A Standardized Atmospheric Measurement Data (SAMD) Archive for distributed cloud and precipitation process-oriented observations in Central Europe

Multitude of clouds and precipitation observations in Germany is described. Data are available now in a standardized format in the new SAMD archive. Central Europe has a vital and extensive meteorological research community comprising national weather services, universities, and research organizations and institutes. Nearly all of them are involved in the open scientific questions regarding clouds and precipitation processes. The research activities include observations (from in-situ, ground-based remote sensing, radio soundings to satellite-based observations), model development on all scales (from direct numerical simulations to global climate models), and other activities. With Germany as an example our first objective is to show the large amount and the diversity of observations regarding clouds and precipitation. The goal is to give an overview of existing measurements and data sets to show the benefit of combining the different information from a variety of observations. Up to now the access to and the usage of these data sets from different sources was not straightforward, due to the issue of missing data and archiving standards for observational data. This then motivates our second objective which is to introduce our solution for this issue - the novel Standardized Atmospheric Measurement Data archive (SAMD). SAMD is one of the outcomes of the German research initiative HD(CP)2. The goal of SAMD is the easy-to-use approach for both, data producers and archive users. Therefore the archive provides observational data in the common Climate Forecast (CF) Conventions format and makes its availability to the broader public. SAMD offers highly standardized, quality controlled data and meta data for a wide range of instruments, with open access which makes this novel archive important for the research community.