A global database of chlorophyll and water chemistry in freshwater lakes

Chlorophyll is an important variable used to assess water quality in freshwater lakes around the globe. Using a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature and online repositories, we compiled a database of chlorophyll values. When available, we also aggregated data on lake morphology and water chemistry. Over 3000 published manuscripts were reviewed and 17 online datasets. Within these studies, we obtained 16,791 survey instances from 8,566 individual lakes between the years 1960-2018. The data was cleaned to have equivalent units throughout each variable and a unique identifier created for each survey instance. Within this dataset, there are files that correspond to the studies that were examined, lake morphology, water chemistry, chlorophyll concentration, and lake information (e.g. location, country, name). The geospatial coordinates that are supply allow for inclusion of variables with raster data such as climate projections, land use, and topography. This dataset can be used for improving our understanding of freshwater equality in response to global change and for management to improve water quality.