The contribution of Climate change and Urbanization to Streamflow Variation

Streamflow or the surface runoff is the flow of water that occurs when
excess water from rain, melt-water, or other sources flows over the earth's surface. The streamflow can be affected by different aspects. In this project we are focusing on how land cover change (urbanization) and Climate Change can affect the watershed response on streamflow. We focus our research on Poplar Creek - Neuse River sub watershed in North Carolina. The required data is found from a range of databases, including USGS stream flow, NCDC hourly precipitation, National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and National Hydrography Database. In the side of urbanization, we compare the land cover of the region over two decades and evaluate the statistics parameters in the streamflow from the USGS monitoring point. In the side of climate change we study the ratio of streamflow to rainfall in the region.