National Hydrological Services have identified “climate sensitive” stations on request of the WMO Commission for Hydrology in order to assess the variability and trends in hydrological data associated with climate variability and change. GRDC has offered to integrate this dataset into the Global Runoff Database.

BALTEX (the Baltic Sea Experiment) was launched in 1992 as a Continental-scale Experiment (CSE) of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project (GEWEX) within the World Climate Research Program (WCRP). The research focus of BALTEX was primarily on the hydrological cycle and the exchange of energy between the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth. The study region of BALTEX is the Baltic Sea and its huge catchment region. In 2015, the BALTEX Hydrological Dataset moved from Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) to the GRDC in order to ensure sustainable operation and regular updates as an integral part of the Global Runoff Database. By release and on behalf of the National Hydrological Services, the former BALTEX stations and flow data are integrated in the Global Runoff Database.

The Annual Characteristics and Long-Term Statistics offer basic hydrological statistics of timeseries data of the gauging stations being represented in the Global Runoff Database. Annual characteristics are derived from monthly discharge data, either through aggregated daily data or originally provided monthly data. Long-term statistics and long-term variability are derived from annual characteristics too.

The GRDC Data Portal is for web-based selection and download of river discharge data collected by GRDC on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Calibrate your hydrological model, evaluate model results, or validate remote sensing data with in-situ data.

WMO Basins and Sub-Basins (WMOBB) is an ongoing GIS project of the Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC). This dataset was created for the generation of GRDC map products and will be updated from time to time whenever extensions are required by future GRDC projects. At present the dataset comprises GIS layers of WMO Basins 2020 and WMO River Networks 2020.

The GEMStat Data Portal provides access to freshwater quality data and statistical vizualisations at different spatial scales. The data are voluntarily provided by countries and organizations worldwide within the framework of the GEMS/Water Programme of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) .

The Watershed Boundaries of all GRDC Stations are generated on the basis of HydroSHEDS (Lehner et al., 2008) and the Multi-Error-Removed Improved-Terrain (MERIT) Hydro dataset (Yamazaki et al., 2019). It is updated as soon as changes in the metadata occur or new stations have to be implemented. The dataset is licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Source: Lehner, B., Verdin, K., and Jarvis, A.: New Global Hydrography Derived From Spaceborne Elevation Data, EOS, 89, 93-94, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008EO100001, 2008. Yamazaki, D., Ikeshima, D., Sosa, J., Bates, P. D., Allen, G. H., and Pavelsky, T. M.: MERIT Hydro: A High-Resolution Global Hydrography Map Based on Latest Topography Dataset, Water Resources Research, 55, 5053-5073, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024873, 2019.

The Global Runoff Data Centre is an International data centre operating under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Its primary objective consists in supporting the water and climate related programmes and projects of the United Nations, its specialised agencies and the scientific research community by collecting and disseminating hydrological data across national borders in a long-term perspective.

Large-sample datasets are essential in hydrological science to support modelling studies and global assessments. This dataset is an extension to Caravan, a global community dataset of meteorological forcing data, catchment attributes, and discharge data for catchments around the world (Kratzert et al. 20231). The extension includes a subset of those hydrological discharge data and station-based watersheds from the Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), which are covered by an open data policy (Attribution 4.0 International; CC BY 4.0). In total, the dataset covers stations from 5357 catchments and 25 countries worldwide with a time series record from 1950 – 2022. GRDC is an international data centre operating under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG). Established in 1988, it holds the most substantive collection of quality assured river discharge data worldwide. Primary providers of river discharge data and associated metadata are the National Hydrological and Hydro-Meteorological Services of WMO Member States. 1Kratzert, F., Nearing, G., Addor, N. et al. Caravan - A global community dataset for large-sample hydrology. Sci Data 10, 61 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-01975-w