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USGS2007

Nutrient concentrations and yields in undeveloped stream basins of the United States

Data from 85 sites across the United States were used to estimate concentrations and yields of selected nutrients in streams draining relatively undeveloped basins. Flow-weighted concentrations during 1990-1995 were generally low with median basin concentrations of 0.020, 0.087, 0.26, 0.010, and 0.022 milligrams per liter (mg/L) for ammonia as N, nitrate as N, total nitrogen, orthophosphate as P, and total phosphorus, respectively. The flow-weighted concentration of nitrate exceeded 0.6 mg/L in only three basins. Total nitrogen exceeded 1 mg/L in only four basins, and total phosphorus exceeded 0.1 mg/L in only four basins. The median annual basin yield of ammonia as N, nitrate as N, total nitrogen, orthophosphate as P, and total phosphorus was 8.1, 26, 86, 2.8, and 8.5 kilograms per square kilometer, respectively. Concentrations and yields of nitrate tended to be highest in northeastern and mid-Atlantic coastal states and correlated well with areas of high atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Concentrations and yields of total nitrogen were highest in the southeastern part of the nation and in parts of the upper Midwest. In the northeast, nitrate was generally the predominant form of nitrogen, and in the southeast and parts of the upper Midwest, organic nitrogen was the dominant form. Concentrations of total phosphorus were generally highest in the Rocky Mountain and Central Plain states.Data from 85 sites across the United States were used to estimate concentrations and yields of selected nutrients in streams draining relatively undeveloped basins. Flow-weighted concentrations during 1990-1995 were generally low with median basin concentrations of 0.020, 0.087, 0.26, 0.010, and 0.022 milligrams per liter (mg/L) for ammonia as N, nitrate as N, total nitrogen, orthophosphate as P, and total phosphorus, respectively. The flow-weighted concentration of nitrate exceeded 0.6 mg/L in only three basins, Total nitrogen exceeded 1 mg/L in only four basins, and total phosphorus exceeded 0.1 mg/L in only four basins. The median annual basin yield of ammonia as N, nitrate as N, total nitrogen, orthophosphate as P, and total phosphorus was 8.1, 26, 86, 2.8, and 8.5 kilograms per square kilometer, respectively. Concentrations and yields of nitrate tended to be highest in northeastern and mid-Atlantic coastal states and correlated well with areas of high atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Concentrations and yields of total nitrogen were highest in the southeastern part of the nation and in parts of the upper Midwest. In the northeast, nitrate was generally the predominant form of nitrogen, and in the southeast and parts of the upper Midwest, organic nitrogen was the dominant form. Concentrations of total phosphorus were generally highest in the Rocky Mountain and Central Plain states.Data collected across the US from 85 streams draining relatively undeveloped basins were used to identify broad regional and national patterns in nutrient concentrations and yields. The basins of interest were selected from three USGS programs: the Hydrologic Benchmark Network, the National Water-Quality Assessment, and the Research Program. Water samples from most basins were collected on a weekly to bimonthly schedule. While the flow-weighted concentrations of nutrients varied, concentrations were low in most basins. Median flow-weighted concentrations of ammonia, nitrate, total nitrogen, orthophosphate, and total phosphorus were 0.020, 0.087, 0.26, 0.010, and 0.022 mg/l, respectively. Nitrate concentrations tended to be highest in the northeastern US, while southeastern and north-central basins had some of the highest NH3 concentrations. Flow-weighted concentrations of total P were generally highest in the Rocky Mountain and Central Plain states and in parts of the southeast.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗

USGS2001

U.S. Geological Survey programs and investigations related to soil and water conservation

The U.S. Geological Survey has a rich tradition of collecting hydrologic data, especially for fluxes of water and suspended sediment, that provide a foundation for studies of soil and water conservation. Applied and basic research has included investigations of the effects of land use on rangelands, croplands, and forests; hazards mapping; derivation of flood and drought frequency, and other statistics related to streamflow and reservoir storage; development and application of models of rainfall-runoff relations, chemical quality, and sediment movement; and studies of the interactive processes of overland and channel flow with vegetation. Networks of streamgaging stations and (or) sampling sites within numerous drainage basins are yielding information that extends databases and enhances the ability to use those data for interpretive studies.

International Journal of Sediment Research↗

USGS2014

Floodplain biogeochemical processing of floodwaters in the Atchafalaya River Basin during the Mississippi River flood of 2011

The 2011 flood in the Lower Mississippi resulted in the second highest recorded river flow diverted into the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB). The higher water levels during the flood peak resulted in high hydrologic connectivity between the Atchafalaya River and floodplain, with up to 50% of the Atchafalaya River water moving off channel. Water quality samples were collected throughout the ARB over the course of the flood event. Significant nitrate (NO 3 -) reduction (75%) occurred within the floodplain, resulting in a total NO 3 - reduction of 16.6% over the flood. The floodplain was a small but measurable source of dissolved reactive phosphorus (SRP) and ammonium (NH 4 +). Collectively, these results from this large flood event suggest that enhancing river-floodplain connectivity through freshwater diversions will reduce NO 3 - loads to the Gulf of Mexico during large annual floods.

Louisiana↗

USGS2018

Tropical storm-induced landslide potential using combined field monitoring and numerical modeling

When heavy rainfall, such as that associated with tropical storms, falls on steep hillsides, shallow landslides are often one of the damaging consequences. To assess landslide potential from heavy rainfall, a strategy of combined numerical simulation and field monitoring of variably saturated hillslope conditions is developed. To test the combined method, hillslope hydrologic data from paired field monitoring sites in western North Carolina are examined. The hydrologic data collected from the field monitoring site where no shallow landslide has occurred is used to identify and calibrate the hydromechanical parameters used in a numerical ground water flow model. The identified parameters are then used to simulate landslide potential at the two hillslopes during heavy rainfall associated with hurricanes Frances and Ivan (HFI) that impacted western North Carolina in 2004. Results identify the timing of instability at the shallow landslide site and show that the stable site remains stable during rainfall associated with the HFI tropical storms. Thus, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of combined numerical modeling and field monitoring to evaluate landslide potential under variably saturated conditions.

North Carolina↗

USGS2022

Terrestrial ecosystem modeling with IBIS: Progress and future vision

Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVM) are powerful tools for studying complicated ecosystem processes and global changes. This review article synthesizes the developments and applications of the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS), a DGVM, over the past two decades. IBIS has been used to evaluate carbon, nitrogen, and water cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation changes, land-atmosphere interactions, land-aquatic system integration, and climate change impacts. Here we summarize model development work since IBIS v2.5, covering hydrology (evapotranspiration, groundwater, lateral routing), vegetation dynamics (plant functional type, land cover change), plant physiology (phenology, photosynthesis, carbon allocation, growth), biogeochemistry (soil carbon and nitrogen processes, greenhouse gas emissions), impacts of natural disturbances (drought, insect damage, fire) and human induced land use changes, and computational improvements. We also summarize IBIS model applications around the world in evaluating ecosystem productivity, carbon and water budgets, water use efficiency, natural disturbance effects, and impacts of climate change and land use change on the carbon cycle. Based on this review, visions of future cross-scale, cross-landscape and cross-system model development and applications are discussed.

Journal of Resources and Ecology↗

USGS2022

Trout responses to stocking rates and river discharge within a southeast U.S. hydropeaking tailwater

Freshwater fish populations often exist in systems characterized by novel ecological processes resulting from human alteration. Salmonid populations embedded within coldwater sections of warmwater rivers are spatially constrained by habitat availability. Tailwater fish contend with fluctuating river discharges and density-dependent processes associated with fish stocking and exploitation. Salmonid populations sustained through stocking versus natural reproduction may respond differently to changes in hydrologic patterns (e.g., hydropeaking) as well as declines in fish abundance. We assessed differences between stocked (Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss ) and naturalized (Brown Trout Salmo trutta ) trout populations in Greers Ferry tailwater, Arkansas, regarding (1) spatial and temporal patterns of mean length, electrofishing catch rates, and relative condition following reduced number of stocked Rainbow Trout and (2) evidence that hydrologic characteristics and fish stocking intensity influenced relative condition. A 56% reduction in Rainbow Trout stocking did not result in systemwide change in mean length or relative abundance for Rainbow Trout or Brown Trout over the 16-year study period. Hydrologic variability, where river discharge spanned both reduced and elevated levels, positively influenced condition of both Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout. Assessment of survival of stocked Rainbow Trout may aid in further refining the timing and amount of stocking needed to sustain the population at a desired abundance. Further, assessing the influence of stocking fewer but perhaps larger (in terms of mean length) fish to meet management goals may be warranted. The persistent differences in relative abundance among river sections can inform management actions directed at Brown Trout, including harvest regulations. Such regulations may aid in reaching desired management goals, including abundance and mean length targets not observed after reduced stocking.

Arkansas↗

USGS2011

Characterizing the performance of ecosystem models across time scales: A spectral analysis of the North American Carbon Program site‐level synthesis

[1] Ecosystem models are important tools for diagnosing the carbon cycle and projecting its behavior across space and time. Despite the fact that ecosystems respond to drivers at multiple time scales, most assessments of model performance do not discriminate different time scales. Spectral methods, such as wavelet analyses, present an alternative approach that enables the identification of the dominant time scales contributing to model performance in the frequency domain. In this study we used wavelet analyses to synthesize the performance of 21 ecosystem models at 9 eddy covariance towers as part of the North American Carbon Program's site‐level intercomparison. This study expands upon previous single‐site and single‐model analyses to determine what patterns of model error are consistent across a diverse range of models and sites. To assess the significance of model error at different time scales, a novel Monte Carlo approach was developed to incorporate flux observation error. Failing to account for observation error leads to a misidentification of the time scales that dominate model error. These analyses show that model error (1) is largest at the annual and 20–120 day scales, (2) has a clear peak at the diurnal scale, and (3) shows large variability among models in the 2–20 day scales. Errors at the annual scale were consistent across time, diurnal errors were predominantly during the growing season, and intermediate‐scale errors were largely event driven. Breaking spectra into discrete temporal bands revealed a significant model‐by‐band effect but also a nonsignificant model‐by‐site effect, which together suggest that individual models show consistency in their error patterns. Differences among models were related to model time step, soil hydrology, and the representation of photosynthesis and phenology but not the soil carbon or nitrogen cycles. These factors had the greatest impact on diurnal errors, were less important at annual scales, and had the least impact at intermediate time scales.

Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences↗

USGS2009

Incorporating uncertainty into the ranking of SPARROW model nutrient yields from Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin watersheds

Excessive loads of nutrients transported by tributary rivers have been linked to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Management efforts to reduce the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico and improve the water quality of rivers and streams could benefit from targeting nutrient reductions toward watersheds with the highest nutrient yields delivered to sensitive downstream waters. One challenge is that most conventional watershed modeling approaches (e.g., mechanistic models) used in these management decisions do not consider uncertainties in the predictions of nutrient yields and their downstream delivery. The increasing use of parameter estimation procedures to statistically estimate model coefficients, however, allows uncertainties in these predictions to be reliably estimated. Here, we use a robust bootstrapping procedure applied to the results of a previous application of the hybrid statistical/mechanistic watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) to develop a statistically reliable method for identifying “high priority” areas for management, based on a probabilistic ranking of delivered nutrient yields from watersheds throughout a basin. The method is designed to be used by managers to prioritize watersheds where additional stream monitoring and evaluations of nutrient-reduction strategies could be undertaken. Our ranking procedure incorporates information on the confidence intervals of model predictions and the corresponding watershed rankings of the delivered nutrient yields. From this quantified uncertainty, we estimate the probability that individual watersheds are among a collection of watersheds that have the highest delivered nutrient yields. We illustrate the application of the procedure to 818 eight-digit Hydrologic Unit Code watersheds in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River basin by identifying 150 watersheds having the highest delivered nutrient yields to the Gulf of Mexico. Highest delivered yields were from watersheds in the Central Mississippi, Ohio, and Lower Mississippi River basins. With 90% confidence, only a few watersheds can be reliably placed into the highest 150 category; however, many more watersheds can be removed from consideration as not belonging to the highest 150 category. Results from this ranking procedure provide robust information on watershed nutrient yields that can benefit management efforts to reduce nutrient loadings to downstream coastal waters, such as the Gulf of Mexico, or to local receiving streams and reservoirs.

Atchafalaya River;Gulf Of Mexico;Mississippi River↗

USGS1974

Feeding Ecology of Breeding Blue-Winged Teals

A 5-year investigation of factors influencing the selection of foods consumed by blue-winged teals ( Anas discors ) during the breeding season in the glaciated prairie region of south-central North Dakota showed that birds first arriving on the breeding grounds consumed a diet consisting of 45 percent invertebrates. The proportion of animal foods in the diet increased to 95 percent at the onset of the nesting season. The quality and quantity of foods selected at any given time were influenced by the biological demands and morphological adaptations of the bird, the behavior and ecology of the invertebrates selected as foods, and the general nature of the aquatic ecosystems as determined by the hydrology and geology of the area and modified by land use and weather. Feeding activities changed significantly when food availability within the aquatic ecosystem changed. During the spring and early summer, temporary and seasonal wetlands, if not severely disturbed, were of paramount importance to breeding blue-winged teals since they provided abundant and readily available, high protein, animal foods. Later in the summer when seasonal wetlands began to dry up, insects began to emerge in the semipermanent ponds and lakes, and feeding intensity shifted to these more permanent waters. This trend, however, was often reversed temporarily during the early summer following heavy precipitation that refilled shallow water areas and again stimulated invertebrate development.

North Dakota↗

USGS2015

Ground-truthing electrical resistivity methods in support of submarine groundwater discharge studies: Examples from Hawaii, Washington, and California

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important conduit that links terrestrial and marine environments. SGD conveys both water and water-borne constituents into coastal waters, where these inflows may impact near-shore ecosystem health and sustainability. Multichannel electrical resistivity techniques have proven to be a powerful tool to examine scales and dynamics of SGD and SGD forcings. However, there are uncertainties both in data aquisition and data processing that must be addressed to maximize the effectiveness of this tool in estuarine or marine environments. These issues most often relate to discerning subtle nuances in the flow of electricity through variably saturated media that can also be highly conductive ( i.e., seawater). Three contrasting field sites were examined for this study to assess the effectiveness of electrical resistivity techniques in varying coastal settings by comparing resistivity data to direct salinity and resistivity observations, quantifying changes in lithology and beach geomorphology, and fine-tuning inversion protocols. The three study sites all have substantial (up to 85 cm day −1 ) submarine groundwater discharge rates, but the hydrologic, oceanographic, and geologic characteristics of the sites are all very different. At a site in Pelekane Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii, seasonal flooding introduces very high concentrations of fine to coarse sediment into the bay. Near-shore circulation is limited in Pelekane Bay, so this newly introduced sediment can become deposited in the bay where it accumulates over time. At a site in Hood Canal, a fjord within Puget Sound, Washington, SGD rates can be high because of the large tidal range, abundant recharge, and steep hydrologic gradients. At Younger Lagoon in northern California, the flow of groundwater towards the coast is much more parsimonious, but here marine processes, including recirculated seawater, are important in controlling the flow of material towards the coast. Rigorous ground-truthing at each field site showed that multi-channel electrcial resistivity techniques can reproduce the scales and dynamics of a seepage field when such data are correctly collected, and when the model inversions are tuned to field site characteristics. Such information can provide a unique perspective on the scales and dynamics of exchange processes within a coastal aquifer—information essential to scientists and resource managers alike.

California, Hawaii, Washington↗

USGS1995

The chemical and hydrologic structure of Poas volcano, Costa Rica

Comparison of the chemical characteristics of spring and river water draining the flanks of Poas Volcano, Costa Rica indicates that acid chloride sulfate springs of the northwestern flank of the volcano are derived by leakage and mixing of acid brines formed in the summit hydrothermal system with dilute flank groundwater. Acid chloride sulfate waters of the Rio Agrio drainage basin on the northwestern flank are the only waters on Poas that are affected by leakage of acid brines from the summit hydrothermal system. Acid sulfate waters found on the northwestern flank are produced by the interaction of surface and shallow groundwater with dry and wet acid deposition of SO2 and H2SO4 aerosols, respectively. The acid deposition is caused by a plume of acid gases that is released by a shallow magma body located beneath the active crater of Poas. -from Authors

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗

USGS2015

Climate change and water resources in a tropical island system: Propagation of uncertainty from statistically downscaled climate models to hydrologic models

Many tropical islands have limited water resources with historically increasing demand, all potentially affected by a changing climate. The effects of climate change on island hydrology are difficult to model due to steep local precipitation gradients and sparse data. This work uses 10 statistically downscaled general circulation models (GCMs) under two greenhouse gas emission scenarios to evaluate the uncertainty propagated from GCMs in projecting the effects of climate change on water resources in a tropical island system. The assessment is conducted using a previously configured hydrologic model, the Precipitation Runoff Modelling System (PRMS) for Puerto Rico. Projected climate data and their modelled hydrologic variables versus historical measurements and their modelled hydrologic variables are found to have empirical distribution functions that are statistically different with less than 1 year of daily data aggregation. Thus, only annual averages of the projected hydrologic variables are employed as completely bias‐corrected model outputs. The magnitude of the projected total flow decreases in the four regions covering Puerto Rico, but with a large range of uncertainty depending on the makeup of the GCM ensemble. The multi‐model mean projected total flow decreases by 49–88% of historical amounts from the 1960s to the 2090s for the high emissions scenarios and by 39–79% for the low emissions scenarios. Subsurface flow contributions decreased the least and groundwater flow contributions decreased the most across the island. At locations critical to water supply for human use, projected streamflow is shown to decrease substantially below projected withdrawals by 2099.

Puerto Rico↗

USGS2020

Hydrologically induced deformation in Long Valley Caldera and adjacent Sierra Nevada

Vertical and horizontal components of GNSS displacements in the Long Valley Caldera and adjacent Sierra Nevada range show a clear correlation with hydrological trends at both multiyear and seasonal time scales. We observe a clear vertical and horizontal seasonal deformation pattern primarily attributable to the solid earth response to hydrological surface loading at large-to-regional (Sierra Nevada range) scales. Several GNSS sites, located at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada along the southwestern rim of Long Valley Caldera, also show significant horizontal deformation that cannot be explained by elastic deformation from surface loading. Due to the location of these sites and the strong correlation between their horizontal displacements and spring discharge, we hypothesize that this deformation reflects poroelastic processes related to snowmelt runoff water infiltrating into the Sierra Nevada slopes around Long Valley Caldera. Interestingly, this is also an area where water infiltrates to feed the local hydrothermal system, and where snowmelt-induced earthquake swarms have been recently detected.

California, Nevada↗

USGS2025

Linking environmental variability to long-term demographic change of an endangered species using integrated population models

Understanding how species populations change with environmental conditions is important for implementing effective habitat management and conservation strategies. Challenges to evaluating population-level responses to environmental conditions arise when data are sparse or not spatiotemporally aligned, especially for at-risk species with small, declining numbers. We synthesized 30 years (1992–2021) of three partially aligned data sets to build a Bayesian integrated population model (IPM) and evaluate demographic and environmental drivers of growth rates for six separately managed ‘subpopulations’ (A–F) of the federally endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow endemic to the Florida Everglades. We found that juvenile survival peaked at inundation periods (hydroperiods) around 100–220 days and dropped sharply outside those values, while adult survival increased with longer periods of water depth <20 cm, but not with longer periods of water depth >20 cm. Fecundity increased when water depths were more stable, more area was dry, intervals between fires were longer and less area was burned. Changes in population growth rates tended to occur in years that juvenile and adult survival were associated with hydroperiod, especially in the two largest subpopulations B and E. Population growth rates were also associated with hydrologic conditions during the breeding season and fire dynamics through changes in fecundity, most notably in the smaller subpopulations A, C/F and D. Synthesis and applications . Our IPM represents the first long-term population analysis of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow connecting demographic processes to environmental factors. Our results suggest that sustaining periods of shallow water year-round may enhance Cape Sable seaside sparrow survival and population growth. Also, limiting water depth variability and maintaining dry conditions during the breeding season and inhibiting fires in consecutive years may increase fecundity and population growth. Identifying the mechanistic links between environmental and population dynamics could inform how species are expected to respond to management decisions and anticipated ecosystem changes.

Florida↗

USGS2007

Accumulation of dechlorination daughter products: A valid metric of chloroethene biodegradation

In situ reductive dechlorination of perchloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) generates characteristic chlorinated (cis-dichloroethene [cis-DCE] and vinyl chloride [VC]) and nonchlorinated (ethene and ethane) products. The accumulation of these daughter products is commonly used as a metric for ongoing biodegradation at field sites. However, this interpretation assumes that reductive dechlorination is the only chloroethene degradation process of any significance in situ and that the characteristic daughter products of chloroethene reductive dechlorination persist in the environment. Laboratory microcosms, prepared with aquifer and surface-water sediments from hydrologically diverse sites throughout the United States and amended with [1,2- 14 C] TCE, [1,2- 14 C] DCE, [1,2- 14 C] DCA, or [1,2- 14 C] VC, demonstrated widely variable patterns of intermediate and final product accumulation. In predominantly methanogenic sediment treatments, accumulation of 14 C-DCE, 14 C-VC, 14 C-ethene, and 14 C-ethane predominated. Treatments characterized by significant Fe(III) and/or Mn(IV) reduction, on the other hand, demonstrated substantial, and in some cases exclusive, accumulation of 14 CO 2 and 14 CH 4 . These results suggest that relying on the accumulation of cis-DCE, VC, ethene, and ethane may substantially underestimate overall chloroethene biodegradation at many sites.

Remediation Journal↗

USGS2008

Developing conceptual hydrogeological model for Potsdam sandstones in southwestern Quebec, Canada

A hydrogeological study was conducted in Potsdam sandstones on the international border between Canada (Quebec) and the USA (New York). Two sandstone formations, arkose and conglomerate (base) and well-cemented quartz arenite (upper), underlie the study area and form the major regional aquifer unit. Glacial till, littoral sand and gravel, and marine silt and clay discontinuously overlie the aquifer. In both sandstone formations, sub-horizontal bedding planes are ubiquitous and display significant hydraulic conductivities that are orders of magnitude more permeable than the intact rock matrix. Aquifer tests demonstrate that the two formations have similar bulk hydrologic properties, with average hydraulic conductivities ranging from 2 ?? 10-5 to 4 ?? 10-5 m/s. However, due to their different lithologic and structural characteristics, these two sandstones impose rather different controls on groundwater flow patterns in the study area. Flow is sustained through two types of fracture networks: sub-horizontal, laterally extensive fractures in the basal sandstone, where hydraulic connectivity is very good horizontally but very poor vertically and each of the water-bearing bedding planes can be considered as a separate planar two-dimensional aquifer unit; and the more fractured and vertically jointed system found in the upper sandstone that promotes a more dispersed, three-dimensional movement of groundwater. ?? Springer-Verlag 2007.

Hydrogeology Journal↗

USGS2012

Evaluation of NDVI to assess avian abundance and richness along the upper San Pedro River

Remote-sensing models have become increasingly popular for identifying, characterizing, monitoring, and predicting avian habitat but have largely focused on single bird species. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has been shown to positively correlate with avian abundance and richness and has been successfully applied to southwestern riparian systems which are uniquely composed of narrow bands of vegetation in an otherwise dry landscape. Desert riparian ecosystems are important breeding and stopover sites for many bird species but have been degraded due to altered hydrology and land management practices. Here we investigated the use of NDVI, coupled with vegetation, to model the avian community structure along the San Pedro River, Arizona. We also investigated how vegetation and physical features measured locally compared to those data that can be gathered through remote-sensing. We found that NDVI has statistically significant relationships with both avian abundance and species richness, although is better applied at the individual species level. However, the amount of variation explained by even our best models was quite low, suggesting that NDVI habitat models may not presently be an accurate tool for extensive modeling of avian communities. We suggest additional studies in other watersheds to increase our understanding of these bird/NDVI relationships.

Arizona↗

USGS2008

Using satellite-based rainfall estimates for streamflow modelling: Bagmati Basin

In this study, we have described a hydrologic modelling system that uses satellite-based rainfall estimates and weather forecast data for the Bagmati River Basin of Nepal. The hydrologic model described is the US Geological Survey (USGS) Geospatial Stream Flow Model (GeoSFM). The GeoSFM is a spatially semidistributed, physically based hydrologic model. We have used the GeoSFM to estimate the streamflow of the Bagmati Basin at Pandhera Dovan hydrometric station. To determine the hydrologic connectivity, we have used the USGS Hydro1k DEM dataset. The model was forced by daily estimates of rainfall and evapotranspiration derived from weather model data. The rainfall estimates used for the modelling are those produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Centre and observed at ground rain gauge stations. The model parameters were estimated from globally available soil and land cover datasets – the Digital Soil Map of the World by FAO and the USGS Global Land Cover dataset. The model predicted the daily streamflow at Pandhera Dovan gauging station. The comparison of the simulated and observed flows at Pandhera Dovan showed that the GeoSFM model performed well in simulating the flows of the Bagmati Basin.

Journal of Flood Risk Management↗