readNWISrating.Rd

% Generated by roxygen2 (4.0.2): do not edit by hand
\name{readNWISrating}
\alias{readNWISrating}
\title{Reads the current rating table for an active USGS streamgage.}
\usage{
readNWISrating(siteNumber, type = "base")
}
\arguments{
\item{siteNumber}{character USGS site number.  This is usually an 8 digit number}

\item{type}{character can be "base", "corr", or "exsa"}
}
\value{
A data frame. If \code{type} is "base," then the columns are
INDEP, typically the gage height, in feet; DEP, typically the streamflow,
in cubic feet per second; and STOR, where "*" indicates that the pair are
a fixed point of the rating curve. If \code{type} is "exsa," then an
additional column, SHIFT, is included that indicates the current shift in
the rating for that value of INDEP. If \code{type} is "corr," then the
columns are INDEP, typically the gage height, in feet; CORR, the correction
for that value; and CORRINDEP, the corrected value for CORR.\cr
If \code{type} is "base," then the data frame has an attribute called "RATING"
that describes the rating curve is included.

There are also several useful attributes attached to the data frame:
\tabular{lll}{
Name \tab Type \tab Description \cr
url \tab character \tab The url used to generate the data \cr
queryTime \tab POSIXct \tab The time the data was returned \cr
comment \tab character \tab Header comments from the RDB file \cr
siteInfo \tab data.frame \tab A data frame containing information on the requested sites \cr
RATING \tab character \tab Rating information \cr
}
}
\description{
Reads current rating table for an active USGS streamgage from NWISweb.
Data is retrieved from \url{http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis}.
}
\note{
Not all active USGS streamgages have traditional rating curves that
relate flow to stage.
}
\examples{
siteNumber <- '01594440'
data <- readNWISrating(siteNumber, "base")
attr(data, "RATING")
}
\seealso{
\code{\link{constructNWISURL}}, \code{\link{importRDB1}}
}