Unified Interior Regions
Washington
Washington's Puget Sound is a complex ecosystem directly adjacent to a robust metropolitan area that scientists from the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center study. Recent surveys have looked at juvenile surf smelt, a key link in the food web that are consumed by predators such as salmon, orca, and many marine birds.
Western Fisheries Research Center
Research at the WFRC focuses on the environmental factors responsible for the creation, maintenance, and regulation of fish populations including their interactions in aquatic communities and ecosystems.
Go to CenterWashington Water Science Center
The Water Science Center's mission is to collect, analyze and disseminate the impartial hydrologic data and information needed to wisely manage water resources for the people of the United States and the State of Washington.
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Prevalence of the parasitic copepod Haemobaphes intermedius on juvenile buffalo sculpins from Washington State
The parasitic copepod, Haemobaphes intermedius, was detected in 62% of juvenile buffalo sculpins Enophrys bison, a previously unreported host, from the San Juan Islands archipelago in Washington State. Most infestations were characterized by the presence of a single female copepod infestations with multiple H. intermedius occurred either...
Halpenny, C.M.; Kocan, R.M.; Hershberger, P.K.Probabilistic assessment of precipitation-triggered landslides using historical records of landslide occurrence, Seattle, Washington
Ninety years of historical landslide records were used as input to the Poisson and binomial probability models. Results from these models show that, for precipitation-triggered landslides, approximately 9 percent of the area of Seattle has annual exceedance probabilities of 1 percent or greater. Application of the Poisson model for estimating the...
Coe, Jeffrey A.; Michael, J.A.; Crovelli, R.A.; Savage, William U.; Nashem, W.D.; Laprade, W.T.Site fidelity, habitat associations, and behavior during dredging operations of white sturgeon at Three Tree Point in the Lower Columbia River
No abstract available
Parsley, M.J.; Popoff, N.D.Spatial partitioning and asymmetric hybridization among sympatric coastal steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus), coastal cutthroat trout (O. clarki clarki) and interspecific hybrids
Hybridization between sympatric species provides unique opportunities to examine the contrast between mechanisms that promote hybridization and maintain species integrity. We surveyed hybridization between sympatric coastal steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) and coastal cutthroat trout (O. clarki clarki) from two streams in Washington State,...
Ostberg, C.O.; Slatton, S.L.; Rodriguez, R.J.Tailrace Egress of yearling and subyearling Chinook salmon and juvenile steelhead following juvenile bypass system passage at John Day Dam, 2002
No abstract available.
Smith, C.D.; Liedtke, Theresa L.; Hausmann, B.J.; Schei, Jacquelyn L.; Lyng, J.R.; Gee, L.P.; Beeman, John W.Three-dimensional fish tracking to evaluate the removable spillway weir at Lower Granite Dam during 2003, Annual report 2003
Abstract not available
Cash, K.M; Hatton, T.W; Jones, E.C.; Magie, R.J.; Adams, N.S.; Rondorf, D.W.Water temperature effects on fall Chinook salmon in the Snake and Columbia Rivers
Abstract not available
Haskell, C.A.; Tiffan, K.T.; Koch, R.C.; Heinz, J.A.; Mesa, M.G.; Rondorf, D.W.White sturgeon mitigation and restoration in the Columbia and Snake rivers upstream from Bonneville Dam, Annual progress report April 2002 - March 2003. Report C
During 1 April 2002 through 31 March 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) continued work on several tasks, including quantifying habitat suitable for white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus spawning, a long-term survey of young-of-the-year (YOY) white sturgeon recruitment in the lower Columbia River, and a laboratory study investigating...
Gadomski, D.M.; Parsley, M.J.; Kofoot, P.Depth to the Juan De Fuca slab beneath the Cascadia subduction margin - a 3-D model for sorting earthquakes
We present an updated model of the Juan de Fuca slab beneath southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California, and use this model to separate earthquakes occurring above and below the slab surface. The model is based on depth contours previously published by Fluck and others (1997). Our model attempts to rectify a number of...
McCrory, Patricia A.; Blair, J. Luke; Oppenheimer, David H.; Walter, Stephen R.New studies initiated by the U.S. Geological Survey - Effects of nutrient enrichment on stream ecosystems
In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program began an intensive study of nutrient enrichment elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in streams in five agricultural basins across the Nation (see map, p. 2). This study is providing nationally consistent and comparable data and analyses of...
Munn, Mark D.; Hamilton, Pixie A.Effects of Urban Development on Floods
Konrad, Christopher P.Estimates of residence time and related variations in quality of ground water beneath Submarine Base Bangor and vicinity, Kitsap County, Washington
Estimates of residence time of ground water beneath Submarine Base Bangor and vicinity ranged from less than 50 to 4,550 years before present, based on analysis of the environmental tracers tritium, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and carbon-14 (14C), in 33 ground-water samples collected from wells tapping the ground-water system. The concentrations...
Cox, S.E.Steam vent near 1980-1986 dome, in the crater of Mount St. Helens.
Steaming continues on the 1980-1986 dome. View to the south and the east arm of Crater Glacier.
Precise Surveying of Mount St. Helens Crater with RTK-GPS Technology
A survey base station is established using a RTK-GPS receiver with mobile units to collect data points in and around the crater. Information will be used to monitor surface changes, deformation, erosion and aggradation inside the crater. This type of technology is precise to the centimeter. View is to the south of Mount St. Helens, toward Crater Glacier and the lava domes
...Fumerole near Mount St. Helens' 1980-86 dome
A fumerole near the 1980-86 dome keeps an open hole in the east arm of Crater Glacier. The hole is approximately 12 m (40 ft) in diameter, easily wide enough to hold a school bus and deep enough so you could not see the bus' top. View to the south.
C1 West Transect – 2013
Permanent Site: C1 West Transect; Depth: Meters (Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.7 Kilometers (0.4 Miles); Pre/Post Dam Removal: 2 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.14525225,-123.57361291; Site Description: Substrate is entirely sand. All seaweeds are absent. Woody debris is scattered along entire transect (0:21 0:34, 0:59 seconds). Invertebrates are scarce with the
F2 West Transect – 2013
Permanent Site: F2 West Transect; Depth: 12.3 Meters (40.3 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 1.5 Kilometers (0.9 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 2 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.15672004,-123.55036603; Site Description: Substrate is mainly gravel mixed with a little cobble and an occasional boulder. Only remaining seaweeds are the dead stalks of the perennial
K1 West Transect – 2013
Permanent Site: K1 West Transect; Depth: 5.8 Meters (19 Feet) & 5.6 Meters (18.4 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 4.5 Kilometers (2.8 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 2 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.13592923,-123.51082988; Site Description: This is a shallow site. Sediment is a gravel/sand mixture. This video includes footage from surveys conducted both on
K1 East Transect – 2013
Permanent Site: K1 East Transect; Depth: 6.2 Meters (20.4 Feet) & 6.6 Meters (21.5 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 4.5 Kilometers (2.8 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 2 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.13592923,-123.5101581; Site Description: This is a shallow site. Sediment is a gravel/sand mixture. This video includes footage from surveys conducted both on
A2 East Transect – 2013
Permanent Site: A2 East Transect; Depth: 12.8 Meters (Feet 42); Distance from river mouth: Kilometers 1.8 (1.1 Miles); Pre/Post Dam Removal: 2 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.14130295, -123.58766124; Site Description: One of our deeper sites at over 40 feet. Sediment is primarily sand/sandy mud. Seaweeds are absent this year. Woody debris is seen on transect for the
H1 East Transect – 2014
Permanent Site: H1 East Transect; Depth: 5.5 Meters (Feet 17.8); Distance from river mouth: 2.4 Kilometers (1.5 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 3 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.1479177,-123.53472865; Site Description: This is a shallow site and one of the farthest removed from the effects of the sediment plume outside of the control sites. Substrate is still
Field Studies at Mount St. Helens
Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes (CSAV) students Javier Pacheco (Costa Rica) and Syegi Kunrat (Indonesia) participate in field studies at Mount St. Helens.
Teachers take a guided walk on the Hummocks Trail at Mount St. Helens
Teachers take a guided walk on the Hummocks Trail, learning about the depositional features of the May 18, 1980 eruption.
Teachers learn about hummocks at Mount St. Helens workshop.
Todd Cullings, with the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, leads teachers in activities they can do with students before hiking the Hummocks Trail.
Faults which scientists say are capable of generating earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or larger in the Pacific Northwest, will come under close scrutiny this week, as the U.S. Geological Survey continues a project to learn more about faults that lie beneath the Puget Sound lowlands.
On Friday, June 27, at 9 a.m. at the Chinook Landing Marina, along the Hylebos Waterway in north Tacoma, reporters can experience a U.S. Geological Survey research project that is currently underway in the Puget sound between Olympia and Whidby Island.
Residents of the Puget Sound area should not be alarmed when they see a small airplane flying low, back and forth over their communities during the next few weeks, according to scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geological Survey of Canada and several universities in both countries are preparing for a 1998 scientific project that will greatly advance the understanding of hazards from shallow earthquakes in the region of Puget Sound and Georgia Strait.
Dr. Gordon Eaton, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va., will be one of the featured speakers at the Saturday, May 17, dedication of the Johnston Ridge Observatory in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
On Saturday, May 17, 1997, representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the State of Washington will gather on a ridge on the north slope of Mount St. Helens to dedicate the "Johnston Ridge Observatory of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument."
As part of a continuing expanded partnership with private industry, the U.S. Geological Survey has contracted with NIES Mapping Group, Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., to produce digital orthophoto quadrangles.
China and Indonesia suffered the deadliest and most destructive earthquakes in 1996, while the U.S. remained relatively quiet according to scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior. The last deadly earthquake in the U.S. was the 1994 Northridge, Calif., quake that took 60 lives.
A special symposium, "Integrating Watershed Ecosystem Studies for Improved Natural Resource Management" will be presented in Seattle, WA, on February 15 as part of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The floods have crested and are beginning to recede in most places in the Pacific Northwest. Nevertheless dozens of U.S. Geological Survey personnel, who were busy over the holidays measuring the high streamflows and keeping river stage monitors operating, are still busy in the field and in their offices. Field crews have been hampered by mudslides, road closures, and extremely dangerous condition
An earthquake generated by two tectonic plates sliding past one another in the Pacific Northwest could be as large as magnitude 9, according to scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Measurements of the volume and rate of flows of the flooding Potomac River will be made on the 14th St. Bridge beginning at about 10:30 a.m. Monday (Sept. 9, 1996) by the U.S. Geological Survey. Measuring efforts by the USGS using special cranes and weights will continue for several hours.
Western Fisheries Research Center
Research at the WFRC focuses on the environmental factors responsible for the creation, maintenance, and regulation of fish populations including their interactions in aquatic communities and ecosystems.
Go to CenterWashington Water Science Center
The Water Science Center's mission is to collect, analyze and disseminate the impartial hydrologic data and information needed to wisely manage water resources for the people of the United States and the State of Washington.
Go to Center