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    • United States Climate Reference Network (USCRN) Drought Indices

    Metadata Updated: September 19, 2023

    The U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) was designed to monitor the climate of the United States using research quality instrumentation located within representative pristine environments. The USCRN hourly standardized soil moisture anomalies and percentiles were evaluated during changes in U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) status, with a focus on onset, worsening, and improving drought conditions. The purpose of this study was to explore timescales (i.e., 1 to 6 weeks) and soil moisture at individual (i.e., 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 cm) and aggregated layer (i.e., TOP and COLUMN) depths to determine their alignment with evolving drought conditions. Standardized measures of soil moisture were found to be useful in drought monitoring applications during these critical stages of drought formation and recovery. Indices based on weekly average standardized soil moisture and counts of hours below the 30th percentiles and above the 70th percentile were selected for use as drought indices, and they are provided daily for each layer in this dataset.

    File names are structured at CRNDI0101-STATIONNAME.csv. DI stands for Drought Indices. The first two digits of the trailing integer indicate major version and the second two digits minor version of the product.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date June 23, 2023
    Metadata Created Date August 18, 2023
    Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2023
    Reference Date(s) December 10, 2021 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update monthly

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from ncdc

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Station Picture

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date June 23, 2023
    Metadata Created Date August 18, 2023
    Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2023
    Reference Date(s) December 10, 2021 (publication)
    Responsible Party NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.ncdc:C01656
    Access Constraints Cite as: Leeper, R. D., Palecki, M. A., & Petersen, B. (2021). United States Climate Reference Network (USCRN) Drought Indices [Data set]. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.25921/Y33N-JX19. [access date]., Distribution liability: NOAA and NCEI make no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding these data, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA and NCEI cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data. If appropriate, NCEI can only certify that the data it distributes are an authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCEI archives., Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
    Bbox East Long -66.0
    Bbox North Lat 72.0
    Bbox South Lat 18.0
    Bbox West Long 172.0
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update monthly
    Graphic Preview Description Station Picture
    Graphic Preview File https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/images/uscrn-site-image.png
    Graphic Preview Type PNG
    Harvest Object Id 61a78f29-2a01-402a-9b2b-fdc6063264e2
    Harvest Source Id 2cb3ef77-1683-4c2a-9119-dc65e50917c6
    Harvest Source Title ncdc
    Licence This dataset is available for only 114 station locations in the CONUS and one station in southern Alaska. Therefore, while an excellent assessment of conditions at these locations is available, these data should not be interpolated between stations due to their coarse resolution.
    Lineage The dataset origin is internal to the U.S. Climate Reference Network Program at NCEI, taking quality controlled USCRN observations that have been converted to standardized soil moisture variables, and combining them into weekly drought indices that are calculated daily and synchronized to 12 UTC.
    Metadata Language eng; USA
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[172.0, 18.0], [-66.0, 18.0], [-66.0, 72.0], [172.0, 72.0], [172.0, 18.0]]]}
    Progress onGoing
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 2009

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