Public Datasets

Global NEWS Outputs

Global NEWS River Nutrient Exports for the mid 1990's

The Global NEWS models of river nutrient (N, P, C, by form) exports are presented in a series of five articles published in 2005 in a special issue of Global Biogeochemical Cycles. Full citations and pdf's for these articles are available on our publications page. The nutrient export model estimates are being made available in an Excel file that corresponds to published results, except for some corrections applied after publication. Nutrient exports correspond to the mid 1990s, where 1995 may be used as a reference year.

The data file contains modeled nutrient exports at 5,937 river mouths from the Global NEWS model, together with basic information about the river basins (including basin area and latitude and longitude of river mouth as represented by the STN-30p global river system dataset — see below). Coverage is global, including 164 internal drainage (endorheic) basins, but excluding Antarctica. Sufficient documentation is included in the file, supplemented by references to related datasets or web sites.

Please email Emilio Mayorga at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to obtain this dataset. We ask for complete contact information and a brief description of how you intend to use the data, including the overall project this work is part of, if any. A small paragraph is enough. Links to web pages would be useful, too.

Datasets Used

Global NEWS models use a wide variety of spatially distributed global datasets as inputs. Two research groups, both Global NEWS members, provide the majority of these datasets:

  1. Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP). MNG is the primary provider of datasets on land use and terrestrial nutrient exports and budgets from areas impacted by humans.
  2. University of New Hampshire's Water Systems Analysis Group (WSAG). WSAG is the primary provider of hydrological and river network datasets (references listed below describe the original development of each dataset; however, the versions used in Global NEWS or distributed on WSAG web sites may differ from the ones described in the publications):
    • STN-30p basins and river networks, version 6.01. Vörösmarty, C., Fekete, B., Meybeck, M. & Lammers, R. 2000. Global system of rivers: Its role in organizing continental land mass and defining land-to-ocean linkages. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14, 599-621
    • Composite runoff fields. Fekete, B. M., Vörösmarty, C. J. & Grabs, W. 2002. High-resolution fields of global runoff combining observed river discharge and simulated water balances. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 16, 1042, doi:10.1029/1999GB001254
    • Dam and reservoirs, including location, physical attributes, and estimates of retention. Vörösmarty, C. J., Meybeck, M., Fekete, B., Sharma, K., Green, P. & Syvitski, J. P. M. 2003. Anthropogenic sediment retention: major global impact from registered river impoundments. Global and Planetary Change 39, 169-190


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