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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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Seismic monitoring during crises at the NEIC in support of the ANSS Seismic monitoring during crises at the NEIC in support of the ANSS
Over the past two decades, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) has overcome many operational challenges. These range from minor disruptions, such as power outages, to significant operational changes, including system reconfiguration to handle unique earthquake sequences and the need to handle distributed work during a pandemic. Our ability to...
Authors
Paul S. Earle, Harley M. Benz, William L. Yeck, Gavin P. Hayes, Michelle M. Guy, John Patton, David Kragness, David B. Mason, Brian Shiro, Emily Wolin, John Bellini, Jana Pursley, Robert Lorne Sanders
Seismic and geodetic analysis of rupture characteristics of the 2020 Mw 6.5 Monte Cristo Range, Nevada, earthquake Seismic and geodetic analysis of rupture characteristics of the 2020 Mw 6.5 Monte Cristo Range, Nevada, earthquake
The largest earthquake since 1954 to strike the state of Nevada, United States, ruptured on 15 May 2020 along the Monte Cristo range of west‐central Nevada. The Mw 6.5 event involved predominantly left‐lateral strike‐slip faulting with minor normal components on three aligned east–west‐trending faults that vary in strike by 23°. The kinematic rupture process is determined by joint...
Authors
Chengli Liu, Thorne Lay, Frederick Pollitz, Jiao Xu, Xiong Xiong
Evaluation of camera trap-based abundance estimators for unmarked populations Evaluation of camera trap-based abundance estimators for unmarked populations
Estimates of species abundance are critical to understand population processes and to assess and select management actions. However, capturing and marking individuals for abundance estimation, while providing robust information, can be economically and logistically prohibitive, particularly for species with cryptic behavior. Camera traps can be used to collect data at temporal and...
Authors
S M Amburgey, Amy A. Yackel Adams, B. Gardner, N.J. Hostetter, S.R. Siers, B.T. McClintock, Sarah J. Converse
An efficient method to calculate depth-integrated, phase-averaged momentum balances in non-hydrostatic models An efficient method to calculate depth-integrated, phase-averaged momentum balances in non-hydrostatic models
Analysis of the mean (wave-averaged) momentum balance is a common approach used to explain the physical forcing driving wave set-up and mean currents in the nearshore zone. Traditionally this approach has been applied to phase-averaged models but has more recently been applied to phase-resolving models using post-processing, whereby model output is used to calculate each of the momentum...
Authors
Renan F. da Silva, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, Jeff E. Hansen, Ryan J. Lowe, Mark L. Buckley, Marcel Zijlema
Maintaining momentum for collaborative working groups in a post-pandemic world Maintaining momentum for collaborative working groups in a post-pandemic world
Scientific progress depends in part on our ability to synthesize heterogeneous data and ideas into new models and paradigms. In environmental sciences, such synthesis has been particularly effective when conducted by collaborative working groups: diverse groups of researchers and practitioners brought together for a concentrated period of collaboration on key questions. Such work is...
Authors
Diane Srivastava, Marten Winter, Louis Gross, Jena Paul Metzger, Jill S. Baron, Nicolas Mouquet, Thomas Meagher, Ben Halpern, Valerio Pillar
NGA-East Ground-Motion Characterization model part I: Summary of products and model development NGA-East Ground-Motion Characterization model part I: Summary of products and model development
In this article, we present an overview of the research project NGA-East, Next Generation Attenuation for Central and Eastern North America (CENA), and summarize the key methodology and products. The project was tasked with developing a new ground motion characterization (GMC) model for CENA. The final NGA-East GMC model includes a set of 17 median ground motion models (GMMs) for peak...
Authors
Christine A. Goulet, Yousef Bozorgnia, Nicolas Kuehn, Linda Al Atik, Robert Youngs, Robert Graves, Gail M. Atkinson
Southwestern bats and their external bacteria Southwestern bats and their external bacteria
Bat species diversity within the United States is greatest in the Southwest, with approximately 30 species present. At least 16 of these bat species hibernate and are susceptible to white-nose syndrome (WNS), which is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Since 2006, millions of bats from 35 U.S. states and 7 Canadian provinces have died from WNS. In previous studies of...
Authors
Ernest W. Valdez, Emily M. Johnson, Edward W. Strach, Patrick A. Lewis, William C Briggs, Nicole A. Caimi, Ara S. Winter, Diana E. Northup, Jennifer J.M. Hathaway
Selection of random vibration theory procedures for the NGA-East project and ground-motion modeling Selection of random vibration theory procedures for the NGA-East project and ground-motion modeling
Traditional ground-motion models (GMMs) are used to compute pseudo-spectral acceleration (PSA) from future earthquakes and are generally developed by regression of PSA using a physics-based functional form. PSA is a relatively simple metric that correlates well with the response of several engineering systems and is a metric commonly used in engineering evaluations; however...
Authors
Albert R. Kottke, Norman A. Abrahamson, David Boore, Yousef Bozorgina, Christine A. Goulet, Justin Hollenback, Tadahiro Kishida, Olga-Joan Ktenidou, Ellen Rathje, Walt Silva, Eric M. Thompson, Xiaoyue Wang
Ecological correlates of fecal corticosterone metabolites in female Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrococercus urophasianus) Ecological correlates of fecal corticosterone metabolites in female Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrococercus urophasianus)
Measurement of physiological responses can reveal effects of ecological conditions on an animal and correlate with demographic parameters. Ecological conditions for many animal species have deteriorated as a function of invasive plants and habitat fragmentation. Expansion of juniper (Juniperus spp.) trees and invasion of annual grasses into sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems have...
Authors
Jordan C. Rabon, Cassandra Nunez, Peter S. Coates, Mark A. Ricca, Tracey N. Johnson
A case for multiscale habitat selection studies of small mammals A case for multiscale habitat selection studies of small mammals
Habitat information for small mammals typically consists of anecdotal descriptions or infrequent analyses of habitat use, which often are reported erroneously as signifying habitat preference, requirements, or quality. Habitat preferences can be determined only by analysis of habitat selection, a behavioral process that results in the disproportionate use of one resource over other...
Authors
Brittany R. Schweiger, Jennifer K. Frey, James W. Cain
Toward climate change refugia conservation at an ecoregion scale Toward climate change refugia conservation at an ecoregion scale
Climate change uncertainty poses serious challenges to conservation efforts. One emerging conservation strategy is to identify and conserve climate change refugia: areas relatively buffered from contemporary climate change that enable persistence of valued resources. This management paradigm may be pursued at broad scales by leveraging existing resources and placing them into a tangible...
Authors
Cathleen Balantic, Andrea Adams, Shana Gross, Rachel Mazur, Sarah Sawyer, Jody Tucker, Marian Vernon, Claudia Mengelt, Jennifer Morales, James Thorne, Timothy Brown, Nicole Athearn, Toni Lyn Morelli
Twenty-five essential research questions to inform the protection and restoration of freshwater biodiversity Twenty-five essential research questions to inform the protection and restoration of freshwater biodiversity
Freshwater biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. Freshwater conservationists and environmental managers have enough evidence to demonstrate that action must not be delayed but have insufficient evidence to identify those actions that will be most effective in reversing the current trend.Here, the focus is on identifying essential research topics that, if addressed, will...
Authors
Meagan Harper, Hebah S. Mejbel, Dylan Longert, Robin Abell, Beard, Joseph R. Bennett, Stephanie M. Carlson, William Darwall, Anthony Dell, Sami Domisch, David Dudgeon, Jörg Freyhof, Ian Harrison, Kathy A. Hughes, Sonja C. Jahnig, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Richard Lansdown, Mark Lintermans, Abigail J. Lynch, Helen M. R. Meredith, Sanjay Molur, Julian D. Olden, Steve J. Ormerod, Harmony Patricio, Andrea J. Reid, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, Michele Thieme, David Tickner, Eren Turak, Olaf L. F. Weyl, Steve J. Cooke