Reports

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healey and its United Nations Convention Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) cruises has produced new synoptic data from samples collected in the Arctic Ocean and insights into the patterns and extent of ocean acidification. This framework of foundational geochemical information will help inform our understanding of...

Kīlauea Volcano has one of the longest running volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rate databases on record. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from Kīlauea Volcano were first measured by Stoiber and Malone (1975) and have been measured on a regular basis since 1979 (Elias and Sutton, 2007, and references within). Compilations of SO2 emission-rate and wind-vector data from 1979 through...

Stormwater in the Denver area was sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, in a network of 5 monitoring stations - 3 on the South Platte River and 2 on streams tributary to the South Platte River, Sand Creek, and Toll Gate Creek beginning in January 2006 and continuing through December 2010. Stormwater samples were analyzed...

With some of the best remaining examples of oak habitats in the Willamette Valley, the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex (WVNWRC) has been implementing restoration efforts to reverse the successional trend towards Douglas-fir and maple that is threatening existing oak woodlands. The restoration work has been considered a model for other public and private efforts within...

This report presents a summary of data collected during April and August 1993 and September 1994. These results are to be used as a wet-site analog to southern Nevada soils located at the Amargosa Desert Research Site near Beatty, Nevada. The samples were collected and analyzed in conjunction with the Nevada Basin and Range study unit of the U.S. Geological Survey, National Water-Quality

This report presents results of chemical analysis for samples collected during March, 1995, as part of a study to quantify the interaction of aquatic organic material (referred to here as dissolved organic carbon with dissolved metal ions). The work was done in conjunction with the South Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological...

Suspended-sediment transport is a critical element governing the geomorphology of tidal marshes. Marshes rely on both organic material and inorganic sediment deposition to maintain their elevation relative to sea level. In wetlands near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland, portions of the salt marsh have been subsiding relative to sea level since the early 20th century...

Suspended-sediment concentration data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in San Francisco Bay during water year 2009 (October 1, 2008–September 30, 2009). Optical sensors and water samples were used to monitor suspended-sediment concentration at two sites in Suisun Bay, one site in San Pablo Bay, two sites in Central San Francisco Bay, and one site in South San Francisco Bay...

In May of 2000, a meeting was convened in Kimberley, South Africa, by representatives of the diamond industry and leaders of African governments to develop a certification process intended to assure that export shipments of rough diamonds were free of conflict concerns. Outcomes of the meeting were formally supported later in December of 2000 by the United Nations in a resolution adopted...

This study presents the results of a multiyear effort to monitor the diamond mining activities of Côte d’Ivoire’s two main diamond regions, Séguéla and Tortiya. The innovative approach developed for this study integrates archival reports and maps, high-resolution satellite imagery, and terrain modeling to assess the diamond resource potential and production capacity of the Séguéla and...

Statistics on geomagnetic storms with minima below -50 nanoTesla are compiled using a 25-year span of the 1-minute resolution disturbance index, U.S. Geological Survey Dst. A sudden commencement, main phase minimum, and time between the two has a magnitude of 35 nanoTesla, -100 nanoTesla, and 12 hours, respectively, at the 50th percentile level. The cumulative distribution functions for...

Although Columbia Glacier is one of the largest sources of glacier mass loss in Alaska, surface mass balance measurements are sparse, with only a single data set available from 1978. The dearth of surface mass-balance data prohibits partitioning of the total mass losses between dynamics and surface forcing; however, the accurate inclusion of calving glaciers into predictive models...