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Janet H Curran

Stream geomorphology and hydrology: channel migration, bank erosion, origin and controls on river valley-bottom features, fluvial dynamics, braided rivers

Statisical hydrology: flood-frequency regression, characterizing streamflow seasonality, identifying streamflow-generating mechanisms

Professional Experience

  • 1999 - Present          Hydrologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska

  • 1998 - 1999               Hydrologist, USGS Water Resources Division, Portland, OR

  • 1996 - 1998               Research Assistant, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

  • 1991 - 1996               Engineering Geologist, GeoEngineers, Redmond, WA

Education and Certifications

  • M.S.       1999      Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado         Geology

  • B.S.       1990       University of Washington, Seattle, Washington            Geological Sciences

  • B.S.       1990       University of Washington, Seattle, Washington            Civil Engineering

Affiliations and Memberships

  • American Geophysical Union

  • American Water Resources Association - Alaska Section

Science and Products

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Image Collage of Landsat, pollinator, and volcanologist

Characterization of Flood-Producing Mechanisms in Watersheds with a High-Elevation Area in Southeast Alaska and Hawaiʻi

Major floods in Southeast Alaska and Hawaiʻi that potentially threaten life, property, and culturally significant resources and ecosystems are caused by mechanisms related to intense precipitation for both locations as well as snow melt-based processes for Alaska. Small, high-gradient, and heavily vegetated watersheds with direct contribution to the ocean are common in both locations. To understan...
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Characterization of Flood-Producing Mechanisms in Watersheds with a High-Elevation Area in Southeast Alaska and Hawaiʻi

Major floods in Southeast Alaska and Hawaiʻi that potentially threaten life, property, and culturally significant resources and ecosystems are caused by mechanisms related to intense precipitation for both locations as well as snow melt-based processes for Alaska. Small, high-gradient, and heavily vegetated watersheds with direct contribution to the ocean are common in both locations. To understan...
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View of Toklat River from a bridge

Flow Duration and Low-Flow Frequency Studies in Alaska

Flow duration and low-flow frequency statistics for streamgages and methods for estimating flow-duration and low-flow frequency statistics at ungaged sites in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada are presented in U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 2003-4114.
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Alaska Science Center
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Flow Duration and Low-Flow Frequency Studies in Alaska

Flow duration and low-flow frequency statistics for streamgages and methods for estimating flow-duration and low-flow frequency statistics at ungaged sites in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada are presented in U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 2003-4114.
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Flooding encroaches on trees, Exit Creek

Flood Frequency Studies in Alaska

Flood frequency statistics for streamgages and methods for estimating flood frequency statistics at ungaged sites in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada are presented in U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5024. This report revised methods for obtaining basin characteristics and regional skew, and presents new streamflow magnitude and frequency statistics for gaged...
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Alaska Science Center
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Flood Frequency Studies in Alaska

Flood frequency statistics for streamgages and methods for estimating flood frequency statistics at ungaged sites in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada are presented in U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5024. This report revised methods for obtaining basin characteristics and regional skew, and presents new streamflow magnitude and frequency statistics for gaged...
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Exit Creek in front of some mountains

Alaska Streamflow Statistics

The USGS conducts various studies of streamflow statistics for data collected at streamflow-gaging stations. Streamflow statistics for gaged streams and methods for estimating those statistics for ungaged streams are used by water resource planners and managers for designing infrastructure, managing floodplains, and protecting life, property, and aquatic resources. The most recent USGS studies of...
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Alaska Science Center
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Alaska Streamflow Statistics

The USGS conducts various studies of streamflow statistics for data collected at streamflow-gaging stations. Streamflow statistics for gaged streams and methods for estimating those statistics for ungaged streams are used by water resource planners and managers for designing infrastructure, managing floodplains, and protecting life, property, and aquatic resources. The most recent USGS studies of...
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Flood Frequency Data and 2020 Observed Flood Probability for Selected Streamgages in the Fortymile River Basin, Alaska, 1911-2020

This data release provides the source data and results of a flood frequency analysis and annual exceedance probability estimation for a flood that occurred on June 22, 2020 in the Fortymile River Basin, Alaska. Data are provided for two streamgages that had at least 10 years of peak-flow record. The data include streamgage information, PeakFQ input (.txt and .PSF files) PeakFQ output (.PRT, .EXP,
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Alaska Science Center

Flood Frequency Data Collection, Alaska and Conterminous Basins in Canada

This data collection of U.S. Geological Survey data releases provides the source data and results of flood frequency analyses and annual exceedance probability estimation for selected observed floods in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada. The data include streamgage information, PeakFQ input and output, flood frequency parameters, flood frequency estimates for selected annual exceedance prob
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Alaska Science Center

Extended Seasonal Discharge Records for Selected Streamgage Sites in the Fortymile River Basin, Alaska, 1976-2020

Daily mean discharge is needed for water resource management of selected streams in the Fortymile River Basin. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, developed a technique for estimating seasonal discharge at two short-record streamgage sites in the basin and evaluated the accuracy of the estimated records. Daily mean discharge values were estimated for
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Alaska Science Center

Streamgage Attributes, Basin Characteristics, and Seasonal Flow Regimes, Selected Streamgages in Alaska, 1914-2017

This data set contains selected information about U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in Alaska that had at least 5 years of daily streamflow record through September 30, 2017. The goals for developing this dataset were to identify USGS streamgages that had at least 5 years of daily streamflow that responded mostly to seasonal meteorological inputs, that had a definable drainage basin above
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Alaska Science Center

Geomorphic surface and channel boundaries for the lower 7.5 kilometers of the Taiya River Valley, southeast Alaska, 2018

This dataset presents boundaries and attributes of mapped geomorphic features in the lower 7.5 kilometers of the Taiya River valley bottom in and near Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park near Skagway, Alaska. Geomorphic surfaces and off-main-stem channels were delineated from 2003 lidar elevation data and updated using 2017 and 2018 aerial orthophotographs at eroding riverbanks, such that
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Alaska Science Center

Exit and Paradise Glacier Foreland, Alaska River and Glacier Maps, Channel Surveys, Digital Elevation Model, and Orthophoto, 1800s-2013

The dynamics of the linked river systems draining Exit and Paradise Glaciers have been dependent on glacial and fluvial controls since the 1800s. This data release contains maps of historical Exit and Paradise creek and glacier positions, 2013 channel survey and particle size data, and a 2012 digital elevation model and orthophoto for the Exit and Paradise glacier forelands, Alaska.
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Alaska Science Center

Eklutna River at Glenn Highway Bridge, Alaska Cross-Section Survey, 2016 and 2017

This dataset consists of survey data, plots, photos, and a photo index from a cross section survey of the Eklutna River at the Glenn Highway bridge in Alaska. The cross sections were surveyed in 2016 and 2017 using a total station, then adjusted to match datums for a Municipality of Anchorage orthophoto and Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities bridge as-built elevations.
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Alaska Science Center
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Extending seasonal discharge records for streamgage sites on the North Fork Fortymile and Middle Fork Fortymile Rivers, Alaska, through water year 2020

Daily mean discharge records are needed for management of selected streams in the Fortymile River Basin. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, updated a technique for estimating seasonal (partial year) discharge at two short-record streamgage sites in the basin and evaluated the accuracy of the estimates. Daily mean discharge values were estimated for
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Alaska Science Center

Identification of seasonal streamflow regimes and streamflow drivers for daily and peak flows in Alaska

Alaska is among northern high‐latitude regions where accelerated climate change is expected to impact streamflow properties, including seasonality and primary flow drivers. Evaluating changes to streamflow, including flood characteristics, across this large and diverse environment can be improved by identifying the distribution and influence of flow drivers. Using metrics of mean monthly streamflo
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Alaska Science Center

Hydrology and geomorphology of the Taiya River near the West Creek Tributary, southeast Alaska

The Taiya River flows through the Chilkoot Trail Unit of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in southeast Alaska, which was founded to preserve cultural and historical resources and further understanding of natural processes active in the surrounding coastal-to-subarctic basin. Riverine processes exert an important influence on ecologically important boreal toad (Anaxryus boreas boreas), s
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Extending seasonal discharge records for streamgage sites on the North Fork Fortymile and Middle Fork Fortymile Rivers, Alaska, through water year 2019

Daily mean discharge values were estimated for May 20–September 30 for 1976–82 and 2006–18 for the U.S. Geological Survey North Fork Fortymile River and Middle Fork Fortymile River streamgage sites in Alaska. A relation between study streamgage discharge and discharge for an index streamgage on the main-stem Fortymile River for a concurrent period in 2019 was developed using the maintenance of var
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Alaska Science Center

Glacial conditioning of stream position and flooding in the braid plain of the Exit Glacier foreland, Alaska

Flow spilling out of an active braid plain often signals the onset of channel migration or avulsion to previously occupied areas. In a recently deglaciated environment, distinguishing between shifts in active braid plain location, considered reversible by fluvial processes at short timescales, and more permanent glacier-conditioned changes in stream position can be critical to understanding flood
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Estimating flood magnitude and frequency at gaged and ungaged sites on streams in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada, based on data through water year 2012

Estimates of the magnitude and frequency of floods are needed across Alaska for engineering design of transportation and water-conveyance structures, flood-insurance studies, flood-plain management, and other water-resource purposes. This report updates methods for estimating flood magnitude and frequency in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada. Annual peak-flow data through water year 2012 we
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Streamflow record extension for selected streams in the Susitna River Basin, Alaska

Daily streamflow records for water years 1950–2010 in the Susitna River Basin range in length from 4 to 57 years, and many are distributed within that period in a way that might not adequately represent long-term streamflow conditions. Streamflow in the basin is affected by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), a multi-decadal climate pattern that shifted from a cool phase to a warm phase in 1976
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Geomorphology and bank erosion of the Matanuska River, southcentral Alaska

Bank erosion along the Matanuska River, a braided, glacial river in southcentral Alaska, has damaged or threatened houses, roadways, and public facilities for decades. Mapping of river geomorphology and bank characteristics for a 65-mile study area from the Matanuska Glacier to the river mouth provided erodibility information that was assessed along with 1949-2006 erosion to establish erosion haza
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Alaska Science Center

Distribution, persistence, and hydrologic characteristics of salmon spawning habitats in clearwater side channels of the Matanuska River, southcentral Alaska

Turbid, glacially influenced rivers are often considered to be poor salmon spawning and rearing habitats and, consequently, little is known about salmon habitats that do occur within rivers of this type. To better understand salmon spawning habitats in the Matanuska River of southcentral Alaska, the distribution and characteristics of clearwater side-channel spawning habitats were determined and c
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Baseline Channel Geometry and Aquatic Habitat Data for Selected Streams in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Alaska

Small streams in the rapidly developing Matanuska-Susitna Valley in south-central Alaska are known to support anadromous and resident fish but little is known about their hydrologic and riparian conditions, or their sensitivity to the rapid development of the area or climate variability. To help address this need, channel geometry and aquatic habitat data were collected in 2005 as a baseline of st
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Hydrology and Flood Profiles of Duck Creek and Jordan Creek Downstream from Egan Drive, Juneau, Alaska

Hydrologic and hydraulic updates for Duck Creek and the lower part of Jordan Creek in Juneau, Alaska, included computation of new estimates of peak streamflow magnitudes and new water-surface profiles for the 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year floods. Computations for the 2-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50-, 100-, 200-, and 500-year recurrence interval flood magnitudes for both streams used data from U.S. Geological
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Estimating annual high-flow statistics and monthly and seasonal low-flow statistics for ungaged sites on streams in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada

Methods for estimating daily mean flow-duration statistics for seven regions in Alaska and low-flow frequencies for one region, southeastern Alaska, were developed from daily mean discharges for streamflow-gaging stations in Alaska and conterminous basins in Canada. The 15-, 10-, 9-, 8-, 7-, 6-, 5-, 4-, 3-, 2-, and 1-percent duration flows were computed for the October-through-September water year

Science and Products