Data Download

Natalie Nelson, University of Florida
Author Profile
Initial Publication Date: July 27, 2016

Introduction

Download temperature, dissolved oxygen, and water level data from three reaches (upstream, transitional, estuarine) of the St. Johns River, FL, USA using CUAHSI HydroClient.

Conceptual Outcomes

Students will be able to navigate a useful hydroloigic data download platform.

Practical Outcomes

Students will be able to use CUAHSI HydroClient.

Time Required

1 hour

Computing/Data Inputs



Computing/Data Outputs

Hardware/Software Required

Internet browser

Instructions

  1. Go to data.cuahsi.org
  2. Select the date range as - from: 01/01/2015, to: 01/01/2016
  3. On the map, zoom in on Jacksonville, FL
  4. Click the Select Keyword(s)... button
    • Under Common, check off Dissolved Oxygen and Water Temperature
    • Under Full List, navigate to Biological > Biological community > Pigment, and check off Chlorophyll
    • Under Full List, navigate to Physical and check off Level
    • Click Save. The search interface should now look like:
  5. Click Search Map
  6. Blue symbols with inscribed numbers should populate the map at the approximate locations of monitoring sites where data that match one or more of your search keywords are collected. The inscribed number indicates how many relevant data series are available at the respective site. Click the blue symbol located near Mill Cove and Blount Island (shown with the number 20 on the map below; note: the number you see inscribed in the symbol at this location might be different - data are being uploaded and updated all the time!).
  7. A "List of Timeseries" should open. Click on:
    • Keyword: Temperature, water / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Keyword: Oxygen, dissolved / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Note: you may have to display more entries if you do not initially see these data series listed. If you see several different time series with these same labels, select the series with the most recent End Date.
  8. At the top of the screen, click Select Action> Export 2 selections. After you export, click Select Action> Save 2 selections to workspace. Click the X in the top right corner to close this screen.
  9. On to the next site! Click the blue symbol located near Five Points and San Marco (shown with the number 24 in the map in #6 - remember that the number you see on your screen might be different!).
  10. In the list of timeseries, click on:
    • Keyword: Level, stream / DataType: Instantaneous.
    • Just as before, select the series with the most recent End Date if there are multiple series with these same data labels.
  11. Click Select Action> Export selection. Next, click Select Action> Add selection to workspace. Exit this screen.
  12. We're now going to move further upstream. Click and drag the map so that you move upstream - which is southin the case of the St. Johns River. Arrange the map so that the city of Spuds is near the top of your screen, and Astor is near the bottom (both are along the St. Johns River). Click Search Map (your search criteria should have remained unchanged).
  13. Click on the blue symbol located near Satsuma (upstream from Palatka, downstream from Welaka). In the image below, this symbol is inscribed with the number 32:
  14. From the list of timeseries, click on:
    • Keyword: Temperature, water / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Keyword: Oxygen, dissolved / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Keyword: Level, stream / DataType: Instantaneous
  15. Click Select Action> Export 3 selections, then Select Action> Add 3 selections to workspace.Exit this screen.
  16. Click on the blue symbol located along the shores of Lake George (shown in the the map in #13 as the symbol inscribed with the number 26). Note that Lake George is a flow-through lake that is part of the St. Johns River.
  17. From the list of timeseries, select:
    • Keyword: Level, stream / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Keyword: Oxygen, dissolved / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Keyword: Temperature, water / DataType: Instantaneous
    • Note: it may be necessary to show more entries.
  18. Click Select Action> Export 4 selections, then Select Action> Add 4 selections to workspace. Exit this screen.
  19. Click on the blue symbol located at Astor, which is just south of Lake George (shown in the map in #13 as the bottommost symbol, which is inscribed with the number 26).
  20. From the list of timeseries, click on:
    • Keyword: Gage height, stream / DataType: Instantaneous
  21. Click Select Action> Export selection, then Select Action> Add selection to workspace. Exit this screen.
  22. You now have all of your data! Click on Workspace, located above the map near the center-right. Select one of your time series. Next, click Select Tool> Data Series Viewer. Now you can click on Launch Tool. This will open up a new screen where you can see a graph of your selected time series, as well as the corresponding metadata. Visualize a few other time series to get a sense for what your data look like. Note: some of your time series may have been collected at different sites (per the metadata shown in the Data Series Visualizer) despite having been downloaded from the same blue symbol on the map. For this analysis, we'll assume that the data downloaded from each blue symbol are co-located. If you were doing this same analysis for a real-world application, you would want to learn more about the actual data collection locations and verify that this assumption is valid.

Additional Activities and Variants

Related Steps