CHIRPS3 FAQ

Is there a CHIRPS3 website?

Yes: https://chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps3

Where can I get CHIRPS3 data?

Via a web browser

https://data.chc.ucsb.edu/products/CHIRPS/v3.0/

Climate Hazards Center landing page for all our public data is,

   http://data.chc.ucsb.edu/

Via anonymous ftp

ftp ftp.chc.ucsb.edu
username: anonymous 
password: your_email_address
cd  /pub/org/chg/products/CHIRPS-2.0/

DOI links

CHIRPSv2.0: http://chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps/ #Points to data webpage, see Data section for download

What is the spatial resolution of CHIRPS?

• Chirps is produced at 0.05 x 0.05 degree spatial resolution.
• For daily Africa data we also provide a 0.25 x 0.25 degree spatial resolution product.

What are the spatial domain available for CHIRPS?

• Global 60N-60S, 180W-180E @0.05 deg resolution = maps 7200 x 2400 pixels
• Africa 40N-40S, 20W-55E @0.05 deg resolution = maps 1500 x 1600 pixels
• Latin America 35N-60N, 120W-34W @0.05 deg resolution = maps 1720 x 1900 pixels

What are the time steps available for CHIRPS?

• daily
• pentad
• dekad
• monthly
• 2-monthly
• 3-monthly
• annual

How does CHIRPS define a pentad?

• 6 pentads = 1 calendar month. Each of first 5 pentads in a month have 5 days. The last pentad contains all the days from the 26th to the end of the month.

How does CHIRPS define a dekad?

• A dekad = sum of 2 pentads. There are 3 dekads in a calendar month.

What are the file formats available for CHIRPS?

• .tif
• .bil
• .netcdf

What units is CHIRPS in?

Total mm for given time step, mm/pentad, mm/month, etc.

What value is used for Bad Values?

-9999.

What is the latency of the CHIRPS product?

• The preliminary CHIRPS v3.0 uses readily available in situ station observations, including reports from the World Meteorological Organization *(WMO) Global Telecommunications System (GTS), NOAA’s Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN), Synoptic Summary of the Day (SSOD), and *from Mexico’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA). Additional data sources include:
• Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM, Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies)
• Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica (IMN, Costa Rica’s National Meteorological Agency)
• Republic of Korea Meteorological Administration
• Drought Information System for Southern South America (SISSA)
• Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia e Hidrología (INSIVUMEH, Guatemala’s National Institute for Seismology, *Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology)
• Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (Chilean Meteorological Service)
• Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, German Meteorological Service)
• 3D-Printed Automatic Weather Stations (3D-PAWS) in Kenya
• Final CHIRPS (all station data) is available sometime in the third week of the following month.

What is the temporal range for CHIRPS?

CHIRPS is available from 1981 to near-real time.

Who do I contact with CHIRPS questions?

Pete Peterson

pete@geog.ucsb.edu

What is the spatial density of station data used in CHIRPS?

The closest thing we have available is what we call "reality checks" we post in EWX (Early Warning Explorer).

You can access EWX here.

• On the left open up the Africa tab.
• Then double click on RCHECKS-STNS
• You will have to zoom in to see squares with black dots in the middle.
  • These are 10x10 pixel boxes of the station value on top of the CHIRPS field, a "reality check" to see if the stations match the background field.
  • You can zoom in on a location, then cycle through month/years to see how the number of stations changes with time. It is pretty significant in some areas.

How was CHIRPS funded?

CHIRPS has been supported by funding from:

• the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)
• the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
• the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

How good is CHIRPS?

For its intended uses, Seasonal Drought monitoring and Trend Analysis, it is very good; see [1]

How do I reference CHIRPS in publications?

Funk, C.C., Peterson, P.J., Landsfeld, M.F., Pedreros, D.H., Verdin, J.P., Rowland, J.D., Romero, B.E., Husak, G.J., Michaelsen, J.C., and Verdin, A.P., 2014, A quasi-global precipitation time series for drought monitoring: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 832, 4 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/832/

Is there a copy of the paper online?

Yes.

• CHG-local source
• USGS website

What's on the agenda for future CHIRPS?

• extend CHIRPS above 50 degrees North
• aquire more station data
• redo the CHPclim to include more station data and avoid tiling artifacts
• include an additive step to the blending
• consider re-prioritorizing fGTS above fGSOD
• have CHIRPS v2.0 ingested into Google Earth Engine. (https://earthengine.google.org)
• Snippets = The ability to embed the latest CHIRPS image into your web page. (http://ewx.geog.ucsb.edu/ewx-snippets/)

What are some of the changes in version 2.0?

• Since v1.8 we have added many new stations around the world. In particular, 400 in Peru, 1,200 across Africa from Sharon Nicholson, 11,000 in Brazil, over 1,000 in Mexico (Conagua), 76 from Southern Africa, 500 in Russia, 250 in Central Asia and 400 across Central America. In addition we have topped off data from several African countries. The Conagua stations are available in near-real time and will directly improve our preliminary CHIRPS product.
• Daily data now available for the Globe
• NetCDF format added
• Replaced erroneous stations in Tanzania
• Expanded diagnostics, stations by Country plots, EWX rchecks, station comparison/*badness* plots, station density maps, pentad and monthly png's of excluded stations,