Dataset
Met Office Cardington: precipitation measurements from a Thies disdrometer, 2019-2024
Abstract
The Met Office Observation-based research Boundary Layer Facility, at the semi-rural field site (18 Ha) of Cardington (52° 06′ N, 00° 25′ W, 29 m ± 1 m amsl) in central-southern England between 2004 and 2024, operated the Thies laser disdrometer, a laser optical device used for the measurement of diameter and fall velocity of hydrometeors, from 2019 to 2024. From such measurements, it is possible to classify different types of precipitation, such as drizzle, rain, hail, snow, and mixed precipitation, quantify precipitation in a time interval, and derive size and velocity joint distribution. Thies laser disdrometer can in addition detect fine drizzle, drop fall speed and drop size distribution.
The disdrometer is the most sophisticated precipitation instrument deployed at Cardington.
A full list of NetCDF variables can be found in "Continuous meteorological surface and soil records (2004-2024) at the Met Office surface site of Cardington, UK." Osborne et al. ESSD (2025). This paper should be referenced in any research/publications pertaining to this dataset.
Details
| Previous Info: |
No news update for this record
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| Previously used record identifiers: |
No related previous identifiers.
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| Access rules: |
Public data: access to these data is available to both registered and non-registered users.
Use of these data is covered by the following licence(s): http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record. |
| Data lineage: |
Data were collected by the Met Office Meteorological Research Unit, Cardington, during its operational period. These data have been standardised for the production of this dataset, following similar file metadata conventions for all associated datasets within the continuous hydro-meteorological record (2004-2024) at the Met Office surface site of Cardington, UK Dataset Collection, as described more fully within Osborne et al., (2025). This standardisation approach addressed, where possible, any known data and metadata issues. Data were then deposited at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) for long-term archival. |
| Data Quality: |
Data are as given by the data provider. Please see Osborne et al., (2025) for a description of quality control and assurance applied (see online resources). No quality control has been performed by the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).
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| File Format: |
Data are NetCDF formatted
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Related Documents
Process overview
Instrument/Platform pairings
| Met Office Cardington Thies disdrometer | Deployed on: Met Office Meteorological Research Unit, Cardington |
| Output Description | None |
- units: 1
- var_id: metar_1min
- long_name: 1 minute METAR code (Table 4678)
- units: 1
- var_id: synop_4677_1min
- long_name: 1 minute SYNOP code (Table 4677)
- units: 1
- var_id: synop_4680_1min
- long_name: 1 minute SYNOP code (Table 4680)
- units: mm hr-1
- var_id: intensity_1min_liquid
- long_name: 1 minute intensity liquid precipitation
- units: mm hr-1
- var_id: intensity_1min_solid
- long_name: 1 minute intensity solid precipitation
- units: mm hr-1
- var_id: intensity_1min
- long_name: 1 minute precipitation intensity
- units: 1
- var_id: metar_5min
- long_name: 5 minute mean METAR code (Table 4678)
- units: 1
- var_id: synop_4677_5min
- long_name: 5 minute mean SYNOP code (Table 4677)
- units: 1
- var_id: synop_4680_5min
- long_name: 5 minute mean SYNOP code (Table 4680)
- units: mm hr-1
- var_id: intensity_5min
- long_name: 5 minute mean intensity
- units: mm
- var_id: max_hail_diameter
- long_name: Maximum hail diameter
- units: %
- var_id: quality
- long_name: Measuring quality
- units: 1
- var_id: n_particles_mindia
- long_name: Number of particles < minimal diameter (0.15 mm)
- units: 1
- var_id: n_particles_minvel
- long_name: Number of particles < minimal speed (0.15 m s-1)
- units: 1
- var_id: n_particles_maxvel
- long_name: Number of particles > maximal speed (20 m s-1)
- units: 1
- var_id: precipitation_spectrum
- long_name: Number of particles in each size and speed bin
- units: 1
- var_id: n_particles_no_hydro
- long_name: Number of particles no hydrometeor
- units: mm
- var_id: accumulation_daily
- long_name: Precipitation accumulation since start of day
- units: dBZ
- var_id: radar_reflectivity
- long_name: Radar reflectivity
- var_id: time
- units: hours
- long_name: Time at end of measurement period
- units: 1
- var_id: n_particles
- long_name: Total number of particles during measurement period
- units: mm
- var_id: accumulation_total
- long_name: Total precipitation accumulation since last reset
- units: mm
- var_id: particle_diameter_bins
- long_name: Upper and lower limits of particle diameter bins
- units: m s-1
- var_id: particle_speed_bins
- long_name: Upper and lower limits of particle speed bins
- units: m
- var_id: vis_precip
- long_name: Visibility in precipitation
Co-ordinate Variables
Temporal Range
2019-04-01T00:00:00
2024-12-31T23:59:59
Geographic Extent
52.1047° |
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-0.4216° |
-0.4216° |
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52.1047° |