PAR007 Optical disdrometer data in the meteorological tower at Cabauw

DOI:10.4121/7c0b95cd-e5d6-4aa1-b57b-4e48434df50a.v3
The DOI displayed above is for this specific version of this dataset, which is currently the latest. Newer versions may be published in the future. For a link that will always point to the latest version, please use
DOI: 10.4121/7c0b95cd-e5d6-4aa1-b57b-4e48434df50a

Datacite citation style

Schleiss, Marc; Castro, Andre; Mackenzie, Rob; Sourzac, Mahaut (2025): PAR007 Optical disdrometer data in the meteorological tower at Cabauw. Version 3. 4TU.ResearchData. dataset. https://doi.org/10.4121/7c0b95cd-e5d6-4aa1-b57b-4e48434df50a.v3
Other citation styles (APA, Harvard, MLA, Vancouver, Chicago, IEEE) available at Datacite

Dataset

Version 3 - 2025-03-28 (latest)
Version 2 - 2024-11-06 Version 1 - 2024-10-04
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Usage statistics

63
views
592
downloads

Geolocation

Meteorological tower, Cabauw
lat (N): 51.97026737
lon (E): 4.92618545
view on openstreetmap

Time coverage

ongoing since March 2021

Licence

CC BY 4.0

Interoperability

Description: In-situ measurements of raindrop size distributions, fall velocities, drop number concentrations and surface rain rates recorded by an OTT Parsivel2 disdrometer named "PAR007" at a height of 180 meters in the meteorological tower of Cabauw. This highly unusual location for a precipitation sensor was specifically chosen to study the effect of wind, turbulence and shielding on raindrop size distributions, as well as to quantify the vertical variability of rain near the surface. Two other disdrometers "PAR001_Cabauw" and "PAR002_Cabauw" located on the ground, approximately 200 meters away can be used as a reference to assess biases and measurement uncertainty. The site also features a vertically profiling micro-rain radar named "MRR002_Cabauw".


Format: Each NetCDF file covers a full month of observations. The temporal resolution is 1 minute. Data are provided "as is", without any post-processing. The NetCDF files contain all relevant information about all the variables, attributes and units. The global attributes of the NetCDF files contain important information about the type of sensor, logging software, project contributors and history of the dataset. If a monthly file is missing, no data are available for this month.


Relevance: Optical disdrometer data are useful for studying the type, dynamics and microphysics of precipitation from the perspective of a fixed observer on the ground. The data can be used to help calibrate weather radars, improve quantitative precipitation estimates, calculate the absorption/attenuation/propagation of electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere, and quantify important physical quantities such as liquid water content, rain amount, intensity and kinetic energy.


Note: This dataset is updated approximately every 3 months. Please reach out to the authors if you wish to get access to the most recent data.


Known issues:

  • Due to technical issues, no data are available between December 28, 2022 and January 3, 2023.
  • Due to technical issues, no data are available between June 16 and July 6, 2023.
  • Due to an upgrade in data logging software, no data are available between November 8 and December 4, 2023.
  • Due to technical issues, no data are available between January 19 and February 11, 2024.

History

  • 2024-10-04 first online
  • 2025-03-28 published, posted

Publisher

4TU.ResearchData

Format

NetCDF

Funding

  • Ruisdael Observatory (grant code 184.034.015) [more info...] Dutch Research Council (NWO)

Organizations

TU Delft, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing

DATA

Files (49)