The data available for download consist of ascii-grids at global extent and 5 arc-minute resolution (4320 columns x 2160 rows) with a header of 6 lines. For each of the 26 crops a separate zip-archive is provided to reduce the size of the single files. In total, 1476 ascii-grids are provided for each crop (41 years x 12 months x 3 water use types). Three water use types are distinguished: blue water use of irrigated crops, green water use of irrigated crops and green water use of rainfed crops. When a crop is not growing in a specific grid cell or month, water use will be 0. Water uses are reported in m³ per grid cell. To convert water uses from m³ per grid cell to mm per grid cell please use the ascii-grid containg the cell area of the grid cells in ha and the following equation:

Water use (mm) = 0.1 * Water use (m³) / Cell area (ha).

26 irrigated and rainfed crops or crop groups are considered:
01	Wheat
02	Maize
03	Rice
04	Barley
05	Rye
06	Millet
07	Sorghum
08	Soybeans
09	Sunflower
10	Potatoes
11	Cassava
12	Sugar cane
13	Sugar beets
14	Oil palm fruit
15	Rapeseed / Canola
16	Groundnuts / Peanuts
17	Pulses
18	Citrus
19	Date palm
20	Grapes / Vine
21	Cotton
22	Cocoa
23	Coffee
24	Others perennial
25	Managed grassland / Pasture
26	Others annual

Class 25 (managed grassland / pasture) considers irrigated pasture and irrigated grassland while for rainfed crops, only rainfed field crops such as alfalfa are considered. Rainfed pasture or rainfed extensive grassland is not included.

File names in the archives have the following structure:
MONTHLY_WU_CROPcc_xxx_wwww_MONTHmm_05_M3_yyyy.ASC
with:
cc		being the crop number (01-26)
xxx		being the crop type (IRC for irrigated crop or RFC for rainfed crop)
wwww		being the water use type (BLUE or GREEN)
mm		being the month (01-12)
yyyy		being the year (1981-2021).

Example: MONTHLY_WU_CROP10_IRC_GREEN_MONTH06_05_M3_1995.ASC is the green water use of irrigated potatoes in June 1995.