Publications

Decades of acidic deposition have adversely affected aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in acid-sensitive watersheds in parts of the eastern United States. The national Acid Rain Program (Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments - CAAA) helped reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and resulted in sharp decreases in the acidity of atmospheric deposition. The decrea

Although many of the algorithms now considered to be machine learning algorithms (MLAs) have existed for nearly a century (e.g., Rosenblatt 1958), interest in MLAs has recently increased exponentially for solving data-driven problems across a variety of fields due to the expanded availability of large, complex datasets that may be difficult to interrogate using other methods, increases in computin

Compound flooding, resulting from a combination of riverine and coastal processes, is a complex but important hazard to resolve along urbanized shorelines in the vicinity of river mouths. However, inland flooding models rarely consider oceanographic conditions, and vice versa for coastal flood models. Here, we describe the development of an operational, integrated coastal-watershed flooding model

Soil calcium depletion has been strongly linked to acidic deposition in eastern North America and recent studies have begun to document the recovery of soils in response to large decreases in acidic deposition. However, increased calcium availability has not yet been seen in the B horizon, where calcium depletion has been most acute, but mineral weathering is critically important for resupplying e

Acid rain was first recognized in the 1970s in North America and Europe as an atmospheric pollutant that was causing harm to ecosystems. In response, the U.S. Congress enacted Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAA) in 1990 to reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants. This study reports trends in wet-precipitation chemistry in response to emissions reductio

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, catalogued aquifers and closed depressions in a karst-prone area between Albany and Buffalo, New York to provide resource managers information to more efficiently manage and protect groundwater resources. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has been working with the

Acidic deposition is the result of upwind sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) emissions into the atmosphere from human activities. Environmental impacts from acidic deposition across forested landscapes include acidification of soil and drainage water, depletion of available soil nutrient bases, and impacts to and changes in forest and aquatic species composition and biodiversity. Acidic deposition can mo

Repeated sampling to detect changes in forest soils was rarely used before 1990, but the value of soil monitoring in understanding environmental change is becoming well established. The growing number of resampling studies has shown that sampling designs and procedures must be adapted to the objectives of the monitoring program and the soils being monitored. In the Adirondack region, current pri

With the advent of highly precise total stations and modern surveying instrumentation, trigonometric leveling has become a compelling alternative to conventional leveling methods for establishing vertical-control networks and for perpetuating a datum to field sites. Previous studies of trigonometric-leveling measurement uncertainty proclaim that first-, second-, and third-order accuracies may be a

A three-dimensional groundwater-flow model was developed for the aquifer system of Long Island, New York, to evaluate (1) responses of the hydrologic system to changes in natural and anthropogenic hydraulic stresses, (2) the subsurface distribution of groundwater age, and (3) the regional-scale distribution of groundwater travel times and the source of water to fresh surface waters and coastal rec

Mercury is an environmentally ubiquitous neurotoxin, and its methylated form presents health risks to humans and other biota, primarily through dietary intake. Because methylmercury bioaccumulates and biomagnifies in living tissue, concentrations progressively increase at higher trophic positions in ecosystem food webs. Therefore, the greatest health risks are for organisms at the highest trophic

Mortality of juvenile brook trout and water chemistry were characterized in six western Adirondack streams in northern New York State during spring 2015, 2016, and 2017 and compared with results from comparable tests done between 1980 and 2003 in many of the same streams to assess temporal changes in inorganic monomeric aluminum (Ali) concentrations, Ali-toxicity, and the role of Ali-exposure dura