Instantaneous value data retrieval from USGS (NWIS)

Imports data from NWIS web service. Inputs to this function are USGS site ids, USGS parameter codes, and start and end date. For a more complex query, use readNWISdata(), including an arguement service="uv". Not all parameter codes are available for all data. Use the function whatNWISdata() to discover what data is available for a USGS site. The column data_type_cd with the values "uv" returned from whatNWISdata()) are available from this service.

Usage

readNWISuv(
  siteNumbers,
  parameterCd,
  startDate = "",
  endDate = "",
  tz = "UTC",
  override_error = FALSE
)

Arguments

siteNumbers

character USGS site number (or multiple sites). This is usually an 8 digit number

parameterCd

character USGS parameter code. This is usually an 5 digit number.

startDate

character starting date for data retrieval in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Default is "" which indicates retrieval for the earliest possible record. Simple date arguments are specified in local time.

endDate

character ending date for data retrieval in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Default is "" which indicates retrieval for the latest possible record. Simple date arguments are specified in local time.

tz

character to set timezone attribute of dateTime. Default is "UTC", and converts the date times to UTC, properly accounting for daylight savings times based on the data provided tz_cd column. Possible values to provide are "America/New_York", "America/Chicago", "America/Denver", "America/Los_Angeles", "America/Anchorage", as well as the following which do not use daylight savings time: "America/Honolulu", "America/Jamaica", "America/Managua", "America/Phoenix", and "America/Metlakatla". See also OlsonNames() for more information on time zones.

override_error

Logical parameter that allows users to run this function during the final stages of NWIS decommission. NWIS servers will be taken offline February 22nd, 2027. Setting this parameter to TRUE should only be used as a tool to convert readNWIS to read_waterdata functions.

Value

A data frame with the following columns:

Name	Type	Description
agency_cd	character	The NWIS code for the agency reporting the data
site_no	character	The USGS site number
dateTime	POSIXct	The date and time of the value converted to UTC
tz_cd	character	The time zone code for dateTime
code	character	Any codes that qualify the corresponding value
value	numeric	The numeric value for the parameter

Note that code and value are repeated for the parameters requested. The names are of the form: X_D_P_S, where X is literal, D is an option description of the parameter, P is the parameter code, and S is the statistic code (if applicable).

There are also several useful attributes attached to the data frame:

Name	Type	Description
url	character	The url used to generate the data
siteInfo	data.frame	A data frame containing information on the requested sites
variableInfo	data.frame	A data frame containing information on the requested parameters
statisticInfo	data.frame	A data frame containing information on the requested statistics on the data
queryTime	POSIXct	The time the data was returned

See also

renameNWISColumns(), importWaterML1()

Examples

site_id <- "05114000"
parameterCd <- "00060"
startDate <- "2014-10-10"
endDate <- "2014-10-10"
# \donttest{

#rawData <- readNWISuv(site_id, parameterCd, startDate, endDate)

#rawData_today <- readNWISuv(site_id, parameterCd, Sys.Date(), Sys.Date())

# }