HW 3 and Readings NRME 2215 Due February 24, 2011

The U.S. Geological Survey is charged with recording and maintaining data on ground water and surface water throughout the U.S. Here in Connecticut their office is in East Hartford. You should be familiar with the type of data they collect and how it is stored and retrieved.

Go to http://www.usgs.gov/water/ and browse the kind of information they collect. Then go to the following web pages and read and answer the following questions.

Stream Flow
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclestreamflow.html

1. What is a hydrograph and what factors influence it?

Stream Gaging
http://water.usgs.gov/nsip/definition9.html

Watch the movie at http://www.usgs.gov/corecast/?tag=streamgage

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3001/pdf/fs2011-3001.pdf

Look over: http://ct.water.usgs.gov/

2. How are stream gages calibrated to read discharge from stage?

3. How many real time gaging stations do we have in Connecticut?

4. What station is closest to UCONN? What river does it monitor? What was the stage at 5:00 am on January 1, 2011?


Flooding
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/100yearflood-basic.html

6. What is a 100 year flood? How is it determined? Can more than one occur in a given year?
Lakes
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthlakes.html

7. List the major factors that influence a lakes ecosystem?

8. How might a reservoir and natural lake differ?

Flood Insurance

FEMA provides flood insurance to homes and business in flood prone areas. To find out how the program works go to www. Floodsmart.gov

9. Briefly describe how the National Flood Insurance Program works, who is eligible for the insurance, how do you get it, how do you find out if you need it?

10. Go to the http://msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FemaWelcomeView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

Input 16 Cracow , Willimantic, 06226

View the map and zoom in—

a. What is the flood zone letter designation for this address

b. What does the flood zone designation mean (see the map legend)?