Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Paul F Schuster (Former Employee)

Science and Products

link
A boat docked near the Shingobee Headwaters research station.

Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystems Project (SHAEP)

For 43 years, the Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystems Project (SHAEP) brought together scientists from the USGS along with students and professors from universities in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and California to study the physical, chemical, and biological processes of lakes, wetlands, and streams at local and watershed scales. In early 2022, The University of Minnesota and Bemidji...
By
Water Resources
link

Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystems Project (SHAEP)

For 43 years, the Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystems Project (SHAEP) brought together scientists from the USGS along with students and professors from universities in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and California to study the physical, chemical, and biological processes of lakes, wetlands, and streams at local and watershed scales. In early 2022, The University of Minnesota and Bemidji...
Learn More
link
Table Top Mountain and the West Twin Creek catchment

Nome Creek Experimental Watershed

The Nome Creek Experimental Watershed (NCEW) has been the site of multiple studies focused on understanding hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem changes related to permafrost thaw and fire in the boreal forest.
By
Land Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
link

Nome Creek Experimental Watershed

The Nome Creek Experimental Watershed (NCEW) has been the site of multiple studies focused on understanding hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem changes related to permafrost thaw and fire in the boreal forest.
Learn More
link
Alaskan tundra

Yukon River Basin Indigenous Observation Network

The hydrology of the Yukon River Basin has changed over the last several decades as evidenced by a variety of discharge, gravimetric, and geochemical analyses. The Indigenous Observation Network (ION), a community-based project, was initiated by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and USGS. Capitalizing on existing USGS monitoring and research infrastructure and supplementing USGS col
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
link

Yukon River Basin Indigenous Observation Network

The hydrology of the Yukon River Basin has changed over the last several decades as evidenced by a variety of discharge, gravimetric, and geochemical analyses. The Indigenous Observation Network (ION), a community-based project, was initiated by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and USGS. Capitalizing on existing USGS monitoring and research infrastructure and supplementing USGS col
Learn More

Total mercury, bulk density, percent organic matter, and percent organic carbon measured in permafrost cores from the interior and northern slope of Alaska and previously published studies

This data release contains two datasets (see child items below). The first dataset, "MasterDB-csv-published-final.csv", includes 11,000 published measurements of sediment total mercury (STHg, nanograms per gram of soil, dry), bulk density (BD, grams per cm3 of soil, dry), percent of soil organic matter (%OM, loss on ignition, LOI), percent of soil organic carbon (%SOC, calculated using

Aqueous chemistry database, Sleepers River Research Watershed, Danville, Vermont, 1991-2018

The Sleepers River Research Watershed, near Danville, Vermont, is a 111-square-kilometer watershed established in 1958 by the Agricultural Research Service.The research watershed has since been operated by three other federal agencies: National Weather Service, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). USGS started at the site in collabo
By
New England Water Science Center

Long-term hydrological and biological data from Williams and Shingobee Lakes, north-central Minnesota

The Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystem Project is a long-term, multi-disciplinary monitoring and research study of a 28-square-kilometer headwaters watershed in north-central Minnesota that began in 1978. Emphasis is on processes related to hydrology, limnology, geochemistry, and watershed ecology and the land-water and atmosphere-water interfaces. Lakes are a substantial focus and integrator
By
Water Resources
USGS researcher gets ready to take water samples in the Yukon River Basin
link
Image: Sampling at Ice Out
link
Image: Aufeis
link
Filter Total Items: 30

Potential impacts of mercury released from thawing permafrost

Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring element that bonds with organic matter and, when converted to methylmercury, is a potent neurotoxicant. Here we estimate potential future releases of Hg from thawing permafrost for low and high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios using a mechanistic model. By 2200, the high emissions scenario shows annual permafrost Hg emissions to the atmosphere comparable to
By
Water Resources

Vulnerability of subsistence systems due to social and environmental change: A case study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Arctic Indigenous communities have been classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The remoteness of Arctic communities, their dependence upon local species and habitats, and the historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples, enhances this characterization of vulnerability. However, vulnerability is a result of diverse historical, social, economic, political, cultural, institu
By
Office of Tribal Relations

Permafrost stores a globally significant amount of mercury

Changing climate in northern regions is causing permafrost to thaw with major implications for the global mercury (Hg) cycle. We estimated Hg in permafrost regions based on in situ measurements of sediment total mercury (STHg), soil organic carbon (SOC), and the Hg to carbon ratio (RHgC) combined with maps of soil carbon. We measured a median STHg of 43 ± 30 ng Hg g soil−1 and a median RHgC of 1.6
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Mercury Research Laboratory

Multidecadal increases in the Yukon River Basin of chemical fluxes as indicators of changing flowpaths, groundwater, and permafrost

The Yukon River Basin, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, has experienced a warming climate over the last century that has altered air temperature, precipitation, and permafrost. We investigated a water chemistry database from 1982 to 2014 for the Yukon River and its major tributary, the Tanana River. Significant increases of Ca, Mg, and Na annual flux were found in both rivers. Additionally,
By
Ecosystems, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Increasing aeolian dust deposition to snowpacks in the Rocky Mountains inferred from snowpack, wet deposition, and aerosol chemistry

Mountain snowpacks are a vital natural resource for ∼1.5 billion people in the northern Hemisphere, helping to meet human and ecological demand for water in excess of that provided by summer rain. Springtime warming and aeolian dust deposition accelerate snowmelt, increasing the risk of water shortages during late summer, when demand is greatest. While climate networks provide data that can be use
By
Water Resources, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Colorado Water Science Center

Changing times, changing stories: Generational differences in climate change perspectives from four remote indigenous communities in Subarctic Alaska

Indigenous Arctic and Subarctic communities currently are facing a myriad of social and environmental changes. In response to these changes, studies concerning indigenous knowledge (IK) and climate change vulnerability, resiliency, and adaptation have increased dramatically in recent years. Risks to lives and livelihoods are often the focus of adaptation research; however, the cultural dimensions
By
Office of Tribal Relations

Influences of glacial melt and permafrost thaw on the age of dissolved organic carbon in the Yukon River basin

Responses of near-surface permafrost and glacial ice to climate change are of particular significance for understanding long-term effects on global carbon cycling and carbon export by high-latitude northern rivers. Here we report Δ14C-dissolved organic carbon (DOC) values and dissolved organic matter optical data for the Yukon River, 15 tributaries of the Yukon River, glacial meltwater, and ground

Strategic needs of water on the Yukon: an interdisciplinary approach to studying hydrology and climate change in the Lower Yukon River Basin

Strategic Needs of Water on the Yukon (SNOWY) is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; http://www.nsf.gov/). The SNOWY team is made up of a diverse group of researchers from different backgrounds and organizations. This partnership between scientists from different disciplines (hydrology, geography, and social science), government agencies, nonprofit
By
Water Resources

Carbon and geochemical properties of cryosols on the North Slope of Alaska

Cryosols contain roughly 1700 Gt of Soil organic carbon (SOC) roughly double the carbon content of the atmosphere. As global temperature rises and permafrost thaws, this carbon reservoir becomes vulnerable to microbial decomposition, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions that will amplify anthropogenic warming. Improving our understanding of carbon dynamics in thawing permafrost requires more dat

Mercury export from the Yukon River Basin and potential response to a changing climate

We measured mercury (Hg) concentrations and calculated export and yield from the Yukon River Basin (YRB) to quantify Hg flux from a large, permafrost-dominated, high-latitude watershed. Exports of Hg averaged 4400 kg Hg yr-1. The average annual yield for the YRB during the study period was 5.17 μg m-2 yr-1, which is 3–32 times more than Hg yields reported for 8 other major northern hemisphere rive
By
Ecosystems, Water Resources, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Mercury Research Laboratory

Indigenous observations of climate change in the Lower Yukon River Basin, Alaska

Natural science climate change studies have led to an overwhelming amount of evidence that the Arctic and Subarctic are among the world's first locations to begin experiencing climate change. Indigenous knowledge of northern regions is a valuable resource to assess the effects of climate change on the people and the landscape. Most studies, however, have focused on coastal Arctic and Subarctic com
By
Office of Tribal Relations

Anthropogenic aerosols as a source of ancient dissolved organic matter in glaciers

Glacier-derived dissolved organic matter represents a quantitatively significant source of ancient, yet highly bioavailable carbon to downstream ecosystems. This finding runs counter to logical perceptions of age–reactivity relationships, in which the least reactive material withstands degradation the longest and is therefore the oldest. The remnants of ancient peatlands and forests overrun by gla

Science and Products