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

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USGS2013

Introduction to the fifth Mars Polar Science special issue: key questions, needed observations, and recommended investigations

The Fifth International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration – which was held from September 12–16, 2011, at the Pike’s Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks, Alaska – is the latest in a continuing series of meetings that are intended to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas between planetary and terrestrial scientists interested in Mars polar and climate research (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/polar2011/polar20113rd.html). The conference was sponsored by the Lunar and Planetary Institute, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA’s Mars Program Office, University of Alaska Fairbanks, International Association of Cryospheric Sciences and the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Sciences at York University.

Icarus↗

USGS2017

Geomagnetically induced currents: Science, engineering, and applications readiness

This paper is the primary deliverable of the very first NASA Living With a Star Institute Working Group, Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC) Working Group. The paper provides a broad overview of the current status and future challenges pertaining to the science, engineering, and applications of the GIC problem. Science is understood here as the basic space and Earth sciences research that allows improved understanding and physics-based modeling of the physical processes behind GIC. Engineering, in turn, is understood here as the “impact” aspect of GIC. Applications are understood as the models, tools, and activities that can provide actionable information to entities such as power systems operators for mitigating the effects of GIC and government agencies for managing any potential consequences from GIC impact to critical infrastructure. Applications can be considered the ultimate goal of our GIC work. In assessing the status of the field, we quantify the readiness of various applications in the mitigation context. We use the Applications Readiness Level (ARL) concept to carry out the quantification.

Space Weather↗

USGS2023

Earth science looks to outer space

Satellite data are revolutionizing coastal science. A study revealing how the El Niño/Southern Oscillation impacts coastal erosion around the Pacific Rim shows what is possible.

Nature Geoscience↗

USGS2014

Land processes distributed active archive center product lifecycle plan

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Data System Program worked together to establish, develop, and operate the Land Processes (LP) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) to provide stewardship for NASA’s land processes science data. These data are critical science assets that serve the land processes science community with potential value beyond any immediate research use, and therefore need to be accounted for and properly managed throughout their lifecycle. A fundamental LP DAAC objective is to enable permanent preservation of these data and information products. The LP DAAC accomplishes this by bridging data producers and permanent archival resources while providing intermediate archive services for data and information products.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2023

60 years and beyond of Reviews of Geophysics

Reviews of Geophysics is an AGU journal, first established in February 1963. It is a hybrid open access invitation-only journal that publishes comprehensive review articles across various disciplines within the Earth and Space Sciences. The selection criteria are rigorous and many submissions are declined without review. The journal is the highest ranked in the fields of Geochemistry and Geophysics, with a high Journal Impact Factor (JIF 2021 = 24.9), which is indicative of its high visibility and influence within the scientific community. The journal's published review papers, beyond a mere summary of literature, provide crucial context for current work, and establish the framework for comprehensive understanding of research progress, challenges, and interconnections between different communities, so that research may be appreciated by a broad audience. We emphasize the importance of publishing studies that provide a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the current state of knowledge in a field, especially in the case of geophysics, where knowledge is rapidly developing, increasing and becoming more specialized.

Reviews of Geophysics↗

USGS2019

Extreme coastal water level in Washington state: Guidance to support sea level rise planning

This document provides guidelines for assessing exposure to future coastal flooding during extreme coastal water level events – whether these are due to tides, surge, wave run-up, or, more likely, a combination of the three. These guidelines provide information about the current and future magnitude of extreme coastal water levels across Washington State and the underlying processes that influence them. This information is intended to be combined with sea level projections to assess future exposure to coastal flooding along Washington’s coastline. Although the results of our analyses can be combined with any available sea level projections, this report is intended as a companion to the localized sea level rise projections (Miller et al., 2018) developed as part of the Washington Coastal Resilience Project. The Washington Coastal Resilience Project was a three-year effort to rapidly increase the state’s capacity to prepare for sea level rise. The project aimed to improve risk projections, provide better guidelines for land use planners and strengthen capital investment programs for coastal restoration and infrastructure. Partners in the Washington Coastal Resilience Project included Washington Sea Grant, Washington Department of Ecology, Island County, King County, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Padilla Bay National Estuary Research Reserve, The City of Tacoma, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Oregon, University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Western Washington University. The 2018 sea level projections are described in an accompanying technical report, along with a review of the science related to sea level rise (Miller et al., 2018). The report and all associated supporting information are available on the Washington Coastal Hazards Resilience Network website (http://www.wacoastalnetwork.com/).

Washington↗

USGS2006

Sedimentary deposits of the 26 December 2004 tsunami on the northwest coast of Aceh, Indonesia

The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman tsunami flooded coastal northern Sumatra to a depth of over 20 m, deposited a discontinuous sheet of sand up to 80 cm thick, and left mud up to 5 km inland. In most places the sand sheet is normally graded, and in some it contains complex internal stratigraphy. Structures within the sand sheet may record the passage of up to 3 individual waves. We studied the 2004 tsunami deposits in detail along a flow-parallel transect about 400 m long, 16 km southwest of Banda Aceh. Near the shore along this transect, the deposit is thin or absent. Between 50 and 400 m inland it ranges in thickness from 5 to 20 cm. The main trend in thickness is a tendency to thicken by filling low spots, most dramatically at pre-existing stream channels. Deposition generally attended inundation - along the transect, the tsunami deposited sand to within about 40 m of the inundation limit. Although the tsunami deposit contains primarily material indistinguishable from material found on the beach one month after the event, it also contains grain sizes and compositions unavailable on the current beach. Along the transect we studied, these grains become increasingly dominant both landward and upward in the deposit; possibly some landward source of sediment was exposed and exploited by the passage of the waves. The deposit also contains the unabraded shells of subtidal marine organisms, suggesting that at least part of the deposit came from offshore. Grain sizes within the deposit tend to fine upward and landward, although individual units within the deposit appear massive, or show reverse grading. Sorting becomes better landward, although the most landward sites generally become poorly sorted from the inclusion of soil clasts. These sites commonly show interlayering of sandy units and soil clast units. Deposits from the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra demonstrate the complex nature of the deposits of large tsunamis. Unlike the deposits of smaller tsunamis, internal stratigraphy is complex, and will require some effort to understand. The Sumatra deposits also show the contribution of multiple sediment sources, each of which has its own composition and grain size. Such complexity may allow more accurate modeling of flow depth and flow velocity for paleotsunamis, if an understanding of how tsunami hydraulics affect sedimentation can be established. Copyright ?? The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences; TERRAPUB.

Earth, Planets and Space↗

USGS2009

Geophysical investigation of seamounts near the Ogasawara fracture zone, western Pacific

This paper provides an analysis of multi-channel seismic data obtained during 2000-2001 on seamounts near the Ogasawara Fracture Zone (OFZ) northwest of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific. The OFZ is unique in that it is a wide rift zone that includes many seamounts. Seven units are delineated on the basis of acoustic characteristics and depth: three units (I, II, and III) on the summit of seamounts and four units (IV, V, VI, and VII) in basins. Acoustic characteristics of layers on the summit of guyots and dredged samples indicate that the seamounts had been built above sea level by volcanism. This was followed by reef growth along the summit margin, which enabled deposition of shallow-water carbonates on the summit, and finally by subsidence of the edifices. The subsidence depth of the seamounts, estimated from the lower boundary of unit II, ranges between 1,550 and 2,040 m. The thick unit I of the southern seamounts is correlated with proximity to the equatorial high productivity zone, whereas local currents may have strongly affected the distribution of unit I on northern seamounts. A seismic profile in the basin around the Ita Mai Tai and OSM4 seamounts shows an unconformity between units IV and V, which is widespread from the East Mariana Basin to the Pigafetta Basin. Copyright ?? The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences; TERRAPUB.

Earth, Planets and Space↗

USGS2011

Plan for living on a restless planet sets NASA's solid Earth agenda

What are the most important challenges facing solid Earth science today and over the next two decades? And what is the best approach for NASA, in partnership with other agencies, to address those challenges? A new report, Living on a Restless Planet, provides a blueprint for answering these questions. The top priority for a new spacecraft mission in the area of solid Earth science over the next 5 years, according to this report, is a satellite dedicated to Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). At the request of NASA, the Solid Earth Science Working Group (SESWG) developed a strategy for the highest priority objectives in solid Earth science for the space agency over the next 25 years. The strategy addresses six challenges that are of fundamental scientific importance, have strong implications for society, and are amenable to substantial progress through a concerted series of scientific observations from space.

Eos Science News↗

USGS2011

Referees and the publications crisis

Routine refereeing by peers of manuscripts submitted to scholarly journals is a logical and effective device that can obviate ‘crankiness, irrelevance and gross incompetence’ [ Ziman , 1970 a ] on the one hand and minimize editorial arbitrariness on the other. As reviewed by Zuckerman and Merton [1971], the device has historical roots that extend back to the beginning of the first scholarly journals, such as Transactions of the Royal Society, and Journal des Scavans . The growth of science since World War II and the pressure of burgeoning manuscript submission appear to have been important factors in making automatic peer review nearly universal in American and British Commonwealth natural science journals and in international journals influenced by Anglo‐North Americans. A 1962 survey cited by Zuckerman and Merton [1971] found that 71% of 156 physical and biological science journals in 13 countries made use of referees.