description:
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These features from the Surface Water Quality Bureau's (SWQB) 2018 (Draft) Assessment Units were modeled to reflect the PRISM 30-Yr Normal Annual Mean Temperature for the period of 1981-2010. Temperature values were applied to each AU (of which there are 675) and subsequently divided and classed into segments spanning the PRISM data's 800m pixels.There are four attributes within this feature class, all based on the PRISM data referenced above. PRISM_ATEMP is the base attribute for the period of 1981-2010. The NMED_PREDICTED attributes are NMED predictions calculated from PRISM_ATEMP. Please see the attribute descriptions in the document referenced below for more complete information about these calculations.The air-water tempareture correlation indicates MWAT (Maximum Weekly Average Temperarature) = ATEMP (PRISM July Average Air Temp). Substituting ATEMP for MWAT yields the following:6T3 = 1.03 × ATEMP + 1.304T3 = 1.06 × ATEMP + 1.82TMAX = 1.06 × ATEMP + 4.95Based on these relationships, if the water temperature is not reduced by groundwater input or micoroclimate effects, the designated use based on water temperature is related to July average air temperature as follows:If the air temperature is ≤18°C, high quality or coldwater uses may be attainable; if the air temperature is between 18°C and 23°C, marginal coldwater and coolwater uses may be attainable; if the air temperature is >23°C, uses more restrictive than warmwater are generally not attainable.https://www.env.nm.gov/swqb/documents/swqbdocs/MAS/Protocols/Air-Water/Air-Water08-01-2011.pdf |