RUSWET-GRASS-50STA

50 station data set of Russian (former Soviet Union)

plant-available soil moisture measurements

at natural grass fields

(from Vinnikov and Yeserkepova, 1991)

Konstantin Vinnikov
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland

Alan Robock
Department of Environmental Sciences,
Rutgers University

Irina B. Yeserkepova
State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

February 25, 1997

The entire data set is contained in two data files: soilm.1m and seas.cyc. Each of these data sets contain a list of stations and measurements of plant available soil moisture in the top 1 meter of soil at 10-day intervals (actually, the measurements were made on the 8th, 18th, and the end of each month). The measurements were made on a level grass field (natural vegetation) at each station site using a gravimetric technique. A detailed description of these data is given by:

Vinnikov, K. Ya. and I. B. Yeserkepova, 1991: Soil moisture: empirical data and model results. J. Climate, 4, 66-79.

The order of stations in this archive is the same as in the Table 1 of Vinnikov an Yeserkepova (1991). Some data on the soil constants in the original Table 1 have been corrected - see the Appendix.

In the soilm.1m file, each station contains data which span a different range of years. The entire data set covers the years 1952-1985, but the spatial extent of these data is very poor up until about 1975.

For each station block of data, the first line contains the station info: station id, station name, latitude, longitude, and number of years worth of data (which may help when reading in the data). The code for reading this first line (in FORTRAN) is: 
       read (10,10) ist, stid(i), lat(i), lon(i), num(i)                          

10     format (i5,1x,a3,16x,2(f6.2),i2)

The lines that follow are the data with each year contained on one line. The code is: 

       read (10,20) year, (mud(j),j=1,36)       

20     format (i4,36(f4.1))

The data on soil moisture content in 1 m top soil layer are in UNITS OF CENTIMETERS OF WATER. The measurements of soil moisture are taken three times a month on the 8th,18th, and the last day of each month. During most of the winter, however, measurements are only taken at the end of the month. Missing values in the data set are noted by the value 99.9.

The seas.cyc file contains the same stations as in the soilm.1m. The data for each station are the averaged annual cycle of observed available soil moisture (mean monthly values). Each line contains data for one station. The FORTRAN code for reading in one line of station data is: 
       read (10,30) station, (mud(j),j=1,12)
30     format (1x,a19,12f4.1)

Again, you will read in the monthly mean values of 1 m layer soil moisture content in UNITS OF CENTIMETERS OF PLANT AVAILABLE WATER. Missing values are denoted by a value of 99.9.

Note that in the both files for some values a negative sign is placed in front. This is to denote that the value was determined by using interpolation.

If you have any problems or questions you can contact us for assistance:

 

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) 314-9482Fax: (732) 932-8644
E-mail: kostya@atmos.umd.edu E-mail: robock@envsci.rutgers.edu

TO DOWNLOAD THE DATA,
get the complete contents of each of the directories and subdirectories, click here .



APPENDIX

Corrections for Table 1 in Vinnikov and Yeserkepova (1991)

Nina Speranskaya
State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

In the original, some of the values were estimated from soil types. Now we have found observed data.

Values (2) should be used instead of, or in addition to, (1). 

Station              W(*)      W(f)      W(o) 
                   1    2    1    2    1    2
           
 1.ENA                      107   -    -   494
 3.OLONETS                  184   -   386  329
 6.VOLOGDA        107   96  140   -  (284)  -
 8.Sharkovshchina 204  228            365  207
 9.Vasilevitchi                               
   (for 1978)      -    24   -   234   -   354
   (for 1979-85)  100   30           (234) 340   
11.Surskoe                  154   -    -   431                  
12.PENZA                               -   284
13.AGLOS          174  191             -   250
14.SARNY                    107   -    -   374
15.ASKANIA-NOVA                        -   298
16.VORONEZH                 194   -    -   376
17.ERSHOV                              -   305
18.TCHISHMY                            -   375
19.SVERDLOVSK               180   -    -   394
20.TYUMEN                              -   321
21.OMSK            83  101  148  183   -   485
22.OGURTSOVO                           -   475
23.BARNAUL                  172   -    -   475
24.KHAKASSKAYA MGO                            
    (for 1978-84)  60                  -   411
   (for 1985 only) -    69   -    -    -   409        
25.TULUN                    170   -    -   411
26.KYZYLSKAYA MGO  80   57  120   -    -   479
27.Slavgorod                           -   378
28.KRASNOARMEIKA                              
   (for 1978-80)   -   180   -   212   -   255
   (for 1981-85)            113  120   -   372 
29.TCHAGLY                             -   368
30.TCHERNIGOVKA                        -   316
31.DMITRIEVKA               135  156   -   428
32.RODNIKOVKA               186   -  (266) 400
33.URALSK                              -   353
35.DZHANYBEK                162  190   -   362
37.TEREKTY                             -   350

Prepared by Alan Robock (robock@envsci.rutgers.edu)
Last updated on August 7, 2004