Hydrological Surface Dataset
Overview
Description
The MADIS hydrological surface dataset includes reports from observing networks run by different "providers". Through the MADIS API, the user can select only a subset of the total by specifying which providers to include or exclude. The Hydrometeorological Automated Data System (HADS)/Automated Flood Warning System (AFWS) were integrated into operational MADIS and went live at the end of 2016. MesoWest was providing some HADS data before this integration. HADS/AFWS is broken up into three different areas of MADIS: Atmospheric, Hydrological and Snow. The atmospheric data is a part of the Integrated Mesonet and includes temperature, winds (direction, speed and gust), pressure, dewpoint, relative humidity, and accumulated precip. The hydrological data is a part of the Hydrological Surface dataset and includes river stage and flow. Lastly the snow data is a part of the Snow dataset and includes snow depth and snow water equivalent. The HADS sites can change per owner operational needs.
MADIS has been collecting hydrological surface data since July 1, 2001.
Geographic Coverage
The geographic coverage for automated networks and for the CoCoRaHS mesonet includes data from these states: CO, IN, KS, MO, NM, PA, TX, VA, WY. The GLOBE mesonet has global data.
For HADS: Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the CONUS, please click here for a coverage map and site information by location identifiers provided by the HADS website.
Data Schedule
Data arrive on a continuous, asynchronous schedule, and the current and previous hour's data are processed every 5 minutes. The data are segmented into hourly files, with the mesonet file for hour HH containing data for HH00 through HH59. The most complete data for a given hour is available a little after 2 hours following the file time. The user should also understand that the mesonet data can be delayed. The lag time of reports from automated stations (lag = time available from MADIS - observation time) ranges from about 8 to 45 minutes, and can sometimes be longer. The lag time for daily observations taken manually can be days or weeks.
Data that arrive after 2 hours following the time of the observation are processed in a "data recovery" mode, where once a day batch processing is performed to reprocess data that are 35 days, 7 days old, and 1 day old. These data are available with all communications methods supported by MADIS except for ldm.
Volume
Typical daily volume for all MADIS datasets can be seen here.
Restrictions
The restrictions are specified by the hydro mesonet provider.
Variable Details
Related Links
- Hydrometeorological Automated Data System (HADS) website
- Automated Flood Warning System (AFWS) website
Last updated 29 August 2018
