Attributes for NHDPlus Version 2.1 Catchments and Modified Routing of Upstream Watersheds for the Conterminous United States: Base Flow Index

This tabular data set represents base flow index (BFI) compiled for two spatial components of the NHDPlus version 2 data suite (NHDPlusv2) for the conterminous United States; 1) individual reach catchments and 2) reach catchments accumulated upstream through the river network. This dataset can be linked to the NHDPlus version 2 data suite by the unique identifier COMID. The source data is the "Base-flow index grid for the conterminous United States" produced by the United States Geological Survey (Wolock, 2003). Units are percent. Base flow is the component of streamflow that can be attributed to ground-water discharge into streams. The BFI is the ratio of base flow to total flow, expressed as a percentage. Reach catchment information characterizes data at the local scale. Reach catchments accumulated upstream through the river network characterizes cumulative upstream conditions. Network-accumulated values are computed using two methods, 1) divergence-routed and 2) total cumulative drainage area. Both approaches use a modified routing database to navigate the NHDPlus reach network to aggregate (accumulate) the metrics derived from the reach catchment scale. (Schwarz and Wieczorek, 2018).