Data description

The dataset PT02 is a new high resolution (0.2°×0.2°) daily gridded precipitation dataset over mainland Portugal. This dataset spans the period from 1950 to 2003 and is based on 806 stations, 188 meteorological stations from Portuguese Meteorological Service (IM) and 618 rain gauges from the National Water Institute (INAG). Most of these (726) stations have at least 10 years of data.

The interpolation method applied to create the PT02 dataset was the ordinary kriging, which was compared with simpler techniques, namely, inverse distance weighting methods.

This dataset was used to evaluate four global gridded datasets: two based on rain gauges (Climate Research Unit (CRU) and Global Precipitation Climate Center (GPCC)) and two ECMWF re-analyses (ERA-40 and ERA-Interim). A detailed description about PT02 and about the comparison with other datasets is presented in the paper:

• Belo-Pereira, M., E. Dutra, and P. Viterbo, 2011: Evaluation of global precipitation data sets over the Iberian Peninsula, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D20101, doi:10.1029/2010JD015481. See paper

Terms and conditions of use

The PT02 dataset was developed by IM and is distributed freely for non-commercial research and education projects only. For commercial applications you should contact IM (margarida.belo@meteo.pt).

User registration is mandatory to have free access to the PT02 dataset. The registration process also guarantees that users are kept updated on new versions of the dataset. Users are encouraged to provide feedback in order to improve the quality of the dataset and its delivery.

Redistribution of data to third parties is not allowed without IM´s permission.

Any publications or application using the whole or part of this dataset, should include the following acknowledgments and citation:

• "The authors thank IM by the data provided for this work (PT02 gridded precipitation dataset)".
• Belo-Pereira, M., E. Dutra, and P. Viterbo, 2011: Evaluation of global precipitation data sets over the Iberian Peninsula, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D20101, doi:10.1029/2010JD015481.