COSMOS-UK: Daily and Sub-Daily Hydrometeorological and Soil Moisture Data (2013-2025)

COSMOS-UK provides daily and sub-daily hydrometeorological and soil moisture observations from 51 sites across the United Kingdom from October 2013 to the end of 2025. The dataset includes 30-minute resolution measurements of radiation, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, air temperature, wind, humidity, soil heat flux, soil temperature, and volumetric water content, derived in part from cosmic-ray sensing probes. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and is managed by the Environmental Information Data Centre.

Use Cases

• Modeling field-scale soil moisture dynamics based on cosmic-ray derived volumetric water content (VWC).
• Analyzing the impact of snow cover on soil moisture measurements based on adjusted COSMOS VWC and snow water equivalent (SWE) data.
• Estimating potential evapotranspiration (PE) rates based on recorded hydrometeorological and soil variables.
• Studying sub-daily environmental variability based on 30-minute resolution data for radiation, temperature, and wind.

Strengths

• Data spans over 12 years, from October 2013 to the end of 2025, providing a long-term observational record.
• Observations come from 51 geographically distributed sites across the UK.
• Two levels of quality control are applied: automated checks (range/spike tests) and weekly manual inspection, with flags provided for 30-minute data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The presence of snow leads to erroneously high measurements of COSMOS VWC, requiring use of the adjusted values and snow day indicators.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for some modeling tasks.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre, supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (award NE/Y006208/1).

Collection Method

Observations from the COSMOS-UK (cosmic-ray soil moisture) monitoring network, using cosmic-ray sensing probes and point sensors.

Time Range

October 2013 to the end of 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-16 21:25:12.727002; freshness should be verified.

Geography

51 sites across the United Kingdom.