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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.

Filter Total Items: 77848

Soil moisture response to seasonal drought conditions and post-thinning forest structure Soil moisture response to seasonal drought conditions and post-thinning forest structure

Prolonged drought conditions in semi-arid forests can lead to widespread vegetation stress and mortality. However, the distribution of these effects is not spatially uniform. We measured soil water potential at high spatial and temporal resolution using 112 sensors distributed across a ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona, USA, during two abnormally dry years with below-average...
Authors
Adam Belmonte, Temuulen T. Sankey, Joel Biedermann, John B. Bradford, Thomas Kolb

Integrating distance sampling survey data with population indices to separate trends in abundance and temporary immigration Integrating distance sampling survey data with population indices to separate trends in abundance and temporary immigration

Managers rely on accurate estimators of wildlife abundance and trends for management decisions. Despite the focus of contemporary wildlife science on developing methods to improve inference from wildlife surveys, legacy datasets often rely on index counts that lack information about the detection process. Data integration can be a useful tool for combining index counts with data...
Authors
Joshua H. Schmidt, Tammy L. Wilson, William L. Thompson, Buck A. Mangipane

Eruption dynamics leading to a volcanic thunderstorm— The January 2020 eruption of Taal volcano, Philippines Eruption dynamics leading to a volcanic thunderstorm— The January 2020 eruption of Taal volcano, Philippines

Advances in global lightning detection have provided novel ways to characterize explosive volcanism. However, researchers are still at the early stages of understanding how volcanic plumes become electrified on different spatial and temporal scales. We deconstructed the phreatomagmatic eruption of Taal volcano (Philippines) on 12 January 2020 to investigate the origin of its powerful...
Authors
Alexa R. Van Eaton, Cassandra M Smith, Michael J. Pavolonis, Ryan Said

No evidence for tephra in Greenland from the historic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE: Implications for geochronology and paleoclimatology No evidence for tephra in Greenland from the historic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE: Implications for geochronology and paleoclimatology

Volcanic fallout in polar ice sheets provides important opportunities to date and correlate ice-core records as well as to investigate the environmental impacts of eruptions. Only the geochemical characterization of volcanic ash (tephra) embedded in the ice strata can confirm the source of the eruption, however, and is a requisite if historical eruption ages are to be used as valid...
Authors
Gill Plunkett, Michael Sigl, Hans Schwaiger, Emma Tomlinson, Matt Toohey, Joseph R. McConnell, Jonathan R. Pilcher, Takeshi Hasegawa, Claus Siebe

A pilot study to assess the influence of infiltrated stormwater on groundwater: Hydrology and trace organic contaminants A pilot study to assess the influence of infiltrated stormwater on groundwater: Hydrology and trace organic contaminants

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...
Authors
Sarah M. Elliott, Richard L. Kiesling, Andrew M. Berg, Heiko L. Schoenfuss

Seismic background noise levels across the continental United States from USArray Transportable Array: The influence of geology and geography Seismic background noise levels across the continental United States from USArray Transportable Array: The influence of geology and geography

Since 2004, the most complete estimate of background noise levels across the continental U.S. was attained using 61 broadband seismic stations to calculate power spectral density (PSD) probability density functions. To improve seismic noise estimates across the U.S., we examine vertical component seismic data from the EarthScope USArray Transportable Array seismic network that rolled...
Authors
Robert Anthony, Adam T. Ringler, David C. Wilson

The Coastal Imaging Research Network (CIRN) The Coastal Imaging Research Network (CIRN)

The Coastal Imaging Research Network (CIRN) is an international group of researchers who exploit signatures of phenomena in imagery of coastal, estuarine, and riverine environments. CIRN participants develop and implement new coastal imaging methodologies. The research objective of the group is to use imagery to gain a better fundamental understanding of the processes shaping those...
Authors
Margaret L. Palmsten, Katherine L. Brodie

The occurrence and hazards of great subduction zone earthquakes The occurrence and hazards of great subduction zone earthquakes

Subduction zone earthquakes result in some of the most devastating natural hazards on Earth. Knowledge of where great (moment magnitude M ≥ 8) subduction zone earthquakes can occur and how they rupture is critical to constraining future seismic and tsunami hazards. Since the occurrence of well-instrumented great earthquakes, such as the 2004 M9.1 Sumatra–Andaman and 2011 M9.1 Tohoku...
Authors
Erin A. Wirth, Valerie J. Sahakian, Laura M Wallace, Daniel Melnick

Decision analysis and CO2–Enhanced oil recovery development strategies Decision analysis and CO2–Enhanced oil recovery development strategies

This paper analyzes the relationship between actual reservoir conditions and predicted measures of performance of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2–EOR) programs. It then shows how CO2–EOR operators might maximize the value of their projects by approaching implementation using a “flexible selective” pattern development strategy, where the CO2–EOR program patterns are selectively...
Authors
Emil Attanasi, Philip A. Freeman

Estimating allowable take for an increasing bald eagle population in the United States Estimating allowable take for an increasing bald eagle population in the United States

Effectively managing take of wildlife resulting from human activities poses a major challenge for applied conservation. Demographic data essential to decisions regarding take are often expensive to collect and are either not available or based on limited studies for many species. Therefore, modeling approaches that efficiently integrate available information are important to improving...
Authors
Guthrie S. Zimmerman, Brian Millsap, Fitsum Abadi, Jay V. Gedir, William L. Kendall, John R. Sauer

Large-scale fire management restores grassland bird richness for a private lands ecoregion Large-scale fire management restores grassland bird richness for a private lands ecoregion

Of all terrestrial biomes, grasslands are losing the most biodiversity the most rapidly, so there is a critical need to document and learn from large-scale restoration successes. In the Loess Canyons ecoregion of the Great Plains, USA, an association of private ranchers and natural resource agencies has led a multi-decadal, ecoregion-scale initiative to combat the loss of grasslands to...
Authors
Caleb Powell Roberts, R. Scholtz, D.T. Fogarty, D. Twidwell, T.L. Walker

BIOTAS: BIOTelemetry Analysis Software, for the semi-automated removal of false positives from radio telemetry data BIOTAS: BIOTelemetry Analysis Software, for the semi-automated removal of false positives from radio telemetry data

Introduction Radio telemetry, one of the most widely used techniques for tracking wildlife and fisheries populations, has a false-positive problem. Bias from false-positive detections can affect many important derived metrics, such as home range estimation, site occupation, survival, and migration timing. False-positive removal processes have relied upon simple filters and personal...
Authors
Kevin Nebiolo, Theodore R. Castro-Santos
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