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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #115097
Title: LONG-TERM CLIMATE DATABASE: REYNOLDS CREEK EXPERIMENTAL WATERSHED, IDAHO USA

Author
item Hanson, Clayton
item Marks, Daniel
item Van Vactor, Steve

Submitted to: Water Resources Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/6/2001
Publication Date: 4/20/2001
Citation: Hanson, Clayton L., Marks, Daniel G., Van Vactor, Steven S., Long-Term Climate Database: Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Idaho USA., Water Resources Research, journal, pp 2839-2841, v. 37, 2001.

Interpretive Summary: There is a very limited amount of long-term hydrometeorology information available for the Inland Pacific Northwest that can be used by researchers to describe the climate of this semi-arid mountainous region, for engineering design and for the management of the natural resources in this area. For these reason, an unique 33 year (January 1964 through September 1996) climate database has been developed and made available on the web for the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed located in the Owyhee Mountains in southwest Idaho. This mountainous watershed represents much of the climate and vegetation conditions associated with rangelands in the interior Pacific Northwest. This database includes daily and hourly air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, dew-point temperature, vapor pressure, Class A pan evaporation, and wind speed and direction for three climate stations on the watershed. Not all of records are available for all climate elements for the full 33 year series but in general, hourly data are available for all elements between the early 1980's and September 30, 1996.

Technical Abstract: An extensive, 33 year (1964-1996), climatic database has been developed for three climate station on the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW) located near the north end of the Owyhee Mountains in southwest Idaho. The longest records(1964-1996) are for daily maximum and minimum temperature. The length of record for other weather elements that include relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction and daily Class A pan evaporation varies, but in general is from 1974-1996. Weather sensors have varied from hygrothermographs with spring-driven clocks and charts to electronic sensors with the data telemetered daily to the Northwest Watershed Research Center(NWRC) office in Boise, Idaho. Most of the data, since the early 1980's, were measured and stored electronically, therefore, hourly data are available for most climatic elements between the early 1980's and 1996. These data can be accessed from the USDA-ARS Northwest Watershed Research Center database through the anonymous ftp site: ftp.nwrc.ars.usda.gov.