Environmental Data Initiative logo
EDI Staging Environment

This data package was submitted to a staging environment for testing purposes only. Use of these data for anything other than testing is strongly discouraged.

This data package is not the most recent revision of a series.  (View Newest Revision)

Data Package Summary    View Full Metadata

  • Lake chloride concentrations and model predictions for 49,432 lakes in the Midwest and Northeast United States.
  • Dugan, Hilary A; University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Skaff, Nicholas K; University of California, Berkeley University
    Doubek, Jonathan P; Lake Superior State University
    Burke, Samantha M; University of Guelph
    Krivak-Tetley, Flora E; Dartmouth College
    Summers, Jamie C
  • 2019-12-11
  • Dugan, H.A., N.K. Skaff, J.P. Doubek, S.M. Burke, F.E. Krivak-Tetley, and J.C. Summers. 2019. Lake chloride concentrations and model predictions for 49,432 lakes in the Midwest and Northeast United States. ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/DOI_PLACE_HOLDER (Accessed 2024-12-28).

  • Lakes in the Midwest and Northeast United States are at risk of anthropogenic chloride contamination, but we have little knowledge of the prevalence and spatial distribution of the problem. The majority of salt pollution in north temperate regions stems from road salt application but other chloride sources include water softeners, synthetic fertilizers, and livestock excretion. Although chloride contamination of lakes is well documented, it is unknown how many lakes are at risk of long-term salinization. We used a quantile regression forest to leverage information from 2,773 lakes to predict the chloride concentration of all 49,432 lakes greater than 4 ha in a 17-state area. The QRF used 22 predictor variables, which included lake morphometry characteristics, watershed land use, and distance to the nearest interstate and road. Model predictions had an r2 of 0.94 for all chloride observations, and 0.87 for predictions of the mean chloride concentration observed at each lake.

  • N: 49.42      S: 36.56      E: -68.19      W: -96.73
  • This information is released under the Creative Commons license - Attribution - CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The consumer of these data ("Data User" herein) is required to cite it appropriately in any publication that results from its use. The Data User should realize that these data may be actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplicate publication. The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any questions about methodology or results occur. Where appropriate, the Data User is encouraged to consider collaboration or co-authorship with the authors. The Data User should realize that misinterpretation of data may occur if used out of context of the original study. While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and associated documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is." The Data User should be aware, however, that data are updated periodically and it is the responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the data. The data authors and the repository where these data were obtained shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of the data. Thank you.
  • DOI PLACE HOLDER
  • Analyze this data package using:           

Copyright 2024 Environmental Data Initiative. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #2223103 and #2223104. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Please contact us with questions, comments, or for technical assistance regarding this web site or the Environmental Data Initiative. Please read our privacy policy to know what information we collect about you and to understand your privacy rights.

EDI is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Limnology:

UNM logo UW-M logo