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NHD Use in the StreamCat Dataset
Citation:
Weber, Marc H, Ryan A Hill, Scott G Leibowitz, AND Anthony R Olsen. NHD Use in the StreamCat Dataset. Chapter 11, GIS for Surface Water - Using the National Hydrography Dataset. ESRI Press, Viena, VA, , 409-412, (2018).
Impact/Purpose:
StreamCat strengthens the EPA’s ability to estimate and map the integrity and sustainability of our Nation’s waters by providing consistent and complete watershed characteristics for all flowing watersin the contiguous U.S. as represented in the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2 (NHDPlusV2). It can help many agencies and stakeholders with its robust collection of over 200 catchment and watershed metrics, and is an important tool for land and water research and management. StreamCat data are being used to develop national maps of aquatic condition and watershed integrity, and can be used to model and predict reference condition for the EPA’s National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA). Data from StreamCat is also useful to states that are conducting similar assessments. By building StreamCat on a widely accepted and used geospatial framework of NHDPlusV2, StreamCat is a product with wide applicability and versatility.
Description:
StreamCat is a centralized dataset of watershed characteristics built to assist researchers and managers in sustainability of our Nation’s waters. StreamCat is a published dataset characterizing the watershed features of ~2.65 million stream segments within the conterminous U.S. The StreamCat dataset is built on the framework of the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2 (NHDPlusV2). Over 200 landscape metrics are summarized for every NHDPlusV2 catchment (i.e., the immediate landscape draining directly into a stream segment) and full upstream watersheds (i.e., the local catchment and all upstream catchments). This chapter provides an overview on how StreamCat uses the NHD as a basis for the geospatial framework for characterizing landscape metrics for watersheds for all rivers and streams in the contiguous U.S. as depicted in NHDPlusV2.
