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Science Quality and Integrity
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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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Measuring stress In high pressure deformation experiments with high speed fiber-optics Measuring stress In high pressure deformation experiments with high speed fiber-optics
High‐pressure, high‐temperature rock deformation experiments are essential for understanding deep Earth processes, but accurately measuring stress is challenging due to the inaccuracy introduced by seal friction within the apparatus and large inertia, which affects earthquake process measurements made far from the experimental fault. To overcome these limitations, we developed and...
Authors
Eric Paul Burdette, Greg Hirth
Igniting the transition from water quality to biological condition and ecological health Igniting the transition from water quality to biological condition and ecological health
Karr (1981), which introduced the index of biotic (or biological) integrity (IBI) has been cited more often (>4,500 times) than any other paper in Fisheries. In this essay, we reflect on the historical context of this seminal publication and its broad, continuing impact on the management of natural resources, especially freshwater ecosystems.
Authors
Paul L. Angermeier, James R. Karr, Chris O. Yoder, Robert M. Hughes
ENSO and PDO drive shoreline position anomalies in the U.S. Pacific Northwest ENSO and PDO drive shoreline position anomalies in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Sandy beaches act as buffers against various coastal hazards but are vulnerable to episodic (seasonal) and chronic (interannual) erosion. Understanding the variation of shoreline position, a key metric in coastal morphology, over a spectrum of time scales is therefore crucial in assessing hazard vulnerability. Long-standing research has investigated the role of El Niño-Southern...
Authors
Mohsen Taherkhani, Sean Vitousek, Marcan Graffin, Kilian Vos, Jonathan C. Allan, George M. Kaminsky, Peter Ruggiero
Software to support remote sensing of river discharge based on critical flow theory Software to support remote sensing of river discharge based on critical flow theory
Water resource management requires accurate observations of streamflow but standard field methods for measuring river discharge ( Q) are costly and can be hazardous for equipment and personnel. Remote sensing has become a viable alternative, but many image-based techniques require field data for calibration and depth and velocity can seldom be mapped with a single sensor. A new approach...
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Inhyeok Bae
Performance evaluation and methods comparison of transcriptomic-based approaches for the characterization of wastewater treatment effluent Performance evaluation and methods comparison of transcriptomic-based approaches for the characterization of wastewater treatment effluent
Wastewater treatment effluents (WWTE) present complex risks to aquatic ecosystems that are difficult to characterize using traditional methods. This study systematically evaluated the consistency and performance of transcriptomic-based approaches over time with repeated sampling and with differing experimental approaches (selection of reference condition, grab vs. composite sampling...
Authors
Adam Biales, M. S. Hu, D. C. Bencic, M. J. See, Susan T. Glassmeyer, E.T. Furlong, Julia M. Stelman, W. Huang, Dana W. Kolpin, Marc A. Mills, L. D. Brunelle, Angela L. Batt, S. Thomas Purucker
Climate change has increased crop water consumption in Central Asia despite less water-intensive cropping Climate change has increased crop water consumption in Central Asia despite less water-intensive cropping
Climate change and land use change are crucial determinants of crop water consumption, particularly in drylands where water scarcity limits crop production. In Central Asia, the effects of land use and climate changes on crop water consumption remain unknown. We estimated the dynamics of crop water consumption by mapping annual actual evapotranspiration from Landsat imagery from 1987 to...
Authors
M. Daniela Peña-Guerrero, Gabriel B. Senay, A. Umirbekov, L. Tarasova, P. Rufin, B. Pulatov, D. Müller
New measurements indicate that natural geologic methane emissions from microseepage in the Michigan Basin are likely negligible New measurements indicate that natural geologic methane emissions from microseepage in the Michigan Basin are likely negligible
The magnitude of natural geologic methane (CH4) emissions to the atmosphere (including emissions of fossil CH4 from offshore and onshore gas and oil seeps, diffuse microseepage, mud volcanoes, volcanic vents, and geothermal areas) is highly uncertain. The largest component of geologic emissions is thought to be microseepage, which is the diffuse flux of CH4 from soils across large areas...
Authors
Kathleen R. Hall, Thomas S. Weber, Marika P. Stock, Marc L. Buursink, Haoran Piao, Mingzhe Zhu, Katey M. Walter-Anthony, Vasilii V. Petrenko
The functional effects of African lions on co-occurring carnivores differ across species pairs and with changes in resource availability and lion abundance The functional effects of African lions on co-occurring carnivores differ across species pairs and with changes in resource availability and lion abundance
Apex carnivores are known to regulate ecosystem structure and function, including via interactions with syntopic, competitively inferior carnivores. These effects may be dependent on relative carnivore density and resource availability or productivity. We investigated the functional effect of African lions as an apex carnivore on the presence of co-occurring large carnivore species...
Authors
Kristoffer T. Everatt, Leah Andresen, Jennifer F. Moore, James E. Hines, Graham I.H. Kerley
21st-century mangrove expansion along the southeastern United States 21st-century mangrove expansion along the southeastern United States
Warming winter temperatures are driving range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive mangroves into temperate ecosystems. Along the Atlantic coast of North America, the mangrove range limit is particularly sensitive to climate variability and historical data demonstrate that the mangrove-salt marsh ecotone on this coast has shifted recurrently during recent centuries. However, a...
Authors
Lucia I.A. Enes Gramoso, Dustin Carrol, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Remi Bardou, Michael J. Osland, Tom Van der Stocken
Status assessment of peregrine falcons in North America using integrated population models Status assessment of peregrine falcons in North America using integrated population models
Species status assessments require an understanding of underlying population dynamics and important drivers of species demography. Large-scale assessments can be difficult due to challenges collating data obtained through different methods and different sources at multiple scales. Integrated population models (IPMs) provide a unified framework to combine multiple data sources and jointly...
Authors
Michael J. Gould, Ted Swem, Guthrie S. Zimmerman, Brian A. Millsap, Jay V. Gedir, Fitsum Abadi
Assessing future hydrologic extremes using an integrated hydrology and river operations model in the Russian River watershed Assessing future hydrologic extremes using an integrated hydrology and river operations model in the Russian River watershed
Study region
Authors
Saalem Tilahun Adera, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger, Enrique Triana, Derek W. Ryter, John A. Engott
Magnitude conversion relations create substantial differences in seismic hazard models Magnitude conversion relations create substantial differences in seismic hazard models
Earthquake catalogs are essential data inputs for seismic hazard modeling. Because earthquake magnitudes are reported in a variety of types (e.g., local magnitudes and moment magnitudes), magnitude conversion relationships must be used to convert the different magnitude types present in a catalog to a uniform magnitude type to avoid biases in the hazard computation. However, these...
Authors
Andrea L. Llenos, David R. Shelly, Allison M. Shumway