Lewis, E. et al

Gridded estimates of hourly areal rainfall for Great Britain 1990-2016 [CEH-GEAR1hr] v2

https://doi.org/10.5285/fc9423d6-3d54-467f-bb2b-fc7357a3941f Cite this dataset
This is the most recent version of this dataset (view other versions )
The dataset contains 1km gridded estimates of hourly rainfall for Great Britain for the period 1990-2016. The estimates are derived by applying the nearest neighbour interpolation method to a national database of hourly raingauge observations collated by Newcastle University and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH). These interpolated hourly estimates were then used to temporally disaggregate the CEH-GEAR daily rainfall dataset. The estimated rainfall on a given hour refers to the rainfall amount accumulated in the previous hour.

The dataset also contains data indicating the distance between the grid point and the closest recording raingauge used in its interpolation. When this distance is greater than 50km, or there is zero rainfall recorded in the closest gauge, the daily value is disaggregated using a design storm. The dataset therefore also contains a flag indicating if the design storm was used. These data are provided as an indicator of the quality of the estimates.
Publication date: 2022-01-27

Format

NetCDF

Where/When

Study area
Temporal extent
1990-01-01    to    2016-12-31

Provenance & quality

The hourly rainfall estimates are derived from the temporal disaggregation of the CEH-GEAR daily data using hourly gauge data. This methodology ensures that the daily totals of the CEH-GEAR daily and 1hr datasets are consistent. The hourly gauge data is from the Met Office, the England Environment Agency (EA), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). The CEH-GEAR daily data is derived from the Met Office national database of observed precipitation. The nearest neighbour interpolation methodology was used to generate the gridded hourly estimates which were subsequently used to disaggregate the daily data.

A quality control protocol was established in order to identify and reject erroneous hourly values in the gauge rainfall input dataset. The quality control procedure is a three step process:
1) The gauge data is compared to the gridded CEH-GEAR daily dataset to identify suspect gauges
2) A series of quality control tests are applied to identify suspect values at all gauges which are marked with a quality control flag
3) Combinations of quality control flags for a given hourly accumulation are used to determine which flagged data are treated as erroneous values and thus excluded from the gauge records.

Correspondence/contact details

Tanguy, M.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
 enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

Authors

Lewis, E.
Newcastle University
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7471-9988
Quinn, N.
Fathom
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8676-608X
Blenkinsop, S.
Newcastle University
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0790-6545
Fowler, H.J.
Newcastle University
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8848-3606
Freer, J.
University of Bristol
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6388-7890
Tanguy, M.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1516-6834
Hitt, O.
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3100-4904
Coxon, G.
University of Bristol
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8837-460X
Bates, P.
University of Bristol
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9192-9963
Woods, R.
University of Bristol
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5732-5979
Fry, M.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1142-4039
Chevuturi, A.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2815-7221
Swain, O.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
White, S.M.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
ORCID iD icon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3192-9969

Other contacts

Rights holder
Natural Environment Research Council
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk

Additional metadata

Topic categories
Climatology / Meteorology / Atmosphere , Environment
Keywords
CEH-GEAR,  Climate and climate change,  Gridded estimates of areal rainfall (GEAR),  subdaily rainfall
INSPIRE Theme
Meteorological geographical features
Funding
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/I006680/1
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/S017380/1
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/K00896X/1
European Research Council Award: ERC-2013-CoG-617329
Spatial representation type
Raster
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid
Last updated
25 November 2022 11:45

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This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

Download the data Supporting documentation

CITE AS: Lewis, E.; Quinn, N.; Blenkinsop, S.; Fowler, H.J.; Freer, J.; Tanguy, M.; Hitt, O.; Coxon, G.; Bates, P.; Woods, R.; Fry, M.; Chevuturi, A.; Swain, O.; White, S.M. (2022). Gridded estimates of hourly areal rainfall for Great Britain 1990-2016 [CEH-GEAR1hr] v2. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/fc9423d6-3d54-467f-bb2b-fc7357a3941f

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Contains Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and/or database rights

Contains data from Met Office, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency provided under Open Government Licence.