Reports
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 82,000 reports 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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A practical primer on geostatistics A practical primer on geostatistics
Introduction The Challenge—Most geological phenomena are extraordinarily complex in their interrelationships and vast in their geographical extension. Ordinarily, engineers and geoscientists are faced with corporate or scientific requirements to properly prepare geological models with measurements involving a small fraction of the entire area or volume of interest. Exact description of a...
Authors
Ricardo A. Olea
Addressing the water consumption riddle Addressing the water consumption riddle
No abstract available.
Authors
Peggy Connot, Steve Young
After the fire: Landsat helps map the way forward After the fire: Landsat helps map the way forward
No abstract available.
Authors
Steve Young, Peggy Connot
Agriculture Agriculture
Agricultural production is a fundamental activity conducted on 45% of the U.S. land area, 55% of Mexico’s land area, and 7% of Canada’s land area (World Bank 2016). Because of this vast spatial extent and the strong role that land management plays in how agricultural ecosystems function, agricultural lands and activities represent a large portion of the North American carbon budget...
Authors
Alexander N. Hristov, Jane M. F. Johnson, Charles W. Rice, Molly E. Brown, Richard T. Conant, Stephen J. Del Grosso, Noel P. Gurwick, C. Alan Rotz, Upendra M. Sainju, R. Howard Skinner, Tristram O. West, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Henry Janzen, Sasha C. Reed, Nancy Cavallaro, Gyami Shrestha
Alaska Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the Nation, almost one-fifth the size of the combined lower 48 United States, and is rich in natural capital resources. Alaska is often identified as being on the front lines of climate change since it is warming faster than any other state and faces a myriad of issues associated with a changing climate. The cost of infrastructure damage from a warming...
Authors
Carl Markon, Stephen T. Gray, Matthew Berman, Laura Eerkes-Medrano, Thomas Hennessy, Henry P. Huntington, Jeremy S. Littell, Molly McCammon, Richard Thoman, Sarah Trainor
Batrachochytrium salamandriovrans (Bsal) in Appalachia—Using scenario building to proactively prepare for a wildlife disease outbreak caused by an invasive amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandriovrans (Bsal) in Appalachia—Using scenario building to proactively prepare for a wildlife disease outbreak caused by an invasive amphibian chytrid fungus
Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), a pathogenic chytrid fungus, is nonnative to the United States and poses a disease threat to vulnerable amphibian hosts. The Bsal fungus may lead to increases in threatened, endangered, and sensitive status listings at State, Tribal, and Federal levels, resulting in financial costs associated with implementing the Endangered Species Act of 1973...
Authors
M. Camille Hopkins, M. J. Adams, P.E. Super, D.H. Olson, C.R. Hickman, P. English, L. Sprague, I.B. Maska, A.B. Pennaz, K. A. Ludwig
Characterization of stormwater runoff from bridge decks in eastern Massachusetts, 2014–16 Characterization of stormwater runoff from bridge decks in eastern Massachusetts, 2014–16
The quality of stormwater runoff from bridge decks (hereafter referred to as “bridge-deck runoff”) was characterized in a field study from August 2014 through August 2016 in which concentrations of suspended sediment (SS) and total nutrients were monitored. These new data were collected to supplement existing highway-runoff data collected in Massachusetts which were deficient in bridge...
Authors
Kirk P. Smith, Jason R. Sorenson, Gregory E. Granato
Coastal effects Coastal effects
The Coasts chapter of the Third National Climate Assessment, published in 2014, focused on coastal lifelines at risk, economic disruption, uneven social vulnerability, and vulnerable ecosystems. This Coastal Effects chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment updates those themes, with a focus on integrating the socioeconomic and environmental impacts and consequences of a changing...
Authors
Elizabeth Fleming, Jeffrey Payne, William V. Sweet, Michael Craghan, John W. Haines, Juliette Finzi Hart, Heidi Stiller, Ariana Sutton-Grier
Comparison of regression relations of bankfull discharge and channel geometry for the glaciated and nonglaciated settings of Pennsylvania and southern New York Comparison of regression relations of bankfull discharge and channel geometry for the glaciated and nonglaciated settings of Pennsylvania and southern New York
Streambank erosion in areas of past glacial deposition has been shown to be a dominant source of sediment to streams. Water resource managers are faced with the challenge of developing long and short term (emergency) stream restoration efforts that rely on the most suitable channel geometry for project design. A geomorphic dataset of new (2016, n=5) and previous (1999–2006, n=96)...
Authors
John W. Clune, Jeffrey J. Chaplin, Kirk E. White
Comparison of U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation water-use reporting in the Colorado River Basin Comparison of U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation water-use reporting in the Colorado River Basin
The use of water in the United States is arguably one of the most important factors determining water availability at any specific place and time. Numerous local, State, and Federal entities develop, compile, and report water-use data, which can lead to confusing or conflicting information. This report was authored jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Bureau of Reclamation...
Authors
Breton Bruce, James Prairie, Molly A. Maupin, Jeremy Dodds, David Eckhardt, Tamara I. Ivahnenko, Paul Matuska, Eric Evenson, Alan Harrison
DOI/GTN-P climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998-2019 DOI/GTN-P climate and active-layer data acquired in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998-2019
This report provides data collected by the climate monitoring array of the U.S. Department of the Interior on Federal lands in Arctic Alaska over the period August 1998 to July 2019; this array is part of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (DOI/GTN-P). In addition to presenting data, this report also describes monitoring, data collection, and quality-control methods. The array...
Authors
Frank E. Urban, Gary D. Clow
Drain tiles and groundwater resources: Understanding the relations Drain tiles and groundwater resources: Understanding the relations
Executive Summary Drainage for agricultural production over the past 150 years has been an integral component of human-driven change to Minnesota’s rural landscapes. Benefits of drainage Historically, poorly drained soils across much of the State would often remain saturated or flooded after spring snowmelt, preventing timely farm operations such as tilling and planting crops (Arneman...
Authors
Erik A. Smith, Timothy Gillette, Kristen Blann, Mary Coburn, Bryce Hoppie, Suzanne Rhees