The National Water Dashboard shows provisional real-time water data collected at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) observation stations in context with weather-related data from other public sources.
The dashboard provides access to water-resources data collected at approximately 1.9 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The data and dashboard are available in English and Spanish.
River Runner allows users to drop a raindrop anywhere in the contiguous United States and watch where it ends up. A global version is currently available in beta.
“Our staff did very innovative work over the past year to create this valuable new tool,” Ecological and Water Resources Division Director Katie Smith said. “WHAF for Lakes will benefit anyone who wants to know more about a particular lake’s water quality and the health of the aquatic habitat and community in that lake. It will also help guide decisions about lake protection and restoration.”
Users can compare a lake’s health measures to other nearby lakes. Along with graphics showing lakes’ relative water quality, biology, and hydrology, WHAF for Lakes includes information about basic lake characteristics and lake stewardship. Quick access to this information will help Minnesotans, local government, and water resource agencies work together on comprehensive watershed management efforts.
A lake’s watershed includes all land and surface water upstream of a lake outlet that contribute water to that lake. Land uses within a watershed influence lake health. Alterations of the land, the shoreline, and nearshore vegetation affect the quality of the water and the health of the aquatic community in a particular lake.
“A healthy lake is one that is nearest to its natural state — free from pollution and with a natural shoreline that protects the bank and filters runoff — which allows it to withstand changing conditions and seasonal fluctuations,” Smith said. “Healthy lakes depend on people who value these resources and invest in the protection and restoration of the water, watershed, and biology.”
WHAF for Lakes can be accessed by searching for a particular watershed, exploring watershed health with the WHAF Map, or using the DNR’s popular LakeFinder page.
Predicting snowfall from winter storms is tricky, in no small part because heavy snow and regions of mixed precipitation look very similar in weather radar imagery. Mixed precipitation falls as a blend of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow and can be mistaken for heavy snow on radar imagery, while translating to less snow accumulation on the ground.
Information about the consistency of precipitation particles’ shapes and sizes, derived from weather radar, can help meteorologists distinguish between uniform and mixed precipitation. But visualizing that has traditionally been difficult, especially as precipitation features within a winter storm move in complicated ways, shifting through time and traveling with prevailing winds across a landscape.
To address this problem, researchers at North Carolina State University developed a new way to seamlessly integrate standard weather radar imagery and information about precipitation type, so that weather forecasters and atmospheric scientists can quickly and easily distinguish heavy snow from mixed precipitation and improve understanding of the dynamics of winter storms.
Integral developed these interactive map resources as an easy-to-use PFAS regulatory reference that is current, complete, and supported by the literature. Click on individual states to learn more about their specific PFAS regulations for drinking water, groundwater, surface water, and fish tissue. A soil advisory map is coming soon.
Scientists will take to the sky over much of Champaign County to get a closer look below the earth later this month.
Area residents shouldn’t be alarmed if they spy a fast-moving helicopter towing what looks like a trampoline frame.
Beginning Nov. 19, as part of a project contracted by the Illinois State Geological Survey at the University of Illinois and funded by Champaign County, the helicopter will be mapping most of the county to provide a three-dimensional look at the Mahomet aquifer, which supplies hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day to East Central Illinois.
Starting today, educators around the nation will have a more accurate and more comprehensive tool to explain the Earth’s water cycle with the unveiling of the new U.S. Geological Survey water cycle diagram.
The revised version replaces one used by hundreds of thousands of educators and students internationally every year since 2000. So why the new water cycle? This depiction brings humans into the picture, showing the water cycle as a complex interplay of small, interconnected cycles that people interact with and influence, rather than one big circle.
“So much about the water cycle is influenced by our actions, and it’s important that we clearly see the role that each of us can play in sustainable water use amid a changing climate,” said Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo. “The water crisis is one of the most important challenges we face today, and it is time we recognize the bigger picture of water availability.”
“This updated water cycle diagram will set a new international standard for how we visualize and communicate water’s complex journey on Earth, with the potential to better inform our next generation of scientists, natural resource managers and policymakers as they tackle the increasing challenge of sustainable water-resource management.”
USGS Director David Applegate
USGS experts consulted with more than 100 educators and more than 30 hydrologic experts to develop the new diagram. The vast amounts of water data that USGS has collected in recent decades has informed a nuanced perspective of the water cycle, demonstrating how both its human and natural components are interconnected. Where the existing water cycle diagram depicted only the natural aspects of the cycle, the new version depicts how Earth’s water moves and is stored, both naturally and because of human actions.
Not only does the new diagram illustrate a more comprehensive view of the water cycle, it draws on principles of information design to focus attention on the water as it moves through the natural and built environment. It shows how multiple ecosystems – including a coastal plain, dry basin, wet basin and agricultural basin – are connected across watersheds and at continental scales.
The new diagram will initially be available in both English and Spanish, with the expectation it will be translated into many other languages by end users, as was the previous version.
To view or download the new water cycle diagram, visit the USGS website..
With free, publicly available tools, like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Renewable Energy Atlas and Marine Energy Atlas, anyone anywhere in the world can access the data they need to start planning their clean energy future. Now, new features in the Marine Energy Atlas make it even easier for communities to decide how and where to incorporate marine energy into their power mix and for marine energy developers to learn how much electricity their device could produce at various U.S. sites.
Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) integrates information from across the federal government to help people consider their local exposure to climate-related hazards. View climate-related hazards in real time and use information on past, present, and future conditions to understand exposure in your area in order to plan and build more resilient community infrastructure.
People working in community organizations or for local, Tribal, state, or Federal governments can use the site to help them develop equitable climate resilience plans to protect people, property, and infrastructure. The site also points users to Federal grant funds for climate resilience projects, including those available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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