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At least 811 records · Page 45Linked to original sources

Landsat data ecosystem case study: Actor perceptions of the use and value of landsat

It is well-known that Earth observation (EO) data plays a critical role in scientific understanding about the global environment. There is also growing support for the use of EO data to provide context-specific insights, with significant implications for their use in decision support systems. Technological development over recent years, including cloud computing infrastructure, machine learning techniques, and rapid expansion of the velocity, volume, and variety of space-borne data sources, offer huge potential to provide solutions to the myriad environmental problems facing society and the planet. The USGS/NASA Landsat Program, the longest continuously gathered source of land surface data, has played a central role in our understanding of environmental change, particularly for its contribution of longitudinal products that offer greater context for present research and decision support activities. The challenge facing the Landsat and EO data community, however, now lies in moving beyond context-specific knowledge generation to translating such knowledge into tangible value for society. Drawing from an open data ecosystem framework and qualitative social science methods, we map the Landsat data ecosystem (LDE) and the relationships linking multiple actors responsible for processing, indexing, analyzing, synthesizing, and translating raw Landsat data into information that is useful, useable, and used by end users in particular social-environmental contexts. Both the role of Big Data and associated technologies are discussed as they relate to the ultimate use of Landsat-derived information products to guide decision-making, and key data ecosystem characteristics that shape the likelihood of these products’ use are highlighted.

Frontiers in Environmental Science↗

OBIS-USA: a data-sharing legacy of the census of marine life

The United States Geological Survey's Biological Informatics Program hosts OBIS-USA, the US node of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). OBIS-USA gathers, coordinates, applies standard formats to, and makeswidely available data on biological collections in marine waters of the United States and other areas where US investigators have collected data and, in some instances, specimens. OBIS-USA delivers its data to OBIS international, which then delivers its data to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and other Web portals for marine biodiversity data. OBIS-USA currently has 145 data sets from 36 participants, representing over 6.5 million occurrence records of over 83,000 taxa from more than 888,000 locations. OBIS-USA, a legacy of the decade-long (2001-2010) international collaborative Census of Marine Life enterprise, continues to add data, including those from ongoing Census projects. Among the many challenges in creating OBIS, including OBIS-USA, were developing a community of trust and shared valueamong data providers, and demonstrating to providers the value of making their data accessible to others. Challenges also posed by the diversity of data sets relevant tomarine biodiversity stored on thousands of computers, in a variety of formats, not all widely accessible, have been met in OBIS-USA by implementing a uniform standard and publishing platform that is easily accessible to a broad range of users.

Oceanography↗

Hydrogeologic data for the lower Thames and southeastern coastal river basins, Connecticut

This report presents hydrologic and geologic data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey during an investigation of water resources in the lower Thames and southeastern coastal river basins in cooperation with the Connecticut Water Resources Commission. The report area occupies about 440 square miles in the southeastern part of the State; it includes about 5 square miles in southwestern Rhode Island. It includes the towns of Bozrah, Groton, Ledyard, Montville, New London, Stonington, and Waterford, and parts of Columbia, Colchester, East Lyme, Franklin, Lebanon, North Stonington, Norwich, Old Lyme, Preston, Salem, and Voluntown. A companion interpretive report, Connecticut Water Resources Bulletin No. 15, (Thomas and others, in preparation), evaluates the water resources of the area. The data on the following pages serve to document and supplement that report and should be especially useful in planning the development of water resources at specific localities. Data were collected as part of this investigation from 1963 to 1965. Streamflow records from continuous~record gaging stations in the report area for this period have been published annually along with data from other parts of the State in a series of U.S. Geological Survey reports entitled "Surface Water Records of Connecticut." Water-level measurements in wells throughout the State from 1960 through 1966~ including those made as part of this investigations are published in Connecticut Water Resources Bulletin No. 7 (Meikle and Baker~ 1965) and Connecticut Water Resources Bulletin No. 13 (Melklee 1967). Most other data collected during this investigation are tabulated on the following pages. Included are some previously unpublished data collected prior to the start of this study. The locations of sites at which data were collected are shown on Plate A in the pocket at the back of the report. Plate A includes the locations of 42 miscellaneous sites where measurements of streamflow were made during 1963 and 1964 and 6 other sites where continuous records are maintained. Data for 25 of the 42 miscellaneous sites are included in this report: data for the remaining 17 miscellaneous sites and for 5 of the 6 continuous-record sites have already been published in "Surface Water Records of Connecticut." Streamflow records for Pawcatuck River at Westerly~ Rhode Island have been previously published in "Surface Water Records of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont." Data presented, unless otherwise noted, were collected by U.S. Geological Survey personnel.

Connecticut↗

Report on progress at the Center for Engineering Strong Motion Data (CESMD)

Strong-motion data of engineering and scientific importance from the United States and other seismically active countries are served through the Center for Engineering Strong Motion Data (CESMD) at www.strongmotioncenter.org. Recently, the CESMD staff, with cooperation from colleagues at international strong-motion seismic networks, has disseminated strong-motion data from significant earthquakes that occurred in Italy, Haiti, Mexico, New Zealand, Chile, Japan, Turkey, and the United States. The CESMD now automatically posts strong-motion data from an increasing number of seismic stations in California within a few minutes following an earthquake as an Internet Quick Report (IQR). As appropriate, IQRs are updated by more comprehensive Internet Data Reports that include reviewed versions of the data and maps showing, for example, the finite fault rupture along with the distribution of recording stations. Automated processing of strong-motion data will be extended to post the strong-motion records of the regional seismic networks of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) outside California. Transfer of the operational and maintenance responsibilities for the Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS) Virtual Data Center (VDC) from the University of California at Santa Barbara to the CESMD is nearing completion. The VDC Tagged Format (VTF) file format has been adopted by the CESMD as the standard for converting strong motion data to facilitate the process of uploading data into the VDC database. The CESMD now provides strong-motion records from lower magnitude (<M3.5) and smaller amplitude (<0.5%g) records for use in developing ground motion prediction equations in areas with less frequent earthquakes, such as the Central and Eastern US.

Conference Paper↗

U.S. Geological Survey spatial data access

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has done a progress review on improving access to its spatial data holdings over the Web. The USGS EROS Data Center has created three major Web-based interfaces to deliver spatial data to the general public; they are Earth Explorer, the Seamless Data Distribution System (SDDS), and the USGS Web Mapping Portal. Lessons were learned in developing these systems, and various resources were needed for their implementation. The USGS serves as a fact-finding agency in the U.S. Government that collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific information about natural resource conditions and issues. To carry out its mission, the USGS has created and managed spatial data since its inception. Originally relying on paper maps, the USGS now uses advanced technology to produce digital representations of the Earth’s features. The spatial products of the USGS include both source and derivative data. Derivative datasets include Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles (DOQ), Digital Elevation Models, Digital Line Graphs, land-cover Digital Raster Graphics, and the seamless National Elevation Dataset. These products, created with automated processes, use aerial photographs, satellite images, or other cartographic information such as scanned paper maps as source data. With Earth Explorer, users can search multiple inventories through metadata queries and can browse satellite and DOQ imagery. They can place orders and make payment through secure credit card transactions. Some USGS spatial data can be accessed with SDDS. The SDDS uses an ArcIMS map service interface to identify the user’s areas of interest and determine the output format; it allows the user to either download the actual spatial data directly for small areas or place orders for larger areas to be delivered on media. The USGS Web Mapping Portal provides views of national and international datasets through an ArcIMS map service interface. In addition, the map portal posts news about new map services available from the USGS, many simultaneously published on the Environmental Systems Research Institute Geography Network. These three information systems use new software tools and expanded hardware to meet the requirements of the users. The systems are designed to handle the required workload and are relatively easy to enhance and maintain. The software tools give users a high level of functionality and help the system conform to industry standards. The hardware and software architecture is designed to handle the large amounts of spatial data and Internet traffic required by the information systems. Last, customer support was needed to answer questions, monitor e-mail, and report customer problems.

Journal of Geospatial Engineering↗

Priorities for IOOS ® Data Management and Communications (DMAC)

Dramatic increases in the volume of online data and rapid advances in information technology have transformed many aspects of our society. In the coastal ocean, the amount of data is also growing dramatically due to new sensor and modeling technologies. Lagging behind this deluge of ocean data, however, is an effective framework of standards, protocols, tools and culture needed to transform the way we generate knowledge and value from ocean data. The Data Management and Communications (DMAC) sub-system was envisioned to provide such an information management capability for IOOS®, promoting standards and policies to be implemented by data providers across the IOOS enterprise. DMAC needs to build upon the successes and lessons learned during development of web service standards and promote a set of end-to-end standards and procedures for the entire ocean-data life cycle, including documentation through metadata, quality control and quality assurance, effective data discovery, and stewardship through archiving. Because information technology is constantly changing, a multiyear, top-down design and implementation plan is not workable. DMAC should start by promoting a set of protocols that are functional for specific use cases, creating a modular framework in which modules can be replaced as technologies change. In addition to promoting protocols, DMAC needs to support training, flexible online documentation, support, and social networking that enable users to share code, techniques and experiences. Through this bottom-up approach, trust and understanding will foster adoption by the community. Finally, a compliance and certification process should be developed that allows IOOS to ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while complying with regulatory requirements related to the data. If this approach is followed, we will enable breakthroughs in ocean data–driven technology similar to those common elsewhere in our society, fulfilling the broader mission of IOOS.

Book↗

Data mining for water resource management part 2 - methods and approaches to solving contemporary problems

This is the second of two papers that describe how data mining can aid natural-resource managers with the difficult problem of controlling the interactions between hydrologic and man-made systems. Data mining is a new science that assists scientists in converting large databases into knowledge, and is uniquely able to leverage the large amounts of real-time, multivariate data now being collected for hydrologic systems. Part 1 gives a high-level overview of data mining, and describes several applications that have addressed major water resource issues in South Carolina. This Part 2 paper describes how various data mining methods are integrated to produce predictive models for controlling surface- and groundwater hydraulics and quality. The methods include: - signal processing to remove noise and decompose complex signals into simpler components; - time series clustering that optimally groups hundreds of signals into "classes" that behave similarly for data reduction and (or) divide-and-conquer problem solving; - classification which optimally matches new data to behavioral classes; - artificial neural networks which optimally fit multivariate data to create predictive models; - model response surface visualization that greatly aids in understanding data and physical processes; and, - decision support systems that integrate data, models, and graphics into a single package that is easy to use.

South Carolina↗

Water quality monitoring and data collection in the Mississippi sound

The United States Geological Survey and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources are collecting data on the quality of the water in the Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico, and streamflow data for its tributaries. The U.S. Geological Survey is collecting continuous water -level data , continuous and discrete water -temperature data , continuous and discrete specific-conductance data , as well as chloride and salinity samples at two locations in the Mississippi Sound and three Corps of Engineers tidal gages. Continuous-discharge data are also being collected at two additional stations on tributaries. The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources collects water samples at 169 locations in the Gulf of Mexico. Between 1800 and 2000 samples are collected annually which are analyzed for turbidity and fecal coliform bacteria. The continuous data are made available real-time through the internet and are being used in conjunction with streamflow data , weather data , and sampling data for the monitoring and management of the oyster reefs, the shrimp fishery and other marine species and their habitats.

Conference Paper↗

Gaining decision-maker confidence through community consensus: Developing environmental DNA standards for data display on the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database

To advance national efforts for the detection and biosurveillance of aquatic invasive species (AIS), we employed a community consensus process to enable the incorporation of environmental DNA (eDNA) detection data into the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) database (https://nas.er.usgs.gov/eDNA/). Our goal was to identify minimum standards and best practices for the verification of eDNA data by working closely with AIS eDNA community practitioners and natural resource managers across government, private and academic sectors. To better inform management decisions, verified AIS eDNA data will be displayed on a separate mapping layer alongside visual sighting data with the inclusion of additional information on the eDNA methods employed to collect and produce the data. To allow for eDNA data display, we produced consensus derived online documents including a submission application and data submission template and are developing a guidance document for detailing the eDNA data submission process. We also developed a communication plan including a mechanism for reporting detections to appropriate managers for consideration prior to display. The products of these efforts are an application and data submission process that will be used in the new environmental DNA data layer on the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) database. Herein, we detail how we engaged the eDNA community for consensus of our standards, share lessons learned from the process, and describe the benefits of such an approach at instilling confidence among the research and decision-maker community.

Management of Biological Invasions↗

The challenge of archiving and preserving remotely sensed data

Few would question the need to archive the scientific and technical (S&T) data generated by researchers. At a minimum, the data are needed for change analysis. Likewise, most people would value efforts to ensure the preservation of the archived S&T data. Future generations will use analysis techniques not even considered today. Until recently, archiving and preserving these data were usually accomplished within existing infrastructures and budgets. As the volume of archived data increases, however, organizations charged with archiving S&T data will be increasingly challenged (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2002). The U.S. Geological Survey has had experience in this area and has developed strategies to deal with the mountain of land remote sensing data currently being managed and the tidal wave of expected new data. The Agency has dealt with archiving issues, such as selection criteria, purging, advisory panels, and data access, and has met with preservation challenges involving photographic and digital media. That experience has allowed the USGS to develop management approaches, which this paper outlines.

Data Science Journal↗

Development of a National Digital Geospatial Data Framework

This proposal of a data framework to organize and enhance the activities of the geospatial data community to meet needs for basic themes of data was developed in response to a request in Executive Order 12906, Coordinating Geographic Data Acquisition and Access: The National Spatial Data Infrastructure (U.S. Executive Office of the President, 1994). The request stated: in consultation with State, local, and tribal governments and within 9 months of the date of this order, the FGDC shall submit a plan and schedule to OMB [U.S. Office of Management and Budget] for completing the initial implementation of a national digital geospatial data framework ("framework") by January 2000 and for establishing a process of ongoing data maintenance. The framework shall include geospatial data that are significant, in the determination of the FGDC, to a broad variety of users within any geographic area or nationwide. At a minimum, the plan shall address how the initial transportation, hydrology, and boundary elements of the framework might be completed by January 1998 in order to support the decennial census of 2000. The proposal was developed by representatives of local, regional, State, and Federal agencies under the auspices of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). The individuals are listed in the appendix of this report. This Framework Working Group identified the purpose and goals for the framework; identified incentives for participation; defined the information content; developed preliminary technical, operational, and business contexts; specified the institutional roles needed; and developed a strategy for a phased implementation of the framework.Members of the working group presented the concepts of the framework for discussion at several national and regional public meetings. The draft of the report also was provided for public, written review. These discussions and reviews were the source of many improvements to the report.The FGDC approved the report for submission to the Office of Management and Budget on March 31, 1995.

Report↗

Archive of Digital Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected During USGS Field Activities 93LCA01 and 94LCA01 in Kingsley, Orange, and Lowry Lakes, Northeast Florida, 1993 and 1994

In August and September of 1993 and January of 1994, the U.S. Geological Survey, under a cooperative agreement with the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD), conducted geophysical surveys of Kingsley Lake, Orange Lake, and Lowry Lake in northeast Florida. This report serves as an archive of unprocessed digital boomer seismic reflection data, trackline maps, navigation files, GIS information, observer's logbook, Field Activity Collection System (FACS) logs, and formal FGDC metadata. A filtered and gained GIF image of each seismic profile is also provided. Refer to the Acronyms page for expansion of acronyms and abbreviations used in this report. The archived trace data are in standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y format (Barry and others, 1975) and may be downloaded and processed with commercial or public domain software such as Seismic Unix (SU). Examples of SU processing scripts and in-house (USGS) software for viewing SEG-Y files (Zihlman, 1992) are also provided. The data archived here were collected under a cooperative agreement with the St. Johns River Water Management District as part of the USGS Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) Project. For further information about this study, refer to http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/stjohns, Kindinger and others (1994), and Kindinger and others (2000). The USGS Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) - Coastal and Watershed Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida, assigns a unique identifier to each cruise or field activity. For example, 93LCA01 tells us the data were collected in 1993 for the Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) Project and the data were collected during the first field activity for that project in that calendar year. For a detailed description of the method used to assign the field activity ID, see http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/programs/html/definition/activity.html. The boomer is an acoustic energy source that consists of capacitors charged to a high voltage and discharged through a transducer in the water. The transducer is towed on a sled at the sea surface and when discharged emits a short acoustic pulse, or shot, that propagates through the water and sediment column. The acoustic energy is reflected at density boundaries (such as the seafloor or sediment layers beneath the seafloor), detected by the receiver, and recorded by a PC-based seismic acquisition system. This process is repeated at timed intervals (e.g., 0.5 s) and recorded for specific intervals of time (e.g., 100 ms). In this way, a two-dimensional vertical image of the shallow geologic structure beneath the ship track is produced. Acquisition geometery for 94LCA01 is recorded in the operations logbook. No logbook exists for 93LCA01. Table 1 displays acquisition parameters for both field activities. For more information about the acquisition equipment used, refer to the FACS equipment logs. The unprocessed seismic data are stored in SEG-Y format (Barry and others, 1975). For a detailed description of the data format, refer to the SEG-Y Format page. See the How To Download SEG-Y Data page for more information about these files. Processed profiles can be viewed as GIF images from the Profiles page. Refer to the Software page for details about the processing and examples of the processing scripts. Detailed information about the navigation systems used for each field activity can be found in Table 1 and the FACS equipment logs. To view the trackline maps and navigation files, and for more information about these items, see the Navigation page. The original trace files were recorded in nonstandard ELICS format and later converted to standard SEG-Y format. The original trace files for 94LCA01 lines ORJ127_1, ORJ127_3, and ORJ131_1 were divided into two or more trace files (e.g., ORJ127_1 became ORJ127_1a and ORJ127_1b) because the original total number of traces exceeded the maximum allowed by the processing system. Digital data were not recoverable for 93LCA

Data Series↗

Data on dissolved pesticides and volatile organic compounds in surface and ground waters in the San Joaquin-Tulare basins, California, water years 1992-1995

This report contains pesticide, volatile organic compound, major ion, nutrient, tritium, stable isotope, organic carbon, and trace-metal data collected from 149 ground-water wells, and pesticide data collected from 39 surface-water stream sites in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Included with the ground-water data are field measurements of pH, specific conductance, alkalinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. This report describes data collection procedures, analytical methods, quality assurance, and quality controls used by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program to ensure data reliability. Data contained in this report were collected during a four year period by the San Joaquin?Tulare Basins Study Unit of the United States Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Surface-water-quality data collection began in April 1992, with sampling done three times a week at three sites as part of a pilot study conducted to provide background information for the surface-water-study design. Monthly samples were collected at 10 sites for major ions and nutrients from January 1993 to March 1995. Additional samples were collected at four of these sites, from January to December 1993, to study spatial and temporal variability in dissolved pesticide concentrations. Samples for several synoptic studies were collected from 1993 to 1995. Ground-water-quality data collection was restricted to the eastern alluvial fans subarea of the San Joaquin Valley. Data collection began in 1993 with the sampling of 21 wells in vineyard land-use settings. In 1994, 29 wells were sampled in almond land-use settings and 9 in vineyard land-use settings; an additional 11 wells were sampled along a flow path in the eastern Fresno County vineyard land-use area. Among the 79 wells sampled in 1995, 30 wells were in the corn, alfalfa, and vegetable land-use setting, and 1 well was in the vineyard land-use setting; an additional 20 were flow-path wells. Also sampled in 1995 were 28 wells used for a regional assessment of ground-water quality in the eastern San Joaquin Valley.

Data Series↗

Archive of digital boomer seismic reflection data collected during USGS field activity 02LCA02 in Lakes Ada, Crystal, Jennie, Mary, Rice, and Sylvan, Central Florida, July 2002

In July of 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey and St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) conducted geophysical surveys in Lakes Ada, Crystal, Jennie, Mary, Rice, and Sylvan, central Florida, as part of the USGS Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) study. This report serves as an archive of unprocessed digital boomer seismic reflection data, trackline maps, navigation files, Geographic Information System (GIS) files, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. Filtered and gained (a relative increase in signal amplitude) digital images of the seismic profiles are also provided. Refer to the Acronyms page for expansions of acronyms and abbreviations used in this report. The archived trace data are in standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y format (Barry and others, 1975) and may be downloaded and processed with commercial or public domain software such as Seismic Unix (SU). Example SU processing scripts and USGS software for viewing the SEG-Y files (Zihlman, 1992) are also provided. The USGS Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) - St. Petersburg assigns a unique identifier to each cruise or field activity. For example, 02LCA02 tells us the data were collected in 2002 for the Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) study and the data were collected during the second field activity for that study in that calendar year. Refer to http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/programs/html/definition/activity.html for a detailed description of the method used to assign the field activity ID. The boomer plate is an acoustic energy source that consists of capacitors charged to a high voltage and discharged through a transducer in the water. The transducer is towed on a sled floating on the water surface and when discharged emits a short acoustic pulse, or shot, which propagates through the water, sediment column, or rock beneath. The acoustic energy is reflected at density boundaries (such as the seafloor, sediment, or rock layers beneath the seafloor), detected by the receiver, and recorded by a PC-based seismic acquisition system. This process is repeated at timed intervals (for example, 0.5 s) and recorded for specific intervals of time (for example, 100 ms). In this way, a two-dimensional (2-D) vertical profile of the shallow geologic structure beneath the ship track is produced. Figure 1 displays the acquisition geometry. Refer to table 1 for a summary of acquisition parameters. Table 2 lists trackline statistics. The unprocessed seismic data are stored in SEG-Y format (Barry and others, 1975). For a detailed description of the data format, refer to the SEG-Y Format page. See the How To Download SEG-Y Data page for download instructions. The printable profiles provided here are GIF images that were filtered and gained using Seismic Unix software. Refer to the Software page for details about the processing and examples of the processing scripts. The processed SEG-Y data were exported to Chesapeake Technology, Inc. (CTI) SonarWeb software to produce an interactive Web page of the profile, which allows the user to obtain a geographic location and depth from the profile for a curser position. This information is displayed in the status bar of the browser.

Florida↗

Data Used in Analyses of Trends, and Nutrient and Suspended-Sediment Loads for Streams in the Southeastern United States, 1973-2005

Water-quality data from selected surface-water monitoring sites in the Southeastern United States were assessed for trends in concentrations of nutrients, suspended sediment, and major constituents and for in-stream nutrient and suspended-sediment loads for the period 1973-2005. The area of interest includes river basins draining into the southern Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Tennessee River-drainage basins in Hydrologic Regions 03 (South Atlantic - Gulf) and 06 (Tennessee). This data assessment is related to studies of several major river basins as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program, which was designed to assess national water-quality trends during a common time period (1993-2004). Included in this report are data on which trend tests could be performed from 44 U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (NWIS) sampling sites. The constituents examined include major ions, nutrients, and suspended sediment; the physical properties examined include pH, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and streamflow. Also included are data that were tested for trends from an additional 290 sites from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Storage and Retrieval (STORET) database. The trend analyses of the STORET data were limited to total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations. Data from 48 U.S. Geological Survey NWIS sampling sites with sufficient water-quality and continuous streamflow data for estimating nutrient and sediment loads are included. The methods of data compilation and modification used prior to performing trend tests and load estimation are described. Results of the seasonal Kendall trend test and the Tobit trend test are given for the 334 monitoring sites, and in-stream load estimates are given for the 48 monitoring sites. Basin characteristics are provided, including regional landscape variables and agricultural nutrient sources (annual variations in cropping and fertilizer use). The data and results presented in this report are in tabular format and can be downloaded and used by environmental researchers and water managers, particularly in the Southeast.

Data Series↗

An interpretation of the aeromagnetic and gravity data and derivative maps of the Craig and Dixon Entrance 1°x 3° quadrangles and the western edges of the Ketchikan and Prince Rupert quadrangles, southeastern Alaska

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is required by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA, Public Law 96-487) to survey certain Federal lands to determine their mineral resource potential. As part of continuing studies designed to fulfill this responsibility, geochemical, geological and geophysical surveys of the Craig and Dixon Entrance (CDE) 1°x3° quadrangles in southeastern Alaska were undertaken by the USGS during the summers of 1983-85, 1989, and 1991. The geochemical data have been reported by Cathrall and others (1993) and Cathrall (1994). A simplified geologic map has been compiled especially for this report based largely on the work of Eberlein and others (1983) and Gehrels (1991, 1992). Brew (1996) also produced a compilation. This report presents available magnetic and gravity data and an interpretation thereof. In this report (released on CD-ROM in 1999) we are releasing USGS-acquired geophysical data for CDE 1:250,000-scale quadrangles of southeastern Alaska. Much of the data have never appeared before in the public domain, including a simplified geologic map, the raw gravity and magnetic data, and derivative products including depth-to-source images, various grids of the data, imaging representations, rock densities, and overlays of the data. In addition, we have added a limited interpretation of what the gravity and magnetic data indicate about the underlying geology, structures, and their relationship to known and potential hidden mineral resources. This interpretation is necessarily limited in the case of the gravity data by the general sparsity of stations. For convenience, we have also included here various representations of the digital topography.

Alaska↗

Comparison of 2008-2009 water years and historical water-quality data, upper Gunnison River Basin, Colorado

Population growth and changes in land use have the potential to affect water quality and quantity in the upper Gunnison River Basin. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, City of Gunnison, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District, Gunnison County, Hinsdale County, Mount Crested Butte Water and Sanitation District, National Park Service, Town of Crested Butte, U.S. Forest Service, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, and Western State College, established a water-quality monitoring program in the upper Gunnison River Basin to characterize current water-quality conditions and to assess the effects of increased urban development and other land-use changes on water quality. The monitoring network has evolved into two groups of sites: (1) sites that are considered long term and (2) sites that are considered rotational. Data from the long-term sites assist in defining temporal changes in water quality (how conditions may change over time). The rotational sites assist in the spatial definition of water-quality conditions (how conditions differ throughout the basin) and address local and short-term concerns. Biannual summaries of the water-quality data from the monitoring network provide a point of reference for stakeholder discussions regarding the location and purpose of water-quality monitoring sites in the upper Gunnison River Basin. This report compares and summarizes the data collected during water years 2008 and 2009 to the historical data available at these sites. The introduction provides a map of the sampling sites, definitions of terms, and a one-page summary of selected water-quality conditions at the network sites. The remainder of the report is organized around the data collected at individual sites. Data collected during water years 2008 and 2009 are compared to historical data, State water-quality standards, and Federal water-quality guidelines. A seasonal Kendall test for trend analysis is completed when there is sufficient data (typically >5 years) at the station. Data were collected following USGS protocols.

Colorado↗

Archive of single-beam bathymetry data collected from select areas in Weeks Bay and Weeks Bayou, southwest Louisiana, January 2013

A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, collected 92 line-kilometers of dual-frequency single-beam bathymetry data in the tidal creeks, bayous, and coastal areas near Weeks Bay, southwest Louisiana. Limited bathymetry data exist for these tidally and meteorologically influenced shallow-water estuarine environments. In order to reduce the present knowledge gap, the objectives of this study were to (1) develop methods for regional inland bathymetry mapping and monitoring, (2) test inland bathymetry mapping system in pilot locations for integrating multiple elevation (aerial and terrestrial lidar) and bathymetry datasets, (3) implement inland bathymetry mapping and monitoring in highly focused sites, and (4) evaluate changes in bathymetry and channel-fill sediment storage using these methods. This report contains single-beam bathymetric data collected between January 14 and 18, 2013. Data were collected from the RV Mako (5-meter vessel) in water depths that ranged from <1 meter to 7.7 meters. Locations of data collection ranged from open-bay systems to narrow inland tidal creeks (U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity Number 13CCT01). This report serves as an archive of processed bathymetry data. Geographic information system data provided in this document include a 10-meter cell-size interpolated gridded bathymetry surface, and trackline maps. Additional files include error analysis maps, Field Activity Collection System logs, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata. Do not use these data for navigational purposes.

Louisiana↗