Science Features
Josh Latimore stands in front of Burney Falls. Latimore started at the USGS as a summer intern and now serves as a USGS hydrologic technician while pursuing his bachelor of science.
In May of 2009, I had just finished my freshman year at Scottsdale Community College and began searching for a career path in the environmental field when I found the Hydrologic Studies Program at GateWay Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. I went down to the school and spoke with the program director where I learned about the great career opportunities the program had to offer, including working as a hydrologic technician for the USGS.
I was very interested in this opportunity, so I enrolled that same day for the following semester. The USGS came to the college to interview and recruit students for summer internships, and I was fortunate in being recruited for a summer internship as a SCEP at the Redding Field Office in California.
I completed my summer internship in Redding and was offered the permanent position after completion of the program. I graduated in May of 2011 and was then converted to a permanent position and promoted shortly after.
As a hydrological technician, my primary duties involve managing real-time surface water gaging stations. This consists of making monthly gage inspections, stream flow measurements, processing field data, and performing necessary maintenance to ensure the gage is operating properly. This hydrologic data is collated for record computation and analysis, which is provided for the public, sister agencies, and cooperators.
USGS Hydrologic Technician Josh Latimore collects data on the Trinity River
During my time at USGS, one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had working in the field was during the 2011 peak flow release on the Trinity River, a part of the Trinity River Restoration Program peak flow releases for the fisheries.
The Trinity River in northwestern California supports large populations of several different fish species, including salmon and steelhead. Since the late 1950s, 75 to 90 percent of the River’s annual flow has been exported for surrounding populations’ water and power needs, and this habitat alteration has resulted in declines of salmon and steelhead populations.
Since the 1900s, restorations flows have been introduced in an effort to rehabilitate populations, build gravel/cobble bars, and provide adequate habitat conditions for different fish species.
This year I was able to participate in a high flow release of water on the Trinity River from the Lewiston Dam. This event was marked as the second highest flow released from Lewiston Dam since 1960, when regulations began here.
For several days, our crew made a series of intense boat measurements at the five gaging stations below the Lewiston dam. We started taking measurements at the peak flow and continued measurements as the release of water subsided and the current gradually subsided to its base flow. The vast importance and intensity of this project instilled a memory that I will never forget.
What’s next? From here, I will continue to enhance my knowledge and skills working as a hydrologic technician through work experience, a variety of training courses offered around the country, and any new opportunities for advancement that arise along the way.
I am also back in school in pursuit of a bachelor of science degree with the intent of becoming a hydrologist. I am taking courses locally at Shasta College in Redding before I transfer to California State University, Chico, where I plan to graduate in spring of 2014.
I really believe the USGS is a great place for youth and students to look for a career because it is a well-respected scientific agency that encompasses a variety of career opportunities with room for advancement in the study of water, earth, biological sciences, and mapping.
Oct. 9-15, 2011, is Earth Science Week, themed "Our-Ever Changing Earth," and Oct. 12, 2011, is International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. Answers to questions posed by a changing world
As the team of responders struggled to end the worst oil spill in our Nation’s history, USGS scientist Paul Hsieh provided the critical scientific information needed to make a crucial decision.
After years of planning, the Department of the Interior has begun removing two dams on the Elwha River in Washington. But how will the removal of these dams impact the river’s sediments, waters, and fish?
As a nation, we use more than 75 billion gallons of groundwater each day. September 13 is the National Groundwater Association’s “Protect Your Groundwater Day.” What we can do to ensure we continue to have enough of it?
USGS scientists are working to characterize the contaminants and habitats for a number of aquatic species along the lower Columbia River.
The effects of drought are felt throughout the United States and the world, and USGS science has a prominent role in understanding the causes and consequences of this hydrological phenomenon.
USGS crews continue to measure streamflow and collect water quality and sediment samples in the Ohio and Mississippi River basins using state-of-art instruments.
Many communities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Iowa are dealing with record floodwaters and bracing for more flooding in the upcoming weeks.
The most recent earthquake in Japan affected water levels in groundwater wells all over the country. Water level fluctuations were recorded as far away as Illinois, Virginia, Missouri and Florida.
Groundwater is one of our most vital natural resources. The USGS studies the quantity and quality of the nation's groundwater. Learn about USGS research in an aquifer near you.
Learn how 3-D modeling is used to examine groundwater and how this cutting edge science is used to solve tomorrow's problems today.
The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system on Earth. However the basin has the potential for local shortages, according to a new basin-wide water availability assessment by the USGS.
The Department of the Interior has established a new website to find and share websites that provide water conservation and sustainability information.
The USGS is providing information on arsenic levels at the town level in Maine to protect human health and further promote citizen participation in State well-testing programs.
Water Security is the protection of adequate water supplies for food, fiber, industrial, and residential needs for expanding populations, which requires maximizing water-use efficiency, developing new supplies, and protecting water reserves in event of scarcity due to natural, manmade, or technological hazards.
Decreases in stream flow, which are often caused by human activities, affect the integrity of aquatic life in streams, according to a new USGS study.
The USGS and the National Weather Service have developed a new flood inundation map tool that enables management officials and residents to see where the potential threat of flooding is the highest along the Flint River near Albany, Georgia.
Looking for information on natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and more? The USGS Education site provides great resources, including lessons, data, maps, and more, to support teaching, learning, K-12 education, and university-level inquiry and research.
The Chesapeake Bay has long been an R&R destination for DC residents. However, the watershed’s overpopulation contributes to its decline. Join us when USGS’s Scott Phillips and Peter Claggett discuss new science efforts applied to restoring the Nation's largest estuary on October 6th.
The "Flood and high flow" map shows the location of streamgages where the water level is currently above or near flood stage. Find out what rivers and creeks near you are doing.
Nutrient sources in both agricultural and urban areas contribute to elevated nutrient concentrations in streams and groundwater across the Nation.
USGS is playing a critical role in the federal government's coordinated Deepwater Horizon response efforts.
Population growth in the Kabul Basin, Afghanistan, due in part to returning refugees, is estimated to lead to a six-fold increase in drinking water needs by 2057. The USGS has worked in partnership with the Afghanistan Geological Survey to address questions of future water availability.
Flash flooding is one of the major causes of natural hazard-related deaths in the United States and is hard to predict, but data collected by the USGS is crucial to formulating better predictive models.
Did you know that contaminant-ridden dust from Africa may be harming coral reefs in the Caribbean? Scientists at the USGS are examining the air in Africa and in the Caribbean to determine what kinds of nutrients, microbes, and contaminants are traveling across the ocean.
Pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities can be a significant source of pharmaceuticals in surface water. The USGS is working with water utilities to try to reduce the release of pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants to the environment.
The United States Group on Earth Observations (USGEO) is working to connect Earth observations with public health, agriculture, climate, and data management and dissemination.
The USGS Science Strategy is a comprehensive report to critically examine the USGS's major science goals and priorities for the coming decade. The USGS is moving forward with these strategic science directions in response to the challenges that our Nation's future faces and for the stewards of our Federal lands.
Over the next 10 years, the USGS plans to conduct a new assessment of water availability and use. This national Water Census will address critical aspects of recent Federal legislation, including the need to establish a national water assessment program.
Recent USGS research shows that climate, vegetation, groundwater recharge rate, and proximity of the contaminants to the water table can all affect and control natural removal rates.
USGS scientists will join thousands of scientists, managers, and decision makers in Boston this week to present new findings on toxics at the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) conference in the Hynes Convention Center, Nov. 13-17.
On Nov. 3, USGS scientists Patrick Barnard and William Ellsworth will present a public lecture in Menlo Park, CA, providing Bay Area residents information about USGS research in the San Francisco Bay Area, including recent discoveries beneath San Francisco Bay and ongoing studies to better understand earthquake probabilities and the potential hazards associated with strong ground shaking.
Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing substantially more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than previously thought.
Meet the R/V Muskie and the R/V Kaho, the USGS Great Lakes Science Center's two newest additions to its Great Lakes research fleet!
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/youth-at-usgs-hydrotech-josh-latimore/
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Page Last Modified: September 14, 2011
