# National Hydrography Dataset Plus - NHDPlus

Metadata also available as

## Metadata:

- Identification_Information
- Data_Quality_Information
- Distribution_Information
- Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:
  Citation:
    Citation_Information:
      Originator:
        U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
      Publication_Date: 2005
      Title: National Hydrography Dataset Plus - NHDPlus
      Edition: 1.0
      Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data, raster digital data, tabular digital data
      Online_Linkage: To be provided at later date
  Description:
    Abstract:
      The NHDPlus Version 1.0 is an integrated suite of application-ready geospatial data sets that incorporate many of the best features of the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and the National Elevation Dataset (NED). The NHDPlus includes a stream network (based on the 1:100,000-scale NHD), improved networking, naming, and "value-added attributes" (VAA's). NHDPlus also includes elevation-derived catchments (drainage areas) produced using a drainage enforcement technique first broadly applied in New England, and thus dubbed "The New-England Method". This technique involves "burning-in" the 1:100,000-scale NHD and when available building "walls" using the national Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). The resulting modified digital elevation model (HydroDEM) is used to produce hydrologic derivatives that agree with the NHD and WBD. An interdisciplinary team from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and contractors, over the last two years has found this method to produce the best quality NHD catchments using an automated process.

      The VAAs include greatly enhanced capabilities for upstream and downstream navigation, analysis and modeling. Examples include: retrieve all flowlines (predominantly confluence-to-confluence stream segments) and catchments upstream of a given flowline using queries rather than by slower flowline-by-flowline navigation; retrieve flowlines by stream order; subset a stream level path sorted in hydrologic order for stream profile mapping, analysis and plotting; and, calculate cumulative catchment attributes using streamlined VAA hydrologic sequencing routing attributes.

      The VAAs include results from the use of these cumulative routing techniques, including cumulative drainage areas, precipitation, temperature, and land cover distributions. Several of these cumulative attributes are used to estimate mean annual flow and velocity as part of the VAAs.

      NHDPlus contains a snapshot (2005) of the 1:100,000-scale NHD that has been extensively improved. While these updates will eventually make their way back to the central NHD repository at USGS, this will not have happened prior to distribution of NHDPlus because the update process for the central NHD repository is still in development. Consequently, the NHDPlus will contain some temporary database keys and, as a result, NHDPlus users may not make updates to the NHD portions of NHDPlus with the intent of sending these updates back to the USGS. Once the NHDPlus updates have been posted to the central NHD repository, a fresh copy of the improved data can be downloaded from the central NHD repository and that copy will be usable for data maintenance. Note that the NHDPlus products are tightly integrated and user modifications to the underlying NHD can compromise this synchronization.

    Purpose:
      The geospatial data sets included in NHDPlus are intended to support a variety of water-related applications. They already have been used in an application to develop estimates of mean annual streamflow and velocity for each NHD flowline in the conterminous United States. The results of these analyses are included with the NHDPlus data.

      A water-quality model developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) called SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes), can utilize the NHDPlus network functionality to track the downstream transport of nutrients, sediments, or other substances. NHDPlus water bodies and estimates of streamflow and velocity are used in SPARROW to identify reservoir retention and in-stream loss factors. NHDPlus climatic and land surface attributes can be used in SPARROW to identify potential factors in the delivery of nutrients from the land surface to streams. NHDPlus land cover information is useful for SPARROW in determining potential sources of nutrients.

      NHDPlus data is also being used in select areas for a USGS Web-based application, called StreamStats. StreamStats provides tools to interactively select any point on the NHDPlus to obtain streamflow and watershed characteristics for the selected point.

      NHDPlus has been designed to accommodate many users needs for future applications. NHDPlus provides the framework and tools necessary to customize the behavior of the network relationships as well as building upon the attribute database, for which the user can assign its own data to the network.

    Supplemental_Information: For more information, refer to the NHDPlus Users Guide.
  Time_Period_of_Content:
    Time_Period_Information:
      Single_Date/Time:
        Calendar_Date: 2005
    Currentness_Reference: publication date
  Status:
    Progress: Complete
    Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: Irregular
  Spatial_Domain:
    Bounding_Coordinates:
      West_Bounding_Coordinate: -160.5
      East_Bounding_Coordinate: -66.5
      North_Bounding_Coordinate: 49.5
      South_Bounding_Coordinate: 18.5
  Keywords:
    Theme:
      Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: none
      Theme_Keyword: Stream / River
      Theme_Keyword: Lake / Pond
      Theme_Keyword: Canal / Ditch
      Theme_Keyword: Reservoir
      Theme_Keyword: Spring / Seep
      Theme_Keyword: Swamp / Marsh
      Theme_Keyword: Artificial Path
      Theme_Keyword: Reach
      Theme_Keyword: Watershed
      Theme_Keyword: Catchment
      Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE
      Theme_Keyword: Land Surface
      Theme_Keyword: Topography
      Theme_Keyword: Cartography
      Theme_Keyword: GEODATA
      Theme_Keyword: GIS
      Theme_Keyword: USGS
      Theme_Keyword: EPA
      Theme_Keyword: Elevation
      Theme_Keyword: Land Cover
      Theme_Keyword: National Land Cover Dataset
      Theme_Keyword: NLCD
      Theme_Keyword: National Elevation Dataset
      Theme_Keyword: NED
      Theme_Keyword: National Hydrography Dataset
      Theme_Keyword: NHD
      Theme_Keyword: NHDPlus
      Theme_Keyword: Stream flow
      Theme_Keyword: Stream velocity
      Theme_Keyword: Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes
      Theme_Keyword: SPARROW
      Theme_Keyword: StreamStats
      Theme_Keyword: Water-quality
      Theme_Keyword: Hydrologic modeling
      Theme_Keyword: River Coding Systems
      Theme_Keyword: Hydrography
    Theme:
      Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category
      Theme_Keyword: inlandWaters
    Place:
      Place_Keyword: United States of America
      Place_Keyword: United States
      Place_Keyword: USA
      Place_Keyword: Alabama
      Place_Keyword: Arizona
      Place_Keyword: Arkansas
      Place_Keyword: California
      Place_Keyword: Colorado
      Place_Keyword: Connecticut
      Place_Keyword: Deleware
      Place_Keyword: District of Columbia
      Place_Keyword: Florida
      Place_Keyword: Georgia
      Place_Keyword: Hawaii
      Place_Keyword: Idaho
      Place_Keyword: Illinois
      Place_Keyword: Indiana
      Place_Keyword: Iowa
      Place_Keyword: Kansas
      Place_Keyword: Kentucky
      Place_Keyword: Louisiana
      Place_Keyword: Maine
      Place_Keyword: Maryland
      Place_Keyword: Massachusetts
      Place_Keyword: Michigan
      Place_Keyword: Minnesota
      Place_Keyword: Mississippi
      Place_Keyword: Missouri
      Place_Keyword: Montana
      Place_Keyword: Nebraska
      Place_Keyword: Nevada
      Place_Keyword: New Hampshire
      Place_Keyword: New Jersey
      Place_Keyword: New Mexico
      Place_Keyword: New York
      Place_Keyword: North Carolina
      Place_Keyword: North Dakota
      Place_Keyword: Ohio
      Place_Keyword: Oklahoma
      Place_Keyword: Oregon
      Place_Keyword: Pennsylvania
      Place_Keyword: Rhode Island
      Place_Keyword: South Carolina
      Place_Keyword: South Dakota
      Place_Keyword: Tennessee
      Place_Keyword: Texas
      Place_Keyword: Utah
      Place_Keyword: Vermont
      Place_Keyword: Virginia
      Place_Keyword: Washington
      Place_Keyword: West Virginia
      Place_Keyword: Wisconsin
      Place_Keyword: Wyoming
  Access_Constraints: None.
  Use_Constraints:
    None.

    Acknowledgement of the originating agencies (USEPA and USGS) would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

  Point_of_Contact:
    Contact_Information:
      Contact_Organization_Primary:
        Contact_Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
      Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: waters_support@epa.gov
  Native_Data_Set_Environment:
    Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.0 (Build 2195) Service Pack 4; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.0.00

Data_Quality_Information:
  Lineage:
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator:
            U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
          Publication_Date: none
          Title: National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Medium Resolution
          Edition: none
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
          Online_Linkage: <http://nhd.usgs.gov>
      Source_Scale_Denominator: 1:100,000
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Single_Date/Time:
            Calendar_Date: 2005
        Source_Currentness_Reference:
          The source NHD is a snapshot of the dataset accessed on 1/31/2004 and updated throughout 2004 and 2005.
      Source_Citation_Abbreviation: NHD
      Source_Contribution:
        A snapshot of the NHD was used as the baseline framework from which enhancements to the network were built upon. Enhancements include feature names, network connectivity and network flow relationships. This enhanced NHD version was then used in conjunction with the NED, and WBD (where applicable) to create a HydroDEM, for generation of the catchment Grid/shapefile, and flow direction/accumulation Grids. The enhanced NHD was used to compute and assign flowline Value Added Attributes (VAAs) to this network.
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), EROS Data Center
          Publication_Date: 1999
          Title: National Elevation Dataset (NED)
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
          Publication_Information:
            Publication_Place: Sioux Falls, SD
            Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
          Online_Linkage: <http://ned.usgs.gov/>
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Single_Date/Time:
            Calendar_Date: June 10, 2004
        Source_Currentness_Reference: Date data was accessed
      Source_Citation_Abbreviation: NED
      Source_Contribution:
        NED data used in combination with NHD, WBD (where applicable) to create a HydroDEM, to generate NHDPlus Catchments, surface flow direction and accumulation Grids. Stream elevations from NED which were used to help derive stream slope and stream velocity.
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
          Publication_Date: 19990525
          Title: National Land Cover Dataset 1992 (NLCD 1992)
          Edition: 1
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
          Publication_Information:
            Publication_Place: Sioux Falls, SD
            Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
          Online_Linkage: <http://landcover.usgs.gov/natllandcover.php>
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Range_of_Dates/Times:
            Beginning_Date: early 1990's
            Ending_Date: mid 1990's
        Source_Currentness_Reference: ground condition
      Source_Citation_Abbreviation: NLCD 1992
      Source_Contribution:
        Source dataset used to assign catchment and flowline land cover attributes.
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator:
            Chris Daly and George Taylor of the Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University.
          Publication_Date: 200008
          Title: United States Average Annual Precipitation, 1961-90
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
          Publication_Information:
            Publication_Place: Corvallis, Oregon, USA
            Publisher:
              Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University (SCAS/OSU)
          Other_Citation_Details:
            This dataset from the PRISM model, developed by Chris Daly of SCAS/OSU.
          Online_Linkage: <http://www.ocs.orst.edu/prism/>
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Range_of_Dates/Times:
            Beginning_Date: 19610101
            Ending_Date: 19901231
        Source_Currentness_Reference:
          Climatological period from which the point observations were taken.
      Source_Contribution:
        Source dataset used to compute mean annual precipitation for each catchment and area weighted precipitation for each flowline. Weighted precipitation values for each flowline was used as a variable in a Vogel equation for estimating mean annual streamflow. The Vogel estimates of mean annual flow were used as a source variable in a Jobson equation to compute mean annual stream velocity estimates.
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator:
            Chris Daly and George Taylor of the Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University.
          Publication_Date: 200008
          Title: United States Annual Mean Temperature, 1961-90
          Edition: 1
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
          Publication_Information:
            Publication_Place: Corvallis, Oregon, USA
            Publisher:
              Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University (SCAS/OSU)
          Other_Citation_Details:
            This dataset from the PRISM model, developed by Chris Daly of SCAS/OSU.
          Online_Linkage: <http://www.ocs.orst.edu/prism/>
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Range_of_Dates/Times:
            Beginning_Date: 19610101
            Ending_Date: 19901231
        Source_Currentness_Reference:
          Climatological period from which the point observations were taken.
      Source_Contribution:
        Source dataset used to compute mean annual temperature for each catchment and area weighted mean annual temperature for each flowline. Weighted mean annual temperature values for each flowline was used as a variable in a Vogel equation for estimating mean annual streamflow. The Vogel estimates of mean annual flow were used as a source variable in a Jobson equation to compute mean annual stream velocity estimates.
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator:
            U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
          Publication_Date: multiple dates
          Title: Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
          Other_Citation_Details:
            Only certified WBD was included for use in HydroDEM production. These data are tiled by U.S. State, therefore only selected states with full certification were used. The publication date for each state's WBD varies. (See Source Time Period of Content)
          Online_Linkage: <http://www.ncgc.nrcs.usda.gov/products/datasets/watershed/>
      Source_Scale_Denominator: 1:24,000
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Multiple_Dates/Times:
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Alabama, 2004
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Connecticut, 2001
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Georgia, 2003
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Illinois, 2002
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Massachusetts, 2001
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Maryland, 2003
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: New Hampshire, 2001
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Utah, 2003
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Vermont, 2003
            Single_Date/Time:
              Calendar_Date: Wyoming, 2002
        Source_Currentness_Reference: publication dates
      Source_Citation_Abbreviation: WBD
      Source_Contribution:
        12-digit subwatershed divides from the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) were used (for states where certified WBD was available) as a ridgeline enforcment factor in a process called "walling" in the production of HydroDEMs. The HydroDEMs are the source data from which NHD Catchments are delineated from. Catchments with coincident boundaries with the WBD are in conformance with the WBD. NHDPlus Flow Direction and Accumulation Grids are hydrologic derivative products of the HydroDEMs.
    Source_Information:
      Source_Citation:
        Citation_Information:
          Originator: David W. Stewart, Alan Rea and David M. Wolock
          Publication_Date: April 2006
          Title: USGS Streamgages Linked to the Medium Resolution NHD
          Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
          Series_Information:
            Series_Name: Data Series
            Issue_Identification: DS-195
          Publication_Information:
            Publication_Place: Reston, Va
            Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
          Online_Linkage: <http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/usgswrd/XML/streamgages.xml>
      Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
        Time_Period_Information:
          Single_Date/Time:
            Calendar_Date: April 20, 2004
        Source_Currentness_Reference: Date of data extract from NWIS
      Source_Contribution:
        Location of gages were spatially referenced to the NHDPlus flowlines to create a gaging station point event table, where for each gage in the database, the corresponding NHD Reachcode and measure are recorded. An early version of the dataset was also used for the QA/QC of NHDPlus cumulative drainage areas and estimates of mean annual stream flow.

Distribution_Information:
  Distributor:
    Contact_Information:
      Contact_Organization_Primary:
        Contact_Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
      Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: waters_support@epa.gov
  Distribution_Liability:
    Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Government, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. Government 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. Government 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.
  Standard_Order_Process:
    Digital_Form:
      Digital_Transfer_Information:
        File_Decompression_Technique: .zip
      Digital_Transfer_Option:
        Online_Option:
          Access_Instructions: Provide website/ftp address to download data here

Metadata_Reference_Information:
  Metadata_Date: 20060829

Generated by `mp` version 2.7.33 on Tue Aug 29 09:13:55 2006