Unified Interior Regions
Region 1: North Atlantic-Appalachian
Our Science Centers
The NAA Region has 15 Science Centers spanning 14 NE States and Washington, DC. The Centers conduct interdisciplinary biologic, geologic, hydrologic, and energy monitoring and research addressing natural resource issues facing our nation.
Learn MoreJanuary Photo Contest
Check out the winning photographs in the January 2021 Photo Contest! Categories include People, USGS at Work, Where We Work, and Honorable Mention
See PhotosRegions L2 Landing Page Tabs
Frederick County Carbonate Aquifer Appraisal
The objective of this study is to better characterize the carbonate aquifer system in the Northern Shenandoah Valley and provide relevant hydrogeologic information that can be used to guide the development and management of this important water resource.
Bacteriological quality of groundwater used for household supply
In fractured bedrock aquifers used for domestic supply conditions can exist where contaminants such as bacteria are not filtered out by the soil. Once in the fracture system, little additional filtration takes place.
The results of a synotic sampling of domestic wells in the Lower Susquehanna River basin, Pennsylvania and Maryland, showed that bacteria concentrations were higher in...
National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis (NDAMS)
Knowledge of the characteristics of highway runoff (concentrations and loads of constituents and the physical and chemical processes that produce this runoff) is important for decisionmakers, planners, and highway engineers to assess and mitigate possible adverse impacts of highway runoff on the Nation's receiving waters. This project was done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in...
FHWA 1990 "Driscoll" Model Pollutant Loadings and Impacts from Highway Stormwater Runoff
Goto the project web page SELDM.html
Population trends and distribution of Common Murre Uria aalge colonies in Washington, 1996-2015
Periodic assessments of population trends and changes in spatial distribution are valuable for managing marine birds and their breeding habitats, particularly when evaluating long-term response to threats such as oil spills, predation pressure, and changing ocean conditions. We evaluated recent trends in abundance and distribution of the Common...
Thomas, Susan M; Lyons, James E.The history of mercury pollution near the Spolana chlor-alkali plant (Neratovice, Czech Republic) as recorded by Scots pine tree rings and other bioindicators
We assessed > 100 years of mercury (Hg) pollution recorded in the tree rings of Scots Pine near a Czech chlor-alkali plant operating since 1941. Hg concentrations in tree rings increased with the launching of plant operations and decreased when Hg emissions decreased in 1975 due to an upgrade in production technology. Similar to...
Navrátil, Tomáš; Šimeček, Martin; Shanley, James B.; Rohovec, Jan; Hojdová, Maria; Houška, JakubTropical river suspended sediment and solute dynamics in storms during an extreme drought
Droughts, which can strongly affect both hydrologic and biogeochemical systems, are projected to become more prevalent in the tropics in the future. We assessed the effects of an extreme drought during 2015 on stream water composition in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. We demonstrated that drought base flow in the months leading up to the...
Clark, Kathryn E.; Shanley, James B.; Scholl, Martha A.; Perdrial, Nicolas; Perdrial, Julia N.; Plante, Alain F.; McDowell, William H.Undiscovered porphyry copper resources in the Urals—A probabilistic mineral resource assessment
A probabilistic mineral resource assessment of metal resources in undiscovered porphyry copper deposits of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan was done using a quantitative form of mineral resource assessment. Permissive tracts were delineated on the basis of mapped and inferred subsurface distributions of igneous rocks assigned to...
Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Mihalasky, Mark J.; Ludington, Stephen; Phillips, Jeffrey; Berger, Byron R.; Denning, Paul; Dicken, Connie; Mars, John C.; Zientek, Michael L.; Herrington, Richard J.; Seltmann, ReimarFive-year external reviews of the eight Department of Interior Climate Science Centers: Southeast Climate Science Center
In 2008, the U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) within the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI). Housed administratively within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NCCWSC is part of the DOI’s ongoing mission to meet the challenges of climate change and its effects on...
Austen, Douglas; Harrison, Sarah; Rice, Kenneth G.; Beier, Paul; Breault, Tim; Middleton, Beth A.; Peck, Myron A.; Tirpak, John M.; Ratnaswamy, MaryLyme disease ecology in a changing world: Consensus, uncertainty and critical gaps for improving control
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in temperate regions of North America, Europe and Asia, and the number of reported cases has increased in many regions as landscapes have been altered. Although there has been extensive work on the ecology and epidemiology of this disease in both Europe and North America, substantial uncertainty...
Kilpatrick, A. Marm; Dobson, Andrew D.M.; Levi, Taal; Salkeld, Daniel J.; Swei, Andrea; Ginsberg, Howard S.; Kjemtrup, Anne; Padgett, Kerry A.; Jensen, Per A.; Fish, Durland; Ogden, Nick H.; Diuk-Wasser, Maria A.Longshore water-current velocity and the potential for transport of contaminants—A pilot study in Lake Erie from Walnut Creek to Presque Isle State Park beaches, Erie, Pennsylvania, June and August 2015
Bacteria-driven restrictions and (or) advisories on swimming at beaches in Presque Isle State Park (PISP), Erie, Pennsylvania, can occur during the summer months. One of the suspected sources of bacteria is sediment. A terrestrial sediment source to the west of PISP is Walnut Creek, which discharges to Lake Erie about 8.5 kilometers southwest of...
Hittle, ElizabethStatus and threats analysis for the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), 2016
Trichechus manatus (West Indian manatee), especially T. m. latirostris, the Florida subspecies, has been the focus of conservation efforts and extensive research since its listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. To determine the status of, and severity of threats to, the Florida manatee, a comprehensive revision and update of the manatee...
Runge, Michael C.; Sanders-Reed, Carol A.; Langtimm, Catherine A.; Hostetler, Jeffrey A.; Martin, Julien; Deutsch, Charles J.; Ward-Geiger, Leslie I.; Mahon, Gary L.Effects of climate change and anthropogenic modification on a disturbance-dependent species in a large riverine system
Humans have altered nearly every natural disturbance regime on the planet through climate and land-use change, and in many instances, these processes may have interacting effects. For example, projected shifts in temperature and precipitation will likely influence disturbance regimes already affected by anthropogenic fire suppression or river...
Zeigler, Sara L.; Catlin, Daniel H.; Bomberger Brown, M.; Fraser, J.D.; Dinan, Lauren R.; Hunt, Kelsi L.; Jorgensen, Joel G.; Karpanty, Sarah M.Twentieth century warming of the tropical Atlantic captured by Sr-U paleothermometry
Coral skeletons are valuable archives of past ocean conditions. However, interpretation of coral paleotemperature records is confounded by uncertainties associated with single-element ratio thermometers, including Sr/Ca. A new approach, Sr-U, uses U/Ca to constrain the influence of Rayleigh fractionation on Sr/Ca. Here we build on the initial...
Alpert, Alice E.; Cohen, Anne L.; Oppo, Delia W.; DeCarlo, Thomas M.; Gaetani, Glenn A.; Hernandez-Delgado, Edwin A.; Winter, Amos; Gonneea Eagle, MeaganObservations and 3D hydrodynamics-based modeling of decadal-scale shoreline change along the Outer Banks, North Carolina
Long-term decadal-scale shoreline change is an important parameter for quantifying the stability of coastal systems. The decadal-scale coastal change is controlled by processes that occur on short time scales (such as storms) and long-term processes (such as prevailing waves). The ability to predict decadal-scale shoreline change is not well...
Safak, Ilgar; List, Jeffrey H.; Warner, John C.; Kumar, NirnimeshThe interaction of climate change and methane hydrates
Gas hydrate, a frozen, naturally-occurring, and highly-concentrated form of methane, sequesters significant carbon in the global system and is stable only over a range of low-temperature and moderate-pressure conditions. Gas hydrate is widespread in the sediments of marine continental margins and permafrost areas, locations where ocean and...
Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Kessler, John D.Huron River at Milan, OH - ADCP Measurement
Huron River at Milan, OH - ADCP measurement
USGS scientists walk through a tern colony
USGS scientists walk through a tern colony on the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (MA). Here, these scientists are using ecogeomorphological models to predict how this refuge will be impacted by sea-level rise and how that will ultimately effect shorebirds.
Steven Fuller Field Office Chief for the New Philadelphia, Ohio office
Steven Fuller Field Office Chief for the New Philadelphia, Ohio office
Indiana Harbor Canal at East Chicago, IN - gage house location
Indiana Harbor Canal at East Chicago, IN - gage house location
Indiana Harbor Canal at East Chicago, IN - gage house equipment
Indiana Harbor Canal at East Chicago, IN - gage house equipment
Indiana Harbor Canal at East Chicago, IN - gage house
Indiana Harbor Canal at East Chicago, IN - gage house
Piping plover chicks concealed on a sandy beach
Piping plover chicks are well concealed in shallow nests on sandy beaches.
School Branch at Brownsburg IN upstream from gage
School Branch at Brownsburg IN upstream from gage
ADCP Stream measurement Connetquot Brook, Long Island, NY
ADCP Stream measurement Connetquot Brook in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY
School Branch at Brownsburg IN downstream side of bridge
School Branch at Brownsburg IN downstream side of bridge