USGS Streamgages in the Conterminous United States Indexed to NHDPlus v2.1 Flowlines to Support Streamgage Watershed InforMation (SWIM), 2021

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release includes locations for 12,422 USGS streamgages as indexed along the network of streams (flowlines) in NHDPlus Version 2.1 (NHDPlus v2, Moore and Dewald, 2016). The dataset is one of two datasets developed for the Streamgage Watershed InforMation (SWIM) project. This dataset, which is referred to as “SWIM streamgage locations,” was created in support of the second dataset of basin characteristics and disturbance indexes. The streamgages are located in the conterminous United States and have a minimum record length of 20 years of daily streamflow values or at least 20 years of peak flows (USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) database, U.S. Geological Survey, 2016). This dataset has a total of 13,248 streamgages, 826 of which could not be indexed to NHDPlus v2.1.

A custom ArcGIS tool was programmed to conduct linear referencing, which moved each point representing a streamgage to intersect with the nearest flowline and calculated the measure along the segment (expressed as a percentage from its downstream end). The tool then performed a series of automated tests to identify potentially inaccurate locations that were, in turn, individually checked. Comments collected during multiple levels of review were retained in raw form to aid future decisions about the accuracy of the streamgage locations along the medium-resolution (1:100,000-scale) NHDPlus stream segments. The results include the unique flowline identifier (COMID) and measure along the flowline, the reach code and measure along its reach (stream feature that consists of one or more flowlines), review notes, plus the latitude and longitude of the stream-referenced location for each streamgage. This designated position along the NHDPlus network may also be referred to as the hydrographic address of the streamgage.

References:

Falcone, J.A., 2011, GAGES-II: Geospatial Attributes of Gages for Evaluating Streamflow: U.S. Geological Survey dataset, https://doi.org/10.3133/70046617

Moore, R.B., and Dewald, T.G., 2016, The Road to NHDPlus — Advancements in digital stream networks and associated catchments: Journal of the American Water Resources Association, https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12389

U.S. Geological Survey, 2016, USGS water data for the Nation: U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System database, accessed October 2016, at https://doi.org/10.5066/F7P55KJN