Shocking! Electrofishing for Largescale Suckers on the Columbia River
In this episode we take to the water and accompany a USGS field crew as they collect largescale suckers (Catostomus macrocheilus) along the lower Columbia River. Using a boat equipped with specialized shocking equipment, researchers stun nearby fish, allowing them to be easily collected and examined...

Time-Lapse Photography Project on the Platte River
NEWSC Director Bob Swanson, Wildlife photographer Mike Forsberg, and NET Television producer Mike Ferrell discuss their plans to mount 45 cameras along the entire Platte River to document its changes through the year and beyond....

Who's Your Mama? Conservation Genetics and At-Risk Species
USGS science supports management, conservation, and restoration of imperiled, at-risk, and endangered species. Endangered Species Day is commemorated in May, and we’re taking some time to find out just how one goes about studying at-risk species and what part cutting-edge technologies can play...

USGS Water Activities in South Carolina - Update
An update on USGS Water activities in South Carolina as SC Water Science Center Director Eric Strom is interviewed by SC Public Radio ‘Your Day’ host, Donna London....

Wade into Wetlands Research
May is American Wetlands Month—so we're taking some time out to talk about this important National Treasure that shelters us from storms and provides a unique habitat for wildlife. Jennifer LaVista asks USGS National Wetlands Research Center Director, Phil Turnipseed a few questions on the im...

USGS Economic Analysis Updated for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA)
An updated USGS assessment on the economic recoverability of undiscovered, conventional oil and gas resources within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) and adjacent state waters is available. Economically recoverable resources are those that can be sold at a price that covers the total ...

USGS Hydrologic Investigation of West Africa's Congo River (part three)
USGS South Carolina Water Science Center Data Chief, John Shelton in a special hydrologic expedition down the Congo River, West Africa. Part three of the three part episode, reveals a hydrologic data set that changed the world record books....

Flooding Hits Along the Mississippi River
2011 had been predicted to be a particularly bad year for flooding in the northern Plains and upper Midwest. Areas along the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota and the James Rivers in the Dakotas are still experiencing flooding from snowmelt. Now extreme rainfall is causing severe flooding alon...

New Madrid Earthquake Bicentennial
Earthquakes – and large ones at that – threaten to shake residents and buildings of the central and eastern United States, a reality that scientists, emergency responders and others hope to drive home during the bicentennial of the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Scientific present...

Waves Rippling Through Groundwater
Earthquakes affect Earth’s intricate plumbing system. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011 affected water levels in groundwater wells in many places in the United States. In this episode of CoreCast USGS Geophysicist Evelyn Roeloffs explains this phenomenon....

Beyond Billions: Threatened Bats are Worth Billions to Agriculture
Insect-eating bats provide pest-control services that save the U.S. agriculture industry over $3 billion per year, according to a study released today in the journal Science. However, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Pretoria in South Africa, University of Tennessee, and Bos...

Flooding Spring 2011
The upper Midwest, the Deep South, the Northern Plains, the Ohio Valley and parts of southern New England are experiencing flooding now or are highly vulnerable to flooding this spring. In this episode of CoreCast USGS National Flood Coordinator Bob Holmes talks to CoreCast host  Kara Capelli a...

Magnitude 8.9 Near the East Coast of Japan
A magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. USGS geophysicists and Bill Ellsworth and Eric Geist talk to CoreCast host Kara Capelli about the quake and subsequent tsunami....

Oregon Songbirds: Singing for Their Supper in Evergreen Forests
In this episode we sit down with USGS wildlife biologist Joan Hagar and discuss her recent study on songbirds in the Pacific Northwest. New research indicates a possible relationship between reductions in the abundance of some species of songbird and reductions in the amount of deciduous trees in ev...

Groundwater Awareness Week is March 6-12
Groundwater is not a single vast pool of underground water; rather, it is contained within a variety of aquifer systems. Each of these aquifers has its own set of questions and challenges. From large drawdowns in the Great Plains aquifer to arsenic in some wells in New England, this episode of CoreC...

Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Strikes New Zealand
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the south island of New Zealand near Christchurch on February 21, resulting in 75 lives being lost. This earthquake was an aftershock from the Sept. 4th magnitude 7.0 earthquake that occurred in nearby Darfield last year. So why did this lesser magnitude earthquake ...

3-D Geologic Model of Columbia Plateau Aquifer System
In this month’s episode we discuss how 3-D modeling is used to examine groundwater in the Columbia Plateau. USGS hydrologist Erick Burns describes how his team modeled the 53,000 mi2 plateau, how this information is currently used, and what implications it has for the future. Join us, as we ex...

Great Lakes Water Availability
Though the Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system on Earth, the basin has the potential for local shortages, according to a new basin-wide water availability assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey. Kara Capelli spoke with Howard Reeves, USGS scientist and lead author on the report, about wh...

Winter Storms in California that Could Cause $300 Billion in Damage
Beginning on Christmas Eve, 1861, and continuing into early 1862, an extreme series of storms lasting 45 days struck California. The storms caused severe flooding, turning the Sacramento Valley into an inland sea. The storms were caused by atmospheric rivers, a hurricane-like phenomenon that occurs ...

For the Birds: The Science Behind Recent Bird Die-Offs
With the New Year came a number of mass animal deaths across the country, including the 3-5,000 red-winged blackbirds that fell near Beebe, AR, beginning on New Year’s Eve. The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. is investigating the cause of the AR ...