Identifying trends in sediment discharge from alterations in upstream land use
Environmental monitoring is a primary reason for collecting sediment data. One emphasis of this monitoring is identification of trends in suspended sediment discharge. A stochastic equation was used to generate time series of annual suspended sediment discharges using statistics from gaging stations with drainage areas between 1606 and 1 805 230 km2. Annual sediment discharge was increased linearly to yield a given increase at the end of a fixed period and trend statistics were computed for each simulation series using Kendal's tau (at 0.05 significance level). A parameter was calculated from two factors that control trend detection time: (a) the magnitude of change in sediment discharge, and (b) the natural variability of sediment discharge. In this analysis the detection of a trend at most stations is well over 100 years for a 20% increase in sediment discharge. Further research is needed to assess the sensitivity of detecting trends at sediment stations.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 1995 |
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Title | Identifying trends in sediment discharge from alterations in upstream land use |
Authors | R. S. Parker, W. R. Osterkamp |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | Effects of scale on interpretation and management of sediment and water quality. Proc. symposium, Boulder, 1995 |
Index ID | 70018898 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |