University of New Hampshire River GIS

University of New Hampshire researchers are developing river network hydrological and biogeochemical models to explore how land use change, climate variability and change, and surface water management affect water and nutrient fluxes throughout the basin and to the estuary. A central requirement for this model is a digital river network that is used to simulate surface water flow paths from source areas to the coastal zone. The river network is grid-based at a 120m by 120m resolution. The following GIS files define important characteristics of the river network that drains to the Plum Island Estuary, including flow direction, cell length, distance from cell to ocean, upstream contributing area for each grid cell, and the stream order to which the grid cell first enters the surface water network. The gridded river network is used to explore scientific questions regarding the role of different land uses in defining nutrient loading, and the role of river systems in controlling exports to the coastal zone.

UNH GIS data layers currently available consist of Arc ascii (raster digital data) files. Files are downloadable in zip files which include all necessary GIS files, original FGDC metadata Word documents, and EML-compliant metadata in XML format.

WAT-RGIS-120m-FlowDirection- Flow Direction from Land Surface - Parker and Ipswich Watersheds - ASCII Raster File
WAT-RGIS-120m-DirectDrainOrder- Stream Order for streams entering the Ipswich or Parker River Network - ASCII Raster File
WAT-RGIS-120m-CellLength- Estimated River Length for Rivers in the Ipswich and Parker River Watersheds - ASCII Raster File
WAT-RGIS-120m-Distance2Ocean- Estimated Distance from the Ocean for River Grid Cells - Parker and Ipswich Watersheds - ASCII Raster File
WAT-RGIS-120m-UpstreamArea- Contributing drainage areas - Parker and Ipswich Watersheds - ASCII Raster File