Chesapeake Bay Watershed historical and future projected land use and climate data summarized for NHDPlusV2 catchments

This dataset consists of historical estimates and future projections of land use and climate data summarized within the 1:100,000 National Hydrography Dataset Version 2 (NHDPlusV2) framework for catchments and upstream accumulated watersheds. Historical land use data are for the year 2005 and future land use projections are for the years 2030, 2060, and 2090. The projections offer a unique combination of thematic detail (17 land-use and land-cover classes). Historical climate estimates are averaged over the time period 1980-1999 and future climate projections are averaged over 20-year periods centered around the years 2030, 2060, and 2090. Climate data include seasonal measures of average air temperature (?) and total precipitation (mm). The data set also includes bioregions as defined within the Chesapeake basin-wide index of biotic integrity for stream macroinvertebrates (Chessie BIBI). The COMID field (analogous to FEATUREID) can be used to link these data to the NHDPlus data suite. These data were used to develop models forecasting future stream conditions within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed under an array of potential future land use and climate scenarios. Results from this work can be used by researchers and managers to identify areas most suitable for conservation, mitigation, or restoration efforts while considering the non-static nature of the environment.