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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Land/Water Interfaces
EFFECTS OF URBAN LAND USE ON STREAM TEMPERATURE DURING STORMS.
C.M. Albano and E.M. Giddings. U. S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, NAWQA, 2329 Orton Circle, Salt Lake City, UT 84119
As part of the U. S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program for the Great Salt Lake Basin study unit, 30 stream sites were sampled along a gradient of urban intensity. Continuous stage and temperature data were collected at 11 of these sites for 1 year. Periods of storm runoff were characterized according to changes in the stage record. Water temperature data were analyzed for changes that occurred during each storm. Expected temperatures were interpolated based on previous diurnal patterns and compared with observed temperatures during eight selected storms. The magnitude and duration of stage and temperature deviations were correlated with land use variables to determine the effects of urban land use on stream temperatures during storm runoff. The magnitude and duration of temperature deviations from expected values increased with greater commercial/industrial land use along the stream channel corridor and decreased with increased riparian vegetative cover. Increases in the magnitude and duration of temperature deviations also correlated with increases in urban land use and decreases in forested land at the basin-wide scale. Overall, storms in spring and early summer resulted in consistently higher mean temperature deviations and greater temperature ranges than storms in late summer and early fall.
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