Does the USGS have streamflow records that are appropriate for use in the study of climate variation?

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Welcome to CoreFacts, where we're always short on time and big on science. I'm Jessica Robertson. Today's question is an interesting one.

Does the USGS have streamflow records that are appropriate for use in the study of climate variation?

For streamflow records to reflect variations in climate there needs to be an absence of any other major causes that would radically alter streamflow patterns during that time. Such processes would be primarily induced by human activity, either intentionally or unintentionally.

An effort was undertaken to identify and assemble USGS records of daily mean discharge that were judged to be relatively free of anthropogenic effects. The resulting collection of stations is called the Hydroclimatic Data Network or HCDN. The HCDN consists of 1,659 sites throughout the United States and its territories, totaling 73,231 water years of daily mean discharge values.

For more information about this network, visit pubs.usgs.gov/of/1992/ofr92-129.

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