Global karst springs hydrograph dataset for research and management of the world's fastest-flowing groundwater.
Tunde OlarinoyeTom GleesonVera MarxStefan SeegerRouhollah AdinehvandVincenzo AlloccaBartolome AndreoJames ApaésteguiChristophe ApolitBruno ArfibAugusto AulerVincent Bailly-ComteJuan Antonio BarberáChristelle Batiot-GuilheTimothy BechtelStephane BinetDaniel BittnerMatej BlatnikTerry BolgerPascal BrunetJean-Baptiste CharlierZhao ChenGabriele ChiognaGemma CoxonPantaleone De VitaJoanna DoummarJannis EptingPerrine FleuryMatthieu FournierNico GoldscheiderJohn GunnFang GuoJean Loup GuyotNicholas HowdenPeter HuggenbergerBrian HuntPierre-Yves JeanninGuanghui JiangGreg JonesHerve JourdeIvo KarmannOliver KoitJannes KordillaDavid LabatBernard LadoucheIsabella Serena LisoZaihua LiuJean-Christophe MaréchalNicolas MasseiNaomi MazzilliMatías MudarraMario PariseJunbing PuNataša RavbarLiz Hidalgo SanchezAntonio SantoMartin SauterJean-Luc SeidelVianney SivelleRannveig Øvrevik SkoglundZoran StevanovicCameron WoodStephen WorthingtonAndreas HartmannPublished in: Scientific data (2020)
Karst aquifers provide drinking water for 10% of the world's population, support agriculture, groundwater-dependent activities, and ecosystems. These aquifers are characterised by complex groundwater-flow systems, hence, they are extremely vulnerable and protecting them requires an in-depth understanding of the systems. Poor data accessibility has limited advances in karst research and realistic representation of karst processes in large-scale hydrological studies. In this study, we present World Karst Spring hydrograph (WoKaS) database, a community-wide effort to improve data accessibility. WoKaS is the first global karst springs discharge database with over 400 spring observations collected from articles, hydrological databases and researchers. The dataset's coverage compares to the global distribution of carbonate rocks with some bias towards the latitudes of more developed countries. WoKaS database will ensure easy access to a large-sample of good quality datasets suitable for a wide range of applications: comparative studies, trend analysis and model evaluation. This database will largely contribute to research advancement in karst hydrology, supports karst groundwater management, and promotes international and interdisciplinary collaborations.