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1994 MARYLAND BIOLOGICAL STREAM SURVEY STREAMFLOW PARAMETERS (TRAFLO94, ALTFLO94)
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THE MARYLAND BIOLOGICAL STREAM SURVEY (MBSS) IS A MULTI-YEAR PROBABILITY-BASED SAMPLING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ASSESS THE STATUS OF BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES IN NON-TIDAL STREAMS OF MARYLAND. THE MBSS STUDY AREA COMPRISES EIGHTEEN DRAINAGE BASINS ACROSS THE STATE OF MARYLAND, PROVIDING BIOLOGICAL, WATER CHEMISTRY, AND PHYSICAL HABITAT DATA FOR APPROXIMATELY 300 FIRST- THROUGH THIRD-ORDER STREAM SITES PER YEAR. DURING 1994, THE PROGRAM CONDUCTED A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TO TEST FIELD PROTOCOLS AND REFINE THE SAMPLING DESIGN PRIOR TO FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MBSS DURING 1995-1997. SAMPLING FOR THE 1994 DEMONSTRATION PROJECT WAS CONDUCTED IN SEVEN BASINS: YOUGHIOGHENY, POTOMAC-WASHINGTON METRO, PATUXENT, WEST CHESAPEAKE, SUSQUEHANNA, CHOPTANK, AND POCOMOKE. THE DATA SETS TRAFLO94 AND ALTFLO94 CONTAIN PARAMETERS FOR CALCULATING STREAMFLOW (DISCHARGE). AT MOST SITES, A TRANSECT METHOD WAS EMPLOYED, IN WHICH VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS WERE TAKEN WITH A FLOWMETER AT REGULAR INTERVALS ACROSS THE STREAM. THE DATA SET TRAFLO94 CONTAINS DATA FROM THIS VELOCITY/DEPTH PROFILE, INCLUDING VELOCITY, DEPTH, AND WIDTH INTERVAL MEASURES RECORDED USING THE TRANSECT METHOD. AT OTHER SITES, WHERE FLOWS WERE TOO LOW TO BE MEASURED, AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD WAS USED. THE DATA SET ALTFLO94 CONTAINS THE DEPTH, WIDTH, AND TIME FOR A FLOATED OBJECT TO MOVE 1 M, AS RECORDED IN THE ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR STREAMFLOW CALCULATION. DATA ARE FROM THE 1994 MBSS DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.