Archive Meta Data

Author(s)

Simon Fiil Svane, Jesper Svensgaard and Federico Calamita

Title

Meteorological data from the Taastrup Climate and Water Balance Station 2014-2024

Description

The dataset contains meteorological data from the Taastrup Climate and Water Balance Station operated by the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences of Copenhagen University. The station is located at the experimental university farm, Højbakkegård, 20 km west of Copenhagen. Records of agriculture climate and water balance at the site were initiated in 1955. In 2013 – 2016 the station was renovated and equipped with updated sensor technology. The station is designed to provide data for the calculation of reference evapotranspiration according to the Penman equation, with air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and short-wave and long-wave radiation sensors installed at the height of 2 m above a grass surface equipped with soil heat flux sensors installed 5 cm below the surface. In addition, measurements of diffuse short-wave radiation, incoming ultraviolet and incoming photosynthetic active radiation are available from 2021. Rain and snowfall are measured using weighing gauges installed at 1.5 m and 0 m height. The weighing gauge at 0 m is placed in line with the grass surface to eliminate wind-induced under-catch effects. In periods with missing 0 m precipitation data or risk for snow drifts, site precipitation (P_Corr) is determined as dynamical under catch adjusted 1.5 m precipitation data using 2 m air temperature and wind speed following (Allerup et al. 1997; Vejen et al. 2014).

The station has a size of 30 x 50 m covered with a dense short grass mixture. In the growing season, the grass is cut weekly to a height of 6 cm. Since 2016 a small area of 5 x 5 m below each of the net radiation and soil heat flux sensors are irrigated in dry periods. Ordinary agricultural fields surround the site with rows of 3-10 m tall trees bordering the experimental farm at a distance of about 300, 350, 300, and 150 m in the north, east, south and west directions, respectively.

Most sensors are duplicated and installed at two horizontal positions within the site, ensuring redundancy during maintenance periods and enabling the detection of sensor drift. The datasets span the period from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2024, and are available at daily, hourly, or 10-minute time resolutions. For each parameter, the mean value of the two duplicate sensor measurements is provided when both measurements are valid. If one measurement is missing, the value from the remaining sensor is used. During periods with no valid sensor data, gaps are filled using corresponding grid values from the national grid dataset (Scharling 1999). For gaps shorter than two hours, linear interpolation is applied. Data filled using these methods are flagged, with the flagging system explained in the header of each data file.
Each dataset is accompanied by a reference metadata file containing information about data units, sensor types, logging intervals, and quality assurance procedures. Additionally, a raw data file is available, presenting single-sensor measurements as 10-minute mean values.
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Format: 
ASCII (CSV), comma-separated data format. Data variable names and data files were created following a structure similar to the ICOS project (https://www.icos-ri.eu/), with some additions when needed. The ICOS meta-data standards are described at https://meta.icos-cp.eu/resources/cpmeta/atcMeteoTimeSer.Table-driven variable codes (GRIB codes) are provided for each data variable according to World Meteorological Organisations (WMO) standards. https://community.wmo.int/activity-areas/wis/latest-version



Keywords: Meteorological Data, Water Balance, Reference Evapotranspiration, Precipitation, AnaEE Denmark, 

Data policy: The data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 

For other AnaEE Denmark datasets, see http://www.erda.dk/vgrid/AnaEE_DK/. 

Acknowledgements: Svend Aage Nielsen and Jon Nielsen are gratefully acknowledged for maintaining the technical infrastructure and collection of data, while Morten Dürr Resen and Jakob Engstrøm Nielsen for the weekly maintenance of the station during the growing season. Since 2017 they have been responsible for the stable operation of the station without any significant breakdown.       


References:
Allerup P, Madsen H, Vejen F (1997) A Comprehensive Model for Correcting Point Precipitation. Hydrol Res 28:1–20. doi: 10.2166/nh.1997.0001
Scharling M (1999) CLIMATEGRID – DENMARK, Precipitation, air temperature and potential evapotranspiration 20 * 20 & 40 * 40 km. DMI Technical Report 99-12. Copenhagen
Vejen F, Vilic K, Jensen H (2014) Korrigeret Nedbør 1989-2010, 2011-2012 & 2013. DMI Technical Report 14-13. Copenhagen