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USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center scientists are collecting physical and chemical water properties at selected Texas artificial reefs to provide the initial foundation to establish the status and long-term trends in the environment and information essential for sound management decisions and long-term planning.

The San Jacinto River is the second largest inflow into Galveston Bay. The USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center collects water-quality samples in the lower reaches of the San Jacinto River over a range of hydrologic conditions to improve our understanding of the variability of nutrient and sediment concentrations in freshwater inflows from the San Jacinto River into Galveston Bay.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey related flooding, the USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) initiated a cooperative study to evaluate the magnitude of the flood, determine the probability of occurrence, and map the extent of the flood in Texas.

The USGS Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center is evaluating the variability of nutrient and sediment concentrations and loads entering Texas bays and estuaries across a range of hydrologic conditions in Galveston Bay (inflow from the Trinity and San Jacinto Rivers), Matagordo Bay (inflow from the Colorado River), San Antonio Bay (inflow from the Guadalupe River), and Nueces Bay (inflow from Nueces...

USGS is undertaking a 5-year study to assess groundwater availability for the aquifers proximal to the Gulf of America from the Texas-Mexico border through the panhandle of Florida, known as the Coastal Lowlands Aquifer System (CLAS). This study is one of several within the Regional Groundwater Availability Studies of the USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program.

Research to identify areas that are most vulnerable to coastal change hazards including beach and dune erosion, long-term shoreline change, and sea-level rise.

In response to storms, reduced sediment supply, and sea-level rise, Breton Island is rapidly deteriorating, impacting the available nesting habitat of endangered seabirds. This study provides critical information regarding the physical environment of the island system.

Since 2007, the USGS (with NPS and USACE) has been mapping the seafloor and substrate around the Mississippi barrier islands to characterize the near-surface stratigraphy and identify the influence it has on island evolution and fate.

The USGS Southeast Regional Office has funded a cross-center collaboration between the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and the Texas Water Science Center for the development of the Gulf Water Dashboard. The objective of this effort is to expand the Texas Water Dashboard platform to include the coastal regions of the five Gulf states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Now...

Human alteration of waterways has impacted the minimum and maximum streamflows in more than 86% of monitored streams nationally and may be the primary cause for ecological impairment in river and stream ecosystems. Restoration of freshwater inflows can positively affect shellfish, fisheries, habitat, and water quality in streams, rivers, and estuaries. Increasingly, state and local decision-makers...

Eighty-five percent of the coastal wetland loss in the contiguous United States occurs in the Gulf. Documenting and understanding the occurrence of this wetland loss will provide for effective planning, mitigation, and restoration activities.

More than half of contiguous U.S. coastal wetlands are located along the Gulf Coast. These highly-productive wetlands support many ecosystem goods and services and fish and wildlife habitat. Historically, coastal wetlands have adapted to sea-level changes via lateral and vertical movement on the landscape. As sea levels rise in the future, coastal wetlands will adapt and migrate landward into...