FIFE: 30-Minute Rainfall Data from 30 Gauges in Kansas, 1987

30 rain gauges in the Kings Creek basin collected thirty-minute rainfall data during 1987. The data were of high quality, allowing observation of rain cell structure, though software and environmental issues meant data from approximately 20 gauges were recovered at any given time. This dataset was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the FIFE study.

Use Cases

• Modeling rain cell structure and movement based on the high-quality gauge network data.
• Analyzing short-term precipitation variability based on thirty-minute interval measurements.
• Studying the reliability of field sensor networks in humid, high-temperature conditions based on the described data losses.

Strengths

• Data were described as 'of high quality' in the source description.
• Sufficiently many gauges were working to observe rain cell structure.
• Provides fine temporal resolution with thirty-minute measurement intervals.

Limitations

• Data losses occurred due to high temperatures, humidity, and software problems in the loggers.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected from thirty rain gauges located in the Kings Creek basin.

Time Range

1987

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 19:43:32.617478; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Kings Creek basin in the northwest corner of the FIFE study area (Kansas, USA).