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Daily and sub-daily hydrometeorological and soil data (2013-2022) [COSMOS-UK]

Publisher
Environmental Information Data Centre
Updated
30 July 2026
Topic
Not set
Licence
Not set

Summary

[THIS DATASET HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN]. This dataset contains daily and sub-daily hydrometeorological and soil moisture observations from COSMOS-UK (cosmic-ray soil moisture) monitoring network from October 2013 to the end of 2022. These data are from 51 sites across the UK recording a range of hydrometeorological and soil variables. Each site in the network records the following hydrometeorological and soil data at 30-minute resolution: Radiation (short wave, long wave, and net), precipitation, atmospheric pressure, air temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, soil heat flux, and soil temperature and volumetric water content (VWC), measured by point sensors at various depths. Each site hosts a cosmic-ray sensing probe; a novel sensor technology which counts fast neutrons in the surrounding atmosphere. In combination with the recorded hydrometeorological data, neutron counts are used to derive VWC over a field scale (COSMOS VWC), at two temporal resolutions (hourly and daily). The presence of snow leads to erroneously high measurements of COSMOS VWC due to all the extra water in the surrounding area. Included in the daily data are indications of snow days, on which, the COSMOS VWC are adjusted, and the snow water equivalent (SWE) is given. The potential evapotranspiration (PE), derived from recorded hydrometeorological and soil are also included at daily resolution. Two levels of quality control are carried out, firstly data is run through a series of automated checks, such as range tests and spike tests, and then all data is manually inspected each week where any other faults are picked up, including sensor faults or connection issues. Quality control flags are provided for all recorded (30 minute) data, indicating the reason for any missing data. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/5060cc27-0b5b-471b-86eb-71f96da0c80f

Data links

Link Format Preview Updated
Supporting information ZIP 30/7/2026

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
24 July 2026
Harvest GUID
5060cc27-0b5b-471b-86eb-71f96da0c80f
Extent (Latitude)
60.861° to 49.864°
Extent (Longitude)
-8.648° to 1.768°
Dataset reference date (publication)
2023-03-29
Access constraints
If you reuse this data, you should cite: Stanley, S., Antoniou, V., Askquith-Ellis, A., Ball, L.A., Bennett, E.S., Blake, J.R., Boorman, D.B., Brooks, M., Clarke, M., Cooper, H.M., Cowan, N., Cumming, A., Evans, J.G., Farrand, P., Fry, M., Harvey, D., Houghton-Carr, H., Howson, T., Khamis, D., Lord, W.D., Morrison, R., Nash, G.V., O'Callaghan, F., Rylett, D., Scarlett, P.M., Smith, R., Swain, O.D., Szczykulska, M., Teagle, S., Thornton, J.L., Trill, E.J., Ward, H.C., Warwick, A.C., Winterbourn, J.B. (2023). Daily and sub-daily hydrometeorological and soil data (2013-2022) [COSMOS-UK]. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/5060cc27-0b5b-471b-86eb-71f96da0c80f
Responsible party
(author, pointOfContact, publisher, owner, custodian); Agricultural University of Athens (author); Unaffiliated (author); UK Met Office (author); Thomson Environmental Consultants (author); Bangor University (author)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng