Factorial Analysis data for "Assessing Drivers of Lake Gregory's Surface Water Temperature Using the General Lake Model (GLM) and Satellite Data"

To evaluate the potential influence of meteorological drivers on Lake Gregory’s surface water temperature (LSWT), a suite of 625 synthetic climate scenarios was developed and simulated using the General Lake Model (GLM). These scenarios were generated by systematically perturbing key meteorological forcing variables—air temperature, solar radiation, precipitation, and wind speed—from observed baseline conditions using a full factorial design. Air temperature was modified within a range of −5 °C to +5 °C, representing plausible cooling and warming conditions. This range captures shifts in thermal forcing associated with changes in degree-day accumulation, a method commonly applied in agroclimatic and climate-sensitivity studies to assess temperature-driven impacts on surface water thermal regimes. Solar radiation, precipitation, and wind speed were independently adjusted by ±25% and ±50% relative to baseline values to represent a broad spectrum of climatic conditions, ranging from very sunny to very cloudy, wet to dry, and high-wind to low-wind environments, respectively. The full factorial combination of these perturbations resulted in 625 unique scenario realisations, enabling a systematic assessment of both individual and interactive effects of meteorological drivers on LSWT.