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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.

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Uncertainty in remote sensing of streams using noncontact radars Uncertainty in remote sensing of streams using noncontact radars

Accounting for freshwater resources and monitoring floods are vital functions for societies throughout the world. Remote-sensing methods offer great prospects to expand stream monitoring in developing countries and to smaller, headwater streams that are largely ungauged worldwide. This study evaluates the potential to estimate discharge using eight radar units that have been installed...
Authors
Mushfiqur Rahman Khan, Jonathan J Gourley, Jorge Duarte, Humberto Vergara, Daniel Wasielewski, Pierre-Alain Ayral, John W, Fulton

The trajectory of soil development and its relationship to soil carbon dynamics The trajectory of soil development and its relationship to soil carbon dynamics

It has been postulated that the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) associated with soil minerals exhibits a threshold relationship in response to effective soil moisture (estimated as precipitation less evapotranspiration). To better characterize the role of moisture in influencing mechanisms of SOC storage during pedogenesis, we compare soils from two different chronosequence sites...
Authors
Corey Lawrence, Marjorie S. Schulz, Caroline Masiello, Oliver A. Chadwick, Jennifer W. Harden

Merging empirical and mechanistic approaches to modeling aquatic visual foraging using a generalizable visual reaction distance model Merging empirical and mechanistic approaches to modeling aquatic visual foraging using a generalizable visual reaction distance model

Visual encounter distance models are important tools for predicting how light and water clarity mediate visual predator-prey interactions that affect the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems at multiple spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. The two main varieties of visual encounter distance models, mechanistic and empirical, are used for similar purposes but take...
Authors
Sean K. Rohan, David Beauchamp, Timothy E. Essington, Adam G. Hansen

Using an unmanned aerial vehicle water sampler to gather data in a pit-lake mining environment to assess closure and monitoring Using an unmanned aerial vehicle water sampler to gather data in a pit-lake mining environment to assess closure and monitoring

Residual pit lakes from mining are often dangerous to sample for water quality. Thus, pit lakes may be rarely (or never) sampled. This study developed new technology in which water-sampling devices, mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), were used to sample three pit lakes in Nevada, USA, during 1 week in 2017. Water-quality datasets from two of the three pit lakes on public lands...
Authors
Brian Straight, Devin Castendyk, Diane M. McKnight, Connor P. Newman, Pierre Filiatreault, Americo Pino

Geomorphic history of Lake Manix, Mojave Desert, California: Evolution of a complex terminal lake basin Geomorphic history of Lake Manix, Mojave Desert, California: Evolution of a complex terminal lake basin

The US Environmental Protection Agency's short-term freshwater effluent test methods include a fish (Pimephales promelas), a cladoceran (Ceriodaphnia dubia), and a green alga (Raphidocelis subcapitata). There is a recognized need for additional taxa to accompany the three standard species for effluent testing. An appropriate additional taxon is unionid mussels because mussels are widely
Authors
Marith C. Reheis, David M. Miller, James B. Paces, Charles G. Oviatt, Joanna R. Redwine, Darrell Kaufman, Jordon Bright, Elmira Wan

The consequences of dam passage for downstream-migrating American eel in the Penobscot River, Maine The consequences of dam passage for downstream-migrating American eel in the Penobscot River, Maine

American eel (Anguilla rostrata) often pass hydropower dams during adult spawning migrations. We conducted a 4-year acoustic telemetry study that characterized passage risks through two dams (West Enfield and Milford) in the Penobscot River, Maine, USA. We released tagged fish (n = 355) at two sites, estimated survival and delay under variable river conditions, and compared performance...
Authors
Matthew A. Mensinger, Erik J. Blomberg, Joseph D. Zydlewski

Holocene evolution of sea-surface temperature and salinity in the Gulf of Mexico Holocene evolution of sea-surface temperature and salinity in the Gulf of Mexico

Flows into and out of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) are integral to North Atlantic ocean circulation, and help facilitate poleward heat transport in the Western Hemisphere. The GoM also serves as a key source of moisture for much of North America. Modern patterns of sea-surface temperature (SST) and salinity in the GoM are influenced by the Loop Current, its eddy-shedding dynamics, and the...
Authors
Kaustubh Thiumalai, Julie N. Richey, Terrence M. Quinn

Understanding the future of big sagebrush regeneration: challenges of projecting complex ecological processes Understanding the future of big sagebrush regeneration: challenges of projecting complex ecological processes

Regeneration is an essential demographic step that affects plant population persistence, recovery after disturbances, and potential migration to track suitable climate conditions. Challenges of restoring big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) after disturbances including fire-invasive annual grass interactions exemplify the need to understand the complex regeneration processes of this long...
Authors
Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth, Robert K Shriver

Tolerance of northern Gulf of Mexico eastern oysters to chronic warming at extreme salinities Tolerance of northern Gulf of Mexico eastern oysters to chronic warming at extreme salinities

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, provides critical ecosystem services and supports valuable fishery and aquaculture industries in northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM) subtropical estuaries where it is grown subtidally. Its upper critical thermal limit is not well defined, especially when combined with extreme salinities. The cumulative mortalities of the progenies of wild C...
Authors
D.A. Marshall, N.C. Coxe, Megan K. La Peyre, W.C. Walton, F. Scott Rikard, J. Beseres Pollack, M.A. Kelly, J.F. La Peyre

A decade of Indigenous knowledge research in the Yukon River basin: Reflection on “Indigenous observations of change in the lower Yukon River basin, Alaska” A decade of Indigenous knowledge research in the Yukon River basin: Reflection on “Indigenous observations of change in the lower Yukon River basin, Alaska”

Herman-Mercer reflects on her first article" Indigenous Observations of Change in the Lower Yukon River Basin, Alaska." The observations and knowledge presented in this study have become part of an ever-growing catalog of studies representing, and part of a chorus of Indigenous communities across the Arctic and Subarctic conveying, the impacts of climate change in this region. The broad
Authors
Nicole M. Herman-Mercer

Channel-amphitheatre landforms resulting from liquefaction flowslides during rapid drawdown of glacial Lake Fraser, British Columbia, Canada Channel-amphitheatre landforms resulting from liquefaction flowslides during rapid drawdown of glacial Lake Fraser, British Columbia, Canada

Unusual channel-amphitheatre landforms are present in Late Pleistocene–early Holocene, subaqueous fan and delta deposits in the glacial Lake Fraser basin, central British Columbia. The lake formed during the decay of the last Cordilleran Ice Sheet and drained ~11,500 years ago during a large outburst flood. The fronts of a delta and two subaqueous fans consisting of silt to fine sand are...
Authors
Brendan G.N. Miller, Richard M. Iverson, John J. Clague, Marten Geertsema, Nicholas J. Roberts

From drought to deluge: Spatiotemporal variation in migration routing, survival, travel time and floodplain use of an endangered migratory fish From drought to deluge: Spatiotemporal variation in migration routing, survival, travel time and floodplain use of an endangered migratory fish

We developed a novel statistical model to relate the daily survival and migration dynamics of an endangered anadromous fish to river flow and water temperature during both extreme drought and severe flooding in an intensively managed river system. Our Bayesian temporally stratified multistate mark recapture model integrates over unobserved travel times and route transitions to...
Authors
Dalton Hance, Russell Perry, Adam C. Pope, Arnold J. Ammann, Jason L. Hassrick, Gabriel S. Hansen
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