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Angela Crain

Hydrologist, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Science and Products

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Kentucky River at Lock 2 at Lockport KY - upstream view of the gage

Kentucky River at Lock 2 at Lockport KY

Water-quality “super” gages (also known as “sentry” gages) provide real-time, continuous measurements of the physical and chemical characteristics of stream water at or near selected U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. A super gage includes streamflow and water-quality instrumentation and representative stream sample collection for laboratory analysis. USGS...
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Kentucky River at Lock 2 at Lockport KY

Water-quality “super” gages (also known as “sentry” gages) provide real-time, continuous measurements of the physical and chemical characteristics of stream water at or near selected U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. A super gage includes streamflow and water-quality instrumentation and representative stream sample collection for laboratory analysis. USGS...
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Green River at Spottsville - Dam submerged

Green River at Lock 1 at Spottsville, KY

USGS Station ID: 03321500
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Green River at Lock 1 at Spottsville, KY

USGS Station ID: 03321500
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Scenic View from Vermilion River, Vermilion, Ohio

Super Gage Network

What is a Super Gage?A gage at which continuous flow and water level are determined, along with continuous traditional water-quality (water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, and/or turbidity) and either of the following criteria:at least one other less-traditional continuous water-quality parameter (orthophosphate, nitrate concentration) and/or where surrogates (developed...
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Super Gage Network

What is a Super Gage?A gage at which continuous flow and water level are determined, along with continuous traditional water-quality (water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, and/or turbidity) and either of the following criteria:at least one other less-traditional continuous water-quality parameter (orthophosphate, nitrate concentration) and/or where surrogates (developed...
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Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) in a stream

Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs)

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasingly a global concern because HABs pose a threat to human and aquatic ecosystem health and cause economic damages. Toxins produced by some species of cyanobacteria (called cyanotoxins) can cause acute and chronic illnesses in humans and pets. Aquatic ecosystem health also is affected by cyanotox­ins, as well as low dissolved oxygen...
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs)

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasingly a global concern because HABs pose a threat to human and aquatic ecosystem health and cause economic damages. Toxins produced by some species of cyanobacteria (called cyanotoxins) can cause acute and chronic illnesses in humans and pets. Aquatic ecosystem health also is affected by cyanotox­ins, as well as low dissolved oxygen...
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Ohio River at Ironton, OH

Nutrient Delivery to the Mississippi River from Kentucky

Scientists will be collecting field water-quality parameters and samples for laboratory analysis of nutrients, silica, and suspended sediment at the USGS Ohio River at Ironton, OH gaging station and the Green River at Spottsville, KY gaging station on a monthly basis. Stable isotope water samples also will be collected at the Green River site. The Ohio River at Ironton, OH site will serve, along...
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Nutrient Delivery to the Mississippi River from Kentucky

Scientists will be collecting field water-quality parameters and samples for laboratory analysis of nutrients, silica, and suspended sediment at the USGS Ohio River at Ironton, OH gaging station and the Green River at Spottsville, KY gaging station on a monthly basis. Stable isotope water samples also will be collected at the Green River site. The Ohio River at Ironton, OH site will serve, along...
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Nathan Truax verifying and calibrating a water-quality sensor at the USGS Ohio River at Olmsted Lock and Dam super gage

Monitoring Large Rivers in Kentucky

Water Science Center scientists monitor several rivers in Kentucky as part of the USGS National Water-Quality Program (NWQP). As part of the NWQP program , USGS scientists from across the country are determine the status and trends of loads and concentrations of contaminants, nutrients, and sediment in the Nation’s large rivers.
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Monitoring Large Rivers in Kentucky

Water Science Center scientists monitor several rivers in Kentucky as part of the USGS National Water-Quality Program (NWQP). As part of the NWQP program , USGS scientists from across the country are determine the status and trends of loads and concentrations of contaminants, nutrients, and sediment in the Nation’s large rivers.
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INKY WSC Ecomapper Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV)

Scientists are using the Ecomapper Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to collect imagery, bathymetry, and basic water-quality parameters. The Ecomapper provides a innovative visualization of data.
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV)

Scientists are using the Ecomapper Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to collect imagery, bathymetry, and basic water-quality parameters. The Ecomapper provides a innovative visualization of data.
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Water-Quality Datasets from Synoptic Surveys in Nolin River Lake, Kentucky, using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Discrete Sampling, and Depth Profiles, August 2016

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Louisville District, conducted a reconnaissance integrated synoptic study in at six sites of Nolin Lake, Kentucky, using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). This digital dataset contains site information, basic water-quality field parameter distributions, analyzing laboratories and methods, and water chemis
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Sources of Pathogens, Nutrients, and Sediment in the Upper Little River Basin, Kentucky (2012-14)

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Little River Water-Quality Consortium (LRWQC), collected water samples at 19 sites in the upper Little River Basin, Kentucky, from November 1, 2012 to November 30, 2014. This digital dataset contains site information, analyzing laboratories and methods, and water chemistry for these samples. Water chemistry results include concentrations o
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center
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The importance of U.S. Geological Survey water-quality super gages

Super gages are an important tool providing real-time, continuous water-quality data at streamgages or groundwater wells. They are designed to address specific water-resource threats such as water-related human health issues including harmful algal blooms, floods, droughts, and hazardous substance spills. In addition, super gages improve our understanding of the effects land-use practices have on
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Potential interaction of groundwater and surface water including autonomous underwater vehicle reconnaissance at Nolin River Lake, Kentucky, 2016

The U.S. Geological Survey collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District, on a synoptic study of water quality at Nolin River Lake during August 2016. The purpose of the study was to develop a better understanding of the potential for interaction between groundwater and surface water at Nolin River Lake, Kentucky. Groundwater can have properties that are measurably differ
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Water Resources, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Multiple-source tracking: Investigating sources of pathogens, nutrients, and sediment in the Upper Little River Basin, Kentucky, water years 2013–14

The South Fork Little River (SFLR) and the North Fork Little River (NFLR) are two major headwater tributaries that flow into the Little River just south of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Both tributaries are included in those water bodies in Kentucky and across the Nation that have been reported with declining water quality. Each tributary has been listed by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet—Ke
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Water quality and natural resources in the Green River Basin

No abstract available.
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Determination of (4-methylcyclohexyl)methanol isomers by heated purge-and-trap GC/MS in water samples from the 2014 Elk River, West Virginia, chemical spill

A heated purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method was used to determine the cis- and trans-isomers of (4-methylcyclohexyl)methanol (4-MCHM), the reported major component of the Crude MCHM/Dowanol™ PPh glycol ether material spilled into the Elk River upriver from Charleston, West Virginia, on January 9, 2014. The trans-isomer eluted first and method detection limits were 0.16-μg L

Breakpoint analysis and relations of nutrient and turbidity stressor variables to macroinvertebrate integrity in streams in the Crawford-Mammoth Cave Uplands Ecoregion, Kentucky, for the development of nutrient criteria

To assist Kentucky in refining numeric nutrient criteria in the Pennyroyal Bioregion, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Kentucky Division of Water collected and analyzed water chemistry, turbidity, and biological-community data from 22 streams throughout the Crawford-Mammoth Cave Upland ecoregion (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Level IV Ecoregion, 71a) within the Pennyroyal Bioregion from S
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Water Resources, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Nutrients, Select Pesticides, and Suspended Sediment in the Karst Terrane of the Sinking Creek Basin, Kentucky, 2004-06

This report presents the results of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, on nutrients, select pesticides, and suspended sediment in the karst terrane of the Sinking Creek Basin. Streamflow, nutrient, select pesticide, and suspended-sediment data were collected at seven sampling stations from 2004 through 2006. Concentrations of nitri
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Concentrations, and Estimated Loads and Yields of Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus at Selected Stations in Kentucky, 1979-2004

To evaluate the State's water quality, the Kentucky Division of Water collects data from a statewide network of primary ambient stream water-quality monitoring stations and flexible, rotating watershed-monitoring stations. This ambient stream water-quality monitoring network program is directed to assess the conditions of surface waters throughout Kentucky. Water samples were collected monthly for
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Trends in Surface-Water Quality at Selected Ambient-Monitoring Network Stations in Kentucky, 1979-2004

Increasingly complex water-management decisions require water-quality monitoring programs that provide data for multiple purposes, including trend analyses, to detect improvement or deterioration in water quality with time. Understanding surface-water-quality trends assists resource managers in identifying emerging water-quality concerns, planning remediation efforts, and evaluating the effectiven
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Concentrations, and estimated loads and yields of nutrients and suspended sediment in the Little River basin, Kentucky, 2003-04

Nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, naturally occur but also are applied to land in the form of commercial fertilizers and livestock waste to enhance plant growth. Concentrations, estimated loads and yields, and sources of nitrite plus nitrate, total phosphorus, and orthophosphate were evaluated in streams of the Little River Basin to assist the Commonwealth of Kentucky in deve
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Water Resources, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Occurrence, distribution, loads, and yields of selected pesticides in the Little River basin, Kentucky, 2003-04

Water resources in the Little River Basin are potentially vulnerable to applications of pesticides associated with both agricultural and nonagricultural activities, because much of the basin is characterized by karst topography. Concerns about water quality resulting from pesticide use in karst areas and lack of data on concentrations of pesticides in surface water led to further investigation of
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center

Concentrations of nutrients, pesticides, and suspended sediment in the karst terrane of the Sinking Creek basin, Kentucky, 2004

Water samples were collected in streams and springs in the karst terrane of the Sinking Creek Basin in 2004 as part of study in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. A total of 48 water samples were collected at 7 sites (4 springs, 2 streams, and 1 karst window) from April through November 2004. The karst terrane of the Sinking Creek Basin (also known as Boiling Spring Basin) en

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