Overview of Columbia River DART (Data Access in Real Time)

Columbia River DART provides an interactive data resource designed for research and management purposes relating to the Columbia Basin salmon populations and river environment. Currently, daily data plus historic information dating back to 1878 is accessible online. Columbia River DART focuses on the Columbia Basin dams and fish passage. Detailed information is brought in daily from federal, state and tribal databases to provide a comprehensive information tool. Daily data loads occur from 5:30 to 8:30 every morning as well as several updates throughout the day.

Columbia River DART generates user-specified data files which can be saved to a user's personal computer in a variety of formats designed to be compatible with most spreadsheet programs. In addition, Columbia River DART has graphing capabilities which allow for the visual comparison of multiple variables on one plot. These output formats are available for the following data resources related to fish passage, PIT tags and the river environment.

Adult Salmonid Passage

• Adult Passage - Daily visual counts of adult salmon at all major Columbia and Snake River dams. The Graphics & Text query joins the Adult Passage dataset with the River Environment dataset.
  • Data Available: 1938 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, Composite Report, Monthly Summary, Annual Summary, and Run Timing.
  • Primary Data Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NWD and Chelan, Douglas, and Grant County PUDs and Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project.
• PIT Tag Adult Returns - Adult PIT Tag detections at detectors in adult fishways at many Columbia and Snake River dams. For this set of queries, DART applies filters to the PIT Tag dataset in order to only report fish that have been determined to be of adult stage at the time of detection. The Graphics & Text query joins the Adult PIT Tag dataset with the River Environment dataset.
  • Data Available: 1988 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, Observation Year, Release Year, Observation Summary, Mean Travel Time, Run Timing, and Conversion Rate.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• PIT Tag Adult Fallback Rates - Calculated adult PIT Tag fallback rates at several Columbia and Snake River dams. The algorithm to determine ascension counts is based on radio-telemetry research at the Columbia dams performed by Brian Burke, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, 2003-2004. The current migration season fallback rate estimates are updated on a daily basis throughout the season.
  • Data Available: 2004 to the present.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Sport Fishing & Recreation - Daily counts of adult salmon at all major Columbia and Snake River dams accessible from a regional map. This query combines the Adult Passage dataset with a clickable map for producing bar charts of adult counts. The web page also provides information about recreational access and river conditions for the Columbia Basin.
  • Data Available: 1995 to the present.
  • Query Types: Adult Returns Map, Recreational Access Map, and River Conditions Map.
  • Primary Data Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NWD and Chelan, Douglas, and Grant County PUDs.

Juvenile Salmonid Passage

• PIT Tag Release & Observation Summary - Summary of user-selected PIT-tagged salmonid releases and observations at Columbia Basin dams. This query allows users to browse the PIT Tag dataset for both release and observation information. Users may request to generate survival and mean travel time estimates from the query results.
  • Data Available: 1987 to the present.
  • Query Types: Summary Report, Survival Estimates, and Mean Travel Time Estimates.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• PIT Tag Observations by Hydro Unit - Daily observations of salmon containing passive transponders detected at Columbia Basin dams. Observations grouped by user-specified release hydro unit. Detailed data regarding release, size and characteristics of PIT-tagged fish is included. The Graphics & Text query joins the PIT Tag dataset with the River Environment dataset. The Summary Report allows the user to browse PIT Tag observations for all release Hydro Units based on the selected observation year, observation site and species.
  • Data Available: 1987 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, Detail Report, and Summary Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• PIT Tag Observations by Observation Site - Daily observations of salmon containing passive transponders detected at Columbia Basin dams. Observations grouped by user-specified observation site. Detailed data regarding release, size and characteristics of PIT-tagged fish is included. The Graphics & Text query joins the PIT Tag dataset with the River Environment dataset. The Summary Report allows the user to browse PIT Tag observations for all release locations and species based on the selected observation year and observation site.
  • Data Available: 1987 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, Detail Report, Summary Report, and Run Timing.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• PIT Tag Observations by Release Site - Daily observations of salmon containing passive transponders detected at Columbia Basin dams. Observations grouped by user-specified release site. Detailed data regarding release, size and characteristics of PIT-tagged fish is included. The Graphics & Text query joins the PIT Tag dataset with the River Environment dataset.
  • Data Available: 1987 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, and Detail Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• PIT Tag Observations by Tag Coordinator - Daily observations of salmon containing passive transponders detected at Columbia Basin dams. Observations grouped by user-specified tag coordinator and release site. Detailed data regarding release, size and characteristics of PIT-tagged fish is included. The Graphics & Text query joins the PIT Tag dataset with the River Environment dataset.
  • Data Available: 1987 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, and Detail Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Smolt Index - Daily salmonid passage index and collection counts at sites throughout the Columbia Basin. Sites include dams and river traps along the Salmon, Snake, Columbia, Imnaha and Grande Ronde rivers. The Graphics & Text query joins the PIT Tag dataset with the River Environment dataset.
  • Data Available: 1985 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, Composite Report, and Run Timing.
  • Primary Data Source: Fish Passage Center.
• Transportation - Transportation data at the four Columbia Basin tranport projects: Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and McNary.
  • Data Available: 1985 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Fish Passage Center.
• Trap Collected Counts - Raw trap collected counts at trap locations in the Mid Columbia Region.
  • Data Available: 1997 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text, and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Chelan County PUD, Douglas County PUD, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Yakama Nation.
• Hatchery Releases - Hatchery releases by migration year with some anticipated release schedules early in the season.
  • Data Available: 1979 to the present.
  • Query Types: Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Fish Passage Center.
• PIT Tag Releases - PIT Tag release information for the selected migration year.
  • Data Available: 1987 to the present.
  • Query Types: Report.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• PIT Tag Release Sites - PIT Tag release site information including state, river km, and total km.
  • Query Types: Report and Map.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Columbia Basin ESU (Evolutionarily Significant Unit)

On a daily basis throughout the current year migration season, DART generates three reports for each specific Columbia Basin ESU population. The Matrix report includes daily observation totals at all projects in migration order. The Two Day report includes the daily observation totals for each component stock (Release Site, Species, Run, and Rear Type) at all projects for the previous two days. The YTD (Year to Date) report includes the total observations to date for each component stock (Release Site, Species, Run, and Rear Type) at all projects in migration order.

• Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook ESU - consists of 39 local spawning populations (subpopulations) of the following: Tucannon River Basin, Snake River Basin, Salmon River Basin, Lemhi, Pahsimeroi, Grande Ronde, and Imnaha River Basin, and includes all locations above river kilometer 522.000.
  • Data Available: 1988 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Upper Columbia River Spring Chinook ESU - includes all naturally spawned populations of chinook salmon in all river reaches accessible to chinook salmon in Columbia River tributaries upstream of the Rock Island Dam and downstream of Chief Joseph Dam in Washington, excluding the Okanogan River. Chinook salmon (and their progeny) from the following hatchery stocks are considered part of the listed ESU: Chiwawa River (spring run); Methow River (spring run); Twisp River (spring run); Chewuch River (spring run); White River (spring run); and Nason Creek (spring run).
  • Data Available: 1994 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Upper Willamette River Spring Chinook ESU - includes all naturally spawned populations of spring-run chinook salmon in the Clackamas River and in the Willamette River, and its tributaries, above Willamette Falls, Oregon.
  • Data Available: 1999 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Snake River Fall Chinook ESU - consists of the production from spawning populations of fall chinook in the Snake, Tucannon, Clearwater, Salmon, Imnaha and Grande Ronde Rivers.
  • Data Available: 1991 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Subgroups Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Snake River Sockeye ESU - consists of Redfish Lake stock sockeye in the captive broodstock program at Eagle and Beef Creek hatcheries, and the hatchery fish released from this program into Redfish Lake, Pettit Lake, Pettit Creek, and Redfish Lake Creek; wild residual sockeye in Redfish Lake and their out-migrating progeny; any naturally-spawned progeny of broodstock adults released into Redfish Lake in 1993-94; and any adults returning to Redfish or Pettit Lake.
  • Data Available: 1990 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Snake River Steelhead ESU - includes all naturally spawned populations of Summer run steelhead (and their progeny) in the Snake River Basin.
  • Data Available: 1988 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Upper Columbia Steelhead ESU - includes all naturally spawned populations of steelhead (and their progeny) upstream from the Yakima River, Washington (above river kilometer 539), to the United States-Canada border and the Wells Hatchery stock of Summer run steelhead.
  • Data Available: 1989 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Middle Columbia Steelhead ESU - includes all naturally spawned populations of steelhead in streams from above the Wind River, Washington, and the Hood River, Oregon (exclusive), upstream to, and including, the Yakima River, Washington. Excluded are steelhead from the Snake River Basin.
  • Data Available: 1989 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Lower Columbia Steelhead ESU - includes all naturally spawned populations of steelhead (and their progeny) in streams and tributaries to the Columbia River between the Cowlitz and Wind Rivers, Washington (inclusive) and the Willamette and Hood Rivers, Oregon (inclusive). Excluded are steelhead in the upper Willamette River Basin above Willamette Falls and steelhead from the Little and Big White Salmon Rivers in Washington.
  • Data Available: 2000 to the present.
  • Query Types: Detail, Matrix, Two Day, and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Columbia Basin ESU and River Environment - Joins the DART Columbia Basin ESU dataset with the River Environment dataset for both graphic and text query results.
  • Data Available: 1988 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NWD.
• Historical Mean Travel Time Estimates - Provides mean travel time estimates for Columbia Basin ESU Juvenile and Adult migrations for all historical years and plots of the reach-specific daily mean travel times. The current migration season estimates are updated on a daily basis throughout the season.
  • Data Available: 1993 to the present.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• 10 Year Historical Run Timing - View Columbia Basin ESU populations run timing and migration timing characteristics--which includes first, 1%, 5%, 10%, 50%, 90%, 95%, and last passage dates as well as the number of days for the middle 80% of the run--at a specific project for the last 10 years.
  • Data Available: Last 10 Years.
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
• Report Archive - Provides access to all historical Matrix and YTD reports for all Columbia Basin ESU populations.
  • Data Available: 1988 to the present.
  • Query Types: Matrix and YTD (Year to Date).
  • Primary Data Source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

River and Ocean Data

For the River and Ocean datasets, there are two query types. Graphics & Text allows the user to define the query by selections of output type, multiple years, multiple data variables, and multiple locations (Hourly Water Quality dataset is an exception). Composite Report generates comma separated, multi-column text report for all available data variables for each day for the selected year and location.

• River Environment - Daily river environment data including outflow, spill, dissolved gas, dissolved oxygen, barometric pressure, temperature (C), and turbidity at Columbia and Snake River dams.
  • Data Available: 1949 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NWD and Grant County PUD.
• Streamflow - Daily streamflow (cfs), stage (ft), and water temperature (where available) from headwater locations and several other gage locations throughout the Columbia Basin.
  • Data Available: 1878 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: U.S. Geological Survey.
• Hourly Water Quality - Hourly measurements of river environment data including outflow, spill, dissolved gas, dissolved gas percent, barometric pressure, and temperature (C) at forebay and tailrace Water Quality Monitoring sites throughout the Columbia and Snake River basin.
  • Data Available: 1995 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NWD.
• Coastal Upwelling Index - Daily indices of the intensity of large-scale, wind-induced coastal upwelling at 15 standard locations along the west coast of North America. PFEL generates the indices on a monthly basis. PFEL Live Access Server provides access to the daily updated 6-hourly data, in user-specified graphical or data forms.
  • Data Available: 1967 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: NMFS, Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory.
• Ocean Moored Buoys - Daily mean values of air temperature, sea temperature, surface atmospheric pressure, wind speed, and wind direction. Sources of the data are 22 different NOAA NDBC moored buoys along the North American west coast. The data has been processed from the raw hourly data files. The processed buoy data is updated semi-annually by PFEL.
  • Data Available: 1980 to the present.
  • Query Types: Graphics & Text and Composite Report.
  • Primary Data Source: NMFS, Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory.

FYI

• Announcements about the current status of DART and other information for DART users.

Related Data & Topics

• Various web sites and sources for information about the Columbia Basin hydroelectric system, related datasets, and historical datasets.

javaDART

• javaDART is a Java-based graphics client for the Columbia River DART database.

Maps

• The Columbia River DART Location Map includes the location of the major Columbia Basin dams, Water Quality Monitoring sites, and USGS Stream Gaging stations. In addition, the web page provides links to primary source maps for DART datasets not covered by the DART Location Map.

Metadata

• Collection of the Metadata & Glossary information available for datasets offered in the Columbia River DART (Data Access in Real Time) database. Dataset-specific Metadata & Glossary information are linked to each applicable query page.

Monthly Stats

• Monthly web statistics of Columbia River DART data query requests made from 1998 to the present.