Images

Where is sediment coming from in North Carolina? Comparing sediment sources for HUC8 basins, data from doi.org/10.5066/P97MV16H.  A ridgeline plot shows major sediment courses in three ecoregions of NC: coastal plain, piedmont, and mountains. In the Coastal plain, stream channels and agriculture are the top sediment sources.

A map of USGS streamgages and population density shows the proximity of gages to people. In addition, a line chart is overlaid showing the total population within 3 distances from any gage in the US. These distances represent a normal walking distance, biking distance, and driving distance.

The way the river flows. A series of radial plots showing the river length by flow direction across select U.S. watersheds. Bar length is proportional to the relative river distance within 10 degree bins. An example of Puyallup in WA is shown which generally flows northwest, from its’ headwaters near Mt. Ranier towards Puget Sound.

When are U.S. rivers wet or dry? This circular area chart displays the total flow rate in million cubic feet per second throughout a year. Total flow is derived from 1,865 USGS NWIS gages with near complete data for 1951-2020.

  A Tale of Two Basins. This circular chart shows the Upper Colorado River basin and the Lower Colorado River basin side by side. The Upper Colorado basin chart shows that February 4 is the driest day of the year and June 8 is the wettest day of the year.

A map showing the locations of the Upper and Lower Colorado river basins in the contiguous U.S. and all 1,865 NWIS sites used to calculate total flow.

A time series of streamflow drought events occurring across 122 stream gages in the Upper Colorado River basin from 1980 to present. Periods of streamflow drought are indicated for each of 122 gages in a beeswarm-like chart, with time on the x-axis. During time periods where many gages experienced drought, the swarm bulges due to many co-occurring events.

A time series of streamflow drought events occurring across 122 stream gages in the Upper Colorado River basin for 2020 through October 1, 2021. At the beginning of 2020 few gages were in drought status, but as the 2020 summer proceeded there was a surge in drought conditions continuing through the end of 2021.

The rise and fall of the Delaware River salt front. Over time, the location of the salt front moves in response to regional weather patterns, sea level rise, and human impacts. The precise location of the salt front in the Delaware River Basin is based on the location in the river where the average chloride concentration is 250 mg/L.

A polar chart shows the daily fluctuation of the salt front from September 28 – October 28, 2019. On this timescale, the location of the salt front is influenced by tides. As a result, the chart displays an interwoven spiral pattern.

Timeseries plots of maximum daily salinity on the lower Connecticut River 2011-2021 for an upstream site on the river and a downstream site in the estuary. The timeseries chart uses tiles to show annual patterns in salinity compared across 10 years.

Land cover is animated through time in the Delaware River Basin. The visual shows a map and chart reflecting the proportion of land area in 8 major land cover classes: water, agriculture, barren, forest, grassland, wetland and developed areas (low and high intensity). Time is broken into 10 year intervals.

A map of CONUS using angled wheat field vectors to compare lake growing degree days between the past (1981-1990) and present (2011-2020). The vectors are mapped to the number of growing degree days earlier or later on the x-axis, and the difference in temperature on the y-axis, resulting in vector angles spanning 360 degrees.

A graphic showing a mountain with a snowcap. Names of scientists are next to arrows that show where on the mountain they work to measure snowmelt.

Water table contour map (2018) of the Harney Basin, Oregon. Image is from a new groundwater basin study study by the Oregon Water Resources Department and U.S. Geological Survey for Harney Basin in southeast Oregon.

In-stream demonstration during the Clean Water Act Section 106/319 Training for Tribal Partners and First Nations that took place in Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in May 2022. 

Helicopter flights will test new technology and methods to collect water-velocity (speed) data from camera images. (Credit: USGS) 

The USGS Active Groundwater Level Network includes about 20,000 wells that have been measured by the USGS or USGS cooperators at least once within the past 13 months. The animation shows snapshots of water-level statistics in the network during April 2022.

USGS Hydrologist Eric White monitors a computer displaying real-time data inversions while towing a novel floating transient electromagnetic (TEM) system (i.e., FloaTEM) on the Columbia River near Richland, Washington, adjacent to the Hanford 300 Area.

On April 11th, 2022, Water Resources Mission Area hosted a public webinar updating stakeholders on the status of modernization. Next Generation products are gradually replacing legacy water data delivery products. This thumbnail is for that webinar.

U.S. River Conditions, January to March 2022