Animated yearly history graphsThe animation is based on graphs from USGS site 04126970 The Boardman River. The source of all this information is a water monitoring station located at 44°39'24" N, 85°26'12" W. Near as I can tell, it's at Ranch Rudolf. I have identified it in the Google Earth Community and USGS04126970.kmz is available on this site. This equipment is responsible for recording the water level and water flow every 15 minutes. For major weather events, this is a fine granularity of data. The sudden surge during and directly after a storm can be monitored in close detail. Think of, it a new measurement every 15 minutes, in the middle of a thunderstorm. And you're watching it at home, high and dry. So what's the down side? An awful lot of data at the end of the day. So here's a question: How many sample are taken every day?

To alleviate the burden of all those samples, each day can be compiled down to daily statistics. The statistical mean (average) is the total of each sample taken divided by the number of samples. So we're going to keep track of the average flow for the day. Now take all of the samples for the day and line them up highest to lowest. Pick the sample in the middle. That's the statistical median. Mean or median, either way, we reduce the day's samples down to one number.

Sometimes the mean and median are virtually identical, other times they are quite different, but that's a discussion for another day.

Now it's quite easy to collect 365 daily means and plot then on a graph. And the graph looks pretty much like you'd expect, heavy flow in the spring, light flow in the fall. But how does this year compare to last year? And what is it like in an 'average' year? The USGS has data back to 1997 for The Boardman River so we can get an average based on the years of history we have. This appears as the median daily statistic on the animation. We can look at the daily mean discharge in blue (the daily average) compared to a constant median daily statistic in brown (the historical average). Hit the Reload button to replay the animation.

It should have been that simple. But then I downloaded Firefox 2.0.0.2. Firefox 2.0.0.1 worked just fine, but Firefox 2.0.0.2 won't replay the animated GIF when you hit the reload button. So here's the animation looping continuously. Be patient, there's a 5 second pause after the last year.

To get an idea of the magnitude of this data, let's take a look at the Grand River, home of Uncle Spongehead. Under the section titled 'Period of Record' it states, 'March 1901 to December 1905, January 1906 to August 1918 (gage heights only), October 1930 to current year.' That's a lot of data. Now go back to the map of the United States, with all the dots representing all the rivers, each one with years and years of history. That's a lot of data. All accessible because of our tax dollars, and some pretty bright bureaucrats at the USGS. I am proud to have my tax dollars be spent maintaining this fine system.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox. But this is cool stuff. Planning a trip to a new river? Check out USGS data to plan the best time. Wanna know if the storm last night did anything to excite the river? Check out USGS Real Time Water Data for site 04126970 The Boardman River to see just how high the river is this morning. It might be a good day for a paddle.

I tend to use the term flow, rather than the term discharge, favored by the USGS. Flow has a cleaner sound to it somehow, although neither one congers up an image near as nice as sitting on the river bank and watching the current go racing by.