This file contains data about sites that were samples for the Reef Flat Study of Pacfic Territories as part of the National Coastal Condition Assessment in 2020 and 2021. 
                                              		
Data have been thoroughly reviewed, however they are not considered final until the NCCA Report is published. Data may be updated at any time. The changelog for the associated file may be found below the column name definitions.      

End-users are responsible for reviewing the suitability of these data for their purposes.     

"""Please bring any questions about the data to the attention of Hugh Sullivan, NCCA Lead at sullivan.hugh@epa.gov. ""                                             "		
                                                		
                                                		
This file does not include information used to determine the statistical weight for each site. Future updates of this file coinciding with NCCA Report publication will include site weights.                                                		
                                                		
                                                		
"""For information about NCCA protocols, please check the NCCA 2020 Field Operations Manual, Site Evaluation Guidelines; Lab Operations Manual, and Quality Assurance Project Plan on the NCCA Website: https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/manuals-used-national-aquatic-resource-surveys#National%20Coastal%20Condition%20Assessment""                                         "		
		
		
COLUMN_NAME            	Legal Values	Description
PUBLICATION_DATE	Date the dataset was published to the NARS site	
UNIQUE_ID	Unique site ID based on location that does not depend on year sampled or any other factor.  Form is NCA_ss_nnnnn  where ss state and nnnnn is number that starts at 10001.  No missing values allowed. Text	
UID	Unique identifier for the site/visit	
SITE_ID	NCCA Site ID for the study and year sampled	
YEAR	Year site visited	
VISIT_NO	"Sequential visit in each year, typically 1 or 2."	
DATE_COL	Date samples were collected at the site. Use ACTUAL_DATE column for collection date of individual sample types.	
PSTL_CODE	"State two letter postal code for site sampled. 50 state postal codes plus AS, MP, GU, PR, VI for American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.  No missing values allowed."	
LAT_DD	Actual latitude of sampling in decimal degrees	
LON_DD	Actual longitude of sampling in decimal degrees	
STATION_DEPTH	Site depth in meters	
DSGN_CYCLE	NCCA survey design time period.  Some of the sub-studies may be conducted in more than one year although that is not identified by the DSGN_CYCLE. No missing values allowed. 1999-2001 | 2005-2006 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020	
IND_DOMAIN	"Name of indicator group within a study. Valid values are EXTENT (all sites evaluated), CORE (all sites sampled for main indicators), FT_EXTENT and FT_CORE for fish tissue, HAND for hand-picked"	
EPA_REG	EPA Region.  No missing values allowed.	
EVAL_CAT	"NCCA site evaluation result.  Frame_NotAssessed is used to identify pseudo sites that were created to identify polygons that were not in 1999-2001, 2005-2006, and 2010 sample frames but were in 2015 sample frame. No missing values allowed."	
FEAT_NM	"Most detailed name available and may identify different portions of an estuary. \blank\"" if missing"""	
LAT_DD84	Latitude of site with WGS84 datum (for Pacific Territories and Hawaii)	
LON_DD84	Longitude of site with WGS84 datum (for Pacific Territories and Hawaii)	
NCA_REG	National Coastal Assessment Region used prior to NARS in 2010.  No missing values allowed.	
NCCA_REG	"National Coastal Condition Assessment Region.  Northeast includes states ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, MD, DE, and VA.  Southeast includes NC, SC, GA, and east coast of FL.  Gulf Coast  includes the west coast of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. West coast includes Washington, Oregon and California. Great Lakes includes Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. No missing values allowed."	
NEP_NAME	National Estuary Program name if site is in the NEP or  Chesapeake Bay if site in Chesapeake Bay.  Missing value if site is not in any NEP or  Chesapeake Bay. 	
NEP_NAT	Site is located in a National Estuary Program watershed.   NEP if site is in an NEP; Not_NEP  if not. No missing values allowed.	
PROVINCE	Marine biogeographical province defined by EMAP Near Coastal Program.  No missing values allowed.	
SITETYPE	"Site type (Probability-based or hand-picked). PROB for sites from probability survey.  HAND for hand-picked sites.  Currently, NCCA does not have Hand-picked sites.  No missing values allowed. PROB | HAND"	
STATE_NM	"State name, Puerto Rico, Pacific Territory name. Complete name. No missing values allowed."	
WTBDY_NM	General estuary or  tidal river name.	
WTBDY_TYPE	"Waterbody type, based on VALXSITE from verification form"	MARINE|GREAT_LAKES
XCOORD	x-coordinate from US Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic projection EXCEPT Hawaii sites which are calculated from Hawaii Albers Equal Area Conic projection. No missing values allowed.	
YCOORD	y-coordinate from US Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic projection EXCEPT Hawaii sites which are calculated from Hawaii Albers Equal Area Conic projection.  No missing values allowed.	
INDEX_RF	Index visit for Reef Flat Study	
		
Changelog		
		
Publication Date 
Of Most recent
File Posted to
NARS Data Page 
                		Change
11/12/2024		        initial publication