Carrie Givens
Science and Products
Bacterial Pathogen Genes in Streams related to Animal Type and Hydrologic Conditions
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study elucidates the influence of animal type and environmental variables on bacterial pathogen occurrence in streams under typical watershed conditions.
Potential Exposure to Bacteria and Viruses Weeks after Swine Manure Spill
Manure spills may be an underappreciated pathway for livestock-derived contaminants to enter streams. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied an Iowa stream after the release of a large volume of swine manure (a manure spill). The scientists observed an increase in viruses and bacteria, which have the potential to cause...
Temporal and petrogenetic links between Mesoproterozoic alkaline and carbonatite magmas at Mountain Pass, California
Mountain Pass is the site of the most economically important rare earth element (REE) deposit in the United States. Mesoproterozoic alkaline intrusions are spatiotemporally associated with a composite carbonatite stock that hosts REE ore. Understanding the genesis of the alkaline and carbonatite magmas is an essential scientific goal for a society...
Watts, Kathryn E.; Haxel, Gordon B.; Miller, David M. Tungsten skarn potential of the Yukon-Tanana Upland, eastern Alaska, USA—A mineral resource assessment
Tungsten (W) is used in a variety of industrial and technological applications and has been identified as a critical mineral for the United States, India, the European Union, and other countries. These countries rely on W imports mostly from China, which leaves them vulnerable to supply disruption. Consequently, the U.S. government...
Case, George N.D.; Graham, Garth E.; Marsh, Erin E.; Taylor, Ryan; Green, Carlin J.; Brown II, Philip J.; Labay, Keith A. Random forest
This entry defines and discusses the random forest machine learning algorithm. The algorithm is used to predict class or quantities for target variables using values of a set of predictor variables. It uses decision trees that are generated from bootstrap sampling of the training data set to create a "forest". The entry discusses the algorithm...
Attanasi, Emil D.; Coburn, Timothy
Water Resources Research Act Program—Current status, development opportunities, and priorities for 2020–30
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Research Act (WRRA) Program connects our Nation’s academic capital to the USGS mission by delivering university-based research, outreach, and education services to our citizens. For more than 50 years, the WRRA Program has invested in local, State, and regionally focused water-related research;...
Donohue, Mary J.; Greene, Earl A.; Lerner, Darren T.
The water quality of selected streams in the Catskill and Delaware water-supply watersheds in New York, 1999–2009
From October 1, 1999, through September 30, 2009, water-quality samples were collected, and discharge was measured at 13 streamgages within the Catskill and Delaware watersheds of the New York City water supply system. The Catskill and Delaware watersheds supply about 90 percent of the water needed by 9 million customers. On average, 59 water-...
McHale, Michael R.; Siemion, Jason; Murdoch, Peter S. Bedrock gorge incision via anthropogenic meander cutoff
Bedrock river-gorge incision represents a fundamental landscape-shaping process, but a dearth of observational data at >10 yr timescales impedes understanding of gorge formation. I quantify 102 yr rates and processes of gorge incision using historical records, field observations, and topographic and image analysis of a human-caused bedrock...
Bender, Adrian Classifying crop types using two generations of hyperspectral sensors (Hyperion and DESIS) with machine learning on the cloud
Advances in spaceborne hyperspectral (HS) remote sensing, cloud-computing, and machine learning can help measure, model, map and monitor agricultural crops to address global food and water security issues, such as by providing accurate estimates of crop area and yield to model agricultural productivity. Leveraging these advances, we used the Earth...
Aneece, Itiya; Thenkabail, Prasad
Numerical modeling of groundwater flow in the crystalline-rock aquifer in the vicinity of the Savage Municipal Water-Supply Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire
In 2010, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a chlorinated volatile organic compound, was detected in groundwater from deep (more than 300 feet below land surface) fractures in monitoring wells tapping a crystalline-rock aquifer. The aquifer underlies the Milford-Souhegan glacial-drift aquifer, a high water-producing aquifer, and the Savage Municipal Water...
Harte, Philip T.
Turbidity–suspended-sediment concentration regression equations for monitoring stations in the upper Esopus Creek watershed, Ulster County, New York, 2016–19
Upper Esopus Creek is the primary tributary to the Ashokan Reservoir, part of the New York City water-supply system. Elevated concentrations of suspended sediment and turbidity in the watershed of the creek are of concern for the system.Water samples were collected through a range of streamflow and turbidity at 14 monitoring sites in the upper...
Siemion, Jason; Bonville, Donald B.; McHale, Michael R.; Antidormi, Michael R.
Global cropland-extent product at 30-m resolution (GCEP30) derived from Landsat satellite time-series data for the year 2015 using multiple machine-learning algorithms on Google Earth Engine cloud
Executive SummaryGlobal food and water security analysis and management require precise and accurate global cropland-extent maps. Existing maps have limitations, in that they are (1) mapped using coarse-resolution remote-sensing data, resulting in the lack of precise mapping location of croplands and their accuracies; (2) derived by collecting and...
Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Teluguntla, Pardhasaradhi G.; Xiong, Jun; Oliphant, Adam; Congalton, Russell G.; Ozdogan, Mutlu; Gumma, Murali Krishna; Tilton, James C.; Giri, Chandra; Milesi, Cristina; Phalke, Aparna; Massey, Richard; Yadav, Kamini; Sankey, Temuulen; Zhong, Ying; Aneece, Itiya; Foley, Daniel Clutch may predict growth of hatchling Burmese pythons better than food availability or sex
Identifying which environmental and genetic factors affect growth pattern phenotypes can help biologists predict how organisms distribute finite energy resources in response to varying environmental conditions and physiological states. This information may be useful for monitoring and managing populations of cryptic, endangered, and invasive...
Josimovich, Jillian Maureen; Falk, Bryan G.; Grajal-Puche, Alejandro; Hanslowe, Emma B.; Bartoszek, Ian A.; Reed, Robert; Currylow, Andrea Faye
Depth of groundwater used for drinking-water supplies in the United States
Groundwater supplies 35 percent of drinking water in the United States. Mapping the quantity and quality of groundwater at the depths used for potable supplies requires an understanding of locational variation in the characteristics of drinking-water wells (depth and open interval). Typical depths of domestic- and public-drinking-water supply...
Degnan, James R.; Kauffman, Leon J.; Erickson, Melinda L.; Belitz, Kenneth; Stackelberg, Paul E.