USGS CoreCast

An updated USGS assessment on the economic recoverability of undiscovered, conventional oil and gas resources within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) and adjacent state waters is available. Economically recoverable resources are those that can be sold at a price that covers the total costs from finding the resource to getting it the market. Join us as we talk to USGS scientist Emil Attanasi and USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator Brenda Pierce.

2011 had been predicted to be a particularly bad year for flooding in the northern Plains and upper Midwest. Areas along the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota and the James Rivers in the Dakotas are still experiencing flooding from snowmelt. Now extreme rainfall is causing severe flooding along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Record floods are possible in some areas. In this episode of CoreCast host Kara Capelli interviews Bob Holmes, USGS National Flood Hazard Coordinator.

Earthquakes – and large ones at that – threaten to shake residents and buildings of the central and eastern United States, a reality that scientists, emergency responders and others hope to drive home during the bicentennial of the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Scientific presentations and discussions about these historic events and recent major earthquakes conclude today at the annual Seismological Society of America Meeting in Memphis.

Insect-eating bats provide pest-control services that save the U.S. agriculture industry over $3 billion per year, according to a study released today in the journal Science. However, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Pretoria in South Africa, University of Tennessee, and Boston University who contributed to the study warn that these valuable animals are at risk: Bat populations are declining due to fatalities associated with White-Nose Syndrome and wind turbines, which could lead to significant economic losses on U.S. farms. Paul Cryan, USGS scientist and an author of the report, discusses these findings.

Earthquakes affect Earth’s intricate plumbing system. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011 affected water levels in groundwater wells in many places in the United States. In this episode of CoreCast USGS Geophysicist Evelyn Roeloffs explains this phenomenon.

Four previously undiscovered photos of undocumented Russian Crown Jewels were recently discovered in the USGS library. The photos appear in a 1922 album called ‘Russian Diamond Fund ’ that was uncovered in the rare book room of the library.

America has questions about climate change, and the USGS has real answers. In this episode of Climate Connections, USGS scientists answer questions gathered from students at H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, DC. Questions include:

• If you could tell the public one thing about climate change, what would it be?
• Does climate change impact humans or animals more?
• How will climate change affect DC?
• When did climate change begin?