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Susan Wherry

Susan Wherry is a hydrologist at the USGS Oregon Water Science Center.

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boat on bank of Columbia River

Future Climate Effects on Columbia and Willamette River Levees

USGS research directly helps local public agencies that are responsible for the design and maintenance of the levees that surround the northern Portland metropolitan area with the goal of protecting life and property in the event of flooding from the Columbia and Willamette Rivers that surround the city.
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Oregon Water Science Center
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Future Climate Effects on Columbia and Willamette River Levees

USGS research directly helps local public agencies that are responsible for the design and maintenance of the levees that surround the northern Portland metropolitan area with the goal of protecting life and property in the event of flooding from the Columbia and Willamette Rivers that surround the city.
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Water quality measurements in off-channel water bodies of the Willamette River near Albany and Keizer, OR (2017 and 2019)

The tabular data sets and associated maps in this data release represent water-quality data that were collected between April and November of 2017 and between July and November of 2019 to describe baseline conditions prior to or sometimes following treatments using herbicides or other methods to reduce the biomass of non-native water primrose (Ludwigia) within off-channel water bodies of the Willa
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Oregon Water Science Center

Input and results from a boosted regression tree (BRT) model relating base flow nitrate concentrations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to catchment characteristics (1970-2013)

This data release contains a boosted regression tree (BRT) model (written in the R programming language), and the input and output data from that model that were used to relate base flow nitrate concentrations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to catchment characteristics. The input data consists of two types of information: 1) surface water nitrate concentrations collected by the USGS and partnerin
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Chesapeake Bay Activities, Oregon Water Science Center

Modeling flow and water quality in reservoir and river reaches of the Mahoning River Basin, Ohio

Executive SummaryThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is considering changes to the management of water surface elevation in four lakes in the Mahoning River Basin. These changes would affect the timing and amounts of water released to the Mahoning River and could affect the water quality of those releases. To provide information on possible water-quality effects from these operational changes
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Summary of extreme water-quality conditions in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2005–19

This study used the complete set of continuous water-quality (WQ) data and discrete measurements of total ammonia collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from 2005 to 2019 at the four core sites in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, to examine relations between variables and extreme conditions that may be harmful for endemic Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes breviro
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Factors affecting nitrate concentrations in stream base flow

Elevated nitrogen concentrations in streams and rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have adversely affected the ecosystem health of the bay. Much of this nitrogen is derived as nitrate from groundwater that discharges to streams as base flow. In this study, boosted regression trees (BRTs) were used to relate nitrate concentrations in base flow (n = 156) to explanatory variables describing nitro
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Water Resources Mission Area, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Oregon Water Science Center

Assessment of Columbia and Willamette River flood stage on the Columbia Corridor Levee System at Portland, Oregon, in a future climate

To support Levee Ready Columbia’s (LRC’s) effort to re-certify levees along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers and remain accredited, two 2-dimensional hydraulic models, Adaptive Hydraulics and Delft3D-Flexible Mesh, were used to simulate the effects of plausible extreme high water during the 2030 to 2059 period. The Columbia River was simulated from Bonneville Dam, situated at river mile (RM) 145
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

A metabolism-based whole lake eutrophication model to estimate the magnitude and time scales of the effects of restoration in Upper Klamath Lake, south-central Oregon

A whole lake eutrophication (WLE) model approach for phosphorus and cyanobacterial biomass in Upper Klamath Lake, south-central Oregon, is presented here. The model is a successor to a previous model developed to inform a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for phosphorus in the lake, but is based on net primary production (NPP), which can be calculated from dissolved oxygen, rather than scaling up a
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Comparison of mercury mass loading in streams to atmospheric deposition in watersheds of Western North America: Evidence for non-atmospheric mercury sources

Annual stream loads of mercury (Hg) and inputs of wet and dry atmospheric Hg deposition to the landscape were investigated in watersheds of the Western United States and the Canadian-Alaskan Arctic. Mercury concentration and discharge data from flow gauging stations were used to compute annual mass loads with regression models. Measured wet and modeled dry deposition were compared to annual stream
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, California Water Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis

Simulation of deep ventilation in Crater Lake, Oregon, 1951–2099

The frequency of deep ventilation events in Crater Lake, a caldera lake in the Oregon Cascade Mountains, was simulated in six future climate scenarios, using a 1-dimensional deep ventilation model (1DDV) that was developed to simulate the ventilation of deep water initiated by reverse stratification and subsequent thermobaric instability. The model was calibrated and validated with lake temperatur
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Revision and proposed modification for a total maximum daily load model for Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon

This report presents Phase 2 of the review and development of the mass balance water-quality model, originally developed in 2001, that guided establishment of the phosphorus (P) total maximum daily load (TMDL) for Upper Klamath and Agency Lakes, Oregon. The purpose of Phase 2 was to incorporate a longer (19-year) set of external phosphorus loading data into the lake TMDL model than had originally
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center
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New USGS study identifies key factors affecting nitrate concentrations in stream base flow in Chesapeake Bay watershed

A new USGS study has identified factors that contribute to high nitrate in base flow in streams flowing into Chesapeake Bay. Land use, organic carbon...

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