1. Catchment Appreciation

Updated on 17 Jul 2024
2 Minutes to read

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Initially we want to understand the catchment itself - understanding the context of the catchment, features, characteristics, and what data are available. The gauging stations will show us where we have good quality data.

Investigating the river gauge stations near our site, we notice several are classified as not suitable for QMED or pooled analysis, for instance. We locate a gauge location downstream of Upton: Severn at Haw Bridge, which we acknowledge to have a larger catchment area, but consider it a good starting point for our hydrological analysis.

We can see from the river gauge label that the site is suitable for peak flow analysis, suitable for QMED, and suitable for pooling. We'll look at the station in more detail to fully understand the data available, viewing the peak flows and observed data, and confirm we are happy to progress at this site.

Note:

A site will need to meet various requirements to be deemed acceptable; suitability for analyses, appropriate record length, and availability of data, are among the list of considerations. As a hydrologist, it is your responsibility to ensure appropriate standards have been met and you are therefore happy to progress with a particular site.

Add some background mapping and the National River Flow Archive (NRFA) river stations. Load the project Sample-Upton-project and locate the site. View the data available at nearby river gauge stations including at Haw Bridge, and note the reasons Haw Bridge has been considered a suitable site.

Read step-by-step guidance

To add background mapping:

Click on the Home tab.
Click on the Base Map dropdown.
Select a mapping option - in the video, Open Street Map is selected.

Having issues selecting a base map?

The base map options other than Open Street Map require a key. To acquire this, you will need to create an account for the appropriate service provider (e.g. Microsoft; for a Bing maps key).

Further details on background mapping can be found in these articles on Background mapping.

To add river gauging stations:

Click on the Hydrology+ tab.
Click the View river stations dropdown.
Select a gauge type - in the video, the UKCEH NRFA category is opened, then All is selected.

To load a project:

Click on the Home tab.
Click Load Project.
Browse to the file and click Open - in the video, the file Sample-Upton-project.fmpx (available above) is used.

Further details on projects can be found in these articles on Projects.

To open river gauging stations:

Click the station of interest on the map.
A label will display a summary of the monitoring station.
Click View full info in the bottom left of the label.

Note

If selecting a gauge does not display a label, click Settings in the top left of the Hydrology+ tab and ensure the second checkbox Show summary gauge information when selecting a gauge is checked on. Click Apply and then OK to save these changes.

To view gauge station data:

Click the Site info tab for full details of the site, including suitability for analyses.
Click the Peak Flow tab to view POT and AMAX data.
Click the Observed data tab to view real-time data collected via the Environment Agency's API.
Interact with the data as needed. In the video, from the Observed data tab toolbar, the All button is clicked to visualise data collected over all time. In this tab we can also use the cursor directly on the plot (with a click-drag-release action) to zoom to specific events.

Further details on river gauging stations can be found in the Gauge stations article.

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What's Next

2. Set Up Project