This dataset provides numerical and categorical descriptions of 48 basin characteristics for 956 basins with observed streamflow information at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamflow-gaging stations. Characteristics are indexed by National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) version 2 COMID (integer that uniquely identifies each feature in the NHD) and USGS station number for streamflow-gaging station. The variables represent mutable and immutable basin characteristics and are organized by characteristic type: physical (5), hydrologic (6), categorical (12), climate (6), landscape alteration (7), and land cover (12). Mutable characteristics such as climate, land cover, and landscape alteration variables are reported in decadal increments (for example, average percent forest for the decade 1950-1959, 1960-1969, etc).
The majority of basin characteristics in this dataset were calculated using divergence-routing methods and are often referred to as “network-accumulated”. This method uses a modified routing database to navigate the NHDPlus reach network to aggregate (accumulate) the values derived from the reach catchment scale (Schwarz, G.E., and Wieczorek, M.E., 2018, Database of modified routing for NHDPlus version 2.1 flowlines: ENHDPlusV2_us: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9PA63SM ). In four instances, values are also provided for the entire catchment above a site and area designated using the “CAT_” prefix.