Dr. Richard Janda of the USGS began a channel monitoring program in Redwood Creek in northern coastal California in 1973. The USGS continued this work through 2013, when the Research Geologist, Dr. Mary Madej retired. This effort produced 40 years of channel change data in rivers that were disrupted by severe erosion following timber harvest of old-growth redwood forests, a portion of the program's data (plus 1953 data) has been preserved in this data release. Original field surveys documented bank erosion, aggradation, and degradation at 60 cross-sectional transects at annual or biannual timesteps. Three river reaches also have long-term longitudinal channel bed surveys which document the distribution and development of pool channel features and other aquatic habitat units. Preserved survey data are provided in CSV format on the Cross Sectional Data and Longitudinal Profile Data ScienceBase child items, along with respective metadata records. Project level metadata and supplementary materials are available on the main ScienceBase page.

This portion of the data release presents topographic survey data of portions of Oxbow Reservoir in Placer County, California. These data were collected on 26 October 2022, when the reservoir was partially de-watered to allow repairs to the dam infrastructure following the Mosquito Fire. Although the gates of the dam were open during this time, significant portions of the reservoir site remained inaccessible to surveyors due to the continued flow of the Middle Fork American River. Consequently, these data cover approximately 50 percent of the total surface area of the reservoir at full pool. The data were collected using two RTK GNSS backpack rovers which were referenced to a temporary GNSS base station occupying a fixed control point ("CP512") located less than 1 kilometer from the survey area. Precise coordinates for the GNSS base station were derived using the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Online Positioning User Service (OPUS). The GNSS data are presented as a comma-delimited text file.

This portion of the data release presents topographic survey data of portions of Oxbow Reservoir in Placer County, California. These data were collected on 26 October 2022, when the reservoir was partially de-watered to allow repairs to the dam infrastructure following the Mosquito Fire. Although the gates of the dam were open during this time, significant portions of the reservoir site remained inaccessible to surveyors due to the continued flow of the Middle Fork American River. Consequently, these data cover approximately 50 percent of the total surface area of the reservoir at full pool. The data were collected using two RTK GNSS backpack rovers which were referenced to a temporary GNSS base station occupying a fixed control point ("CP512") located less than 1 kilometer from the survey area. Precise coordinates for the GNSS base station were derived using the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) Online Positioning User Service (OPUS). The GNSS data are presented as a comma-delimited text file.

Topographic surveys were completed during eight summer surveys (in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021) at 10 sites along the Carmel River, CA: Berwick (BW), Control Reach (CR), Crossroads (CRO), DeDampierre Lower (DDL), DeDampierre Upper (DDU), Dam Reach (DM), Reservoir Reach (RS), San Carlos (SC), Sleepy Hollow (SH), and Schulte Road (SR)). Topographic measurements were made at multiple locations along four to six cross-section transects per site using a total station (at sites CR, RS, DM and SH) and with an auto level and survey rod (at sites DDU, DDL, BW, SR, SC and CRO). This dataset contains the cross-sectional elevation measurements for each transect and survey year. The elevation measurement locations along each transect were located by measuring distances between corresponding endpoint coordinates, starting from river left (see accompanying file within this data release for topographic survey transect endpoint coordinates). For the transects measured with a total station (CR, RS, DM and SH), horizontal coordinates, elevation and distance from the left bank end point are provided. For the transects measured with an auto level (DDU, DDL, BW, SR, SC and CRO), only elevation and distance from left bank end point are provided (horizontal coordinates are defined as NULL for these transects). Vertical coordinates are referenced to the NAVD88 vertical datum, in units of meters. Horizontal coordinates are referenced to the NAD83(2011) reference frame, projected in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates (zone 10N). These data supersede grain-size data originally published in 2017 at https://doi.org/10.5066/F74M93HF.

Topographic surveys were completed during eight summer surveys (in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021) at 10 sites along the Carmel River, CA: Berwick (BW), Control Reach (CR), Crossroads (CRO), DeDampierre Lower (DDL), DeDampierre Upper (DDU), Dam Reach (DM), Reservoir Reach (RS), San Carlos (SC), Sleepy Hollow (SH), and Schulte Road (SR)). Topographic measurements were made at multiple locations along four to six cross-section transects per site using a total station (at sites CR, RS, DM and SH) and with an auto level and survey rod (at sites DDU, DDL, BW, SR, SC and CRO). This dataset contains the cross-sectional elevation measurements for each transect and survey year. The elevation measurement locations along each transect were located by measuring distances between corresponding endpoint coordinates, starting from river left (see accompanying file within this data release for topographic survey transect endpoint coordinates). For the transects measured with a total station (CR, RS, DM and SH), horizontal coordinates, elevation and distance from the left bank end point are provided. For the transects measured with an auto level (DDU, DDL, BW, SR, SC and CRO), only elevation and distance from left bank end point are provided (horizontal coordinates are defined as NULL for these transects). Vertical coordinates are referenced to the NAVD88 vertical datum, in units of meters. Horizontal coordinates are referenced to the NAD83(2011) reference frame, projected in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates (zone 10N). These data supersede grain-size data originally published in 2017 at https://doi.org/10.5066/F74M93HF.

This data set includes 28 physical watershed attributes for each of 135,118 stream segments (National Hydrodraphy Dataset, Version 1) in California. These data were used to support a report entitled: "Classification of California streams using combined deductive and inductive approaches: setting the foundation for analysis of hydrologic alteration" authored by Pyne, Carlisle, Konrad, and Stein, and published in the journal Ecohydrology. Specifically, these data were used in a classification (ie, cluster) analysis to identify unique groupings of watersheds with similar hydrological characteristics.

This digital dataset defines the spring 1961 water-table altitude for the California's Central Valley. It was used to initiate the water-level altitudes for the upper zones of the transient hydrologic model of the Central Valley flow system. The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmid and others, 2009). This simulation is referred to here as the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM) (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The starting heads are based on the water-table and potentiometric surface developed by Williamson and others (1989). Maps of the spring 1961 water-table and hydraulic head in the lower pumped zone are shown in Figure 31 of Williamson and others (1989). The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (Faunt, 2009. See "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

This digital dataset defines the spring 1961 water-table altitude for the California's Central Valley. It was used to initiate the water-level altitudes for the upper zones of the transient hydrologic model of the Central Valley flow system. The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmid and others, 2009). This simulation is referred to here as the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM) (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The starting heads are based on the water-table and potentiometric surface developed by Williamson and others (1989). Maps of the spring 1961 water-table and hydraulic head in the lower pumped zone are shown in Figure 31 of Williamson and others (1989). The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (Faunt, 2009. See "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

,

The USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Downloadable Data Collection from The National Map (TNM) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance, and stewardship. For additional information on NHD, go to https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography. DWR was the steward for NHD and Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) in California. We worked with other organizations to edit and improve NHD and WBD, using the business rules for California. California's NHD improvements were sent to USGS for incorporation into the national database. The most up-to-date products are accessible from the USGS website. Please note that the California portion of the National Hydrography Dataset is appropriate for use at the 1:24,000 scale. For additional derivative products and resources, including the major features in geopackage format, please go to this page: https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/nhd-major-features Archives of previous statewide extracts of the NHD going back to 2018 may be found at https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/nhd-archive. In September 2022, USGS officially notified DWR that the NHD would become static as USGS resources will be devoted to the transition to the new 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP). 3DHP will consist of LiDAR-derived hydrography at a higher resolution than NHD. Upon completion, 3DHP data will be easier to maintain, based on a modern data model and architecture, and better meet the requirements of users that were documented in the Hydrography Requirements and Benefits Study (2016). The initial releases of 3DHP will be the NHD data cross-walked into the 3DHP data model. It will take several years for the 3DHP to be built out for California. Please refer to the resources on this page for more information. The FINAL,STATIC version of the National Hydrography Dataset for California was published for download by USGS on December 27, 2023. This dataset can no longer be edited by the state stewards. The first public release of the 3D Hydrography Program map service may be accessed at https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/3DHP_all/MapServer. Questions about the California stewardship of these datasets may be directed to nhd_stewardship@water.ca.gov.