Jean Steiner1, Edward Sadler2, Greg Wilson3, David James4, Bruce Vandenberg1, John Ross1, Teri Oster2, Kevin Cole4, Jin-song Chen5, and Jerry Hatfield4. (1) USDA-ARS, 7207 W Cheyenne Street, El Reno, OK 73036, (2) USDA-ARS Cropping Systems & Water Quality Research Unit, 269 Agricultural Engineering Bldg, Columbia, MO 65211, (3) OCIO, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, (4) National Soil Tilth Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Ames, IA 50011, (5) USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Lab, 7207 W. Cheyenne St, El Reno, OK 73036
Comprehensive, long-term data from watersheds across diverse environments are needed for hydrologic and ecosystem analysis and for model development, calibration and validation. To support the Agricultural Research Service's Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) in assessing impacts of USDA conservation programs and practices on soil and water quality, a publicly available web-based data system was developed: Sustaining the Earth's Watersheds, Agricultural Research Data System (STEWARDS). The data system organizes and documents soil, water, climate, land-management, and socio-economic data from multiple agricultural watersheds across the US and allows users to search, visualize, explore, and download, data. STEWARDS consists of: 1) a centralized site with Web/SQL/ArcIMS servers, a database management system, interface applications, and system administration; 2) data, including descriptive data, measurement data, imagery, and GIS layers; and 3) data providers at ARS watershed research sites. The objective of this paper is to describe the contents (data and descriptive information), the user interface, and the data delivery. The STEWARDS system uses space, time, and topic as key fields for searching the extensive ARS watershed data. STEWARDS will facilitate 1) researchers in obtaining ARS' historic watershed data for hydrological studies; 2) modelers in retrieving measured data over extensive time periods for model calibration and validation; and 3) watershed managers and a wide array of partners and stakeholders in accessing long-term data to support conservation planning and assessment. Anticipated benefits include preservation of data, increased data use, and facilitation of hydrological research within and across watersheds with diverse collaborators.
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