This file contains provisional hydrographic profile data collected at sites that were sample for the National Coastal Condition Assessment in 2020 and 2021.                                                			
"Preliminary quality reviews of these data have been completed. However, they are not considered to be final until the National Coastal Condition Assessment 2020 & 21 Report is published."			
Data may be updated at any time. The changelog for the associated file may be found below the column name definitions.                                          			
End-users are responsible for reviewing the suitability of these data for their purposes.                                               			
"Please bring any questions about the data to the attention of Hugh Sullivan, NCCA Lead at sullivan.hugh@epa.gov.                                              "			
                                                			
                                                			
This file does not include information used to determine the statistical weight for each site. Future updates of this file will include site weights.                                           			
Future publications of the SITEINFO Files will include information about site weights                                           			
                                                			
                                                			
"For information about NCCA protocols, please check the NCCA 2020 Field Operations Manual, Site Evaluation Guidelines; Lab Operations Manual, and Quality Assurance Project Plan on the NCCA Website: https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/manuals-used-national-aquatic-resource-surveys#National%20Coastal%20Condition%20Assessment"			
			
			
			
VARIABLE		LEGAL_VALUES	DESCRIPTION
CAST		UPCAST|DOWNCAST	describes whether measurement was taken when the probe was going down (DOWNCAST) in the water column or on the way back up (UPCAST).
CONDUCTIVITY			Conductivity (uS/cm); required for Great Lakes sites; typically salinity is measured at estuarine sites
DATE_COL		|01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|10|11|21	Date sample or data were collected
DEPTH			Depth increment at which measurement  was taken or sample was collected (m)
DO			Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L)
LIGHT_AMB			Ambient light reading from an unshaded sensor on deck (umol/m2/s). Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) data are under review and will be published in a future update.
LIGHT_UW			Underwater light reading (umol/m2/s). Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) data are under review and will be published in a future update.
NARS_COMMENT			Comment explaining NARS_FLAG or LAB_COMMENT if necessary
NARS_FLAG			NARS flag. ND = Nondetect; H = holding time issue (holding times for each analyte may be found in the  on the NCCA Website: https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/manuals-used-national-aquatic-resource-surveys#National%20Coastal%20Condition%20Assessment); S = shipping issue; L = Less than reporting limit but above MDL; Q = other quality issue. See comment.
NCCA_REG		Northeast|Southeast|Gulf|West|Great Lakes|	"National Coastal Condition Assessment Region.  Northeast includes states ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, MD, DE, and VA.  Southeast includes NC, SC, GA, and east coast of FL.  Gulf of Mexico includes the west coast of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. West Coast includes Washington, Oregon and California. Great Lakes includes the US shore of all Great Lakes. No missing values allowed."
PH			Water pH
PSTL_CODE			"State (US) or province (Canada) two letter postal code for site sampled. 50 state postal codes plus AS, MP, GU, PR, VI for American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.  No missing values allowed."
PUBLICATION_DATE			Date the dataset was published to the NARS site
SALINITY			Salinity. Required for estuarine measurements;  Units are parts per thousand. Typically conductivity is measured at Great Lakes sites.
SAMPLE_TYPE			Code identifying sample type
SITE_ID			"NCCA Site ID for the study and year sampled. Preferred form is NCAnn_MM-xxxxx  where  nn is survey cycle year (04, 08, 13, 18, etc), MM is two letter state code, and xxxxx is between 10001 and 99999.  No missing values allowed.  No missing values allowed."
STATION_DEPTH			"Numeric, depth of station in m"
STUDY			Name of primary study site belongs to.  A unique site may belong to multiple studies. No missing values allowed. 
TEMPERATURE			Water temperature °C
UID			Unique identifier for the site/visit
VISIT_NO		|1|2	Sequential visit an index period; Visit: 1 or 2
DESIGN_YR			Year for which sample draw was designed to occur.
UNIQUE_ID			Unique site ID based on location. Does not depend on year sampled or any other factor. Follows a unique site through multiple survey designs.  Form is NCA_ss_nnnnn  where ss state and nnnnn is number that starts at 10001.  No missing values allowed.
MAX_DEPTH_SALINITY			Downcast salinity measurement at the maximum depth where measurements were taken at the site.
TRANS			Light transmission as % transmittance at 1 meter depth. Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) data are under review and will be published in a future update.
			
			
			
			
CHANGE LOG                                              		PROVISIONAL_NCCA20_21_HYDROGRAPHIC PROFILE_DATA                                            	
                                                			
DATE                        		 ACTION             	
7/28/2022		Initial publication of provisional data to the National Aquatic Resource Surveys Data page.