Belfast Lough Network Contribution: High Surface Water Flow Areas

Network contribution area scores identify zones contributing high surface water flow to the Belfast Lough network. The scores were calculated within SAGA GIS using inputs from the CEH Land Cover 2007 map, Met Office average rainfall data, and a 5-meter Digital Terrain Model. The 'High contribution' category is defined as areas scoring above +1 standard deviation from the mean.

Use Cases

• Identifying high-priority areas for surface water runoff management based on land cover, rainfall, and topography.
• Visualizing potential high-contribution zones for water network planning in web maps and dashboards.
• Supporting hydrological modeling by providing pre-processed contribution scores derived from established environmental datasets.

Strengths

• Derived from authoritative input sources: CEH Land Cover 2007, Met Office rainfall data, and a 5-meter DTM.
• Available on multiple open data platforms, indicating established use and validation.
• Data is explicitly downloadable and licensed for reuse under OGL-UK-3.0.

Limitations

• Column names and data structure are not described, limiting immediate analytical use.
• The land cover input data is from 2007, which may not reflect current conditions.
• No row count, file size, or author information is provided across any source.

Provenance

Source

OpenDataNI

Collection Method

Scores exported from SciMAP application outputs within SAGA GIS.

Time Range

Based on CEH Land Cover 2007; analysis date is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-15 according to uk_data platform.

Geography

Northern Ireland, specifically the Belfast Lough catchment area.