Abstract
Limited streamflow observations have constrained long-term hydrological assessment and water resources management in the Amur River Basin, the largest transboundary river in Northeast Asia. To overcome this limitation, we reconstructed two monthly streamflow datasets—representing naturalized and human-influenced conditions—at 6 arcmin (~0.1°) spatial resolution for the period 1902–2022 using the Common Land Model coupled with the CaMa-Flood river routing model. Human-influenced streamflow considers major anthropogenic processes, including land use and land cover change, water withdrawals, and reservoir regulation. Evaluation against data from five major gauge stations shows satisfactory performance, with Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and Kling-Gupta Efficiency (KGE) generally exceeding 0.50. These datasets not only capture the long-term hydroclimatic variability across the basin, but also reveal the cumulative influence of anthropogenic processes on streamflow magnitude and seasonality. These century-scale, internally consistent datasets provide new opportunities for characterizing the spatial and temporal variability of streamflow, advancing streamflow variability attribution, supporting basin-wide water resources planning, and promoting sustainable management in Northeast Asia.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The reconstructed monthly streamflow datasets for the Amur River are accessible without restrictions in the repository Zenodo under the following link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1717281944.
Code availability
Publicly available source codes and manuals for CoLM 2024 and CaMa-Flood v4.20 were downloaded from https://github.com/CoLM-SYSU/CoLM202X and https://hydro.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~yamadai/cama-flood/. Data processing and plotting were performed using Excel and Python. The Python code used for data processing and the water withdrawal script can be accessed through the GitHub repository (https://github.com/DLUT-yfeng/Streamflow_Amur.git).
References
Rumsey, C. A., Miller, M. P. & Sexstone, G. A. Relating hydroclimatic change to streamflow, baseflow, and hydrologic partitioning in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1980 to 2015. J. Hydrol. 584, 124715, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124715 (2020).
Chuphal, D. S. & Mishra, V. Hydrological model-based streamflow reconstruction for Indian sub-continental river basins, 1951–2021. Sci. Data. 10, 717, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02618-w (2023).
Simonov, E., Dahmer, T. & Purekhovsky, A. Amur-Heilong River Basin Reader. (Ecosystems Ltd., Hong Kong, 2008).
Yan, B., Xia, Z., Huang, F., Guo, L. & Zhang, X. Climate Change Detection and Annual Extreme Temperature Analysis of the Amur River Basin. Adv. Meteorol 2016, 6268938, https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6268938 (2016).
Calvin, K. et al. IPCC, 2023: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland. Technical Report (eds Core Writing Team, Lee, H. & Romero, J.) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647 (2023).
Jia, R., Fang, X., Yang, Y., Yokozawa, M. & Ye, Y. A 28-time-point cropland area change dataset in Northeast China from 1000 to 2020. Earth Syst. Sci. Data. 16, 4971–4994, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4971-2024 (2024).
GRDC (Global Runoff Data Centre). Global Runoff Data Centre https://grdc.bafg.de/ (2023).
Hu, J. et al. A century-long streamflow reconstruction reveals significant streamflow increases in the upper Yangtze River basin. CATENA 250, 108774, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.108774 (2025).
Ghiggi, G., Humphrey, V., Seneviratne, S. I. & Gudmundsson, L. GRUN: an observation-based global gridded runoff dataset from 1902 to 2014. Earth Syst. Sci. Data. 11, 1655–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1655-2019 (2019).
Li, S., Wei, W., Chen, Y., Duan, W. & Fang, G. TSWS: An observation-based streamflow dataset of Tianshan Mountains watersheds (1901–2019). Sci. Data. 12, 708, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05046-0 (2025).
Kim, B.-H., Hossain, S. & Kam, J. High-resolution gridded streamflow data for Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River Basins in Bangladesh (1951–2023). Sci. Data. 12, 673, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05014-8 (2025).
Hao, H. et al. The Changing Hydrology of an Irrigated and Dammed Yangtze River: Streamflow, Extremes, and Lake Hydrodynamics. Water Resour. Res. 60, e2024WR037841, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037841 (2024).
Yuan, X., Zhang, M., Wang, L. & Zhou, T. Understanding and seasonal forecasting of hydrological drought in the Anthropocene. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 21, 5477–5492, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5477-2017 (2017).
Najafi, M. R., Zwiers, F. W. & Gillett, N. P. Attribution of Observed Streamflow Changes in Key British Columbia Drainage Basins. Geophys. Res. Lett. 44, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075016 (2017).
Liu, X. et al. Multimodel assessments of human and climate impacts on mean annual streamflow in China. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 23, 1245–1261, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1245-2019 (2019).
Veldkamp, T. I. E. et al. Human impact parameterizations in global hydrological models improve estimates of monthly discharges and hydrological extremes: a multi-model validation study. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 055008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aab96f (2018).
Haddeland, I. et al. Global water resources affected by human interventions and climate change. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 111, 3251–3256, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222475110 (2014).
Dai, Y. et al. The Common Land Model. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 84, 1013–1024, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-84-8-1013 (2003).
Yamazaki, D., Kanae, S., Kim, H. & Oki, T. A physically based description of floodplain inundation dynamics in a global river routing model. Water Resour. Res. 47, 2010WR009726, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010WR009726 (2011).
University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit & Harris, I.C. CRU JRA v2.4: A forcings dataset of gridded land surface blend of Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and Japanese reanalysis (JRA) data; Jan.1901 - Dec.2022. NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/aed8e269513f446fb1b5d2512bb387ad (2023).
Bao, Z. et al. Estimation of baseflow parameters of variable infiltration capacity model with soil and topography properties for predictions in ungauged basins. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. 8, 7017–7053, https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-8-7017-2011 (2011).
Shangguan, W., Dai, Y., Duan, Q., Liu, B. & Yuan, H. A global soil data set for earth system modeling. J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 6, 249–263, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013MS000293 (2014).
Poggio, L. et al. SoilGrids 2.0: producing soil information for the globe with quantified spatial uncertainty. SOIL. 7, 217–240, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-217-2021 (2021).
Yamazaki, D., De Almeida, G. A. M. & Bates, P. D. Improving computational efficiency in global river models by implementing the local inertial flow equation and a vector‐based river network map. Water Resour. Res. 49, 7221–7235, https://doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20552 (2013).
Yamazaki, D. et al. MERIT Hydro: A High‐Resolution Global Hydrography Map Based on Latest Topography Dataset. Water Resour. Res. 55, 5053–5073, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024873 (2019).
Huang, Z. et al. Reconstruction of global gridded monthly sectoral water withdrawals for 1971–2010 and analysis of their spatiotemporal patterns. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 22, 2117–2133, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2117-2018 (2018).
Khan, Z. et al. Global monthly sectoral water use for 2010–2100 at 0.5° resolution across alternative futures. Sci. Data. 10, 201, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02086-2 (2023).
Taranu, S. I. et al. Harmonizing past and future global sectoral water use data. Preprint at https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/8561/ (2025).
Funato, M., Yamazaki, D. & Vu, D. T. Development of an Improved Reservoir Operation Scheme for Global Flood Modeling (CaMa-Flood v4.20). Preprint at https://www.authorea.com/users/847327/articles/1235159-development-of-an-improved-reservoir-operation-scheme-for-global-flood-modeling-cama-flood-v4-20.
Hanazaki, R., Yamazaki, D. & Yoshimura, K. Development of a Reservoir Flood Control Scheme for Global Flood Models. J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst. 14, e2021MS002944, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002944 (2022).
Lehner, B. et al. The Global Dam Watch database of river barrier and reservoir information for large-scale applications. Sci. Data. 11, 1069, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03752-9 (2024).
Mulligan, M., van Soesbergen, A. & Sáenz, L. GOODD, a global dataset of more than 38,000 georeferenced dams. Sci. Data. 7, 31, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0362-5 (2020).
Lehner, B. et al. High‐resolution mapping of the world’s reservoirs and dams for sustainable river‐flow management. Front. Ecol. Environ. 9, 494–502, https://doi.org/10.1890/100125 (2011).
Yang, X. et al. Mapping Flow‐Obstructing Structures on Global Rivers. Water Resour. Res. 58, e2021WR030386, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030386 (2022).
Gosling, S. N. et al. ISIMIP2a Simulation Data from the Global Water Sector (v2.0). ISIMIP Repository https://doi.org/10.48364/ISIMIP.882536 (2023).
Wang, C. et al. Historical and projected future runoff over the Mekong River basin. Earth Syst. Dyn. 15, 75–90, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-75-2024 (2024).
Nash, J. E. & Sutcliffe, J. V. River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I — A discussion of principles. J. Hydrol. 10, 282–290, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(70)90255-6 (1970).
Gupta, H. V., Kling, H., Yilmaz, K. K. & Martinez, G. F. Decomposition of the mean squared error and NSE performance criteria: Implications for improving hydrological modelling. J. Hydrol. 377, 80–91, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.003 (2009).
Feng, X., Porporato, A. & Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. Changes in rainfall seasonality in the tropics. Nat. Clim. Change. 3, 811–815, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1907 (2013).
Wang, H. et al. Anthropogenic climate change has influenced global river flow seasonality. Science 383, 1009–1014, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi9501 (2024).
Palmer, M. & Ruhi, A. Linkages between flow regime, biota, and ecosystem processes: Implications for river restoration. Science 365, eaaw2087, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw2087 (2019).
Tonkin, J. D., Merritt, D. M., Olden, J. D., Reynolds, L. V. & Lytle, D. A. Flow regime alteration degrades ecological networks in riparian ecosystems. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2, 86–93, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0379-0 (2018).
Shukla, S. & Wood, A. W. Use of a standardized runoff index for characterizing hydrologic drought. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032487 (2008).
Feng, Y. & Li, Y. Reconstructed streamflow for Amur River Basin, 1902-2022. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17172819 (2025).
Delforge, D. et al. EM-DAT: the Emergency Events Database. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 124, 105509, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105509 (2025).
Ye, Y., Fang, X., Ren, Y., Zhang, X. & Chen, L. Cropland cover change in Northeast China during the past 300 years. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 52, 1172–1182, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-009-0118-8 (2009).
Acknowledgements
This research has been supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (No. 2023YFF0804900) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52479005).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Yunfei Feng: conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, model implementation, writing–original draft. Yu Li: conceptualization, data analysis, funding acquisition, writing–review and editing. Bingyao Zhang: conceptualization, investigation, resources. Shupeng Zhang: data preprocessing, model implementation. Tongtiegang Zhao: conceptualization, writing–review and editing. Chi Zhang: conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing–review and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Feng, Y., Li, Y., Zhang, B. et al. Naturalized and human-influenced streamflow of the Amur River for century-scale hydrological assessment. Sci Data (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06685-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06685-7


