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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.
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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The SAFRR tsunami scenario-physical damage in California: Chapter E in The SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) Tsunami Scenario The SAFRR tsunami scenario-physical damage in California: Chapter E in The SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) Tsunami Scenario
his chapter attempts to depict a single realistic outcome of the SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) tsunami scenario in terms of physical damage to and recovery of various aspects of the built environment in California. As described elsewhere in this report, the tsunami is generated by a hypothetical magnitude 9.1 earthquake seaward of the Alaska Peninsula on the Semidi...
Authors
Keith Porter, William Byers, David Dykstra, Amy Lim, Patrick Lynett, Jaime Ratliff, Charles Scawthorn, Anne Wein, Rick Wilson
The SAFRR tsunami scenario: Improving resilience for California The SAFRR tsunami scenario: Improving resilience for California
On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku earthquake and the resulting tsunami devastated Japan with a disaster of unfathomable proportions. Five thousand miles away, the waves from Tohoku caused $50 to 100 million in damages in California. Although this pales in comparison to the loss of lives and property in Japan, the U.S. Government must ask whether California, and the national economy, will...
Authors
Stephanie L. Ross, Lucile M. Jones, Kevin H. Miller, Keith A. Porter, Anne Wein, Rick I. Wilson, Bohyun Bahng, Aggeliki Barberopoulou, Jose C. Borrero, Deborah M. Brosnan, John T. Bwarie, Eric L. Geist, Laurie A. Johnson, Stephen H. Kirby, William R. Knight, Kate Long, Patrick Lynett, Carl E. Mortensen, Dmitry J. Nicolsky, Suzanne C. Perry, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Charles R. Real, Kenneth Ryan, Elena Suleimani, Hong Kie Thio, Vasily V. Titov, Paul M. Whitmore, Nathan J. Wood
The Shoreline Management Tool—An ArcMap tool for analyzing water depth, inundated area, volume, and selected habitats, with an example for the lower Wood River Valley, Oregon The Shoreline Management Tool—An ArcMap tool for analyzing water depth, inundated area, volume, and selected habitats, with an example for the lower Wood River Valley, Oregon
The Shoreline Management Tool is a geographic information system (GIS) based program developed to assist water- and land-resource managers in assessing the benefits and effects of changes in surface-water stage on water depth, inundated area, and water volume. Additionally, the Shoreline Management Tool can be used to identify aquatic or terrestrial habitat areas where conditions may be...
Authors
Daniel T. Snyder, Tana Haluska, Darius Respini-Irwin
The simulated effects of wastewater-management actions on the hydrologic system and nitrogen-loading rates to wells and ecological receptors, Popponesset Bay Watershed, Cape Cod, Massachusetts The simulated effects of wastewater-management actions on the hydrologic system and nitrogen-loading rates to wells and ecological receptors, Popponesset Bay Watershed, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The discharge of excess nitrogen into Popponesset Bay, an estuarine system on western Cape Cod, has resulted in eutrophication and the loss of eel grass habitat within the estuaries. Septic-system return flow in residential areas within the watershed is the primary source of nitrogen. Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for nitrogen have been assigned to the six estuaries that compose the...
Authors
Donald A. Walter
The three-dimensional geologic model used for the 2003 National Oil and Gas Assessment of the San Joaquin Basin Province, California: Chapter 7 in Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California The three-dimensional geologic model used for the 2003 National Oil and Gas Assessment of the San Joaquin Basin Province, California: Chapter 7 in Petroleum systems and geologic assessment of oil and gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California
We present a three-dimensional geologic model of the San Joaquin Basin (SJB) that may be the first compilation of subsurface data spanning the entire basin. The model volume spans 200 × 90 miles, oriented along the basin axis, and extends to ~11 miles depth, for a total of more than 1 million grid nodes. This model supported the 2003 U.S. Geological Survey assessment of future additions...
Authors
Allegra Hosford Scheirer
The U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory: an integrated scientific program supporting research and conservation of North American birds The U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory: an integrated scientific program supporting research and conservation of North American birds
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) was established in 1920 after ratification of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act with the United Kingdom in 1918. During World War II, the BBL was moved from Washington, D.C., to what is now the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC). The BBL issues permits and bands to permittees to band birds, records bird band...
Authors
Gregory J. Smith
The U.S. Geological Survey Climate Geo Data Portal: an integrated broker for climate and geospatial data The U.S. Geological Survey Climate Geo Data Portal: an integrated broker for climate and geospatial data
The increasing availability of downscaled climate projections and other data products that summarize or predict climate conditions, is making climate data use more common in research and management. Scientists and decisionmakers often need to construct ensembles and compare climate hindcasts and future projections for particular spatial areas. These tasks generally require an...
Authors
David L. Blodgett
The United States-Mexican Border - A land of conflict and opportunity: Chapter 1 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science The United States-Mexican Border - A land of conflict and opportunity: Chapter 1 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
The boundary between the United States and Mexico was created for convenient expediency through political debate and agreements (fig. 1–1). With the exception of the eastern segment of the border, which follows the course of the Rio Grande (known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico), the defining of this border was based on political decisions that had little concern for ecosystems, geologic...
Authors
Randall G. Updike
The use of process models to inform and improve statistical models of nitrate occurrence, Great Miami River Basin, southwestern Ohio The use of process models to inform and improve statistical models of nitrate occurrence, Great Miami River Basin, southwestern Ohio
Statistical models of nitrate occurrence in the glacial aquifer system of the northern United States, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, use observed relations between nitrate concentrations and sets of explanatory variables—representing well-construction, environmental, and source characteristics— to predict the probability that nitrate, as nitrogen, will exceed a threshold...
Authors
Donald A. Walter, J. Jeffrey Starn
The water cycle for kids The water cycle for kids
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have created a water-cycle diagram for use in elementary and middle schools. The diagram is available in many languages. This diagram is part of the USGS's Water Science School, in which the water cycle is described in detail.
Authors
Stephanie Neno, Jim Morgan, Gabriele Zonolli, Howard Perlman, Gerard Gonthier
The δ2H and δ18O of tap water from 349 sites in the United States and selected territories The δ2H and δ18O of tap water from 349 sites in the United States and selected territories
Because the stable isotopic compositions of hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) of animal (including human) tissues, such as hair, nail, and urine, reflect the δ2H and δ18O of water and food ingested by an animal or a human and because the δ2H and δ18O of environmental waters vary geographically, δ2H and δ18O values of tap water samples collected in 2007-2008 from 349 sites in the United...
Authors
Tyler B. Coplen, Jurate M. Landwehr, Haiping Qi, Jennifer M. Lorenz
Theoretical life history responses of juvenile Oncorhynchus mykiss to changes in food availability using a dynamic state-dependent approach Theoretical life history responses of juvenile Oncorhynchus mykiss to changes in food availability using a dynamic state-dependent approach
Marine subsidies can play an important role in the growth, survival, and migratory behavior of rearing juvenile salmonids. Availability of high-energy, marine-derived food sources during critical decision windows may influence the timing of emigration or the decision to forego emigration completely and remain in the freshwater environment. Increasing growth and growth rate during these...
Authors
Jason G. Romine, Joseph R. Benjamin, Russell W. Perry, Lynne Casal, Patrick J. Connolly, Sally S. Sauter