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July 2010 - Updates to waterdata.usgs.gov web system

  • Groundwater levels with incomplete dates are now plotted differently on graphs. Some older measurements were recorded with just the month and year, and others with just the year. Previously, the data were plotted at the middle of the period, but are now plotted at the beginning of the period. For example, when the day is not known, but the month is known, the first of the month is plotted. If only the year is known, January 1st is plotted. This makes plotting groundwater levels consistent with other data types.
  • Water quality data retrievals functionality has improved. Changes allow users to specify if samples need to contain data for all parameters specified, or contain data for at least one of the parameters specified. In addition, you can search for samples and results above, below or at a threshold that you set.
  • Ability to search for new and recently modified surface-water measurements.
  • Output format changes
    • Time zone is now displayed for field groundwater-level measurements in both HTML and tab-separated outputs.
    • For HTML, the time zone is displayed within the Time column
    • For rdb output, a new field has been added for the time zone:
      • Example: Previous Field Groundwater-Level Measurements tab separated output format.
          agency_cd	site_no	lev_dt	lev_tm	lev_va	sl_lev_va	lev_status_cd
          5s	15s	10d	4s	12s	12s	1s
          USGS	450524112380701	2005-12-20	1815	165.64		
          
      • Example: New Field Groundwater-Level Measurements tab separated output format.
        • agency_cd	site_no	lev_dt	lev_tm	lev_tz_cd	lev_va	sl_lev_va	lev_status_cd
          5s	15s	10d	4s	5s	12s	12s	1s
          USGS	450524112380701	2005-12-20	1815	MST	165.64		
          
  • Added new current condition parameter codes:
    • Parameter code lookup page
    • Parameter code 72199 - Water depth, water surface to bottom, feet
    • Parameter code 32283 - Chlorophyll, total, water, in situ, fluorometric, 650-700 nanometers, relative fluorescence units (RFU)
    • Parameter code 72024 - Pond Storage in gallons
    • Parameter code 85583 - Temperature, intragravel water degrees C
  • Bug fixes and other minor changes:
    • "Data type" search criteria
      • Removed "Surface Water: Daily streamflow" as a data-type search criteria option (Daily Data has its own search interface and is no longer constrained to just streamflow).
      • Removed the "Any data type" search criteria (Default is Any so it was unnecessary).
    • Data for "Period of Record Summaries of Discrete Water-Quality Data" will now be displayed when outputting site-description information on the daily-data or daily-statistics pages.
    • Period of Record Summaries will now display a "--" instead of a blank or null date of zeros (0000-00-00).
    • The Time-zone code (tz_cd) is displayed when retrieving instantaneous values in a tab-separated format.
    • The "File of site numbers" option is available when retrieving daily, monthly, and annual statistics.
    • The search criteria option for "Hydrologic Unit" can be sorted by name or code.
    • When no latitude or longitude value exists for a site, a "--" is displayed.
    • Updated help system to better explain Site Water Level Status Codes.
    • A GroundwaterWatch link is available on the current condition predefined displays for all states.
    • Parameter Units are listed when outputting parameter codes in HTML or tab-separated formats from the help system.
    • The update time selection criteria works correctly when outputting the most recent values.
    • The "Lat-Long box" option is available to search for current condition sites.
    • Users can search for site visits updated within a specified time period.
    • All "?" icon boxes on all search pages link to the appropriate section in the help system.
    • Users can graph daily values without having long-term statistics being displayed.
    • Areas without counties no longer have "County" appended to their names (District of Columbia, Louisiana Parishes, Puerto Rico Municipios, Alaska Burroughs).
    • Approved and Provisional periods of data are properly labeled on all instantaneous and daily value graphs.
    • Statistic codes are defined via the help system.
    • All graphs properly display site names when they include apostrophes.
    • For Streamflow statistics table, the header includes the month and day.
    • Metric streamflow graphs can be displayed in log scale if desired.
    • Instantaneous graphing displays are improved when the duration is less than 12 days and greater than 3 days.