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Earth's Water: Surface-water topics

Earth's surface water

• Watersheds
•   An example of a watershed
• Lakes and reservoirs
• Rivers and streams
•   Comparing river lengths
• Monthly and yearly streamflow patterns
• Runoff
•   Sediment in rivers
•   Sediment pond to trap sediment
• Glaciers and icecaps
• Surface water use
• Aqueducts move water
• A storm sewer to carry off storm runoff

• Rain
• Why raindrops are different sizes
• Are raindrops tear-shaped?

Measuring water

• How USGS monitors water
• How is flow in a stream measured?
• How does stream height relate to flow?
• High water marks
• Making a stream-discharge measurement from a bridge
• Crestgage - A quick way to measure high water
• A bridge with a stream gage
• Downloading stream gage heights
• Water sampling from a bridge
• Sampling a small stream
• Surface water use in the United States

Extreme events

• Q&A about floods
• Q&A about droughts
• 100-year floods
• Impervious surfaces and flooding
• High water marks
• How many baths can you get from a rainstorm?
• Much, much more water flows during a storm

The water cycle

• The water cycle
• Storage in ice and snow
• Snowmelt runoff to streams
• Oceans
• Surface runoff
• Streamflow
• Springs
• Freshwater storage
• Follow this drop through the water cycle
• See how a 2nd grade Australian class views the water cycle

Earth's Water Water Science home page

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mearthsw.html
Page Contact Information: Howard Perlman
Page Last Modified: Friday, 07-Nov-2008 15:44:48 EST