Videos

This video presents the Spring 2025 Saline Lake Ecosystems Integrated Water Availability Assessment Spring Seminar by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Hosted by Allison Shipp, the seminar provides updates on how hydroclimatic changes and water management affect terminal lake ecosystems and waterbird populations.

The sixth and final webinar in the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series is on satellite observations of lake surface water dynamics. John W. Jones of the USGS Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch introduces the surface water and wetland remote sensing component of the Integrated Water Availability Assessment.

The fifth webinar in the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series is on waterbird prey availability in Great Basin terminal lakes.

The fourth webinar in the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series is on movement of bird species associated with Great Basin terminal lake ecosystems. Cory Overton of the Western Ecological Research Center gives an overview of the USGS bird movement monitoring strategy and presents results from the 2024 field season.

The third webinar in the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series is on water-quality monitoring of Great Basin terminal lake ecosystems. Christine Rumsey of the Utah Water Science Center and Casie Smith of the Oregon Water Science Center give an overview of the USGS water-quality monitoring strategy and present results from the 2024 field season.

The second webinar in the Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series is on physical and chemical monitoring in support of water budgets of select Great Basin saline lakes.

Allison Shipp, Deputy Regional Director for Science and Research and Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Project Manager, kicked off the Fall 2024 webinar series. This presentation gives an overview of the project and introduces topics that will be covered by the USGS research team throughout the webinar series.

American Avocet 39’s (AMAV39) year long journey detailed by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GPS tracking data. AMAV39’s flight path, represented by a purple line, starts in the Great Basin at Summer Lake in July 2023 then heads to Lake Abert in October 2023.

A sequence of satellite imagery of Summer Lake in southern Oregon from May 2024 – July 2024. Starting in May the lake is full and a deep-blue color. As the sequence of satellite images progresses through the summer the lake shrinks dramatically as water evaporates. By July the lake has dried out completely and only some marshlands remain.

American avocets resting, bathing, and preening in shallow water at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada.

Brine shrimp seen swimming in Lake Abert, one of many Saline Lakes in the Great Basin. These shrimp provide an important source of prey to shorebirds stopping in the area to rest and refuel on their long migration journeys.

U.S. Geological Survey Wildlife biologists pin down a spring-loaded net into the soil over an American Avocet’s nest in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Biologists capture the bird to take physical measurements and to attach a GPS tracking device.

American Avocets with long grey legs, white body feathers, and white and brown wing feathers, dip their long, narrow grey beaks in and out of shallow water as they search for food. Their bodies reflect off of the pond surface as they move along at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon.