Noreast Web Portal: Highlights from a Multi-Agency Approach to Manage and Share Continuous Stream Temperature Data

Stream temperature is a key factor in determining the distribution, health, survival, and reproduction of many aquatic organisms, and stream temperature data are essential to help understand baseline conditions, historic trends, and future projections in freshwater ecosystems. Although numerous organizations collect stream temperature data for a variety of purposes, these data often reside in disparate formats, ranging from Enterprise databases to individual files on desktop computers. Many agencies lack sufficient resources to compile, quality assure, and provide access to their stream temperature data, yet pooled data from many sources can provide great value in understanding both stream thermal regimes and biotic response. The NorEaST Web Portal (NorEaST) serves as a coordinated, multi-agency regional framework where data collectors can store, map, analyze, and exchange continuous stream temperature locations and data across the Northeastern US. NorEaST currently displays over 10,000 monitoring locations where stream temperature data have been collected by nearly 50 different organizations. NorEaST uses the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards–WaterML 2.0 for hydrologic time-series encoding and Sensor Observation Service for web service access to time-series observations. These OGC standards increase interoperability between systems and provide a standardized and non-proprietary means for sharing and exchanging data with scientists and managers.