Technical Note: A global database of the stable isotopic ratios of meteoric and terrestrial waters

The hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios of water have been used to identify sources, transport pathways, and phase-change processes within the water cycle, supporting hydrologic, forensic, ecologic, and hydroclimatic investigations. Here, we introduce a unique, open-access, global database of stable water isotope ratios (delta O-18, delta O-17, and delta H-2) from various water types. This database facilitates data preservation, supports standardized metadata collection, and decreases the time investment for meta-analytic research and reference dataset discovery. As of July 2019, the database includes 231 586 samples from 52 210 sites, associated with 218 projects, spanning 1949 through 2019. Key information stored includes the hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios, water type, collection date and time, site location, and project information. To promote rapid data discovery and collaboration, the database exposes metadata such as data owner contact information of embargoed data, but only permits downloads of public data. The database is supported by two companion apps, one for processing and upload of analytical data from laboratories and the other an iOS application that supports the digital collection of sample metadata.