Articles | Volume 9, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-721-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-721-2017
14 Sep 2017
 | 14 Sep 2017

SPREAD: a high-resolution daily gridded precipitation dataset for Spain – an extreme events frequency and intensity overview

Roberto Serrano-Notivoli, Santiago Beguería, Miguel Ángel Saz, Luis Alberto Longares, and Martín de Luis

Abstract. A high-resolution daily gridded precipitation dataset was built from raw data of 12 858 observatories covering a period from 1950 to 2012 in peninsular Spain and 1971 to 2012 in Balearic and Canary islands. The original data were quality-controlled and gaps were filled on each day and location independently. Using the serially complete dataset, a grid with a 5 × 5 km spatial resolution was constructed by estimating daily precipitation amounts and their corresponding uncertainty at each grid node. Daily precipitation estimations were compared to original observations to assess the quality of the gridded dataset. Four daily precipitation indices were computed to characterise the spatial distribution of daily precipitation and nine extreme precipitation indices were used to describe the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events. The Mediterranean coast and the Central Range showed the highest frequency and intensity of extreme events, while the number of wet days and dry and wet spells followed a north-west to south-east gradient in peninsular Spain, from high to low values in the number of wet days and wet spells and reverse in dry spells. The use of the total available data in Spain, the independent estimation of precipitation for each day and the high spatial resolution of the grid allowed for a precise spatial and temporal assessment of daily precipitation that is difficult to achieve when using other methods, pre-selected long-term stations or global gridded datasets. SPREAD dataset is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/7393.

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Short summary
Spanish PREcipitation At Daily scale (SPREAD) is a new daily gridded precipitation dataset for Spain. It covers the whole territory of peninsular Spain and the Balearic and Canary Islands at a 5 × 5 km spatial resolution for the 1950–2012 period. The research is more than a complex analysis of precipitation in Spain; it provides a product that can be used for both scientific and decision-making policy purposes.