Deliniated of watershed at different hierarchical levels
These data were obtaiend from the HydroBASINS dataset, which offers spatial data on watershed boundaries at multiple hierarchical levels. The watershed deliniation follows the topological concept of the Pfafstetter coding system (levels 1-12). Here, we use only a subset of the afformentioned dataset, comprising Pfafstetter levels 2, 3, and 12.
level2 | Sub-continental basins
| content | description |
|---|---|
| HYBAS_ID | Unique basin identifier |
| EXT_DOWN | Hybas_id of the next downstream polygon |
| NEXT_SINK | Hybas_id of the next downstream sink |
| MAIN_BAS | Hybas_id of the most downstream sink, i.e. the outlet of the main river basin |
| DIST_SINK | Distance from polygon outlet to the next downstream sink along the river network, in kilometers |
| DIST_MAIN | Distance from polygon outlet to the most downstream sink, i.e. the outlet of the main river basin along the river network, in kilometers |
| SUB_AREA | Area of the individual polygon (i.e. sub-basin), in square kilometers |
| UP_AREA | Total upstream area, in square kilometers |
| PFAF_ID | Pfafstetter code |
| SIDE | Indicates the side of a sub-basin in relation to the river network |
| LAKE | Indicator for lake types |
| ENDO | Indicator for endorheic (inland) basins without surface flow connection to the ocean |
| COAST | Indicator for lumped coastal basins |
| ORDER | Indicator of river order (classical ordering system) |
| SORT | Indicator showing the record number (sequence) in which the original polygons are stored in the shapefile |
level3 | Basins of major rivers and lakes
| content | description |
|---|---|
| HYBAS_ID | Unique basin identifier |
| EXT_DOWN | Hybas_id of the next downstream polygon |
| NEXT_SINK | Hybas_id of the next downstream sink |
| MAIN_BAS | Hybas_id of the most downstream sink, i.e. the outlet of the main river basin |
| DIST_SINK | Distance from polygon outlet to the next downstream sink along the river network, in kilometers |
| DIST_MAIN | Distance from polygon outlet to the most downstream sink, i.e. the outlet of the main river basin along the river network, in kilometers |
| SUB_AREA | Area of the individual polygon (i.e. sub-basin), in square kilometers |
| UP_AREA | Total upstream area, in square kilometers |
| PFAF_ID | Pfafstetter code |
| SIDE | Indicates the side of a sub-basin in relation to the river network |
| LAKE | Indicator for lake types |
| ENDO | Indicator for endorheic (inland) basins without surface flow connection to the ocean |
| COAST | Indicator for lumped coastal basins |
| ORDER | Indicator of river order (classical ordering system) |
| SORT | Indicator showing the record number (sequence) in which the original polygons are stored in the shapefile |
level12 | Fine-scale basin subdivisions
| content | description |
|---|---|
| HYBAS_ID | Unique basin identifier |
| EXT_DOWN | Hybas_id of the next downstream polygon |
| NEXT_SINK | Hybas_id of the next downstream sink |
| MAIN_BAS | Hybas_id of the most downstream sink, i.e. the outlet of the main river basin |
| DIST_SINK | Distance from polygon outlet to the next downstream sink along the river network, in kilometers |
| DIST_MAIN | Distance from polygon outlet to the most downstream sink, i.e. the outlet of the main river basin along the river network, in kilometers |
| SUB_AREA | Area of the individual polygon (i.e. sub-basin), in square kilometers |
| UP_AREA | Total upstream area, in square kilometers |
| PFAF_ID | Pfafstetter code |
| SIDE | Indicates the side of a sub-basin in relation to the river network |
| LAKE | Indicator for lake types |
| ENDO | Indicator for endorheic (inland) basins without surface flow connection to the ocean |
| COAST | Indicator for lumped coastal basins |
| ORDER | Indicator of river order (classical ordering system) |
| SORT | Indicator showing the record number (sequence) in which the original polygons are stored in the shapefile |
# data call without specifying subdataset and resolution
list_data("HydroSHEDS")
# data call for specific subdataset
list_data("HydroSHEDS/level2")
# data call to subdataset with a specific resolution
list_data("HydroSHEDS/level2/500m")[1] Lehner and Grill (2013)