Hierarchical Classification of the Hydrologic landscapes of the North American Continent (shapefile - v0)

NOTE: The shapefile in this resource represents a work in progress.

This shapefile shows a hierarchical classification of the North American continent into hydrologically meaningful regions. The classification consists of 5 broad domains, subdivided further into 35 hydrologic provinces. The province outlines are derived from existing polygons that outline the Level III Eco-Regions of North America. The hydrologic domains are color coded (north = blue, west = red, central = yellow, east = green, island = purple); the provinces are named within the shapefile and shown in a shade representative of their domain. A ready-to-use image is provided in the PDF file. The boundaries of the provinces were derived through multiple community workshops and expert consultations. This process, the reasoning for drawing the boundaries where they are, and perceptual models of hydrologic behavior for each province will be described in an upcoming set of publications.

The files in this resource are provided here to make it possible to start using this classification, with the understanding that this is a work-in-progress. We ask users to check for a final set of citations in due course.

This research was supported by the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH) with funding under award NA22NWS4320003 from the NOAA Cooperative Institute Program. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NOAA.