Preparing GIS data for analysis of stream monitoring data: The R package openSTARS

Stream monitoring data provides insights into the biological, chemical and physical status of running waters. Additionally, it can be used to identify drivers of chemical or ecological water quality, to inform related management actions, and to forecast future conditions under land use and global change scenarios. Measurements from sites along the same stream may not be statistically independent, and the R package SSN provides a way to describe spatial autocorrelation when modelling relationships between measured variables and potential drivers. However, SSN requires the user to provide the stream network and sampling locations in a certain format. Likewise, other applications require catchment delineation and intersection of different spatial data. We developed the R package openSTARS that provides the functionality to derive stream networks from a digital elevation model, delineate stream catchments and intersect them with land use or other GIS data as potential predictors. Additionally, locations for model predictions can be generated automatically along the stream network. We present an example workflow of all data preparation steps. In a case study using data from water monitoring sites in Southern Germany, the resulting stream network and derived site characteristics matched those constructed using STARS, an ArcGIS custom toolbox. An advantage of openSTARS is that it relies on free and open-source GRASS GIS and R functions, unlike the original STARS toolbox which depends on proprietary ArcGIS. openSTARS also comes without a graphical user interface, to enhance reproducibility and reusability of the workflow, thereby harmonizing and simplifying the data pre-processing prior to statistical modelling. Overall, openSTARS facilitates the use of spatial regression and other applications on stream networks and contributes to reproducible science with applications in hydrology, environmental sciences and ecology.