Streamflow of the Mississippi River 1931-1008
Log10 of Mississippi River
streamflow in meters3/second measured daily at Vicksburg MS,
represented by a yellow-red color scale.
Insights
The graphic shows:
- Seasonal precipitation and snowmelt,
- A near-decadal rhythm (perhaps reflecting a solar cycle),
- Such major
events as droughts in 1940 and 1988 (which brought saltwater over 100 miles
upriver) and the 1973 and 1993 floods (which damaged levees and caused hypoxic
zones in the Gulf of Mexico).
Technique
Each row represents 2 years of data
but is one year later than the one above it; this redundancy avoids arbitrary
temporal divisions.
Note that the USGS water year is October to September.
Data originally from US Geological Survey, although the current site does not show data back to 1931.