Datasets

Access Details:

For the sciencebase.gov access point, accessing specific attributes can be challenging due to hundreds of attributes or child items being nested under the parent data release. To address this issue, a web application was developed to surface the commonly accessed data in a more dynamic way. For more details, please see Additional Information: Web App below to be directed to the web application.

Description:

This is a series of data sets of natural and anthropogenic landscape features linked to NHDPlus Version 2.1’s (NHDPlusV2) approximately 2.7 million stream segments, their associated catchments, and their upstream watersheds within the conterminous United States. The data were linked to four spatial components of NHDPlusV2: 1) individual reach catchments, 2) riparian buffer zones around individual reaches, 3) reach catchments accumulated downstream through the river network, and 4) riparian buffer zones accumulated downstream through the river network. All data can be linked to NHDPlus using the COMID field in these tables and the ComID in the flowline shapefiles or FEATUREID in the catchment ones in the NHDPlus data suite. The datasets were derived using a topologically reconditioned version of the NHDPlusv2 routing network (Schwarz and Wieczorek, 2018). This database is used for the routing of upstream watersheds only. No cartographic changes were made to the original NHDPlusv2 in either the flowline or reach catchment line work. These data are organized under 13 themes listed as variables above.
These data allow researchers and managers to acquire landscape information for both catchments (for example, the nearby landscape flowing directly into streams) and full upstream watersheds of specific stream reaches anywhere in the within the conterminous United States without having to perform specialized geospatial processing. Aside from comma separated text files, parquet files with the same file structure were also added to each data file under each child item theme. This format will allow researchers to acquire all the information from this data release in an efficient and consistent manner by utilizing and thereby adhering to the FAIR guidelines outlined in Lightsom and others (USGS, 2022).

Citation:

Wieczorek, M.E., Jackson, S.E., and Schwarz, G.E., 2018, Select Attributes for NHDPlus Version 2.1 Reach Catchments and Modified Network Routed Upstream Watersheds for the Conterminous United States (ver. 4.0, August 2023): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7765D7V

Additional Information: