Standardized Climatic Water Balance for Poland (1951-2023) Supporting Forestry and Drought Monitoring

This Data Descriptor presents a high-resolution (100 × 100 m) gridded dataset of the Standardized Climatic Water Balance for Poland, spanning 72 years from 1951 to 2023. The dataset was developed as part of a research initiative focused on assessing long-term water availability and drought conditions under changing climate regimes. Input data set includes monthly temperature and precipitation records from over 2,000 meteorological stations, as well as elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. We describe the full methodology, including spatial interpolation using a hybrid regression-spline model, calculation of potential evapotranspiration via the Thornthwaite method, and standardization of the climatic water balance to produce Standardized Climatic Water Balance for Poland values that are comparable across space and time. The resulting dataset comprises monthly raster layers of the Standardized Climatic Water Balance for Poland, along with interpolated layers of air temperature and precipitation. All files are publicly available and suitable for use in environmental monitoring, drought risk assessment, forest ecosystem analysis, and climate adaptation planning at regional and local scales.