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Publications

Browse more than 150,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.

Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Publications

Filter Total Items: 3311

Re‐purposing groundwater flow models for age assessments: Important characteristics Re‐purposing groundwater flow models for age assessments: Important characteristics

Groundwater flow model construction is often time‐consuming and costly, with development ideally focused on a specific purpose, such as quantifying well capture from water bodies or providing flow fields for simulating advective transport. As environmental challenges evolve, the incentive to re‐purpose existing groundwater flow models may increase. However, few studies have evaluated...
Authors
Paul F. Juckem, J. Jeffrey Starn

National-scale reservoir thermal energy storage pre-assessment for the United States National-scale reservoir thermal energy storage pre-assessment for the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey is performing a pre-assessment of the cooling potential for reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) in five generalized geologic regions (Basin and Range, Coastal Plains, Illinois Basin, Michigan Basin, Pacific Northwest) across the United States. Reservoir models are developed for the metropolitan areas of eight cities (Albuquerque, New Mexico; Charleston...
Authors
Jeff D. Pepin, Erick R. Burns, Jesse E. Dickinson, Leslie L. Duncan, Eve L. Kuniansky, Howard W. Reeves

Estimation of suspended sediment at a discontinued streamgage on the lower Minnesota River at Fort Snelling State Park, Minnesota Estimation of suspended sediment at a discontinued streamgage on the lower Minnesota River at Fort Snelling State Park, Minnesota

In the spring of 2019, ice sheets transported down-stream during a large streamflow rise event in the lower Minnesota River destroyed an index-velocity streamgage at the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling State Park, Minnesota (U.S. Geological Survey station 05330920; hereafter referred to as “Ft. Snelling”). The streamgage previously used an acoustic Doppler velocity meter to provide...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Jon S. Hendrickson, Linda R. Loomis

Songbird use of interior and edge floodplain forest sites along the Upper Mississippi River, USA, during spring migration and breeding seasons Songbird use of interior and edge floodplain forest sites along the Upper Mississippi River, USA, during spring migration and breeding seasons

Floodplain forests of large rivers in the midwestern United States are naturally fragmented by sloughs, backwaters, wetlands, and shrub carr. On the highly altered Upper Mississippi River (UMR), resource managers want to protect and manage floodplain forests to benefit forest “interior” bird species. To discover bird relations with interior and edge floodplain forest, we characterized...
Authors
Eileen M. Kirsch, Brian R. Gray

Summary of fish communities along Underwood Creek, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2004–2019 Summary of fish communities along Underwood Creek, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2004–2019

Beginning in 2010, sections of Underwood Creek in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, have undergone reconstruction to allow for improved fish habitat and better management of storm flows. In addition, dam and drop structures were removed to help improve fish migration while reintroducing several native fish species. With the reconstruction of Underwood Creek underway, the Milwaukee...
Authors
Amanda H. Bell, Daniel J. Sullivan, Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry

Summary of available data from the monarch overwintering colonies in central Mexico, 1976–1991 Summary of available data from the monarch overwintering colonies in central Mexico, 1976–1991

Historical estimates of the area occupied by overwintering Danaus plexippus (monarchs) in central Mexico (between winters of 1976 and 1991) were published in García-Serrano and others (2004) and more recently in Mawdsley and others (2020). Our primary objectives were to identify the specific data that informed those estimates and, importantly, determine the degree to which the reported...
Authors
Erin R Zylstra, Wayne E. Thogmartin, M. Isabel Ramirez, Elise F. Zipkin

Exploring the exceptional performance of a deep learning stream temperature model and the value of streamflow data Exploring the exceptional performance of a deep learning stream temperature model and the value of streamflow data

Stream water temperature (Ts) is a variable of critical importance for aquatic ecosystem health. Ts is strongly affected by groundwater-surface water interactions which can be learned from streamflow records, but previously such information was challenging to effectively absorb with process-based models due to parameter equifinality. Based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) deep...
Authors
Farshid Rahmani, Kathryn Lawson, Wenyu Ouyang, Alison P. Appling, Samantha K. Oliver, Chaopeng Shen

Microplastics in the Delaware River, northeastern United States Microplastics in the Delaware River, northeastern United States

Microplastics are a contaminant of increasing concern in aquatic environments. Our understanding of microplastics in freshwater environments has increased dramatically over the past decade, but we still lack information on microplastic occurrence and biological uptake in National Park Service (NPS) waters. During 2015–19, the U.S. Geological Survey and the NPS conducted a three-phase...
Authors
Austin K. Baldwin, Andrew R. Spanjer, Brett Hayhurst, Donald Hamilton

Linking field and laboratory studies: Reproductive effects of perfluorinated substances on avian populations Linking field and laboratory studies: Reproductive effects of perfluorinated substances on avian populations

Although both laboratory and field studies are needed to effectively assess effects and risk of contaminants to free-living organisms, the limitations of each must be understood. The objectives of this paper are to examine information on field studies of reproductive effects of perfluorinated substances (PFASs) on bird populations, discuss the differences among field studies, and then...
Authors
Christine M. Custer

Stoichiometric ecotoxicology for a multisubstance world Stoichiometric ecotoxicology for a multisubstance world

Nutritional and contaminant stressors influence organismal physiology, trophic interactions, community structure, and ecosystem-level processes; however, the interactions between toxicity and elemental imbalance in food resources have been examined in only a few ecotoxicity studies. Integrating well-developed ecological theories that cross all levels of biological organization can...
Authors
Angela Peace, Paul C. Frost, Nicole D. Wagner, Michael Danger, Chiara Accolla, Philipp Antczak, Bryan W. Brooks, David M. Costello, Rebecca A. Everett, Kevin B. Flores, Christopher M. Heggerud, Roxanne Karimi, Yun Kang, Yang Kuang, James H. Larson, Teresa Mathews, Gregory D. Mayer, Justin N. Murdock, Cheryl A. Murphy, Roger M. Nisbet, Laure Pecquerie, Nathan Pollesch, Erica M. Rutter, Kimberly L. Schultz, J. Thad Scott, Louise Stevenson, Hao Wang

Monitoring wetland water quality related to livestock grazing in amphibian habitats Monitoring wetland water quality related to livestock grazing in amphibian habitats

Land use alteration such as livestock grazing can affect water quality in habitats of at-risk wildlife species. Data from managed wetlands are needed to understand levels of exposure for aquatic life stages and monitor grazing-related changes afield. We quantified spatial and temporal variation in water quality in wetlands occupied by threatened Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) at...
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Jennifer Rowe, Christopher Pearl, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Carrie E. Givens, Chauncey W. Anderson, Brome McCreary, Michael J. Adams

Heterogeneous stream-reservoir graph networks with data assimilation Heterogeneous stream-reservoir graph networks with data assimilation

Accurate prediction of water temperature in streams is critical for monitoring and understanding biogeochemical and ecological processes in streams. Stream temperature is affected by weather patterns (such as solar radiation) and water flowing through the stream network. Additionally, stream temperature can be substantially affected by water releases from man-made reservoirs to...
Authors
Shengyu Chen, Alison P. Appling, Samantha K. Oliver, Hayley R. Corson-Dosch, Jordan Read, Jeffrey Michael Sadler, Jacob Aaron Zwart, Xiaowei Jia
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