Streamgage networks may be driven by the need for information at a specific location, such as

concentrations or fluxes where a river enters a waterbody or crosses an in-ternational boundary, or a

critical flood warning site. For these needs the gage site is fixed.

Computations of daily discharge during periods of open water are based on the hypothesis that
so long as the character of the river at the control section remains unchanged the discharge will
remain constant for the same stage and will vary with the stage according to some fixed law.1

In considering winter discharge it is assumed that the control section remains constant except
for ice, and that the causes for changes in the discharge curve for any gaging station are due to
ice alone.

The different forms of ice affect the relation between stage and discharge in much the same way, and as
they are often associated with each other the factors covered by each form can not be wholly
distinguished. Their tendencies, however, can be partly discussed.

https://water.usgs.gov/edu/streamflow2.html

https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/0337/report.pdf
How Streamflow is Measured
Part 2: The discharge measurement
Introduction 1: Measuring stage 2: Discharge measurement 3: Stage-
discharge relation
 Discharge is the
volume of water moving down a stream or river per unit of time, commonly
expressed in cubic feet per second or gallons per day. In general, river
discharge is computed by multiplying the area of water in a channel cross
section by the average velocity of the water in that cross section:

discharge = area velocity.

The USGS uses numerous methods and types of equipment to measure

velocity and cross-sectional area, including the following current meter and
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler.

Current Meter
The most common method used by the USGS for measuring discharge is the
mechanical current-meter method. In this method, the stream channel cross
section is divided into numerous vertical subsections (diagram to the left). In
each subsection, the area is obtained by measuring the width and depth of
the subsection, and the water velocity is determined using a current meter
(left-side picture below). The discharge in each subsection is computed by
multiplying the subsection area by the measured velocity. The total
discharge is then computed by summing the discharge of each subsection.

Numerous types of equipment and methods are used by USGS personnel to

make current-meter measurements because of the wide range of stream
conditions throughout the United States. Subsection width is generally
measured using a cable, steel tape, or similar piece of equipment.
Subsection depth is measured using a wading rod, if conditions permit, or by
suspending a sounding weight from a calibrated cable and reel system off a
bridge, cableway, or boat or through a hole drilled in ice.

The velocity of the streamflow is measured using a current meter. The most
common current meter used by the USGS is the Price AA current meter (fig.
4). The Price AA current meter has a wheel of six metal cups that revolve
around a vertical axis. An electronic signal is transmitted by the meter on
each revolution allowing the revolutions to be counted and timed. Because
the rate at which the cups revolve is directly related to the velocity of the
water, the timed revolutions are used to determine the water velocity. The
Price AA meter is designed to be attached to a wading rod for measuring in
shallow waters or to be mounted just above a weight suspended from a
cable and reel system for measuring in fast or deep water. In shallow water,
the Pygmy Price current meter can be used. It is a two-fifths scale version of
the Price AA meter and is designed to be attached to a wading rod. A third
mechanical current meter, also a variation of the Price AA current meter, is
used for measuring water velocity beneath ice. Its dimensions allow it to fit
easily through a small hole in the ice, and it has a polymer rotor wheel that
hinders the adherence of ice and slush (right-side picture above).

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

In recent years, advances in technology have allowed the USGS to make
discharge measurements by use of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
(ADCP). An ADCP uses the principles of the Doppler Effect to measure the
velocity of water. The Doppler Effect is the phenomenon we experience when
passed by a car or train that is sounding its horn. As the car or train passes,
the sound of the horn seems to drop in frequency.

The ADCP uses the Doppler Effect to determine water velocity by sending a
sound pulse into the water and measuring the change in frequency of that
sound pulse reflected back to the ADCP by sediment or other particulates
being transported in the water. The change in frequency, or Doppler Shift,
that is measured by the ADCP is translated into water velocity. The sound is
transmitted into the water from a transducer to the bottom of the river
(diagram below) and receives return signals throughout the entire depth.
The ADCP also uses acoustics to measure water depth by measuring the
travel time of a pulse of sound to reach the river bottom at back to the
ADCP.