To begin monitoring current conditions in a watershed, you will need to set the time window for viewing and updating the color bars and plot icons in your map display.

Set Time Window

You can either set a specific (i.e., fixed) time window (used when you are reviewing a specific historical event) or you can set a time window relative to the current time (which is the default setting, used to monitor incoming data in real-time).

To set or change the time window:

1. Click Specific Time Window on the Visualization Tab (Figure 1).
   
2. If you would like to set the visualization relative to the current date and time, select the Relative to Current Time and enter the Look Back Time and select either Days or Hours as the time unit. Normally you will set the time window to extend backward one to thirty days from the current time. Optionally, you can enter a Look Ahead Time and select either days or hours; this allows you to look ahead at data (useful if you’re looking at forecasted datasets).
3. If you would like to set the visualization to a historical time window, select Specific Time Window and enter the Start Date and Time of the time window and the End Date and Time of the time window for the historic data.
4. Click Update Plot Icons, and the Specific Time Window specifications will take effect.

Time Series Icon Shortcut Menu

In the Visualization Module, the time series icons in the Map Window have a shortcut menu (Figure 2) that allows you to view the data associated with a selected time series icon in a plot, tabulate table, or MS Excel®. Another option is that you can view the legend of the selected time series icon (Visualizing Incoming Data). The shortcut menu is available for all-time series icons (i.e., for the color bars, thumbnail plots, graphics, or dots).