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Mean annual runoff, precipitation, and evapotranspiration in the glaciated northeastern United States, 1951-80

Metadata Updated: October 29, 2025

Two maps, compiled at 1:1,000,000 scale, depict mean annual runoff, precipitation, and evapotranspiration in the part of the United States east of Cleveland, Ohio and north of the southern limit of glaciation. The maps are mutually consistent in that runoff equals precipitation minus evapotranspiration everywhere. The runoff map is based on records of streamflow from 503 watersheds in the United States and southernmost Canada, adjusted to represent 1951-80 and supplemented by records of precipitation at 459 stations. Precipitation at each station was partitioned into point estimates of runoff and evapotranspiration, which were constrained such that the evapotranspiration estimates varied smoothly across the region and decreased with increasing latitude and altitude, and the runoff estimates were consistent with measured runoff from nearby watersheds. A point estimate of runoff was allowed to equal mean runoff in a nearby watershed, or to be somewhat higher (or lower) if a compensating departure from mean watershed runoff could be inferred in distant parts of the watershed on the basis of altitude or regional trends. Then, precipitation contours were drawn to parallel runoff contours but differ from them by the magnitude of nearby estimates of evapotranspiration. These maps may slightly underrepresent mean precipitation and evapotranspiration in areas of high relief because most precipitation stations in such areas are in valleys. These 3 coverages were used to produce Open-File Report 96-395. Additional information about methodology can be found in this report

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-d12fbc30-45fb-4160-b13d-7235d87ebb6b
Data Last Modified 2020-11-17T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 55bbe0c5-b64f-4c64-8eb3-8c27d7e260be
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -81.93725272, 40.27605251, -67.07902572, 46.54184301
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash b078878dcca93a30e37ddfbf958fbe13e6abe219acfb22d55f2295ef5f71a14e
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -81.93725272, 40.27605251, -81.93725272, 46.54184301, -67.07902572, 46.54184301, -67.07902572, 40.27605251, -81.93725272, 40.27605251}

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