DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14999580
title: CAMELS-IND: hydrometeorological time series and catchment attributes for 472 catchments in Peninsular India

description: We introduce CAMELS-IND (Catchment Attributes and MEteorology for Large-sample Studies – India), a dataset containing hydrometeorological time series, and catchment attributes for 472 catchments in Peninsular India, of which 242 catchments have observed streamflow data available for over 30% of the period between 1980 to 2020. This dataset aims to foster large-sample hydrological studies within India and encourage the inclusion of Indian catchments in global hydrological research.

The data set covers 41 years of data between 1st January 1980 and 31st December 2020 for each catchments: daily time series of available streamflow observations, meteorological data such as precipitation, air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed, potential and actual evapotranspiration, and soil moisture. Additionally, CAMELS-IND includes regionally trained LSTM-model predicted streamflow for all 472 catchments. The static catchment attributes includes location and topography, climate, hydrological signatures, land-use, land cover, soil, geology, and anthropogenic influences.

The corresponding manuscript is published in the Journal "Earth System Science Data" (ESSD).Mangukiya, N. K., Kumar, K. B., Dey, P., Sharma, S., Bejagam, V., Mujumdar, P. P., and Sharma, A.: CAMELS-IND: hydrometeorological time series and catchment attributes for 228 catchments in Peninsular India, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 461–491, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-461-2025, 2025.

The data description file (CAMELS_IND_Data_Description.pdf) contains a comprehensive list of all time series and attribute variables covered by the dataset and references to the original data sources.

 

### CAMELS-IND attributes/forcings history

--------------------------------------Version 2.2: March 2025--------------------------------------Major changes/additions:- Updated streamflow observations: CAMELS-IND now includes 242 catchments with streamflow observations for more than 30% of the period between 1980 and 2020.- "CAMELS_IND_Catchments_Streamflow_Sufficient.zip" contains a subset of 242 catchments with observed streamflow data available for more than 30% of the duration between 1980 and 2020.

Minor changes:- Correction to the forcing column headings for 'evap_canopy (kg/m²/s)' and 'evap_surface (kg/m²/s)': the units have been updated to (mm/day).- Corrections made to the gauge_id mapping for basin codes 12 and 15.

 

--------------------------------------Version 2.1: October 2024--------------------------------------Data described in revised ESSD paper - Major changes/additions:- The dataset name "CAMELS-INDIA" has been changed back to "CAMELS-IND" to align with the naming convention of other CAMELS datasets.- A Python script file “filter_catchment.py” is added to filter out the subset of the dataset based on flow data availability.- "CAMELS_IND_Catchments_Streamflow_Sufficient.zip" contains a subset of 228 catchments with observed streamflow data available for more than 30% of the duration between 1980 and 2020.

 

-----------------------------------Version 2: August 2024-----------------------------------

Major changes/additions:- The dataset name "CAMELS-IND" has beed changed to "CAMELS-INDIA".- All forcing time series have been extended from 01/01/1980 to 31/12/2020.- Two new forcings, "pet_gleam" and "aet_gleam", have been added.- Several attributes have been added, including gauge elevation, mean drainage path slopes, precipitation uniformity, asynchronicity, gini coefficient, base flow index, stream elasticity, slope of FDC, water table depth, and anthropogenic influence.- Available observed streamflow time series has been added for all 472 catchments for the period 01/01/1980 to 31/12/2020.- Regionally trained LSTM model-predicted streamflow has been added for all 472 catchments for the period 01/01/1980 to 31/12/2020.

Minor changes:- Attribute files have been renamed to "camels_India_XXXX"

A short descriptions of all attributes and time series is provided in "camels_India_data_description.pdf".

The following attributes are included in CAMELS-INDIA v2:07 attributes : camels_India_name16 attributes : camels_India_topo (topography and location)42 attributes : camels_India_clim (climate indices)73 attributes : camels_India_hydro (hydrological signatures)13 attributes : camels_India_land (land cover characteristics)28 attributes : camels_India_soil (soil characteristics)07 attributes : camels_India_geol (geological characteristics)25 attributes : camels_India_anth (anthropogenic influences)---------------Total: 211 attributes, 19 catchment mean forcings, and available observed and LSTM-based predicted streamflow time series.

 

--------------------------------Version 1 : April 2024--------------------------------A short descriptions of all attributes and forcings are described in "camels_ind_attributes.xlsx" and "camels_ind_forcings.xlsx"Following attributes were included in CAMELS-IND 1.0:06 attributes : camels_ind_name14 attributes : camels_ind_topo (topography and location)36 attributes : camels_ind_clim (climate indices)64 attributes : camels_ind_hydro (hydrological signatures)13 attributes : camels_ind_land (land cover characteristics)27 attributes : camels_ind_soil (soil characteristics)07 attributes : camels_ind_geol (geological characteristics)13 attributes : camels_ind_anth (anthropogenic influences)-------------Total: 180 attributes & 17 catchment mean forcings. 

 

-----------------------------------------------------### CONTRIBUTE TO CAMELS-IND-----------------------------------------------------

If you are working with a data set covering Indian catchments and would like to contribute catchment averages to CAMELS-IND, please get in touch.

We are committed to identifying and correcting errors. If you encounter any unrealistic or suspicious values, please notify us as soon as possible. Thank you for your assistance.

Contacts:- Nikunj K. Mangukiya (nikk.mangukiya@gmail.com)- Ashutosh Sharma (ashutosh.sharma@hy.iitr.ac.in)

 

--------------------------------### Acknowledgments--------------------------------

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Central Water Commission (CWC), the National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC), and the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) for providing the streamflow dataset through the online portal, India – Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS; https://indiawris.gov.in/wris/#/). The authors also extend their gratitude to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, for providing the gridded rainfall and temperature datasets through their respective websites. Additionally, the authors gratefully acknowledge the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, for the Indian Monsoon Data Assimilation and Analysis (IMDAA) reanalysis. The IMDAA reanalysis was produced under the collaboration between UK Met Office, NCMRWF, and IMD, with financial support from the Ministry of Earth Sciences under the National Monsoon Mission programme. The authors utilized numerous publicly available datasets for compiling catchment attributes and meteorological forcing time series, duly acknowledging and citing them where applicable. The authors extend their gratitude to all the researchers and contributing authors of these open-source datasets.

 

--------------------------------### Disclaimer--------------------------------

The CAMELS-IND dataset provided on this webpage is openly accessible for academic and research purposes. While efforts have been made to ensure data accuracy, the authors do not take any responsibility for errors, omissions, or misuse of the data. Users must cite the following paper when utilizing the dataset and acknowledge that all interpretations and conclusions drawn from the data are their own. We encourage users to cite/acknowledge the original data sources wherever required based on the source data usage policies. The dataset is provided "as is" without any warranties, and users are advised to check for updates. It is strongly recommended that users exercise caution and verify the data before using it for any purpose. The authors assume no responsibility for any consequences arising from the use or misuse of this dataset.

How to cite: Mangukiya, N. K., Kumar, K. B., Dey, P., Sharma, S., Bejagam, V., Mujumdar, P. P., and Sharma, A.: CAMELS-IND: hydrometeorological time series and catchment attributes for 228 catchments in Peninsular India, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 461–491, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-461-2025, 2025.