Introduction

API Endpoint

https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api

A RESTful API is provided to access the data in this site. By default, responses are returned as JSON. Some routes do provide comma separated value (CSV) output as well. Tools such as curl and wget can be used to accesss the data, as well as direct calls in the browser.

In Situ Monitoring

• Get data from autonomous continuous monitoring at fixed stations.

Get Sites

Example

curl -g -L "https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations?bbox=[[-97.56,27.60],[-97.14,27.90]]"

import requests
payload = {"bbox": [[-97.56,27.60],[-97.14,27.90]]}
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations", params=payload)
data = r.json()

Example Response

[
  {
    "name": null, 
    "estuary": "Colorado-Lavaca Estuary", 
    "bay": "Matagorda Bay",
    "station_code": "6977", 
    "agency": 
      {
        "abbreviation": "LCRA", "id": 4, "name": "Lower Colorado River Authority"}, 
    "id": 134, 
    "coordinates": [-95.998506, 28.640239], 
    "description": "Matagorda 4SSW"
  }, 
  {
    "name": null,
    "estuary": "Colorado-Lavaca Estuary",
    "bay": "East Matagorda Bay",
    "station_code": "6980", 
    "agency": {
        "abbreviation": "LCRA", "id": 4, "name": "Lower Colorado River Authority"},
    "id": 136, 
    "coordinates": [-95.933, 28.672],
    "description": "East Bay @ Tripod"
  }, 
  ....
  {
    "name": "Upper Sabine Lake",
    "estuary": "Sabine-Neches Estuary", 
    "bay": "Sabine Lake",
    "station_code": "USAB",
    "agency": {
      "abbreviation": "TWDB", "id": 6, "name": "Texas Water Development Board"}, 
    "id": 2,
    "coordinates": [-93.82861111, 29.94444444],
    "description": "Upper Sabine Lake at  Platform A"
  }
]

• List all the stations, by default, for which we have actual data. If the query parameer all=true is used, then return all stations regardless. Users can also filter by a rectangular bounding box with the bbox query parameter.

Resource URL

• https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations

Request Parameters

name	type	format	Description
bbox	array	[[min_lon, min_lat], [max_lon, max_lat]]	bounding box
all_stations	boolean	true or false	get stations regardless of data availability

Get Site Parameters

Example

curl -L "https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations/6990/parameters" 

import requests
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations/6990/parameters")
data = r.json()

Example Response

[
  {
    "units_name": "Practical Salinity Unit", 
    "description": null,
    "abbreviation": "Salinity", 
    "code": "seawater_salinity", 
    "units_abbreviation": "PSU", 
    "id": 3, 
    "name": "Salinity"
  }, 
  {
    "units_name": "Milligrams Per Liter", 
    "description": null,
    "abbreviation": "Dissolved Oxygen Concentration",
    "code": "water_dissolved_oxygen_concentration", 
    "units_abbreviation": "mg/L", 
    "id": 18,
    "name": "Dissolved Oxygen Concentration"
  }, 
  {
    "units_name": "Degrees Celsius",
    "description": null,
    "abbreviation": "Water Temperature",
    "code": "water_temperature",
    "units_abbreviation": "degC",
    "id": 21,
    "name": "Water Temperature"
  },
]

• Return a list of all the parameters for which there is data associated with a station

Resource URL

• https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations/{station_code}/parameters

Request Parameters

• None

Get Site Parameter Data

Example

curl -L "https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations/MIDG/data/seawater_salinity?start_date=2010-01-01&end_date=2010-12-31&binning=hour"

import requests
payload = {"start_date": "2010-01-01", "end_date": "2010-12-31", "binning": "hour"}
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations/MIDG/data/seawater_salinity", params=payload)
data = r.json()

Example Response

[ 
  {
    "value":17.911,
    "datetime_utc":"2010-01-01T06:00:00.000Z"
  },
  {
    "value":17.567,
    "datetime_utc":"2010-01-01T07:00:00.000Z"
  },
.....
  {
    "value":26.958,
    "datetime_utc":"2010-12-31T04:00:00.000Z"
  },
  {
    "value":27.058,
    "datetime_utc":"2010-12-31T05:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

• Returns the timeseries of observations for a station/parameter pair. CSV output if the output_format=csv query parameter is set. Filtering by start_date and end_date is also allowed.

Resource URL

• https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/stations/{station_code}/data/{parameter_code}

Request Parameters

name	type	format	Description
start_date	string	YYYY-MM-DD	get data after this date
end_date	string	YYYY-MM-DD	get data before this date
binning	string	mon/day(default)/hour	data averaging period
output_format	string	csv or json	specify output format

Point Measurements

• API for Texas Parks and Wildlife Coastal Fisheries spot measurement datasets.

Get Parameter Data

Example

curl -L "https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/point-measurements/water_dissolved_oxygen_concentration?start_date=2014-01-01&end_date=2014-01-31&geo_id=374" 

import requests
payload = {"start_date": "2014-01-01", "end_date":"2014-01-30", "geo_id": 374}
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/point-measurements/dissolved_oxygen_concentration", params=payload)
data = r.json()

Example Response

[
  {
    "datetime_utc": "2014-01-07T16:18:00+00:00",
    "parameter_code": "water_dissolved_oxygen_concentration",
    "coordinates": [-94.9158333333, 29.4797222222], 
    "value": 20.6
  }, 
  {
    "datetime_utc": "2014-01-07T16:35:00+00:00",
    "parameter_code": "water_dissolved_oxygen_concentration", 
    "coordinates": [-94.9213888889, 29.4727777778], 
    "value": 9.4
  },
  ....
  {
    "datetime_utc": "2014-01-30T18:20:00+00:00",
    "parameter_code": "water_dissolved_oxygen_concentration", 
    "coordinates": [-95.1633333333, 29.09],
    "value": 9.9
  }, 
  {
    "datetime_utc": "2014-01-30T18:49:00+00:00",
    "parameter_code": "water_dissolved_oxygen_concentration", 
    "coordinates": [-95.1744444444, 29.085], 
    "value": 10.2
  }
]

• Returns a timeseries of all point measurements for the requested parameter. Either a date , start_date and end_date , or bbox must be specified. A maximum of 31 days of data are allowed per request when specifying start_date and end_date .

Resource URL

• https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/point_measurements/{parameter_code}

Request Parameters

name	type	format	Description
bbox	array	[[min_lon, min_lat], [max_lon, max_lat]]	bounding box to get data points within
start_date	string	YYYY-MM-DD	get data after this date
end_date	string	YYYY-MM-DD	get data before this date
geo_id	integer	12	geo_id of estuary to get data points within
output_format	string	csv or json (default)	specify output format

Get Summary Statistics

Example

curl -L https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/point-measurements/water_temperature/summary-statistics?geo_id=369

import requests
payload = {"geo_id": 369}
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/point-measurements/water_temperature/summary-statistics", params=payload)
data = r.json()

Example Response

[
  {
    "count": 4,
    "mean": 22.25,
    "mon": 10.0,
    "year": 1976.0
  }, 
  {
    "count": 4,
    "mean": 16.5,
    "mon": 11.0,
    "year": 1976.0
  },
....
  {
    "count": 69,
    "mean": 15.8,
    "mon": 11.0,
    "year": 2014.0
  },
  {
    "count": 64,
    "mean": 17.4,
    "mon": 12.0,
    "year": 2014.0
  }
]

• Returns monthly median values of spatially aggregated point measurement data.

Resource URL

• /api/point-measurements/{parameter_code}/summary-statistics

Request Parameters

name	type	format	Description
bbox	array	[[min_lon, min_lat], [max_lon, max_lat]]	bounding box to filter data points within
geo_id	integer	12	geo_id of estuary to filter data points within

Coastal Hydrology

• API for Texas Water Development Board's historical bays and estuaries freshwater inflow data.

Example

curl -L "https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/hydrology/700/timeseries?resample=month"

import requests
payload = {"resample": "month"}
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/hydrology/700/timeseries", params=payload)
data = r.json()

Example Response

[
  {
    "date":"1941-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
    "gauge":3525880.0,
    "model":133731.0,
    "preersion":3000.0,
    "return":12000.0,
    "fresh_in":3668611.0
  },
  {
    "date":"1941-02-01T00:00:00.000Z",
    "gauge":1567360.0,
    "model":69357.0,
    "preersion":3000.0,
    "return":11000.0,
    "fresh_in":1644717.0
    },
....
  {
    "date":"2014-12-01T00:00:00.000Z",
    "gauge":343264.0,
    "model":173239.0,
    "preersion":10691.74999999,
    "return":129595.03023003,
    "fresh_in":635406.28022908
  }
]

• Returns historical freshwater inflow data for a watershed or subwatershed. By default, the API returns freshwater inflow components in daily interval. A resample query parameter can be specified to get monthly or yearly summed values. Default data format is JSON and CSV format can be specified using the output_format parameter.

Resource URL

• https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/hydrology/{geo_id}/timeseries

Request Parameters

name	type	format	Description
output_format	string	csv or json (default)	specify output format
resample	string	month or year	specify period to calculate sums

GIS Data

Example

curl -L "https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/geometries/watershed"

import requests
r = requests.get("https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/geometries/watershed")
data = r.json()

Example Response

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection", 
  "features": [
    {
      "name": "Sabine-Neches Estuary", 
      "geometry": {
        "type": "MultiPolygon", 
        "coordinates": [[[[-94.10138, 30.13913], [-94.10284, 30.13834],... [-94.10445, 30.13787], [-94.10661, 30.13779]]]]
      },
      "extradata": {
        "Acres": 71971.08675, 
        "Area_m": 291256654.653, 
        "MJRBY": "Sabine-Neches Estuary", 
        "MJRcd": "1", 
        "Hectares": 29125.6654653
      }
      "type": "Feature",
      "id": 368
    },
    ...
    {
      "name": "Colorado-Lavaca Estuary", 
      "geometry": {
        "type": "MultiPolygon", 
        "coordinates": [[[[-95.79419, 28.82235], ...., [-95.7928, 28.82099], [-95.79214, 28.8205], [-95.7911, 28.82012]]]]
      },
      "extradata": {
        "Acres": 285268.29345,
        "Area_m": 1154439825.45, 
        "MJRBY": "Colorado-Lavaca Estuary", 
        "MJRcd": "3",
        "Hectares": 115443.982545
      }, 
      "id": 369,
      "type": "Feature"
    }
  ]
}

• API to get various geographic boundaries in GeoJSON format. Available GIS datasets include:
  • Basins
  • Bays
  • Estuaries
  • Ungauged Subwatersheds
  • Ungauged Watersheds

Resource URL

• https://waterdatafortexas.org/coastal/api/geometries/{geometry_type}

Request Parameters

• None