United States Mean monthly and annual snowfall

Metadata:

Identification_Information:
Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator:
Chris Daly, Wayne Gibson, and George Taylor of the Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University
Publication_Date: 200008
Title: United States Mean monthly and annual snowfall
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Publisher:
Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University (SCAS/OSU)
Description:
Abstract:
Grids of 1961-1990 Mean Monthly and Annual Precipitation and wet-day temperature produced with the PRISM modeling system served as the base maps for the calculation of maps of 1961-1990 Mean monthly and annual snowfall.
Purpose:
Display and/or analyses requiring spatially distributed Mean monthly and annual snowfall for the climatological period 1961-90.
Supplemental_Information:
Using station data obtained from the National Climatic Data Center, non-linear, US-wide regression functions relating mean wet-day temperature to the ratio of snowfall over precipitation (SOP) were created for all months. These monthly functions were applied to mean monthly mean wet-day temperature grids produced by the PRISM modeling system to produce "first guess" grids for SOP. The residuals between observed and regression-predicted SOP were calculated for all stations for each month and for the year. These point residuals were interpolated to a grid using inverse-distance weighting. Because there was a strong relationship between the magnitude of the residual and the first-guess value (typical for precipitation-related elements), a scaling function was developed to account for this in the residual interpolation. The monthly residual grids were then added to the monthly first guess grids to obtain the final grids for monthly SOP. The monthly SOP grids were then multiplied by mean monthly precipitation grids produced by the PRISM modeling system to obtain final grids of monthly snowfall. An annual grid was produced by summing the monthly grids. A Gaussian filter was applied to increase the resolution of the grids from the base resolution 2.5 arc-minutes (~4 km) to 1.25 arc-minutes (~2 km). This filter is a modification of the Barnes filter (Barnes, 1964), originally adapted by Dr. Stephen Esbensen of Oregon State University, and later modified for use here by Wayne P. Gibson, also of Oregon State University.
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 19610101
Ending_Date: 19901231
Currentness_Reference:
Climatological period from which the point observations were taken.
Status:
Progress: Complete
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency:
None planned for the 1961-90 climatological period. However, this data set will most likely be updated in 2001 for the new 1971-2000 climatological period.
Spatial_Domain:
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -126.01041666666
East_Bounding_Coordinate: -64.989583333333
North_Bounding_Coordinate: 50.010416666666
South_Bounding_Coordinate: 24.072916666666
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Theme_Keyword: raster data
Theme_Keyword: Mean monthly and annual snowfall
Theme_Keyword: grid cell
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Place_Keyword: United States, USA
Access_Constraints: Access pursuant to license agreement
Use_Constraints:
Acknowledgement of the following agencies in products derived from these data: Spatial Climate Analysis Service at Oregon State University and Climate Source, Inc.
Point_of_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: George H. Taylor, State Climatologist
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing address
Address:
Strand Ag Hall 316, Spatial Climate Analysis Service, Oregon State University
City: Corvallis
State_or_Province: OR
Postal_Code: 97331-2209
Country: USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone: (541) 737-5705
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (541) 737-5710
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: taylor@oce.orst.edu
Security_Information:
Security_Classification_System: None
Security_Classification: Unclassified
Security_Handling_Description: None
Native_Data_Set_Environment: SunOS, 5.5.1, sun4m UNIX

Data_Quality_Information:
Logical_Consistency_Report:
All data were based on the same averaging period (1961-1990). Similar quality assurance procedures were used with all input data sets.
Completeness_Report:
Point estimates of Mean monthly and annual snowfall originated from the following source: National Weather Service Cooperative (COOP) stations. All COOP station data were subjected to quality control checks by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and Spatial Climate Analysis Service.
Positional_Accuracy:
Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy:
Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report:
Accuracy of this data set is based on the original specification of the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) 1 degree digital elevation models (DEM). The stated accuracy of the original DEMs are 130 m circular error with 90% probability.
Quantitative_Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Assessment:
Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Value: 130 m with 90% probability.
Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Explanation: The broad DMA production objective for 1-degree DEM's.
Lineage:
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
Publication_Date: 1991
Title:
U.S. National 1961-1990 Climate Normals, Climatography of the United States No. 81
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Asheville, NC, USA
Publisher: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
Type_of_Source_Media: digital files
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 19610101
Ending_Date: 19901231
Source_Currentness_Reference: ground condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation: CLIM81
Source_Contribution: Location and values of known Mean monthly and annual snowfall
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Defense Mapping Agency
Publication_Date: 1985
Title:
1:250,000-scale Digital Elevation Models (DEM) also known as 1-Degree DEM's
Online_Linkage: <URL:http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html>
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Washington, DC
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
Type_of_Source_Media: digital files
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date: 1985
Source_Currentness_Reference: Publication Date
Source_Citation_Abbreviation: DEM
Source_Contribution:
Terrain surface input to PRISM model for estimation Mean monthly and annual snowfall between known points.
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
It is beyond the scope of this metadata to document the processes involved in generating spatially gridded Mean monthly and annual snowfall using the PRISM model. However, the processes are documented in numerous conference proceedings and journal articles. The references can be found online at <URL:http://www.ocs.orst.edu/prism/>.
Process_Date: 200008

Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:
Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Raster
Raster_Object_Information:
Raster_Object_Type: Grid Cell
Row_Count: 1245
Column_Count: 2929

Spatial_Reference_Information:
Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:
Geographic:
Latitude_Resolution: .0208333333
Longitude_Resolution: .0208333333
Geographic_Coordinate_Units: Decimal degrees
Geodetic_Model:
Horizontal_Datum_Name: World Geodetic System 1972 (WGS 1972)
Ellipsoid_Name: WGS72
Semi-major_Axis: 6378135.0
Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.26

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:
Detailed_Description:
Entity_Type:
Entity_Type_Label: Mean monthly and annual snowfall grid cell value
Entity_Type_Definition: ASCII values
Entity_Type_Definition_Source: Self-evident
Attribute:
Attribute_Label: Mean monthly and annual snowfall grid cell value
Attribute_Definition: spatially gridded measurable Mean monthly and annual snowfall
Attribute_Definition_Source:
Daly, C., R.P. Neilson, and D.L. Phillips, 1994: A Statistical-Topographic Model for Mapping Climatological Precipitation over Mountainous Terrain. J. Appl. Meteor., 33,140-158.
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Range_Domain:
Range_Domain_Minimum: 0
Range_Domain_Maximum: 42262
Attribute_Units_of_Measure: mm
Attribute_Measurement_Resolution: 1
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value: <= -1
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition: no data available or outside of range domain
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
Spatial Climate Analysis Service PRISM Project

Distribution_Information:
Distributor:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: Climate Source, Inc.
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing address
Address: 946 NW Circle Blvd. #222
City: Corvallis
State_or_Province: OR
Postal_Code: 97330-1410
Country: USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone:
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone:
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: info@climatesource.com
Distribution_Liability:
This is a license agreement and not an agreement for sale. This agreement between the end user (Licensee) and The Climate Source (TCS) grants certain limited rights to use proprietary climate data (the Database) distributed by TCS. All rights not specifically granted in this agreement are reserved to TCS. Licensee acknowledges that the Database may contain some defects, errors, or inconsistencies. TCS does not warrant that the Database will meet the needs of the Licensee or that all defects can or will be corrected. TCS assumes no responsibility for decisions, judgments, or analyses which are based in any way on the Database.
Standard_Order_Process:
Digital_Form:
Digital_Transfer_Information:
Format_Name: ARC/INFO ASCII Grid
Digital_Transfer_Option:
Offline_Option:
Offline_Media: CD ROM
Recording_Format: ISO 9660
Fees: Packaged price per CD
Technical_Prerequisites: CD ROM drive with ISO 9660 software driver

Metadata_Reference_Information:
Metadata_Date: 20000925
Metadata_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: Climate Source, Inc.
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing address
Address: 946 NW Circle Blvd. #222
City: Corvallis
State_or_Province: OR
Postal_Code: 97330-1410
Country: USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone:
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone:
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: info@climatesource.com
Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998
Metadata_Security_Information:
Metadata_Security_Classification_System: None
Metadata_Security_Classification: Unclassified
Metadata_Security_Handling_Description: None

Generated by mp version 2.5.3 on Wed Feb 28 11:15:59 2001