The "Hydrometric Gauging Stations of the AAFC Watersheds Project - 2013" dataset is a geospatial data layer containing point features representing the hydrometric gauging stations of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Watersheds Project. The gauging stations are sourced from Environment Canada, the United States and Canadian provinces. Additional virtual stations have been generated to address hydrometric structural issues, like river confluences or lake inlets. Attribute information includes station identification, location and associated catchments/basins.

The “Hydrometric Gauging Station Network of the AAFC Watersheds Project - 2013” dataset is a geospatial data layer containing network line features representing links between hydrometric gauging stations of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Watersheds Project. Each line connects a gauging station to its downstream neighbour(s), indicating its drainage direction.This network is a ‘drainage’ network, not a ‘stream’ network. That is, the lines do not in any way portray the actual stream path between stations.In some instances, a lake, for example, an area may have several gauging stations. In such cases, one of the gauging stations is designated the ‘primary’ gauging station for calculation purposes, and to maintain proper hydraulic relationships between gauging stations, where only the primary stations are connected to the downstream portion of the network.

BC active and discontinued hydrometric stations (surface water level and flow data) that are part of the provincial hydrometric network managed under a national program jointly administered under a federal-provincial cost-sharing agreement with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

The North America Surface Water Values point dataset contains the current water level and stream flow values as recorded by Canadian and USA hydrometric gauging station locations. Daily values are recorded as well as comparisons with historical measurements, including difference in values from the previous day, the mean level for that calendar date, the annual mean water level, and maximum and minumum recorded levels. Percentile values based on historical average for both water level and stream flow are also included.Real-time gauging station data for Canada is available here: https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/search/statistics_e.htmlReal-time gauging station data for the United States is available here: https://waterservices.usgs.gov/rest/Statistics-Service.html

A station is a site on a river or lake where water quantity (water level and flow) are collected and recorded.

Watershed boundary delineated for Canada-BC hydrometric stations. Currently, watersheds were delineated using 1:50,000 scale boundaries in 1996, and many watersheds encompass entire drainages, instead of just the upstream watersheds. Note - Not yet available, but we are in the process of generating BC hydrometric station upstream watersheds using updated base data, using the following method: Within BC, watershed boundaries are based on the 1:20,000-scale Freshwater Atlas fundamental watersheds, and trimmed using the BC TRIM DEM used to approximate the height-of-land at the station locations. Outside of BC, but within Canada, watershed boundaries were approximated using Canada CDED DEM data for delineation (no "stream burning" was used) and some manual editing of boundaries was done to approximately match hydrology data after the fact. Within U.S.A., the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset was used (at the best scale available for each drainage) to delineate the watershed boundary, with the watershed trimmed using the USGS National Elevation Dataset to approximate the height-of-land when necessary.

Historical hydrometric data are standardized water resource data and information. They are collected, interpreted and disseminated by the National Hydrological Services (NHS) in partnership with the provinces, territories and other agencies through the National Hydrometric Program. These data sets include daily mean, monthly mean, annual maximum and minimum daily mean and instantaneous peak water level and discharge information for over 2700 active and 5100 discontinued hydrometric monitoring stations across Canada.

Information on the stations of the Quebec hydrometric network**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

The “Incremental Gross Drainage Areas of the AAFC Watersheds Project - 2013” dataset is a geospatial data layer containing polygon features representing the incremental gross drainage areas of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Watersheds Project. The Project area is subdivided by hydrometric gauging station. The maximum area that could contribute runoff to each station, less that of its upstream neighbour(s) is called an ‘incremental gross drainage area’.

Real-time water level and flow (discharge) data collected at over 2100 hydrometric stations across Canada (last 30 days).