Physical Properties of Rivers: Querying Metadata and Discharge Data

Physical Properties of Rivers: Querying Metadata and Discharge Data

This lesson was adapted from educational material written by Dr. Kateri Salk for her Fall 2019 Hydrologic Data Analysis course at Duke University. This is the second part of a two-part exercise focusing on the physical properties of rivers.

Introduction

Rivers are bodies of freshwater flowing from higher elevations to lower elevations due to the force of gravity. One of the most important physical characteristics of a stream or river is discharge, the volume of water moving through the river or stream over a given amount of time. Discharge can be measured directly by measuring the velocity of flow in several spots in a stream and multiplying the flow velocity over the cross-sectional area of the stream. However, this method is effort-intensive. This exercise will demonstrate how to approximate discharge by developing a rating curve for a stream at a given sampling point. You will also learn to query metadata from and compare discharge patterns in climatically different regions of the United States.

Learning Objectives

After successfully completing this exercise, you will be able to:

1. Execute queries to pull a variety of National Water Information System (NWIS) and Water Quality Portal (WQP) data into R.
2. Analyze seasonal and interannual characteristics of stream discharge and compare discharge patterns in different regions of the United States