"This file contains secchi 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.            
                                   		
"""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""                                         "		
		
		
		
COLUMN_NAME            	Legal Values	Description
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."
VISIT_NO	  |1|2	"Sequential visit in each year, typically 1 or 2."
DATE_COL	mm/dd/yyyy	Date Collected mm/dd/yyyy
PSTL_CODE		"State two letter postal code for site sampled. 50 state postal codes plus (if applicable) 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|Pacific	"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 at station (m)
MEAN_SECCHI_DEPTH		"Mean secchi depth (m), either mean of all 6 disappear/reappear values or estimated from other information"
REP		"Sequential replicate number. If not clear to bottom, 3 secchi replicates (disappeare and reappear; 6 total measurements) are required at each site. All 6 measurements should be within 0.5m."
CLEAR_TO_BOTTOM	|Y|N	Secchi disk clear to bottom
DISAPPEARS		Depth secchi disappears
REAPPEARS		Depth secchi  reappears
SECCHI_TIME		Time of secchi reading
SECCHI_COMMENT		Field comment associated with secchi depth measurement
NARS_FLAG		"Flag assigned by NARS: Q = Quality-related issue, See NARS_COMMENT for reason for NARS_FLAG    "
NARS_COMMENT		"Comment explaining NARS_FLAG or other qualifying information, if applicable.""   "
		
		
		
Changelog		
		
Publication Date 
Of Most recent
File Posted to
NARS Data Page 
                		Change
5/9/2024	        	initial publication
10/25/2024	        	file refresh to update values for multiple variables. removed LAT_DD and LON_DD coordinates.