Articles | Volume 15, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1733-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1733-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Data description paper
| 
18 Apr 2023
Data description paper |
| 18 Apr 2023
| 18 Apr 2023
Weekly high-resolution multi-spectral and thermal uncrewed-aerial-system mapping of an alpine catchment during summer snowmelt, Niwot Ridge, Colorado
Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington,
Wellington, New Zealand
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado
Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Earth Lab, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Noah P. Molotch
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado
Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA, USA
Related authors
Julia Martin, Ruzica Dadic, Brian Anderson, Roberta Pirazzini, Oliver Wigmore, and Lauren Vargo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1601, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1601, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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This study examines how snow distribution affects Antarctic sea ice surface temperature, a key factor in its energy balance. Using drone and ground-based data, we mapped snow depth and surface temperature on 2.4 m thick sea ice in McMurdo Sound. We corrected thermal camera inconsistencies and found that surface temperature is more influenced by topography-driven solar radiation than snow depth. Our findings highlight the need to account for small-scale processes in sea ice energy balance models.
Oliver Wigmore and Bryan Mark
The Cryosphere, 11, 2463–2480, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2463-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2463-2017, 2017
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Using a drone custom built for high altitude flight (4000–6000 m) we completed repeat surveys of Llaca Glacier in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Analysis of high resolution imagery and elevation data reveals highly heterogeneous patterns of glacier change and the important role of ice cliffs in glacier melt dynamics. Drones are found to provide a viable and potentially transformative method for studying glacier change at high spatial resolution, on demand and at relatively low cost.
Julia Martin, Ruzica Dadic, Brian Anderson, Roberta Pirazzini, Oliver Wigmore, and Lauren Vargo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1601, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1601, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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This study examines how snow distribution affects Antarctic sea ice surface temperature, a key factor in its energy balance. Using drone and ground-based data, we mapped snow depth and surface temperature on 2.4 m thick sea ice in McMurdo Sound. We corrected thermal camera inconsistencies and found that surface temperature is more influenced by topography-driven solar radiation than snow depth. Our findings highlight the need to account for small-scale processes in sea ice energy balance models.
Baptiste Vandecrux, Jason E. Box, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Signe B. Andersen, Nicolas Bayou, William T. Colgan, Nicolas J. Cullen, Robert S. Fausto, Dominik Haas-Artho, Achim Heilig, Derek A. Houtz, Penelope How, Ionut Iosifescu Enescu, Nanna B. Karlsson, Rebecca Kurup Buchholz, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Daniel McGrath, Noah P. Molotch, Bianca Perren, Maiken K. Revheim, Anja Rutishauser, Kevin Sampson, Martin Schneebeli, Sandy Starkweather, Simon Steffen, Jeff Weber, Patrick J. Wright, Henry Jay Zwally, and Konrad Steffen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5467–5489, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, 2023
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The Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) comprises stations that have been monitoring the weather on the Greenland Ice Sheet for over 30 years. These stations are being replaced by newer ones maintained by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). The historical data were reprocessed to improve their quality, and key information about the weather stations has been compiled. This augmented dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.22008/FK2/VVXGUT (Steffen et al., 2022).
Keith S. Jennings and Noah P. Molotch
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3765–3786, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3765-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3765-2019, 2019
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There is a wide variety of modeling methods to designate precipitation as rain, snow, or a mix of the two. Here we show that method choice introduces marked uncertainty to simulated snowpack water storage (> 200 mm) and snow cover duration (> 1 month) in areas that receive significant winter and spring precipitation at air temperatures at and near freezing. This marked uncertainty has implications for water resources management as well as simulations of past and future hydroclimatic states.
Keith S. Jennings, Timothy G. F. Kittel, and Noah P. Molotch
The Cryosphere, 12, 1595–1614, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1595-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1595-2018, 2018
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We show through observations and simulations that cold content, a key part of the snowpack energy budget, develops primarily through new snowfall. We also note that cold content damps snowmelt rate and timing at sub-seasonal timescales, while seasonal melt onset is controlled by the timing of peak cold content and total spring precipitation. This work has implications for how cold content is represented in snow models and improves our understanding of its effect on snowmelt processes.
Keith N. Musselman, Noah P. Molotch, and Steven A. Margulis
The Cryosphere, 11, 2847–2866, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2847-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2847-2017, 2017
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We present a study of how melt rates in the California Sierra Nevada respond to a range of warming projected for this century. Snowfall and melt were simulated for historical and modified (warmer) snow seasons. Winter melt occurs more frequently and more intensely, causing an increase in extreme winter melt. In a warmer climate, less snow persists into the spring, causing spring melt to be substantially lower. The results offer insight into how snow water resources may respond to climate change.
Oliver Wigmore and Bryan Mark
The Cryosphere, 11, 2463–2480, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2463-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2463-2017, 2017
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Using a drone custom built for high altitude flight (4000–6000 m) we completed repeat surveys of Llaca Glacier in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Analysis of high resolution imagery and elevation data reveals highly heterogeneous patterns of glacier change and the important role of ice cliffs in glacier melt dynamics. Drones are found to provide a viable and potentially transformative method for studying glacier change at high spatial resolution, on demand and at relatively low cost.
Dominik Schneider, Noah P. Molotch, and Jeffrey S. Deems
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-167, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-167, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
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New data from the ongoing Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) provides an unprecedented look at the spatial and temporal patterns of snow water content (SWE) over multiple years in California, USA. We found that relationships between SWE, snow covered area, and topography transfer between years at accuracy levels equivalent to those from models generated from ASO data collected on the day of interest. This research provides a first attempt at extending the value of ASO beyond the observations.
Felix C. Seidel, Karl Rittger, S. McKenzie Skiles, Noah P. Molotch, and Thomas H. Painter
The Cryosphere, 10, 1229–1244, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1229-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1229-2016, 2016
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Quantifying the snow albedo effect is an important step to predict water availability as well as changes in climate and sea level. We use imaging spectroscopy to determine optical properties of mountain snow. We find an inverse relationship between snow albedo and grain size as well as between elevation and grain size. Under strong melt conditions, however, we show that the optical-equivalent snow grain size increases slower than expected at lower elevations and we explain possible reasons.
A. A. Harpold, J. A. Marshall, S. W. Lyon, T. B. Barnhart, B. A. Fisher, M. Donovan, K. M. Brubaker, C. J. Crosby, N. F. Glenn, C. L. Glennie, P. B. Kirchner, N. Lam, K. D. Mankoff, J. L. McCreight, N. P. Molotch, K. N. Musselman, J. Pelletier, T. Russo, H. Sangireddy, Y. Sjöberg, T. Swetnam, and N. West
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2881–2897, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2881-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2881-2015, 2015
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This review's objective is to demonstrate the transformative potential of lidar by critically assessing both challenges and opportunities for transdisciplinary lidar applications in geomorphology, hydrology, and ecology. We find that using lidar to its full potential will require numerous advances, including more powerful open-source processing tools, new lidar acquisition technologies, and improved integration with physically based models and complementary observations.
Related subject area
Domain: ESSD – Land | Subject: Hydrology
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Discrete global grid system-based flow routing datasets in the Amazon and Yukon basins
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Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2713–2733, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2713-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2713-2025, 2025
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Shanti Shwarup Mahto, Simone Fatichi, and Stefano Galelli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2693–2712, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2693-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2693-2025, 2025
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The MSEA-Res database offers an open-access dataset tracking absolute water storage for 186 large reservoirs across Mainland Southeast Asia from 1985 to 2023. It provides valuable insights into how reservoir storage grew by 130 % between 2008 and 2017, driven by dams in key river basins. Our data also reveal how droughts, like the 2019–2020 event, significantly impacted water reservoirs. This resource can aid water management, drought planning, and research globally.
Nehar Mandal, Prabal Das, and Kironmala Chanda
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2575–2604, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2575-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2575-2025, 2025
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Optimal features among hydroclimatic variables and land surface model (LSM) outputs are selected using a novel Bayesian network (BN) approach for simulating terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWSAs). TWSAs are reconstructed (BNML_TWSA) with grid-specific leader models (among four machine learning models) from January 1960 to December 2022 to generate a continuous global gridded dataset. The uncertainty in the reconstructed BNML_TWSA product is also assessed in terms of standard error.
Bernhard Lehner, Mira Anand, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Florence Tan, Filipe Aires, George H. Allen, Philippe Bousquet, Josep G. Canadell, Nick Davidson, Meng Ding, C. Max Finlayson, Thomas Gumbricht, Lammert Hilarides, Gustaf Hugelius, Robert B. Jackson, Maartje C. Korver, Liangyun Liu, Peter B. McIntyre, Szabolcs Nagy, David Olefeldt, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Jean-Francois Pekel, Benjamin Poulter, Catherine Prigent, Jida Wang, Thomas A. Worthington, Dai Yamazaki, Xiao Zhang, and Michele Thieme
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2277–2329, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2277-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2277-2025, 2025
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The Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (GLWD) version 2 distinguishes a total of 33 non-overlapping wetland classes, providing a static map of the world’s inland surface waters. It contains cell fractions of wetland extents per class at a grid cell resolution of ~500 m. The total combined extent of all classes including all inland and coastal waterbodies and wetlands of all inundation frequencies – that is, the maximum extent – covers 18.2 × 106 km2, equivalent to 13.4 % of total global land area.
Karl Nicolaus van Zweel, Laurent Gourdol, Jean François Iffly, Loïc Léonard, François Barnich, Laurent Pfister, Erwin Zehe, and Christophe Hissler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2217–2229, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2217-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2217-2025, 2025
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Our study monitored groundwater in a Luxembourg forest over a year to understand water and chemical changes. We found seasonal variations in water chemistry, influenced by rainfall and soil interactions. These data help predict environmental responses and manage water resources better. By measuring key parameters like pH and dissolved oxygen, our research provides valuable insights into groundwater behaviour and serves as a resource for future environmental studies.
Chang Liao, Darren Engwirda, Matthew G. Cooper, Mingke Li, and Yilin Fang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2035–2062, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2035-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2035-2025, 2025
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Discrete global grid systems, or DGGS, are digital frameworks that help us organize information about our planet. Although scientists have used DGGS in areas like weather and nature, using them in the water cycle has been challenging because some core datasets are missing. We created a way to generate these datasets. We then developed the datasets in the Amazon and Yukon basins, which play important roles in our planet's climate. These datasets may help us improve our water cycle models.
Sanchit Minocha and Faisal Hossain
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1743–1759, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1743-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1743-2025, 2025
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Trustworthy and independently verifiable information on declining storage capacity or sedimentation rates worldwide is sparse and suffers from inconsistent metadata and curation to allow global-scale archiving and analyses. The Global Reservoir Inventory of Lost Storage by Sedimentation (GRILSS) dataset addresses this challenge by providing organized, well-curated, and open-source data on sedimentation rates and capacity loss for 1013 reservoirs in 75 major river basins across 54 countries.
Haiguang Cheng, Kaiheng Hu, Shuang Liu, Xiaopeng Zhang, Hao Li, Qiyuan Zhang, Lan Ning, Manish Raj Gouli, Pu Li, Anna Yang, Peng Zhao, Junyu Liu, and Li Wei
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1573–1593, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1573-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1573-2025, 2025
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After reviewing 2519 literature and media reports, we compiled the first comprehensive global dataset of 555 debris flow barrier dams (DFBDs) from 1800 to 2023. Our dataset meticulously documents 38 attributes of DFBDs, and we have utilized Google Earth for validation. Additionally, we discussed the applicability of landslide dam stability and peak-discharge models to DFBDs. This dataset offers a rich foundation of data for future studies on DFBDs.
Jun Liu, Julian Koch, Simon Stisen, Lars Troldborg, Anker Lajer Højberg, Hans Thodsen, Mark F. T. Hansen, and Raphael J. M. Schneider
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1551–1572, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1551-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1551-2025, 2025
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We developed a CAMELS-style dataset in Denmark, which contains hydrometeorological time series and landscape attributes for 3330 catchments (304 gauged). Many catchments in CAMELS-DK are small and at low elevations. The dataset provides information on groundwater characteristics and dynamics, as well as quantities related to the human impact on the hydrological system in Denmark. The dataset is especially relevant for developing data-driven and hybrid physically informed modeling frameworks.
Pragnaditya Malakar, Aatish Anshuman, Mukesh Kumar, Georgios Boumis, T. Prabhakar Clement, Arik Tashie, Hitesh Thakur, Nagaraj Bhat, and Lokendra Rathore
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1515–1528, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1515-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1515-2025, 2025
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Groundwater dynamics depend on groundwater recharge, but daily benchmark data of recharge are scarce. Here we present a daily groundwater recharge per unit specified yield (RpSy) data at 485 US groundwater monitoring wells. RpSy can be used to validate the temporal consistency of recharge products from land surface and hydrologic models and facilitate assessment of recharge-driver functional relationships in them.
Olivier Delaigue, Guilherme Mendoza Guimarães, Pierre Brigode, Benoît Génot, Charles Perrin, Jean-Michel Soubeyroux, Bruno Janet, Nans Addor, and Vazken Andréassian
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1461–1479, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1461-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1461-2025, 2025
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This dataset covers 654 rivers all flowing in France. The provided time series and catchment attributes will be of interest to those modelers wishing to analyze hydrological behavior and perform model assessments.
Giulia Evangelista, Paola Mazzoglio, Daniele Ganora, Francesca Pianigiani, and Pierluigi Claps
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1407–1426, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1407-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1407-2025, 2025
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This paper presents the first comprehensive dataset of 528 large dams in Italy. It contains structural characteristics of the dams, such as coordinates, reservoir surface areas and volumes, together with a range of geomorphological, climatological, extreme rainfall, land cover and soil-related attributes of their upstream catchments.
Yueli Chen, Yun Xie, Xingwu Duan, and Minghu Ding
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1265–1274, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1265-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1265-2025, 2025
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Rainfall erosivity maps are crucial for identifying key areas of water erosion. Due to the limited historical precipitation data, there are certain biases in rainfall erosivity estimates in China. This study develops a new rainfall erosivity map for mainland China using 1 min precipitation data from 60 129 weather stations, revealing that areas exceeding 4000 MJ mm ha−1 h−1yr−1 of annual rainfall erosivity are mainly concentrated in southern China and on the southern Tibetan Plateau.
Camille Minaudo, Andras Abonyi, Carles Alcaraz, Jacob Diamond, Nicholas J. K. Howden, Michael Rode, Estela Romero, Vincent Thieu, Fred Worrall, Qian Zhang, and Xavier Benito
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-58, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-58, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Many waterbodies undergo nutrient decline globally, called oligotrophication, but a comprehensive dataset to understand ecosystem responses is lacking. The OLIGOTREND database comprises multi-decadal chlorophyll-a and nutrient timeseries from rivers, lakes, and estuaries with 4.3 million observations from 1,894 unique measurement locations. The database provides empirical evidence for oligotrophication responses with a spatial and temporal coverage exceeding previous efforts.
Jan Magnusson, Yves Bühler, Louis Quéno, Bertrand Cluzet, Giulia Mazzotti, Clare Webster, Rebecca Mott, and Tobias Jonas
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 703–717, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-703-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-703-2025, 2025
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In this study, we present a dataset for the Dischma catchment in eastern Switzerland, which represents a typical high-alpine watershed in the European Alps. Accurate monitoring and reliable forecasting of snow and water resources in such basins are crucial for a wide range of applications. Our dataset is valuable for improving physics-based snow, land surface, and hydrological models, with potential applications in similar high-alpine catchments.
Haoxuan Yang, Jia Yang, Tyson E. Ochsner, Erik S. Krueger, Mengyuan Xu, and Chris B. Zou
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-55, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-55, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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We developed a 3-hour, 1-km surface soil moisture dataset for the contiguous United States from 2015 to 2023 using the spatio-temporal fusion method. This dataset effectively combines the distinct advantages of two long-term SSM datasets, which is also the first hour-level 1-km soil moisture dataset at the continental US scale. The new dataset could provide new insight into the fast changes in soil moisture along with drought and wet spell occurrences.
Nikunj K. Mangukiya, Kanneganti Bhargav Kumar, Pankaj Dey, Shailza Sharma, Vijaykumar Bejagam, Pradeep P. Mujumdar, and Ashutosh Sharma
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 461–491, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-461-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-461-2025, 2025
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We introduce CAMELS-IND (Catchment Attributes and MEteorology for Large-sample Studies – India), which provides daily hydrometeorological time series and static catchment attributes representing the location, topography, climate, hydrological signatures, land use, land cover, soil, geology, and anthropogenic influences for 472 catchments in Peninsular India to foster large-sample hydrological studies in India and promote the inclusion of Indian catchments in global hydrological research.
Bennett J. McAfee, Aanish Pradhan, Abhilash Neog, Sepideh Fatemi, Robert T. Hensley, Mary E. Lofton, Anuj Karpatne, Cayelan C. Carey, and Paul C. Hanson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-27, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-27, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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LakeBeD-US is a dataset of lake water quality data collected by multiple long-term monitoring programs around the United States. This dataset is designed to foster collaboration between lake scientists and computer scientists to improve predictions of water quality. By offering a way for computer models to be tested against real-world lake data, LakeBeD-US offers opportunities for both sciences to grow and to give new insights into the causes of water quality changes.
Aloïs Tilloy, Dominik Paprotny, Stefania Grimaldi, Goncalo Gomes, Alessandra Bianchi, Stefan Lange, Hylke Beck, Cinzia Mazzetti, and Luc Feyen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 293–316, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-293-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-293-2025, 2025
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This article presents a reanalysis of Europe's river streamflow for the period 1951–2020. Streamflow is estimated through a state-of-the-art hydrological simulation framework benefitting from detailed information about the landscape, climate, and human activities. The resulting Hydrological European ReAnalysis (HERA) can be a valuable tool for studying hydrological dynamics, including the impacts of climate change and human activities on European water resources and flood and drought risks.
Daniel Kovacek and Steven Weijs
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 259–275, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-259-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-259-2025, 2025
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We made a dataset for British Columbia describing the terrain, soil, land cover, and climate of over 1 million watersheds. The attributes are often used in hydrology because they are related to the water cycle. The data are meant to be used for water resources problems that can benefit from lots of watersheds and their attributes. The data and instructions needed to build the dataset from scratch are freely available. The permanent home for the data is https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/JNKZVT.
Andrea Galletti, Soroush Zarghami Dastjerdi, and Bruno Majone
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-521, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-521, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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We propose IAR-HP, a detailed inventory of large hydropower systems in Italy's Alpine Region, aimed at improving hydrological modeling for climate impact studies by providing the most relevant information with a consistent level of detail. It includes structural, geographical, and operational data for over 300 hydropower plants and their related reservoirs and water intakes. Validated through modeling, IAR-HP accurately reproduces observed hydropower, capturing 96.2 % of actual production.
Colleen Mortimer and Vincent Vionnet
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-602, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-602, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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In situ observations of snow water equivalent (SWE) are critical for climate applications and resource management. NorSWE is a dataset of in situ SWE observations covering North America, Finland and Russia over the period 1979–2021. It includes >11 million observations from >10 thousand different locations compiled from nine different sources. Snow depth and derived bulk snow density are included when available.
Wolfgang Preimesberger, Pietro Stradiotti, and Wouter Dorigo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-610, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-610, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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We introduce the official ESA CCI Soil Moisture GAPFILLED climate data record. A univariate interpolation algorithm is applied to predict missing data points without relying on ancillary variables. The dataset includes gap-free uncertainty estimates for all predictions and was validated with independent in situ reference measurements. The data are recommended for applications, which require global long-term gap-free satellite soil moisture data.
Bennet Juhls, Anne Morgenstern, Jens Hölemann, Antje Eulenburg, Birgit Heim, Frederieke Miesner, Hendrik Grotheer, Gesine Mollenhauer, Hanno Meyer, Ephraim Erkens, Felica Yara Gehde, Sofia Antonova, Sergey Chalov, Maria Tereshina, Oxana Erina, Evgeniya Fingert, Ekaterina Abramova, Tina Sanders, Liudmila Lebedeva, Nikolai Torgovkin, Georgii Maksimov, Vasily Povazhnyi, Rafael Gonçalves-Araujo, Urban Wünsch, Antonina Chetverova, Sophie Opfergelt, and Pier Paul Overduin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1–28, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1-2025, 2025
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The Siberian Arctic is warming fast: permafrost is thawing, river chemistry is changing, and coastal ecosystems are affected. We aimed to understand changes in the Lena River, a major Arctic river flowing to the Arctic Ocean, by collecting 4.5 years of detailed water data, including temperature and carbon and nutrient contents. This dataset records current conditions and helps us to detect future changes. Explore it at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.913197 and https://lena-monitoring.awi.de/.
Ralf Loritz, Alexander Dolich, Eduardo Acuña Espinoza, Pia Ebeling, Björn Guse, Jonas Götte, Sibylle K. Hassler, Corina Hauffe, Ingo Heidbüchel, Jens Kiesel, Mirko Mälicke, Hannes Müller-Thomy, Michael Stölzle, and Larisa Tarasova
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5625–5642, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5625-2024, 2024
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The CAMELS-DE dataset features data from 1582 streamflow gauges across Germany, with records spanning from 1951 to 2020. This comprehensive dataset, which includes time series of up to 70 years (median 46 years), enables advanced research on water flow and environmental trends and supports the development of hydrological models.
Einara Zahn and Elie Bou-Zeid
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5603–5624, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5603-2024, 2024
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Quantifying water and CO2 exchanges through transpiration, evaporation, net photosynthesis, and soil respiration is essential for understanding how ecosystems function. We implemented five methods to estimate these fluxes over a 5-year period across 47 sites. This is the first dataset representing such large spatial and temporal coverage of soil and plant exchanges, and it has many potential applications, such as examining the response of ecosystems to weather extremes and climate change.
Lauranne Alaerts, Jonathan Lambrechts, Ny Riana Randresihaja, Luc Vandenbulcke, Olivier Gourgue, Emmanuel Hanert, and Marilaure Grégoire
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-529, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-529, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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We created the first comprehensive, high-resolution, and easily-accessible bathymetry dataset for the three main branches of the Danube Delta. By combining four data sources, we obtained a detailed representation of the riverbed, with resolutions ranging from 2 to 100 m. This dataset will support future studies on water and nutrient exchanges between the Danube and the Black Sea, and provide insights into the Delta’s buffer role within the understudied Danube-Black Sea continuum.
Wangyipu Li, Zhaoyuan Yao, Yifan Qu, Hanbo Yang, Yang Song, Lisheng Song, Lifeng Wu, and Yaokui Cui
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-460, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-460, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Due to shortcomings such as extensive data gaps and limited observation durations in current ground-based latent heat flux (LE) datasets, we developed a novel gap-filling and prolongation framework for ground-based LE observations, establishing a benchmark dataset for global evapotranspiration (ET) estimation from 2000 to 2022 across 64 sites at various time scales. This comprehensive dataset can strongly support ET modelling, water-carbon cycle monitoring, and long-term climate change analysis.
Juliette Godet, Pierre Nicolle, Nabil Hocini, Eric Gaume, Philippe Davy, Frederic Pons, Pierre Javelle, Pierre-André Garambois, Dimitri Lague, and Olivier Payrastre
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-472, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-472, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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This paper describes a dataset that includes input, output, and validation data for the simulation of flash flood hazards and three specific flash flood events in the French Mediterranean region. This dataset is particularly valuable as flood mapping methods often lack sufficient benchmark data. Additionally, we demonstrate how the hydraulic method we used, named Floodos, produces highly satisfactory results.
Claudia Färber, Henning Plessow, Simon Mischel, Frederik Kratzert, Nans Addor, Guy Shalev, and Ulrich Looser
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-427, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-427, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Large-sample datasets are essential in hydrological science to support modelling studies and advance process understanding. Caravan is a community initiative to create a large-sample hydrology dataset of meteorological forcing data, catchment attributes, and discharge data for catchments around the world. This dataset is a subset of hydrological discharge data and station-based watersheds from the Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), which are covered by an open data policy.
Ling Zhang, Yanhua Xie, Xiufang Zhu, Qimin Ma, and Luca Brocca
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5207–5226, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5207-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5207-2024, 2024
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This study presented new annual maps of irrigated cropland in China from 2000 to 2020 (CIrrMap250). These maps were developed by integrating remote sensing data, irrigation statistics and surveys, and an irrigation suitability map. CIrrMap250 achieved high accuracy and outperformed currently available products. The new irrigation maps revealed a clear expansion of China’s irrigation area, with the majority (61%) occurring in the water-unsustainable regions facing severe to extreme water stress.
Dominik Paprotny, Paweł Terefenko, and Jakub Śledziowski
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5145–5170, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5145-2024, 2024
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Knowledge about past natural disasters can help adaptation to their future occurrences. Here, we present a dataset of 2521 riverine, pluvial, coastal, and compound floods that have occurred in 42 European countries between 1870 and 2020. The dataset contains available information on the inundated area, fatalities, persons affected, or economic loss and was obtained by extensive data collection from more than 800 sources ranging from news reports through government databases to scientific papers.
Paulina Bartkowiak, Bartolomeo Ventura, Alexander Jacob, and Mariapina Castelli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4709–4734, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4709-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4709-2024, 2024
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This paper presents the Two-Source Energy Balance evapotranspiration (ET) product driven by Copernicus Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 imagery together with ERA5 climate reanalysis data. Daily ET maps are available at 100 m spatial resolution for the period 2017–2021 across four Mediterranean basins: Ebro (Spain), Hérault (France), Medjerda (Tunisia), and Po (Italy). The product is highly beneficial for supporting vegetation monitoring and sustainable water management at the river basin scale.
Fanny J. Sarrazin, Sabine Attinger, and Rohini Kumar
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4673–4708, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4673-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4673-2024, 2024
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Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contamination of water bodies is a long-term issue due to the long history of N and P inputs to the environment and their persistence. Here, we introduce a long-term and high-resolution dataset of N and P inputs from wastewater (point sources) for Germany, combining data from different sources and conceptual understanding. We also account for uncertainties in modelling choices, thus facilitating robust long-term and large-scale water quality studies.
Rohit Mukherjee, Frederick Policelli, Ruixue Wang, Elise Arellano-Thompson, Beth Tellman, Prashanti Sharma, Zhijie Zhang, and Jonathan Giezendanner
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4311–4323, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4311-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4311-2024, 2024
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Global water resource monitoring is crucial due to climate change and population growth. This study presents a hand-labeled dataset of 100 PlanetScope images for surface water detection, spanning diverse biomes. We use this dataset to evaluate two state-of-the-art mapping methods. Results highlight performance variations across biomes, emphasizing the need for diverse, independent validation datasets to enhance the accuracy and reliability of satellite-based surface water monitoring techniques.
Lei Huang, Yong Luo, Jing M. Chen, Qiuhong Tang, Tammo Steenhuis, Wei Cheng, and Wen Shi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3993–4019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3993-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3993-2024, 2024
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Timely global terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) data are crucial for water resource management and drought forecasting. This study introduces the VISEA algorithm, which integrates satellite data and shortwave radiation to provide daily 0.05° gridded near-real-time ET estimates. By employing a vegetation index–temperature method, this algorithm can estimate ET without requiring additional data. Evaluation results demonstrate VISEA's comparable accuracy with accelerated data availability.
Sibylle Kathrin Hassler, Rafael Bohn Reckziegel, Ben du Toit, Svenja Hoffmeister, Florian Kestel, Anton Kunneke, Rebekka Maier, and Jonathan Paul Sheppard
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3935–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3935-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3935-2024, 2024
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Agroforestry systems (AFSs) combine trees and crops within the same land unit, providing a sustainable land use option which protects natural resources and biodiversity. Introducing trees into agricultural systems can positively affect water resources, soil characteristics, biomass and microclimate. We studied an AFS in South Africa in a multidisciplinary approach to assess the different influences and present the resulting dataset consisting of water, soil, tree and meteorological variables.
Keirnan J. A. Fowler, Ziqi Zhang, and Xue Hou
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-263, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-263, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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This paper presents Version 2 of the Australian edition of the Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies (CAMELS) series of datasets. CAMELS-AUS v2 comprises data for an increased number (561) of catchments, each with with long-term monitoring, combining hydrometeorological time series with attributes related to geology, soil, topography, land cover, anthropogenic influence and hydroclimatology. It is freely downloadable from https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.12575680.
Kaihao Zheng, Peirong Lin, and Ziyun Yin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3873–3891, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3873-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3873-2024, 2024
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We develop a globally applicable thresholding scheme for DEM-based floodplain delineation to improve the representation of spatial heterogeneity. It involves a stepwise approach to estimate the basin-level floodplain hydraulic geometry parameters that best respect the scaling law while approximating the global hydrodynamic flood maps. A ~90 m resolution global floodplain map, the Spatial Heterogeneity Improved Floodplain by Terrain analysis (SHIFT), is delineated with demonstrated superiority.
Yuzhong Yang, Qingbai Wu, Xiaoyan Guo, Lu Zhou, Helin Yao, Dandan Zhang, Zhongqiong Zhang, Ji Chen, and Guojun Liu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3755–3770, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3755-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3755-2024, 2024
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We present the temporal data of stable isotopes in different waterbodies in the Beiluhe Basin in the hinterland of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) produced between 2017 and 2022. In this article, the first detailed stable isotope data of 359 ground ice samples are presented. This first data set provides a new basis for understanding the hydrological effects of permafrost degradation on the QTP.
Hordur Bragi Helgason and Bart Nijssen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2741–2771, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2741-2024, 2024
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LamaH-Ice is a large-sample hydrology (LSH) dataset for Iceland. The dataset includes daily and hourly hydro-meteorological time series, including observed streamflow and basin characteristics, for 107 basins. LamaH-Ice offers most variables that are included in existing LSH datasets and additional information relevant to cold-region hydrology such as annual time series of glacier extent and mass balance. A large majority of the basins in LamaH-Ice are unaffected by human activities.
Chengcheng Hou, Yan Li, Shan Sang, Xu Zhao, Yanxu Liu, Yinglu Liu, and Fang Zhao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2449–2464, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2449-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2449-2024, 2024
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To fill the gap in the gridded industrial water withdrawal (IWW) data in China, we developed the China Industrial Water Withdrawal (CIWW) dataset, which provides monthly IWWs from 1965 to 2020 at a spatial resolution of 0.1°/0.25° and auxiliary data including subsectoral IWW and industrial output value in 2008. This dataset can help understand the human water use dynamics and support studies in hydrology, geography, sustainability sciences, and water resource management and allocation in China.
Pierre-Antoine Versini, Leydy Alejandra Castellanos-Diaz, David Ramier, and Ioulia Tchiguirinskaia
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2351–2366, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2351-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2351-2024, 2024
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Nature-based solutions (NBSs), such as green roofs, have appeared as relevant solutions to mitigate urban heat islands. The evapotranspiration (ET) process allows NBSs to cool the air. To improve our knowledge about ET assessment, this paper presents some experimental measurement campaigns carried out during three consecutive summers. Data are available for three different (large, small, and point-based) spatial scales.
Ralph Bathelemy, Pierre Brigode, Vazken Andréassian, Charles Perrin, Vincent Moron, Cédric Gaucherel, Emmanuel Tric, and Dominique Boisson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2073–2098, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2073-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2073-2024, 2024
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The aim of this work is to provide the first hydroclimatic database for Haiti, a Caribbean country particularly vulnerable to meteorological and hydrological hazards. The resulting database, named Simbi, provides hydroclimatic time series for around 150 stations and 24 catchment areas.
Changming Li, Ziwei Liu, Wencong Yang, Zhuoyi Tu, Juntai Han, Sien Li, and Hanbo Yang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1811–1846, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1811-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1811-2024, 2024
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Using a collocation-based approach, we developed a reliable global land evapotranspiration product (CAMELE) by merging multi-source datasets. The CAMELE product outperformed individual input datasets and showed satisfactory performance compared to reference data. It also demonstrated superiority for different plant functional types. Our study provides a promising solution for data fusion. The CAMELE dataset allows for detailed research and a better understanding of land–atmosphere interactions.
Yuhan Guo, Hongxing Zheng, Yuting Yang, Yanfang Sang, and Congcong Wen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1651–1665, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1651-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1651-2024, 2024
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We have provided an inaugural version of the hydrogeomorphic dataset for catchments over the Tibetan Plateau. We first provide the width-function-based instantaneous unit hydrograph (WFIUH) for each HydroBASINS catchment, which can be used to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological behavior across the Tibetan Plateau. It is expected to facilitate hydrological modeling across the Tibetan Plateau.
Ziyun Yin, Peirong Lin, Ryan Riggs, George H. Allen, Xiangyong Lei, Ziyan Zheng, and Siyu Cai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1559–1587, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1559-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1559-2024, 2024
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Large-sample hydrology (LSH) datasets have been the backbone of hydrological model parameter estimation and data-driven machine learning models for hydrological processes. This study complements existing LSH studies by creating a dataset with improved sample coverage, uncertainty estimates, and dynamic descriptions of human activities, which are all crucial to hydrological understanding and modeling.
Pierluigi Claps, Giulia Evangelista, Daniele Ganora, Paola Mazzoglio, and Irene Monforte
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1503–1522, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1503-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1503-2024, 2024
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FOCA (Italian FlOod and Catchment Atlas) is the first systematic collection of data on Italian river catchments. It comprises geomorphological, soil, land cover, NDVI, climatological and extreme rainfall catchment attributes. FOCA also contains 631 peak and daily discharge time series covering the 1911–2016 period. Using this first nationwide data collection, a wide range of applications, in particular flood studies, can be undertaken within the Italian territory.
Wei Jing Ang, Edward Park, Yadu Pokhrel, Dung Duc Tran, and Ho Huu Loc
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1209–1228, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1209-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1209-2024, 2024
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Dams have burgeoned in the Mekong, but information on dams is scattered and inconsistent. Up-to-date evaluation of dams is unavailable, and basin-wide hydropower potential has yet to be systematically assessed. We present a comprehensive database of 1055 dams, a spatiotemporal analysis of the dams, and a total hydropower potential of 1 334 683 MW. Considering projected dam development and hydropower potential, the vulnerability and the need for better dam management may be highest in Laos.
Chuanqi He, Ci-Jian Yang, Jens M. Turowski, Richard F. Ott, Jean Braun, Hui Tang, Shadi Ghantous, Xiaoping Yuan, and Gaia Stucky de Quay
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1151–1166, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1151-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1151-2024, 2024
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The shape of drainage basins and rivers holds significant implications for landscape evolution processes and dynamics. We used a global 90 m resolution topography to obtain ~0.7 million drainage basins with sizes over 50 km2. Our dataset contains the spatial distribution of drainage systems and their morphological parameters, supporting fields such as geomorphology, climatology, biology, ecology, hydrology, and natural hazards.
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Short summary
We flew a custom-built drone fitted with visible, near-infrared and thermal cameras every week over a summer season at Niwot Ridge in Colorado's alpine tundra. We processed these images into seamless orthomosaics that record changes in snow cover, vegetation health and the movement of water over the land surface. These novel datasets provide a unique centimetre resolution snapshot of ecohydrologic processes, connectivity and spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the alpine zone.
We flew a custom-built drone fitted with visible, near-infrared and thermal cameras every week...
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