"This file contains hydrographic profile data collected at estuarine and Great Lakes sites that were sampled for the National Coastal Condition Assessment in 2020, 2021 and 2022."	

Data have been thoroughly reviewed, however they are not considered final until the NCCA 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.    

See the National Coastal Condition Assessment 2020 Field Operations Manual for hydrographic profile measurement protocols. https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/manuals-used-national-aquatic-resource-surveys#National%20Coastal%20Condition%20Assessment		
"""Please bring any questions about the data to the attention of Hugh Sullivan, NCCA Lead at sullivan.hugh@epa.gov. ""                                             "		
                                                		
                                  		
                                                		
                                                		
"""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""                                         "		
		
		
		
PUBLICATION_DATE		Date the dataset was published by NARS IM         
UID		Unique identifier for a single sampling event at a site/visit. Use the UID to associate data in the NCCA site info files with  information included in this file.
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 is state/territory and nnnnn is number that starts at 10001.  No missing values allowed. Text          
SITE_ID		"NCCA Site ID for the study and year sampled. Preferred form is NCAnn_MM-xxxxx  where  nn is survey cycle year (05, 10, 15, 20, etc), MM is two letter state code, and xxxxx is between 10001 and 99999.  No missing values allowed.  No missing values allowed."
DATE_COL	mm/dd/yyyy	Date Collected mm/dd/yyyy
VISIT_NO	  |1|2	"Sequential visit in each year, typically 1 or 2."
PSTL_CODE		"State 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."""
WTBDY_TYPE		Marine or Great Lakes
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.  No missing values allowed."""
SAMPLE_TYPE		Code identifying NCCA sample type
STATION_DEPTH		Depth of water at station (m)
CAST	UPCAST|DOWNCAST	 Line cast direction (UP/DOWN). All incremental hydrographic profile measurements should be taken at each depth on the downcast and the upcast
DEPTH		Depth  increment (m) at which the measurement was taken. See the National Coastal Condition Assessment 2020 Field Operations Manual for hydrographic profile measurement protocols. https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/manuals-used-national-aquatic-resource-surveys#National%20Coastal%20Condition%20Assessment
CONDUCTIVITY		Conductivity (uS/cm). Required for all Great Lakes sites. Optional for estuary sites.
DO		Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L)
PH		Water pH
SALINITY		Salinity. Required for estuarine measurements. Units are practical salinity units (psu)
LIGHT_AMB		Ambient light (umol/m2/s); measured/recorded simultaneously with LIGHT_UW.
LIGHT_UW		Light UW (umol/m2/s); measured/recorded simultaneously with LIGHT_AMB. LIGHT_UW measurements are not recorded/not retained if LIGHT_UW ? 0.
TEMPERATURE		Water temperature ?C
MAX_DEPTH_SALINITY		Salinity measurement at the maximum depth of measurements at the site.
LINE		Line number of specific record from NCCA field form
NARS_FLAG		"National Aquatic Resource Survey standardized qualit flag. The only flag in use in this file is the ""Q"" flag indicating that there is a data quality issue. See NARS_COMMENT column for explanation for NARS_FLAG."
NARS_COMMENT		Comment explaining NARS_FLAG
		
		
Change Log		
		
Publication Date 
Of Most recent
File Posted to
NARS Data Page 
        		Change
7-May-24		Initial publication
10/25/2024		file refresh to update values for multiple variables. removed LAT_DD and LON_DD coordinates.