Water-balance and hydrology database for a mountainous permafrost watershed in the up-streams of the Kolyma River, Russia - the Kolyma Water-Balance Station, 1948-1997

The Kolyma Water-Balance Station (KWBS) was the first in the world research hydrological watershed in continous permafrost area where water balance, hydrological regime and permafrost processes were continously and systematically studied from 1948 to 1997. KWBS is located in the Magadan region of Russia within the Upper-Kolyma highland at the Kontaktovy Creek catchment with area 21,3 km2. The database describes the data collected at KWBS in 1948-1997. It includes daily meteorological elements at three meteorological stations; daily, 5-days, 10-days and monthly sums of precipitations at 47 precipitation gauges of different types; observations of evaporation from soil at 9 evaporation plots; depth of thawing and freezing at 38 sites; soil temperatures at various depths at one site; the results of areal snow surveys; daily runoff at 10 runoff gauges.