Surface Water Presence and Streamflow in 13 Ephemeral Streams of Southern Arizona

Southern Arizona streams across a climate gradient from 160 to 750 mm mean annual precipitation were monitored using electrical resistance sensors and USGS gauge data. The dataset, created by Erika L. Gallo of the University of Arizona, quantifies streamflow intermittency, presence, and duration for 13 washes located on military facilities, ecological research areas, and a nature preserve. Raw electrical conductivity data and derived daily summaries of streamflow and water presence are included.

Use Cases

• Modeling streamflow intermittency patterns based on electrical conductivity sensor data.
• Analyzing the relationship between climate gradients and surface water presence duration across different elevations.
• Studying groundwater recharge potential in arid regions based on quantified water presence frequency.
• Calibrating hydrological models using derived daily summaries of streamflow from sensor and gauge data.

Strengths

• Data covers 13 distinct study streams across a defined climate gradient from 160 to 750 mm mean annual precipitation.
• Monitoring was conducted at three cross-sectional transects per reach, with five at two specific washes, providing spatial replication.
• Methodology for identifying runoff onset and cessation follows a cited, peer-reviewed protocol (Jaeger and Olden, 2012).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of Arizona

Collection Method

Electrical resistance sensors (TidbiT v2 UTBI-001 data loggers) installed at thalweg transects and USGS stream gauge data.

Geography

13 streams in southern Arizona, USA, within the Lower Gila, Santa Cruz, and San Pedro River Basins.