USGS Science⌕ Search

SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “State Government”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 829 records · Page 46Linked to original sources
USGS2022

Using ensemble data assimilation to estimate transient hydrologic exchange flow under highly dynamic flow conditions

Quantifying dynamic hydrologic exchange flows (HEFs) within river corridors that experience high-frequency flow variations caused by dam regulations is important for understanding the biogeochemical processes at the river water and groundwater interfaces. Heat has been widely used as a tracer to infer steady-state flow velocities through analytical solutions of heat transport defined by the diurnal temperature signals. Under sub-daily dynamic flow conditions, however, such analytical solutions are not applicable due to the violation of their fundamental assumptions. In this study, we developed a data assimilation-based approach to estimate the sub-daily flux under highly dynamic flow conditions using multi-depth temperature observations at a 5-min resolution. If the hydraulic gradient is measured, Darcy's law was used to calculate the flux with permeability estimated from temperature responses below the riverbed. Otherwise, flux was estimated directly by assimilating multi-depth temperature data at 1- or 2-hr time intervals assuming one-dimensional flow and heat transport governing equation. By comparing estimated fluxes with model-generated synthetic truth, we demonstrated that both schemes have robust performance in estimating fluxes under highly dynamic flow conditions. This data assimilation-based flux estimation method was able to capture the vertical sub-daily fluxes using multi-depth high-resolution temperature data alone, even in the presence of multi-dimensional flow. This approach has been successfully applied to real field temperature data collected at the Hanford site, which experiences highly dynamic HEFs. Our study shows the promise of adopting distributed 1-D temperature monitoring to capture spatial and temporal exchange dynamics in river corridors at a watershed scale or beyond.

Washington↗
USGS2022

Science and innovation for battling invasive carp

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the Federal Government’s independent research agency that conducts research to inform management of invasive species. Bighead, black, grass, and silver carp, which are native to China, were originally stocked in aquaculture facilities to control algae, snails, and vegetation. These species have invaded the Mississippi River and are now established throughout the lower and middle Mississippi River Basins and some of its large tributaries where they damage ecosystems and harm economies. A reproducing population of grass carp in Lake Erie is a risk to the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery. The USGS is leading research efforts on risk assessment and on early detection of new invasions. The USGS is also developing and evaluating harvest methods, barriers and deterrents, and baits/attractants to provide Federal and State management agencies the tools needed to manage and reduce populations of these species.

Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas↗
USGS2016

Recent trends in the nonfuel minerals industry of Iran

Summary In response to the recent removal of international sanctions on Iran, including the lifting of “secondary” sanctions by the United States on investment into and trade with Iran, the U.S. Geological Survey National Minerals Information Center compiled and analyzed available information on the current state of Iran’s nonfuel minerals industry. This Circular features a new map and table that identify existing mines and mineral-processing facilities and provide information on location, ownership, and capacity for metals and industrial minerals whose output levels may substantially change in the near future. Additionally, the report covers Iran’s mineral resources and reserves, official mineral production targets for 2025, and current output and share of global mineral production. Recent trends and developments in individual mineral commodities are discussed, including mineral exploration and partnerships with foreign investors. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that Iran held globally significant reserves of feldspar (2d largest in the world), barite (5th largest), gypsum (5th largest), fluorspar (8th largest), and iron ore (10th largest). The Government of Iran claimed to also have significant reserves of chromium, copper, gold, manganese, phosphate rock, and zinc. In 2014, Iran was the second-leading producer of gypsum and the sixth-leading producer of barite, with 6.1 percent and 3.6 percent of world output, respectively. Iran was also the world’s 7th-leading producer of cement, feldspar, and fluorspar; 8th-leading producer of bentonite; 9th-leading producer of molybdenum; 11th-leading producer of iron ore; and 14th-leading producer of crude steel. The Government of Iran plans to quadruple the output of aluminum, copper cathode, direct-reduced iron, and iron ore pellets; triple that of crude steel and gold; and double that of cement, pig iron, and zinc by 2025. It also plans to double the contribution of mining and to quadruple that of mineral processing to the national economy in the next decade. In order to achieve these major goals, the construction and expansion of several mines and mineral facilities are planned or under development. Whether Iran’s annual mineral production increases as rapidly as envisioned by the Government will depend largely on the amount of foreign investment into the minerals industry; integration of modern technology into mineral facilities; and availability of energy to aluminum, copper, and steel plants at competitive prices to international investors.

Circular↗
USGS2022

Opportunities for businesses to use and support development of SEEA-aligned natural capital accounts

Global understanding of the interconnections between the environment and economy has increased, driving the development of frameworks and standards that support the measurement and valuation of natural capital and ecosystem services by both governments and businesses. This paper outlines how businesses can use natural capital accounts (NCA) aligned to the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) standard described in this special issue to support identification, management, and valuation of natural capital not typically listed on corporate balance sheets. Such accounts have direct applications for business strategic planning, investment decisions, supply chain management , operations management, risk management, and corporate reporting. Businesses also have important roles to play in advancing SEEA-aligned NCA by providing information that would be useful to include in the accounts and by helping to shape accounts to provide decision-relevant information for both the private and the public sectors. Current pilot SEEA-aligned NCA data and analyses developed for the United States can help address some of the common challenges that businesses face in using natural capital data such as accessibility, quality, and credibility, important for business decision making. However, improvements are needed to fill data gaps and produce more frequent and timely estimates aligned to the temporal resolution needed by businesses.

Ecosystem Services↗
USGS2006

Coastal classification atlas: South Texas coastal classification maps: Mansfield Channel to the Rio Grande

The Nation's rapidly growing coastal population requires reliable information regarding the vulnerability of coastal regions to storm impacts. This has created a need for classifying coastal lands and evaluating storm-hazard vulnerability. Government officials and resource managers responsible for dealing with natural hazards also need accurate assessments of potential storm impacts in order to make informed decisions before, during, and after major storm events. Both economic development and coastal-damage mitigation require integrated models of storm parameters, hazard vulnerability, and expected coastal responses. Thus, storm-hazard vulnerability assessments constitute one of the fundamental components of forecasting storm impacts. Each year as many as 10 to 12 hurricanes and tropical storms will be the focus of national attention. Of particular interest are intense hurricanes (Categories 3 to 5 of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale) that have the potential to cause substantial economic and environmental damage to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. These coastal regions include some of the largest metropolitan areas in the country and they continue to experience rapid population growth. Based on media reports, there is a general lack of public knowledge regarding how different coastal segments will respond to the same storm or how the same coastal segment will respond differently depending on storm conditions. A primary purpose of the USGS National Assessment of Coastal Change Project is to provide accurate representations of pre-storm ground conditions for areas that are designated high priority because they have dense populations or valuable resources that are at risk. A secondary purpose is to develop a broad coastal classification that, with only minor modification, can be applied to most coastal regions in the United States.

Texas↗
USGS2002

Geologic information for aggregate resource planning

Construction and maintenance of the infrastructure is dependent on such raw materials as aggregate (crushed stone, sand, and gravel). Despite this dependence, urban expansion often works to the detriment of the production of those essential raw materials. The failure to plan for the protection and extraction of aggregate resources often results in increased consumer cost, environmental damage, and an adversarial relation between the aggregate industry and the community. As an area grows, the demand for aggregate resources increases, and industries that produce these materials are established. Aggregate is a low-cost commodity, and to keep hauling costs at a minimum, the operations are located as close to the market as possible. As metropolitan areas grow, they encroach upon established aggregate operations. New residents in the vicinity of pits and quarries object to the noise, dust, and truck traffic associated with the aggregate operation. Pressure is applied to the local government to limit operation hours and truck traffic. In addition to encroaching on established aggregate operations, urban growth commonly covers unmined aggregate resources. Frequently urban growth occurs without any consideration of the resource or an analysis of the impact of its loss. The old idea that aggregate resources can be found anywhere is false. New aggregate operations may have to be located long distances from the markets. The additional expense of the longer transport of resources must be passed on to consumers in the community. In many instances, the new deposit is of inferior quality compared with the original source, yet it is used to avoid the expense of importing high-quality material from a more-distant source. Some governmental, including city, provincial or state, and national, agencies, have enacted regulations to help maintain access to prime aggregate resources. Although regulations have met with variable success, some policy or regulation to protect aggregate resources is worth consideration. A basic requirement of any aggregate resource policy or regulation is the knowledge of the geographic distribution, volumes, and quality of aggregate resources. This knowledge commonly is obtained through geologic mapping and characterization of aggregate resources. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) provide excellent tools to help present and evaluate the information in a manner that is understandable by public decisionmakers.

Book chapter↗
USGS2016

Nutrients in the nexus

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has enabled modern agriculture to greatly improve human nutrition during the twentieth century, but it has also created unintended human health and environmental pollution challenges for the twenty-first century. Averaged globally, about half of the fertilizer-N applied to farms is removed with the crops, while the other half remains in the soil or is lost from farmers’ fields, resulting in water and air pollution. As human population continues to grow and food security improves in the developing world, the dual development goals of producing more nutritious food with low pollution will require both technological and socio-economic innovations in agriculture. Two case studies presented here, one in sub-Saharan Africa and the other in Midwestern United States, demonstrate how management of nutrients, water, and energy is inextricably linked in both small-scale and large-scale food production, and that science-based solutions to improve the efficiency of nutrient use can optimize food production while minimizing pollution. To achieve the needed large increases in nutrient use efficiency, however, technological developments must be accompanied by policies that recognize the complex economic and social factors affecting farmer decision-making and national policy priorities. Farmers need access to affordable nutrient supplies and support information, and the costs of improving efficiencies and avoiding pollution may need to be shared by society through innovative policies. Success will require interdisciplinary partnerships across public and private sectors, including farmers, private sector crop advisors, commodity supply chains, government agencies, university research and extension, and consumers.

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences↗
USGS2014

Some relations between ground‐water hydrology and oceanography

In many areas along the sea-coasts of the world the water-supply for human use is derived largely, and in some areas wholly, from underground sources. Because of the proximity to the ocean in these areas, in some respects the geologic and hydrologic conditions that govern the occurrence and movement of ground-water are quite different from those in inland areas, and to properly interpret them the ground-water hydrologist must avail himself of facts developed by the oceanographer. These conditions are encountered in a marginal zone that in different localities may extend only a few feet or many miles inland from the coast, and presumably for greater or less distances out beneath the ocean. These special conditions have been recognized and extensively studied for many years, for example, in the lowland-area of Holland that lies between the Zuider Zee and the North Sea, and on Long Island, New York. Within recent years more or less attention has been given to these conditions in many of the coastal states of the United States, and in the Hawaiian Islands and Cuba. It is the purpose of this statement to indicate some of the problems of groundwater hydrology that are related to oceanography.

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union↗
USGS2019

Triangle area water supply monitoring project, North Carolina-Summary of monitoring activities, quality assurance, and data, October 2015–September 2017

Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of the area’s water-supply lakes and streams. This report summarizes data collected through this cooperative effort, known as the Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, during October 2015 through September 2016 (water year 2016) and October 2016 through September 2017 (water year 2017). Major findings for this period include the following: More than 5,000 individual measurements of water quality were made at a total of 20 sites—7 in the Neuse River Basin and 13 in the Cape Fear River Basin. Only the measurements from the photic zone and 1 meter below the water surface are documented in this report. Twenty-nine water-quality properties or constituents are presented in this report; State water-quality thresholds exist for 11 of these. All observations met State water-quality thresholds for hardness, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and nitrate plus nitrite. North Carolina water-quality thresholds were exceeded one or more times for dissolved oxygen, dissolved-oxygen percent saturation, pH, water temperature, turbidity, and chlorophyll a .

North Carolina↗
USGS2021

Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, North Carolina—Summary of monitoring activities, quality assurance, and data, October 2017–September 2019

Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of the area’s water-supply lakes and streams. This report summarizes data collected through this cooperative effort, known as the Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, from October 2017 through September 2018 (water year 2018) and from October 2018 through September 2019 (water year 2019). Major findings for this period include the following: More than 7,500 individual measurements of water quality were made at 20 sites—7 in the Neuse River Basin and 13 in the Cape Fear River Basin. For the lake sites, only measurements from the photic zone and 1 meter below the water surface are documented in this report. Thirty-six water-quality properties or constituents are presented in this report; the State of North Carolina water-quality thresholds are presented for 11 of these. All observations met the State of North Carolina water-quality thresholds for water temperature, hardness, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and nitrate plus nitrite. The State of North Carolina water-quality thresholds were exceeded one or more times for dissolved oxygen, dissolved-oxygen percent saturation, pH, turbidity, and chlorophyll a .

North Carolina↗
USGS1993

Hydrology of the Estancia Basin, central New Mexico

The Estancia Basin of central New Mexico is a topographically closed basin that ranges in altitude from 6,000 feet to more than 10,000 feet above sea level. In the center of the basin a valley-fill aquifer of Quaternary age is as much as 400 feet thick. Limestone of the Madera Group of Pennsylvanian and Permian age crops out over most of the southwestern part of the basin. Large-scale ground-water withdrawals for irrigation began about 1950. Between 1950 and 1985, water levels declined 50 to 60 feet in a number of places. From 1985 to the present (1989), however, a small rise in water level has been measured in a number of wells; this rise can be attributed to decreased ground-water withdrawals resulting from a government crop- reduction program and also to several years of heavy winter snowfall. Continuous water-level recorders were placed on three wells from 1986 to 1988. Two of these wells showed short-term water-level changes characteristic of unconfined aquifers, whereas the other showed changes characteristic of confined aquifers. All three wells showed water-level changes caused by barometric-pressure changes. Six series of miscellaneous measurements and two gain-and-loss (seepage) studies were made in streams in the south- western part of the basin. These measurements showed an extreme variability in discharge under different climatic conditions. The specific conductance of water in much of the southwestern part of the basin ranges from 350 to 550 microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius. East of State Highway 41 in the area of the salt lakes, water quality is highly dependent on depth in the aquifer. Specific- conductance values ranging from about 4,000 to 6,000 microsiemens were measured in water samples from wells in the center of the basin during this study, but previous studies have identified water samples having specific-conductance values of as much as 187,000 microsiemens. A comparison of specific- conductance measurements and laboratory analyses of well water shows that water quality has changed in the past several decades. In many places, increases in spedtic conductance can be correlated with deelines in water level.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS2004

Rhode Island Water Supply System Management Plan Database (WSSMP-Version 1.0)

In Rhode Island, the availability of water of sufficient quality and quantity to meet current and future environmental and economic needs is vital to life and the State's economy. Water suppliers, the Rhode Island Water Resources Board (RIWRB), and other State agencies responsible for water resources in Rhode Island need information about available resources, the water-supply infrastructure, and water use patterns. These decision makers need historical, current, and future water-resource information. In 1997, the State of Rhode Island formalized a system of Water Supply System Management Plans (WSSMPs) to characterize and document relevant water-supply information. All major water suppliers (those that obtain, transport, purchase, or sell more than 50 million gallons of water per year) are required to prepare, maintain, and carry out WSSMPs. An electronic database for this WSSMP information has been deemed necessary by the RIWRB for water suppliers and State agencies to consistently document, maintain, and interpret the information in these plans. Availability of WSSMP data in standard formats will allow water suppliers and State agencies to improve the understanding of water-supply systems and to plan for future needs or water-supply emergencies. In 2002, however, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a law that classifies some of the WSSMP information as confidential to protect the water-supply infrastructure from potential terrorist threats. Therefore the WSSMP database was designed for an implementation method that will balance security concerns with the information needs of the RIWRB, suppliers, other State agencies, and the public. A WSSMP database was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the RIWRB. The database was designed to catalog WSSMP information in a format that would accommodate synthesis of current and future information about Rhode Island's water-supply infrastructure. This report documents the design and implementation of the WSSMP database. All WSSMP information in the database is, ultimately, linked to the individual water suppliers and to a WSSMP 'cycle' (which is currently a 5-year planning cycle for compiling WSSMP information). The database file contains 172 tables - 47 data tables, 61 association tables, 61 domain tables, and 3 example import-link tables. This database is currently implemented in the Microsoft Access database software because it is widely used within and outside of government and is familiar to many existing and potential customers. Design documentation facilitates current use and potential modification for future use of the database. Information within the structure of the WSSMP database file (WSSMPv01.mdb), a data dictionary file (WSSMPDD1.pdf), a detailed database-design diagram (WSSMPPL1.pdf), and this database-design report (OFR2004-1231.pdf) documents the design of the database. This report includes a discussion of each WSSMP data structure with an accompanying database-design diagram. Appendix 1 of this report is an index of the diagrams in the report and on the plate; this index is organized by table name in alphabetical order. Each of these products is included in digital format on the enclosed CD-ROM to facilitate use or modification of the database.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1989

Acid rain publications by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1979-1989

Pollution of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems has been a concern to society since the burning of fossil fuels began in the industrial revolution. In the past decade or so, this concern has been heightened by evidence that chemical transformation in the atmosphere of combustion by-products and subsequent long-range transport can cause environmental damage in remote areas. The extent of this damage and the rates of ecological recovery were largely unknown. "Acid rain" became the environmental issue of the 1980's. To address the increasing concerns of the public, in 1980 the Federal government initiated a 10-year interagency research program to develop information that could be used by the President and the Congress in making decisions for emission controls. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been an active participant in acid precipitation research. The Service provided support to a number of scientific conferences and forums, including the Action Seminar on Acid Precipitation held in Toronto, Canada, in 1979, an international symposium on Acidic Precipitation and Fishery Impacts in Northeastern North America in 1981, and a symposium on Acidic Precipitation and Atmospheric Deposition: A Western Perspective in 1982. These meetings as well as the growing involvement with the government's National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program placed the Service in the lead in research on the biological effects of acidic deposition. Research projects have encompassed water chemistry, aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, fish, and waterfowl. Water quality surveys have been conducted to help determine the extent of acid precipitation effects in the northeast, Middle Atlantic, and Rocky Mountain regions. In addition to lake and stream studies, research in wetland and some terrestrial habitats has also been conducted. Specific projects have addressed important sport species such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and striped bass (Morone saxatilis). Trace metal accumulation in fish has been investigated and a symposium sponsored on related work. U.S> Fish and Wildlife Service scientists serve as advisors and participants in research being conducted by industry, nonprofit groups, State and other Federal agencies. Researcher have worked closely with colleagues in Canada, England, Norway, Scotland, the Soviet Union, and Sweden to gain additional understanding of the problem. In 1982, the Service implemented a mitigation research program to provide resource managers with information to help them protect sensitive ecosystems, and rehabilitation methods for resources already affected by acidification. An international workshop was convened to outline the research needs. Several conferences were organized to develop appropriate field and laboratory procedures. Scientists with the mitigation research program are evaluating the ecological effects of liming (addition of base material) surface waters and surrounding watershed to provide buffering against acidic inputs. Through long-term cooperative project with States and other organizations, investigations are studying possible abatement methods for regions most affected by acidic deposition. To date, more than 200 reports the describe these studies have been published. These products include conference proceedings, journal articles, and in-house scientific publications. An education poster describing the effects of acid rain on aquatic ecosystems was developed and distributed to individuals, conservations and State organizations, and the public education system. This annotated bibliography lists current publications by Service authors, cooperators, or contractors on acid rain and related quality. Entire are arranged alphabetically by author surname. For further information about the research program, contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Acid Precipitation Section, National Fishery Research Center -- Leetown, Box 700, Kearneysville, WV 25430.

Biological Report↗
USGS2010

Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Maize Productivity in the American Southwest, Part 2: The Chaco Halo, Mesa Verde, Pajarito Plateau/Bandelier, and Zuni Archaeological Regions

Chemical and nutrient analyses of 471 soil samples from 161 sites within four archaeological regions (Pajarito Plateau/Bandelier, Zuni, Mesa Verde, and the Chaco Halo) were combined with historical climate data in order to evaluate the agricultural productivity of each region. In addition, maize productivity and field-life calculations were performed using organic-nitrogen (N) values from the upper 50 cm of soil in each region and a range (1-3%/year) of N-mineralization rates. The endmember values of this range were assumed representative of dry and wet climate states. With respect to precipitation and heat, the Pajarito Plateau area has excellent agricultural potential; the agricultural potentials of the Zuni and Mesa Verde regions are good; and the agricultural potential of the Chaco Halo is poor. Calculations of N mineralization and field life indicate that Morfield Valley in Mesa Verde should be able to provide 10 bu/ac of maize for decades (without the addition of N) when organic N-mineralization rates exceed 2%. Productivity and field-life potential decrease in the following order: Zuni, Mesa Verde, Bandelier, Chaco Halo. The Chaco Halo is very unproductive; e. g., 10 bushels per acre can be achieved within the Halo only from soils having the highest organic N concentration (third quartile) and which undergo the highest rate (3%) of N mineralization. ?? 2010 US Government.

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory↗
USGS1970

Environments at U.S. and U.S.S.R. nuclear explosion sites petroleum-stimulation projects

The United States Plowshare program for the peaceful application of nuclear explosives was formally established by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1957. A number of engineering uses for such explosions were proposed and discussed in the late fifties, mostly by personnel of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory under contract to AEC, and several projects were studied in detail during the nuclear weapons test moratorium extending from the fall of 1958 to the fall of 1961. The first Plowshare experiment, Project Gnome, was detonated on December 10, 1961. Since that time phenomenological data have been obtained in many media, including alluvium, tuff, shale, dolomite, salt, basalt, and granite, with explosions at depths ranging from near the surface to about 2,500 meters. After negotiation between El Paso Natural Gas Company and AEC, the first joint industry-government Plowshare experiment, Project Gas-buggy, was detonated on December 10, 1967. The second such experiment,Project Rulison, conducted on September 10, 1969, under the sponsorshipof Austral Oil Company, Inc., the AEC, and the Department of Interior,is currently being evaluated. These two experiments emphasized theU. S. interest in the potential application of underground nuclear explosions to the petroleum industry, especially to gas stimulation in sizable regions of large-scale, low productivity, generally undeveloped resources. (Petroleum as used in this report refers to both gas and oil resources.)

Open-File Report↗
USGS2011

Derived crop management data for the LandCarbon Project

The LandCarbon project is assessing potential carbon pools and greenhouse gas fluxes under various scenarios and land management regimes to provide information to support the formulation of policies governing climate change mitigation, adaptation and land management strategies. The project is unique in that spatially explicit maps of annual land cover and land-use change are created at the 250-meter pixel resolution. The project uses vast amounts of data as input to the models, including satellite, climate, land cover, soil, and land management data. Management data have been obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) that provides information regarding crop type, crop harvesting, manure, fertilizer, tillage, and cover crop (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2011a, b, c). The LandCarbon team queried the USDA databases to pull historic crop-related management data relative to the needs of the project. The data obtained was in table form with the County or State Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) and the year as the primary and secondary keys. Future projections were generated for the A1B, A2, B1, and B2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) scenarios using the historic data values along with coefficients generated by the project. The PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE) modeling framework (Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment, 2006) was used to develop coefficients for each IPCC SRES scenario, which were applied to the historic management data to produce future land management practice projections. The LandCarbon project developed algorithms for deriving gridded data, using these tabular management data products as input. The derived gridded crop type, crop harvesting, manure, fertilizer, tillage, and cover crop products are used as input to the LandCarbon models to represent the historic and the future scenario management data. The overall algorithm to generate each of the gridded management products is based on the land cover and the derived crop type. For each year in the land cover dataset, the algorithm loops through each 250-meter pixel in the ecoregion. If the current pixel in the land cover dataset is an agriculture pixel, then the crop type is determined. Once the crop type is derived, then the crop harvest, manure, fertilizer, tillage, and cover crop values are derived independently for that crop type. The following is the overall algorithm used for the set of derived grids. The specific algorithm to generate each management dataset is discussed in the respective section for that dataset, along with special data handling and a description of the output product.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2000

USGS research on three mid-latitude glaciers

Low- and mid-latitude regions of the earth are home to 80 to 90 percent of the world's population. Because of this, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting a research program to study the geochemistry of precipitation, snow, ice, and runoff samples from mid-latitude glaciers in Kyrghyzstan, Nepal, and the United States, Areas of research, such as ground-water studies, reconstructing paleoclimate records, describing anthropogenic input of chemicals to the environment, and modeling global climate, are important to the well being of the worlds' population and can be supplemented by the collection and chemical analysis of snow and ice cores. Nearly all the constituents that compose snow and ice-core samples contribute vital information, whether it be the microbial communities that flourish in snow, radionuclides present in various amounts in all the samples, or location-specific deposits of mercury and nitrate. This work is hastened by the fact that mid-latitude glaciers, and the information preserved in them, are rapidly disappearing as a result of global warming. Research collaboration for this project includes 12 national and 7 international universities, and 4 government agencies. Funding is provided by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the USGS.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2020

Uranium bioaccumulation dynamics in the mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer and application to site-specific prediction

Little is known about the underlying mechanisms governing the bioaccumulation of uranium (U) in aquatic insects. We experimentally parameterized conditional rate constants for aqueous U uptake, dietary U uptake, and U elimination for the aquatic baetid mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer . Results showed that this species accumulates U from both the surrounding water and diet, with waterborne uptake prevailing. Elevated dietary U concentrations decreased feeding rates, presumably by altering food palatability or impairing the mayfly’s digestive processes, or both. Nearly 90% of the accumulated U was eliminated within 24 h after the waterborne exposure ceased, reflecting the desorption of weakly bound U from the insect’s integument. To examine whether the experimentally derived rate constants for N. triangulifer could be generalized to baetid mayflies, mayfly U concentrations were predicted using the water chemistry and U measured in periphyton from springs in Grand Canyon (United States) and were compared to U concentrations in spring-dwelling mayflies. Predicted and observed mayfly U concentrations were in good agreement. Under the modeled site-specific conditions, waterborne U uptake accounted for 52–93% of the bioaccumulated U. U accumulation was limited in these wild populations due to a combination of factors including low concentrations of bioavailable dissolved U species, slow U uptake rates from food, and fast U elimination.

Environmental Science & Technology↗