Summary

Description

Water temperature data is collected and stored by the Environment Agency for different reasons and in different locations. Time series of surface water temperatures can provide indicators of climate change and associated ecological responses. An archive was created in 2007 as part of a research project (SC070035), and is a unique collation of the Environment Agency’s water temperature data from more than 30,000 sites across England & Wales. The archive contains water temperature data (up to 2007) and site metadata. Most sites have records starting from the 1980s. The water temperature data are available in two main types; spot samples from routine monitoring (e.g. monthly) and high resolution samples (e.g. every 15 minutes). The database was created using Microsoft Access 2003 but has a simple query based front end. As part of the science project about 1 in 10 sites were analysed to assess trends, and images of these graphs are embedded within the archive and linked to sites for information. The archive can be interrogated to find out where water temperature data exist, how frequently sampling occurs and the length of each record. In addition, sites have information about water body type e.g. river, lake or canal.