Oceanographic time-series measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021

Metadata also available as - [Outline] - [Parseable text] - [XML]

Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Oceanographic time-series measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021
Abstract:
Bottom-landing and floating platforms with instrumentation to measure currents, waves, water level, optical turbidity, water temperature, and conductivity were deployed at four locations in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA. Platforms were deployed in three separate periods: July 30, 2019–November 14, 2019, November 19, 2019–February 5, 2020, and January 22, 2021–April 13, 2021. These data were collected to support studies of sediment delivery, transport, deposition, and resuspension in this Pacific Northwest estuarine embayment.
Supplemental_Information:
Additional information about the field activities from which these data were derived is available online at:
https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2019-638-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2019-653-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2019-665-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2020-605-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2021-601-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2021-618-FA
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Nowacki, Daniel J., vanArendonk, Nathan R., Stevens, Andrew W., and Grossman, Eric E., 20230218, Oceanographic time-series measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021: data release DOI:10.5066/P96EH1MS, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Nowacki, Daniel J., vanArendonk, Nathan R., Stevens, Andrew W., Grossman, Eric E., and Tan, Angela C., 2023, Oceanographic and water-quality measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021: data release DOI:10.5066/P96EH1MS, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.61239
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.52144
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.75675
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.71531
  3. What does it look like?
    bellingham_from_bel3.JPG (JPEG)
    A view of Bellingham Bay and the city of Bellingham from near site BEL3.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 30-Jul-2019
    Ending_Date: 13-Apr-2021
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition at time data were collected
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: NetCDF files
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      Indirect_Spatial_Reference:
      Data were collected continuously from discrete locations. Refer to self-contained NetCDF files for more location information.
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    NetCDF files are self-contained and attribute information may be found in the header of the file itself.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    The entity and attribute information was generated by the individual and/or agency identified as the originator of the data set. Please review the rest of the metadata record for additional details and information.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Daniel J. Nowacki
    • Nathan R. vanArendonk
    • Andrew W. Stevens
    • Eric E. Grossman
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

These time-series data were collected as part of the USGS Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound 2.0 (CHIPS 2.0) project to support studies of sediment delivery, transport, deposition, and resuspension in the Nooksack River–Bellingham Bay system.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 13-Apr-2021 (process 1 of 2)
    Platforms were deployed in three separate periods: July 30, 2019–November 14, 2019, November 19, 2019–February 5, 2020, and January 22, 2021–April 13, 2021. All parameters were measured at 15-minute intervals during the deployments. Recording ceased on April 13, 2021.
    Date: 17-Nov-2022 (process 2 of 2)
    Data downloaded from the instruments were ingested using the xarray Python package. Data quality assurance and quality control was performed by inspecting all variables and removing spurious values. Details of which portions of data were flagged and removed are available in the netCDF metadata. Attributes conforming to CF (Climate and Forecast) Conventions version 1.8 were added and the dataset was serialized to netCDF. All times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Files are named using the convention BEL19BXYZV.nc, where BEL19 is the project name, BXY is the site number and deployment identifier (“X” is the site number, 1 through 5, “Y” is a letter, A through D, corresponding to the sequential deployment at each location), “Z” is a two-digit number indicating the elevation of the sensor on the mooring (01 indicates instrument highest in the water column), “V” is the instrument type (aqd, exo, or rbr), and “W is the file-type extensions (generally -a except for b-cal for wave-burst data).
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted. Data were inspected for spurious values (for example, because of biofouling), and unreasonable data were deleted. Specifics regarding data removal are available in the history global attribute of the netCDF files.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the horizontal positional information in the data set has not been conducted. The stated accuracy of the GPS unit used to geolocate the instrument package is 3 to 5 m, 95 percent typical.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details. During certain deployments, instrument failure from premature battery exhaustion limited the data duration.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    No formal logical accuracy tests were conducted.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints None
Use_Constraints USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - CMGDS
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Downloadable data in NetCDF format. NetCDF files are named by site location code and deployment sequence at each site.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: Time-series data in netCDF format following Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions version 1.8. File download sizes range from 85.9 kB to 61.0 MB. in format NetCDF (version netCDF-4, CF-1.8) Size: 61.0
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.5066/P96EH1MS
    • Cost to order the data: None.

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These data can be viewed with any software capable of reading netCDF files.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 18-Feb-2023
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA

831-427-4747 (voice)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/CMGDS_DR_tool/DR_P96EH1MS/bbay_ts_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Fri Feb 24 09:53:00 2023