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Statistical Modeling Of Historical Daily Water Temperatures In The Lower Columbia River, Malia Hanae Scott

Dissertations and Theses

Water temperature affects numerous aspects of aquatic life, and its stability is critical to cold water fish such as salmonids. With rising anthropogenic influence in natural environments, the future existence of these organisms is becoming less certain. In this study, I examined the evolution of historical water temperatures in the lower Columbia River by creating a statistical model to estimate daily historical water temperatures between the 1850s and 2010s. Daily air temperature and river flow measurements were used as inputs to the model, which estimated daily water temperatures at Bonneville Dam. The model used time lags between air temperature and …