Publications

Spilled oil in inland waterways can aggregate with mineral and organic particles to form oil-particle aggregates (OPAs). OPAs can be transported in suspension or deposited to the bed. Modeling the fate and transport of OPAs can provide useful information for making mitigation decisions. A novel open-source tool, FluOil, is developed to predict where OPAs may deposit and when they arrive in affecte

Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), collected from 13 remote lakes located in southwestern Alaska, were analyzed for carbon, nitrogen, and mercury (Hg) stable isotope values to assess the importance of migrating oceanic salmon, volcanic activity, and atmospheric deposition to fish Hg burden. Methylmercury (MeHg) bioaccumulation in phytoplankton (5.0–6.9 kg L–1) was also measured to quantify the bas

Accurately determining sediment loads is necessary for managing river environments but is difficult because multiple processes can lead to large discharge-independent changes in sediment transport. Thus, estimations of sediment load using discharge–sediment rating curves fit to sparse or historical sediment-transport measurements can be inaccurate, necessitating alternative approaches to reduce un

The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) cooperated with the U.S. Geological Survey to establish a 10-year suspended sediment and bedload monitoring and streamflow modeling study to evaluate the effects of two restored meander sections on middle Rice Creek in Arden Hills, Minnesota. The RCWD goals of this stream restoration were to reduce water quality impairments, improve aquatic habitat, and red

Green Lake is the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin, with a maximum depth of about 72 meters. In the early 1900s, the lake was believed to have very good water quality (low nutrient concentrations and good water clarity) with low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations occurring in only the deepest part of the lake. Because of increased phosphorus (P) inputs from anthropogenic activities in it

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) created a virtual training series for the Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW), now known as the National Water Affairs Regulation Authority (NWARA), to provide critical hydrological training as an alternative to an in-person training. The USGS was scheduled to provide in-person surface-water training for NWARA during 2020; however, travel was halted bec

Hyperparameter optimization approaches were applied to improve performance and accuracy of groundwater flow models. Freely available new software, NWTOPT, is described that uses Tree of Parzen Estimators (TPE) and Random Search algorithms to optimize MODFLOW-NWTs solver settings. We ran 3500 trials on a steady-state and transient model. To quantify the performance of candidate solver settings, we

Since they were first introduced to the United States more than 50 years ago, invasive carp have rapidly colonized rivers of the Mississippi River Basin, with detrimental effects on native aquatic species. Their continued range expansion, and potential for subsequent invasion of the Great Lakes, has led to increased concern for the susceptibility of as-yet uncompromised lotic and lentic systems in

Fluvial systems provide a variety of habitats that support thousands of species including many that are threatened or endangered. Moreover, these habitats, which range from aquatic and riparian to floodplain, are important for the variety of ecosystem services they provide. In addition to water temperature and streamflow change, geomorphic change is important and warrants consideration as one of t

No abstract available. 

Lake St. Clair Metropark Beach (LSCMB) in Michigan is a public beach near the mouth of the Clinton River that has a history of beach closures for public health concerns. The Clinton River is designated as a Great Lakes Area of Concern, and the park has a Beneficial Use Impairment for beach closings because of elevated Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooper

Underground infiltration basins (UIBs) mimic the natural hydrologic cycle by allowing stormwater to recharge local groundwater aquifers. However, little is known about the potential transport of organic contaminants to receiving groundwater. We conducted a pilot study in which we collected paired grab samples of stormwater runoff flowing into two UIBs (inflow) and shallow groundwater adjacent to t