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New York Water Science Center publications

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Filter Total Items: 674

Effects of a large flood on sediment and turbidity reduction projects in the Esopus Creek watershed, NY

On December 24-25, 2020, 7.3 to 14.6 cm of rain fell on a large snowpack in the upper Esopus Creek (UEC) watershed in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The resulting flood had an annual exceedance probability (AEP) of 4 to 20% (recurrence intervals of 25 to 5 years) in streams across the watershed, resulted in substantial geomorphic adjustments in some stream channels, and transported the highes
Authors
Jason Siemion, Wae D. Davis, Donald B. Bonville

Bedrock-surface elevation and overburden thickness maps of the five boroughs, New York City, New York

Digital maps of bedrock elevation and overburden thickness (depth to bedrock) were constructed for the five boroughs of New York City by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New York City Department of Design and Construction, from a compilation of historical and newly acquired data. Raster surfaces were interpolated from a point database containing data from more than 14,000 locati
Authors
Laura M. DeMott, Frederick Stumm, Jason S. Finkelstein

Use of environmental DNA to assess American Eel distribution, abundance, and barriers in a river-canal system

Objective: The American Eel Anguilla rostrata historically was one of the most common fish species in Atlantic coast watersheds, but extensive dam construction and other factors caused a widespread population decline. One of the watersheds where American Eels have declined considerably is the Mohawk River in eastern and central New York. Recent attempts to characterize the distribution and abundan
Authors
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Christopher B. Rees, Meredith L. Bartron, John J. Wiley, Daniel S. Stich, Scott M. Wells, Dylan R. Winterhalter

Monitoring of wave, current, and sediment dynamics along the Chincoteague living shoreline, Virginia

Nature-based features, also called living shorelines, are increasingly applied in coastal protection and restoration. However, the processes and mechanisms (feedbacks and interactions) of wave attenuation, current velocity change, and sediment deposition and erosion along the living shoreline remain unclear, thus limiting the adaptive management of living shoreline restoration projects for coastal
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Q. Chen, Nan Wang, William D. Capurso, L.M. Niemoczynski, Ling Zhu, G.A. Snedden, Kevin S. Holcomb, Bowdoin W. Lusk, Carol W. Wilson, Sean R. Cornell

Paired Air and Stream Temperature Analysis (PASTA) to evaluate groundwater influence on streams

Groundwater is critical for maintaining stream baseflow and thermal stability; however, the influence of groundwater on streamflow has been difficult to evaluate at broad spatial scales. Techniques such as baseflow separation necessitate streamflow records and do not directly indicate whether groundwater inflow may be sourced from more dynamic shallow flowpaths. We present a web tool application P
Authors
Danielle K. Hare, Susanne A. Benz, Barret L. Kurylyk, Zachary Johnson, Neil Terry, Ashley M. Helton

Invasive Round Goby in the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers: What’s the latest?

The Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is an invasive benthic fish indigenous to the Ponto-Caspian region of Eurasia. It recently colonized the Great Lakes and has expanded eastward through the New York State Canal System over the past decade. The species was first documented in the Mohawk River watershed in 2014 and was found in the Hudson River in 2021. Round Goby can adversely affect aquatic e
Authors
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Christopher B. Rees, Meredith L. Bartron, Richard M. Pendleton, Steven Pearson

Field techniques for fluorescence measurements targeting dissolved organic matter, hydrocarbons, and wastewater in environmental waters: Principles and guidelines for instrument selection, operation and maintenance, quality assurance, and data reporting

The use of field deployable fluorescence sensors by the U.S. Geological Survey has become increasingly common for a wide variety of surface water and groundwater investigations. This report addresses field deployable fluorometers that measure the fluorescence response of various substances in water exposed to incident light generated by the sensor. An introduction to the basic principles of field
Authors
Amanda Booth, Jacob Fleck, Brian A. Pellerin, Angela Hansen, Alexandra Etheridge, Guy M. Foster, Jennifer L. Graham, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Kurt D. Carpenter, Bryan D. Downing, Stewart A. Rounds, JohnFranco Saraceno

Adjusting design floods for urbanization across groundwater-dominated watersheds of Long Island, NY

The magnitude and variability of floods have increased for many nontidal streams on Long Island (LI), NY since the mid-20th century. One of the most densely populated regions of the United States, LI has experienced amplified floods in step with increases in impervious land cover, storm, and sanitary sewers that have accompanied urban development. To better understand the drivers of observed flood
Authors
Robin Lee Glas, Jory Seth Hecht, Amy E. Simonson, Christopher L. Gazoorian, Christopher E. Schubert

Assessing impaired benthic communities using sediment toxicity and contaminant concentrations from reference sites inside the Niagara River Area of Concern

Anthropogenically degraded benthic-macroinvertebrate communities (benthos) are one of seven beneficial use impairments (BUIs) in the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC). Over the last 50 years, upgrades to waste-water treatment, industry closures, and sediment remediations reduced contaminant levels throughout the system. Improvements in benthic communities and sediment toxicity, however, were dif
Authors
Barry P. Baldigo, Scott D. George, Andrew Lenox, Mark Filipski, Brian T. Duffy

Metagenomic mapping of cyanobacteria and potential cyanotoxin producing taxa in large rivers of the United States

Cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin producing cyanobacterial blooms are a trending focus of current research. Many studies focus on bloom events in lentic environments such as lakes or ponds. Comparatively few studies have explored lotic environments and fewer still have examined the cyanobacterial communities and potential cyanotoxin producers during ambient, non-bloom conditions. Here we used a metagen
Authors
D.M. Linz, N. Sienkiewicz, I. Struewing, Erin A. Stelzer, Jennifer L. Graham, Jingrang Lu

Groundwater quality in the Mohawk and western New York River Basins, New York, 2016

Water samples were collected from July through December 2016 from 9 production wells and 13 domestic wells in the Mohawk River Basin, and from 17 production wells and 17 domestic wells in the western New York River Basins. The samples were collected and processed by using standard U.S. Geological Survey methods and were analyzed for 320 physicochemical properties and constituents, including dissol
Authors
Devin L. Gaige, Tia-Marie Scott, James E. Reddy, Meaghan R. Keefe

Field evaluation of semi-automated moisture estimation from geophysics using machine learning

Geophysical methods can provide three-dimensional (3D), spatially continuous estimates of soil moisture. However, point-to-point comparisons of geophysical properties to measure soil moisture data are frequently unsatisfactory, resulting in geophysics being used for qualitative purposes only. This is because (1) geophysics requires models that relate geophysical signals to soil moisture, (2) geoph
Authors
Neil Terry, F.D. Day-Lewis, John W. Lane, Carole D. Johnson, Dale Werkema