Climate from Discharge Tianny, Kara, and London

ANALYZING KANSAS RIVER DISCHARGE RECORDS TIANNY ZAPATA

KANSAS RIVER AT TOPEKA, KS How is local climate reflected in the discharge data?

HOW DOES RIVER FLOW VARY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR? River flow seems to fluctuate with the seasons Early September- March “Dryer” periods Greater discharge expected around June and July Years following Great Flood of 1951, “Dry” period (~1956)

HOW OFTEN ARE THERE FLOODS? Initial prediction of anything >40,000 cfs Floods appear rare but not unlikely.

HOW LONG DO FLOODS LAST? Varies from periods of “short intense,” to “long” floods.

ARE THERE PERIODS OF DROUGHT OR FREQUENT FLOODS?

IS THERE A TREND IN THE DATA? Overall clear trend, with minor exceptions Less discharge is far more common, however outliers skew the data Near perfect bell curve fit for log-transformed discharge distribution

Discharge in the San Juan River Kara Smickley

San Juan River, New Mexicover Starts in Utah then runs through Shiprock New Mexico and up to Colorado Goes through Shiprock, New Mexico Also known as the Colorado River

Looking over a long-period of time Data starts in 1934 and goes to 2016 (about 30,000 day span) You can see some fluctuation based off what we can assume may be seasons

Taking a closer look Data taken from 1000 day span Has an inconsistent pattern Seems to be more dry than wet

Trend Seems to be more “flashy”.

Flooding Flooding is anything more than 14,000 cubic feet per second

Current Weather Patterns in Shiprock, NM This area of New Mexico has very low rainfall August has highest precipitation June has lowest precipitation Inconsistent weather pattern

Do current weather patterns make sense with our trend? 1000 year trend

Discharge of Elkhorn River Waterloo, NE London

Long Period of Time

10,000 days

1,000 Days

Averages

Kansas River, KS; San Juan River, NM; Elkhorn River, NE Group Comparisons Kansas River, KS; San Juan River, NM; Elkhorn River, NE

London Tianny Kara Tianny

Log10 distribution by day comparisons Kansas River, KS San Juan River, NM Elkhorn, NE Tianny

Mean comparisons San Juan River, NM Kansas River, KS Elkhorn River, NE Tianny Elkhorn River, NE

Weather pattern comparison Average Annual Rainfall Topeka KS- 36.49 inches Omaha NE- 30.25 inches Shiprock, NM- 7.68 inches Kara

Flooding Comparisons Kansas River, KS >40000 cfs Elkhorn, NE San Juan River, NM >14000 cfs Kara: 30000 year

Thank you Kansas River, KS San Juan River, NM