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Publications

For more than a century, USGS scientists have conducted research in California’s Bay-Delta region. Informing natural-resource management decisions on the region’s issues, this research has been published in thousands of documents, some highlighted below.

Filter Total Items: 308

Landscape scale controls on the vascular plant component of dissolved organic carbon across a freshwater delta

Lignin phenol concentrations and compositions were determined on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) extracts (XAD resins) within the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (the Delta), the tidal freshwater portion of the San Francisco Bay Estuary, located in central California, USA. Fourteen stations were sampled, including the following habitats and land-use types: wetland, riverine, channelized waterway
Authors
Robert S. Eckard, Peter J. Hernes, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Ramunas Stepanauskas, Carol Kendall

Sediment deposition and erosion in south San Francisco Bay, California from 1956 to 2005

Sediment deposition and erosion in South San Francisco Bay from 1956 to 2005 was studied by comparing bathymetric surveys made in 1956, 1983, and 2005. From 1956 to 1983, the region was erosional. In contrast, from 1983 to 2005, the region was depositional. Analysis of subregions defined by depth, morphology and location revealed similarities in behavior during both the erosional and depositional
Authors
Bruce Jaffe, Amy C. Foxgrover

A history of intertidal flat area in south San Francisco Bay, California: 1858 to 2005

A key question in salt pond restoration in South San Francisco Bay is whether sediment sinks created by opening ponds will result in the loss of intertidal flats. Analyses of a series of bathymetric surveys of South San Francisco Bay made from 1858 to 2005 reveal changes in intertidal flat area in both space and time that can be used to better understand the pre-restoration system. This analysis a
Authors
Bruce Jaffe, Amy C. Foxgrover

Near-Field Receiving Water Monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California: 2005

Trace elements in sediment and the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica (Cohen and Carlton 1995)), clam reproductive activity and benthic, macroinvertebrate community structure are reported for a mudflat one kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay. This report includes data collected for the period Janua
Authors
Daniel J. Cain, Francis Parcheso, Janet K. Thompson, Samuel N. Luoma, Allison H. Lorenzi, Edward Moon, Michelle K. Shouse, Michelle I. Hornberger, Jessica Dyke

A tool for assessing mercury loadings from restored tidal systems

Accurately quantifying net loads in tidal systems is difficult owing to the high variability in constituent concentrations over the vastly different time scales present in these systems. Perhaps most difficult is the measurement of fluxed over the tidal time scale. On this scale, the net export of the constituent is orders of magnitude less than the bulk exchange in either direction because of the
Authors
J.A. Fleck, B.A. Bergamaschi, B.D. Downing, M. A. Lionberger, D. H. Schoellhamer, E. Boss, M. Stephenson

Sediment supply and demand for salt pond restoration

No abstract available.
Authors
David H. Schoellhamer, James L. Orlando, Scott A. Wright, Larry A. Freeman

Eutrophication of freshwater and marine ecosystems

Initial understanding of the links between nutrients and aquatic productivity originated in Europe in the early 1900s, and our knowledge base has expanded greatly during the past 40 yr. This explosion of eutrophication-related research has made it unequivocally clear that a comprehensive strategy to prevent excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus from entering our waterways is needed to prote
Authors
Val H. Smith, Samantha B. Joye, Robert W. Howarth

Prediction of summer maximum and minimum temperature over the central and western United States: The roles of soil moisture and sea surface temperature

A statistical model based on canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was used to explore climatic associations and predictability of June–August (JJA) maximum and minimum surface air temperatures (Tmax and Tmin) as well as the frequency of Tmax daily extremes (Tmax90) in the central and western United States (west of 90°W). Explanatory variables are monthly and seasonal Pacific Ocean SST (PSST) and t
Authors
Eric J. Alfaro, Alexander Gershunov, Daniel R. Cayan

Climate scenarios for California

Possible future climate changes in California are investigated from a varied set of climate change model simulations. These simulations, conducted by three state-of-the-art global climate models, provide trajectories from three greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenarios. These scenarios and the resulting climate simulations are not “predictions,” but rather are a limited sample from among the many pl
Authors
Daniel R. Cayan, Ed Maurer, Mike Dettinger, Mary Tyree, Katharine Hayhoe, Celine Bonfils, Phil Duffy, Ben Santer

Projecting future sea level

California’s coastal observations and global model projections indicate that California’s open coast and estuaries will experience increasing sea levels over the next century. Sea level rise has affected much of the coast of California, including the Southern California coast, the Central California open coast, and the San Francisco Bay and upper estuary. These trends, quantified from a small set
Authors
Daniel R. Cayan, Peter Bromirski, Katharine Hayhoe, Mary Tyree, Mike Dettinger, Reinhard Flick

Mapping South San Francisco Bay's seabed diversity for use in wetland restoration planning

In an effort to understand the role of sediment of South San Francisco Bay (South Bay) salt ponds, an acoustic seabed classification was performed with the condition of over two hundred sediment samples.  The success of the large-scale tidal wetland restoration  of up to 15,000 acres of South Bay partly depends on the ability of the converted ponds to acquire and retain enough sediment to support
Authors
Theresa A. Fregoso, B. Jaffe, G. Rathwell, W. Collins, K. Rhynas, V. Tomlin, S. Sullivan