Crosswalk Table Between NHDPlus V2.1 and its Accompanying Watershed Boundary Dataset Snapshot of 12-Digit Hydrologic Units

A crosswalk table between NHDPlus version 2.1 flowlines (using the unique field COMID) and the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) 12-digit-hydrologic units (HU-12) is provided for the 48 contiguous United States. The crosswalk table provides a WBD HU-12 assignment for every networked flowline in the NHDPlus. In this way, the network developed for navigation and modeling, NHDPlus, is aligned with accounting units of the WBD HU-12s to the extent possible given the assumptions that were made in creating each. A crosswalk table for NHDPlus isolated sinks was produced by a simple overlay process where the sinks were assigned HU-12 values based on their position relative to the WBD snapshot HU-12s. This table was integrated with the flowline associations into one crosswalk table for both feature types. There is good alignment between aggregated NHDPlus catchments and WBD HU-12 units in many locations. These are areas where the flows and chemical or nutrient loads that are accumulated leave the HU-12 at a single outlet and are passed down to the next HU-12 downstream (or to the coast) as is assumed in the WBD model. A second pass through the data was made to account for any secondary outlet from each HU-12. The location of a secondary outlet with a significant drainage from that HU was identified in the alignment with NHDPlus. This resulted in a reduction in areas of mismatch as well as an improved crosswalk table. The crosswalk table should be used with caution in areas where efforts could be made to improve the data. For example, with medium-resolution NHD, a better definition of flow direction of the flowlines in Southern Florida would result in more flowlines being included in the “networked” flowlines with catchments, and that, in turn, would result in better alignment between NHDPlus catchments and HU-12s. Correcting errors in either the medium-resolution NHD or WBD would improve the alignment between the two datasets.

                                            [
  "010:12"
]
                                        

                                            {
  "fn": "Richard Moore",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:rmoore@usgs.gov"
}
                                        

                                            [
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                                            [
  "12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC12)",
  "COMID",
  "NHDPlus",
  "USGS:5c86a747e4b09388244b3da1",
  "Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)",
  "flowlines",
  "inlandWaters",
  "sinks"
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                                            {
  "name": "U.S. Geological Survey",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
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                                            [
  "Geospatial"
]