Establishment of a data repository for hydrological and related data to support water balance modeling in the Danube basin

The Danube Water Balance project launched in 2024 in the frame of the Interreg Danube Region Programme with the aim to i) develop a harmonized hydrological modeling system enabling the analysis of present and future water balance of the Danube basin and to ii) improve data management among Danube countries for present and future water balance calculations. The latter is partially based on the establishment of a data repository for input data of the model. Besides global and regional open access data (e.g. digital elevation model, climate variables), national data are collected in order to i) provide direct input for the model, ii) validate global/regional data and iii) allow for the calibration and validation of the model. Thematically, the data cover environmental, hydrologic and water management, and socioeconomic information. Here, we present the procedure and the results of the collection of national data, starting from the identification of data types, desired quality and relevant resolution through the statistics of collected data to the outcomes of a preliminary data gap assessment. Spatial and temporal data coverage patterns by countries/regions are evaluated, taking into account the differences in environmental conditions and water management specificities. We also present the future steps planned in the project towards a harmonized basin-wide database.

This work/paper was supported as part of DANUBE WATER BALANCE, an Interreg Danube Region Programme project co-funded by the European Union.