Hedrick et al. (2026) A 40-year high-resolution gridded meteorological dataset derived from station observations in the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed

Identification

• Journal: Earth system science data
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-28
• Authors: Andrew R. Hedrick, Brandon Stairs, Christopher Jason Williams, Joachim Meyer, J. P. McNamara, Patrick R. Kormos
• DOI: 10.5194/essd-18-5531-2026

Research Groups

• Northwest Watershed Research Center, US Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service, Boise, Idaho 83702, USA
• Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83712, USA
• Idaho Snow Survey, US Department of Agriculture – Natural Resource Conservation Service, Boise, Idaho 83709, USA

Short Summary

This paper presents a 40-year high-resolution gridded meteorological dataset for the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in southwest Idaho, USA. The dataset includes hourly measurements of air temperature, vapor pressure, precipitation mass and phase, incoming shortwave and longwave radiation, wind speed and direction, and other variables.

Objective

• Develop a high-resolution gridded meteorological dataset for the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed to support hydrologic modeling and research

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: 10 m resolution grid covering an area of approximately 239 km2 in southwest Idaho, USA
• Temporal Scale: Hourly temporal resolution spanning 40 water years from 1 October 1983 to 30 September 2023

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Spatial Modeling for Resources Framework (SMRF) v0.11.7
• Data sources: Station observations from a dense network of meteorological stations within the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed

Main Results

• The dataset includes hourly measurements of air temperature, vapor pressure, precipitation mass and phase, incoming shortwave and longwave radiation, wind speed and direction, and other variables.
• The mean annual precipitation across the entire watershed was 461 mm, with a maximum value of 686 mm in water year 1984 and a minimum value of 279 mm in water year 1994.

Contributions

• This dataset provides a unique opportunity for comparison of various physically based models, evaluation of long-term atmospheric reanalysis datasets, and new studies on agroecosystem response to differing weather patterns.
• The publicly shared dataset supports modern software workflows, analysis, and open science best practices to support the broader science community.

Funding

• This research was supported by the SCINet project of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS project number 0201-88888-003-000D).

Citation

@article{Hedrick202640year,
  author = {Hedrick, Andrew R. and Stairs, Brandon and Williams, Christopher Jason and Meyer, Joachim and McNamara, J. P. and Kormos, Patrick R.},
  title = {A 40-year high-resolution gridded meteorological dataset derived from station observations in the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed},
  journal = {Earth system science data},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/essd-18-5531-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5531-2026}
}