Hydro-meteorological data for Upper Indus Basin (SWAT Model input)

This dataset stems from my PhD research on climate change hydrological impacts in the Upper Indus Basin (UIB). The available hydro-meteorological data for UIB, typical of challenging mountainous terrains, suffer from coverage and quality issues, especially at higher altitudes where weather stations are scarce. Consequently, the existing data fail to capture winter precipitation at higher altitudes and temperature variations in elevated areas.

To address these limitations, the provided data was generated and used as input for the SWAT hydrological model. This adjusted dataset, suitable for direct input to SWAT or similar models, was interpolated to sub-basin centroids (173 sub-basins). It includes "Precipitation" (PCP), "Temperature" (TMP), "Humidity" (RHU), "Solar-radiation" (SLR), and "wind" (WND).

The methodology used for data generation is detailed in two publications:

• Khan, A.J.; Koch, M. "Correction and Informed Regionalization of Precipitation Data in a High Mountainous Region (Upper Indus Basin) and Its Effect on SWAT-Modelled Discharge," Water 2018, 10, 1557. Link.

• Khan, A.J.; Koch, M. "Generation of a long-term daily gridded precipitation dataset for the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) through temporal Reconstruction, Correction & Informed Regionalization- ReCIR ," International Soil and Water Conservation Research, Volume 9, Issue 3, 2021, Pages 445-460, ISSN 2095-6339, Link.

In summary, this study aimed to create a realistic daily gridded precipitation dataset (1961 to 2010) for UIB, incorporating orographic adjustments. The procedure involved temporal reconstruction of precipitation series, regionalization, and adjustments for orographic effects and glacier storage changes. The resulting dataset was validated through SWAT-modelled streamflow responses, demonstrating consistency with observed flows across the UIB. The spatial distribution pattern of the reconstructed (1961-1996) and reference (1997-2008) precipitation also aligns with the atmospheric circulation pattern in the region.