A web-based software tool to estimate unregulated daily streamflow at ungauged rivers

Abstract

Streamflow information is critical for solving any number of hydrologic problems. Often times, streamflow information is needed at locations which are ungauged and, therefore, have no observations on which to base water management decisions. Furthermore, there has been increasing need for daily streamflow time series to manage rivers for both human and ecological functions. To facilitate negotiation between human and ecological demands for water, this paper presents the first publically-available, map-based, regional software tool to interactively estimate daily streamflow time series at any user-selected ungauged river location. The map interface allows users to locate and click on a river location, which then returns estimates of daily streamflow for the location selected. For the demonstration region in the northeast United States, daily streamflow was shown to be reliably estimated by the software tool, with efficiency values computed from observed and estimated streamflows ranging from 0.69 to 0.92. The software tool provides a general framework that can be applied to other regions for which daily streamflow estimates are needed.