US Geological Survey Continuous Values API

openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: USGS Earthquake Catalog Collections Continuous Values API
  description: The USGS Earthquake Catalog API is an implementation of the FDSN Event Web Service Specification, providing real-time and historical access to earthquake catalog data from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) and contributing networks. The API allows queries by location, time, magnitude, depth, and other parameters with results in multiple formats.
  version: '1.0'
  contact:
    email: eq_questions@usgs.gov
    url: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/
  license:
    name: US Government Work
    url: https://www.usa.gov/government-works
servers:
- url: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1
  description: USGS Earthquake Catalog Production Server
tags:
- name: Continuous Values
  description: Real-time and historical continuous sensor measurements
paths:
  /collections/continuous-values/items:
    get:
      operationId: queryContinuousValues
      summary: Query Continuous Values
      description: Returns high-frequency continuous measurement data from USGS automated sensor networks. Includes streamflow, gage height, temperature, and hundreds of other parameters measured at monitoring locations.
      tags:
      - Continuous Values
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/bboxParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/datetimeParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/limitParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/offsetParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/filterParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/formatParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/propertiesParam'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/sortbyParam'
      - name: monitoringLocationIdentifier
        in: query
        description: USGS monitoring location identifier (e.g., USGS-01646500)
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: parameterCode
        in: query
        description: USGS parameter code for the measurement type (e.g., 00060 for discharge)
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Continuous measurement features
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/FeatureCollection'
        '400':
          description: Bad request
        '403':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimitExceeded'
components:
  parameters:
    propertiesParam:
      name: properties
      in: query
      description: Comma-separated list of properties to include in response
      required: false
      schema:
        type: array
        items:
          type: string
      style: form
      explode: false
    bboxParam:
      name: bbox
      in: query
      description: Bounding box for spatial filtering (minLon,minLat,maxLon,maxLat)
      required: false
      schema:
        type: array
        items:
          type: number
        minItems: 4
        maxItems: 6
      style: form
      explode: false
    offsetParam:
      name: offset
      in: query
      description: Starting offset for pagination
      required: false
      schema:
        type: integer
        minimum: 0
        default: 0
    filterParam:
      name: filter
      in: query
      description: CQL2 text filter expression for advanced querying
      required: false
      schema:
        type: string
    sortbyParam:
      name: sortby
      in: query
      description: Property name to sort results by (prefix with - for descending)
      required: false
      schema:
        type: string
    limitParam:
      name: limit
      in: query
      description: Maximum number of features to return
      required: false
      schema:
        type: integer
        minimum: 1
        maximum: 10000
        default: 100
    datetimeParam:
      name: datetime
      in: query
      description: Date/time filter (RFC 3339 or ISO 8601, supports intervals with /)
      required: false
      schema:
        type: string
    formatParam:
      name: f
      in: query
      description: Response format
      required: false
      schema:
        type: string
        enum:
        - json
        - html
        - jsonld
        - csv
        default: json
  schemas:
    Feature:
      type: object
      properties:
        type:
          type: string
          enum:
          - Feature
        id:
          type: string
          description: Unique feature identifier
        geometry:
          type: object
          nullable: true
          description: GeoJSON geometry object
        properties:
          type: object
          description: Feature properties
    ApiError:
      type: object
      properties:
        code:
          type: string
          description: Error code
          enum:
          - API_KEY_MISSING
          - OVER_RATE_LIMIT
        message:
          type: string
          description: Human-readable error message
    FeatureCollection:
      type: object
      properties:
        type:
          type: string
          enum:
          - FeatureCollection
        features:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Feature'
        numberMatched:
          type: integer
          description: Total number of features matching the query
        numberReturned:
          type: integer
          description: Number of features returned in this response
        links:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Link'
    Link:
      type: object
      properties:
        href:
          type: string
          description: URL of the link
        rel:
          type: string
          description: Link relation type
        type:
          type: string
          description: Media type
        title:
          type: string
          description: Human-readable title
  responses:
    Unauthorized:
      description: API key missing or invalid
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiError'
    RateLimitExceeded:
      description: Rate limit exceeded
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiError'