The UKSCAPE-G2G river flow and soil moisture datasets: Grid-to-Grid model estimates for the UK for historical and potential future climates

Kay, Alison L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5526-1756; Bell, Vicky A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0792-5650; Davies, Helen N.; Lane, Rosanna A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4176-9214; Rudd, Alison C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5996-6115. 2023 The UKSCAPE-G2G river flow and soil moisture datasets: Grid-to-Grid model estimates for the UK for historical and potential future climates. Earth System Science Data, 15 (6). 2533-2546. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2533-2023

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Abstract/Summary

Appropriate adaptation planning is contingent upon information about the potential future impacts of climate change, and hydrological impact assessments are of particular importance. The UKSCAPE-G2G datasets were produced, as part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) UK-SCAPE (UK Status, Change and Projections of the Environment) programme, to contribute to this information requirement. They use the Grid-to-Grid (G2G) national-scale hydrological model configured for both Great Britain and Northern Ireland (and the parts of the Republic of Ireland that drain to rivers in NI). Six separate datasets are provided, for two sets of driving data – one observation-based (1980–2011) and one climate-projection-based (1980–2080) – for both river flows and soil moisture on 1 km × 1 km grids across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The river flow datasets include grids of monthly mean flow, annual maxima of daily mean flow, and annual minima of 7 d mean flow (m3 s−1). The soil moisture datasets are grids of monthly mean soil moisture content (m water  m soil), which should be interpreted as depth-integrated values for the whole soil column. The climate-projection-based datasets are produced using data from the 12-member 12 km regional climate model ensemble of the latest UK climate projections (UKCP18), which uses RCP8.5 emissions. The production of the datasets is described, along with details of the file format and how the data should be used. Example maps are provided, as well as simple UK-wide analyses of the various outputs. These suggest potential future decreases in summer flows, annual minimum 7 d flows, and summer/autumn soil moisture, along with possible future increases in winter flows and annual maximum flows. References are given for published papers providing more detailed spatial analyses, and some further potential uses of the data are suggested. The datasets are listed in Table 1.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2533-2023
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Hydro-climate Risks (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	1866-3516
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	climate change, hydrological impacts, rainfall-runoff, UK Climate Projections 2018, UKCP18
NORA Subject Terms:	Hydrology
Related URLs:	Dataset Dataset Dataset Dataset
Date made live:	15 Nov 2023 10:03 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/535041

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