Big Sioux River near Castlewood SD Watershed Report Watershed name is Big Sioux River near Castlewood, SD.The attached files are meant to be used to aid yo

Big Sioux River near Castlewood SD Watershed Report Watershed name is Big Sioux River near Castlewood, SD.The attached files are meant to be used to aid you in creating your watershed report. The Watershed Template has the general template that you will be filling in as well as guidance on what you need to do with the data you collect. you may use the attached examples for designing and paraphrasing.highlight any numbers that you can not figure out where they come from. Watershed (Streamflow, Precipitation, Erosion) report sections guidelines. Text in italics is guidance for what is to be
written. Plain text with [ ] boxes notes the sentence to use with the intention that you provide the proper information
to replace [..] in the sentence.
Title page (1 page) with:
Title of report – A study of [watershed name]
Author of report
Table of contents (1 page) list of all sections with page number where the section starts
Abstract (1 to 2 paragraphs) – This is a summary of major points from each major section within the report including
purpose, study area, methods, approach, results, discussion, and conclusions. You should restate your most important
results and discussion points here.
Introduction (1 – 3 paragraphs) – The purpose of this study is to determine the proper statistical treatment for annual
flow data from the [watershed name] USGS gauge [gauge #]. The USGS gauge [gauge #] has been in place since [date]
for [number of water years] water years at [latitude and longitude of gauge]. This streamflow site has data for [list all
data types recorded such as streamflow, gauge height, temperature, etc.]. The contributing area of the watershed is
[contributing area] and the non-contributing area is [non-contributing area]. The gauge datum is [elevation with
reference standard].
A statement of the scope (time frame) of the report should be presented. The time frame depends on the length of the
data set you have been assigned.
Description of the study area (1 – 3 ‘pages’ with map(s) and figure(s)) – This section should present a description of the
geographic location being studied including the location, size of area, general climate, physiographic, topologic, geologic,
hydrologic or hydrogeologic setting, and beneficial use of the water in the watershed. Maps of the contributing area are
available from the USGS data site. Maps of soils are available from Soil Data Mart. Topographic maps are available
from USGS. Wikipedia is a general source as well for ‘Geography of South Dakota’. The description need not be extensive
just general for your study area. Use the following link for climate data for a city within or near your watershed
https://usclimatedata.com/climate/south-dakota/united-states/3211
Methods/Procedures/Data Sources (1 to 2 pages) – This section presents the theory employed in the study. Remember
to define each variable in the equations so the reader knows what the equation represents and what type of units are
being used and expected in the answer. Include any specific equations for watershed characteristics and statistical
treatment of data (given below). You will need to calculate the expected annual erosion for your watershed according to
the RUSLE equation.
Equations Used for Statistical Analysis
Mean
The mean of a list of numbers is the sum of the list divided by the number of items in the list (Yamen, 1967). The
mean is the most commonly used type of average and is often referred to as simply the average. The mean (µ) is
defined as:
?= 1/n ?_(i=1)^n?X_i
The mean calculation is used to calculate the average seasonal stream flow. In Microsoft® Excel, the
function ‘=AVERAGE(N1:N2)’ is used to calculate the mean for a list of data.
Standard Deviation
The standard deviation (?) of a data set is the square root of its variance. The variance of a data set is the mean
of the deviation squared of that variable from its expected value or mean. The variance is simply the measure or
the amount of variation within the values of a set (Yamane, 1967). In other words, the standard deviation is the
calculation of how much a data set deviates from its average.
?= ?(1/n ?_(i=1)^1??(x_i-?)?^2 )
The standard deviation was used to define the climate classification for the annual analysis. In
Microsoft® Excel the function ‘=STDEV(N1:N2)’ is used to calculate the standard deviation for a list of data.
Variability
Variability is the amount in which data points in a statistical distribution or data set diverge from the
average value, as well as the extent to which these data points differ from each other (Kenton, 2018).
Variability= ?/?
The variability was used to determine which season was the most different when compared to the other
seasons.
Skewness
In probability and statistics, skewness is a measure of the degree of asymmetry of a distribution
(Yamane, 1976). A distribution is considered to be skewed if the tail on one side of the distribution is longer than
the tail on the other side. If the data is skewed in the direction of higher values, it is positive skewed. If the
opposite is true, it has a negative skewness. In a perfect distribution there will be no skewness and the skew
value will be zero.
The skewness was used to determine whether the data fit a normal or log normal distribution. In
Microsoft® Excel the function ‘=SKEW(N1:N2)’ is used to calculate the skewness for a list of data.
Create a table for all your sources of data (see example table).
Table 1. Sources of data used in the [watershed name] study
Data type
Source
Stream flow
USGS [note web address and gauge number]
Precipitation
NCDC NOAA [note specific name of station and extent of
data downloaded]
Soils
Web Soil Survey [note specific extent of data accessed]
Climate
US Climate Data [note url used]
Results (2-4 pages and figures) – This section presents the data developed as part of the study and begins with a short
description of the values found arranged by paragraph for each type of data (streamflow analysis, precipitation, erosion).
After the short description, paragraphs of more detailed specific results and associated figures and tables should follow.
Raw data is presented in the appendix and should not be presented in this section. Figures should include proper
captions, labels, and titles so that they stand alone. For example, if you take any figure out of the report and present it to
someone, that person should be able to tell exactly what the figure represents. Figures must be referenced in the report
by figure number. You need to specifically explain the important or significant aspects of the figure that you want the
reader to understand or interpret from the figure and not let the reader draw their own conclusion. Specific results for
this report include watershed streamflow characteristics including historical flow, range of expected flows over the time
period, single event streamflow characteristics for min, max, and mean streamflow with standard deviations for the
appropriate statistical treatment (normal or lognormal), , and erosion characteristics for expected annual erosion
potential, and precipitation analysis (min, max, annual and seasonal variations). An example paragraph is provided
below for streamflow analysis.
[watershed name] has a minimum flow of [flow value] and a maximum flow of [flow value] with an average flow
of [flow value] over the time frame for this study. The annual data series fit a [normal, lognormal] distribution
as show by the histogram in Figure [figure number]. The 10 year return period (10% probability flow) was found
to be [flow value from statistical analysis]. The 100 year return period was found to be [flow value].
Discussion of results (1-2 pages) – This section presents the interpretation of the results. The comments made in this
section should be related to your interpretation of the data you analyzed. Specifically, discussion should be made on
when (by date) peak flows occur within your dataset. Were the peak flows for spring runoff or were they rainfall related
events later in the year. You should reference particular information from the previous sections to support your
observations. Additionally, what is the typical precipitation pattern? Is it as you expected? How does the precipitation
pattern compare to the streamflow pattern, i.e. is the flow high in a year with high precipitation? Do the seasonal
variations in streamflow match the seasonal variation in precipitation? Is the calculated amount of erosion affected by
any one parameter more than others?.
Conclusions (1 -3 paragraphs) – This section should summarize the results and interpretations of the study. This section
relates to the objectives presented in the introduction of the report and focuses on the most significant findings. Specific
important and significant results should be restated here as some readers may not read the results section first.
References (as needed) – Provide references for all cited material and data used in the study. This includes all sources of
information, graphs, maps, and charts. These references should be included in the text using an appropriate reference
style.
Appendices (as needed) – Raw data used for the study and necessary processed data that is extensive should be
presented here. A list or table of contents should be provided so the reader knows where to find specific data. All data
presented should be made in a table or figure form that is easy to understand and uses space efficiently in the report.
Twenty pages of two columns of numbers are not acceptable and should be presented in a more compact form.

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