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Oregon Water Science Center

Welcome to the USGS in Oregon. Our mission is to explore the natural world around us and provide reliable scientific information to help Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribes, and the public make well-informed decisions. Our research is widely used to manage Oregon's water resources for the benefit and safety of people and the environment. 

News

Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series

Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Fall 2024 Webinar Series

Willamette River plankton & water-quality update: August 2024

Willamette River plankton & water-quality update: August 2024

Low-flow periods and trends across the United States

Low-flow periods and trends across the United States

Publications

Declining reservoir reliability and increasing reservoir vulnerability: Long-term observations reveal longer and more severe periods of low reservoir storage for major United States reservoirs

Hydrological drought is a pervasive and reoccurring challenge in managing water resources. Reservoirs are critical for lessening the impacts of drought on water available for many uses. We use a novel and generalized approach to identify periods of unusually low reservoir storage—via comparisons to operational rule curves and historical patterns—to investigate how droughts affect storage in 250 re
Authors
Caelan Simeone, John C. Hammond, Stacey A. Archfield, Dan Broman, Laura Condon, Hisham Eldardiry, Carolyn G. Olson, Jen Steyaert

Low-flow period seasonality, trends, and climate linkages across the United States

Low-flow period properties, including timing, magnitude, and duration, influence many key processes for water resource managers and ecosystems. We computed annual low-flow period duration and timing metrics from 1951 to 2020 for 1032 conterminous United States (CONUS) streamgages and analyzed spatial patterns, trends through time, and relationships to climate. Results show northwestern and eastern
Authors
Caelan Simeone, Gregory J. McCabe, Jory Seth Hecht, John C. Hammond, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Carolyn G. Olson, Michael Wieczorek, David M. Wolock

Assessment of long-term changes in surface-water extent within Klamath Marsh, south-central Oregon, 1985–2021

The annual maximum extent of surface water in Klamath Marsh has naturally fluctuated in response to periods of wet and dry conditions in the surrounding basin. Field observations during the 2010s indicate that the annual maximum extent of surface water has been declining and the marsh is not responding to hydrologic inputs as it had historically. This report describes the results of a hydrologic e
Authors
Joseph J. Kennedy, Henry M. Johnson, Stephen B. Gingerich

Science

Willamette River plankton & water-quality updates

Plankton sampling results from the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon.
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Willamette River plankton & water-quality updates

Plankton sampling results from the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon.
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Groundwater Availability in Oregon

Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are working together to estimate groundwater recharge across the state.
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Groundwater Availability in Oregon

Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are working together to estimate groundwater recharge across the state.
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Surface-water extent in the Klamath Marsh

Satellite imagery and the interplay of climate and hydrologic data tell the story of surface-water decline in the Klamath Marsh.
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Surface-water extent in the Klamath Marsh

Satellite imagery and the interplay of climate and hydrologic data tell the story of surface-water decline in the Klamath Marsh.
Learn More
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