Input data set: Reservoirs and Dams (ISIMIP4a)

Historical hydropower dam and reservoir locations for ISIMIP4a Group III simulations.

Extends the ISIMIP3a historical dam record (GRanD v1.3 + KSU, mapped to the DDM30 river-routing grid) with dams completed since 2020, using Global Dam Watch v1.0 (Lehner et al. 2024) to identify newly built dams. Covers 1850–2022.
Visit the ISIMIP3a documentation for further details: https://www.isimip.org/gettingstarted/input-data-bias-adjustment/details/129/

Global Dam Watch v1.0 (Lehner et al. 2024), https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25988293. Historical base record from ISIMIP3a.

Global Dam Watch v1.0 records only a small number of dams completed after 2020 (13, most recent 2022); large dams completed more recently (e.g. GERD, 2024) are not yet included, pending a more current source.

Unlike in the ISIMIP3a dataset, the final visual-validation and manual-relocation step (applied in ISIMIP3a to large dams, reservoir volume > 0.5 km³, 1,108 dams) was not conducted for the newly added 11 dams.

For ISIMIP participants, files are available at /work/bb0820/ISIMIP/ISIMIP4a/InputData/socioeconomic/reservoirs_dams/