realtime_ws: Download realtime data from the ECCC web service

In tidyhydat: Extract and Tidy Canadian 'Hydrometric' Data

Download realtime data from the ECCC web service

Description

Function to actually retrieve data from ECCC web service. The maximum number of days that can be queried depends on other parameters being requested. If one station is requested, 18 months of data can be requested. If you continually receiving errors when invoking this function, reduce the number of observations (via station_number, parameters or dates) being requested.

Usage

realtime_ws(
  station_number,
  parameters = NULL,
  start_date = Sys.Date() - lubridate::days(30),
  end_date = Sys.Date()
)

Arguments

station_number	Water Survey of Canada station number.
parameters	parameter ID. Can take multiple entries. Parameter is a numeric code. See param_id for some options though undocumented parameters may be implemented. Defaults to Water level provisional, Secondary water level, Tertiary water level, Discharge Provisional, Discharge, sensor, Water temperature, Secondary water temperature, Accumulated precipitation
start_date	Accepts either YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. If only 'start date“ is supplied (i.e. YYYY-MM-DD) values are returned from the start of that day. Defaults to 30 days before current date. Time is supplied in UTC.
end_date	Accepts either YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. If only 'end_date“ is supplied (i.e. YYYY-MM-DD) values are returned from the end of that day. Defaults to current date. Time is supplied in UTC.

Format

A tibble with 6 variables:

• STATION_NUMBER: Unique 7 digit Water Survey of Canada station number

• Date: Observation date and time. Formatted as a POSIXct class as UTC for consistency.

• Name_En: Code name in English

• Value: Value of the measurement.

• Unit: Value units

• Grade: future use

• Symbol: future use

• Approval: future use

• Parameter: Numeric parameter code

• Code: Letter parameter code

See Also

Other realtime functions: realtime_dd(), realtime_stations()

Examples

## Not run: 

ws_08 <- realtime_ws(
  station_number = c("08NL071", "08NM174"),
  parameters = c(47, 5)
)

fivedays <- realtime_ws(
  station_number = c("08NL071", "08NM174"),
  parameters = c(47, 5),
  end_date = Sys.Date(), # today
  start_date = Sys.Date() - lubridate::days(5) # five days ago
)

## End(Not run)

tidyhydat documentation built on June 12, 2026, 1:07 a.m.