Reports

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Lubbock and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, developed and calibrated a Soil and Water Assessment Tool watershed model of the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River watershed in western Texas to simulate monthly mean streamflow and to evaluate the effects of brush management on water yields in the watershed...

This report describes a method for estimating ecologically relevant low-flow metrics that quantify late‑season streamflow regime for ungaged sites in the upper Grande Ronde River Basin, Oregon. The analysis presented here focuses on sites sampled by the Columbia River Inter‑Tribal Fish Commission as part of their efforts to monitor habitat restoration to benefit spring Chinook salmon...

Many barrier islands in the United States are eroding and losing elevation substantively because of storm surge, waves, and sea-level changes. This is particularly true for the deltaic barrier system in Louisiana. Breton Island is near the mouth of the Mississippi River at the southern end of the Chandeleur barrier island chain in southeast Louisiana. This report expands on previous...

The Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities has assessed the probability of large earthquakes in the Wasatch Front region. There is a 43 percent probability of one or more magnitude 6.75 or greater earthquakes and a 57 percent probability of one or more magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquakes in the region in the next 50 years. These results highlight the threat of large earthquakes...

Executive Summary In 2013, Landsat 8 began adding high quality, global, moderate-resolution imagery to the more than 40-year archive of Landsat imagery. To assess the potential effects of the availability of Landsat 8 imagery on users and their work, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Land Remote Sensing Program (LRS) initiated a survey of Landsat users. The objectives of the survey were...

Significant Findings An analysis of total-dissolved-gas (TDG) and water-temperature data collected at eight fixed monitoring stations on the lower Columbia River in Oregon and Washington in water year 2015 indicated the following: All but 1 of the 85 TDG sensor laboratory checks that were performed after field deployment were within ±0.5-percent saturation of a primary standard. After 3...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) uses a laser system called ‘lidar’ (light detection and ranging) to create a virtual reality map of the Nation that is very accurate. 3D maps have many uses with new uses being discovered all the time.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is located in the east-central part of the Black Hills area of South Dakota and is challenged to provide drinking water to about 3 million annual visitors and year-round park personnel. An environmental concern to water resources within Mount Rushmore National Memorial has been the annual aerial fireworks display at the memorial for the Independence Day...

As part of a cooperative effort among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, two grids of two-dimensional multichannel seismic reflection data were acquired in the Gulf of Mexico over lease blocks Green Canyon 955 and Walker Ridge 313 between April 18 and May 3, 2013. The purpose of the...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Oregon, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict...

This report presents the annual and monthly minimum 1- and 7-day average streamflows with the 10-year recurrence interval (1Q10 and 7Q10) for 197 continuous-record streamgages in Georgia. Streamgages used in the study included active and discontinued stations having a minimum of 10 complete climatic years of record as of September 30, 2013. The 1Q10 and 7Q10 flow statistics were computed...

In this study, we examine rainfall datasets of varying temporal length, resolution, and spatial distribution to characterize rainfall depth, intensity, and seasonality for monitoring stations along the Colorado River within Marble and Grand Canyons. We identify maximum separation distances between stations at which rainfall measurements might be most useful for inferring rainfall...