Russian River Flow Data for 2,458 Gauges Across the Former Soviet Union
Description
2,458 gauges provide monthly river flow rates across Russia and former Soviet Union countries. This compendium, version 1.1 from September 2001, augments the ds553.1 dataset with records from the Russian State Hydrological Institute and the Global Hydroclimatic Data Network. Records are generally long, with a mean length of 36.3 years and 70% of gauges having 25 or more years of data.
Use Cases
Model long-term hydrological trends based on the mean record length of 36.3 years.
Analyze river basin characteristics using data from 640 gauges representing watersheds over 10,000 square kilometers.
Study regional water resource changes using the temporal coverage, which extends to 1985 for many gauges and 1986-1995 for others.
Compare data quality between core and augmented sources, as the RSHI additions are noted as less rigorously scrutinized.
Strengths
Covers 2,458 gauges spanning all major river and oceanographic basins of the former Soviet Union.
Records are long, with a mean length of 36.3 years and 1,724 gauges (70%) having 25 or more years of data.
Includes data for a range of catchment sizes, with 640 gauges for large watersheds (≥10,000 km²) and 1,055 for medium-sized ones (1,000-9,999 km²).
Limitations
Last updated 1995-12-31 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
The description notes that the RSHI additions have not been scrutinized as rigorously as the original ds553.1 data.
Provenance
Source
NASA Earthdata, aggregating from ds553.1, the Russian State Hydrological Institute (RSHI), and the Global Hydroclimatic Data Network (GHCDN).
Collection Method
Compilation and augmentation of existing hydrological gauge records.
Time Range
Exact dates vary by station; many records extend to 1985, with some data from 1986-1995.
Freshness
Last updated 1995-12-31 23:59:59.999000
Geography
Russia and former Soviet Union countries.
Data from the Russian State Hydrological Institute (RSHI) additions are noted as less rigorously scrutinized than the original ds553.1 data.