Basin-Scale Water Balance dataset (BSWB)

Monthly variations in terrestrial water storage for major river basins

Data description

BSWB coverage

This diagnostic data set (BSWB) contains time series of monthly variations in terrestrial water storage for major river basins wordwide. The data was derived by means of combined atmospheric and terrestrial water-balances using atmospheric water vapor flux convergence and change in atmospheric water vapor content from the external pageECMWF ERA-40 and ERA-interim reanalysis or the external pageECMWF operational analysis(ECMWFop), as well as conventional river runoff (from the external pageGlobal Runoff Data Centre, the external pageU.S. Geological Survey or local sources). A study for the Mississippi basin (Seneviratne et al. 2004) has demonstrated the validity of this approach, and found that it agreed well with in-situ observations of soil moisture, groundwater and snow in Illinois.

For more detailed information on the data, see external pageHirschi and Seneviratne. 2017, external pageMueller et al. 2011, external pageHirschi et al. 2006a and external pageSeneviratne et al. 2004. The ECMWFop derived BSWB data is described in external pageHirschi et al. 2006b.

The newest version of BSWB data (BSWB v2016, based on ERA-interim) is freely available for external pagedownload. Note that older versions are available here for various river basins.

References

Hirschi, M. and Seneviratne, S. I. (2017). Basin-scale water-balance dataset (BSWB): an update, Earth System Science Data, 9, 251–258, doi:external page10.5194/essd-9-251-2017.

Mueller, B., M. Hirschi and S. I. Seneviratne (2011). New diagnostic estimates of variations in terrestrial water storage based on ERA-Interim data. Hydrological Processes, 25, 996–1008, doi:external page10.1002/hyp.7652.

Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär (2006a). Seasonal variations in terrestrial water storage for major midlatitude river basins. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 7, 39–60, doi:external page10.1175/JHM480.1.

Hirschi, M., P. Viterbo and S. I. Seneviratne (2006b). Basin-scale water-balance estimates of terrestrial water storage variations from ECMWF operational forecast analysis. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, doi:external page10.1029/2006GL027659.

Seneviratne, S. I., P. Viterbo, D. Lüthi and C. Schär (2004). Inferring changes in terrestrial water storage using ERA-40 reanalysis data: The Mississippi river basin. Journal of Climate, 17, 2039-2057, doi:external page10.1175/1520-0442(2004)017<2039:ICITWS>2.0.CO;2.

Acknowledgments

The following institutions are gratefully acknowledged for providing data: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF, Reading, UK), Global Runoff Data Centre (GRCD, 56068 Koblenz, Germany), and U.S. Geological Survey.

Contact

and Prof. Sonia I. Seneviratne

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