Datasets and scripts used for estimating streamflow and base flow within the nontidal Chesapeake Bay riverine system, water years 2006-15

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release contains estimated daily streamflow and base flow for HUC12 in the nontidal areas of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, monthly average streamflow and base flow, flow statistics, MATLAB scripts, and a document that describes how to create similar datasets in other watersheds. Daily streamflow was estimated for all the nontidal parts of the Chesapeake Bay watershed with the program "Unit Flows in Networks of Channels" (UFINCH; Holtschlag, 2016), together with the observations of measured streamflow at gages at the downstream ends of major rivers. The estimated streamflow was aggregated at the HUC12 level and reformatted as an Optimal Hydrograph Separation (OHS) input file using MATLAB scripts. Base flow was calculated at each HUC12 outlet using the base flow index (BFI) hydrograph separation methods developed by Wahl and Wahl (Wahl and Wahl, 1988; Wahl and Wahl, 1995) and by Eckhardt (Eckhardt, 2005) with the parameter estimation method developed by Collischonn and Fan (Collischonn and Fan, 2013) which are incorporated into the OHS program (Raffensperger and others, 2017). This data release supports the following publication: Buffington, P.C., and Capel, P.D., 2020, Estimating streamflow and base flow within the nontidal Chesapeake Bay riverine system: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5055, 26 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20205055. References cited: Collischonn, W. and Fan, F.M., 2013, Defining parameters for Eckhardt's digital baseflow filter: Hydrological Processes, v. 27, no. 18, p. 2614-2622, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.9391. Eckhardt, K., 2005, How to construct recursive digital filters for baseflow separation: Hydrological Processes, v. 19, no. 2, p. 507-515, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.5675. Holtschlag, D.J., 2016, UFINCH-A method for simulating unit and daily flows in networks of channels described by NHDPlus using continuous flow data at U.S. Geological Survey streamgages: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5074, 17 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20165074. Raffensperger, J.P., Baker, A.C., Blomquist, J.D., and Hopple, J.A., 2017, Optimal hydrograph separation using a recursive digital filter constrained by chemical mass balance, with application to selected Chesapeake Bay watersheds: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5034, 51 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175034. Wahl, K.L., and Wahl, T.L., 1988, Effects of regional ground water declines on streamflows in the Oklahoma Panhandle, in Symposium on Water-Use Data for Water Resources Management, Tucson, Arizona, American Water Resources Association, p. 239-249. Wahl, K.L., and Wahl, T.L., 1995, Determining the flow of Comal Springs at New Braunfels, Texas, Texas Water '95: San Antonio, Texas, American Society of Civil Engineers, p. 77-86, http://www.usbr.gov/tsc/techreferences/hydraulics_lab/pubs/PAP/PAP-0708….