Data for selected sites recorded at 5-60 min interval-- may include surface-water, ground-water, water-quality, and meteorological parameters.

Provisional daily data for the previous 18 months--includes published streamflow.

Daily streamflow data for the period of record at each site.

Computed from published daily data.

Annual maximum instantaneous peak streamflow and gage height

Field measurements of streamflow and gage height

Tutorial explaining how to perform a surface water retrieval and understand the results

Nationally, USGS surface-water data includes more than 850,000 station years of time-series data that describe stream levels, streamflow (discharge), reservoir and lake levels, surface-water quality, and rainfall. The data are collected by automatic recorders and manual measurements at field installations across the Nation.

Data are collected by field personnel or relayed through telephones or satellites to offices where it is stored and processed. The data relayed through the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system are processed automatically in near real time, and in many cases, real-time data are available online within minutes.

Once a complete day of readings are received from a site, daily summary data are generated and stored in the data base. Recent provisional daily data are updated on the web once a day when the computation is completed.

Annually, the USGS finalizes and publishes the daily data in a series of water-data reports. Daily streamflow data and peak data are updated annually following publication of the reports.