for the collection of data that are critical for fully understanding avian life history, but researchers must also be confident that performing such studies is as safe as possible for transmittered individuals. While much could be learned from tracking juveniles across dependency periods and first migration, doing so would require a harness-based attachment m

As climate change alters the global environment, it is critical to understand the relationship between shifting climate suitability and species distributions. Key questions include whether observed changes in population abundance are aligned with the velocity and direction of shifts predicted by climate suitability models and if the responses are consistent among species with similar ecological tr

As diving foragers, sea ducks are vulnerable to underwater anthropogenic activity, including ships, underwater construction, seismic surveys and gillnet fisheries. Bycatch in gillnets is a contributing source of mortality for sea ducks, killing hundreds of thousands of individuals annually. We researched underwater hearing in sea duck species to increase knowledge of underwater avian acoustic sens

The U.S. Geological Survey has been working in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on a project to collect water-quality data from the Merrimack River watershed since April 2020. Twelve locations in the Merrimack River watershed are being sampled for nutrients (such as nitrogen), metals (such as aluminum), Escherichia coli bacteria, and other measures.

Despite significant investigation of fly ash spills and mineralogical controls on the release of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) from fly ash, interactions with the surficial environment remain relatively poorly understood. We conducted 90-day batch leaching studies with paired analysis of supernatant and solid-phase mineralogy to assess the elemental release and transformation of fly ash upon r

Salt marsh habitats contain some of the highest quantities of soil organic carbon (C) per unit area, but increasing anthropogenic stressors threaten their ability to maintain themselves as large C reservoirs in some regions. We quantify rates of C gas exchange (methane [CH4] and carbon dioxide [CO2]) monthly across a 16-month period from a low nitrogen “reference” salt marsh on Cape Cod in New Eng

Ecological effects of flooding and drying events are relatively understudied in the Neotropics and less is known about these hydrological extremes in intermittent streams. Neotropical headwater streams in Costa Rica provide opportunities to evaluate the response of macroinvertebrate communities to seasonal changes in flow regime in relatively human undisturbed systems. We quantified the effects of