U.S. Estuary Wetland Salinity Maps at 30-Meter Resolution

2020 gridded average annual wetland salinity concentrations in practical salinity units (PSU) for 24 coastal estuary sites across the United States. Data were generated using a hybrid model combining physical watershed characteristics, optical remote sensing of vegetation, and climate variables, covering 33 HUC8 watersheds. The dataset is provided by ORNL_CLOUD and includes cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs, CSV model outputs, and processing code.

Use Cases

• Modeling sulfate inhibition of methanogenesis in wetlands using salinity as a proxy.
• Analyzing spatial salinity gradients within 33 HUC8 watersheds using the 30-meter resolution GeoTIFFs.
• Validating remote sensing vegetation indices against predicted salinity values from the provided CSV outputs.
• Assessing land cover change impacts on coastal salinity using the NOAA C-CAP 2016 layer as a spatial mask.

Strengths

• High 30-meter spatial resolution provides detailed mapping within wetland boundaries.
• Covers a specific set of 24 coastal estuary sites across 33 HUC8 watersheds in the U.S.
• Includes model code and outputs, enabling reproducibility and extension of the hybrid mapping approach.

Limitations

• Discrepancy in 'last updated' dates between sources (2026-03-12 vs 2020-12-31) creates uncertainty about version freshness.
• Exact row/record counts and file sizes are not provided across any platform.
• Data is a model prediction for a single year (2020), not a long-term observational record.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Derived from a hybrid model using physical watershed/stream characteristics, optical remote sensing of vegetation, and climate variables.

Time Range

2020

Freshness

2026-03-12 19:49:43.366420

Geography

24 coastal estuary sites within 33 Hydrologic Unit Code 8-digit (HUC8) watersheds in the United States.