ISLSCP II Global River Routing Network (STN-30p)

NASA's Simulated Topological Network (STN-30p) dataset models the potential global river system at 0.5 and 1.0-degree spatial resolutions. It assigns one of eight cardinal flow directions to every continental land grid cell, representing connectivity regardless of actual river presence. The data was developed for the ISLSCP II initiative, with source metadata indicating a 1995 creation date but platform records showing a 2026 administrative update.

Use Cases

• Validating and parameterizing continental-scale hydrological models using the assigned flow direction grid.
• Analyzing potential watershed boundaries and drainage patterns from the simulated topological network.
• Studying global hydrographic connectivity for climate model coupling.
• Assessing land surface model runoff routing pathways based on the eight-direction (D8) algorithm.

Strengths

• Provides a standardized, global representation of potential river networks at two spatial resolutions (0.5° and 1.0°).
• Based on established hydrological algorithms (Jenson 1988, Band 1993) for flow direction assignment.
• Its cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData signals recognized importance for the community.

Limitations

• Key factual metadata is missing or conflicting: the original data date is listed as 1995, while a platform administrative date is 2026, creating ambiguity.
• No concrete information is provided on file size, row/record count, or specific column names.
• The 'potential' network does not represent actively flowing rivers, which may limit direct application to real-time hydrology.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), ISLSCP II

Collection Method

Spatial modeling using the D8 algorithm to assign flow direction to each continental grid cell.

Time Range

Static model representing a potential state; no temporal range specified.

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:24:04.579541

Geography

Global coverage of all continental land masses.