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A data frame mapping 138 Oklahoma lakes to their EPA Level III ecoregion, with monitoring coverage statistics from a 1998-2023 snapshot of publicly available state lake monitoring records. Useful for quickly resolving an ecoregion for use with coefficients = "oklahoma", or for understanding which lakes have sufficient monitoring history to support empirical analysis.

Usage

ok_lake_ecoregions

Format

A data frame with one row per lake and the following columns:

lake_name

Character. Lake name as it appeared in source monitoring records.

eco_l3_code

Character. EPA Level III ecoregion numeric code (as string, US_L3CODE), e.g. "29" for Cross Timbers.

eco_l3_name

Character. EPA Level III ecoregion name (US_L3NAME).

n_sites_total

Integer. Total number of monitoring stations on this lake in the source dataset.

n_sites_tier1

Integer. Number of stations with at least 3 years each of TP, chlorophyll-a, and Secchi data (the core calibration parameters). Always <= n_sites_total.

latitude

Numeric. Approximate lake centroid latitude (WGS84 decimal degrees), computed as the mean of monitoring station coordinates.

longitude

Numeric. Approximate lake centroid longitude.

max_yrs_tp

Integer. Maximum number of calendar years (in the 1998-2023 window) with any reported total phosphorus data at any station on the lake.

max_yrs_chla

Integer. Same, for chlorophyll-a.

max_yrs_secchi

Integer. Same, for Secchi depth.

max_yrs_tn

Integer. Same, for total nitrogen.

Source

Compiled from publicly available Oklahoma lake monitoring records (1998-2023). Ecoregion polygons from Griffith, G.E. et al. (2004), Ecoregions of Oklahoma, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. See data-raw/ok_ecoregion_assignment.R in the package source for the assignment script.

Coverage statistics caveats

The n_sites_* and max_yrs_* columns reflect a 1998-2023 snapshot taken when the calibration was performed. They are not updated automatically with new monitoring data. Treat them as a useful starting point for assessing data availability, not as a current inventory. For up-to-date monitoring coverage, query the source monitoring system directly.

Ecoregion assignment

Ecoregion assignment uses EPA Level III boundaries (Griffith et al. 2004) applied by spatial join of each lake's monitoring-station coordinates against the bundled ecoregion polygons; each lake takes the ecoregion of the majority of its stations, with a nearest-feature fallback for stations just outside a polygon edge. All lakes in the current dataset are assigned an ecoregion. Lakes in ecoregions without an ecoregion-specific coefficient set use the statewide pooled regressions when modelling with coefficients = "oklahoma".

Examples

# All lakes in a specific ecoregion
head(ok_lake_ecoregions[ok_lake_ecoregions$eco_l3_name == "Cross Timbers", ])
#>             lake_name eco_l3_code   eco_l3_name n_sites_total n_sites_tier1
#> 60 Arbuckle Reservoir          29 Cross Timbers             5             5
#> 61       Arcadia Lake          29 Cross Timbers             5             5
#> 62  Ardmore City Lake          29 Cross Timbers             3             3
#> 63       Bellcow Lake          29 Cross Timbers             5             3
#> 64         Birch Lake          29 Cross Timbers             5             4
#> 65       Bixhoma Lake          29 Cross Timbers             3             3
#>    latitude longitude max_yrs_tp max_yrs_chla max_yrs_secchi max_yrs_tn
#> 60 34.44469 -97.01571         13           12             10         13
#> 61 35.63452 -97.38414         17           15             11         18
#> 62 34.22244 -97.15394          9            7              5          9
#> 63 35.73656 -96.93671         12           11              7         12
#> 64 36.52341 -96.18391         12           12              8         14
#> 65 35.89234 -95.79636          9            4              5          9

# Lakes with the longest monitoring history
top_monitored <- ok_lake_ecoregions[
  order(-ok_lake_ecoregions$max_yrs_tp), ][1:10, ]
top_monitored[, c("lake_name", "eco_l3_name", "max_yrs_tp")]
#>                lake_name          eco_l3_name max_yrs_tp
#> 92      Lake Thunderbird        Cross Timbers         24
#> 29      Fort Supply Lake Central Great Plains         17
#> 61          Arcadia Lake        Cross Timbers         17
#> 133 Tenkiller Ferry Lake      Ozark Highlands         17
#> 5         Lake McAlester      Arkansas Valley         16
#> 82         Keystone Lake        Cross Timbers         16
#> 87         Lake McMurtry        Cross Timbers         16
#> 129           Grand Lake      Ozark Highlands         16
#> 28   Fort Cobb Reservoir Central Great Plains         15
#> 30        Foss Reservoir Central Great Plains         15