WegenerNet high-resolution weather and climate data from 2007 to 2020

This paper describes the latest reprocessed data record (version 7.1) over 2007 to 2020 from the WegenerNet climate station networks, which since 2007 have been providing measurements with very high spatial and temporal resolution of Hydrometeorological variables for two regions in the state of Styria, southeastern Austria: (1) the WegenerNet Feldbach Region, in the Alpine Forelands of southeastern Styria, which extends over an area of about 22km16km and contains 155 meteorological stations placed on a tightly spaced grid with an average spatial density of 1 station per & amp 8764;2 km² and a temporal sampling of 5 min, and (2) the Wegener-Net Johnsbachtal, which is a smaller sister network of the WegenerNet Feldbach Region in the mountainous Alpine region of upper Styria that extends over an area of about 16km17km and comprises 13 meteorological stations and 1 hydrographic station at altitudes ranging from below 600 m to over 2 100 m and with a temporal sampling of 10 min. These networks operate on a long-term basis and continuously provide quality-controlled station time series for a multitude of hydrometeorological near-surface and surface variables, including air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction, soil moisture, soil temperature, and others like pressure and radiation variables at a few reference stations. In addition, gridded data are available at a resolution of 200m200m for air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and heat index for the Feldbach region and at a resolution of 100m100m for the wind parameters for both regions. Here we describe this dataset (the most recent reprocessing version 7.1) in terms of the measurement site and station characteristics as well as the data processing, from raw data (level 0) via quality-controlled basic station data (level 1) to weather and climate data products (level 2). In order to showcase the practical utility of the data, we also include two illustrative example applications, briefly summarise and refer to scientific uses in a range of previous studies, and briefly inform about the most recent WegenerNet advancements in 2020 towards a 3D open-air laboratory for climate change research. The dataset is published as part of the University of Graz Wegener Center’s WegenerNet data repository under the DOI https://doi.org/10.25364/WEGC/WPS7.1:2021.1 (Fuchsberger et al., 2021) and is continuously extended.