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Publications

Dive into our publications and explore the science from the Environmental Health Program (Toxic Substances Hydrology and Contaminant Biology).

Filter Total Items: 4098

A new metric for determining the importance of transient storage A new metric for determining the importance of transient storage

A review of various metrics used to characterize transient storage indicates that none of the existing measures successfully integrate the interaction between advective velocity and the transient storage parameters (storage zone area, storage zone exchange coefficient). Further, 2 existing metrics are related to mean travel time, a quantity that is independent of the storage zone...
Authors
R.L. Runkel

Annual primary production: Patterns and mechanisms of change in a nutrient-rich tidal ecosystem Annual primary production: Patterns and mechanisms of change in a nutrient-rich tidal ecosystem

Although nutrient supply often underlies long-term changes in aquatic primary production, other regulatory processes can be important. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a complex of tidal waterways forming the landward portion of the San Francisco Estuary, has ample nutrient supplies, enabling us to examine alternate regulatory mechanisms over a 21-yr period. Delta-wide primary...
Authors
Alan D. Jassby, James E. Cloern, B.E. Cole

Mercury loading and methylmercury production and cycling in high-altitude lakes from the Western United States Mercury loading and methylmercury production and cycling in high-altitude lakes from the Western United States

Studies worldwide have shown that mercury (Hg) is a ubiquitous contaminant, reaching even the most remote environments such as high-altitude lakes via atmospheric pathways. However, very few studies have been conducted to assess Hg contamination levels of these systems. We sampled 90 mid-latitude, high-altitude lakes from seven national parks in the western United States during a four...
Authors
David P. Krabbenhoft, Mark L. Olson, John F. DeWild, David W. Clow, Robert G. Striegl, Mark M. Dornblaser, Peter C. Van Metre

Hydrodynamics of larval settlement: The influence of turbulent stress events at potential recruitment sites Hydrodynamics of larval settlement: The influence of turbulent stress events at potential recruitment sites

We describe a laboratory investigation into the effect of turbulent hydrodynamic stresses on clam larvae in the settlement phase of the recruitment process. A two-component laser-Doppler anemometer (LDA) was used to measure time histories of the instantaneous turbulence structure at potential recruitment sites within reconstructed beds of the adult Asian clam, Potamocorbula amurensis...
Authors
John P. Crimaldi, Janet K. Thompson, Johanna H. Rosman, Ryan J. Lowe, Jeffrey R. Koseff

Method of analysis and quality-assurance practices by the U.S. Geological Survey Organic Geochemistry Research Group: Determination of geosmin and methylisoborneol in water using solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry Method of analysis and quality-assurance practices by the U.S. Geological Survey Organic Geochemistry Research Group: Determination of geosmin and methylisoborneol in water using solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of two common odor-causing compounds in water, geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol, was modified and verified by the U.S. Geological Survey's Organic Geochemistry Research Group in Lawrence, Kansas. The optimized method involves the extraction of odor-causing compounds from filtered water samples using a divinylbenzene-carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane cross-link...
Authors
L.R. Zimmerman, A.C. Ziegler, E.M. Thurman

Water-chemistry data for selected springs, geysers, and streams in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 1999-2000 Water-chemistry data for selected springs, geysers, and streams in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 1999-2000

Sixty-seven water analyses are reported for samples collected from 44 hot springs and their overflow drainages and two ambient-temperature acid streams in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) during 1990-2000. Thirty-seven analyses are reported for 1999, 18 for June of 2000, and 12 for September of 2000. These water samples were collected and analyzed as part of research investigations in YNP...
Authors
James W. Ball, R. Blaine McCleskey, D. Kirk Nordstrom, JoAnn M. Holloway, Philip L. Verplanck, Sabin A. Sturtevant

Supporting data for hydrologic studies in San Francisco Bay, California: Meteorological measurements at the Port of Redwood City during 1998-2001 Supporting data for hydrologic studies in San Francisco Bay, California: Meteorological measurements at the Port of Redwood City during 1998-2001

Meteorological data were collected during 1998-2001 at the Port of Redwood City, California, to support hydrologic studies in South San Francisco Bay. The measured meteorological variables were air temperature, atmospheric pressure, quantum flux (insolation), and four parameters of wind speed and direction: scalar mean horizontal wind speed, (vector) resultant horizontal wind speed...
Authors
Laurence E. Schemel

User's guide to Model Viewer, a program for three-dimensional visualization of ground-water model results User's guide to Model Viewer, a program for three-dimensional visualization of ground-water model results

Model Viewer is a computer program that displays the results of three-dimensional groundwater models. Scalar data (such as hydraulic head or solute concentration) may be displayed as a solid or a set of isosurfaces, using a red-to-blue color spectrum to represent a range of scalar values. Vector data (such as velocity or specific discharge) are represented by lines oriented to the vector...
Authors
Paul A. Hsieh, Richard B. Winston

Flux of dissolved forms of mercury across the sediment-water interface in Lahontan Reservoir, Nevada Flux of dissolved forms of mercury across the sediment-water interface in Lahontan Reservoir, Nevada

Field and laboratory studies were conducted between April 30, 2001 and July 19, 2001 to provide the first direct measurements of the benthic flux of dissolved (0.2-micrometer filtered) mercury species (total and methylated forms) between the bottom sediment and water column at three sites: two in the southern lobe and one in the northern lobe of Lahontan Reservoir, Nevada (Background...
Authors
James S. Kuwabara, Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, Wayne Praskins, Earl Byron, Brent R. Topping, James L. Carter, Steven V. Fend, Francis Parcheso, David P. Krabbenhoft, Mae S. Gustin

Hydrology and chemistry of floodwaters in the Yolo Bypass, Sacramento River system, California, during 2000 Hydrology and chemistry of floodwaters in the Yolo Bypass, Sacramento River system, California, during 2000

Discharges to and floodwaters in the Yolo Bypass were sampled during winter and spring, 2000. The primary purpose of the study was to link changes in water quality in the Yolo Bypass to inflows from the Sacramento River (over Fremont Weir) and from four local streams that discharge to the west side of the floodplain. Specific conductance, chloride, sulfate, dissolved inorganic nutrients...
Authors
Laurence E. Schemel, Marisa H. Cox, Stephen W. Hager, Theodore R. Sommer

Guidance on the use of passive-vapor-diffusion samplers to detect volatile organic compounds in ground-water-discharge areas, and example applications in New England Guidance on the use of passive-vapor-diffusion samplers to detect volatile organic compounds in ground-water-discharge areas, and example applications in New England

Polyethylene-membrane passive-vapor-diffusion samplers, or PVD samplers, have been shown to be an effective and economical reconnaissance tool for detecting and identifying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in bottom sediments of surface-water bodies in areas of ground-water discharge. The PVD samplers consist of an empty glass vial enclosed in two layers of polyethylene membrane tubing...
Authors
Peter E. Church, Don A. Vroblesky, Forest P. Lyford
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