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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 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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By accessing or using this dataset, you agree to the terms of the relevant licence agreement(s). You will ensure that this dataset is cited in any publication that describes research in which the data have been used.
© Database Right/Copyright UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. All rights reserved.
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.
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
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wget --user=YOUR_USERNAME --password=YOUR_PASSWORD --auth-no-challenge https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/datastore/eidchub/fc9423d6-3d54-467f-bb2b-fc7357a3941f
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.
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
View numbers valid from 01 June 2023 Download numbers valid from 20 June 2024 (information prior to this was not collected)
Format
NetCDF
Spatial information
Study area
Spatial representation type
Raster
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid
Temporal information
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.
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.
Licensing and constraints
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Cite this dataset 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
© Database Right/Copyright UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. All rights reserved.
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.
Related
Services associated with this dataset
This dataset is included in the following collections
Gridded estimates of daily and monthly areal rainfall for the United Kingdom (1890-2019) [CEH-GEAR]
Citations
Archer, L., Hatchard, S., Devitt, L., Neal, J.C., Coxon, G., Bates, P.D., Kendon, E.J. & Savage, J. (2024) Future Change in Urban Flooding Using New Convection‐Permitting Climate Projections. Water Resources Research 60. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr035533
Robinson, E.L., Brown, M.J., Kay, A.L., Lane, R.A., Chapman, R., Bell, V.A., & Blyth, E.M. (2023). Hydro-PE: gridded datasets of historical and future Penman–Monteith potential evaporation for the United Kingdom. In Earth System Science Data (Vol. 15, Issue 10, pp. 4433–4461). Copernicus GmbH. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4433-2023
Weedon, G.P., Robinson, E.L., Bloomfield, J.P., Turner, S., Crane, E.J., & Best, M.J. (2023). Geological controls of discharge variability in the Thames Basin, UK from cross-spectral analyses: Observations versus modelling. In Journal of Hydrology (Vol. 625, p. 130104). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130104
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
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
Authors
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7471-9988
Swain, O.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
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
Keywords
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
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/S017380/1
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/K00896X/1
European Research Council Award: ERC-2013-CoG-617329
Last updated
03 June 2025 07:41