The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre suitable to assess and quantify the global water cycle and resources

Abstract

Precipitation plays an important role in the global energy and water cycle. Accurate knowledge of precipitation amounts reaching the land surface is of special importance for fresh water assessment and management related to land use, agriculture and hydrology, incl. risk reduction of flood and drought. High interest in long-term precipitation analyses arises from the needs to assess climate change and its impacts on all spatial scales. In this framework, the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) has been established in 1989 on request of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It is operated by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, National Meteorological Service of Germany) as a German contribution to the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). This paper provides information on the most recent update of GPCC's gridded data product portfolio including example use cases.

WaterResourcesAssessmentandSeasonalPrediction

Proc. IAHS, 374, 2934, 2016 proc-iahs.net/374/29/2016/ doi:10.5194/piahs-374-29-2016 Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre suitable to assess and quantify the global water cycle and resources

Udo Schneider, Markus Ziese, Anja Meyer-Christoffer, Peter Finger, Elke Rustemeier, and Andreas Becker

Global Precipitation Climatology Centre, Deutscher Wetterdienst, 63067 Offenbach am Main, Germany

Correspondence to: Andreas Becker ([email protected])

Published: 17 October 2016

Abstract. Precipitation plays an important role in the global energy and water cycle. Accurate knowledge of precipitation amounts reaching the land surface is of special importance for fresh water assessment and management related to land use, agriculture and hydrology, incl. risk reduction of ood and drought. High interest in long-term precipitation analyses arises from the needs to assess climate change and its impacts on all spatial scales. In this framework, the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) has been established in 1989 on request of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It is operated by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, National Meteorological Service of Germany) as a German contribution to the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). This paper provides information on the most recent update of GPCCs gridded data product portfolio including example use cases.

1 GPCC background and agenda

The GPCC collects and assures quality of world-wide observational in-situ data from rain gauges in order to provide gridded high-quality and high-resolution land surface precipitation analyses as mandated by WMOs World ClimateResearch Program and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Based on over 25 years of operation the GPCC gridded data products are built on base of the world-wide largest archive of quality controlled in-situ precipitation data (Fig. 1). All gridded GPCC data products are public available in OGC compliant netCDF format to the community (ftp://ftp-anon.dwd.de/pub/data/gpcc/html/download_gate.html

Web End =ftp: ftp://ftp-anon.dwd.de/pub/data/gpcc/html/download_gate.html

Web End =//ftp-anon.dwd.de/pub/data/gpcc/html/download_gate.html ftp://ftp-anon.dwd.de/pub/data/gpcc/html/download_gate.html

Web End = ).

1.1 A product portfolio for archetype requirements

Depending on the climate related application and service aspired, there is a large variety of user needs in terms of timeliness, homogeneity, resolution and accuracy which cannot be addressed by one data product. As a consequence GPCC has issued a suite of products that contains near-real-time as well as non-real-time products in monthly and daily resolution

and in spatial resolutions of 1.0 1.0 and 2.5 2.5 (only

monthly) latitude by longitude. The non-real-time products based on the complete GPCC monthly rainfall station database (the largest monthly precipitation station database of the world with data from more than 100 000 different stations) are also available in 0.5 0.5 resolution. GPCCs

new global precipitation climatology V.2015 (available in2.5 2.5 , 1.0 1.0 , 0.5 0.5 , and 0.25 0.25 res

olution, Fig. 2) based on data from the more than 75 000 stations that feature records longer than 10 years of length is used as background climatology for the other GPCC analyses using the anomaly interpolation method also known as climate aided interpolation (CAI).

1.2 Data sources of GPCC

Data from national meteorological and hydrological services, regional and global data collections are mainly used to calculate these products, as well as WMO-GTS data. In order to provide the user with a sufcient level of documentation and long term accessibility, GPCC products issued in year 2011 or later are all referenced by digital object identi-

Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences.

30 U. Schneider et al.: The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the GPCC

60 000

Data base GPCC's products

(total number of stations used, status Sep 2016)

Full data reanalysis V. 7

Full data reanalysis V. 6

Full data reanalysis V. 5

Full data reanalysis V. 4

Full data reanalysis V. 3

MP

FG

50 000

Number of stations

40 000

30 000

20 000

10 000

0

1901

1906

1911

1916

1921

1926

1931

1936

1941

1946

1951

1956

1961

1966

1971

1976

1981

1986

1991

1996

2001

2006

2011

2016

Figure 1. Station data coverage of GPCCs near real-time Monitoring Product and First Guess Product (indicated by FG), as well as for the ve most recent Versions of the centennial Full Data Reanalysis with the most recent Version 7 from June 2015.

Figure 4. Centennial correlation between precipitation (GPCC Full Data Reanalysis V7) for the period 19012013 and the negative ENSO Southern Oscillation index (1 SOI) similar to Becker et

al. (2013).

cent years. All in all, the new versions are based on about 75 100 stations with records exceeding 10 years instead of 67 200 stations reprocessed in year 2011. Due to the additional stations and precipitation data, it was possible to detect errors invisible so far and to improve the analysis in particular across Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and some other regions.Moreover a new land-sea mask has been introduced, adding many grid cells across islands/atolls that had been missing (sea cells) before. The GPCC Full Data Reanalysis Product is the most recommended for quantitative assessments of the global water cycle (Fig. 3) and resources with regard to the precipitation over land (Schneider et al., 2014). It also contains information to understand natural variabilities (Fig. 4) as well as the hydro-climatological background of water related conicts (Fig. 5). Since July 2015 a rst full data daily product (Fig. 6) has been published together with three other new ones (Table 2).

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Figure 2. GPCC Climatology V2015, annual totals in mm are shown at 0.25 resolution.

ers (DOIs, Tables 1 and 2), allowing also for reproducibility and repetition of data utilizations even decades after primary data accesses. Corresponding to international agreements, station data provided by Third Parties are protected. However the gridded GPCC analysis products are freely available via Internet (http://gpcc.dwd.de

Web End =http://gpcc.dwd.de ) and GPCC has also issued a test interpolation data set solely based on the public available station data of NOAAs GHCN.

2 Most recent versions of monthly data products issued in June 2015

Most recently updated versions of the Full Data Reanalysis (V7) and Climatology (V2015) were released, replacing their predecessors issued in 2011. The updates are enhanced by almost 8000 additional stations that were added to the quality assured data base of the GPCC. Furthermore the data records of existing stations were extended by the most re-

Figure 3. Update of the quantitative assessment of the global water cycle utilizing GPCCs land-surface precipitation analysis (Schneider et al., 2014).

U. Schneider et al.: The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the GPCC 31

Table 1. Overview on monthly data products of the GPCC and their use cases.

Name of GPCC data product DOI reference for download

Use cases Period Time of Regular Quality Grid covered availability updates (# of stations) resolution

QC-level

First guess monthly doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FG_M_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FG_M_100

Near real-time drought Oct. 2003 35 days after Yes, monthly Limited LatLon monitoring until present expiry of (6000 to 1.0

Early monitoring month 7600) regarded Basic (Auto)

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/MP_M_V5_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/MP_M_V5_100

Monthly product V5 (June 2015) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/MP_M_V5_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/MP_M_V5_100

Regular HQ Jan. 1982 Within two Yes, monthly High LatLon monitoring until present months after (7000 to 1.0 and 2.5

Calibration of satellite end of month 8900)data regarded Normal Sys. error (under (auto and catch) correction cross-checks) Solid precipitation Annual and monthlyanomalies

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_M_V7_050

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_M_V7_050 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_M_V7_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_M_V7_100 Full data reanalysis V7 (June 2015) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_M_V7_250

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_M_V7_250

Global water cycle Jan 1901 to Upon No, Best LatLon and resources Dec 2013 availability of every three to (11 000 to 0.5, 1.0, and Hydrological studies substantially four years 51 000 2.5

Best quality (HR) increased data depending on analysis base of quality month; 75 100 Centennial analysis controlled in total) Climatological precipitation High (in-analysis data depth Index (ENSO) screening and sensitive regions correction) Verication of modelsfrom NWP to seasonal Re-analysisverication

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_025

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_025 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_050

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_050 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_100 GPCC climatology V2015 (June 2015) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_250

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/CLIM_M_V2015_250

Climate aided Reference Similar to full No, Best LatLon interpolation (CAI) period data similar to 751 000 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, School material 19512000 reanalysis full data High and 2.5

Reference material reanalysis

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32 U. Schneider et al.: The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the GPCC

Source: Der Spiegel based on analysis of Pieter van Ostaeyen / Thomas von Linge

Still battled Haditha dam In the middle of a fully arid region, Sunni habitat and strongly dependent on Euphrates river water supply and management

Still battled Haditha dam In the middle of a fully arid region, Sunni habitat and strongly dependent on Euphrates river water supply and management

Source: Westermann Atlas

Figure 5. GPCCs climatological data sets are utilized as reference material (right panel, here Westermann Atlas) and potentially help to comprehensively understand water modulated conicts (left panel) and to serve independent reference information for water diplomacy.

Source: Westermann Atlas

Figure 6. Precipitation analysis of 7 July 1997 (top panel) and corresponding interpolation (kriging) error eld (bottom panel).

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U. Schneider et al.: The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the GPCC 33

Table 2. New GPCC data products issued in July 2015.

Name of GPCC data product DOI reference for download

Use cases Period Time of Regular Quality Grid covered availability updates (# of stations) resolution

QC-level

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/ITD_M_V1_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/ITD_M_V1_100 GPCC interpolation test dataset (including monthly station totals of GHCN)

Verify GPCCs JanDec Similar to full None Test LatLon interpolation method 1988 data Up to 1.0

through product based reanalysis 24 000 on subset of 23 000 stations

public available GHCN QC NOAA-GHCNstations

GPCC drought index (monthly; Ziese et al., 2014) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/DI_M_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/DI_M_100

Drought monitoring Jan 2013 10th of Yes, monthly Limited LatLon present following 60007600 1.0

expired month Basic month (Auto)

GPCC rst guess daily prod. (Schamm et al., 2014) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FG_D_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FG_D_100

Early monitoring Jan 2009 4th of Limited LatLon Extreme precipitation present following 60007600 1.0

expired month Basic month (Auto)

GPCC full data daily product version 1 (July 2015) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_D_V1_100

Web End =10.5676/DWD_GPCC/FD_D_V1_100

Climatological Jan 1988 Upon No, 1 month High LatLon assessment Dec 2013 availability of after issuance (23 000 1.0

Climate and weather full data of full data 30 000) extremes in precip monthly monthly Auto and (WCRP GC and product product vis. check ETCCDI) Error assessment

3 Data availability

All data sets are provided with free and unlimited access through the DOI references provided. Data will be maintained version dependent on the underlying ftp server operated by Deutscher Wetterdienst.

Acknowledgements. We are most appreciative to the data suppliers who are to the largest extent the worldwide spread National Meteorological and/or Hydrological Services, but also some other institutes. These data contributions have put Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) into the position to provide the global precipitation analyses described in this document, and we are looking forward to their further contributions, which are crucial in order to maintain and enhance GPCCs level of products in terms of scope and quality.

References

Becker, A., Finger, P., Meyer-Christoffer, A., Rudolf, B., Schamm,K., Schneider, U., and Ziese, M.: A description of the global landsurface precipitation data products of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre with sample applications including centennial (trend) analysis from 1901present, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 5, 7199, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-5-71-2013

Web End =10.5194/essd-5-71-2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-5-71-2013

Web End = , 2013.

Diercke Weltatlas: Euphrat and Tigris Water Usage, p. 162, Fig. 2,ISBN 978-3-14-100800-5, 2015.

Schamm, K., Ziese, M., Becker, A., Finger, P., Meyer-Christoffer,A., Schneider, U., Schrder, M., and Stender, P.: Global gridded precipitation over land: A description of the new GPCC First Guess Daily product, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 6, 4960, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-49-2014

Web End =10.5194/essd-6-49-2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-49-2014

Web End = , 2014.

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34 U. Schneider et al.: The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the GPCC

Schneider, U., Becker, A., Finger, P., Meyer-Christoffer, A., Ziese,M., and Rudolf, B.: GPCCs new land surface precipitation climatology based on quality-controlled in situ data and its role in quantifying the global water cycle, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 115, 1540, 2014.

Ziese, M., Schneider, U., Meyer-Christoffer, A., Schamm, K., Vido,J., Finger, P., Bissolli, P., Pietzsch, S., and Becker, A.: The GPCC Drought Index a new, combined, and gridded global drought index, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 6, 285295, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-285-2014

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