The stress on water resources is increasing as a result of population growth, global warming, urbanization and many other interrelated factors. Because of this, efforts to continuously model the key states in the hydrologic system, specifically streamflow, have resulted. Unfortunately, large scale streamflow simulation in hydrologic sciences has not kept up with the development of large scale numerical weather models in atmospheric sciences. This in part can be attributed to the complexity of the modeling domain where numerical weather models can predominantly run on a continuous gridded domain whereas streamflow simulation models require the integration of both continuous gridded domains (e.g. land surface, subsurface) and continuous discrete feature domains (e.g. river channel network, lakes and reservoirs, point observations). As such, this dissertation presents a fundamental geospatial framework for supporting continuous large scale streamflow simulations through both regional and continental scale applications. As this effort requires myriad water data (much of which is becoming increasingly available via Web services), this dissertation begins with a discussion of atmospheric and hydrologic data in continuous and discrete space within the context of data dissemination. At the regional scale it is demonstrated how data from disparate data sources can be integrated to simulate real-time streamflow for over 5,000 NHDPlus river reaches while at the continental scale, a streamflow simulation system operating on 2.7 million NHDPlus river reaches is presented.

Proceedings of the symposium, covering basin reviews in general and of specific locations, and basin related research, including the effects of urbanization, soil erosion, modelling and use of hydrologic data.

Effects of watershed changes: a continuing challenge;Effects of watershed changes on water quality;Potential of physical models for achievingbetter understanding and evaluation of watershed changes;A discussion of potential of physical models for achieving better understanding an evaluation of watershed changes; Analysis of watershed changes; Informational needs on changes in rural watershed and their relationship to planning activities; Land treatment in agricultural watershed hydrology research; Effects of conservation treatments on water yield; Application of continuous accounting techniques to evaluate the effects of small structures on mukewater Creek, Texas; A discussion of application of continuous accounting techniques to evaluate the effects of small structures on mukewater creek, Texas; Effects of small structures on peak flow; Effects of small structures on water yield in Texas; Effects of small structures on water yield in Texas; Field experiment on washita river; Pollution effects in rural watersheds; The nature of changes in urban watersheds and their importance in the decades ahead; The U.S. geological survey urban water program; Urban effects on water yield; Modeling the runoff characteristics of a urban watershed by means of an analog computer; Effects of urbanization on peak flows; Urban effects on the unit hydrograph; Experience with the evaluation of urban effect for drainage design; Urban effect of quality of streamflow.