Abstract:
The GEWEX home page address on the WWW is
http://www.gewex.org/ The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Continental-scale
International Project (GCIP) Initial Data Set (GIDS-1) data set
contains meteorological and hydrological data from the west-central
Mississippi River basin. GIDS-1 is a combination of operational and
research data over a 3-month period, 01 February 1992 through 30
... April
1992. The data was collected from over 6,000 stations in the GIDS-1
area (i.e., approximately 85W to 106W longitude and 30N to 45N
latitude). The station information dataset provided as part of GIDS-1
defines each station in the GIDS-1 data with station location, name,
frequency of observation, etc.
The purpose of GIDS-1 was to create a prototype data set that is
similar to future data sets collected during the GCIP Enhanced
Observing Period (1995-2000). Data from the STORM-FEST Field Project
was selected as a nucleus to build GIDS-1. STORM-FEST provided a data
set that: (1) included atmospheric and hydrological data obtained in
the center of the GCIP area; (2) occurred during a hydrologically
important time of year (i.e. late winter/early spring); (3) included
routine operational data as well as special research observing
platforms for a 6 week period; and (4) provided similar quality
controlled surface and upper air composite data sets as required by
GCIP. An additional 6 weeks of operational data was added to the
STORM-FEST data to: (1) increase the collection period of GIDS-1 into
the spring snowmelt/runoff period; and (2) provide a direct comparison
of 6 weeks of intensive/special observations to 6 weeks of routine
observations for evaluating future GCIP observational enhancements.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation
System (EROS) Data Center Land Cover (vegetation) imagery covers the
conterminous United States. The Land Cover imagery contains monthly
composites for a five month period encompassing the entire GIDS-1 time
period.
The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and Climate Analysis
Center (CAC) Upper Air Daily Weather Map Series imagery covers most of the
northern hemisphere at the 500 mb level. The surface map imagery covers the
conterminous United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. The NMC/CAC surface
and upper air map imagery contains daily maps valid 1200 UTC for the entire
GIDS-1 time period.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Dam Discharge dataset contains
data from approximately 45 sites in Tennessee, Kentucky, North
Carolina and surrounding states. This dataset covers a subset of the
complete GIDS-1 area. The TVA Dam Discharge dataset contains data
values of hourly turbine discharge and total discharge reported for
the complete GIDS-1 time period. No additional quality control (QC)
was performed on this dataset by the UCAR/Office of Field Project
Support (UCAR/OFPS).
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) stream flow dataset contains
stream flow data from 14 TVA stations in the GIDS-1 area of
interest. The dataset covers the complete GIDS-1 time period.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream flow dataset
contains stream flow data from 971 USGS stations in the GIDS-1 area of
interest. The dataset covers the complete GIDS-1 time period.
The Daily Precipitation Composite is composed of data from thousands
of stations from several sources (i.e., Daily totals computed from
GIDS-1 Hourly Precipitation Composite, United States Geological Survey
(USGS) daily precipitation, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) daily
precipitation, and the daily precipitation extracted from the NCDC
Cooperative data). Data from these sources were merged and quality
controlled to form this precipitation composite. This composite
contains data for the GIDS-1 time period, and for the GIDS-1 area of
interest, only.
The Hourly Precipitation Composite was formed from three data sources
(i.e., GIDS-1 area subset of the STORM-FEST Hourly Precipitation
Composite data, NCDC Hourly Precipitation data, and the precipitation
extracted from the GIDS-1 Hourly Surface Composite). Data from the
three sources (over a thousand stations) were merged and quality
controlled to form this precipitation composite. This composite
contains data for the GIDS-1 time period, and for the GIDS-1 area of
interest, only.
The Hourly Surface Composite is composed of data from several sources
(i.e., National Climatic Data Center Surface Aviation Observations
(NCDC SAO), High Plains Climate Network, Illinois Climate Network,
NOAA/Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL) PROFS Mesonet, Wind
Profiler Demonstration Network surface data, and GIDS-1 area extract
from STORM-FEST Hourly Surface Composite). Data from these sources
(over a 1,000 stations) were merged and quality controlled to form
this surface composite. The Hourly Surface Composite contains data for
the GIDS-1 time period, and for the GIDS-1 area of interest, only.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-7)
Infrared (IR) imagery covers the central and western United States at
8 km resolution. The GOES-7 IR imagery contains daily imagery for the
GIDS-1 time period.
The Illinois Soil Moisture data set contains data (approximately 37 to
43 latitude and 88 to 91 longitude), which is data collected from
approximately twenty-two sites in the state of Illinois. The data
covers the GIDS-1 time period and is provided in the same format in
which it was obtained. No additional quality control (QC) was
performed on this dataset by the UCAR/Office of Field Project Support
(UCAR/OFPS).
The NCDC Surface Specials data set contains only the NCDC Surface
Aviation Observation (SAO) "Special" observation surface data. Data
for the GEWEX Continental-scale International Project (GCIP) Initial
Dataset One (GIDS-1) area of interest and for a portion of the GIDS-1
time period (16 March 1992 through 30 April 1992) are contained is
this dataset. The NCDC SAO "Nominal" hourly data for the GIDS-1 area
and time period are included in the Hourly Surface Composite. This
NCDC SAO "specials" dataset contains data from hundreds of stations
and is identical in quality control processing, and similar in format,
etc. to the data in the Hourly Surface Composite.
The NOAA/WPL (Wave Propogation Laboratory) operated 5 boundary layer
profilers (915 MHz) in the STORM-FEST boundary layer network near
Seneca, KS. They were equipped with RASS and provided vertical
profiles of winds and temperature at 30 minute intervals. Winds were
measured at 100 m resolution gates from 0.2 - 3.1 km and at 400 m
resolution from 0.4 - 5 km. Temperatures from RASS were measured up to
about 2 km.
The WSI Corporation NOWrad product radar reflectivity composite
imagery covers a sector (approximately 6 degrees latitude by 12
degrees longitude) over the Central United States. The NOWrad sector
was generally fixed over the STORM-FEST domain but moved slightly
depending upon areas of active weather. The NOWrad imagery contains
daily composites valid 1200 UTC (whenever available) for the first
half of the GIDS-1 time period (01 February 1992 through 15 March
1992).
The Final Sounding Composite data set consists of STORM-FEST data
collected from all surface and aircraft based sites (NWS, AES, CLASS,
US Military, Picket Fence, L2D2 and USAF). All data sets were
converted to NCAR CLASS format and inter-polated to 10 mb pressure
levels. Data were then quality controlled. 
