Anthropogenic Disturbances and Natural Variables in the Conterminous United States Linked to Catchments and Buffers of the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2.1

This USGS data release contains landscape variables representing anthropogenic disturbances to stream habitats and natural variables summarized within local and network stream catchments of the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2.1 (NHDPlusV2.1) as well as a 90 meter local and network buffer of stream reaches throughout the conterminous U.S. The source datasets compiled and attributed to spatial units were identified as being: (1) consistent extent across the entire study area; (2) broadly representative of conditions in the past 20 years, and (3) of adequate spatial resolution that they could be used to make valid comparisons among local catchment units. Variables summarized at the catchment scale include measures of anthropogenic land uses, population density, roads, mines, water withdrawals, fertilizer use and nutrient yields on land that drain to rivers, and point-source pollution sites; whereas buffers were attributed with only land cover variables. In this data set, variable summaries are linked to catchments and buffers developed for the NHDPlusV2.1 using the ComID as the unique identifier. Catchment attributes are available for both local catchments (defined as the land area draining directly to a reach; attributes begin with "L_" prefix) and network catchments (defined by all upstream contributing catchments to the reach's outlet, including the reach's own local catchment; attributes begin with "N_" prefix). Like the catchment variables the buffer variables are labeled using a LB and NB prefix for local buffer and network buffer variables, respectively. Data are provided in comma separated value (CSV) and Parquet file formats. Parquet file format is provided to help facilitate faster download and read capabilities when using compatible packages in coding languages such as R and Python.