Articles | Volume 374
https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-374-29-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-374-29-2016
17 Oct 2016
 | 17 Oct 2016

The new portfolio of global precipitation data products of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre suitable to assess and quantify the global water cycle and resources

Udo Schneider, Markus Ziese, Anja Meyer-Christoffer, Peter Finger, Elke Rustemeier, and Andreas Becker

Abstract. Precipitation plays an important role in the global energy and water cycle. Accurate knowledge of precipitation amounts reaching the land surface is of special importance for fresh water assessment and management related to land use, agriculture and hydrology, incl. risk reduction of flood and drought. High interest in long-term precipitation analyses arises from the needs to assess climate change and its impacts on all spatial scales. In this framework, the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) has been established in 1989 on request of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It is operated by Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, National Meteorological Service of Germany) as a German contribution to the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). This paper provides information on the most recent update of GPCC's gridded data product portfolio including example use cases.

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Short summary
The Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) operated by Deutscher Wetterdienst since 1989 provides reliable information on monthly and daily precipitatation since 1901 and 1988, respectively. The information is provided as DOI referenced data sets and we provide herewith an overview and orientation which product is most suitable for a number of archetype use cases. We also provide some illustration on particular use cases. The GPCC data product will be further upgraded and prolongued.