Sampled Sites for the U.S. Geological Survey Southeast Stream Quality Assessment
Citation
Qi, S.L., Nakagaki, Naomi, Van Metre, P.C., Clark, J.M., Baker, N.T., Rapp, J.L., Falcone, J.A., Button, D.T., Journey, C.A., and Bell, A.H., 2017, Geospatial Database of the Study Boundary, Sampled Sites, Watersheds, and Riparian Zones for the U.S. Geological Survey Southeast Stream Quality Assessment: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F75Q4TKG.
Summary
In 2015, the second of several Regional Stream Quality Assessments (RSQA) was done in the southeastern United States. The Southeast Stream Quality Assessment (SESQA) was a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. One of the objectives of the RSQA, and thus the SESQA, is to characterize the relationships between water-quality stressors and stream ecology and subsequently determine the relative effects of these stressors on aquatic biota within the streams (Van Metre and Journey, 2014). To meet this objective, a framework of fundamental geospatial data was required to develop physical and anthropogenic characteristics of the study region, sampled sites and corresponding watersheds, [...]
Summary
In 2015, the second of several Regional Stream Quality Assessments (RSQA) was done in the southeastern United States. The Southeast Stream Quality Assessment (SESQA) was a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. One of the objectives of the RSQA, and thus the SESQA, is to characterize the relationships between water-quality stressors and stream ecology and subsequently determine the relative effects of these stressors on aquatic biota within the streams (Van Metre and Journey, 2014). To meet this objective, a framework of fundamental geospatial data was required to develop physical and anthropogenic characteristics of the study region, sampled sites and corresponding watersheds, and riparian zones. This dataset represents the 115 water-chemistry sites sampled for the SESQA, and is one of the four fundamental geospatial data layers that were developed for the Southeast study.
One hundred fifteen wadeable sites were sampled weekly for contaminants, nutrients, and sediment during the spring and early summer of 2015 and were selected using a targeted sampling design. The sites selected were a combination of long-term monitoring sites and newly established sites, characterized as mixed land cover, undeveloped, and urban sites (Journey and others, 2015). Geospatial land-cover information summarized by watershed and riparian zones for candidate targeted sites, in addition to ecology data collected previously at established sites were used to assist in selecting the final targeted sites.
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SESQASites.zip
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SESQASites.xml Original FGDC Metadata
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Purpose
This dataset was created to compile environmental characteristics of the sites sampled for SESQA. The site characteristics assist with the analysis and interpretation of surface-water and biota data collected for the SESQA study, and were also used as input into various models.