River Temperature and Climate Sensitivity Predictions for Scotland

Scotland's river temperature model outputs predicting daily maximum river temperatures for specific hot periods and sensitivity to climate change. The data includes predictions for the hottest day in 2015-16, the hottest year (2003), and the temperature change per 1°C air warming, plus a derived management priority layer. The research was conducted by the Scottish Government using data from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing river management interventions based on the combined Management_Priority_Layer ranking high temperature and high sensitivity.
• Assessing historical thermal stress on aquatic ecosystems using the summer_max_tw_2003 predictions for the hottest recent year.
• Modeling future river warming under climate scenarios using the summer_climate_change_sensitivity layer indicating temperature change per 1°C air warming.
• Identifying current thermal refuges for cold-water species using the summer_max_tw_2015_16 predictions for a recent hot period.

Strengths

• Provides national-scale model outputs for all of Scotland.
• Includes a synthesized management priority layer combining temperature and sensitivity rankings.
• Predictions are based on a specific, licensed 1:50,000 Digital River Network from UKCEH.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government, derived from UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) data.

Collection Method

Outputs from a national river temperature model.

Time Range

Predictions reference periods from 2003 and 2015-2016.

Freshness

null

Geography

Scotland