USGS employees measure discharge at USGS gage 15236900 Wolverine Creek near Lawning, Alaska
Julie E. Kiang
Julie E. Kiang, Deputy Regional Director
Science and Products
Transportation-Related Water Projects
The USGS has a long history of cooperative investigations with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state highway agencies to provide data and information to address various issues related to water resources and the Nation’s transportation infrastructure. These issues cover a wide spectrum and include items such as regional flow statistics, flood documentation, regional stream...
SWToolbox Software Information
USGS and EPA have combined their SWSTAT and DFLOW software programs into a new tool for the low flow anlaysis, the SWToolbox.
EPA National Low Flows
Low streamflow has great ecological importance as it defines the minimum extent (and carrying capacity) of in-stream habitat and affects biota composition and distribution, and species trophic structure.
Water availability for ungauged rivers: an integrative, multi-model approach to estimate water availability at ungauged rivers across the United States
There has been increasing attention placed on the need for water availability information at ungauged locations, particularly related to balancing human and ecological needs for water. Critical to assessing water availability is the necessity for daily streamflow time series; however, most of the rivers in the United States are ungauged. This proposal leverages over $1M currently...
Low-streamflow and precipitation trends for 183 U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
This data release contains low-streamflow trend results from 183 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages and precipitation trend results from gaged watersheds within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Data include streamgage identification number, trend slopes and significance for several low-streamflow and precipitation metrics.
Trends in 7-day-low streamflows at 174 USGS streamflow gages in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Mid-Atlantic U.S.
This data set contains U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage identification numbers, begin and end years of the periods of streamflow record tested, Sen slope trends in the annual minimum 7-day streamflow for the period of record tested, the p-values (significance) of the trends, and the trend Sen slopes standardized by the standard deviations of the residual errors defined as the...
7Q10 Records and Basin Characteristics for 173 basins in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma (2017)
This data release replicates the methods detailed in the 2017 publication titled "Improving predictions of hydrological low-flow indices in ungaged basins using machine learning" for a different data set. The original data set and the associated readme file for the model archive can be viewed here: https://doi.org/10.5066/F7CR5S4T. The original data set contained streamflow data for...
Bias correction of Simulated Historical Daily Streamflow at Ungauged Locations Using Independently Estimated Flow-Duration Curves: Data Release
This dataset contains the observed and simulated streamflow used to produce the results of the journal article entitled Bias correction of Retrospective Simulation of Daily Streamflow at Ungauged Locations Using Independently Estimated Flow-Duration Curves . Observed streamflow, retrieved from the U.S. Geological Surveys National Water Information System (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis)...
7Q10 records and basin characteristics for 224 basins in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama (2015)
This data release provides the data and R scripts used for the 2017 submitted publication titled "Improving predictions of hydrological low-flow indices in ungaged basins using machine learning". There are two .csv files and 14 R-scripts included below. The lowflow_sc_ga_al_gagesII_2015.csv datafile contains the annual minimum seven-day mean streamflow with an annual exceedance...
![USGS employees measure discharge at USGS gage 15236900 Wolverine Creek near Lawning, Alaska](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/masonry/public/thumbnails/image/11-020_05.jpg?itok=xGMuOEwu)
USGS Employees Measure Discharge At USGS Gage 15236900, Alaska
Filter Total Items: 31
Projecting flood frequency curves under near-term climate change
Flood-frequency curves, critical for water infrastructure design, are typically developed based on a stationary climate assumption. However, climate changes are expected to violate this assumption. Here, we propose a new, climate-informed methodology for estimating flood-frequency curves under non-stationary future climate conditions. The methodology develops an asynchronous...
Authors
Chandramauli Awasthi, Stacey A. Archfield, Karen R. Ryberg, Julie E. Kiang, A. Sankarasubramanian
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox — A graphical and mapping interface for analysis of hydrologic data
The Hydrologic Toolbox is a Windows-based desktop software program that provides a graphical and mapping interface for analysis of hydrologic time-series data with a set of widely used and standardized computational methods. The software combines the analytical and statistical functionality provided in the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater and Surface-Water Toolboxes and provides...
Authors
Paul M. Barlow, Amy R. McHugh, Julie E. Kiang, Tong Zhai, Paul Hummel, Paul Duda, Scott Hinz
Historical and paleoflood analyses for probabilistic flood-hazard assessments—Approaches and review guidelines
Paleoflood studies are an effective means of providing specific information on the recurrence and magnitude of rare and large floods. Such information can be combined with systematic flood measurements to better assess the frequency of large floods. Paleoflood data also provide valuable information about the linkages among climate, land use, flood-hazard assessments, and channel...
Authors
Tessa M. Harden, Karen R. Ryberg, Jim E. O'Connor, Jonathan M. Friedman, Julie E. Kiang
Spatial and temporal patterns of low streamflow and precipitation changes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Spatial and temporal patterns in low streamflows were investigated for 183 streamgages located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed for the period 1939–2013. Metrics that represent different aspects of the frequency and magnitude of low streamflows were examined for trends: (1) the annual time series of seven‐day average minimum streamflow, (2) the scaled average deficit at or below the 2%...
Authors
Brandon Fleming, Stacey A. Archfield, Robert M. Hirsch, Julie E. Kiang, David M. Wolock
Flood-frequency estimation for very low annual exceedance probabilities using historical, paleoflood, and regional information with consideration of nonstationarity
Streamflow estimates for floods with an annual exceedance probability of 0.001 or lower are needed to accurately portray risks to critical infrastructure, such as nuclear powerplants and large dams. However, extrapolating flood-frequency curves developed from at-site systematic streamflow records to very low annual exceedance probabilities (less than 0.001) results in large uncertainties...
Authors
Karen R. Ryberg, Kelsey A. Kolars, Julie E. Kiang, Meredith L. Carr
Updating estimates of low-streamflow statistics to account for possible trends
Accurate estimators of streamflow statistics are critical to the design, planning, and management of water resources. Given increasing evidence of trends in low-streamflow, new approaches to estimating low-streamflow statistics are needed. Here we investigate simple approaches to select a recent subset of the low-flow record to update the commonly used statistic of 7Q10, the annual...
Authors
Annalise G. Blum, Stacey A. Archfield, Robert M. Hirsch, Richard M Vogel, Julie E. Kiang, Robert W. Dudley
GRACE storage change characteristics (2003–2016) over major surface basins and principal aquifers in the Conterminous United States
In this research, we characterized the changes in Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment’s (GRACE) monthly total water storage anomaly (TWSA) in 18 surface basins and 12 principal aquifers in the Conterminous United States (CONUS) over 2003–2016. Regions with high variability in storage were identified. Ten basins and 4 aquifers showed significant change in storage. Eight surface basins...
Authors
Naga Manohar Velpuri, Gabriel Senay, Jessica M. Driscoll, Samuel Saxe, Lauren E. Hay, William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang
Regionalization of surface-water statistics using multiple linear regression
This report serves as a reference document in support of the regionalization of surface-water statistics using multiple linear regression. Streamflow statistics are quantitative characterizations of hydrology and are often derived from observed streamflow records. In the absence of observed streamflow records, as at unmonitored or ungaged locations, other techniques are required...
Authors
William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang, Toby D. Feaster, Ken Eng
Bias correction of simulated historical daily streamflow at ungauged locations by using independently estimated flow duration curves
In many simulations of historical daily streamflow distributional bias arising from the distributional properties of residuals has been noted. This bias often presents itself as an underestimation of high streamflow and an overestimation of low streamflow. Here, 1168 streamgages across the conterminous USA, having at least 14 complete water years of daily data between 1 October 1980 and...
Authors
William H. Farmer, Thomas M. Over, Julie E. Kiang
Continuing progress toward a national assessment of water availability and use
Executive SummaryThe Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111—11) was passed into law on March 30, 2009. Subtitle F, also known as the SECURE Water Act, calls for the establishment of a “national water availability and use assessment program” within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS issued the first report on the program in 2013. Program progress over the...
Authors
Eric J. Evenson, Sonya A. Jones, Nancy L. Barber, Paul M. Barlow, David L. Blodgett, Breton W. Bruce, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, William H. Farmer, Jeffrey M. Fischer, William B. Hughes, Jonathan Kennen, Julie E. Kiang, Molly A. Maupin, Howard W. Reeves, Gabriel B. Senay, Jennifer S. Stanton, Chad R. Wagner, Jennifer T. Wilson
A comparison of methods for streamflow uncertainty estimation
Streamflow time series are commonly derived from stage‐discharge rating curves, but the uncertainty of the rating curve and resulting streamflow series are poorly understood. While different methods to quantify uncertainty in the stage‐discharge relationship exist, there is limited understanding of how uncertainty estimates differ between methods due to different assumptions and...
Authors
Julie E. Kiang, Christopher L. Gazoorian, Hillary McMillan, Gemma Coxon, Jerome Le Coz, Ida Westerberg, Arnaud Belleville, Damien Sevrez, Anna Sikorska, Asgeir Petersen‐Øverleir, Trond Reitan, Jim Freer, Benjamin Renard, Valentin Mansanarez, Robert R. Mason,
SWToolbox: A surface-water tool-box for statistical analysis of streamflow time series
This report is a user guide for the low-flow analysis methods provided with version 1.0 of the Surface Water Toolbox (SWToolbox) computer program. The software combines functionality from two software programs—U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) SWSTAT and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) DFLOW. Both of these programs have been used primarily for computation of critical low-flow...
Authors
Julie E. Kiang, Kate Flynn, Tong Zhai, Paul Hummel, Gregory E. Granato
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox version 1.1.0 software archive
This is version 1.1.0 of the Hydrologic Toolbox software.
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox Software Archive
This software archive is superseded by Hydrologic Toolbox v1.1.0, available at the following citation: Barlow, P.M., McHugh, A.R., Kiang, J.E., Zhai, T., Hummel, P., Duda, P., and Hinz, S., 2024, U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox version 1.1.0 software archive: U.S. Geological Survey software release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P13VDNAK. The U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox...
SWToolbox Software Information
USGS and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have combined their SWSTAT and DFLOW software programs into a new tool for the low-flow anlaysis, the SWToolbox. As of May 2022, the SWToolbox has been superseded by the Hydrologic Toolbox.
Science and Products
Transportation-Related Water Projects
The USGS has a long history of cooperative investigations with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state highway agencies to provide data and information to address various issues related to water resources and the Nation’s transportation infrastructure. These issues cover a wide spectrum and include items such as regional flow statistics, flood documentation, regional stream...
SWToolbox Software Information
USGS and EPA have combined their SWSTAT and DFLOW software programs into a new tool for the low flow anlaysis, the SWToolbox.
EPA National Low Flows
Low streamflow has great ecological importance as it defines the minimum extent (and carrying capacity) of in-stream habitat and affects biota composition and distribution, and species trophic structure.
Water availability for ungauged rivers: an integrative, multi-model approach to estimate water availability at ungauged rivers across the United States
There has been increasing attention placed on the need for water availability information at ungauged locations, particularly related to balancing human and ecological needs for water. Critical to assessing water availability is the necessity for daily streamflow time series; however, most of the rivers in the United States are ungauged. This proposal leverages over $1M currently...
Low-streamflow and precipitation trends for 183 U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
This data release contains low-streamflow trend results from 183 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages and precipitation trend results from gaged watersheds within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Data include streamgage identification number, trend slopes and significance for several low-streamflow and precipitation metrics.
Trends in 7-day-low streamflows at 174 USGS streamflow gages in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Mid-Atlantic U.S.
This data set contains U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage identification numbers, begin and end years of the periods of streamflow record tested, Sen slope trends in the annual minimum 7-day streamflow for the period of record tested, the p-values (significance) of the trends, and the trend Sen slopes standardized by the standard deviations of the residual errors defined as the...
7Q10 Records and Basin Characteristics for 173 basins in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma (2017)
This data release replicates the methods detailed in the 2017 publication titled "Improving predictions of hydrological low-flow indices in ungaged basins using machine learning" for a different data set. The original data set and the associated readme file for the model archive can be viewed here: https://doi.org/10.5066/F7CR5S4T. The original data set contained streamflow data for...
Bias correction of Simulated Historical Daily Streamflow at Ungauged Locations Using Independently Estimated Flow-Duration Curves: Data Release
This dataset contains the observed and simulated streamflow used to produce the results of the journal article entitled Bias correction of Retrospective Simulation of Daily Streamflow at Ungauged Locations Using Independently Estimated Flow-Duration Curves . Observed streamflow, retrieved from the U.S. Geological Surveys National Water Information System (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis)...
7Q10 records and basin characteristics for 224 basins in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama (2015)
This data release provides the data and R scripts used for the 2017 submitted publication titled "Improving predictions of hydrological low-flow indices in ungaged basins using machine learning". There are two .csv files and 14 R-scripts included below. The lowflow_sc_ga_al_gagesII_2015.csv datafile contains the annual minimum seven-day mean streamflow with an annual exceedance...
![USGS employees measure discharge at USGS gage 15236900 Wolverine Creek near Lawning, Alaska](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/masonry/public/thumbnails/image/11-020_05.jpg?itok=xGMuOEwu)
USGS Employees Measure Discharge At USGS Gage 15236900, Alaska
USGS Employees Measure Discharge At USGS Gage 15236900, Alaska
USGS employees measure discharge at USGS gage 15236900 Wolverine Creek near Lawning, Alaska
Filter Total Items: 31
Projecting flood frequency curves under near-term climate change
Flood-frequency curves, critical for water infrastructure design, are typically developed based on a stationary climate assumption. However, climate changes are expected to violate this assumption. Here, we propose a new, climate-informed methodology for estimating flood-frequency curves under non-stationary future climate conditions. The methodology develops an asynchronous...
Authors
Chandramauli Awasthi, Stacey A. Archfield, Karen R. Ryberg, Julie E. Kiang, A. Sankarasubramanian
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox — A graphical and mapping interface for analysis of hydrologic data
The Hydrologic Toolbox is a Windows-based desktop software program that provides a graphical and mapping interface for analysis of hydrologic time-series data with a set of widely used and standardized computational methods. The software combines the analytical and statistical functionality provided in the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater and Surface-Water Toolboxes and provides...
Authors
Paul M. Barlow, Amy R. McHugh, Julie E. Kiang, Tong Zhai, Paul Hummel, Paul Duda, Scott Hinz
Historical and paleoflood analyses for probabilistic flood-hazard assessments—Approaches and review guidelines
Paleoflood studies are an effective means of providing specific information on the recurrence and magnitude of rare and large floods. Such information can be combined with systematic flood measurements to better assess the frequency of large floods. Paleoflood data also provide valuable information about the linkages among climate, land use, flood-hazard assessments, and channel...
Authors
Tessa M. Harden, Karen R. Ryberg, Jim E. O'Connor, Jonathan M. Friedman, Julie E. Kiang
Spatial and temporal patterns of low streamflow and precipitation changes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Spatial and temporal patterns in low streamflows were investigated for 183 streamgages located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed for the period 1939–2013. Metrics that represent different aspects of the frequency and magnitude of low streamflows were examined for trends: (1) the annual time series of seven‐day average minimum streamflow, (2) the scaled average deficit at or below the 2%...
Authors
Brandon Fleming, Stacey A. Archfield, Robert M. Hirsch, Julie E. Kiang, David M. Wolock
Flood-frequency estimation for very low annual exceedance probabilities using historical, paleoflood, and regional information with consideration of nonstationarity
Streamflow estimates for floods with an annual exceedance probability of 0.001 or lower are needed to accurately portray risks to critical infrastructure, such as nuclear powerplants and large dams. However, extrapolating flood-frequency curves developed from at-site systematic streamflow records to very low annual exceedance probabilities (less than 0.001) results in large uncertainties...
Authors
Karen R. Ryberg, Kelsey A. Kolars, Julie E. Kiang, Meredith L. Carr
Updating estimates of low-streamflow statistics to account for possible trends
Accurate estimators of streamflow statistics are critical to the design, planning, and management of water resources. Given increasing evidence of trends in low-streamflow, new approaches to estimating low-streamflow statistics are needed. Here we investigate simple approaches to select a recent subset of the low-flow record to update the commonly used statistic of 7Q10, the annual...
Authors
Annalise G. Blum, Stacey A. Archfield, Robert M. Hirsch, Richard M Vogel, Julie E. Kiang, Robert W. Dudley
GRACE storage change characteristics (2003–2016) over major surface basins and principal aquifers in the Conterminous United States
In this research, we characterized the changes in Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment’s (GRACE) monthly total water storage anomaly (TWSA) in 18 surface basins and 12 principal aquifers in the Conterminous United States (CONUS) over 2003–2016. Regions with high variability in storage were identified. Ten basins and 4 aquifers showed significant change in storage. Eight surface basins...
Authors
Naga Manohar Velpuri, Gabriel Senay, Jessica M. Driscoll, Samuel Saxe, Lauren E. Hay, William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang
Regionalization of surface-water statistics using multiple linear regression
This report serves as a reference document in support of the regionalization of surface-water statistics using multiple linear regression. Streamflow statistics are quantitative characterizations of hydrology and are often derived from observed streamflow records. In the absence of observed streamflow records, as at unmonitored or ungaged locations, other techniques are required...
Authors
William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang, Toby D. Feaster, Ken Eng
Bias correction of simulated historical daily streamflow at ungauged locations by using independently estimated flow duration curves
In many simulations of historical daily streamflow distributional bias arising from the distributional properties of residuals has been noted. This bias often presents itself as an underestimation of high streamflow and an overestimation of low streamflow. Here, 1168 streamgages across the conterminous USA, having at least 14 complete water years of daily data between 1 October 1980 and...
Authors
William H. Farmer, Thomas M. Over, Julie E. Kiang
Continuing progress toward a national assessment of water availability and use
Executive SummaryThe Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111—11) was passed into law on March 30, 2009. Subtitle F, also known as the SECURE Water Act, calls for the establishment of a “national water availability and use assessment program” within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS issued the first report on the program in 2013. Program progress over the...
Authors
Eric J. Evenson, Sonya A. Jones, Nancy L. Barber, Paul M. Barlow, David L. Blodgett, Breton W. Bruce, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, William H. Farmer, Jeffrey M. Fischer, William B. Hughes, Jonathan Kennen, Julie E. Kiang, Molly A. Maupin, Howard W. Reeves, Gabriel B. Senay, Jennifer S. Stanton, Chad R. Wagner, Jennifer T. Wilson
A comparison of methods for streamflow uncertainty estimation
Streamflow time series are commonly derived from stage‐discharge rating curves, but the uncertainty of the rating curve and resulting streamflow series are poorly understood. While different methods to quantify uncertainty in the stage‐discharge relationship exist, there is limited understanding of how uncertainty estimates differ between methods due to different assumptions and...
Authors
Julie E. Kiang, Christopher L. Gazoorian, Hillary McMillan, Gemma Coxon, Jerome Le Coz, Ida Westerberg, Arnaud Belleville, Damien Sevrez, Anna Sikorska, Asgeir Petersen‐Øverleir, Trond Reitan, Jim Freer, Benjamin Renard, Valentin Mansanarez, Robert R. Mason,
SWToolbox: A surface-water tool-box for statistical analysis of streamflow time series
This report is a user guide for the low-flow analysis methods provided with version 1.0 of the Surface Water Toolbox (SWToolbox) computer program. The software combines functionality from two software programs—U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) SWSTAT and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) DFLOW. Both of these programs have been used primarily for computation of critical low-flow...
Authors
Julie E. Kiang, Kate Flynn, Tong Zhai, Paul Hummel, Gregory E. Granato
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox version 1.1.0 software archive
This is version 1.1.0 of the Hydrologic Toolbox software.
U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox Software Archive
This software archive is superseded by Hydrologic Toolbox v1.1.0, available at the following citation: Barlow, P.M., McHugh, A.R., Kiang, J.E., Zhai, T., Hummel, P., Duda, P., and Hinz, S., 2024, U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox version 1.1.0 software archive: U.S. Geological Survey software release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P13VDNAK. The U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Toolbox...
SWToolbox Software Information
USGS and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have combined their SWSTAT and DFLOW software programs into a new tool for the low-flow anlaysis, the SWToolbox. As of May 2022, the SWToolbox has been superseded by the Hydrologic Toolbox.