Dataset for: A continuous classification of the 480,000 lakes of the conterminous US based on geographic archetypes

These datasets were used in a journal article with the goal of developing a new geographic classification approach for ~480,000 lakes ≥ 1 ha in the conterminous U.S. based on archetypes defined as endmembers with distinct combinations of climate, hydrologic, geologic, topographic, and morphometric properties. We identified seven lake archetypes; each study lake was then assigned weights for each of the archetypes. The data used to develop the archetypes, archetype weights, and variables used in associated analyses is provided in three data tables. The first includes the lake-specific transformed predictors used to generate the seven archetypes, the weights corresponding to each archetype, the archetype with the maximum weight and the weight of that maximum archetype. The second provides lake-specific raw values for each predictor and for the 19 response variables used to explore aspects of the archetype classification. The final metadata table provides a data dictionary for all columns in the previously mentioned data tables.