The Disdrometer Verification Network (DiVeN): particle diameter and fall velocity measurements from a network of Thies Laser Precipitation Monitors around the UK (2017-2019)

Starting in February 2017, a network of 14 Thies™ manufactured Laser Precipitation Monitors (LPMs) were installed at various locations around the United Kingdom to create the Disdrometer Verification Network (DiVeN). The instruments were installed for verification of radar hydrometeor classification algorithms but are valuable for much wider use in the scientific and operational meteorological community.



Every Thies LPM is able to designate each observed hydrometeor into one of 20 diameter bins from >= 0.125 mm to > 8 mm, and one of 22 speed bins from > 0.0 m s-1 to > 20.0 m s-1. A laser and diode receiver operate in tandem; a falling particle will occlude the beam. The duration of the occlusion and the maximum extent (measured by diode voltage) determines the fall velocity and diameter respectively. Using empirically-derived relationships, the instrument classifies precipitation into one of 11 possible hydrometeor classes in the form of a 'present weather code', with an associated indicator of uncertainty. To provide immediate feedback to data users, the observations are plotted in near real time (NRT) and made publicly available on a website within 7 minutes (see linked documentation section). A 'present weather code' is a World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) code used to define the present observatory weather (see linked documentation for the WMO present weather code list).



The instruments belonged to the Met Office but were loaned to the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) for the duration of the project. NCAS handle the receiving server for real-time DiVeN data, which is the only route to this dataset. On-site collection of data are not guaranteed in all circumstances. Some of the sites rely on unreliable O2 3G dongles; whilst the Feshie instrument was solar and wind powered and the Coverhead instrument suffered from power / connectivity issues. Any missing data can be explained by these reasons, and are handled appropriately in the files. The data were collated into daily files of 1440 minutes. More information can be found in Pickering et al., 2018, see related documentation.

Simple

Date (Publication)
2019-10-29T11:25:16
Date (Creation)
2019-10-29T11:25:16
Citation identifier
https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/602f11d9a2034dae9d0a7356f9aeaf45
Citation identifier
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) / 602f11d9a2034dae9d0a7356f9aeaf45
Citation identifier
doi / http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/602f11d9a2034dae9d0a7356f9aeaf45
Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

unknown

 		Author

Met Office

enquiries@metoffice.gov.uk

Author

Unavailable

Pickering, Ben S

Unavailable

 		Author

Unavailable

Neely III, Ryan R.

Unavailable

 		Author

Unavailable

Harrison, Dawn

Unavailable

 		Author

Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)

support@ceda.ac.uk

Custodian

Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)

support@ceda.ac.uk

Distributor

Unavailable

Neely III, Ryan R.

Unavailable

 		Principal investigator

Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)

support@ceda.ac.uk

pointofContact

Unavailable

Pickering, Ben S

Unavailable

 		pointofContact

Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)

support@ceda.ac.uk

Publisher
Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned
Update scope
Dataset
Keywords

  • disdrometer

  • rainfall

  • precipitation

  • verification

  • hydrometeors

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • atmospheric conditions
Access constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Public data: access to these data is available to both registered and non-registered users.
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.
Spatial representation type
Grid
Language
English
Topic category
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
N
S
E
W
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Begin date
2017-02-10T00:00:00
End date
2019-09-30T22:59:59
Unique resource identifier
WGS 84
Distribution format
Name Version

Data are NetCDF formatted.
Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)

support@ceda.ac.uk

Distributor
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/602f11d9a2034dae9d0a7356f9aeaf45

CEDA Data Catalogue Page
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
http://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/deposited2019/diven

DOWNLOAD
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2000)017<0130:AODFMS>2.0.CO;2

Löffler-Mang, M. and J. Joss, 2000: An Optical Disdrometer for Measuring Size and Velocity of Hydrometeors. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 17, 130–139, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2000)017<0130:AODFMS>2.0.CO;2

OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2018-302

Pickering, B. S., Neely III, R. R., & Harrison, D. (2018). The Disdrometer Verification Network (DiVeN): a UK network of laser precipitation instruments. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 2018, 1-34.

OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZLJq_mT288

YouTube video of disdrometer deployments around the UK
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://sci.ncas.ac.uk/diven/

Disdrometer Verification Network (DiVeN) Project site
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/badc_datadocs/surface/code.html

World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) present weather code list
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/badc_datadocs/diven/DiVeN_Availability.pdf

Plot of DiVeN data availability for each instrument deployment location
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/badc_datadocs/diven/DiVeN_Map.pdf

Map of DiVeN instrument deployment locations
Hierarchy level
Dataset

Conformance result

Title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement

The resource came into existence to fulfil a need for more reliable hydrometeor type data in the UK (compared with automated stations using a visiometer) in order to verify radar hydrometeor classification algorithms for the UK C-band dual-polarisation radar network, which was upgraded to dual-polarisation 2013-2018.



The recorded disdrometer precipitation data are uploaded in real time to an NCAS server, where it has been converted to a netCDF format. The instrument itself does all the internal processing to generate the extra variables before outputting the data to a user, but the raw particle counts are retained. Raw diode voltages are not an available product.

Metadata

File identifier
602f11d9a2034dae9d0a7356f9aeaf45 XML
Metadata language
English
Character set
UTF8
Parent identifier
Disdrometer Verification Network (DiVeN) data collection: particle diameter and fall velocity measurements from a UK-wide network of disdrometers and supporting measurements from Chilbolton

001b9640fdb1453aa95a222ba423580e
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Date stamp
2026-03-01T03:16:52
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3
Metadata author
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)

support@ceda.ac.uk

Point of contact
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

atmospheric conditions


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