USGS Scientist Paul Hsieh, 2011 Federal Employee of the Year

The USGS scientist Dr. Paul Hsieh was named Federal Employee of the Year, highlighting the value of our science to the Nation. Hsieh was recognized by the Partnership for Public Servicefor his timely scientific analysis that convinced Federal leaders responding to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that the cap placed over the Macondo well was working, allowing for a safe shutdown.

DOI Assistant Secretary Anne Castle Christens the USGS R/V Kaho. The Kaho is one of two sister ships that will begin research work in the Great Lakes.

USGS scientists worked on several regional and national issues. We contributed to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including new treatment tools to help control Asian carp, an invasive species, and launch of new research vessels being deployed to understand the deep-water ecosystems and fishes of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. USGS water quality monitoring and analysis, and water availability monitoring is taking place in waterways across the Nation at seven pilot locations that are part of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership: the Anacostia, Patapsco, Harlem, Bronx, and Los Angeles watersheds; the South Platte River, and the Lake Pontchartrain area. In the Grand Canyon, USGS science on uranium resources, hydrology, and the past impacts of mining informed the decision to withdraw Federal lands around the Grand Canyon from new mining claims. USGS science also played a significant role in Department of the Interior Natural Resource Damage Assessmentsettlements including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Tyrone Mine area in New Mexico.

Wind turbines at certain sites in North America each cause dozens of bat fatalities per year.

On the new energy frontier the USGS continues to lead the way in the Department of the Interior with the release of “Wind Energy in the United States and Materials Required for the Land Based Wind Turbine Industry from 2010 Through 2030.” The data suggest that, with the exception of rare earth elements, there should not be a shortage of the principal materials required for electricity generation from wind energy. In the area of wind and wildlife, our scientists are using near-infrared videography to monitor and research bat activity at wind turbines, as a side effect of the expansion of wind energy is increased bird and bat mortality at turbines. We also continue to focus on conventional sources of energy development, evidenced in our summary report of the science needs for conventional energy development for the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. In the area of unconventional gas, the USGS worked with the Department of Energy and provided information for their report on the needed reforms for unconventional gas production, and the USGS is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and DOE on a strategy to fill those research gaps.

A submarine berg emerges from the advancing terminus of Yahtse Glacier. Iceberg calving is a key process in the global sea level budget.

In the area of climate change, the USGS completed the establishment of the eight climate science centers across the country with universities and consortia in Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Arizona. We also completed a study measuring the amount of stored carbon in the ecosystems of the Great Plains. This study was the first regional report that applied a comprehensive methodology designed by the USGS in 2010.

Scientists hike up the Little Colorado River to assist in installing remote PIT tag readers to more efficiently keep track of native, endangered fish populations.

Water continues to be a contentious issue in various parts of the country. In 2011, the USGS launched a geographic focus study on the Colorado River basin, part of the WaterSMART availability and land use assessment, a three-year study that will provide an inventory of water supply and demand. The effort includes assessing water needed to support ecosystems and will report significant competition over water resources and the factors causing the competition. Water information can also be sent to your email inbox or your phone, thanks to WaterAlert. This tool allows users to be notified daily of water levels at any of our 7,600 real-time streamgages across the country. Addressing the Nation’s water resource challenges is a priority for the USGS, and in 2011 we formed an innovative partnership to do just that with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This partnership will provide a one-stop portal to integrated water information for stakeholders with forecasts showing where water for drinking, industry, and ecosystems will be available.

Josh Latimore stands in front of Burney Falls. Latimore started at the USGS as a summer intern and now serves as a USGS hydrologic technician while pursuing his bachelor of science.

The USGS engaged in a wide array of youth activities nationwide in 2011. From the collaboration with GeoFORCE at the University of Texas-Austin, to the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program’s EDMAP training component, to the Rocky Mountain Science and Sustainability Summer Academy (RMSSN). GeoFORCE engages minority high school students in the earth sciences, the EDMAP encourages high school graduates of this program to continue to work with the USGS throughout their college careers, and RMSSN provides training in field observation, data entry, and scientific communication to diverse students.

This map shows the various reported levels of shaking around Oklahoma City after the November 5 M5.6 earthquake

The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill, held in April of 2011, is just one example of the USGS’s role in preparing for and responding to natural hazards. Another example is the National Earthquake Information Center’s provision of real-time data to on the magnitude and potential damage of the August earthquake in Virginia, and the November earthquake and aftershocks in Oklahoma. To better monitor aftershocks, mobile seismic monitors were deployed, bringing the total of earthquake sensors in the Advanced National Seismic System to over 2,200. Flooding was also a concern last year, with more than 30 states affected. To educate Congress about the 2011 floods, we conducted a congressional briefing titled “2011 — The Year of the Flood?” For more than 100 years the USGS has played a critical role in reducing flood losses by operating a nationwide streamgage network that monitors the water level and flow of the Nation’s rivers and streams. This information was critical to the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to simultaneously open the Mississippi River floodgates for the first time.

The 2006 image (left) show the river in a more normal state, while the 2011 image (right) shows the massive flooding. The dark blue tones represent water or flooded areas, the light green is cleared fields, and light tones are clouds.

During the heavy flooding that occurred on the Mississippi River, Missouri River, and other major waterways, the USGS’s Landsat satellites produced images of the affected areas to provide an overview of the situation. Landsat has often helped provide a big-picture perspective on natural hazards both domestic and foreign and ranging from tornados to tsunamis to wildfires. Landsat is a joint effort of both USGS and NASA. In addition to imagery of natural hazard events, Landsat provides valuable data for land use research and advances the Department of the Interior’s important role in land remote sensing under the President’s National Space Policy. Landsat images provide complete global coverage, they are available for free, and they span nearly 40 years of continuous earth observation. No other satellite imagery has that combination of attributes. To date, over 6 million scenes have been downloaded; over 2.6 million were downloaded in 2011.

These highlights are but a few of the USGS’s significant accomplishments and activities in 2011. Keep up with what we do in 2012 by visiting www.usgs.gov and following us on Twitter @usgs or on Facebook.

Gagehouse at 06225500 Wind River near Crowheart WY right before it washed away.

The tips, below, include some of the newest USGS-led research on toxics in the environment and their effects to life on Earth.

Boston High School Students Learn about Environmental Toxicology at SETAC Wed., Nov. 16 9:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Green Team Boston Service Project 206

Scientists and volunteers from industry, academia, and government will welcome 30 students from underserved high schools in Boston and their teachers to a day at the SETAC annual meeting.  This service project, intended to bring something unique to the SETAC host city, will introduce the students to a professional conference, the jobs done by environmental professions, and environmental toxicology.

In the Exploratorium, students will talk to scientists and learn about mercury biomagnification, sustainable design, toxics testing in water, use of organisms in water quality assessments, environmental impact of cleaning agents and personal care products, and the growing problem of plastics in our oceans.

USGS scientist Adria Elskus, Emily Monosson (Montague, Mass.), and Nancy Bettinger (Mass. DEP) developed this project.

A Changing Climate Changes More than just the Temperature

Speaker: Pamela Noyes, Duke University

Coauthor: M.J. Hooper, U.S. Geological Survey

As the world’s climate changes, its effects will be far-reaching, even into the realm of toxicology and the regulation of chemicals in our environment. Climatic changes can alter how different chemicals react to each other in the environment, impact the behavior of plants and animals, and even effect organisms’ metabolisms. As a result, studies of contaminants and their effects on organisms need to take climate change into account. USGS and its academic colleagues will present their findings on the effects of global climate change on how contaminants affect organisms and how that knowledge can aid in risk and damage assessments.  This presentation is part of a larger symposium reporting on a SETAC Pellston workshop on Global Climate Change and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.  The workshop was supported by USGS and organized with the assistance of USGS scientists.

Presentation Title: Mechanistic Toxicology in the Face of Global Climate Change

Time/Location: Ballroom B, 8:50-9:10a.m., Wednesday, November 16

High Risk in the Grand Canyon

Speaker: David Walters, USGS

Selenium, an important additive for brass plumbing, is toxic both to fish and to animals that eat fish. Worse, it builds up in food webs and becomes magnified as animals eat more fish that have been exposed to selenium. The Colorado River, which courses through the Grand Canyon, is well-known to have extremely high rates of selenium exposure, with more than 30 metric tonnes of dissolved Selenium flowing through the Grand Canyon per year. However, the stretch of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon had not been extensively studied for selenium contamination, largely due to the difficulty in reaching it. To remedy this lack, USGS scientists and their academic colleagues sampled and analyzed the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, finding selenium buildup in the food webs well above established risk levels.

Presentation Title: A Quantitative Food Web Approach for Estimating Selenium

Flux in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon

Time/Location: Exhibit Hall, 8:00a.m., Thursday, November 17

Climate Change & Drinking Water

Speaker: Andrew Todd, USGS

In a recent study of the Upper Snake River Basin in Colorado, , which has large deposits of minerals, USGS and academic scientists noticed some concerning trends: trace metals and sulfate concentrations were on the rise, threatening fish populations and potentially impacting drinking water supplies downstream. Although there were a few mines in the area, they were not in operation during the study, indicating another cause for the increase in contaminants was likely. One plausible scenario, which will be discussed, is that changes to underground water behavior and seasonal shifts due to climate change could be the driving force.

Presentation Title: Potential Effects of Climate Change on Water Quality in Mineralized Watersheds

Time/Location: Ballroom B, 11:30a.m., Wednesday, November 16

Heavy Metals: Do They Interfere with the Survival of Young Sturgeons?

Presenters: Robin Calfee, Ning Wang, Ed Little

White Sturgeon of the Columbia River are endangered, and part of the problem could be exposure  of their offspring to heavy metals, such as copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium that have contaminated their habitat as a result of metal processing activities.. To test whether or not these metals were affecting white sturgeon, USGS scientists tested both young sturgeon and rainbow trout at various stages of development with exposures to copper, zinc, cadmium, or lead.  Their results showed significant effects from the metals in the survival, growth, and behavior of the sturgeon specifically during early life stages. These effects are significant enough to indicate the metals may contribute to the lack of recruitment of young sturgeon in metal-contaminated sites.

Time/Location: Exhibit Hall, 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 16

Exhibits:

• Wednesday poster (WP223): Robin D. Calfee, Holly J. Puglis , Edward E. Little, Erinn Beahan (USGS, Columbia MO), Chris Mebane (USGS, Boise, ID), Eric Van Genderen (International Zinc Association, Durham, NC). Acute Sensitivity of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Copper, Cadmium, and Zinc.
• Wednesday poster (WP224): Ning Wang, Chris G. Ingersoll, Bill Brumbaugh, James Kunz, Rebecca Consbrock, Doug Hardesty (USGS, Columbia, MO); Chris Mebane (USGS, Boise, ID), Eric Van Genderen (International Zinc Association, Durham, NC). Sensitivity of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Selected Metals in Chronic Water-only Exposures .
• Wednesday poster (WP226): Edward E. Little, Robin D. Calfee, Holly J. Puglis, Erinn Beahan (USGS, Columbia MO).  Sublethal Effects on Behavior of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Copper, Cadmium, and Zinc.
• Wednesday Poster (WP230): Ed Little, Robin Calfee (USGS, Columbia, MO): Toxicity of Smelter Slag-Contaminated Sediments and Associated Metals from Lake Roosevelt to White Sturgeon.

Intersex Fish: Do Birth Control Chemicals Make Male Fish Grow Eggs?

Speaker: Diana Papoulias, USGS

Intersex fish, and specifically male fish exhibiting female traits, have been reported increasingly often, prompting significant research into the causes of this phenomenon. One possible culprit is chemicals that behave like estrogen, such as ethinyl estradiol, an active chemical in some birth control pills. USGS and academic colleagues studied largemouth bass in an attempt to see what effects, if any, a long exposure to a low concentration of ethinyl estradiol would have  on the ability of the bass to reproduce . They observed decreased size of the reproductive organs, increased production of egg yolk protein, and after 18 months of exposure small eggs were just beginning to appear in the male testes.

Presentation Title: Estrogenic Effects on Largemouth Bass at Multiple Biological Levels from Chronic Ethinyl Estradiol Exposure Following an Adverse Outcomes Paradigm

Time/Location: Room 311, 5:25 p.m., Tuesday, November 15

USEPA/USGS Study of CECs in Source Water and Finished Drinking Water: Pharmaceuticals and Anthropogenic Indicator Compounds

Speaker: E.T. Furlong

The author will discuss the pharmaceutical and indicator compound portion of a joint EPA/USGS study started in 2010 to measure more than 230 compounds of emerging concern in the source and treated drinking water throughout the United States.

Time/Location: Room 302, 8:25 a.m., Tuesday, November 15

Large Volatilization Losses of PAHs Soon After Application of Coal-Tar-Based Pavement Sealant

Speaker: P. Van Metre,

Preliminary results of USGS research suggest that coal-tar-based pavement sealants, recognized as a source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to urban streams and lakes, are a potentially important source of PAHs to the air as well. A large volume of PAHs is released when coal-tar based sealants are applied to pavement.  Concentrations of PAHs in air two hours after sealant was applied were about 5,000 times higher than in air over unsealed pavement and even two weeks after application, concentrations remained about 500 times higher.

Time/Location: Room 302, 2:45 p.m., Tuesday, November 15

Contact: Alex Demas               (571) 335-6535