Other USGS Research Watersheds and Related Programs

USGS investigates watersheds at scales that range from the small research watersheds of the Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budget (WEBB) Program to the Nation's largest watersheds with data collected as part of the National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN).

Links to Long-Term Research Studies in Other Small Watersheds

• New York Water Science Center Watershed Research Section
• Interdisciplinary Research Initiative (IRI) at the Shingobee Headwaters Research Area, Minnesota
• Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Maryland
• Catoctin Mountains, Maryland (data only)
• Mirror Lake, New Hampshire
• Cottonwood Lake, North Dakota (selected results from 30 years of research in the Cottonwood Lake area, a prairie pothole wetland complex)

Related Networks and Programs

• The Hydrologic Benchmark Network, a network of 53 sites (see map), selected in small undeveloped watersheds around the country.
• The National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN), a network of over 30 stations designed to monitor the water quality of Nation's largest river basins. Note, at its peak of operation in the 1980s, the network had about 500 sites.
• The National Atmospheric Deposition Program/NationalTrends Network (NAPD/NTN): As the lead federal agency, The USGS supports 76 of the roughly 250 sites where acidity, nutrients and other major ions in precipitation are measured. The USGS also supports 6 of the approximately 100 sites in the NADP Mercury Deposition Network which measure total and methyl mercury in precipitation.
• The Tritium Network, a network of stations established to provide baseline information on the occurrence of tritium in the Nation's surface waters; tritium data are also obtained at a number of precipitation stations.
• The Toxics Substances Hydrology Program generally uses a watershed approach in studying the behavior of toxic substances in the Nation's hydrologic environments.
• The National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program is composed of study units which are geographically defined by a combination of ground- and surface-water features and which typically are larger than 10,000 square kilometers.