Data for: Current availability and distribution of Congo basin's freshwater resources

The Congo Basin is of global significance for biodiversity and the water and carbon cycles. However, its freshwater availability remains highly unknown. Here, we leverage two decades of satellite and in situ observations to develop a new method that characterizes the relationship between Drainable Water Storage Anomaly (DWSA) and river discharge across the entire basin. We obtain DWSA by subtracting spaceborne estimates of the Lake Water Storage Anomaly (LWSA) and the Wetland Water Storage Anomaly (WWSA) from the Total Water Storage Anomaly (TWSA) of GRACE. We then rely on the relationship between DWSA and discharge at the outlet of a basin, which can be described as a linear, time-independent system. Such a linear relationship allows the estimation of the active water storage in the basin, or the corresponding storage point at which storage-induced discharge approaches zero. This level, in turn, operationally defines the Total Drainable Water Storage (TDWS) of a basin.

刚果盆地对于生物多样性、水循环和碳循环具有全球性的重要性。然而，其淡水资源状况仍然知之甚少。本研究利用二十年的卫星和现场观测数据，开发了一种新方法，以描述整个盆地中可排蓄水储存异常（DWSA）与河流流量之间的关系。通过从重力恢复与气候实验（GRACE）的总水储存异常（TWSA）中减去湖面水储存异常（LWSA）和湿地水储存异常（WWSA）的航天估计值，我们获得了DWSA。随后，我们依靠DWSA与流域出口流量的线性、时间无关系统关系。这种线性关系允许我们估算盆地中的活跃水储存，或对应的水储存点，在该点上由储存引起的排放量趋近于零。这一水平反过来又定义了流域的总可排蓄水储存（TDWS）。