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The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 65,000 articles authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast
Coastal communities are vulnerable to multihazards, which are exacerbated by land subsidence. On the US east coast, the high density of population and assets amplifies the region's exposure to coastal hazards. We utilized measurements of vertical land motion rates obtained from analysis of radar datasets to evaluate the subsidence-hazard exposure to population, assets, and infrastructure...
Authors
Leonard O. Ohenhen, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Patrick L. Barnard
K-12 trade books’ representation of earthquake safety and protective actions: A content analysis K-12 trade books’ representation of earthquake safety and protective actions: A content analysis
Meaningful learning resources for earthquake safety and survival have become an increasingly important topic among geoscientists, especially educators and researchers. Various members of the public, especially K-12 (ages 5–18) learners, continue to depend on scientific trade books available at their local public and school libraries for information about earthquake concepts. To our...
Authors
Samuel Nyarko, Danielle F. Sumy, Sara K. McBride
Broad scale community-level larval fish survey of southern Lake Erie Broad scale community-level larval fish survey of southern Lake Erie
The early-life history stages of fish are sensitive to environmental change and therefore can indicate habitat quality as well as help predict recruitment of resident and transient fishes. In 2019, as part of the Lake Erie Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative, we conducted a lake-wide assessment of the ichthyoplankton community in U.S. nearshore waters and international offshore...
Authors
Robin L. DeBruyne, Zachary A. Amidon, Matthew Joseph Angelosanto, Emily Ann Eberly, Dimitry Gorsky, Stacey Ireland, Christine Mayer, Stacy Provo, Haley VanScoyoc, James M. Watkins, Edward F. Roseman
Investigating the atmospheric conditions associated with impactful shallow landslides in California (USA) Investigating the atmospheric conditions associated with impactful shallow landslides in California (USA)
Shallow landslides are often triggered during rainfall events, which can increase subsurface soil water pressure and destabilize hillslopes. The likelihood of regional shallow landslide initiation is often assessed through a comparison of rainfall intensity and duration to pre-established thresholds. While informative for landslide warning, this exclusive focus on rainfall exceeding...
Authors
Nina S. Oakley, Jonathan P. Perkins, Samuel M. Bartlett, Brian D. Collins, Karimah Halona Comstock, Dianne L. Brien, W.P. Burgess, Skye C. Corbett
What can conservation culturomics tell us about factors driving public interest in aquatic endangered species What can conservation culturomics tell us about factors driving public interest in aquatic endangered species
The field of “Conservation Culturomics” uses large datasets of freely available web-data to understand cultural patterns and public interests related to conservation topics. We used a popular culturomics tool based on search engine usage to investigate how the U.S. Endangered Species Act listing actions may influence public interest in imperiled freshwater taxa. Yet questions remain...
Authors
Michael J. Moore, A. A Hyman
Larval Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) zooplankton consumption remains constant despite variation in prey densities in western Lake Erie Larval Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) zooplankton consumption remains constant despite variation in prey densities in western Lake Erie
Larval fish growth and survival could be limited or reduced due to patchiness of zooplankton densities, even in productive aquatic systems. Recent declines in Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) populations prompted research to identify underlying mechanisms controlling survival at early life stages. In Lake Erie, the bottleneck window controlling year-class strength of Lake...
Authors
Zachary J Amidon, Robin L. DeBruyne, Edward F. Roseman, Christine Mayer, Alexis Sakas
Hit snooze: An imperiled hibernator assesses spring snow conditions to decide whether to terminate hibernation or reenter torpor Hit snooze: An imperiled hibernator assesses spring snow conditions to decide whether to terminate hibernation or reenter torpor
Many animals follow annual cycles wherein physiology and behavior change seasonally. Hibernating mammals undergo one of the most drastic seasonal alterations of physiology and behavior, the timing of which can have significant fitness consequences. The environmental cues regulating these profound phenotypic changes will heavily influence whether hibernators acclimate and ultimately adapt...
Authors
Austin Z.T. Allison, Courtney J. Conway, Alice E Morris, Amanda R. Goldberg, Kristin Lohr, Russell Richards, Jon Almack
Ecology of Lake Erie - Chemistry, plankton & planktivory: A synthesis Ecology of Lake Erie - Chemistry, plankton & planktivory: A synthesis
As with other large lake ecosystems worldwide, Lake Erie can be considered a moving target for management, owing to physicochemical and biological changes brought on by anthropogenic change, both planned (e.g. nutrient and fisheries management) and unplanned (e.g. climate change, invasive species, modified land-use activities). These changes have challenged efforts to conserve...
Authors
Stuart A. Ludsin, Mohiuddin Munawar, Robin L. DeBruyne, E. Todd Howell, Jeffrey Tyson, James M. Watkins
Managed wetlands for climate action: Potential greenhouse gas and subsidence mitigation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Managed wetlands for climate action: Potential greenhouse gas and subsidence mitigation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
In the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta), widespread drainage of historical wetlands has led to extensive subsidence and peat carbon losses, as well as high ongoing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Large-scale wetland restoration and conversion to rice fields has the potential to mitigate these effects while conferring flood protection and creating habitat for wetland species. To...
Authors
Lydia Smith Vaughn, Steven J. Deverel, Stephanie Panlasigui, Judith Z. Drexler, Marc A. Olds, Jose T. Diaz, Kendall F. Harris, James Morris, J. Letitia Grenier, April H. Robinson, Donna A. Ball
Morphotypical and geochemical variations of planktic foraminiferal species in Siberian and Central Arctic Ocean core tops Morphotypical and geochemical variations of planktic foraminiferal species in Siberian and Central Arctic Ocean core tops
In this work, we utilize a transect of core top, mid- to late Holocene, sediments from the Eastern Siberian Sea to the central Arctic Ocean, spanning gradients in upper-ocean water column properties, to examine regional planktic foraminiferal species abundances and geochemistry. We present species- and morphotype-specific foraminiferal assemblages at these sites and stable isotope...
Authors
Maya Prabhakar, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Thomas M. Cronin, Laura Gemery, Elizabeth Thomas, Patrick Rafter
Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products
Global changes in climate and land use are threatening natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the ecosystem services people rely on. This is why it is necessary to track and monitor spatiotemporal change at a level of detail that can inform science, management, and policy development. The current constellation of multiple Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites collecting imagery at...
Authors
Volker C. Radeloff, David P. Roy, Mike Wulder, Martha Anderson, Bruce D. Cook, Christopher J. Crawford, Mark Friedl, Feng Gao, Noel Gorelick, Matthew Hansen, Sean Healey, Patrick Hostert, Glynn Hulley, Justin Huntington, Dave Johnson, Christopher Neigh, Alexei Lyapustin, Leo Lymburner, Nima Pahlevan, Jean-Francois Pekel, Theodore A. Scambos, Crystal Schaaf, Peter Strobl, Eric Vermote, Curtis Woodcock, Hankui K. Zhang, Zhe Zhu
A latest Pleistocene and Holocene composite tephrostratigraphic framework for northeastern North America A latest Pleistocene and Holocene composite tephrostratigraphic framework for northeastern North America
Lakes and bogs in northeastern North America preserve tephra deposits sourced from multiple volcanic systems in the Northern Hemisphere. However, most studies of these deposits focus on specific Holocene intervals and the latest Pleistocene, providing snapshots rather than a full picture. We combine new data with previous work, supplemented by a broad review of the characteristics and...
Authors
Britta J.L. Jensen, Lauren J. Davies, Connor J. Nolan, Sean Pyne-O’Donnell, Alistair J. Monteath, Vera Ponomareva, Maxim Portnyagin, Robert K Booth, Marcus Bursik, Elizabeth Cook, Gill Plunkett, James W. Vallance, Yantao Luo, Les C. Cwynar, Paul Hughes, D. Graham Pearson