The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a comprehensive aggregated collection of hydrologic unit data consistent with the national criteria for delineation and resolution. It defines the areal extent of surface water drainage to a point except in coastal or lake front areas where there could be multiple outlets as stated by the "Federal Standards and Procedures for the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)" "Standard" (https://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/11/a3/). Watershed boundaries are determined solely upon science-based hydrologic principles, not favoring any administrative boundaries or special projects, nor particular program or agency. This dataset represents the hydrologic unit boundaries to the 12-digit for the entire United States. Some areas may also include additional subdivisions representing the 14- and 16-digit hydrologic unit (HU). At a minimum, the HUs are delineated at 1:24,000-scale in the conterminous United States, 1:25,000-scale in Hawaii, Pacific basin and the Cari ...

This map service contains the most current version of the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) from The National Map (TNM). The WBD defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. These drainage areas or Hydrologic Unit (HU) polygon boundaries are available for the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Upper Mississippi River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds.The data is a seamless National representation of HU boundaries from 2 to 14 digits compiled from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) sources. Purpose: This data is intended primarily for geographic display and analysis of regional and national data, and can also be used for illustration purposes at intermediate or small scales (1:250,000 to 1:2,000,000). For additional information on the WBD, go to https://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html.

This United States Geological Survey (USGS) web map displays the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). It defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area (Upper Mississippi River), will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas like the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can be further subdivided into subsequently smaller drainage areas.The intent of defining hydrologic units (HU) for the WBD is to establish a base-line drainage boundary framework, accounting for all land and surface areas. The WBD is a comprehensive aggregated collection of HU data consistent with the national criteria for delineation and resolution. Each HU is identified by a unique hydrologic unit code (HUC). This service includes HU boundaries for HUC2 (Hydrologic unit boundary), HUC4 (Region), HUC6 (Subregion), HUC8 (Basin), HUC10 (Sub-basin) and HUC12 (Watershed). Pop-ups include HUC name, HUC code and the states that are included in each HU.More information about the WBD can be found at the WBD information site.Click here for information on the Federal Standards and Procedures for the National Watershed Boundary Dataset.Data for this service can be found here._Other Federal User Community federally focused content that may interest youDepartment of the Interior U.S Geological Survey

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) from The National Map (TNM) defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Upper Mississippi River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information on the WBD, go to https://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html. The USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) service is a companion dataset to the WBD. The NHD is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD is available nationwide in two seamless datasets, one based on 1:24,000-scale maps and referred to as high resolution NHD, and the other based on 1:100,000-scale maps and referred to as medium resolution NHD. Additional selected areas in the United States are available based on larger scales, such as 1:5,000-scale or greater, and referred to as local resolution NHD. For more information on the NHD, go to https://nhd.usgs.gov/index.html. Hydrography data from The National Map supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance, and stewardship. Hydrography data is commonly combined with other data themes, such as boundaries, elevation, structures, and transportation, to produce general reference base maps. The National Map viewer allows free downloads of public domain WBD and NHD data in either Esri File or Personal Geodatabase, or Shapefile formats.

The National Water Quality Network (NWQN) for Rivers and Streams includes 113 surface-water river and stream sites monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Program (NWQP). The NWQN represents the consolidation of four historical national networks: the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project, the USGS National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN), the National Monitoring Network (NMN), and the Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN). The NWQN includes 22 large river coastal sites, 41 large river inland sites, 30 wadeable stream reference sites, 10 wadeable stream urban sites, and 10 wadeable stream agricultural sites. In addition to the 113 NWQN sites, 3 large inland river monitoring sites from the USGS Cooperative Matching Funds (Co-op) program are also included in this annual water-quality reporting Web site to be consistent with previous USGS studies of nutrient transport in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin. This data release contains geo-referenced digital data and associated attributes of watershed boundaries for 113 NWQN and 3 Co-op sites. Two sites, "Wax Lake Outlet at Calumet, LA"; 07381590, and "Lower Atchafalaya River at Morgan City, LA"; 07381600, are outflow distributaries into the Gulf of Mexico. Watershed boundaries were delineated for the portion of the watersheds between "Red River near Alexandria, LA"; 07355500 and "Atchafalaya River at Melville, LA"; 07381495 to the two distributary sites respectively. Drainage area was undetermined for these two distributary sites because the main stream channel outflows into many smaller channels so that streamflow is no longer relative to the watershed area. NWQN watershed boundaries were derived from the Watershed Boundary Dataset-12-digit hydrologic units (WBD-12). The development of the WBD-12 was a coordinated effort between the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), the USGS, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2012). A hydrologic unit is a drainage area delineated to nest in a multi-level, hierarchical drainage system. Its boundaries are defined by hydrographic and topographic criteria that delineate an area of land upstream from a specific point on a river, stream or similar surface waters. The United States is divided and sub-divided into successively smaller hydrologic units identified by a unique hydrologic unit code (HUC) consisting of two to 12 digits based on the six levels of classification in the hydrologic unit system: regions, sub-regions, accounting units, cataloging units, watersheds, and sub-watersheds. NWQN watershed boundaries were delineated by selecting all sub-watershed polygons that flow into the most downstream WBD-12 polygon in which the NWQN site is located. The WBD-12 attribute table contains 8-digit, 10-digit, and 12-digit HUCs which were used to identify which sub-watersheds flow into the watershed pour point at the NWQN site location. When the NWQN site was located above the pour point of the most downstream sub-watershed, the sub-watershed was edited to make the NWQN site the pour point of that sub-watershed. To aid editing, USGS 1:24,000 digital topographic maps were used to determine the hydrologic divide from the sub-watershed boundary to the NWQN pour point. The number of sub-watersheds which are contained within the NWQN watersheds ranged from less than one to nearly 32,000 internal sub-watersheds. Internal sub-watershed boundaries were dissolved so that a single watershed boundary was generated for each NWQN watershed. Data from this release are presented at the USGS Tracking Water Quality page: http://cida.usgs.gov/quality/rivers/home (Deacon and others, 2015). Watershed boundaries delineated for this release do not take into account non-contributing area, diversions out of the watershed, or return flows into the watershed. Delineations are based solely on contributing WBD-12 polygons with modifications done only to the watershed boundary at the NWQN site location pour point. For this reason calculated drainage areas for these delineated watersheds may not match National Water Information System (MWIS) published drainage areas (http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7P55KJN). Deacon, J.R., Lee, C.J., Toccalino, P.L., Warren, M.P., Baker, N.T., Crawford, C.G., Gilliom, R.G., and Woodside, M.D., 2015, Tracking water-quality of the Nation’s rivers and streams, U.S. Geological Survey Web page: http://cida.usgs.gov/quality/rivers, https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.5066/F70G3H51. U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2012, Watershed Boundary Dataset-12-digit hydrologic units: NRCS National Cartography and Geospatial Center, Fort Worth, Tex., WBDHU12_10May2012_9.3 version, accessed June 2012 at http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov.

description: USGS The National Map - National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD is available nationwide in two seamless datasets, one based on 1:24,000-scale maps and referred to as high resolution NHD, and the other based on 1:100,000-scale maps and referred to as medium resolution NHD. Additional selected areas in the United States are available based on larger scales, such as 1:5,000-scale or greater, and referred to as local resolution NHD. The NHD supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance and stewardship. For additional information on NHD, go to http://nhd.usgs.gov/. The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a companion dataset to the NHD. It defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Upper Mississippi River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information on WBD, go to http://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html.; abstract: USGS The National Map - National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD is available nationwide in two seamless datasets, one based on 1:24,000-scale maps and referred to as high resolution NHD, and the other based on 1:100,000-scale maps and referred to as medium resolution NHD. Additional selected areas in the United States are available based on larger scales, such as 1:5,000-scale or greater, and referred to as local resolution NHD. The NHD supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance and stewardship. For additional information on NHD, go to http://nhd.usgs.gov/. The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a companion dataset to the NHD. It defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Upper Mississippi River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information on WBD, go to http://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html.

The Geographic Information Retrieval and Analysis System (GIRAS) was developed in the mid 70s to put into digital form a number of data layers which were of interest to the USGS. One of these data layers was the Hydrologic Units. The map is based on the Hydrologic Unit Maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey Office of Water Data Coordination, together with the list descriptions and name of region, subregion, accounting units, and cataloging unit. The hydrologic units are encoded with an eight- digit number that indicates the hydrologic region (first two digits), hydrologic subregion (second two digits), accounting unit (third two digits), and cataloging unit (fourth two digits).

The data produced by GIRAS was originally collected at a scale of 1:250K. Some areas, notably major cities in the west, were recompiled at a scale of 1:100K. In order to join the data together and use the data in a geographic information system (GIS) the data were processed in the ARC/INFO GUS software package. Within the GIS, the data were edgematched and the neatline boundaries between maps were removed to create a single data set for the conterminous United States.

NOTE: A version of this data theme that is more throughly checked (though based on smaller-scale maps) is available here: https://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?huc2m

HUC, GIRAS, Hydrologic Units, 1:250

For the most current data and information relating to hydrologic unit codes (HUCs) please see http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/huc.html. The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is the most current data available for watershed delineation. See http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/water/watersheds/dataset

The High Resolution National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus HR) is an integrated datset of geospatial data layers, including the most current National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), the 10-meter 3D Elevation Program Digital Elevation Model (3DEP DEM), and the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). The NHDPlus HR combines the NHD, 3DEP DEMs, and WBD to create a stream network with linear referencing, feature naming, "value added attributes" (VAAs), elevation-derived catchments, and other features for hydrologic data analysis. The stream network with linear referencing is a system of data relationships applied to hydrographic systems so that one stream reach "flows" into another and "events" can be tied to and traced along the network. The VAAs provide capabilities for upstream and downstream navigation with linear referencing, analysis, and modeling. The elevation derived catchments are used to associate other landscape attributes, such as land cover, with stream ...

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a seamless, national hydrologic unit dataset. Simply put, hydrologic units represent the area of the landscape that drains to a portion of the stream network. More specifically, a hydrologic unit defines the areal extent of surface water drainage to an outlet point on a dendritic stream network or to multiple outlet points where the stream network is not dendritic. A hydrologic unit may represent all or only part of the total drainage area to an outlet point so that multiple hydrologic units may be required to define the entire drainage area at a given outlet. Hydrologic unit boundaries in the WBD are determined based on topographic, hydrologic, and other relevant landscape characteristics without regard for administrative, political, or jurisdictional boundaries. The WBD seamlessly represents hydrologic units at six required and two optional hierarchical levels.The hydrologic units (HU) in the WBD form a standardized system for organizing, collecting, managing, and reporting hydrologic information for the nation. The HU in the WBD are arranged in a nested, hierarchical system with each HU in the system identified using a unique code. Hydrologic unit codes (HUC) are developed using a progressive two-digit system where each successively smaller areal unit is identified by adding two digits to the identifying code the smaller unit is nested within. WBD contains eight levels of progressive hydrologic units identified by unique 2- to 16-digit codes. The dataset is complete for the United States to the 12-digit hydrologic unit. The 14- and 16-digit hydrologic units are optional and are not complete for the nation. Efforts are ongoing to complete 10- and 12-digit unit delineations within 8-digit hydrologic units extending across the U.S. – Canada border. Additional information about this effort and access to data is linked on the “resources” section on this page. A similar effort is complete for the 10- and 12-digit units extending across the U.S. – Mexico border.More information can be found here: https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/watershed-boundary-dataset?qt-science_support_page_related_con=4#qt-science_support_page_related_con

This dataset displays the 12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC 12) divides from the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) were used as ridgeline enforcement input in a process called "walling" in the production of hydro-enforced DEMs. Closed basin designations, from the HUC 12 polygon data were used to impose "sinks" in the hydro-enforced DEMs. These DEMs are the source data from which NHDPlus HR Catchments are delineated from. Catchments with corresponding boundaries in the WBD generally agree with the WBD to within one or two 10-m grid cells. Some larger differences between catchment boundaries and WBD boundaries do exist, however. NHDPlus HR Flow Direction and Accumulation Grids are hydrologic derivative products of the hydro-enforced DEMs. Dates of WBD snapshots used were as follows: August 31, 2010 - VPU 04 March 10, 2011 - VPUs 05, 06 July 14, 2011 - VPU 17 September 16, 2011 - VPU 10L October 7, 2011 - VPU10U November 14, 2011 - VPUs 07, 11 December 2, 2011- VPU 18 December 21, 2011 - VPUs 09, 12 February 1, 2012 - VPUs 01, 02, 03N,03S, 03W, 08, 13, 14, 15, 16 October 2014 - VPUs 20, 21 April 2015 - VPUs 22AS, 22GU, 22MP The February 1, 2012 WBD snapshot used to migrate NHD medium resolution Reach code assignment to agree with WBD HUC 8 codes. Reach codes in VPUs 20, 21, 22AS, 22GU, and22MP agree with their WBD Snapshots.WBD is included in the National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR) for Hydrologic Unit 1204 dataset published by United States Geological Survey (USGS). https://nhd.usgs.gov

This USGS data release documents coarse ranges for 257 fish species in the conterminous United States for level 8 hydrologic units from the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). These range maps were derived by combining known fish occurrence information from four data sources: point occurrences from the Aquatic Gap Analysis Project (AGAP) fish database, stream segment (i.e., NHDPlusV2.1 COMID) occurrences from the IchthyMaps dataset, point occurrences from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and HUC-8 level range maps developed by NatureServe. Data can be linked to geospatial units of the WBD using the HUC8 field. Data are provided in comma separated value (CSV) and zipped Parquet file formats. Parquet file format is provided to help facilitate faster download and read capabilities when using compatible packages in coding languages such as R and Python. Source data from GBIF are also included in range_source_data_gbif.csv and are further documented at https://doi.org/10.15468/dd.qctv4s.

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior - The annual Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) stewardship plan is to maintain watershed boundary data through usage of WBD edit tools over the United States and its territories. WBD for the Nation has been collected and is now in maintenance mode. Interested parties who wish to become a stewardship partner with the USGS in FY20 or in future years should contact a USGS Geospatial Liaison - https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/user-engagement-office. To find out more about watershed boundary stewardship go to https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/watershed-boundary-dataset

This landuse / landcover (LULC) map displays a basic depiction of the Los Planes watershed in Baja California Sur, Mexico. This simplified, 7-class LULC map displays classes that are useful for hydrologic modeling and broad vegetation mapping in the region. It was created from analysis of six Sentinel-2 satellite images and other existing geospatial datasets. These satellite images are provided at 10-meter spatial resolution and were calibrated for topographic illumination effects to enhance its accuracy in rugged, mountainous terrain like that seen in the watershed. A novel filtering methodology was also applied to minimize the "salt-and-pepper effect" from the principle component analysis (PCA) and image classification methodology. See "lulc_los_planes_watershed_final_2_legend.jpg" for a low-resolution overview of the image and legend.

Each drainage area is considered a Hydrologic Unit (HU) and is given a Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) which serves as the unique identifier for the area. HUC 2s, 6s, 8s, 10s, & 12s, define the drainage Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds and Subwatersheds, respectively, across the United States. Their boundaries are defined by hydrologic and topographic criteria that delineate an area of land upstream from a specific point on a river and are determined solely upon science based hydrologic principles, not favoring any administrative boundaries, special projects, or a particular program or agency. The Watershed Boundary Dataset is delineated and georeferenced to the USGS 1:24,000 scale topographic basemap.Hydrologic Units are delineated to nest in a multi-level, hierarchical drainage system with corresponding HUCs, so that as you move from small scale to large scale the HUC digits increase in increments of two. For example, the very largest HUCs have 2 digits, and thus are referred to as HUC 2s, and the very smallest HUCs have 12 digits, and thus are referred to as HUC 12s.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Watersheds in the United States, as delineated by the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)Geographic Extent: Contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, Northern Marianas Islands and American SamoaProjection: Web MercatorUpdate Frequency: AnnualVisible Scale: Visible at all scales, however USGS recommends this dataset should not be used for scales of 1:24,000 or larger.Source: United States Geological Survey (WBD)Data Vintage: January 7, 2025What can you do with this layer?This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis acrossthe ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application. Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "Watershed Boundary Dataset" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map. In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "Watershed Boundary Dataset" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.Questions?Please leave a comment below if you have a question about this layer, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

This subset of the USGS Water Boundary Dataset contains the polygons of the 50 8-digit Hydrologic Units that comprise the greater Central Valley study site. The Watershed Boundary Dataset is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that represents the surface drainages areas of the United States. The information included with the features includes a feature date, a unique common identifier, name, the feature length or area, and other characteristics. Names and their identifiers are assigned from the Geographic Names Information System. The data also contains relations that encode metadata. The names and definitions of all these feature attributes are in the Federal Standards and Procedures for the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). The document is available online at https://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/11/a3/

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a comprehensive aggregated collection of hydrologic unit data consistent with the national criteria for delineation and resolution. It defines the areal extent of surface water drainage to a point except in coastal or lake front areas where there could be multiple outlets as stated by the "Federal Standards and Procedures for the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)" “Standard” (http://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/11/a3/). Watershed boundaries are determined solely upon science-based hydrologic principles, not favoring any administrative boundaries or special projects, nor particular program or agency. This dataset represents the hydrologic unit boundaries to the 12-digit (6th level) for the entire United States. Some areas may also include additional subdivisions representing the 14- and 16-digit hydrologic unit (HU). At a minimum, the HUs are delineated at 1:24,000-scale in the conterminous United States, 1:25,000-scale in Hawaii, Pacific basin and the Caribbean, and 1:63,360-scale in Alaska, meeting the National Map Accuracy Standards (NMAS). Higher resolution boundaries are being developed where partners and data exist and will be incorporated back into the WBD. WBD data are delivered as a dataset of polygons and corresponding lines that define the boundary of the polygon. WBD polygon attributes include hydrologic unit codes (HUC), size (in the form of acres and square kilometers), name, downstream hydrologic unit code, type of watershed, non-contributing areas, and flow modifications. The HUC describes where the unit is in the country and the level of the unit. WBD line attributes contain the highest level of hydrologic unit for each boundary, line source information and flow modifications.

Geothermal well data from Southern Methodist University (SMU, 2021) and the U.S. Geological Survey (Sass et al., 2005) were used to create maps of estimated background conductive heat flow across the greater Great Basin region of the western US. The heat flow maps in this data release were created using a process that sought to remove hydrothermal convective influence from predictions of background conductive heat flow. Heat flow maps were constructed using a custom-developed iterative process using weighted regression, where convectively influenced outliers were de-emphasized by assigning lower weights to measurements that are very different from the estimated local trend (e.g., local convective influence). The weighted regression algorithm is 2D LOESS (locally estimated scatterplot smoothing; Cleveland et al., 1992), which was used for local linear regression, and smoothness was controlled by varying the number of nearby points used for each local interpolation. Three maps are included in this data release, allowing comparison of the influence of measurement confidence: all wells are equal-weight, and two different published categorizations of measurement quality were used to de-emphasize low-quality measurements. Each map is an estimate of background conductive heat flow as a function of assumed data quality, and a point coverage is also provided for all wells in the compiled dataset. The point coverage includes an important new attribute for geothermal wells: the residual, which can be interpreted as the well’s departure from estimated background heat flow conditions, and the value of residual may be useful in identifying hydrothermal or groundwater influence on conductive heat flow. References Cleveland, W. S., Grosse, E., Shyu, W. M, 1992, Local regression models. Chapter 8 of Statistical Models in S eds J.M. Chambers and T.J. Hastie, Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole. Sass, J. H., S.S. Priest, A.H. Lachenbruch, S.P. Galanis, Jr., T.H. Moses, Jr., J.P. Kennelly, Jr., R.J. Munroe, E.P. Smith, F.V. Grubb, R.H. Husk, Jr., and C.W. Mase, 2005, Summary of supporting data for USGS regional heat flow studies of the Great Basin, 1970-1990, USGS Open file Report, 2005-1207. SMU Regional Heat Flow Database, retrieved from http://geothermal.smu.edu on March 29, 2021.

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) from USGS' The National Map (TNM) defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Sacramento River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Feather River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information on the WBD, go to https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/watershed-boundary-dataset. DWR was the steward for NHD and WBD in California. We worked with other organizations to edit and improve NHD and WBD, using the business rules for California. California's WBD improvements are sent to USGS for certification and incorporation to the national geodatabase. The certified WBD is included within the National Hydrography Dataset downloadable file geodatabase, and is also available in shapefile format and as web map services accessible from the USGS website. (https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/access-national-hydrography-products).

The final static version of the WBD was published in January 2025. No edits to this dataset are being accepted by USGS. Future mapping of drainage areas will be done by USGS as the 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) is built out. DWR and its stewardship partners are actively producing LiDAR-derived hydrography data for inclusion in the California portion of 3DHP data and eventually its companion set of drainage areas. For now, the WBD is considered the authoritative source for watershed delineations in California.

Each drainage area is considered a Hydrologic Unit (HU) and is given a Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) which serves as the unique identifier for the area. HUC 2s, 6s, 8s, 10s, & 12s, define the drainage Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds and Subwatersheds, respectively, across the United States. Their boundaries are defined by hydrologic and topographic criteria that delineate an area of land upstream from a specific point on a river and are determined solely upon science based hydrologic principles, not favoring any administrative boundaries, special projects, or a particular program or agency. The Watershed Boundary Dataset is delineated and georeferenced to the USGS 1:24,000 scale topographic basemap.Hydrologic Units are delineated to nest in a multi-level, hierarchical drainage system with corresponding HUCs, so that as you move from small scale to large scale the HUC digits increase in increments of two. For example, the very largest HUCs have 2 digits, and thus are referred to as HUC 2s, and the very smallest HUCs have 12 digits, and thus are referred to as HUC 12s.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Watersheds in the United States, as delineated by the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)Geographic Extent: Contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, Northern Marianas Islands and American SamoaProjection: Web MercatorUpdate Frequency: AnnualVisible Scale: Visible at all scales, however USGS recommends this dataset should not be used for scales of 1:24,000 or larger.Source: United States Geological Survey (WBD)Data Vintage: January 7, 2025What can you do with this layer?This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis acrossthe ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application. Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "Watershed Boundary Dataset" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map. In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "Watershed Boundary Dataset" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.Questions?Please leave a comment below if you have a question about this layer, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

The Eel River CZO operates on several spatial scales from a zero order hillslope to the entire Eel River on the north coast of California. Rivendell, Angelo, Sagehorn, South Fork, and Eel River GIS boundaries. GIS polygon shapefiles. All files are in geographic projection (Lat/Long) with a datum of WGS84.

The watershed boundaries are from USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) http://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html. Rivendell and Angelo boundaries are created from LiDAR by the CZO. Sagehorn Ranch is a privately held, active commercial ranch with no public access. Please contact the CZO if you are interested in data from Sagehorn Ranch.

Shapefiles

Eel River Watershed (drainage area 9534 km^2): Entire eel river. Greatest extent of CZO research.

South Fork Eel Watershed (drainage area 1784 km^2).

Angelo Reserve Boundary (30.0 km^2): Angelo Coast Range Reserve is a University of California Natural Reserve System protected land. It is the central focus of CZO research. http://angelo.berkeley.edu

Sagehorn Ranch Boundary (21.1 km^2): Sagehorn Ranch is a private ranch with active cattle raising. The owners have allowed the CZO to place instrumentation on their lands. Access is only by explicit agreement by owners.

Rivendell Cachement (0.0076 km^2): Rivendell is a small, heavily instrumented hillslope within the Angelo Reserve. It has roughly 700 instruments deployed as of 2016. Data is online at http://sensor.berkeley.edu