Western US Water Temperature Data Analysis

Introduction

This page integrates historical Northwest regional water temperature distributions with fish distributions. We are developing tools for synthesizing environmental and biological data. Temperature profiles for NW regional streams are developed in a systematic manner and applied to fish presence.

  • Daily water temperatures for the mainstem of the Columbia and Snake rivers are used directly where daily fish distributions are also known.
  • Annual temperature profile parameters are related to surveyed presence/absence information for other streams.

Data

The graphical depictions and sinusoidal model fits of Western US Water Temperature Data, listed by site name, presents a summary of the data location, number of points and parameter values for each fit as well as plots of temperatures across the year with fitted curves and time series of the data.

Mainstem data used to assess thermal conditions and lifestage-particular thermal compliance to various thermal standards is based on USGS, USACE, and PSMFC data available from Columbia River DART.

Ongoing Research

Trends in stream temperature patterns are assisting us in forecasting changes to temperature sensitive processes such as the growth of salmonids. Recent work has shown that certain Northwest US streams may provide enhanced opportunities for juvenile growth due to climate change while others will not (Beer and Anderson 2011; Beer and Anderson 2013). Currently we are extending this analysis further.

Beer, W.N., and J.J Anderson. 2011. "Sensitivity of juvenile salmonid growth to future climate trends." River Research and Applications. 27:663-669. doi: 10.1002/rra.1390. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.1390).
Beer, W.N., and J.J Anderson. 2013. "Sensitivity of salmonid freshwater life history in western US streams to future climate conditions." Global Change Biology. 19(8):2547 - 2556. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12242. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12242).

Data Sources