2018 Clear Creek Technical Team Annual Report for the Coordinated Long-Term Operations Biological Opinion

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | July 1st, 2019

2018 Regional Monitoring Plan (RMP) Bird Egg Monitoring Sampling and Analysis Plan

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | March 5th, 2018

The Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) monitors concentrations of contaminants in bird egg tissue as an indicator of water quality.

The Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) monitors concentrations of contaminants in bird egg tissue as an indicator of water quality. In 2018, the RMP will collect bird egg samples from various locations in the Bay as part of routine Status and Trends Monitoring. The target species will be Double-crested Cormorants and Forster’s Terns.

2018 Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) Bivalve Deployment Cruise Report

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 27th, 2018

This report describes activities associated with the 2018 bivalve deployment cruise of the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP). Measu

This report describes activities associated with the 2018 bivalve deployment cruise of the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP). Measurement of contaminant concentrations in transplanted bivalves accumulated during dry season deployment is designed to provide long-term data on the bioaccumulation of select trace elements and trace organic compounds in tissue throughout the Estuary. 

2018 Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) Sediment Cruise Report

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | September 5th, 2018

This report outlines details from the annual Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in the San Francisco Estuary (RMP) sediment cruise, conducted August 14 – 21,

This report outlines details from the annual Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in the San Francisco Estuary (RMP) sediment cruise, conducted August 14 – 21, 2018. The Regional Monitoring Program conducts routine monitoring of water, sediment and biological tissue. The current study design calls for monitoring of water and bivalves every two years and sediment every four years. Bird egg monitoring (cormorant and terns) is conducted triennially, while sport fish are monitored on a five-year rotation. 

2018 RMP Bivalve Retrieval Cruise Plan

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | September 13th, 2018

A 10 per cent increase in global land evapotranspiration from 2003 to 2019

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | May 26th, 2021

Accurate quantification of global land evapotranspiration is necessary for understanding variability in the global water cycle, which is expected to intensify und

Accurate quantification of global land evapotranspiration is necessary for understanding variability in the global water cycle, which is expected to intensify under climate change. Current global evapotranspiration products are derived from a variety of sources, including models, remote sensing and in situ observations. However, existing approaches contain extensive uncertainties; for example, relating to model structure or the upscaling of observations to a global level. As a result, variability and trends in global evapotranspiration remain unclear. Here we show that global land evapotranspiration increased by 10 ± 2 per cent between 2003 and 2019, and that land precipitation is increasingly partitioned into evapotranspiration rather than runoff. Our results are based on an independent water-balance ensemble time series of global land evapotranspiration and the corresponding uncertainty distribution, using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE-Follow On (GRACE-FO) satellites. Variability in global land evapotranspiration is positively correlated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The main driver of the trend, however, is increasing land temperature. Our findings provide an observational constraint on global land evapotranspiration, and are consistent with the hypothesis that global evapotranspiration should increase in a warming climate.

A brief geologic and hydrologic reconnaissance of the Furnace Creek Wash area, Death Valley National Monument, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1964

A conceptual model for floodplains in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | October 3rd, 2012

Floodplains are among the most biologically productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth and they provide significant benefits to society such as attenuation of floodwaters

Floodplains are among the most biologically productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth and they provide significant benefits to society such as attenuation of floodwaters, groundwater recharge, filtration of nutrients and sediments, carbon sequestration, fisheries productivity and recreation.  However, floodplains are also among the most converted and threatened ecosystems.  Floodplain habitats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and throughout California’s Central Valley, have been greatly reduced from their historic extent and key processes that create and maintain floodplains, such as flood flows and meander migration, have been greatly altered.  These widespread alterations to habitats and processes have lead to declines in many species’ populations in California’s Central Valley and Delta, creating challenges for both environmental and water management. To address these challenges numerous entities and programs are now focused on restoring floodplains and other Delta habitats.  This paper provides a conceptual model for floodplains that characterizes the key features and identifies the critical processes, drivers, and linkages that allow floodplains to produce a variety of functional outputs of management importance.  These outputs include: (1) the floodplain habitat mosaic, including riparian vegetation and its associated wildlife; (2) spawning and rearing habitat for native fish; and (3) food-web productivity that can support native fish on the floodplain as well as be exported to downstream ecosystems.  The model emphasizes that the production of these outputs from floodplains requires vertical and lateral hydrological connectivity across a broad range of flow conditions.  For example, long-duration flooding in the spring promotes native fish spawning and food-web productivity that benefits native species.

A Delta Renewed: A Guide to Science-Based Ecological Restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | November 15th, 2016

This final report of the Delta Landscapes Project, A Delta Renewed, offers guidance for creating and maintaining landscapes that can provide desired ecological functi

This final report of the Delta Landscapes Project, A Delta Renewed, offers guidance for creating and maintaining landscapes that can provide desired ecological functions for decades to come. Based on extensive research into how the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta used to function, how it has changed, and how it is likely to evolve, we make recommendations for how to re-establish the dynamic natural processes that can sustain native Delta wildlife as healthy populations into the future. The approach, building on work others have piloted and championed, is to restore or emulate natural processes where possible, establish an appropriate configuration of habitat types at the landscape scale, and use multi-benefit management strategies to create a more viable Delta ecosystem that can adapt and continue to provide valued functions as the climate changes. This approach is designed to integrate with the human landscape: ecosystem improvements as a part of a robust agricultural economy, water infrastructure and diversions, and urbanized areas. Strategic restoration which builds on the history and ecology of the region can contribute to the strong sense of place and recreational value of the Delta in the future. See more at: http://www.sfei.org/projects/delta-landscapes-project#sthash.RryQdaII.dpuf

A Delta Transformed: Ecological Functions, Spatial Metrics, and Landscape Change in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | October 1st, 2014

In A Delta Transformed, completed in 2014, SFEI researchers used the spatial data generated in the Delta Historical Ecology Investigation, as well as updated modern veget

In A Delta Transformed, completed in 2014, SFEI researchers used the spatial data generated in the Delta Historical Ecology Investigation, as well as updated modern vegetation and land cover datasets, to carry out detailed analyses of how the Delta landscape has been altered since the early-1800s. By quantifying changes in metrics relevant to native wildlife (such as the extent and timing of inundation, habitat patch sizes, length of channel networks), the report provides a foundation for defining, designing, and evaluating landscapes that support desirable ecological functions in the future. See more at: http://www.sfei.org/projects/delta-landscapes-project#sthash.RryQdaII.dpuf