The described dataset resulted from a joint multidisciplinary measurement campaign in an agroforestry system in the Western Cape region in South Africa. Five participating institutions measured a range of environmental variables to characterise the influence of windbreak trees onto water fluxes, nutrient distribution and microclimate in the adjacent blackberry field. The dataset contains spatially collected soil characteristics, a soil profile description, time series of meteorological measurements as well as soil moisture and matric potential, information on soil hydraulic properties of the soil determined in the laboratory and windbreak characteristics and shape from a point cloud derived from terrestrial LiDAR scanning.
This data set was taken within the Perturbations of Earth Surface Processes by Large Earthquakes PRESSurE Project (https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/geomorphology/projects/pressure/) of the GFZ Potsdam. This project aims to better understand the role of earthquakes on earth surface processes. Strong earthquakes cause transient perturbations of the near Earth’s surface system. These include the widespread landsliding and subsequent mass movement and the loading of rivers with sediments. In addition, rock mass is shattered during the event, forming cracks that affect rock strength and hydrological conductivity. Often overlooked in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, these perturbations can represent a major part of the overall disaster with an impact that can last for years before restoring to background conditions. Thus, the relaxation phase is part of the seismically induced change by an earthquake and needs to be monitored in order to understand the full impact of earthquakes on the Earth system. Early June 2015, shortly after the April 2015 Mw7.9 Gorkha earthquake, 6 automatic compact weather station were installed in the upper Bhotekoshi catchment covering an area ~50km2. The weather station network is centered around the Kahule Khola catchment, a small headwater catchment and is part of a wider data acquisition strategy including hydrological monitoring, seismometers, geophones and high resolution optical (RapidEye) as well as radar imagery (TanDEM TerraSAR-X).
The dataset consist of time series of hourly rain rates and mean radar reflectivity factor (herein after referred to as reflectivity) near the ground, 100 meter and 1500 meter above the ground at six locations in the Attert catchment in Luxembourg. The time series cover a time span of 4 years (from the 1st of October 2012 tor the 30th of September 2016). The dataset was derived from drop size measurements we conducted at six stations with six laser optical disdrometers and two micro rain radars (MRR) within the CAOS Project (DFG Research Group: From Catchments as Organized Systems to Models based on Functional Units (FOR 1598). The time series of rain rates and radar reflectivity factors (reflectivities) were calculated (derived) via the 3.5th and 6th statistical moments of the drop size distributions using the particular raw data of drop sizes and fall velocities. The primary reason for the measurements was to improve radar based quantitative precipitation estimation in general and the conversion of the reflectivity Z (measured by operational weather radar) to a rain rate R at the ground via the so-called Z-R relation within a mesoscale catchment.
GENERAL CONVENTIONS:
• Time extent: 1.10.2012 00:00 – 30.09.2016 23:00 (35064 values)
• Time reference: UTC • Time stamp: end
• Time resolution: 1h
• Time series are equidistant and gapless
• Missing values: NaN
• Delimiter: ; (semicolon)
• decimal separator: . (point)
STATION LOCATIONS:
Name; Abbreviation; Latitude (WGS-84); Longitude(WGS-84); height a.s.l; Instrumentation
Oberpallen;
OPA; 49.73201°; 5.84712°;287 m; disdrometer Useldange;
USL; 49.76738°; 5.96756°; 280 m; disdrometer and MRR Ell;
ELL; 49.76558°; 5.84401°; 290 m; disdrometer Post;
POS; 49.75394°; 5.75481°; 345 m; disdrometer Petit-Nobressart;
PIN; 49.77938°; 5.80526°; 374 m; disdrometer and MRR Hostert-Folschette;
HOF; 49.81267°; 5.87008°; 435 m; disdrometer
HEADER – VARIABLES DESCRIPTION:
Name - description:
Date-UTC – Date as yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM (4 digit year-2 digit month – 2 digit day 2 digit hour: 2 digit minute)
Time Zone: UTC. Decade – tenner day of the year (that is 1st to 10th of January = 1 ; 11th to 20th of January = 2 ; 21th to 30th of January = 3 ; … 21st to 31st of December = 36.
Month – Month of the year (1: January, 2: February, 3:March,…, 12: December).
dBZ0_DIS_ELL – reflectivity at ground level (in dBZ) at the station Ell derived from disdrometer measurements.
dBZ0_DIS_HOF – reflectivity at ground level (in dBZ) at the station Hostert-Folschette derived from disdrometer measurements.
dBZ0_DIS_OPA – reflectivity at ground level (in dBZ) at the station Oberpallen derived from disdrometer measurements.
dBZ0_DIS_PIN – reflectivity at ground level (in dBZ) at the station Petit-Nobressart derived from disdrometer measurements.
dBZ0_DIS_POS – reflectivity at ground level (in dBZ) at the station Post derived from disdrometer measurements.
dBZ0_DIS_USL – reflectivity at ground level (in dBZ) at the station Useldange derived from disdrometer measurements.
dBZ100_MRR_PIN – reflectivity 100 m above ground (in dBZ) at the station Petit-Nobressart derived from MRR measurements.
dBZ100_MRR_USL – reflectivity 100 m above ground (in dBZ) at the station Useldange derived from MRR measurements.
dBZ1500_MRR_PIN – reflectivity 1500 m above ground (in dBZ) at the station Petit-Nobressart derived from MRR measurements.
dBZ1500_MRR_USL – reflectivity 1500 m above ground (in dBZ) at the station Useldange derived from MRR measurements.
RR0_DIS_ELL – rain rate at ground level (in mm/h) at the station Ell derived from disdrometer measurements.
RR0_DIS_HOF – rain rate at ground level (in mm/h) at the station Hostert-Folschette derived from disdrometer measurements.
RR0_DIS_OPA – rain rate at ground level (in mm/h) at the station Oberpallen derived from disdrometer measurements.
RR0_DIS_PIN– rain rate at ground level (in mm/h) at the station Petit-Nobressart derived from disdrometer measurements.
RR0_DIS_POS – rain rate at ground level (in mm/h) at the station Post derived from disdrometer measurements.
RR0_DIS_USL – rain rate at ground level (in mm/h) at the station Useldange derived from disdrometer measurements.
RR100_MRR_PIN – rain rate 100 m above ground (in mm/h) at the station Petit-Nobressart derived from MRR measurements.
RR100_MRR_USL – rain rate 100 m above ground (in mm/h) at the station Useldange derived from MRR measurements.
RR1500_MRR_PIN – rain rate 1500 m above ground (in mm/h) at the station Petit-Nobressart derived from MRR measurements.
RR1500_MRR_USL – rain rate 1500 m above ground (in mm/h) at the station Useldange derived from MRR measurements.
The instruments were maintained and cleaned monthly. The data was quality checked. Cases with solid precipitation were excluded using the output form the Pasivel² present weather sensor software, which especially was needed since disdrometer data was contaminated by cobwebs. But since the present weather analyzer classified these (due to their slow movement within the wind) as snow, these then could easily be eliminated.