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Water-quality and streamflow datasets used for estimating loads considered for use in the 2002 Midcontinent nutrient SPARROW models, United States and Canada, 1970-2012

Metadata Updated: January 7, 2026

The United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model was developed to aid in the interpretation of monitoring data and simulate water-quality conditions in streams across large spatial scales. SPARROW is a hybrid empirical⁄process-based mass balance model that can be used to estimate the major sources and environmental factors that affect the long-term supply, transport, and fate of contaminants in streams. The spatially explicit model structure is defined by a river reach network coupled with contributing catchments. The model is calibrated by statistically relating watershed sources and transport-related properties to monitoring-based water-quality load estimates. Load estimates used in recent Midcontinent SPARROW model applications (2002 base year) are described in Saad and others, 2018 (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185051). Load estimation methods described in this report include the Beale Ratio Estimator and Fluxmaster models. This USGS data release, prepared in cooperation with the International Joint Commission, contains all of the input and output files necessary to reproduce the load estimates considered for inclusion in the 2002 Midcontinent SPARROW models. Data preparation for input to the load estimation models is also fully described in the above-mentioned 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 January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_58f506a9e4b0f6ac3c403862
Data Last Modified 2020-08-27T00:00:00Z
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 27549f3e-f36b-48d2-bc4c-bbae856268d2
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -102.809, 35.92512, -74.8882, 51.533
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 232472548d70c8b2f5df8d540bb9ccaf80644907e9a154dd2322b4993307ebe3
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -102.809, 35.92512, -102.809, 51.533, -74.8882, 51.533, -74.8882, 35.92512, -102.809, 35.92512}

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