Daily measurements of near-surface humidity from a mesonet in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, 2005–2010

Abstract

Hourly near-surface relative humidity and temperature were monitored from 2005 to 2010 in a mesoscale network of 232 sites in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta, Canada. The monitoring network covers a range of elevations from 890 to 2880 m above sea level and an area of about 18 000 km2, sampling a variety of topographic settings and surface environments with an average spatial density of one station per 78 km2. Having been combined with air pressure measurements from Calgary International Airport and adjusted for the site elevation, the hourly data form the basis of estimates of daily mean specific humidity, vapour pressure, and relative humidity at each site, available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.889435. Overall data coverage for the study period is 89 %. This paper describes the processing methods used to quality control and gap fill the data. Inverse-distance weighting techniques are used to estimate the missing 11 % of data, based on neighbourhood values of daily mean specific humidity. We also report monthly mean lapse rates of specific and relative humidity. Plots of seasonal and spatial humidity patterns in the region illustrate the relations between humidity variables and temperature, elevation, and longitude.