Visualization of water use in every state

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy and using data from the U.S. Geological Survey, has produced flow charts showing the major sources and uses of water in every U.S. state in the year 2005.

Interactive map of streams and rivers in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey's Streamer application allows users to explore where their surface water comes from and where it flows to. By clicking on any major stream or river, the user can trace it upstream to its source(s) or downstream to where it joins a larger river or empties into the ocean.

Interactive map of coastal flooding impacts from sea level rise

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts data viewer provides a preliminary look at how different amounts of sea level rise would affect coastal flooding in the United States.

In addition to overall flooding estimates, users can see the relative social vulnerability of coastal regions; areas currently already subject to coastal flooding; impacts on marshes; and the different levels of confidence with which predictions can be made in different areas.

EARTH: The Most Dangerous Fault in America

When people think of dangerous faults in America, the the San Andreas probably comes to mind first. But another potentially greater threat lurks in the East Bay region of Northern California, just a stone's throw from San Francisco and the tech hub of Silicon Valley: the Hayward Fault. In the June issue, EARTH Magazine guest author Steven Newton lays out just what is at risk, and what to expect when an earthquake strikes on what may be the most dangerous fault in America.

Offshore Energy

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Background:

Offshore energy is a huge and growing resource:

About 18 percent of U.S. oil and natural gas is produced offshore and production is growing. Globally, the offshore provides 30 percent of oil and natural gas.
Offshore wind is also a growing source of electricity, especially in Europe. The U.S. has significant offshore wind power potential, but no commercial wind facilities are in development [2017 update: the first offshore wind project in the United States went live in December 2016 off the coast of Rhode Island].

Ongoing technological advancements assure all these resources will continue to grow while addressing heightened environmental concerns.

Our speakers are:

Buford Pollett, Assistant Professor of Energy Law, University of Tulsa | Slides Video
Eric van Oort, Professor of Petroleum Engineering, University of Texas at Austin | Slides Video
James Bennett, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | Slides Video

Webinar Co-Sponsors:

American Association of Petroleum Geologists, American Geophysical Union, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Geological Society of America

Resources to learn more:

View this webinar's Question & Answer session
U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Annual Report 2015
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2015, 2014-2015 Offshore Wind Technologies Market Report

Search the Geological Surveys Database for reports and factsheets about offshore energy.

Advances in Earth Science - Offshore Energy - Historical Perspective

Interactive map of the chemistry and mineralogy of soils in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey provides geochemical and mineralogical maps for the conterminous United States, based on sampling data with a spatial resolution of 1 sample per 1,600 square km, for a total of 4857 sites across the country. The resulting interactive maps allow users to see regional variations in soil chemistry at different depths in the soil.

Map of wind power capacity in each U.S. state

The U.S. Department of Energy's Installed Wind Capacity map shows the current installed wind power capacity in each U.S. state, as well as yearly installed capacity maps dating back to 1999, which collectively show the growth of U.S. wind energy over time.

Visualization of earthquake risk in California

In 2015. the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities - a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Geological Survey, and the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) - released the Third California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3). A visualization was produced to accompany this release, showing the progress of fault modelling in California and the updated earthquake likelihood map.

EARTH: Protracted Drought Threatens California Levees

We're most accustomed to flooding causing levees to fail, like they did in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. So although the El Nino-induced floods are making the most news in California right now, it's not actually the floods that are threatening some California levees the most. Instead it's the severe drought over the last four years that has taken its toll on thousands of kilometers of century-old earthen levees.

Interactive map of carbon dioxide storage potential in the United States

The results of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Geologic CO₂ Storage Assessment (2013) are available in interactive map form. Detailed information is available on published and unpublished storage assessments for 36 sedimentary basins. Each basin can be clicked on for more information, including:

American Geosciences Institute

california