LBA Regional River Discharge: Monthly Amazon Basin Data

Monthly mean river discharge data for over 2600 global sites, with a subset covering the Amazon Basin (10°N to 25°S, 30° to 85°W). The data is a compilation from sources including RivDIS v1.1, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Brazilian National Department of Water and Electrical Energy. Its purpose is to provide detailed hydrographic information for climate research, with records varying from 3 to over 100 years per site.

Use Cases

• Modeling regional water cycles based on monthly discharge time series.
• Analyzing long-term hydrological trends in the Amazon Basin using records spanning decades.
• Calibrating climate models with observed river discharge data from over 2600 global stations.
• Studying the impact of land use change on river systems within the LBA experiment area.

Strengths

• Contains data from more than 2600 measurement sites worldwide.
• Records have a long temporal range, with some sites having over 100 years of data.
• Compiled from authoritative sources including the U.S. Geological Survey and Brazilian national agencies.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between sources (1999 vs. 2026), casting doubt on data maintenance.
• The global dataset excludes stations with less than 3 years of record or a basin area under 5000 km², which may bias the data towards larger, established rivers.

Provenance

Source

Coe and Olejniczak (1999), compiled from RivDIS v1.1, U.S. Geological Survey, and Brazilian National Department of Water and Electrical Energy.

Collection Method

Compilation and subset creation for the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA).

Time Range

Varies by site from 3 years to greater than 100 years.

Freshness

2026-04-10 01:36:54.044159 (from datagov, but conflicts with 1999 date from nasa_earthdata)

Geography

Global, with a specific subset for the Amazon Basin (10°N to 25°S, 30° to 85°W).