Streamflow Permanence
Streamflow permanence is the degree to which rivers and streams maintain surface flow conditions. Streamflow is a fundamental driver of riverine ecosystems and its permanence classification is a major component of species vulnerability assessments, land management activities, and water quality regulations.
Streamflow permanence science has rapidly gained momentum within USGS, nationally, and at a global scale. It has direct relevance to other efforts in the USGS to address water availability.
Since 2022, our team has been working on a Congressionally-funded effort to better understand streamflow permanence in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). In addition to understanding streamflow permanence, it is critical to understand the extent of channel networks that can support any kind of streamflow (hydrography). As the USGS moves to develop improved geospatial products for mapping hydrography of stream networks (3DHP), our work is helping to advance this effort.
Our work directly addresses water resources that are vulnerable to changes in long term environmental trends including increased frequency and severity of drought. Many of the products from this work that originated in the Pacific Northwest are now being applied outside of that region, and the footprint of this work is expanding every year with partner support. Numerous scientific publications, data releases, and other data products have been delivered with a continuous stream of additional products under development (see Publications, Projects, and Data pages).
Find out more about streamflow permanence
Changes in streamflow at Mary’s Creek near Tyndall, Idaho (USGS streamflow gaging station 13164000) impact streamflow permanence classification. Photographs by U.S. Geological Survey.
Our Focus
- Data Collection: New and found data collection on streamflow permanence in publicly available databases.
- Projects and Models: Developing new and improving existing models to estimate streamflow permanence at fine spatial resolution, over large geographic extents, and across multiple hydrography datasets, including 3DHP. Creating innovative smart model platforms to provide updated streamflow permanence estimates as new data become available.
- Publications: Communicating streamflow permanence science in ways that are accessible to multiple audiences.