Ronald B. Zelt and Laura L. Hallberg 2000 Version 1.1, May 1, 2000 map Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S. Geological Survey http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?yell_100k As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program, an investigation of the Yellowstone River Basin study unit is being conducted to document status and trends in surface- and ground-water quality. Efficient quantification of a variety of environmental and geographic characteristics of the study unit requires a digital map of the study-unit boundary that may be processed, together with other digital thematic maps (such as geology or land use), in a geographic information system (GIS). Digital boundary data for the Yellowstone River Basin study unit are included in this data release. The boundary follows drainage divides that were identified chiefly using 1:100,000-scale (50 m accuracy) hypsography. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began full implementation of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program in 1991. The program objectives are to describe current water-quality conditions and trends over time; and to improve our understanding of the natural and human factors that affect water quality. The Yellowstone River Basin (YRB) is one of more than 50 areas to be studied for this program. Water-quality characteristics of the YRB are influenced by the environmental and geographic characteristics of the study unit. Efficient quantification of these study-unit characteristics requires a digital map of the study-unit boundary that may be processed, together with other digital thematic maps (such as geology or land use), in a geographic information system (GIS). The boundary of the YRB follows surface-drainage divides. The digital boundary data for the study unit were based chiefly on 1:100,000-scale (50 m accuracy) digital hypsography data. For the Montana part of the YRB study unit, an existing source of digital drainage area boundaries was available at a nominal scale of 1:100,000. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service had delineated hydrologic unit boundaries at their Watershed (11-digit) level. The digital data were converted to Arc/Info vector format by the Montana State Library. For the Wyoming and North Dakota parts of the YRB, no existing source of digital drainage area boundaries was identified at a scale larger than 1:250,000.. However, hypsographic digital data at 1:100,000 scale were available statewide from the USGS Geodata web server. Those data are in digital line graph (DLG) format, which is readily converted to Arc/Info vector format. The eight DLG files of hypsography data that compose each USGS 30- by 60-minute quadrangle were processed in a standardized fashion to produce a single Arc/Info-format hypsography data set per quadrangle. Delineation and digitization of drainage divides for Wyoming, North Dakota, and part of eastern Montana was based on the digital hypsography data. Digital raster graphic (DRG) images of USGS topographic quadrangles recently became available at a nominal scale of 1:24,000. These georeferenced images contain the necessary hypsographic information to guide the delineation and digitization of drainage area boundaries. DRG images were used as the base for new drainage divide data for the extreme northwestern part of the Casper 1- by 2-degree quadrangle. Processing tolerances were maintained as follows: > Tolerance Value > --------------- --------------- > Fuzzy 1.000 Verified > Dangle 200.000 Verified > Node Snap 40.000 Verified > Weed 2.000 Verified > Grain 25.000 Verified The source of data for each segment of the boundary is encoded and stored as a feature attribute field. Final steps in the data set production included the addition of polygon label points, and checks for various types of errors. Additional details are presented in the Data Quality section of the metadata. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended to document the data set in nonproprietary form, as well as in ARC/INFO format, this metadata file may include some ARC/INFO-specific terminology. Users are cautioned not to be confused by this terminology. 1985 average publication date of source topographic data Complete As Needed -111.2770699 -103.50712541 47.98566457 42.41831121 none study area drainage basin river basin inlandWaters none Yellowstone River Yellowstone River Basin Montana North Dakota Wyoming none These data are not for use at map scales greater than 1:100,000. Ronald B. Zelt U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologist mailing address

2617 E. Lincolnway, Suite B

Cheyenne WY 82001-5662 USA 1-888-275-8747 (307) 778-2764 rbzelt@usgs.gov Prefer e-mail. Prepared as part of the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program. dgux, R4.11MU04, AViiON UNIX ARC/INFO version 7.1.1 Polygon and line feature attribute values were inspected and found to be consistently coded as described in the Entity and Attribute Information. Line attributes were checked using the Frequency algorithm, which produced the following results: > FREQUENCY SOURCE LENGTH > 144 3001 1,514,111 > 6 3002 56,855 > 22 3802 188,596 > 82 5602 879,716 > 20 5603 446,646 > 2 5604 1,628 Polygon and chain-node topology present. The study unit boundary does completely enclose the YRB. The absolute horizontal accuracy, that is, actual difference in position between the physical drainage-area boundary and the corresponding digital boundary presented in this data set, is unknown. The relative horizontal accuracy is source-dependent and is based on the 1:100,000-scale USGS topographic series map. The approximate horizontal accuracy of the 1:100,000-scale source data is 51 meters, assuming that the source materials meet National Map Accuracy Standards, as reported. However, the accuracy of the watershed boundaries in relation to the 1:100,000-scale topographic contour data appears to be slightly less accurate, and is considered to be positionally correct to within 80 meters wherever contour data exist in the source materials. Technical reviewers of the data set examined a sample of the digital linework, and found a number of locations where the digital boundary deviated by 50 to 70 meters from where the correct position should have been, in their judgment. The digital map elements were edge-matched against the data for the adjacent quadrangle. Edge match locations generally do not deviate from quadrangle to quadrangle by more than 51 meters (0.02 inch on 1:100,000-scale plot). USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Montana State Office 1996 map Helena, MT Montana State Library http://nris.state.mt.us/nsdi/nris/hd109.html 100,000 digital 1996 publication date MT NRCS All lines having attribute SOURCE = 3001. U.S. Geological Survey 1985 map Reston, Virginia U.S. Geological Survey http://edc.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html http://edc.usgs.gov/fgdc/100kdlg.html 100,000 digital 1974 1993 publication dates of topographic source maps DLG All lines having attribute SOURCE coded as 3002, 3802, 5602, or 5603. U.S. Geological Survey 1997 1.0 map Sioux Falls, S. Dak. U.S. Geological Survey http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/hyper/guide/drg http://wgiac.state.wy.us/wsdc/usgs/drg/AboutDRG.html 24,000 digital 1951 date of publication of source topographic map DRG All lines having attribute SOURCE coded as 5604. Select subset of the MT NRCS data that includes boundary of the Montana part of the YRB study unit. Processing commenced 19980828 19981104 Interactively digitize Wyoming and North Dakota parts of the study unit boundary using DLG hypsography and hydrography as onscreen backdrop, and referring as needed to published color maps of topographic quadrangles at scales of 1:100,000 and 1:24,000. Processing commenced 19980902 19981104 Assemble several partial data sets to form the study unit boundary. 19981104 Standardize feature attribute tables > additem <cover>.aat source 4 5 b > additem <cover>.pat suid 15 15 c 19981104 Complete digitization of boundary for area downstream from the USGS gaging station Yellowstone River at Sidney, Montana. This part of the boundary is based on DLG hypsography at 1:100,000 scale. 19990125 Update topology and check attribute tables. 19990125 First draft of metadata created by rbzelt using FGDCMETA.AML ver. 1.31 10/16/98 on ARC/INFO data set /gis/yell/data/su_100k 19990125 Following technical review of the data set by two colleagues, one data edit was made: Recoded the value of SUID for the small polygon corresponding to the area that drains to two study units from Two Ocean Pass. Updated metadata. 20000501 Vector Point 2 String 276 GT-polygon composed of chains 3 Albers Conical Equal Area 29.5 45.5 -107.5 23 0.00000 0.00000 coordinate pair 1 1 Meters North American Datum of 1927 Clarke 1866 6378206.4 294.98 Polygon feature attributes are stored in Info table YELL_100K.PAT, which has the following columns structure: > >COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE N.DEC > 1 AREA 4 12 F 3 > 5 PERIMETER 4 12 F 3 > 9 YELL_100K# 4 5 B - > 13 YELL_100K-ID 4 5 B - > 17 SUID 15 15 C - > Linear feature attributes are stored in Info table YELL_100K.AAT, which has the following columns structure: > >COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE N.DEC > 1 FNODE# 4 5 B - > 5 TNODE# 4 5 B - > 9 LPOLY# 4 5 B - > 13 RPOLY# 4 5 B - > 17 LENGTH 4 12 F 3 > 21 YELL_100K# 4 5 B - > 25 YELL_100K-ID 4 5 B - > 29 SOURCE 4 5 B - > SUID - USGS study-unit identifier defined by NAWQA Program; unique identifier of study units. Two polygons share the code 'YELL' in the subject data set. The smaller polygon represents a unique area that drains to two study units from Two Ocean Pass: via Atlantic Creek it drains to the YELL study unit, and via Pacific Creek it drains to the Upper Snake River Basin study unit. SOURCE - Code identifying source of boundary segment, as follows: 3001 - MT NRCS 3002 - Original digital data; based on Montana DLG hypsography. 3802 - Original digital data; based on North Dakota DLG hypsography. 5602 - Original digital data; based on Wyoming DLG hypsography. 5603 - Continental divide; copied from Wyoming DLG hypsography. 5604 - Original digital data; based on Wyoming 1:24,000-scale DRG. none U.S. Geological Survey Ask USGS - Water Webserver Team mailing

445 National Center

Reston VA 20192 1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS) http://answers.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/gsanswers?pemail=h2oteam&subject=GIS+Dataset+yell_100k Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of this data, software, or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Export Full coverage zipped 1 http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/yell_100k.e00.gz Other Full coverage zipped 1 http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/yell_100k.tgz None. This dataset is provided by USGS as a public service. 20041108 U.S. Geological Survey Ask USGS -- Water Webserver Team mailing

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Reston VA 20192 1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS) http://answers.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/gsanswers?pemail=h2oteam&subject=GIS+Dataset+yell_100k FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998