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Keeping the Great Lakes great starts with the rivers that feed them! 🌊🔬 From the deck of a boat to the rail of a bridge,...
05/29/2026

Keeping the Great Lakes great starts with the rivers that feed them! 🌊🔬

From the deck of a boat to the rail of a bridge, USGS science is the engine behind a healthier, more resilient Great Lakes ecosystem.

The Great Lakes contain over 20% of the world's surface fresh water, providing drinking water to over 40 million people, numerous recreational opportunities, and billions of dollars in economic benefits across the region.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was established in 2009 to help protect, restore, and maintain the Great Lakes ecosystem now and for future generations.

As part of this initiative, the USGS monitors the rivers that feed into the Great Lakes, tracking water quality in 24 major U.S. tributaries. This "large river sampling" is essential because rivers are the main highway for nutrients and pollutants entering the lakes.

An interactive water quality dashboard tracks trends across the Great Lakes basin, ensuring data-driven decisions guide restoration projects.

Explore the dashboard - rconnect.usgs.gov/glritrends/

📷 1 - 3: GLRI large river sampling on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River near Morristown, New York, on board the new Research Vessel Osprey. Photo 1 by Andrew Kowalczk, USGS; photos 2 and 3 by Andrew Kirby, USGS.

“Satellites reveal a new view of Earth’s water from space.” – Surface Water and Ocean Topography Hydrology Lead, Tamlin ...
05/28/2026

“Satellites reveal a new view of Earth’s water from space.” – Surface Water and Ocean Topography Hydrology Lead, Tamlin Pavelsky, NOAA

Next-generation satellite observations have fundamentally redefined surface water monitoring by transforming how we track water quality, quantity, and temporal trends across the U.S. Satellite observations provide expansive spatial coverage, enabling continuous monitoring of remote or hazardous areas where ground-monitoring stations are sparse.

WaterMAP, or Water Monitoring Above the Planet, is an interactive web application that brings together surface water observations across the U.S. The application allows users to explore water conditions over time using both remotely sensed satellite and field measured data.

WaterMAP provides satellite data for the lower 48 states and Alaska including:

🛰️ Water surface elevations, inundation frequency data, water clarity composition data, chlorophyll, waterbody temperatures, lake ice cover and trophic states

🛰️ Satellite-estimated discharge for Alaska

Additionally, field-collected measurements from USGS streamgages and a full suite of spatial reference layers, such as hydrography data, lake features, and watershed boundaries, are available.

Learn more and explore the app: https://ow.ly/ihhG50Z1Go2

📷 1: This USGS/NASA Landsat 8 satellite image shows where the dark-brown waters of the Suwannee River meet the blue-green Gulf of America along Florida’s Big Bend (where the state’s panhandle curves to meet its peninsula). Credit: NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration/USGS/A. Alonso

📷 2: Satellite imagery of Pathfinder Reservoir, Wyoming, in August 2025 from WaterMAP.

📷 3: Remote-sensed chlorophyll distribution in Pathfinder Reservoir in August 2025, from WaterMAP, where warm colors (red, orange) represent higher chlorophyll content.

Forty-one percent of Arizona’s water comes from a source you can’t see 💧🌵The Arizona Groundwater Explorer (AGEx) is an i...
05/27/2026

Forty-one percent of Arizona’s water comes from a source you can’t see 💧🌵

The Arizona Groundwater Explorer (AGEx) is an interactive, web-based tool that allows for visualization of groundwater levels, long-term trends, and changes in groundwater conditions in Arizona.

AGEx combines data from the USGS and the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), allowing users to explore over 1.9 million observations from more than 42,000 wells to visualize how the groundwater landscape has changed.

AGEx data are now available through 2025!

Explore AGEx - rconnect.usgs.gov/az-agex/

📷 1: USGS hydrographer collecting water quality samples for a salinity monitoring project along the Lower Gila River, AZ, December 2024. Photo by Jessica Anderson, USGS.

📷 2: Screenshot of groundwater trends data from AGEx.

Angling for the best fishing spots? Check out current and future drought status in your area with the River DroughtCast!...
05/26/2026

Angling for the best fishing spots? Check out current and future drought status in your area with the River DroughtCast! 🎣

🐟 Drought reduces streamflow, raises water temperatures, and stresses fish populations, particularly cold-water species like trout.

🐟 As droughts become more frequent and severe, freshwater ecosystems and the valuable fisheries they support face increasing challenges.

🐟 These impacts can lead to declines in trout production and survival, affecting not only the health of the ecosystem but also the economic value of recreational fisheries.

River DroughtCast provides current and future drought information for over 3,000 monitoring locations across the lower 48 United States.

To view drought in rivers near your favorite fishing spot, check out River DroughtCast before you cast your line! https://water.usgs.gov/vizlab/streamflow-drought-forecasts/

📷 1: Montana is known for its fishing opportunities, especially its cold-water trout fishing. Here, someone is fishing in Big Hole River, Montana.
📷 2: This is spawning westslope cutthroat trout captured in Langford Creek, North Fork Flathead River, Montana.
📷 3: Native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout swim in the cool waters of the Flathead River near Glacier National Park, Montana.
📷 4: Sockeye salmon spawning in the Grand Central River, on the Seward Peninsula near Salmon Lake, Alaska.

Monitoring the Mohawk: Field work at Canajoharie Creek, New York 🌊While it looks like a quiet day on the river, USGS has...
05/22/2026

Monitoring the Mohawk: Field work at Canajoharie Creek, New York 🌊

While it looks like a quiet day on the river, USGS has been collecting samples on Canajoharie Creek, a tributary of the Mohawk River, since the 1990s.

This site is part of the USGS National Water Quality Network (NWQN), a network of 102 surface water and 258 groundwater sampling locations throughout the United States. NWQN sites like this one are crucial for understanding water quality changes over time.

USGS water quality sampling is essential for maintaining the health of the nation's waterways and ensuring safe water for human and ecological uses. Consistent, long-term monitoring allows us to track water quality trends, providing the data water resource managers need to make informed decisions.

Learn more about the NWQN - https://ow.ly/npM850YZsM5

📷 1: Stopping to smell the flowers during routine water quality sampling at Canajoharie Creek, New York. The gage, visible in the background, is part of the USGS NQWN sampling network.

📷 2-3: Routine water quality sampling at Canajoharie Creek, New York.

📷 4: A USGS biologist holds a crayfish from Canajoharie Creek.

📷 5: A USGS hydrologist stands along the bank of Canajoharie Creek, a tributary of the Mohawk River in New York.

Photos by Sabina Gifford, USGS

Where were you 15 years ago? We were developing new methods that have shaped our understanding of water quality across t...
05/21/2026

Where were you 15 years ago? We were developing new methods that have shaped our understanding of water quality across the world.

USGS celebrates 15 years of WRTDS, the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season method. WRTDS helps scientists and water managers understand how water quality changes across seasons, flows, and watersheds.

💧 Developed in 2010, WRTDS uses a flexible, data‑driven approach that accounts for streamflow variability and seasonality, revealing how water quality constituents vary across space and time.

💧 The free EGRET package for R makes WRTDS accessible and has been downloaded more than 80,000 times across the U.S. and worldwide.

💧 With contributions from USGS, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and the Chesapeake Bay Program, WRTDS continues to inform water quality research and management around the world.

To mark this anniversary, USGS authors recently published two papers on WRTDS. One provides a comprehensive review of its advancements and global applications. The other outlines a forward‑looking roadmap for the next generation of WRTDS development.

Learn more - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5c12895

📷 1: Following recent rainfall, USGS hydrotech collects a storm sample from the Susquehanna River at Conowingo, MD. Photo by David Fisher, USGS

📷 2: First published WRTDS applications across continents and countries, highlighting its global adoption.

📷 3: Contour plot of expected nitrate concentrations at a site from 2004 through 2009. These contour plots show WRTDS estimates of concentration as a function of time and streamflow. Figure from Sprague, et al. 2011, DOI: 10.1021/es201221s.

Where surface water runs low, groundwater supplements water supply. Both surface water and groundwater provide critical ...
05/20/2026

Where surface water runs low, groundwater supplements water supply.

Both surface water and groundwater provide critical water supplies across the United States. In surface-water limited regions, users turn to groundwater to meet water demand. But water above and below the ground can be closely connected.

In the Edwards aquifer area of Texas, USGS science is providing information about surface water and groundwater connectivity, water quality, and resource vulnerability to support water availability decisions.

USGS water availability studies combine regional science to support management with national-scale science to broadly assess water resource challenges. Together, these efforts strengthen our understanding of integrated water systems and provide the science needed to protect water resources and the communities that depend on them.

Read more at https://ow.ly/WLCk50YZIwh

📷 1: Seco Creek sinkhole in Medina County, TX provides direct recharge to the Edwards Aquifer.

📷 2: Exposed porous Edwards aquifer limestone and underlying Trinity aquifer limestone at Medina Lake near San Antonio, TX. Photo by Stephen Opsahl, USGS.

San Antonio Water System

The USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF): A National Icon. During a recent visit to the HIF in Tuscaloosa, AL,...
05/18/2026

The USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF): A National Icon.

During a recent visit to the HIF in Tuscaloosa, AL, USGS Director Ned Mamula toured state-of-the-art labs, met with employees, and learned about the research and development of innovative water monitoring technologies.

In an interview after the tour, Director Mamula highlighted the role that HIF plays in water research: “From what I saw today, Alabama is one of the leaders in the country in this endeavor. This is not just classic academic hydrology; this is way beyond that. Way, way, way beyond that.”

The HIF is a state-of-the-art 92,500 sq. ft facility nestled into The University of Alabama campus, which includes the Alabama Water Institute and NOAA’s National Water Center – an area the locals call “WaterTown, USA.”

The HIF includes:

💧 A 30,500 sq. ft hydraulics lab equipped with several large tow tanks, a tilting flume, and a test basin.

💧Fabrication and repair shops and testing labs that enable staff to quickly and precisely create or repair parts and sensors for water monitoring technology.

💧A warehouse that stocks and ships more than 1,400 hydrologic data collection items for use in water monitoring around the country.

Learn more about the HIF and stay tuned this summer while we feature several exciting events at the HIF - https://ow.ly/5o6i50Z11Pt

📷 1: Image of the HIF at dusk.
📷 2: Director Mamula discussing water science with USGS Director of Water Resources, Bill Werkheiser, USGS Acting Director Anne Barrett, and scientists from the Lower Mississippi Gulf field station.
📷 3: View of the HIF tow tank, which is designed to be the national standard for streamflow instrumentation.

Photographs by Alabama Water Institute

Chasing water 🌊Gear packed, truck loaded, and waders still damp from yesterday... This isn’t your average 9-to-5, this i...
05/15/2026

Chasing water 🌊

Gear packed, truck loaded, and waders still damp from yesterday... This isn’t your average 9-to-5, this is the grit and grind of a USGS Hydrologic Technician.

From the highest snowy peaks to the lowest coastal streams, these technicians are the boots-on-the-ground, in-the-stream team collecting the data that fuel American water science.

What does it take to collect data for the nation?

🌦️ Braving the elements - From torrential rain and scorching heat to frozen rivers, hydro techs ensure the data points flow.

🛰️ High-tech fieldwork - It’s not just sticks in the water! Hydro techs use advanced sensors, ADCPs for measuring flow, and automated water-quality samplers to get accurate, real-time data.

💧 Measuring the pulse of the river - Hydro techs spend hours collecting critical streamflow data that keeps communities informed.

🧪 Water quality sampling - By collecting samples and monitoring parameters like pH, turbidity, and conductivity, they provide data federal and local agencies need to make informed water management decisions.

🛠️ Patchin’ things up - When a data logger goes down, they are technician, engineer, and/or IT support addressing the issues at hand.

Whether measuring flow during a flood event or conducting a routine site visit, hydro techs are the backbone of water science.

💬 Have you seen a USGS hydro tech in the field?

📷 1: Discrete water quality, bacteria, and microbial sample collection for the Independence Storm Water project in Missouri on Adair Creek.

📷 2: Preparing to launch a boat on the Missouri River at Jefferson City, MO.

📷 3: Processing a bacteria sample collected from the Grand River near Sumner, MO, to determine Total Coliform and E. Coli concentrations in the river.

📷 4: A high-water mark captured using a known elevation from the CSG for the peak rainfall event of the year at Little Osage River near Horton MO.

📷 5: Discharge measurement, capturing a peak of the year rainfall event during flooding, on the Grand River near Fountian Grove, MO.

Credit: Jessica Todd, USGS

April streamflow conditions across the U.S. 💧 In April, wet conditions expanded across much of the Midwest and Northeas...
05/14/2026

April streamflow conditions across the U.S. 💧

In April, wet conditions expanded across much of the Midwest and Northeast, while dry conditions persisted across parts of the Southern and Southwestern U.S. Notable weather patterns included:

🚧 Torrential rainstorms in Hawaii brought flash flooding and some record stream heights

🌧️ Repeated storm systems brought sustained rainfall to the Midwest and Northeast

🌊 High streamflow developed across parts of the central U.S. as runoff increased

☀️ Drier conditions continued across portions of the Southwest and southern Plains

Find more water data visualizations on the USGS VizLab - water.usgs.gov/vizlab

📸 Combined visual showing a tile chart for national streamflow conditions by flow percentiles at USGS streamgages relative to the historic record across the U.S. Flow percentiles are broken up into seven bins from 0-100% where increased percentiles indicate wetter conditions. To the right, streamflow conditions for the U.S. are shown with a tile chart for each state.

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