|
USGS Publishes Strategic Vision Documents for Microplastics and HABs Research
USGS recently released two strategic vision documents. The first identifies science gaps and prioritizes microplastics research relevant to the mission, expertise, and capabilities of the USGS. Evidence of the widespread occurrence of microplastics throughout our environment over the past decade has led to questions about the possibility of health hazards.
|
The second vision document outlines the agency’s future scientific role in the study of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Algal blooms have captured national attention due to concerns associated with exposure to algal toxins for humans, companion animals, livestock, and wildlife. Both documents can be used by USGS scientists as a starting point for planning, prioritizing, and designing microplastics or HAB research projects.
|
For more information on microplastics, read the report or contact Environmental Health Program Coordinator Rip Shively.
For more information on HABs and algal toxins, read the report or contact USGS scientist Victoria Christensen
Releases of the Largest Chlorophyll Dataset to Date
USGS and academic scientists have summarized nearly 84,000 sites and over a million pigment measurements in the largest compilation of harmonized, discrete laboratory chlorophyll data to date. These data support efforts to develop process-based, machine learning, and remote sensing models for prediction of harmful algal blooms (HABs).
Read the report or contact USGS scientist Sarah A. Spaulding
|
The Warming Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
In 2021 USGS scientists followed up on 1970s research and detected increased specific conductance and decreased pH in springs, streams, and rivers in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, indicating shallow, but deepening groundwater flow. This evidence along with increasing temperatures and faster ice melt indicate increasing availability of liquid water as the Arctic warms.
For more information on this study, read the report or contact USGS scientist Josh Koch.
|
Robots Map Flow in Rivers
Non-contact, remote sensing approaches to measuring flow in river channels are becoming more widely used, but the results from these camera-based methods typically are not immediately available. So, USGS scientists developed a Robot Operating System (ROS) software package that can be deployed on a small, embedded computer aboard an uncrewed aircraft to map river surface velocities in real time as the images are acquired.
Read about the ROS package or contact USGS scientist Carl Legleiter.
|
Dwindling Groundwater Reserves May Deplete Mountain Streamflow
Warmer climate conditions have resulted in reduced mountain snowpacks. Scientists determined that decreasing snowpacks deplete mountain groundwater levels, resulting in reduced flow in the Colorado River and its tributaries.
Read the article for more information, or contact USGS scientist Richard Niswonger.
|
New Research on Fire-Fighting Foams
Aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) is used to fight liquid-fueled fires. However, AFFFs contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that persist in the environment and are thought to accumulate in the tissue of animals. A team of scientists has completed mobile laboratory experiments on fish to help understand how AFFF affects the tissues and organs of fish and mammals.
For more information, read the paper or contact USGS scientists Larry Barber.
|
Water Quality After Wildfire: A Framework
USGS scientists created a conceptual framework that considers links among the many explanatory factors of wildfire and resulting changes to water quality and availability in streams. The multitude of factors considered in the framework, from snowmelt to water table elevation, can aid wildfire science researchers during study design or data interpretation in burned watersheds.
For more information, read the paper or contact USGS scientist, Sarah Elliott.
|
|
|
About the USGS Water Mission Area
Water information is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management of the Nation’s water resources. The USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, conduct targeted research, and deliver information on a wide range of water resources and conditions including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and water use and availability.
|
|
|
|
|