Abstract:

Spatial location of USGS surface water gauge sites collecting flow and levels in streams, lakes, and springs in all states.

This data set was compiled in September 2005 from the USGS NWIS Site Inventory for the Nation Web Site, available at: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory.  The NWIS Site Inventory for the Nation data base was queried for each state, where the Selection Criteria included ALL STATES and Site Type of SURFACE WATER.  The tabular site inventory results, detailing site locations in geograhic coordinates (referenced NAD 83 datum) and other station identification attributes, were compiled in a database and imported into ESRI's ArcMap 9.0 as a spatial points file in order to SPATIALLY IDENTIFY ALL USGS NWIS SITE LOCATIONS FOR CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES AVAILABLE FROM THE  USGS NWIS WEB SITE IN SEPTEMBER 2005.  The coordinates in the attribute table are in geographic coordinates and NAD 83 datum; where as, the spatial data are projected to Albers Equal Area and NAD 83 datum.

Users can return to the USGS NWIS Web Data for the Nation Web Site, available at: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/nwis, after identifying their station of choice and have access to water-resources data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. 

The USGS investigates the occurrence, quantity, quality, distribution, and movement of surface and underground waters and disseminates the data to the public, State and local governments, public and private utilities, and other Federal agencies involved with managing our water resources.

Purpose:

For use with the GEOSTAC database, this data set has been compiled in order to simplify pesticide risk assessment and to provide a common data set for interested parties.

Supplemental_Information:

Nationally, USGS surface-water data includes more than 850,000 station years of time-series data that describe stream levels, streamflow (discharge), reservoir and lake levels, surface-water quality, and rainfall. The data are collected by automatic recorders and manual measurements at field installations across the Nation. 

Data are collected by field personnel or relayed through telephones or satellites to offices where it is stored and processed. The data relayed through the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system are processed automatically in near real time, and in many cases, real-time data are available online within minutes. 

Once a complete day of readings are received from a site, daily summary data are generated and stored in the data base. Recent provisional daily data are updated on the web once a day when the computation is completed. 

Annually, the USGS finalizes and publishes the daily data in a series of water-data reports. Daily streamflow data and peak data are updated annually following publication of the reports.

Currentness_Reference:

publication date

Use_Constraints:

This data set is intended for use with GEOSTAC database.  Users should reference the USGS NWISWeb Data for the Nation Web Site, http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/nwis, for restrictions on the data.

Users should be aware of the date this spatial data was compiled from the USGS Web Site.  Changes can be made by the USGS to site location identification data at anytime.

Address:

897 B Harrison Street SE

Process_Description:

The USGS NWISWeb Data for the Nation Web Site, available at: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/nwis, was queried to identify ALL SURFACE WATER LOCATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER 2005.  The results were returned in tabular data format and included the attributes seen in the attributes table of this spatial data set.  The purpose of the query was to collect identification information for each USGS gauging station providing surface water data.  The tabular data results were then imported into a GIS and the geographic coordinates (NAD 83) were used to spatial identify in vector point file format each of the stations.

Process_Description:

The spatial data was projected to Albers Equal Area and NAD 83 datum

Process_Description:

The data set was converted to geodatabase feature class file format.

Process_Description:

Dataset copied.

Attribute_Definition:

Federal Identifcation Number (State and County)

Attribute_Definition:

Feature geometry.

Attribute_Definition_Source:

ESRI

Attribute_Definition:

Agency responsible for the gauge

Attribute_Definition_Source:

USGS

Attribute_Definition:

Gauging Site Identification Number

Attribute_Definition_Source:

USGS

Attribute_Definition:

Latitudinal coordinates in geographic units and NAD 83 datum

Attribute_Definition:

Longitudinal coordinates in geographic units and NAD 83 datum

Attribute_Definition:

Horizontal Datum Control

Attribute_Definition:

State Identification Number

Attribute_Definition:

County Identification Number

Attribute_Definition:

Internal feature number.

Attribute_Definition_Source:

ESRI

Address:

1500 Research Parkway, Suite B223

Distribution_Liability:

None

Ordering_Instructions:

Data can be downloaded from www.geostac.org with a registered user ID and password provided by the Spatial Sciences Laboratory.

Custom_Order_Process:

Not Applicable

Address:

897 B Harrison Street SE

usgs_surfwater_gauges

Metadata: