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The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs Utilities, has been collecting topographic data annually since 2012 at 10 study areas along Fountain Creek, Colorado. The 10 study areas are located along Fountain Creek between Colorado Springs and the confluence of Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River in Pueblo. This data release presents topographic survey data, Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) survey data, and elevation rasters collected or generated during 2020 as part of that monitoring effort. Topographic survey points were collected using real-time kinematic Global Navigation Satellite Systems (RTK-GNSS). These point data, along with lidar point clouds, were used to generate 2020 digital...
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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a systematic, quantitative approach to prioritize candidate basins that can support the assessment and forecasting objectives of the major USGS water science programs. Candidate basins were the level-4 hydrologic units (HUC4) with some of the smaller HUC4s being combined (hereafter referred to as modified HUC4 basins). Candidate basins for the contiguous United States (CONUS) were grouped into 18 hydrologic regions. Thirty-three geospatial variables representing land use, climate change, water use, water-balance components, streamflow alteration, fire risk, and ecosystem sensitivity were initially considered to assist in ranking candidate basins for study. The two highest...
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Water availability for human and ecosystem needs is a function of both water quantity and water quality, as described in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Strategy (Evenson and others, 2013). Recently, a quantitative approach to prioritize candidate watersheds for monitoring investment was developed to understand changes in water availability and advance the objectives of new USGS programs (Van Metre and others, 2020). In this study design, the contiguous United States (CONUS) was divided into 18 regions (referred to here as “hydrologic regions” or “HRs”) with relatively homogeneous hydrologic drivers and processes to represent the wide diversity in conditions that exist across the CONUS. The gap analysis...
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Ground-based discrete snowpack measurements were collected during winter field campaigns starting in 2020. These data were collected as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) Upper Colorado River Basin project focusing on the relation between snow dynamics and water resources. This data release consists of three child items. Each child item contains snow depth, snow density, snow temperature, or snow water equivalent values measured discretely in the field. The data are provided in comma separated value (CSV) files.
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These data represent a one-time synoptic survey of sampled soils, pavement dust, and stream sediment in 10 urban watersheds in three regions of the United States (Pacific Northwest, northeast, and southeast) to evaluate sources of sediment and two groups of common urban contaminants: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals. Analyses of samples from six of the watersheds included fallout radionuclides to facilitate identification of sediment sources to the streams. Scripts used in R to test selected explanatory variables for the urban contaminants using Generalize Additive Models (GAMs) are included. The data release also includes Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial layers that were developed for...
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This data release contains hourly means of climatological data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 10/1/1991 to 9/30/2019 at three weather stations in the Loch Vale watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado. In order of increasing elevation, the three weather stations are Loch Vale meteorological station at RMNP, Colo. (Main weather station, USGS station 401719105394311) at an elevation of 2,925 meters (m) above North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), Andrews Creek meteorological station at RMNP, Colo. (Andrews Creek weather station, USGS station 401723105400101) at an elevation of 2,990 m above NAVD 88 and Sharkstooth meteorological station at RMNP, Colo. (Sharkstooth weather...
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U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center conducted short-term aquifer tests at 11 wells to estimate hydraulic properties in the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer, in El Paso County, Colorado. Data were collected in July 2019 over three days. Single-hole pumping and recovery tests were completed at five wells, and multiple single-hole displacement (solid slug) tests were conducted at all 11 wells. This data release contains water-level data collected at various time intervals (0.25 seconds, 0.5 seconds, and variable during a manual test with a stopwatch) and well-discharge rates for the aquifer tests in comma separated value (CSV) files for the 34 tests analyzed....
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This data release includes simulation output from SnowModel (Liston and Elder, 2006), a well-validated process-based snow modeling system, and supporting snow, meteorological, and streamflow observations from the water years 2011 through 2015 (October 1, 2010, through September 30, 2015) across a 3,600 square kilometer model domain in the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains. For each water year, SnowModel simulations were completed for a (1) baseline simulation, (2) bark-beetle disturbance condition simulation, (3) 2016 - 2035 future climate condition simulation (S1), and (4) 2046 - 2065 future climate condition simulation (S2). Sexstone and others (2018) provide details and summarize findings from each of the...
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This data release includes raw and processed (inverted) data for three different geophysical methods, continuous resistivity profiles (CRP), direct current electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and frequency domain electromagnetic induction (FDEM) data. These surface geophysical methods were used as a proxy for groundwater salinity in the Paradox Valley in western Colorado to investigate temporal and spatial variations in the position of brine-rich groundwater under the Dolores River. Continuous resistivity profile surveys along a 8-10 km reach of the Dolores River were conducted on March 7, May 16, and September 13 of 2017. The ERT surveys were conducted along 3 lines crossing the river and 1 line parallel to...
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These model archive summaries document the surrogate regression models developed to estimate 15-minute suspended-sediment concentrations at three streamgage sites in Colorado: Anthracite Creek above Mouth near Somerset, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) site number 09132095; Muddy Creek above Paonia Reservoir, USGS site number 385903107210800; and North Fork Gunnison below Raven Gulch near Somerset, USGS site number 385553107243301. The methods used follow USGS guidance as referenced in relevant Office of Surface Water Technical Memorandum (TM) 2016.07 and Office of Water Quality TM 2016.10, USGS Techniques and Methods, book 3, chap. C5 (Landers and others, 2016), and (or) USGS Techniques and Methods, book 3, chap....
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This dataset contains tabular data for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (CWNS) wastewater treatment facility information. Literature-based average total nitrogen and total phosphorous concentrations were substituted for wastewater treatment levels reported for each facility because little or no concentration data is reported in the CWNS. Concentrations were based on the treatment levels of raw, primary, secondary, and advanced. Concentration and effluent flow-value data gaps were ‘filled in’ through simple linear assumptions, based on each facility’s responses to the survey in years bracketing the data gap or were based on an un-bracketed single year survey response. Unlike...
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On July 26, 2017, a solution containing approximately 200 kilograms of dissolved sodium bromide was added to the the flooded underground shaft of the Minnesota Mine, near Empire, Colorado. This addition was conducted as part of an effort to determine the degree to which the mine shaft is hydrologically connected to a series of downgradient seeps and springs. These seeps and springs discharge from the hillside and enter Lion Creek, an acidic, metal-rich stream that lies immediately to the west of the Minnesota Mine. A water quality sonde and pressure transducer deployed within the shaft recorded temperature, specific conductance, and stage before, during, and after the addition. The downgradient seeps and springs...
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Short-term aquifer tests were conducted to estimate hydraulic properties in an alluvial aquifer. Tests included eight single-hole pumping and recovery tests and three slug tests (in a single well). These investigations were conducted in the Wet Mountain Valley, in Custer and Fremont Counties, Colorado. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted aquifer tests in May, 2019. These aquifer tests inform the conceptual understanding of the valley-fill aquifer and serve as primary inputs to the numerical groundwater-flow model. Testing was completed in cooperation with the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District. This data release contains raw data from aquifer tests, water-level and pumping discharge rate measurements,...
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Multiple sampling campaigns were conducted near Boulder, Colorado, to quantify constituent concentrations and loads in Boulder Creek and its tributary, South Boulder Creek. Diel sampling was initiated at approximately 1100 hours on September 17, 2019, and continued until approximately 2300 hours on September 18, 2019. During this time period, samples were collected at two locations on Boulder Creek approximately every 3.5 hours to quantify the diel variability of constituent concentrations at low flow. Synoptic sampling campaigns on South Boulder Creek and Boulder Creek were conducted October 15-18, 2019, to develop spatial profiles of concentration, streamflow, and load. Numerous main stem and inflow locations...
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A monthly water balance model (MWBM) was driven with precipitation and temperature using a station-based dataset for current conditions (1949 to 2010) and selected statistically-downscaled general circulation models (GCMs) for current and future conditions (1950 to 2099) across the conterminous United States (CONUS) using hydrologic response units from the Geospatial Fabric for National Hydrologic Modeling (Viger and Bock, 2014). Six MWBM output variables (actual evapotranspiration (AET), potential evapotranspiration (PET), runoff (RO), streamflow (STRM), soil moisture storage (SOIL), and snow water equivalent (SWE)) and the two MWBM input variables (atmospheric temperature (TAVE) and precipitation (PPT)) were summarized...
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The U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) was used to assess the effects of changing climate and land disturbance on seasonal streamflow in the Rio Grande Headwaters (RGHW) region. Three applications of PRMS in the RGHW were used to simulate 1) baseline effects of climate, 2) effects of bark-beetle induced tree mortality, and 3) effects of wildfire, on components of the hydrologic cycle and subsequent seasonal streamflow runoff from April through September for water years 1980 through 2017. PRMS input files and select PRMS output variables for each simulation are contained in this data release to accompany the journal article.
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Note: this data release has been superseded by version 3.0, available here: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9R29VUZ. This data release contains water-quality and discharge data collected at seven stream sites and one groundwater spring in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), Colorado by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 10/1/2010 to 9/30/2019 using in-situ sensors and field meters. Data were collected for the purpose of quantifying downstream transport of aquatic carbon and exchange fluxes of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂) from streams. Parameters include daily mean discharge, dissolved CO₂, water temperature, atmospheric pressure, dissolved oxygen, fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM), nitrate, specific conductance,...
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The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11) was passed into law on March 30, 2009. Sub-title F of the law, also known as the SECURE (Science and Engineering to Comprehensively Understand and Responsibly Enhance) Water Act, calls for the establishment of a “national water availability and use assessment program” in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The recommendation for a national assessment of the available water resources was driven by the lack of such an assessment since 1978. In fulfillment of the Act, the USGS developed the National Water Census (NWC), under the auspices of the USGS Water Availability and Use Program, and as part of that activity, among others, collected water withdrawal...
Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) flights were conducted over four stream catchments in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, during the summer of 2016. Two sties had active oil and gas operations within the basin whereas the other two sites did not. Structure from motion (SfM) was used to align raw images and create a dense point cloud, georectified orthoimage, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for each basin. A Digital Terrain Model (DTM), or bare earth model, for each basin was created by reclassifying the dense point cloud as either bare ground or other (vegetation, oil and gas infrastructure, etc.) and interpolating the land surface between bare ground points. Ideally, the DTM would always be equal or lower than the DEM;...
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Two synoptic sampling campaigns were conducted near Breckenridge, Colorado, to quantify metal loading to Illinois Gulch, a tributary of the Blue River. The first campaign, conducted in August 2016, was designed to determine the degree to which Illinois Gulch loses water to the underlying mine workings, and to determine the effect of these losses on observed metal loads. The second campaign, conducted in September 2017, was designed to evaluate metal loading within Iron Springs, a subwatershed that was responsible for the majority of the metal loading observed in 2016. A continuous, instream injection of a sodium bromide (NaBr) tracer was initiated at the head of the respective study reaches several days prior to...
map background search result map search result map Monthly Water Balance Model Futures National USEPA Clean Watershed Needs Survey WWTP nutrient load data 1978 to 2012 SnowModel simulations and supporting observations for the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains during water years 2011 through 2015 Continuous resistivity profiling, direct current resistivity, and frequency domain electromagnetic data for the Dolores River, Paradox Valley, Colorado, 2017 Minnesota Mine Shaft Tracer Data, Lion Creek Watershed near Empire, Colorado, July-November, 2017 Dataset of Estimated Use of Water by Subbasin (HUC8) in the Colorado River Basin, Southwestern United States,1985-2010 Synoptic sampling data from Illinois Gulch and Iron Springs near Breckenridge, Colorado, August 2016 and September 2017 Model input and output for hydrologic simulations in the Rio Grande Headwaters, Colorado, using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) Climatological data for the Loch Vale watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, water years 1992-2019 Water-level and well-discharge data related to aquifer testing in Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer, El Paso County, Colorado, 2019 Water-level and well-discharge data related to aquifer testing in Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado, 2019 Surrogate regression models for computation of time series suspended-sediment concentrations at Muddy Creek above Paonia Reservoir, Anthracite Creek above mouth near Somerset, and North Fork Gunnison below Raven Gulch near Somerset, Colorado Elevation Data from Fountain Creek between Colorado Springs and the Confluence of Fountain Creek at the Arkansas River, Colorado, 2020 (ver 2.0, May 2021) Mapped sealed and unsealed pavement and concentrations of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and radionuclides for soils, pavement dust, and stream sediment for 10 urban watersheds Orthoimagery, digital elevation, digital terrain, final surface, and vegetation classification models for four stream catchments in western Colorado 2016 Continuous water-quality data for selected streams in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, water years 2011—19 (ver. 2.0, January 2022) Diel and synoptic sampling data from Boulder Creek and South Boulder Creek, near Boulder, Colorado, September–October 2019 NGWOS Ground Based Discrete Snowpack Measurements Geospatially derived environmental characteristics to prioritize watersheds for research and monitoring needs within 18 hydrologic regions across the United States Data used to prioritize the selection of river basins for intensive monitoring and assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey Minnesota Mine Shaft Tracer Data, Lion Creek Watershed near Empire, Colorado, July-November, 2017 Climatological data for the Loch Vale watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, water years 1992-2019 Synoptic sampling data from Illinois Gulch and Iron Springs near Breckenridge, Colorado, August 2016 and September 2017 Orthoimagery, digital elevation, digital terrain, final surface, and vegetation classification models for four stream catchments in western Colorado 2016 Water-level and well-discharge data related to aquifer testing in Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer, El Paso County, Colorado, 2019 Continuous resistivity profiling, direct current resistivity, and frequency domain electromagnetic data for the Dolores River, Paradox Valley, Colorado, 2017 Water-level and well-discharge data related to aquifer testing in Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado, 2019 Continuous water-quality data for selected streams in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, water years 2011—19 (ver. 2.0, January 2022) Elevation Data from Fountain Creek between Colorado Springs and the Confluence of Fountain Creek at the Arkansas River, Colorado, 2020 (ver 2.0, May 2021) Diel and synoptic sampling data from Boulder Creek and South Boulder Creek, near Boulder, Colorado, September–October 2019 SnowModel simulations and supporting observations for the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains during water years 2011 through 2015 Model input and output for hydrologic simulations in the Rio Grande Headwaters, Colorado, using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) NGWOS Ground Based Discrete Snowpack Measurements Surrogate regression models for computation of time series suspended-sediment concentrations at Muddy Creek above Paonia Reservoir, Anthracite Creek above mouth near Somerset, and North Fork Gunnison below Raven Gulch near Somerset, Colorado Dataset of Estimated Use of Water by Subbasin (HUC8) in the Colorado River Basin, Southwestern United States,1985-2010 National USEPA Clean Watershed Needs Survey WWTP nutrient load data 1978 to 2012 Mapped sealed and unsealed pavement and concentrations of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and radionuclides for soils, pavement dust, and stream sediment for 10 urban watersheds Monthly Water Balance Model Futures Geospatially derived environmental characteristics to prioritize watersheds for research and monitoring needs within 18 hydrologic regions across the United States Data used to prioritize the selection of river basins for intensive monitoring and assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey