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Daniel R Wise

Dan is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Oregon Water Science Center in Portland, Oregon.

Dan has been with the USGS Oregon Water Science Center since 2001. His work is focused primarily on the interpretation of regional water quality data, such as relating surface-water nutrient and sediment conditions to landscape characteristics. He also works on the Integrated Water Availability Assessment for the Upper Colorado River Basin. 

 

 

Education and Certifications

  • Drexel University, B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1990

  • University of Rhode Island, M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1993

  • Oregon State University, M.S. in Geography, 2001

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 17

A review of current capabilities and science gaps in water supply data, modeling, and trends for water availability assessments in the Upper Colorado River Basin

The Colorado River is a critical water resource in the southwestern United States, supplying drinking water for 40 million people in the region and water for irrigation of 2.2 million hectares of land. Extended drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCOL) and the prospect of a warmer climate in the future pose water availability challenges for those charged with managing the river. Limited wat
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Arizona Water Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Utah Water Science Center

Assessment of persistent chemicals of concern in white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, southeastern Washington, 2009

White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are long-lived, late-maturing, benthic-feeding fish that are ideal candidates for assessing the bioaccumulation of persistent chemicals. In this study, composite tissue samples of brain, liver, gonad, and fillet were collected from white sturgeon in 2009 from five sites in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River near Hanford, Washington. The composite tissu
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Using regional watershed data to assess water-quality impairment in the Pacific Drainages of the United States

Two datasets containing the first complete estimates of reach-scale nutrient, water use, dissolved oxygen, and pH conditions for the Pacific drainages of the United States were created to help inform water-quality management decisions in that region. The datasets were developed using easily obtainable watershed data, most of which have not been available until recently, and the techniques that wer
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Changing climate drives future streamflow declines and challenges in meeting water demand across the southwestern United States

Society and the environment in the arid southwestern United States depend on reliable water availability, yet current water use outpaces supply. Water demand is projected to grow in the future and climate change is expected to reduce supply. To adapt, water managers need robust estimates of future regional water supply to support management decisions. To address this need, we estimate future strea
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Water Resources Mission Area, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Utah Water Science Center

Eroding Cascadia— Sediment and solute transport and landscape denudation in western Oregon and northwestern California

Riverine measurements of sediment and solute transport give empirical basin-scale estimates of bed-load, suspended-sediment, and silicate-solute fluxes for 100,000 km2 of northwestern California and western Oregon. This spatially explicit sediment budget shows the multifaceted control of geology and physiography on the rates and processes of fluvial denudation. Bed-load transport is greatest for s
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Water Resources Mission Area, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center

Spatially referenced models of streamflow and nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loads in streams of the Pacific region of the United States

Although spatial information describing the supply and quality of surface water is critical for managing water resources for human uses and for ecological health, monitoring is expensive and cannot typically be done over large scales or in all streams or waterbodies. To address the need for such data, the U.S. Geological Survey developed SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPA
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Spatially referenced models of streamflow and nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended-sediment transport in streams of the southwestern United States

Given the predicted imbalance between water supply and demand in the Southwest region of the United States, and the widespread problems with excessive nutrients and suspended sediment, there is a growing need to quantify current streamflow and water quality conditions throughout the region. Furthermore, current monitoring stations exist at a limited number of locations, and many streams lack strea
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center, Utah Water Science Center

Estimates of long-term mean daily streamflow and annual nutrient and suspended-sediment loads considered for use in regional SPARROW models of the Conterminous United States, 2012 base year

Streamflow, nutrient, and sediment concentration data needed to estimate long-term mean daily streamflow and annual constituent loads were compiled from Federal, State, Tribal, and regional agencies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations. The streamflow and loads are used to develop Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) models. SPARROW models help describe th
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Water Resources Mission Area, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Updates to the suspended sediment SPARROW model developed for western Oregon and northwestern California

A SPARROW (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed attributes) model that was previously developed for western Oregon and northwestern California was updated using advancements in the SPARROW software and refinements to the input data. As was the case for the original model calibration, the updated models used the NHD Plus Version 2 as a hydrologic framework and relied on the same estimates of
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

A spatially explicit suspended-sediment load model for western Oregon

We calibrated the watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed attributes) to give estimates of suspended-sediment loads for western Oregon and parts of northwestern California. Estimates of suspended-sediment loads were derived from a nonlinear least squares regression that related explanatory variables representing landscape and transport conditions to measured suspende
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Estimation of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in streams of the Middle Columbia River Basin (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) using SPARROW models, with emphasis on the Yakima River Basin, Washington

The watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Related Regressions on Watershed attributes) was used to predict total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads and yields for the Middle Columbia River Basin in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The new models build on recently published models for the entire Pacific Northwest, and provide revised load predictions for the arid interior of the region by res
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center

Water supply, demand, and quality indicators for assessing the spatial distribution of water resource vulnerability in the Columbia River Basin

We investigated water resource vulnerability in the US portion of the Columbia River basin (CRB) using multiple indicators representing water supply, water demand, and water quality. Based on the US county scale, spatial analysis was conducted using various biophysical and socio-economic indicators that control water vulnerability. Water supply vulnerability and water demand vulnerability exhibite
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Water Resources Mission Area, Oregon Water Science Center
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Mountains and pine trees covered with a thick layer of snow.

Integrated Water Availability Assessments: Upper Colorado River Basin

Integrated Water Availability Assessments examine water supply, use, and availability. Snow from the Upper Colorado River Basin contributes 92% of the natural streamflow to the entire Colorado River Basin. The UCOL IWAAs will improve our understanding of the water budget, status and trends in water quality and ecological conditions, and ecosystem response to changes in climate and human water use.
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Water Resources Mission Area
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Integrated Water Availability Assessments: Upper Colorado River Basin

Integrated Water Availability Assessments examine water supply, use, and availability. Snow from the Upper Colorado River Basin contributes 92% of the natural streamflow to the entire Colorado River Basin. The UCOL IWAAs will improve our understanding of the water budget, status and trends in water quality and ecological conditions, and ecosystem response to changes in climate and human water use.
Learn More
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Illustration showing an oblique view of the Puget Sound watershed.

SPARROW Model Assessments of Nutrients and Suspended Sediment in the Pacific Northwest and California

SPARROW can be used to relate water-quality data to landscape characteristics, such as natural properties and human activities
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Oregon Water Science Center
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SPARROW Model Assessments of Nutrients and Suspended Sediment in the Pacific Northwest and California

SPARROW can be used to relate water-quality data to landscape characteristics, such as natural properties and human activities
Learn More

Surface-water transfers and removals in the Pacific drainages of the United States

This data release contains a comprehensive, spatially referenced database of surface-water transfer and removal events in the Pacific drainages of the United States, which include the Columbia River basin, the Puget Sound basin, the coastal drainages of Washington, Oregon, and California, and the Central Valley of California. The database also includes mean annual estimates of the water diverted a
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Oregon Water Science Center

Reach-scale estimates of nutrient, water use, dissolved oxygen, and pH conditions in the Pacific drainages of the United States

This data release contains data sets that describe reach-scale water-quality conditions for the Pacific drainages of the United States. The nutrient and water use conditions represent the predictions from recent USGS SPARROW (Spatially Related Regression on Watershed Attributes) modeling as well as other watershed attributes. The SPARROW predictions and other watershed attributes were also used as
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Oregon Water Science Center

Mean annual loads of suspended sediment, total suspended solids the dissolved silicate minerals in watersheds of western Oregon and northwestern California (1951-2016)

This data release includes three categories of data that were compiled as part of a study of sediment and solute transport and landscape denudation in watersheds of western Oregon and northwestern California: 1) mean annual loads of suspended sediment, total suspended solids, and silicate solutes at fixed water-quality stations; 2) fluvial transport of bedload, suspended sediment, and silicate sol
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Oregon Water Science Center

SPARROW model inputs and simulated streamflow, nutrient and suspended-sediment loads in streams of the Southwestern United States, 2012 Base Year

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model was used to aid in the interpretation of monitoring data and simulate streamflow and water-quality conditions in streams across the Southwestern Region of the Unites States. SPARROW is a hybrid empirical/process-based mass balance model that can be used to estimate the major sources and envi
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Utah Water Science Center

SPARROW model inputs and simulated streamflow, nutrient and suspended-sediment loads in streams of the Pacific Region of the United States, 2012 Base Year

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model was used to aid in the interpretation of monitoring data and simulate streamflow and water-quality conditions in streams across the Pacific Region of the Unites States. SPARROW is a hybrid empirical/process-based mass balance model that can be used to estimate the major sources and environme
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Oregon Water Science Center

Potential Grazing Land Within the Pacific Drainages of the Western United States, 2011

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing SPARROW models (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed Attributes) to assess the transport of contaminants (e.g., sediment and nutrients) through United States Pacific watersheds (the Columbia River basin; the coastal drainages of Washington, Oregon, and California; the Klamath River basin; the Central Valley of California, and the west slopes of
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Water Resources Mission Area, Communications and Publishing

SPARROW modeling: Estimating contaminant transport

SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) models estimate the amount of a contaminant transported from inland watersheds to larger water bodies by linking monitoring data with information on watershed characteristics and contaminant sources.

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Oregon Water Science Center
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USGS uses watershed modeling to assess surface-water nutrient impairment across the Pacific Northwest and California

The region-wide, reach-scale results from a new study provide two new tools that might help water-quality managers. One is an estimate of the total...

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Surface-water nutrient and sediment mappers are now available

SPARROW mappers are interactive tools that allow users to evaluate streamflow and nutrient and sediment conditions as well as the importance of...

Read Article

Science and Products