Upper Bounds for Stream Temperatures in the Contiguous United States

Abstract

Water temperatures mediate the rate of chemical reactions and constrain the habitat space of freshwater organisms in streams. Stream temperatures are therefore of great interest for stream water quality and stream ecology. There is evidence that evaporative cooling imposes an upper bound on stream temperatures. Maximum stream temperatures observed in the United States were explored in this paper. A frequency-based method was employed for the estimation of probable maximum stream temperatures. The method utilizes an enveloping standard deviate,