An observational quality-controlled hourly precipitation database for Italy

Abstract

Although we are living in a data-rich era, the availability of high-temporal-resolution precipitation data from rain gauges is still limited and highly spatially fragmented. While several satellite, radar, and reanalysis products are available, they often suffer from significant biases, particularly when it comes to intense precipitation events. The development of high-resolution observational datasets faces several challenges, most of which are related to data management or the lack of centralized institutions able of overseeing and integrating large-scale monitoring networks. In Italy, for example, hourly precipitation data are collected and managed independently by regional or sub-regional authorities. This results in a fragmented system and the absence of a unified, national-scale hourly precipitation dataset. In this short paper, we present a first attempt to create an hourly precipitation dataset derived from rain gauges distributed throughout Italy. To ensure its reliability, we also apply different quality control algorithms designed to identify and correct potential inconsistencies and gross measurement errors.