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Examples of and Tips for Retrieving NASQAN Data from the Alternative Data Portals

The quickest and easiest way to obtain grouped constituent data for an individual NASQAN station is to use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol GET method of NWISWeb.  This format allows one to obtain all data by parameter group (for example, all nutrient data or all organic chemical data) for a single station.  In addition, all data collected by USGS at the selected station will be returned by this retrieval method and not just data collected by the NASQAN program (this will include any constituents sampled by other USGS programs but not NASQAN). Data is returned in the browser window in tab-delimited format which may be copied and pasted to a file.  The user may specify the date range of the retrieval, the parameter group, and the output format.

Parameter group choices are:

param_group =	I (Sample information)
	M (Major inorganic constituents and carbon)
	N (Nutrients)
	O (Organics)
	S (Sediment)
	I (Sample information).

Output format options include one sample per row with remark codes combined with values (qw_sample_wide=wide), one sample per row with tab-delimiter for remark codes (qw_sample_wide=separated_wide), and one result per row format (qw_sample_wide=0).

The following example retrieves all nutrient data for the Mississipi River near St. Francisville, LA, collected during the 2007-2008 water years in one sample per row with tab-delimiter for remark codes format.  To get these data, the following statement is copied and pasted in the address bar of a web browser:

http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/la/nwis/qwdata?site_no=07373420&param_group=N&begin_date=2006-10-01&end_date-2008-09-30&format=rdb&qw_sample_wide=separated_wide&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD

Data returned from this example NWISWeb request are here.  To get the data in the previous example in one result per row format, copy and paste the following statement in the address bar of a web browser:

http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/la/nwis/qwdata?site_no=07373420&param_group=N&begin_date=2006-10-01&end_date-2008-09-30&format=rdb&qw_sample_wide=0&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD

Data returned by the one result per row example are here.

The third NWISWeb example retrieves sample information for the Ohio River at Dam 53 near Grand Chain, IL, collected during late winter and spring in 2008 in one sample per row format.  To get this information, the following statement is pasted in the address bar of a web browser:

http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/il/nwis/qwdata?site_no=03612500&param_group=I&begin_date=2008-02-01&end_date-2008-06-30&format=rdb&qw_sample_wide=separated_wide&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD

Data returned from the third example NWISWeb request are here.  Of particular interest in the sample information retrieval is the sample purpose code (71999) for which 20 indicates a sample collected by the NASQAN program and 15 a sample collected by the National Water Quality Assessment Program.  Other sample purpose codes are given at http://datadwatcm.wr.usgs.gov/nwis/help?codes_table26_help [search for 71999 SAMPLE PURPOSE (CODES)].  Common values for the purpose of site visit code (50280) are 1001 for fixed frequency, surface-water; 1002   for storm hydrograph, surface-water; and 1098 for surface-water quality control.  Other purpose of site visit codes are given at http://datadwatcm.wr.usgs.gov/nwis/help?codes_table26_help (search for 50280 WATER SAMPLES).

Note in the above examples that the state abbreviation in the http statement (the 2 characters after http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/) for the desired station must correspond to the local USGS NWIS server where the data resides.  In most cases, this will be the state included in the station name but there are a few exceptions.  A list of stations and the corresponding state nwis server is here (add hyperlink to here = need to create file).

The easiest and quickest way to retrieve all data for selected parameter codes and multiple stations is to use the NWIS Water-Quality Web Services.  This method allows one to obtain all data for one or more NASQAN parameter codes for many stations at once. Retrievals can also be limited to specified date ranges.

The following example retrieves all data for parameter codes 00625 (nitrogen, ammonia + organic, Kjeldahl, unfiltered), 00631 (nitrogen, nitrite + nitrate, filtered), and 00665 (phosphorus, unfiltered) for all 37 NASQAN and NMN stations presently being sampled for the 2007 and 2008 water years.  To get this information, the following statement is copied and pasted in the address bar of a web browser:

http://qwwebservices.usgs.gov/Result/search?&siteid=USGS-01372058;USGS-01463500;USGS-01578310;USGS-01646580;USGS-02226160;USGS-02359170;USGS-02470500;USGS-03303280;USGS-03374100;USGS-03378500;USGS-03609750;USGS-03612500;USGS-04264331;USGS-05420500;USGS-05586100;USGS-05587455;USGS-06467500;USGS-06610000;USGS-06805500;USGS-06934500;USGS-07022000;USGS-07263620;USGS-07288955;USGS-07373420;USGS-07374000;USGS-07374525;USGS-07381495;USGS-07381590;USGS-07381600;USGS-08116650;USGS-08475000;USGS-09522000;USGS-11303500;USGS-11447650;USGS-14246900;USGS-15565447;USGS-322023090544500&pCode=00625;00631;00665&startDateLo=10-01-2006&startDateHi=09-30-2008&mimeType=tab&zip=yes

Data are returned in one result per row format (the one sample per row format is not available via the NWIS Water-Quality Web Services data portal) in a zipped tab-delimited file format.  The file is in a Unix (linefeed only) rather than Microsoft Windows (carriage-return and linefeed) format.  [The use of firm, trade, and brand names is for identification purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. government.]  This should not interfere in importing the data into a Microsoft Windows based program that reads tab-delimited data, however it will make viewing the file with a text editor difficult without converting it to a Windows format.  Other output format options available include xml (XML or Extensible Markup Language compatible), xls (XML compatible with MS-Excel), and csv (comma-separated).  As with NWISWeb, all data collected by the USGS at the selected station will be returned by NWIS Water-Quality Web Services and not just data collected by the NASQAN program. Data returned by the NWIS Water-Quality Web Services example are here (after unzipping).