HydroViz Hydrology Modules

Study Sites Across North America

Key Metrics

Climate Zone: Koppen-Geiger climate classification
Land-use / Land-cover (LULC): Dominant land cover type within the watershed
Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP, mm): Average yearly precipitation across the watershed
Mean Annual Temperature (MAT, °C): Average yearly temperature across the watershed
Mean Annual Evapotranspiration (kg/m²): Average yearly evapotranspiration across the watershed
Mean Peak Snow Cover (%): Average of the annual maximum percent of watershed area covered by snow
Richards-Baker Flashiness Index (RBI): Measures how rapidly streamflow changes over time

Use Precipitation and Mean Peak Snow Cover to Choose Four Sites

Seasonal Precipitation and Snow Cover for Selected Sites

Compare Average Daily Discharge Patterns

Mean Peak Snow Cover vs RBI Across the Full Site Set

Controls

Start by picking four sites in the Precipitation & Snow Cover panel: two with lower mean peak snow-cover values and two with higher mean peak snow-cover values. Those same sites stay highlighted in the hydrographs and the snow-cover vs RBI comparison.

Color full-site plot by:

Log-scale discharge axis

Definitions

Snow Cover	Long-term average of the maximum proportion of watershed area covered by snow
Annual Precipitation	Long-term average of the total amount of precipitation that falls in the watershed
RBI	Richards-Baker Flashiness index (RBI). Describes how "flashy" a watershed is: lower values indicate more stable flow and higher values indicate more rapid response to precipitation inputs

Chloride Map
Seasonal Cl & Discharge

Stream Chloride Across North America

Monthly Chloride & Discharge Patterns

Controls

Background Map:

Choose a North America background map and compare it with the mean chloride points plotted on top. Hover over a marker for site information, and click up to four markers to carry them into the seasonal chloride and discharge panel.

Use the map to select up to four sites, then toggle selected sites on and off here to compare one set of lines at a time.

Overlay monthly discharge

Choose a Site from the Map

Key Metrics

Climate Zone: Koppen-Geiger climate classification
Land-use / Land-cover (LULC): Dominant land cover type within the watershed
Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP, mm): Average yearly precipitation across the watershed
Mean Annual Temperature (MAT, °C): Average yearly temperature across the watershed
Mean Annual Evapotranspiration (kg/m²): Average yearly evapotranspiration across the watershed
Mean Peak Snow Cover (%): Average of the annual maximum percent of watershed area covered by snow
Richards-Baker Flashiness Index (RBI): Measures how rapidly streamflow changes over time

Average Monthly Discharge & Concentration

log₁₀(Concentration) vs log₁₀(Discharge)

Selected Trendline Fits

Distribution of C-Q Slopes Across All Sites

Controls

Select a site from the map.

Color sites by:

Start with one site, identify low- and high-flow periods, and then overlay Cl or NO3 to compare concentration with seasonality.

Select a site:

Overlay concentration:

Chloride (Cl)

Nitrate (NO3)

Normalize chemistry (z-score)

Use one site at a time and compare how Cl and NO3 relate to discharge at that site.

Select a site:

Solutes:

Chloride (Cl)

Nitrate (NO3)

C-Q slope interpretation

Dilution < -0.1

-0.1 < Chemostatic < 0.1

Mobilizing > 0.1

Compare the national C-Q slope distributions for Cl and NO3.

Show:

Chloride (Cl)

Nitrate (NO3)

About These Modules

The development of these modules was supported by the CUAHSI HydroInformatics Innovation Fellowship.

Datasets included in these modules come from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, the Long Term Ecological Research Network, and Environment Canada.

The datasets from these agencies have been compiled by working group participants of a long-running synthesis group funded by the National Center for Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), USGS Powell Center, and the National Science Foundation: Global River Chemistry synthesis group

Resources

Published dataset: GlASS - Global Aggregation of Stream Silica

Jankowski, K. J., Johnson, K., Lyon, N. J., Bush, S. A., Julian, P., Sethna, L. R., McKnight, D. M., McDowell, W. H., Wymore, A. S., Kortelainen, P., Laudon, H., Heindel, R. C., Poste, A. E., Shogren, A., Worrall, F., Mosley, L., Sullivan, P. L., & Carey, J. C. (2025). GlASS - Global Aggregation of Stream Silica. Scientific Data, 12, Article 1658.

Shiny app code: hydro-modules

Partners and Support

People

GS Google Scholar

Keira Johnson, PhD

she/her/hers

MODULE DEVELOPMENT

Keira Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focuses on understanding how water quality and quantity in river ecosystems are responding to climate and land use change.

For questions regarding the activities or synthesis project, please contact Keira Johnson at keira.johnson@colorado.edu

GitHub GS Google Scholar in LinkedIn

Sidney A Bush, PhD

she/her/hers

SHINYAPP DEVELOPMENT

Sidney Bush is a Research Scientist at Oregon State University. Her work combines catchment hydrology, critical-zone science, stream biogeochemistry, and large-scale data synthesis to understand how water and solutes move through watersheds, and how river-system function responds to climate variability, land use, and wildfire disturbance.

For questions regarding the Shiny app, please contact Sidney Bush at sidney.bush@oregonstate.edu