A proposed streamflow-data program in Alaska

Abstract

The streamflow-data program in Alaska was analyzed to design a better data network. The analysis included (1) definition of the goals of the streamflow-data program, (2) evaluation of the available data to see which goals have already been achieved, and (3) consideration and recommendation of future programs to achieve the goals that have not been met. It was found that few of the goals have been met. Many new gaging stations are proposed to provide data to reach remaining unmet goals. Also, other kinds of data collection are proposed to complement the gaging-station data to attain the goals.

A comparison of contemporary and historical hydrology and water quality in the foothills and coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Arctic Slope, northern Alaska

“…Changes in streamflow estimates between Childers (1970), Curran and others (2016), and Curran (2022) can be attributed to additional and better data used in the more recent computations. These computations are based on basin characteristics and improvements in the available data including longer datasets for streamflow, precipitation, and air temperature.…”

“…For the contemporary effort, field surveys of channel parameters and flood computations were not repeated under the assumption that the large errors associated with these methods would prevent meaningful comparison of the results. Childers and others (1977) also presented computations of the Q2 and Q50 floods from regional (Alaska) multiple regression analysis based on three basin characteristics: drainage area, mean annual precipitation, and main channel slope (Childers, 1970). Q2 and Q50 refer to floods having a 2-percent and 50-percent annual exceedance probability (AEP), respectively.…”

“…Q2 and Q50 refer to floods having a 2-percent and 50-percent annual exceedance probability (AEP), respectively. Regional multiple regression analyses for Alaska have progressed since the Childers (1970) equations, mainly because of the greater number of streamflow measurements and climatic data available, which allow us to report updated flood-frequency estimates for streams. Additionally, an 11-year streamflow record on the Hulahula River is now available for flood-frequency analysis to be directly compared with the flood estimates generated from modern regional regressions (Curran and others, 2016) using drainage area and mean annual precipitation in the basin from the PRISM climate dataset 1971-2000 (Gibson, 2009).…”

“…These computations are based on basin characteristics and improvements in the available data including longer datasets for streamflow, precipitation, and air temperature. The current regression equations (Curran and others, 2016;Curran, 2022) use basin drainage area and mean annual precipitation, whereas the historical regression methods (Childers, 1970) used basin drainage area, mean channel slope, and mean annual precipitation.…”