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Terence Messinger

Terry Messinger is a physical scientist at the Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center.

Terry has spent his career at the U.S. Geological Survey in Charleston, West Virginia, beginning in 1991. His recent work is related to streamflow quantity, timing, and distribution. He has previously worked in channel geomorphology, water quality, and fish and invertebrate community ecology.

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Time of Concentration Estimates for Small Watersheds, WV

Improving Time of Concentration Estimates for Small Rural Watersheds in the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province, West Virginia

Many culverts and other drainage structures in rural West Virginia are located in small streams or valleys draining 100 acres or less. Design of these structures in West Virginia is generally done using discharge estimates made with widely used and well accepted methods. However, these methods require information including flow-segment length and channel geometry that are poorly characterized for...
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Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center
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Improving Time of Concentration Estimates for Small Rural Watersheds in the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province, West Virginia

Many culverts and other drainage structures in rural West Virginia are located in small streams or valleys draining 100 acres or less. Design of these structures in West Virginia is generally done using discharge estimates made with widely used and well accepted methods. However, these methods require information including flow-segment length and channel geometry that are poorly characterized for...
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Drainage basins of selected streamgages in West Virginia through 2020

Drainage basin areas for 376 USGS streamgages in West Virginia and adjacent states were delineated digitally. The USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset HUC12 sub-watershed lines were used as outer limits of basins, and heads-up digitizing was used to delineate boundaries from the stream gage to the HUC12 boundary. The USGS National Map was used, as background, to show both contour lines and digital elev
By
Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Ratings and estimated provisional streamflow for streamgages in Virginia, water years 1991 through 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, has quantified several measures of rating stability and the frequency and magnitude of changes to ratings through time for 174 real-time continuous streamgages active in Virginia as of September 30, 2013. Alternative flow (AltFlow) tables were developed as a method of estimating provisional flow data.
By
Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center
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Drought-vulnerability assessment of public water systems in West Virginia

Water withdrawn from rivers and streams accounts for approximately 80 percent of the public water supply in West Virginia. Localized and (or) seasonal droughts may threaten future water availability in the state, particularly in rural communities located in the headwaters of unregulated watersheds. Monthly water withdrawal data obtained from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Authors
Matthew R. Kearns, Kaycee E. Faunce, Terence Messinger
By
Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and inorganic analytes in groundwater and surface water used as sources for public water supply in West Virginia

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely observed anthropogenic compounds found in water supplies worldwide and increasingly linked with adverse health effects in humans. In 2019, the West Virginia Legislature recognized the contamination risk to public source-water supplies posed by PFAS and passed a resolution that required a statewide PFAS study. The purpose of the resolution was t
Authors
Mitchell A. McAdoo, Gregory T. Connock, Terence Messinger
By
Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Rating stability, and frequency and magnitude of shifts, for streamgages in Virginia through water year 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, has quantified several measures of rating stability and the frequency and magnitude of changes to ratings through time for 174 real-time continuous streamgages active in Virginia as of September 30, 2013. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were fitted through all available flow measurements for all th
Authors
Terence Messinger, Robert W. Burgholzer
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Annual and average estimates of water-budget components based on hydrograph separation and PRISM precipitation for gaged basins in the Appalachian Plateaus Region, 1900-2011

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Groundwater Resources Program study of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers, annual and average estimates of water-budget components based on hydrograph separation and precipitation data from parameter-elevation regressions on independent slopes model (PRISM) were determined at 849 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations from Mississippi to New York and co
Authors
David L. Nelms, Terence Messinger, Kurt J. McCoy
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Water Resources Mission Area, Pennsylvania Water Science Center, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Water quality of groundwater and stream base flow in the Marcellus Shale Gas Field of the Monongahela River Basin, West Virginia, 2011-12

The Marcellus Shale gas field underlies portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Development of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technology led to extensive development of gas from the Marcellus Shale beginning about 2007. The need to identify and monitor changes in water-quality conditions related to development of the Marcellus Shale
Authors
Douglas B. Chambers, Mark D. Kozar, Terence Messinger, Michon L. Mulder, Adam J. Pelak, Jeremy S. White
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Correlations of daily flows at streamgages in and near West Virginia, 1930-2011, and streamflow characteristics relevant to the use of index streamgages

Correlation of flows at pairs of streamgages were evaluated using a Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient to better identify gages that can be used as index gages to estimate daily flow at ungaged stream sites in West Virginia. Much of West Virginia (77 percent) is within areas where Spearman’s rho for daily streamflow between streamgages on unregulated streams (unregulated streamgages) is greate
Authors
Terence Messinger, Katherine S. Paybins
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Estimation of traveltime and longitudinal dispersion in streams in West Virginia

Traveltime and dispersion data are important for understanding and responding to spills of contaminants in waterways. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, Office of Environmental Health Services, compiled and evaluated traveltime and longitudinal dispersion data representative of many West Virginia waterways. Traveltime and dispersion data
Authors
Jeffrey B. Wiley, Terence Messinger
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Regional Curves for Bankfull Channel Characteristics in the Appalachian Plateaus, West Virginia

Streams in the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province in West Virginia were classified as a single region on the basis of bankfull characteristics. Regression lines for annual peak flow and drainage area measured at streamgages in the study area at recurrence intervals between 1.2 and 1.7 years fell within the 99-percent confidence interval of the regression line for bankfull flow. Channel ch
Authors
Terence Messinger
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Water Resources Mission Area, Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Development and analysis of regional curves for streams in the non-urban valley and ridge physiographic province, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia

Regression relations for bankfull stream characteristics based on drainage area (often called 'regional curves') are used in natural stream channel design to verify field determinations of bankfull discharge and stream channel characteristics. Bankfull stream characteristics were assessed for stream reaches at 41 streamflow-gaging stations in the Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province in Maryland
Authors
Jefferson N. Keaton, Terence Messinger, Edward J. Doheny

Regional Relations in Bankfull Channel Characteristics determined from flow measurements at selected stream-gaging stations in West Virginia, 1911-2002

Three bankfull channel characteristics?cross-sectional area, width, and depth?were significantly correlated with drainage area in regression equations developed for two regions in West Virginia. Channel characteristics were determined from analysis of flow measurements made at 74 U.S. Geological Survey stream-gaging stations at flows between 0.5 and 5.0 times bankfull flow between 1911 and 2002.
Authors
Terence Messinger, Jeffrey B. Wiley

Comparison of storm response of streams in small, unmined and valley-filled watersheds, 1999-2001, Ballard fork, West Virginia

During storms when rainfall intensity exceeded about 1 inch per hour, peak unit runoff from the Unnamed Tributary (surface-mined and filled) Watershed exceeded peak unit runoff from the Spring Branch (unmined) Watershed in the Ballard Fork Watershed in southern West Virginia. During most storms, those with intensity less than about 1 inch per hour, peak unit (area-normalized) flows were greater fr
Authors
Terence Messinger

Relations between precipitation and daily and monthly mean flows in gaged, unmined and valley-filled watersheds, Ballard Fork, West Virginia, 1999-2001

Large-scale surface mining using valley fills has changed hydrologic storage and processes in the Ballard Fork Watershed in West Virginia. Total unit flow for the 2-year study period (November 15, 1999?November 14, 2001) on the Unnamed Tributary (extensively mined) (11,700 cubic feet per second per square mile) was almost twice that on Spring Branch (unmined) (6,260 cubic feet per second per squar
Authors
Terence Messinger, Katherine S. Paybins

Interactive Map: West Virginia Public Water System Drought Risk

This application is intended to help emergency, environmental, and public health managers at the federal, state, and local levels in West Virginia evaluate, plan for, and respond to potential drought conditions in at-risk communities. It uses estimated public water supply withdrawal rates to symbolize modeled drought conditions once every hour using National Water Model streamflow estimates.

By
Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

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