Usgs Disk - Gauge Station?

[+DJKing]

I found a disk on a pole. It has the normal USGS D.O.I. stuff. But no date and says "Gauge Station" with a small circle in center. It's not listed on Geocaching Benchmarks? Where can I find more info about it and if I can't enter it can I list it on the new waypoint site for unenterable disk? Any info is good and sorry if this is normal and I missed a post on this. I did a search and it came back 0.

[Z15]

Start by going NWISWeb Data for the Nation

 

These pages provide access to water-resources data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Edited November 20, 2005 by Z15

[+Black Dog Trackers]

DJKing -

 

Did the disk look like this one?

[+DJKing]

Yes it is like that. It's on the edge of the Valley I live, in Nevada. Z15's post stats water. There is a old capped well near by. So why is it not listed if you were able to enter yours as a find. I will look on that link, see if I can get info on well and post. Thanks DJKing

Edited November 20, 2005 by DJKing

[+Black Dog Trackers]

DJKing -

 

As I understand it, (based on very little specific knowledge), a gaging station is a geodetic marker - for vertical control. I'm assuming that it is there so that periodic checks can be made to assure that the gaging station itself isn't moving downstream or something. That, I further assume, is why they are always (?) called reference marks. Hopefully some expert can come in and confirm/deny some of my assumptions.

 

As to your question about why some gaging stations are in the NGS database and some are not, not all survey marks are in the NGS database (and Geocaching uses that database). It depends on the history of the gaging station's mark and whether any survey project wanted to use the gaging station mark and fill out the forms and meet the geodetic measurement specifications required for inclusion in the NGS database.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Dolphin run amok (blame Shirley!) Next week, I'm looking for a gaging station disk (not having found the last one I looked for.) AI8459

Around here, they are listed as DO=not specified or see description. Now, how hard can it be to find the Pep Boys Auto Store on River Road in Hackensack??? Famous last words?

[Z15]

Yes it is like that. It's on the edge of the Valley I live, in Nevada. Z15's post stats water. There is a old capped well near by. So why is it not listed if you were able to enter yours as a find.  I will look on that link, see if I can get info on well and post. Thanks DJKing

If I knew where it was (Lat and Lon), I could probably find the info. That link should find any available info on the site.

 

The info for this mark may be only for USGS use.

Edited November 21, 2005 by Z15

[Wintertime]

Z15, thanks for the pointer to the USGS NWIS site. Just to be sure, that site only has information about the gaging stations themselves, right? Not about the survey marks associated with them? For example, I found information about the Pohono Bridge gaging station in Yosemite National Park, but there's no mention there of the USGS disk. (Which is in the curb near the southwestern end of the bridge.)

 

Patty

[Z15]

Its possible you will never find info on the survey mark because there is none to find. It could only be a reference for the gage and only for internal USGS use. Its may not reference to any datum (assumed elevation) and only for this site.

 

USGS has small field offices that service these gauges etc and that may be the only place any info would be found. For instance, up here in the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan watersheds there is field office of the USGS-Hydrological Divsion. There are about 4 people who maintain the gauges stations and they are the only ones with the field data. We had to contact them many times for info and I know from experience many of thier marks are not tied into the NGS data. Over years they have monitored the water levels of the streams, set a disk or a chisled square on a bridge abutment and continually use that to verify the gauge is still in posistion.

 

So, the mark is likely to be only used for that station and that station only and have no realtionship to actual elevation or geographic location.

[evenfall]

the mark is likely to be only used for that station and that station only and have no realtionship to actual elevation or geographic location.

As a For instance, in a different scenario, Sometimes a job needs done and does not require a lot of engineered control. A surveyor, or someone familiar with grading techniques will pick a spot and drive a survey marker, such as a hub in the ground and assign a fictitious elevation to it such as 100.00 feet.

 

From this reference the job could be surveyed and graded so that water runs to drainage, based on relative checks of elevation based on the reference mark. Anything found to have an elevation less than 100 feet will be down hill from the master mark and anything with an elevation over 100 will be up hill, and they can then determine how the drainage is working, that the best percentages of grade are being used for the amount of water this area is likely to receive on average, and if it is not satisfactory they can design it to be satisfactory.

 

As a rule, the water that falls on that property is not allowed to leave the property except via a storm drain, so the object is to make the water run to the storm drains. So determining the elevations of all the drains, which should be low points is important, and then determining where the high spots are and where places which water may not flow from high to low are is important, so that all the water can be made to flow to the drains. There are a few other things we may want to know such as the elevations of the main road and entryway, the sidewalks and wheelchair ramps, maybe some other details which may be specific to the job, and note their elevations in relation to everything else as well.

 

When the job is done, the water will do what is desired, and it wont matter that the job was not connected to the rest of the world in a geodetic way. That reference hub which was assigned 100.00 is removed or forgotten and is now in a planter or a lawn or well, who knows.

 

Like my scenario, This is likely a local control situation and is only keeping track of it's own internal situation, for it's own monitoring sake.

 

HTH,

 

Rob

[+DJKing]

Here is a link to a pic of the Gauging Station in question and the cords are :

 

N 36 20.374

W 116 13.495

 

http://us.a1.yahoofs.com/users/41c4e292zc9...hIMAhDBAgbkBGYU

[evenfall]

I think that if you click on the NWIS link that Z15 provided, you will see if that mark belongs to a listed Real time station.

 

Real time stations are fun to keep up with by the way....

 

Rob

[+Harry Dolphin]

Thanks for pointing this out to me! The one in Hackensack shows that the Hackensck River is definitely tidal. Am I reading this right? 8' tidal surge? At Hackensack?