Climate Variability

USGS water-related projects of international interest.

The USGS is evaluating the integration of small unoccupied aircraft systems – sUAS or "drones" – into USGS hydrogeophysical studies. The following projects are part of a Water Resources Mission Area demonstration and evaluation effort in collaboration with USGS Water Science Centers (WSCs) starting in June 2018.

Water and the chemicals it contains are constantly being exchanged between the land surface and the subsurface. Surface water seeps into the ground and recharges the underlying aquifer—groundwater discharges to the surface and supplies the stream with baseflow. USGS Integrated Watershed Studies assess these exchanges and their effect on surface-water and groundwater quality and quantity.

The NASA-USGS National Blue Carbon Monitoring System project will evaluate the relative uncertainty of iterative modeling approaches to estimate coastal wetland (marsh and mangrove) C stocks and fluxes based on changes in wetland distributions, using nationally available datasets (Landsat) and as well as finer scale satellite and field derived data in six sentinel sites.

The Global Science and Data Network for Coastal Blue Carbon (SBC) brings together scientists from a wide range of disciplines. Our goal is to increase the accuracy of and confidence in local, regional, and global estimates of carbon cycle processes, fluxes, and storage as well as greenhouse gas emissions from coastal ecosystems, and to allow global access to quality controlled coastal ecosystem...

Corrosivity describes how aggressive water is at corroding pipes and fixtures. Corrosive water can cause lead and copper in pipes to leach into drinking water and can eventually cause leaks in plumbing. Surface water and groundwater, both sources of drinking water, can potentially be corrosive.

Humans, just like aquatic organisms, need water. Flood control, urban infrastructure, irrigation of agriculture, and myriad other ways we manage water affect the natural flow of streams and rivers. How do the ways we manage land and water affect the natural patterns of streamflow that ecosystems depend on?

Regional groundwater availability studies enable information about groundwater to be integrated and consistent, so that this resource can be analyzed and understood on an aquifer–wide scale. These studies provide decision–makers with a better understanding of the status and trends in the Nation's groundwater availability.

The USGS is undertaking a 3-year study of water availability and use to investigate competing societal and ecological needs in Southeastern Atlantic Coastal Basins of the Carolinas. This study will compile existing information, add new scientific data and interpretation, and develop tools to help resource managers and stakeholders address current and future water-use challenges.

For the past 50 years, the USGS has been conducting research in the San Francisco Bay and Delta, California and beyond. This research would not have been possible without the Research Vessel (R/V) Polaris . Many scientists who have been fortunate to work on the Polaris have come and gone, but the Polaris sailed from the South San Francisco Bay continuously from 1968 until her retirement in 2015.

Methyl halide contaminants are oxidized in a reaction chamber containing a methylotrophic bacterium through direct oxidation of the methyl halide contaminant. (Full details provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.)