Shawn C Fisher

Assessment of fecal contamination sources to Alley Creek, Queens County, New York: Results from a sediment resuspension experiment, thermal imagery, and additional sample collection, 2020-2021

In cooperation with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected water and bed sediment samples along Alley Creek (Queens, New York) to help determine likely sources of fecal bacteria to the creek and Little Neck Bay. Potential terrestrial sources include stormwater, sewage via combined sewer overflow (CSO) and compromised infrastructure, bed-sediment resuspension, and groundwater discharge. Host sources that were targeted using microbial source tracking (MST) techniques included human, canine, waterfowl, and general Bacteroides. Routine water samples were collected and analyzed for the fecal indicator bacteria enterococci and fecal coliform, along...

Categories: Data; Tags: Alley Creek, Contaminants, Microbial, Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts, Hydrology, New York, All tags... New York City, Queens County, Queens, New York, Surface-Water Quality Monitoring, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Water Quality, Water Quality, Water Resources, fecal bacteria, water quality, Fewer tags

Exposure potential of saltmarsh units in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to environmental health stressors (polygon shapefile)

Natural and anthropogenic contaminants, pathogens, and viruses are found in soils and sediments throughout the United States. Enhanced dispersion and concentration of these environmental health stressors in coastal regions can result from sea level rise and storm-derived disturbances. The combination of existing environmental health stressors and those mobilized by natural or anthropogenic disasters could adversely impact the health and resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems. This dataset displays the exposure potential to environmental health stressors in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, USA. Exposure...

Categories: Data; Types: ArcGIS REST Map Service, ArcGIS Service Definition, Citation, Downloadable, Map Service; Tags: Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Great Bay, Little Egg Island, All tags... New Jersey, United States, coastal ecosystems, coastal processes, contaminant transport, contamination, ecological processes, ecotoxicology, environment, environmental assessment, estuary, facility registry service, inlandWaters, marsh health, oceans, polygon shapefile, resilience, salt marsh, sediment, sedimentation, toxic release inventory, vegetation, vulnerability, wetland ecosystems, wetland ecosystems, wetland functions, Fewer tags

Problem The shallow groundwater of Nassau and Suffolk Counties is prone to contamination from current land-use, including agricultural, residential, and recreational. The aquifer system of Long Island is highly susceptible to human-derived contamination, in particular, because the soils and underlying sediments are generally composed of sandy, permeable materials that allow contaminants to move readily from the land surface into the groundwater below. Of increasing concern are the human-derived contaminants stemming from past and present uses of pesticides. In addition to the threat of direct runoff to adjacent waterbodies, pesticide transport through the shallow aquifer from inland sources may discharge to the...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, emerging, Contaminants, legacy, Cooperative Water Program, All tags... Focused Assessments, Focused Assessments, Focused Assessments, Groundwater-Quality Monitoring, Groundwater-Quality Monitoring, Groundwater-Quality Monitoring, Long Island, Micropollutants, Micropollutants, Micropollutants, New York, USGS New York Water Science Center, WSC, Water Quality, Water Quality, Fewer tags

Natural and anthropogenic contaminants, pathogens, and viruses are found in soils and sediments throughout the United States. Enhanced dispersion and concentration of these environmental health stressors in coastal regions can result from sea level rise and storm-derived disturbances. The combination of existing environmental health stressors and those mobilized by natural or anthropogenic disasters could adversely impact the health and resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems. This dataset displays the exposure potential to environmental health stressors in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, USA. Exposure...

Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Great Bay, Little Egg Island, All tags... New Jersey, United States, coastal ecosystems, coastal processes, contaminant transport, contamination, ecological processes, ecotoxicology, environment, environmental assessment, estuary, facility registry service, inlandWaters, marsh health, oceans, polygon shapefile, resilience, salt marsh, sediment, sedimentation, toxic release inventory, vegetation, vulnerability, wetland ecosystems, wetland functions, Fewer tags

Microplastics data collected from streams in the northeastern United States, 2017-2018

These data were collected to characterize the quantity and quality of microplastic particles found in 17 streams in the northeastern United States, from New York to Virginia. USGS staff who represent the Urban Landscapes Capabilities Team (ULCT) within the North Atlantic-Appalachian Region designed the study and collected the water samples on which the data are based. Data were collected during 2017 and 2018 and included a baseflow and stormflow sample at each site. Additionally, the various microplastic particles in each sample were characterized by one of two different size-fraction categories (categories of 355-1000 micrometers and 1000-5600 micrometers), by type of particle (fiber/line, fiber clump, bead/pellet,...

Categories: Data; Tags: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Virginia, Washington, DC, contamination and pollution, human impacts, inlandWaters, microplastics, surface water quality, Fewer tags