Abstract

Relating Landscape Characteristics to Water-Quality Sampling Sites: An Area-Characterization Toolbox
Track: Water Resources
Author(s): Curtis Price

Standardized methods for geographic information system (GIS) have been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to characterize areas near sampling sites. The results of the GIS methods have been used to relate physical landscape properties (such as soil characteristics) and anthropogenic variables (such as estimates of population density or nutrient loads) to NAWQA water-quality sampling sites. Areas of interest include watersheds upstream from surface-water sampling sites, areal extents of studied aquifers, and buffer areas near sampled wells.

The methods use raster zonal operators and other area-weighted mapping techniques to relate data sets of landscape characteristics to the areas of interest. They have been implemented using scripts to document the methods and ensure consistent results. Although the scripts were originally written in Arc Macro Language for use in ArcInfo Workstation, they have been recently re-engineered as Python script tools to operate within the ArcGIS geoprocessing environment.

Curtis Price
U.S. Geological Survey
1608 Mountain View Rd
Rapid City , South Dakota 57702
United States
Phone: 605-394-3242
Fax: 605-355-4523
E-mail: cprice@usgs.gov