Publications
This list of Water Resources Mission Area publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists. A searchable database of all USGS publications can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 19116
The last glacial maximum The last glacial maximum
We used 5704 14C, 10Be, and 3He ages that span the interval from 10,000 to 50,000 years ago (10 to 50 ka) to constrain the timing of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in terms of global ice-sheet and mountain-glacier extent. Growth of the ice sheets to their maximum positions occurred between 33.0 and 26.5 ka in response to climate forcing from decreases in northern summer insolation...
Authors
P.U. Clark, A. S. Dyke, J.D. Shakun, A.E. Carlson, J. Clark, B. Wohlfarth, J.X. Mitrovica, S. W. Hostetler, A.M. McCabe
Spatial distribution and frequency of precipitation during an extreme event: July 2006 mesoscale convective complexes and floods in southeastern Arizona Spatial distribution and frequency of precipitation during an extreme event: July 2006 mesoscale convective complexes and floods in southeastern Arizona
An extreme, multiday rainfall event over southeastern Arizona during 27–31 July 2006 caused record flooding and a historically unprecedented number of slope failures and debris flows in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. An unusual synoptic weather pattern induced repeated nocturnal mesoscale convective systems over southeastern Arizona for five continuous days, generating...
Authors
Peter G. Griffiths, Christopher S. Magirl, Robert H. Webb, Erik Pytlak, Peter A. Troch, Steve W. Lyon
Detection and attribution of streamflow timing changes to climate change in the Western United States Detection and attribution of streamflow timing changes to climate change in the Western United States
This article applies formal detection and attribution techniques to investigate the nature of observed shifts in the timing of streamflow in the western United States. Previous studies have shown that the snow hydrology of the western United States has changed in the second half of the twentieth century. Such changes manifest themselves in the form of more rain and less snow, in...
Authors
H.G. Hidalgo, T. Das, M. D. Dettinger, D.R. Cayan, D.W. Pierce, T.P. Barnett, G. Bala, A. Mirin, A.W. Wood, Celine Bonfils, B.D. Santer, T. Nozawa
Evidence for prolonged El Nino-like conditions in the Pacific during the Late Pleistocene: a 43 ka noble gas record from California groundwaters Evidence for prolonged El Nino-like conditions in the Pacific during the Late Pleistocene: a 43 ka noble gas record from California groundwaters
Information on the ocean/atmosphere state over the period spanning the Last Glacial Maximum - from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene - provides crucial constraints on the relationship between orbital forcing and global climate change. The Pacific Ocean is particularly important in this respect because of its dominant role in exporting heat and moisture from the tropics to higher...
Authors
J.T. Kulongoski, David R. Hilton, J. A. Izbicki, K. Belitz
Quantifying fluxes and characterizing compositional changes of dissolved organic matter in aquatic systems in situ using combined acoustic and optical measurements Quantifying fluxes and characterizing compositional changes of dissolved organic matter in aquatic systems in situ using combined acoustic and optical measurements
Studying the dynamics and geochemical behavior of dissolved and particulate organic material is difficult because concentration and composition may rapidly change in response to aperiodic as well as periodic physical and biological forcing. Here we describe a method useful for quantifying fluxes and analyzing dissolved organic matter (DOM) dynamics. The method uses coupled optical and...
Authors
B.D. Downing, E. Boss, B.A. Bergamaschi, J.A. Fleck, M. A. Lionberger, N. K. Ganju, D. H. Schoellhamer, R. Fujii
Integrating scientific knowledge into large-scale restoration programs: the CALFED Bay-Delta Program experience Integrating scientific knowledge into large-scale restoration programs: the CALFED Bay-Delta Program experience
Integrating science into resource management activities is a goal of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, a multi-agency effort to address water supply reliability, ecological condition, drinking water quality, and levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of northern California. Under CALFED, many different strategies were used to integrate science, including interaction between the research...
Authors
Kimberly A. Taylor, A. Short
The regional and global significance of nitrogen removal in lakes and reservoirs The regional and global significance of nitrogen removal in lakes and reservoirs
Human activities have greatly increased the transport of biologically available nitrogen (N) through watersheds to potentially sensitive coastal ecosystems. Lentic water bodies (lakes and reservoirs) have the potential to act as important sinks for this reactive N as it is transported across the landscape because they offer ideal conditions for N burial in sediments or permanent loss via...
Authors
J. A. Harrison, R.J. Maranger, Richard B. Alexander, A. E. Giblin, P.-A. Jacinthe, Emilio Mayorga, S.P. Seitzinger, D. J. Sobota, W. M. Wollheim
Occurrence and removal of pharmaceutically active compounds in sewage treatment plants with different technologies Occurrence and removal of pharmaceutically active compounds in sewage treatment plants with different technologies
Occurrence of eight selected pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs; caffeine, carbamazepine, triclosan, gemfibrozil, diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen and naproxen) were investigated in effluents from fifteen sewage treatment plants (STPs) across South Australia. In addition, a detailed investigation into the removal of these compounds was also carried out in four STPs with different
Authors
Guang-Guo Ying, Rai S. Kookana, Dana W. Kolpin
Investigation of aquifer-estuary interaction using wavelet analysis of fiber-optic temperature data Investigation of aquifer-estuary interaction using wavelet analysis of fiber-optic temperature data
Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FODTS) provides sub-minute temporal and meter-scale spatial resolution over kilometer-long cables. Compared to conventional thermistor or thermocouple-based technologies, which measure temperature at discrete (and commonly sparse) locations, FODTS offers nearly continuous spatial coverage, thus providing hydrologic information at...
Authors
R.D. Henderson, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Charles F. Harvey
Dynamic modeling of nitrogen losses in river networks unravels the coupled effects of hydrological and biogeochemical processes Dynamic modeling of nitrogen losses in river networks unravels the coupled effects of hydrological and biogeochemical processes
The importance of lotic systems as sinks for nitrogen inputs is well recognized. A fraction of nitrogen in streamflow is removed to the atmosphere via denitrification with the remainder exported in streamflow as nitrogen loads. At the watershed scale, there is a keen interest in understanding the factors that control the fate of nitrogen throughout the stream channel network, with...
Authors
Richard B. Alexander, J.K. Bohlke, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Mark B. David, Judson W. Harvey, Patrick J. Mulholland, Sybil P. Seitzinger, Craig R. Tobias, Christina Tonitto, Wilfred M. Wollheim
Historic geomorphology of the San Pedro River: archival and physical evidence Historic geomorphology of the San Pedro River: archival and physical evidence
No abstract available.
Authors
R. Hereford, Julio L. Betancourt
The Mauna Loa carbon dioxide record: lessons for long-term Earth observations The Mauna Loa carbon dioxide record: lessons for long-term Earth observations
The Mauna Loa carbon dioxide record is an iconic symbol of the human capacity to alter the planet. Yet this record would not have been possible without the remarkable work of one man, Charles David Keeling. We describe three emergent themes that characterized his work: (1) his desire to study and understand the processes that control atmospheric CO2 and the global carbon cycle, (2) his...
Authors
Eric T. Sundquist, Ralph F. Keeling