RUSWET-AGROCLIM
Multi-year Average of plant available soil moisture
gravimetric observations and maps
Former Soviet Union
Data for agricultural fields with winter and spring cereal
crops
Konstantin Vinnikov
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland
Alan Robock
Department of Environmental Sciences,
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Vladimir Zabelin
Russian Hydrometeorological Center, Moscow
February 13, 1997
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA SET
This data set is the output of a system for monitoring of soil
moisture at agricultural fields in the former Soviet Union. The data used
here are multi-year averages of plant available water content in the soil
layers 0-100 cm, 0-50 cm and 0-20 cm at agricultural fields with winter
cereal crops and spring cereal crops (given separately) for 144
administrative districts of the Former Soviet Union (FSU). The
measurements of six stations (on the average) were used for each district
with equal weights. The period of observations is 1946-1980 for the
western part and 1927-1982 for the eastern part of the FSU). All the
initial data were retrieved and digitized from Kelchevskaya (1989) and
Zhukov (1986).
SPATIAL DOMAIN: The grain belt of the former Soviet Union (Russia,
Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and
Kazakhstan).
SPATIAL RESOLUTION: On average, the area of each district is about
30,000 km2 (ranging from 10,000 to more than 100,000 km2).
TEMPORAL RESOLUTION: 10-11 days (3 measurements per month).
BASIS: Gravimetric soil moisture observations from about six hundred
agrometeorological stations.
These data are stored in the files Data/dat.*. The * stands for the
variables w100, w50, w20, s100, s50, s20, where the character "s" or "w"
means that the data represent agricultural fields with "spring" or
"winter" cereal crops. The "20", "50," or "100" refer to the depth of the
soil layer in cm. Some misprints in the initial data have been corrected.
The files Data/dat.* for w100, w50, w20, s100, s50 and s20 have
the Fortran format (x,i3,2x,f5.2,x,f6.2,x,i3,37f5.1). Each line in these
files contains:
the district conventional number [INTEGER (i3)],
the latitude (�N) and longitude (�E) of the center of the district [REAL
(f5.2,x,f6.2)],
37 values of plant available soil moisture in cm [REAL (37f5.1]. The
first one is for December 28, the second value is for January 8, etc., 3
times per month (on the 8th, 18th and 28th of each month); the last value
is for December 28 (repeated).
The list of the names of the 140 administrative districts of the
Former Soviet Union, their station numbers which are used instead of
station names in the GrADS station files, geographical coordinates, and
areas are given in the file Data/station.list.
2. GrADS FILES
The Fortran program Prog/readagro2.f is designed for reading the
initial data and for writing them as GrADS station files Grads/st.*. The
GrADS station data descriptor files have names Grads/st.*.ctl. Station
map files are Grads/sta.map.* .
The GrADS station data function OACRES with default
parameters was used to interpolate the initial data into a 1x1� grid, using
the GrADS exec Grads/run.write. The results of interpolation were
written as the GrADS gridded files Grads/grd.*. Their GrADS
descriptors are in Grads/grd.*.ctl.
3. CLIMATIC SOIL MOISTURE MAPS
Climatic maps of plant available soil moisture for the territory of
the Former Soviet Union can be displayed using GrADS using the three
execs: Grads/mp, Grads/mpc, Grads/mpc3.
The 'mp' exec displays in landscape mode both a contour map of
soil moisture for each of variables and the district data. At the end of
each exec, GrADS commands for drawing such maps for each date of
observation are attached as comments.
The 'mpc' exec displays in landscape mode a color shaded map of
soil moisture for the same variables. At the end of the exec, the GrADS
commands for drawing such maps for each date of observation for each
of the variables are attached as comments.
The 'mpc3' exec displays in portrait mode on one page three color
shaded maps of plant available water content in the soil layers 0-100 cm,
0-50 cm, and 0-20 cm. At the end of the exec, the GrADS commands
for drawing such maps for each date of observation are attached as
comments.
You can use these GrADS files to write your own routines to
display and analyze the data in many different ways.
Acknowledgments. This work has been supported by NASA grant
NCC555 and NOAA grant NA56GPO212.
References
General description of Russian gravimetric soil moisture data in
English:
Robock, A., K. Y. Vinnikov, C. A. Schlosser, N. A. Speranskaya, and Y.
Xue, 1995: Use of midlatitude soil moisture and meteorological
observations to validate soil moisture simulations with biosphere and
bucket models. J. Climate, 8, 15-35.
Vinnikov, K. Y. and I. B. Yeserkepova, 1991. Soil moisture: empirical
data and model results. J. Climate, 4, 66-79.
Vinnikov, K. Y. , A. Robock, N. A. Speranskaya, and C. A. Schlosser,
1996: Scales of temporal and spatial variability of midlatitude soil
moisture. J. Geophys. Res., 101, 7163-7174.
Recommended Russian publications and reference books:
Kelchevskaya, L. S., 1983: Soil moisture of the European part of USSR.
Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 183 pp. (In Russian).
Kelchevskaya, L. S., Ed., 1989: Mean long term stores of productive
water under winter and early spring cereals in districts, regions,
republics and economic regions. Reference book. Vol. 2. Urals, Western
and Eastern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia. Gidrometeoizdat,
Leningrad, 65 pp. (in Russian).
Meshcherskaya, A. V., N. A. Boldyreva, and N. D. Shapaeva, 1982:
District average plant available soil water storage and the depth of snow
cover. Statistical analysis and its usage (some examples).
Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 243 pp. (In Russian).
Zhukov, V. A., Ed., 1986: Mean long term stores of productive water
under winter and early spring cereals in districts, regions, republics and
economic regions. Reference book. Vol. 1. European part of the USSR.
Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, 122 pp. (in Russian).
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Konstantin Ya. Vinnikov OR Prof. Alan Robock
Department of Meteorology Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Maryland Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
College Park, Maryland 20742 USA New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901 USA
Phone: (301) 405-5382 Phone: (732) 932-9478
Fax: (301) 314-9482 Fax: (732) 932-8644
E-mail: kostya@atmos.umd.edu E-mail:robock@envsci.rutgers.edu