On the probability distribution of daily streamflow in the United States

Blum, Annalise G.; Archfield, Stacey A.; Vogel, Richard M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3093-2017

Articles | Volume 21, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3093-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3093-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 6

Cutting-edge case studies

|

28 Jun 2017

Cutting-edge case studies |

| 28 Jun 2017

On the probability distribution of daily streamflow in the United States

Annalise G. Blum, Stacey A. Archfield, and Richard M. Vogel

Data sets

USGS Water Data for the Nation USGS https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis

Short summary

Flow duration curves are ubiquitous in surface water hydrology for applications including water allocation and protection of ecosystem health. We identify three probability distributions that can provide a reasonable fit to daily streamflows across much of United States. These results help us understand of the behavior of daily streamflows and enhance our ability to predict streamflows at ungaged river locations.