Total water storage anomalies (TWSA) and streamflow in the Mississippi River Basin for 01/2003 to 12/2016

This dataset includes observations and simulations of total water storage anomalies (TWSA) as well as streamflow that were used in the paper Schulze et al. (2024). The data covers the time period from 01/2003 to 12/2016. The TWSA [in millimeters] are basin averages, while the streamflow data [in cubic meters per second] refer to 68 gauge stations distributed over the Mississippi River Basin. 

The TWSA observations are derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. The streamflow observations are provided by the Global Runoff Database (GRDC).

The simulations are uncalibrated model runs of the WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model (WGHM; based on WaterGAP version 2.2d) as well as an Open Loop Simulation and simulations by assimilating GRACE-derived TWSA and/or streamflow observations. The TWSA observations are assimilated on a 4°x4° grid. The streamflow observations are assimilated at (1) all gauge stations with mean observed streamflow above 500 cubic meters per second, (2) all gauge stations with mean observed streamflow between 10 and 100 cubic meters per second, and (3) at randomly selected gauge stations.

All files are packaged into a single ZIP archive for easy access and distribution.

More details about the dataset and the assimilation are provided in:Schulze, K., Kusche, J., Gerdener, H., Döll, P., Müller Schmied, H. (2024): Benefits and Pitfalls of GRACE and Streamflow Assimilation for Improving the Streamflow Simulations of the WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model. Submitted to Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (JAMES).