Himalayan rivers reflect rainfall patterns, not river piracy

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Authors: Joel S. Leonard, K. X. Whipple
Cited by: 1

Abstract

Catchment data for Nature Geoscience Matters Arising by Leonard and Whipple (2026) entitled "Himalayan rivers reflect rainfall patterns, not river piracy". Contents include matlab files for the Kosi, Arun, Tamor, and Dudh Kosi river catchments. Respective catchment files were produced using 'ProcessRiverBasins' function in Topographic Analysis Kit (https://github.com/amforte/Topographic-Analysis-Kit), which uses functions from TopoToolbox (https://github.com/TopoToolbox & https://topotoolbox.wordpress.com). Files contain matlab workspace variables including cropped elevation and rainfall data as GRIDobj's, stream network variables, and topographic indices necessary for recreating Figures 1 and 2. Please refer to respective original publications for details regarding plotting and manipulating data outputs (see below). References:Schwanghart, W., and Scherler, D. (2014) Short communication: TopoToolbox 2—MATLAB-based software for topographic analysis and modeling in earth surface sciences. Earth Surface Dynamics 2, 1–7. Forte, A. M., and Whipple, K. X. (2019) Short communication: The Topographic Analysis Kit (TAK) for TopoToolbox: Earth Surface Dynamics 7, 87–95.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Groundwater and Watershed Analysis Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies Landslides and related hazards

Publication details

Journal / source
Nature Geoscience
Publication date
23 June 2026