The Global Composite Runoff Fields is a joint product developed by the Water Systems Analysis Group (WSAG) at CSRC at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the GRDC. It was one of the first attempts to demonstrate the potential of combining observed river discharge information with a climate-driven water balance model in order to develop composite runoff fields which are consistent with observed discharges. Such combined runoff fields preserve the accuracy of discharge measurements as well as of the spatial and temporal distribution of simulated runoff, thereby providing the “best estimate” of terrestrial runoff over large domains. More refined and temporally resolved datasets were later produced by Gudmundsson (2016) and Ghiggi et al. (2019), among others.
The method applied in the preparation of this dataset utilizes a gridded river network at 30-minute spatial resolution to represent the riverine flow pathways and to link the continental land mass to oceans through river channels. Selected gauging stations from the GRDC data archive were co-registered to a simulated topological network (STN-30p) developed at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Regions between gauging stations (inter-station regions) along the STN-30p network were identified. Inter-station discharge and runoff were calculated to compare observed runoff with outputs from the water balance model (WBM) simulation. Correction coefficients based on the ratio of observed and simulated runoff at inter-station areas were calculated and applied against simulated runoff to create composite runoff fields.
The original HTML based data explorer, maintained by WSAG, is still available. Moreover, the results of the project were also published on a CD, which contains besides the HTML interface to the Composite Runoff Fields V1.0 also intermediate data sets, such as station attributes and long-term monthly regimes of the selected gauging stations. Also included are the simulated topological network (STN-30p), STN-30p derived attributes for the selected stations and gridded fields of the inter-station regions along STN-30p. The CD can be provided by GRDC on request. A printed version (GRDC Report No. 22) can be ordered free of charge from GRDC or downloaded from the GRDC Report Series page. A description has been published: Fekete, B. M., Vörösmarty, C. J. & Grabs, W. (2002) High-resolution fields of global runoff combining observed river discharge and simulated water balances. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 16 (3), 2002, 10 pp.
Recommended citation:
Fekete, B., Vörösmarty, C., and W. Grabs (2002): Global composite runoff fields on observed river discharge and simulated water balances / Water System Analysis Group,University of New Hampshire, and Global Runoff Data Centre. Koblenz, Germany: Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), 2002.
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