Daymet: North American Weather Station Observations and Model Validation
Updated 1mo ago
8filesBIN
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
North American weather station data provides daily minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and precipitation observations from 1980 onward for the continent and Hawaii, and from 1950 for Puerto Rico. The dataset includes cross-validation results for the Daymet model parameters, allowing for assessment of model performance against ground truth. Station metadata files list the name, identification, latitude, and longitude for each surface weather station used in the processing.
Use Cases
Validating gridded climate model outputs based on station-level cross-validation results.
Analyzing long-term temperature and precipitation trends using daily station observations.
Assessing model performance improvements, particularly in high-latitude areas, using the updated 2020-2021 data.
Mapping weather station locations and their data coverage using the provided station metadata.
Strengths
Covers a long temporal range, with data from 1980-present for most regions and 1950-present for Puerto Rico.
Includes cross-validation results for three key model parameters, enabling direct performance assessment.
Contains corrected data for 2020 and 2021 addressing missing January readings from Canadian stations.
Limitations
Column names and specific row counts are not provided in the available metadata, limiting precise understanding of the data structure.
License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.
Update timestamps conflict between platforms (2026 vs. 2023), creating uncertainty about the most recent version.
Provenance
Source
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Data processing involves inputs from GHCNd and Environment Canada.
Collection Method
Station-level daily weather observations collected and used as input for the Daymet model, with cross-validation results generated.
Time Range
1950 to present (Puerto Rico); 1980 to present (continental North America and Hawaii).
Freshness
2026-04-10 (from datagov), but conflicting with a 2023-12-31 date on another platform.
Geography
Continental North America (Canada, United States, Mexico), Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
Data is provided in both netCDF and text formats. The 2020 and 2021 files were specifically updated in Version 4 R1 to correct missing data from Canadian stations.