TSTool / Datastore Reference / WaterML2
Overview
The WaterML2 input type corresponds to the WaterML 2 time series file format. WaterML is now an Open Geospacial Consortium (OGC) standard. See the following resources:
WaterML 2.0 formats are supported at various levels in the following TSTool commands:
ReadUsgsNwisDaily
,
ReadUsgsNwisGroundwater
,
ReadUsgsNwisInstantaneous
,
ReadWaterML2
,
and WriteWaterML2
.
The WebGet
command also can be used to
retrieve WaterML 2 files from web services such as the USGS NWIS daily data site (see the UsgsNwisDaily Data Store appendix).
Standard Time Series Properties
This section needs to be updated for WaterML 2. The following was copied from the WaterML documentation.
The standard time series identifier for WaterML 2 time series in TSTool is of the form:
Location.DataSource.DataType.Interval~InputType~InputName
More specifically, the identifier adheres to the following convention:
SiteCode.AgencyCode.VariableCode-StatisticCode.Interval~WaterML~InputFile
where identifier parts are described as follows:
- The
SiteCode
corresponds to thesiteCode
XML element in thesourceInfo
element (e.g., this is the USGS stream gage station identifier). AgencyCode
corresponds to theagencyCode
attribute of the siteCode XML element (e.g.,USGS
for USGS NWIS stream gage stations).VariableCode
corresponds to thevariableCode
XML element in the variable element (e.g., this is00060
for streamflow for USGS stream gages). In the future, a more humanly-readable text value may be used, perhaps with a string prefix; however, such handling must guarantee that the variable is unique.StatisticCode
corresponds to theoptionCode
attribute of the option XML element in the options element, in the variable element (e.g.,00006
for USGS NWIS sum statistic). In the future, a more humanly-readable text value may be used, perhaps with a string prefix; however, such handling must guarantee that the variable is unique.- According to the WaterML specification,
Interval
should correspond to thetimeScale
ortimeSpacing
XML elements. However, current USGS NWIS WaterML does not include this information and the interval must be specified externally when reading the WaterML. A more thorough handling of the interval will be explored if full support for WaterOneFlow WaterML web services is added. InputType
isWaterML
andInputName
is the name of the WaterML file.- Data units correspond to the
unitCode
XML element in the unit element of the variable element - Missing numerical values are internally represented as
NaN
and are assigned to any date/times in the period that do not have values. ThenoDataValue
element in the variable element is checked and matching data values are handled as missing. Often, however, missing values are simply not included as data. - Data value flags, if encountered, are retained in the time series.
However, because the USGS uses
A
for approved, it may be necessary to ignore this flag so that other flags stand out more when visualized. - Data value qualifiers definitions are saved with time series and are available to use in time series visualization as flag definitions
Limitations
WaterML limitations relative to TSTool standard features are as follows:
- WaterML files from NWIS do not indicate the interval of the data. Day can be assumed for the daily values web service; however, trying to read the WaterML file later requires that the interval is specified.
- Some of the descriptions contain units, which may lead to confusion if time series are processed into different units.
TSTool Configuration File
WaterML support in TSTool is enabled/disabled using a configuration property as shown below. Note that the same property is used to enable WaterML2 as older versions.
Configuration file for TSTool
[TSTool]
WaterMLEnabled = true
TSTool Configuration File with WaterML 2 Properties