GlobalLakeDepth.dat - provides the gridded data of the external parameters fields, 
namely the lake depth (mean lake depth and bathymetry data).


ECOCLIMAP2 is used as a land cover dataset for lake masking.
Lake depth information consists only of freshwater lakes, and includes:
-- measured mean lake depths (for all around the world);
-- measured lake bathemetry for 36 large lakes;
-- evaluated by different methods most probable mean lake depths (only for boreal 
   zone);
-- in absence of any above mentioned information lake depth is given value 10 meters.
For more detailed information about: 
-- list of 36 lakes with bathemetry data - please see LrgeLakesIncluded.txt file; 
-- different methods used to evaluate most probable mean lake depths - please see a 
   peer-reviewed paper mentioned below, that serves as a scientific documantation 
   of GLDBv2, or "frequently asked questions" published on the FLake webpage.
  
  
An example of opening the binary file in FORTRAN90:
-- open(1, file = 'GlobalLakeDepth.dat', form='unformatted', access='direct', recl=2)

An example of reading the binary file in FORTRAN90:
-- read(1,rec=n) LakeDepth
-- where: n - record number, INTEGER(8);
          LakeDepth - mean lake depth in decimeters, INTEGER(2).
          
          
Information about the binary file:
-- byte order - little endian;
-- form - simple binary;
-- resolution - 30 arc. sec;
-- coordinate system: geography;
-- dimension of the array - 43200 X 21600 (longitude X latitude);
-- longitude (-180,+180), latitude (+90,-90);
-- start of the records - Northern Pole (+90 latitude), -180 longitude.

Information about the pixel:
-- units - decimeters;
-- values are written as INTEGER(2);
-- pixel size - (1/120) X (1/120), in degrees of longitude and latitude;
-- pixel coordinates are given for the lower right corner.



A peer-reviewed paper, that serves as a scientific documantation of GLDBv2: 
Choulga, M., E. Kourzeneva, E. Zakharova, and A. Doganovsky, 2014. Estimation of 
the mean depth of boreal lakes for use in numerical weather prediction and climate 
modeling. Tellus A, 66, 21295, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v66.21295