Analyzing your Hometown Stream using On-line USGS NWIS Data

Laurel Goodell

Princeton University

This activity is used in two of our introductory level courses: "Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Other Geologic Hazards," taken mostly by non-majors seeking to fulfill their lab science requirement, and "Earth, the Physical Setting" taken by prospective majors, engineers and others seeking a more comprehensive (and rigorous) geology course.

Students have been on a field trip to a local stream during which they examine characteristics of the stream and flood plain, (including evidence for high-discharge events), measure stream discharge, see the USGS gauging station for the stream, and examine discharge records this stream. Students have basic computer skills, including Microsoft Word and Excel. Most students also use PowerPoint to give their oral presentations.

This is a mid-course 2-week lab project, given as part of the unit on river processes and/or floods, and lasts longer than lecture treatment of the topic.

Description and interpretation of 1) annual patterns of stream discharge and how they have changed with time, 2) historical annual peak discharge events and 3) flood frequency analysis. Students also integrate personal knowledge and background research into their reports.

Integration of personal knowledge and background research into a technical analysis.

Students gain experience with Excel and PowerPoint and Excel (especially graphing). They also are required to distill their comprehensive written reports into engaging 5-minute oral presentations.

During a previous field trip to a local stream, students examine the stream and flood plain, find evidence for high-discharge events, measure discharge, see the USGS gauging station for the stream and examine historical discharge records. Then, to prepare for this 2-week lab exercise, students chose a stream of personal interest to them and with at least 30 years of NWIS discharge data, and also gather personal knowledge and background information about their stream. In week 1 of the exercise, the instructor uses Stony Brook data to model the project by a) downloading NWIS discharge data and graphing a typical years worth of daily discharge, peak annual discharge for the years of record, and making a flood frequency graph and b) integrating background information into an analysis of the stream's discharge. Students then do this for their own streams. In week 2, students hand in comprehensive written reports and give 5-minute oral presentations focusing on particularly interesting aspects of their streams. The activity involves students in accessing and analyzing real data, integrating background information into a technical analysis and presenting their results in both written and oral form. They also gain experience with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, and via the oral presentations, learn about streams that are in many cases quite different from their own.

Instructors grade the written reports and oral presentations, looking for sophistication of the technical analysis, and effective integration of background information into the technical analysis.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis