QUADICA: Water quality, discharge and catchment attributes for large-sample studies in Germany

Abstract

Environmental data are the key to define and address water quality and quantity challenges at catchment scale. Here, we present the first large-sample water quality data set for 1386 German catchments covering a large range of hydroclimatic, topographic, geologic, land use and anthropogenic settings. QUADICA (water QUAlity, DIscharge and Catchment Attributes for large-sample studies in Germany) combines water quality with water quantity data, meteorological and nutrient forcing data, and catchment attributes. The data set comprises time series of riverine macronutrient concentrations (species of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon) and diffuse nitrogen forcing data at catchment scale (nitrogen surplus, atmospheric deposition and fixation). Time series are generally aggregated to an annual basis; however, for 140 stations with long-term water quality and quantity data (more than 20 years), we additionally present monthly median discharge and nutrient concentrations, flow-normalized concentrations and corresponding mean fluxes as outputs from weighted regressions on time, discharge, and season (WRTDS). The catchment attributes include catchment nutrient inputs from point and diffuse sources and characteristics from topography, climate, land cover, lithology and soils. This comprehensive, freely available data collection can facilitate large-sample data-driven water quality assessments at catchment scale as well as mechanistic modeling studies.