Unified Interior Regions
South Dakota
Surface water and groundwater provide important water supplies in South Dakota. Major rivers include the Big Sioux, James, Cheyenne, and Missouri Rivers. Key aquifers include the Dakota, Madison, Minnelusa, and Big Sioux aquifers. The Dakota Water Science Center has many studies that focus on these resources as well various other national and international studies.
States L2 Landing Page Tabs
Geohydrologic Framework and Assessment of Aquifer Characteristics of the Big Sioux Aquifer and Groundwater Flow Model to Determine Sustainable Yield for the City of Sioux Falls
Project Period: 2015-18
Cooperators: City of Sioux Falls
Project Chief: Greg Delzer
Simulation of Groundwater Flow in the Madison and Minnelusa Aquifers, Black Hills Area
Project Period: 2011-2018
Cooperator: National Park Service, Black Hills National Forest, City of Rapid City, West Dakota Water Development District
Project Chief: Bill Eldridge
Real-time, Continuous Nitrate Monitoring of the Big Sioux River near Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Project Period: ongoing
Cooperators: City of Sioux Falls and East Dakota Water Development District
Project Chief: Galen Hoogestraat
Study to Examine Water-Quality Concerns within Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Project Period: 2011-2016
Cooperators: Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Project Chief: Galen Hoogestraat
Characterizing the Hydrogeological Framework for the Cedar River Alluvial Aquifer System near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, using Airborne Electromagnetic Surveys
Project Period: 2016-18
Cooperators: City of Cedar Rapids
Project Chiefs: Eddie Haj (Iowa/Illinois Water Science Center) and Joshua Valder (Dakota Water Science Center)
Water-Quality Monitoring of Canyon Lake
Project Period: May 2017 - September 2018
Cooperator: West Dakota Water Development District
Project Chief: Galen Hoogestraat
Implementing a Web-Based Streamflow Statistics Tool for South Dakota (StreamStats)
The objective of this study is to provide a Web-based interactive tool (StreamStats) for determining streamflow statistics for any stream location within South Dakota for which applicable streamflow regression equations have been published.
South Dakota Watershed Boundary Dataset
Dataset for South Dakota Watershed Boundary.
Armenia - Building Groundwater Management Capacity for the Ararat Valley
Project Period: 2016-17
Cooperator: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Project Chief: Joshua Valder
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Water Use in South Dakota
Water Use in South Dakota
Riparian Ecology
Riparian ecologists in the AS Branch study interactions among flow, channel change, and vegetation along rivers across the western United States and worldwide. Our work focuses on issues relevant to the management of water and public lands, including dam operation, climate change, invasive species, and ecological restoration. Investigations take place on a range of scales. For example,...
Alkalinity Sample Analysis to Ensure Accuracy of Field Results
USGS Field Technician, Kammy Durham, analyzing an alkalinity sample for the National Field Quality Assurance (NFQA) project. Nationwide, hundreds of field measurements are made daily by USGS field analysts. The data reported by the NFQA project provides a confidence level to these field measurements by testing the proficiency of the instruments and the field
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10th Anniversary of Landsat's Free & Open Data Policy
Leaders in the field of remote sensing discuss working with Landsat data since it began in 1972. With the change to a free and open policy 10 years ago, new and exciting possibilities have opened up.
Landsat in Action - Advocating for Landsat with Kass Green
Kass Green talks about the role Landsat plays to help create high resolution maps, the benefits of the archive at EROS and the value of Landsat imagery to agencies throughout the government.
FORE-SCE Land Use Model with Terry Sohl
Terry Sohl talks about the FORE-SCE Land Use model that is being used to assist a variety of groups. the model uses land cover products from the USGS and extrapolates that data to predict what areas will look like in the future, based on a variety of scenarios.
LP DAAC Prospectus 2017 - 2019
The “LP DAAC Prospectus: 2017 to 2019” short video features the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), a key access point for global land remote sensing data. The video provides an overview of the significance of the LP DAAC’s archive and distribution functions, explains the depth of the user
Ice Jam on White River near White River, SD (06447450)
Ice jam on the White River near White River, SD (USGS streamgage 06447450) on March 15, 2018. Ice jams occur when floating ice carried with a stream’s current accumulate at any obstruction to the stream flow. These ice jams can develop near river bends, mouths of tributaries, areas of decreased river slope, and upstream of obstructions like bridges. Ice jams can cause
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Groundwater-Level Measurement near Jewel Cave National Monument, SD
USGS groundwater hydrologist, Bill Eldridge, is lowering a transducer into an observation well near Jewel Cave National Monument to monitor water-level changes in the Madison aquifer. The data collected will be used to update previously published groundwater-altitude maps to help better understand groundwater flow. The work is being conducted in cooperation with the
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Landsat's Calibration and Validation
Engineers and scientists from both Landsat and Sentinel missions are working together to calibrate observation data and validate its quality to improve the science using these resources.
Landsat in Action - Forestry Research with Warren Cohen
Warren Cohen with the USDA Forest Service talks about the value of Landsat's long history of observations in monitoring and assessing forests.
Getting Started with VIIRS Surface Reflectance Data Part 3
This video focuses on how to interpret quality information for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Surface Reflectance data products created by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). VIIRS is a sensor that flies on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite, which was launched as a partnership between the National
Landsat 8 Completes 5 Years of Operation
USGS Scientists John Dwyer and Tom Loveland from EROS discuss the major accomplishments of Landsat 8 as it reaches it's 5 year design life. The Landsat program started in 1972, and has a bright future thanks to these extraordinary satellites.
Landsat 8: 5-Year Anniversary
February 11 will mark the 5th anniversary of the launch of Landsat 8!
Since 2013, over 1.1 million scenes have been acquired, adding to the Landsat archive which started almost 45 years ago, and continue to help support studies in agriculture, forest and water quality/use/management, natural disasters, and land change.
The Landsat Program is a series of
Stronger storms, rising seas, and flooding are placing hundreds of millions people at risk around the world, and big part of the solution to decrease those risks is just off shore. A new study finds that coral reefs reduce the wave energy that would otherwise impact coastlines by 97 percent.
The public and media are invited to attend a free conference about critical South Dakota water issues on April 9 in Rapid City. The John T. Loucks Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Thomas Loveland of the U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center, will deliver “Landsat 8: A Sharper Eye in the Sky” during the luncheon.
Clearer views of waters along the U.S. and Canadian border are now possible with new seamless digital maps. These maps make it easier to solve complex water issues that require a thorough understanding of drainage systems on both sides of the International Boundary.
One year ago, on February 11, 2013, NASA launched the Landsat 8 Earth-observing satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California.
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced today that Interior's North Central Climate Science Center is awarding slightly more than one million dollars to universities and other partners for research to guide managers of parks, refuges and other cultural and natural resources in planning how to help species and ecosystems adapt to climate change.
The U.S. Geological Survey has released a new report detailing changes of groundwater levels in the High Plains Aquifer. The report presents water-level change data in the aquifer in two separate periods: from 1950–the time prior to significant groundwater irrigation development–to 2011, and 2009 to 2011.
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), will be used August 21-23 to monitor Missouri River bank erosion on the Lower Brule Reservation, S.D.
Streamflow levels are below normal across much of the Midwest states of Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Many states are experiencing severe drought, such as Iowa, where flows are less than 25 percent of normal streamflow conditions for the majority of the state.
Flood Markers in Rapid City Vicinity Highlight ‘72 Flood Levels
The public is invited to attend a free conference about critical South Dakota water resources and geology on April 19 in Rapid City.
The Web-based StreamStats tool for South Dakota streams is now publicly available from the U.S. Geological Survey. StreamStats provides users with access to tools that are critical for water-resources planning and management, and for engineering design applications, such as the design of culverts and bridges.
High concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic are present in interconnected water bodies within Wind Cave National Park, S.D., according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report.
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Locations
Dakota Water Science Center- Huron Programs Office
Phone: (605) 352-4241
Fax: (605) 352-4304
Dakota Water Science Center- Rapid City
Phone: (605) 394-3200
Fax: (605) 355-4523
Dakota Water Science Center- Pierre Field Office
Phone: (605) 224-8440
Fax: (605) 224-8478
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
custserv@usgs.gov
Phone: 800-252-4547
Yankton, South Dakota Field Research Station
Phone: 605-665-9217