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USGS National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) Downloadable Data Collection - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)

Dates

Publication Date
Start Date
2014
File Modification Date
2016-09-23 15:46:00

Citation

U.S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center, 2016, USGS National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) Downloadable Data Collection - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD): U.S. Geological Survey.

Summary

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) from The National Map (TNM) defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Upper Mississippi River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information [...]

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Purpose

The Watershed and Subwatershed hydrologic unit boundaries provide a uniquely identified and uniform method of subdividing large drainage areas. The smaller sized 6th level sub-watersheds (up to 40,000 acres) are useful for numerous application programs supported by a variety of local, State, and Federal Agencies. This data set is intended to be used as a tool for water-resource management and planning activities, particularly for site-specific and localized studies requiring a level of detail provided by large-scale map information. The dataset will be appended to a larger seamless nationally consistant geospatial database as other states complete their portion of the watershed boundary dataset.

Additional Information

Identifiers

Type Scheme Key
processingUrl https://thor-f5.er.usgs.gov/ngtoc/metadata/waf/collections/USGS_WBD_Collection.xml

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