Lake level status grids

Jan 18, 2002

These lake status grids were developed mainly for use in climate model validation but remain versatile for other paleoclimatic research.
The global lake status database used in this study resulted from the merging of 3 main lake status databases available from
NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology program in Boulder, Colorado, USA (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/).

***PLEASE CITE REFERENCE BELOW WHEN USING LAKE GRIDS***

REFERENCE: Viau, A.E. and Gajewski, K., 2001. Holocene variations in the global hydrological cycle quantified by objective gridding of lake level databases. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmosphere 106(D23): 31703-31716.

The lake status estimates are standardized for use on a 3° x 3° lat/long grid size for 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 ka.

The grids are arranged in spreadsheet format (Microsoft EXCEL .xls) and contains 3 sheets:

A readme sheet
The indicator estimates (indicator kriging method)
The continuous estimates (ordinary kriging method)
The data are arranged as follows:

By longitude west to east and by latitude north to south (ie. -180, -90 to 180, 90)
followed by individual lake status estimates for each time period (0,3,6,9,12 calendar years - ka).

Lake statuses have been standardized into 3 categories according to the Oxford Lake Level Database.

High
Intermediate
Low
-99 values represent missing or masked out grid cells

Note: that continuous estimates may vary between 1 and 3

References for original databases

The Oxford Lake Level Database (OLLDB)

Street-Perrott, F.A., D.S. Marchand, N. Roberts, and S.P Harisson, 1989.Global Lake-Level Variations from
18,000 to 0 Years Ago: A Paleoclimatic Analysis. U.S. Department of Energy Technical Report 46, Washington, D.C. 20545.
Distributed by National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.

COHMAP Members, 1994, Oxford Lake Levels Database. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology
Data Contribution Series # 94-028. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program,Boulder CO, USA.

The European Lake Level Databases (ELLDB)

Yu, G. and S. Harrison, 1995, Lake Status Records from Europe, Database Doc. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center-A
for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 95-009. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

The Former Soviet Union and Mongolia Lake level Database.

Tarasov, P.E., et al, 1996, Lake Status Records from the FSU, Database Documentation Version 2.
IGBP PAGES/World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 96-032.
NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

Download Lake level grids (click here)
Original data distributions	0 ka	3 ka
	6 ka	9 ka
	12 ka	Notice the spatial variability in the original distributions
Lake status grids	Indicator	Continuous
Lake status at 0 ka
Lake status at 3 ka
Lake status at 6 ka
Lake status at 9 ka
Lake status at 12 ka
Anomaly Maps	Indicator	Continuous
3 - 0 ka
6 - 0 ka
9 - 0 ka
12 - 0 ka
Example Data - Model Verification (6°x3°) for P-E model estimates	Indicator	Continuous
CCM1

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