I began working for the U.S. Geological Survey in 1997. One of my primary research interests is long-term monitoring and trend analyses. This research involves collecting and analyzing long-term monitoring data to determine the effects of climate and land use change on water quality, water quantity, soil chemistry, and aquatic biology in minimally disturbed watersheds across the United States. As part of this work I chair the Reference Watershed Working Group of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council and administer the National Network of Reference Watersheds. I also conduct watershed research in the Catskill Mountains of New York which is the primary source of drinking water for New York City. My work in the Catskills during the last 2 decades has included the effects of agricultural best management practices on stream water quality, nutrient cycling, and sediment transport.
Education
Summary The Long-Term Monitoring Network (LTM) is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to monitor trends in surface water quality by nesting a few intensively-monitored stations within a network of more numerous but less frequently sampled stations. The intensively-monitored stations have provided monthly discharge and water-quality data at 6 locations across the country...
The laboratory for analysis of low-ionic-strength water at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Center in Troy, N.Y., analyzes samples collected by USGS projects throughout the Northeast. The laboratory's quality-assurance program is based on internal and interlaboratory quality-assurance samples and quality-control procedures that were...
Lincoln, Tricia A.; Horan-Ross, Debra A.; McHale, Michael R.; Lawrence, Gregory B.
The laboratory for analysis of low-ionic-strength water at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Center in Troy, N.Y., analyzes samples collected by USGS projects throughout the Northeast. The laboratory's quality-assurance program is based on internal and interlaboratory quality-assurance samples and quality-control procedures that were...
Lincoln, Tricia A.; Horan-Ross, Debra A.; McHale, Michael R.; Lawrence, Gregory B.
The effects of forest clearcutting and selective harvesting on forest soils, soil and stream water chemistry, forest regrowth, and aquatic communities were studied in four small headwater catchments. This research was conducted to identify the sensitivity of forested ecosystems to forest disturbance in the northeastern United States. The study...
McHale, Michael R.; Murdoch, Peter S.; Burns, Douglas A.; Baldigo, Barry P.
Quantifying biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen (N) and the associated fluxes to surface waters remains challenging, given the need to deal with spatial and temporal variability and to characterize complex and heterogeneous landscapes. We focused our study on catchments S14 and S15 located in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, USA, which have...
Christopher, S.F.; Mitchell, M.J.; McHale, Michael; Boyer, E.W.; Burns, Douglas A.; Kendall, C. In 2003, a study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy and precision of 10 laboratories that analyze water-quality samples for phosphorus concentrations in the Catskill Mountain region of New York State. Many environmental studies in this region rely on data from these different laboratories for water-quality analyses, and the data may be used in...
McHale, Michael R.; McChesney, Dennis The 24 ha Dry Creek watershed in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York State USA was clearcut during the winter of 1996-1997. The interactions among acidity, nitrate (NO3- ), aluminum (Al), and calcium (Ca2+) in streamwater, soil water, and groundwater were evaluated to determine how they affected the speciation, solubility, and...
McHale, M.R.; Burns, Douglas A.; Lawrence, G.B.; Murdoch, Peter S. Climate scientists have concluded that the earth’s surface air temperature warmed by 0.6 °C during the 20th century, and that warming induced by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases is likely to continue in the 21st century, accompanied by changes in the hydrologic cycle. Climate change has important implications in the...
Burns, Douglas A.; Klaus, Julian; McHale, Michael R. The laboratory for analysis of low-ionic-strength water at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Center in Troy, N.Y., analyzes samples collected by USGS projects throughout the Northeast. The laboratory's quality-assurance program is based on internal and interlaboratory quality-assurance samples and quality-control procedures that were...
Lincoln, Tricia A.; Horan-Ross, Debra A.; McHale, Michael R.; Lawrence, Gregory B. The laboratory for analysis of low-ionic-strength water at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Center in Troy, N.Y., analyzes samples collected by USGS projects throughout the Northeast. The laboratory's quality-assurance program is based on internal and interlaboratory quality-assurance samples and quality-control procedures that were...
Lincoln, Tricia A.; Horan-Ross, Debra A.; McHale, Michael R.; Lawrence, Gregory B. Identifying phosphorus (P) source areas and transport pathways is a key step in decreasing P loading to natural water systems. This study compared the effects of two modeled runoff generation processes - saturation excess and infiltration excess - on total phosphorus (TP) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentrations in 10 catchment streams...
Lyon, S.W.; McHale, M.R.; Walter, M.T.; Steenhuis, T.S.
The laboratory for analysis of low-ionic-strength water at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office in Troy, N.Y. analyzes samples collected by USGS projects in the Northeast. The laboratory’s quality-assurance program is based on internal and interlaboratory quality-assurance samples and quality-control procedures developed to ensure proper...
Lincoln, Tricia A.; Horan-Ross, Debra A.; McHale, Michael R.; Lawrence, Gregory B.