cenScatPlot {seawaveQ}

Scatter plot of water-quality data

Description

Function to generate a scatter plot that indicates censored and estimated water-quality concentrations.

Usage

cenScatPlot(
  data,
  datescol = "dates",
  pname,
  qwcols = c("R", "P"),
  site = "",
  xlabel = "",
  ylabel = "Concentration",
  legpos = "topright",
  legcex = 1,
  ...
)

Arguments

data

is the dataset with columns that begin with P followed by alphanumeric characters indicating concentration data and columns that begin with R followed by alphanumeric characters that match those of the concentration data indicating qualification codes. See example datasets for more information about the data format, see IllRivValleyCty and qwMoRivOmaha.

datescol

is the column label for the dates column.

pname

is the column heading (parameter name) for the particular water-quality constituent to be plotted (omit the starting character, for example for sulfate data indicated by P00945, enter "00945").

qwcols

is a character vector with the beginning of the column headers for remarks code (default is R), and beginning of column headers for concentration data (default is P for parameter).

site

is a label for the plot title indicating the site where the water-quality samples were collected.

xlabel

is the label for the x-axis, defaults to no label.

ylabel

is the label for the y-axis.

legpos

is the position of the legend, see legend.

legcex

is a numerical value giving the amount by which the legend text and symbols should be magnified relative to the default, 1.

...

arguments to be passed to plot method.

Details

This function uses the qualification, or remark, column associated with water-quality concentration values to indicate which samples are unqualified, which are estimated, and which are censored. A blank remark field or an "_" indicates that the concentration value is not qualified; an "E" indicates the value has been estimated; and a less than symbol, "<", indicates the value has been censored as less than a minimum reporting level. See Oblinger Childress and others (1999) for information on the minimum reporting level and the definition of "E" for U.S. Geological Survey data. Other users may have a different definition of the minimum reporting level, but censored values need to be qualified with a "<". Using the "E" code is optional.

Value

A scatter plot

Author(s)

Karen R. Ryberg

References

Oblinger Childress, C.J., Foreman, W.T., Connor, B.F., and Maloney, T.J., 1999, New reporting procedures based on long-term method detection levels and some considerations for interpretations of water-quality data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99–193, 19 p., https://water.usgs.gov/owq/OFR_99-193/index.html.

Examples

data(swData)
# scatter plot of Simazine concentrations
cenScatPlot(IllRivValleyCty, pname = "04035")
# scatter plot with many additional plotting arguments
par(las = 1, tcl = 0.5)
cenScatPlot(IllRivValleyCty, pname = "04035", 
            site = "05586100 Illinois River at Valley City, IL",
            ylabel = "Simazine concentration, in micrograms per liter", 
            legcex = 0.7, ylim = c(0, 0.4), yaxs = "i", cex.lab = 0.9, 
            cex.axis = 0.9, xlim = c(as.Date("1996-01-01", "%Y-%m-%d"), 
            as.Date("2012-01-01", "%Y-%m-%d")), xaxs = "i", xaxt = "n")
axdates <- c("1996-01-01", "2000-01-01", "2004-01-01", "2008-01-01",
           "2012-01-01")
axis(1, as.Date(axdates, "%Y-%m-%d"), 
     labels = c("1996", "2000", "2004", "2008", "2012"), cex.axis = 0.9)