Infilled climate data for C1, Saddle, and D1, 1990 - 2019, hourly.

This serially complete dataset includes hourly, quality-controlled, infilled meteorological data for three sites at the Niwot Ridge LTER: C1, Saddle, and D1, representing subalpine, alpine, and high-alpine environments, respectively. Raw observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and incoming shortwave radiation were subjected to a rigorous hierarchical quality control and infilling protocol to make a robust, continuous dataset. Incoming longwave radiation was estimated using air temperature, relative humidity, and incoming shortwave radiation. Precipitation data were accessed from the Niwot Ridge LTER quality controlled datasets and Kittel et al. (2015). Precipitation values from C1 and Saddle were then corrected for gage undercatch (C1) and overcatch (Saddle) based on observations of snow accumulation at the Niwot SNOTEL station and snow pits located near the met stations (D1 precipitation data were not corrected as there were no available observation of snow accumulation). Daily precipitation values were temporally disaggregated to the hourly time step of the dataset. This dataset was originally created to force a physics-base snow model and is suitable for use in other research models that require hourly forcing data. Please contact the dataset's creators or the LTER data manager if you have any questions regarding the data or its applicability/suitability to your project. Disclaimer: These data come as-is with no warranty. The user must decide whether or not to use different variables and time periods within the dataset and whether further processing is warranted. In general, the data quality is higher and there are fewer infilled values from 2000 to 2013. The higher number of infilled entries before 2000 may preclude the 1990–1999 period from being used in a given analysis. This is particularly true for relative humidity and incoming solar radiation. The Niwot Ridge LTER is not responsible for the methodological choices made by those using the data. For cross-validation statistics on the infilling procedure and further information on the protocol, please see Jennings et al. (2017) in The Cryosphere: Observations and simulations of the seasonal evolution of snowpack cold content and its relation to snowmelt and the snowpack energy budget. (https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1595-2018)