Global Polygons For Terrain Classification Divided Into Uniform Slopes And Basins

Abstract Global terrain classification data have been used for various issues that are known to be related to topography, such as estimation of soil types, estimation of Vs30, and creation of seismic hazard maps. However, due to the resolution of the DEMs used, the terrain classification data from previous studies could not discriminate small landforms, such as narrow valley bottom plains, and small-rises within the plains. We created a global polygon dataset of the shapefile format divided into uniform slopes from slope gradients and HAND (height above the nearest drainage) calculated using the 90m spatial resolution MERIT DEM, and combined this data with the unit catchments of MERIT-Basins. This dataset contains the calculated terrain measurements (slope gradient, HAND, surface texture, local convexity, Sinks) and polygon areas as attributes, as well as the ID number of the MERIT-Basins’ unit catchment. In addition, the results of k-means clustering using slope gradient, HAND, and surface texture, which can be joined with the dataset as a simple terrain classification, are also available. This dataset can be used as a proxy and is expected to contribute to the modeling and estimation of various points that are known to be related to topography.