Modeling

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has partnered with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to conduct a comprehensive study of the Long Island aquifer system. The major findings of this investigation include: The location of the boundary between fresh and salty groundwater is much closer to the shoreline than previously thought. The historical onshore saltwater...

There are more than 92,000 dams in the United States, of which at least 3% of these produce hydropower. Hydropower projects create renewable energy but also can alter habitats, restrict upstream and downstream movements of fishes and other aquatic organisms, and may stress, injure or kill migrant fishes and other aquatic organisms. In addition, there are more than 5 million culverts and other road...

The U.S. Geological Survey, New England Water Science Center, in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is modeling seasonal nutrient loads to Long Island Sound (LIS). Nutrients that originate from within the 41,867-square-mile section of the LIS watershed that is north of the Sound include both point (specific) and nonpoint (widespread) sources. Dynamic modeling of the...

Understanding the processes responsible for coastal change is important for managing both our natural and economic coastal resources. Storms are one of the primary driving forces causing coastal change from a coupling of wave- and wind-driven flows. To better understand storm impacts and their effects on our coastlines, there is an international need to better predict storm paths and intensities...

Natural processes such as waves, tides, and weather, continually change coastal landscapes. The integrity of coastal homes, businesses, and infrastructure can be threatened by hazards associated with event-driven changes, such as extreme storms and their impacts on beach and dune erosion, or longer-term, cumulative changes associated with coastal and marine processes, such as sea-level rise...

The Sea-Level Rise Hazards and Decision-Support project assesses present and future coastal vulnerability to provide actionable information for management of our Nation’s coasts. Through multidisciplinary research and collaborative partnerships with decision-makers, physical, biological, and social factors that describe landscape and habitat changes are incorporated in a probabilistic modeling...

The Pawcatuck River and the Pawcatuck River Estuary and Little Narragansett Bay form part of the boundary between the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Both states have identified water quality impairments within these waters related to nutrients (insufficient oxygen) and bacteria. Studies of the eutrophication potential of Long Island Sound embayments have identified that the Pawcatuck...

In 2018 USGS began work on the development of regional-scale groundwater flow and nitrogen transport models of areas along the Connecticut coast. The model will be used as a quantitative tool to evaluate groundwater flow and nitrogen loading to Long Island Sound.

Estuarine processes, hazards, and ecosystems describes several interdisciplinary projects that aim to quantify and understand estuarine processes through observations and numerical modeling. Both the spatial and temporal scales of these mechanisms are important, and therefore require modern instrumentation and state-of-the-art hydrodynamic models. These projects are led from the U.S. Geological...

Policy-makers, individuals from government agencies, and natural resource managers are under increasing pressure to manage changing coastal areas to meet social, economic, and natural resource demands, particularly under a regime of sea-level rise. Scientific knowledge of coastal processes and habitat-use can support decision-makers as they balance these often-conflicting human and ecological...

The purpose of this work is to better understand the effects of dam removal on local hydraulics, fish passage, and flooding. This study is part of a larger effort to monitor ecological resilience changes at nine Hurricane Sandy coastal resiliency aquatic connectivity restoration projects. It will contribute crucial knowledge that will be used to improve aquatic connectivity system cost...

Extreme tides and coastal storms transfer high water levels to estuaries through natural and managed entrances. The size of the transfer depends on the duration of the event and the geomorphology of the estuary. We use observational data and modeling scenarios to understand and spatially map this transfer at our study sites.