MERIT-Hydro Geospatial Dataset

In this file, the necessary technical details of the dataset is explained.

Location of the MERIT-Hydro Dataset Files

The MERIT-Hydro geospatial dataset files are located under the following directory accessible from multiple clusters:

# DRAC Graham HPC location
/project/rpp-kshook/CompHydCore/merit_hydro/raw_data # rpp-kshook allocation

# UCalgary ARC HPC location
/work/comphyd_lab/data/geospatial-data/MERIT-Hydro # comphyd_lab allocation

# Perdue University HPC location
/anvil/datasets/geospatial/MERIT_Hydro # Anvil community storage

And the structure of the files is as following:

/path/to/dataset/files/
├── elv
│   ├── elv_n00e000.tar
│   ├── elv_n00e030.tar
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   └── elv_s60w180.tar
.
.
.
└── %var
    ├── %var_n00e000.tar
    ├── %var_n00e030.tar
    ├── .
    ├── .
    ├── .
    └── %var_s60w180.tar

In each .tar file, there are multiple GeoTIFF (.tif) files that cover the extents indicated in the parent .tar file name. For example, the elv_n00e000.tar contains the following files:

/path/to/elv_n00e000.tar/contents
├── n00e005_elv.tif
├── n00e010_elv.tif
├── n00e015_elv.tif
├── n00e020_elv.tif
├── n00e025_elv.tif
├── n05e000_elv.tif
├── n05e005_elv.tif
├── n05e010_elv.tif
├── n05e015_elv.tif
├── n05e020_elv.tif
├── n05e025_elv.tif
├── n10e000_elv.tif
├── n10e005_elv.tif
├── n10e010_elv.tif
├── n10e015_elv.tif
├── n10e020_elv.tif
├── n10e025_elv.tif
├── n15e000_elv.tif
├── n15e005_elv.tif
├── n15e010_elv.tif
├── n15e015_elv.tif
├── n15e020_elv.tif
├── n15e025_elv.tif
├── n20e000_elv.tif
├── n20e005_elv.tif
├── n20e010_elv.tif
├── n20e015_elv.tif
├── n20e020_elv.tif
├── n20e025_elv.tif
├── n25e000_elv.tif
├── n25e005_elv.tif
├── n25e010_elv.tif
├── n25e015_elv.tif
├── n25e020_elv.tif
└── n25e025_elv.tif

Spatial and Temporal Extents

The spatial extent of this dataset covers longitudes from -180 to +180 degress and latitudes from -60 to +90 degress. This dataset is static and does not vary with time.

Dataset Variables

This dataset has 6 main variables that are described in the following table:

#	Variable Name (used in gistool)	Description	Comments
1	dir	Flow Direction Map
2	elv	Adjusted Elevation
3	upa	Upstream Drainage Area
4	upg	Number of Upstream Drainage Pixels
5	wth	River Width
6	hnd	Height Above Nearest Drainage

A description of all the variables included in this dataset is explained on the MERIT-Hydro’s website.