Kyrgyzstan Lakes Dataset (KGLD) — HydroShare distribution

Version: 1.0.0
Schema version: 1.0.0
Release date: 2026-08-30
HydroShare distribution prepared: 2026-09-04
Creator: Ethan Hamilton
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) for KGLD-original curation and database organization; third-party source rights remain excluded as documented below.
Archival DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22178862
Project/documentation page: https://kyrgyzstanplanner.com/lakes-of-kyrgyzstan/
HydroShare resource: https://www.hydroshare.org/resource/1614369f2e6e4e18949dfbcebb3b01a9/

KGLD is a curated, source-traceable reference dataset for named and research-documented lakes of Kyrgyzstan. It separates stable lake entities from published measurements, inventories, dated observations, drainage/outburst events, source-lineage relations and study-local ephemeral features. This HydroShare distribution mirrors the stable v1.0.0 public release while keeping the Zenodo DOI as the archival identifier.

Release scale

• 73 lake / lake-complex / unresolved-inventory entities
• 166 morphometric measurement records
• 11 documented glacial-lake drainage/outburst events
• 26 dated lake observations
• 9 study-local ephemeral features
• 37 registered sources
• 199 source-backed classifications
• 5 inventory records
• 12 scoped aggregate statistics
• 9 source-lineage relations
• 8 representative GIS points

Recommended entry points

For simple reuse, start with:

• data/kyrgyzstan_lake_reference_public.csv — audited simplified reference table for 63 lake entities with at least one public core value.
• data/kyrgyzstan_lakes.csv — master registry of 73 researched lake, lake-complex and unresolved-inventory entities.
• data/kyrgyzstan_lake_measurements.csv — full source-specific numeric evidence layer, including alternative and conflicting published values.
• data/kyrgyzstan_glacial_lake_events.csv — documented GLOF/drainage events.
• data/kyrgyzstan_lakes.geojson — representative WGS84 point features; not shoreline polygons.
• metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_sources.csv — source registry.
• metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_data_dictionary.csv — field-level definitions for released tabular resources.
• kyrgyzstan_lakes_dataset_v1.0.0_workbook.xlsx — human-readable workbook.

Audited public reference layer

All 129 selected reference measurements were reviewed for the v1.0.0 release.

• 119 are eligible for the simplified public reference layer.
• 10 are withheld from that flat view because they are undated dynamic values, context-specific survey values, scenario/potential values, scale/definition dependent, or still materially disputed.
• 63 lake entities appear in the simplified public table because they have at least one audited public core value; the master registry remains 73 entities.

The withheld measurements remain in data/kyrgyzstan_lake_measurements.csv; no evidence was deleted.

Ala-Kul maximum depth is withheld from data/kyrgyzstan_lake_reference_public.csv because the modern peer-reviewed ~70 m value conflicts with the FAO 4.5 m value. Both remain in the full measurement/conflict evidence layer.

Core variables

The canonical morphometric variables are defined in metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_variables.csv. The most important variables are:

For all table fields, required/conditional status, formats and schema notes, use metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_data_dictionary.csv and the embedded schemas in datapackage.json.

Abbreviations and acronyms

• KGLD — Kyrgyzstan Lakes Dataset
• GLOF — Glacial Lake Outburst Flood
• GIS — Geographic Information System
• WGS84 — World Geodetic System 1984; point coordinates use EPSG:4326 where stated
• DOI — Digital Object Identifier
• CSV — Comma-Separated Values
• JSON — JavaScript Object Notation
• GeoJSON — JSON-based format for geographic features
• CFF — Citation File Format
• CC BY 4.0 — Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Q1–Q4 — source-quality tiers used in KGLD controlled vocabularies; definitions are in metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_controlled_vocabularies.csv

File formats and non-standard/project files

• .csv — UTF-8 tabular data; field definitions are in the data dictionary and datapackage.json.
• .geojson — representative geographic point features in WGS84/EPSG:4326; these are not shoreline polygons.
• .json — machine-readable package, Zenodo-record, and validation metadata.
• .cff — machine-readable citation metadata following Citation File Format 1.2.0.
• .xlsx — human-readable workbook view of the curated release.
• .sha256 — plain-text SHA-256 integrity hashes in the form hash relative/path.
• .md — Markdown documentation rendered as plain text/Markdown by compatible repositories.

No proprietary or undocumented binary scientific format is required to interpret the core dataset. The workbook is supplementary; the core data are available in CSV/GeoJSON form.

Glacial-lake dynamics

KGLD models fast-changing glacial lakes with dated observations and event records instead of one timeless area value. The initial event layer covers Western Zyndan, Kashkasuu, Jeruy, Karateke, Toguz-Bulak and selected Southern Inylchek supraglacial drainage events.

GIS

data/kyrgyzstan_lakes.geojson contains 8 source-traceable representative WGS84 points. It is not a shoreline polygon inventory. Dynamic polygons should be released separately with observation date, sensor, method, mapping threshold and explicit geometry license.

Data structure and provenance

A lake entity is distinct from a measurement. Competing measurements remain as separate rows. A selected reference is a curation decision, not deletion of alternatives. Source-specific values, confidence, comparability context and conflict records are retained so individual facts can be traced back to their supporting evidence.

Key provenance resources include:

• metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_sources.csv
• metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_source_lineage.csv
• curation/kyrgyzstan_lake_conflict_register.csv
• curation/kyrgyzstan_lake_reference_audit.csv
• data/kyrgyzstan_lake_reference_decisions.csv

Validation and integrity

datapackage.json is a mixed Data Package descriptor: every CSV resource is declared as a tabular-data-resource with an embedded Table Schema, primary key where applicable, and declared foreign-key relations. The GeoJSON resource remains a standard non-tabular data resource.

Release-level validation outputs:

• metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_validation_report.json
• metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_resource_inventory.csv
• kyrgyzstan_lakes_checksums.sha256

The validation report covers schema/header alignment, field types and required constraints, primary-key uniqueness, declared foreign keys, list-valued relations, public-reference semantics, GIS structure and primary metadata consistency.

Rights and reuse

KGLD-original schema, identifiers, curation, documentation, source-lineage organization and database organization are released under CC BY 4.0.

This does not relicense third-party publications, databases, maps, imagery, tables or figures. See kyrgyzstan_lakes_rights_and_reuse.md and metadata/kyrgyzstan_lake_rights_matrix.csv for the source-specific handling rules.

Citation and related resources

The permanent archival release is:

Hamilton, E. (2026). Kyrgyzstan Lakes Dataset (KGLD), version 1.0.0. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22178862

Machine-readable citation metadata is provided in CITATION.cff.

The maintained project/documentation page is:

https://kyrgyzstanplanner.com/lakes-of-kyrgyzstan/