The positions of the meteorological towers (IMKMT1 to IMKMT4) are identical with the positions of the launching sites of the drop-up-sondes (IMKRS1 to IMKRS5). There have been no more than 4 teams operating on each IOP. For detailed information about the sites (including a map) and operating days see supplement pdf-file (cops_rsdu_imk_info_1). The parameters are: air_pressure: measured at about 1.8 m GND by a barometric pressure sensor that has a gill pressure port, 60s mean. air_temperature_at_1.8m: measured at about 1.8 m GND by a HYGROMER meteorology probe MP 400a, 60s mean. relative_humidity_at_1.8m: measured at about 1.8 m GND by a HYGROMER meteorology probe MP 400a, 60s mean. precipitation_amount: measured by a tipping bucket rain gauge (catchment area: 200 cm**2), 60s accumulated. wind_speed_at_4.5m, wind_from_direction_at_4.5m, virtual_temperature_at_4.5m: measured at about 4.5 m by a Young 3-D Sonic Anemometer, 60s mean.

The Sodar/RASS device installed at Fussbach consisted of a DSDPA.90/64-Sodar and a DSDR3x7-1290MHz-RASS extension by METEK GmbH. It operated with an averaging period of 10 min. The minimum measurement height was 40 m and the maximum measurement height 700 m with a step width of 20 m in between.

The two energy balance station run by Meteo-France/CNRM measured high-frequency (20 Hz) eddy-covariance raw data with a Solent-HS (Gill Instruments Ltd.) sonic anemometer and a LI-7500 (LI-COR Biosciences) hygrometer above the target land use type corn. The measuring set-up was continuously running during July 2007 in order to provide turbulent flux data of momentum, sensible and latent heat as well as carbon dioxide. Post-processing was performed using the software package TK2 (developed by the Department of Micrometeorology, University of Bayreuth) which produces quality assured turbulent flux data with an averaging interval of 30 min. The documentation and instruction manual of TK2 (see entry cops_nebt_ubt_info_1) and additional references about the applied flux corrections and post-field data quality control (see entry cops_nebt_ubt_info_2) as well as a document about the general handling of the flux data can be found in supplementary pdf-files within the energy balance and turbulence network (NEBT) experiment of the data base. The turbulent flux data in this data set are flagged according to their quality and checked for an impact of possible internal boundary layers. Additionally, the flux contribution from the target land use type intended to be observed to the total flux measured was calculated applying footprint modeling. Information and references about the internal boundary layer evaluation procedure and the footprint analysis are also given in additional info pdf-files. Pictures of the footprint climatology of the station as related to the land use and to the spatial distribution of the quality flags are included in the additional info pdf-file corresponding to the individual station.

University of Leeds radiosonde (Vaisala RS80 and RS92-SGP), Hornisgrinde site 2007-06-11 to 2007-08-30 University of Leeds radiosonde (Vaisala RS80 and RS92-SGP), Achern site 2007-06-05 to 2007-08-30

Dropsondes (mobile radiosondes) were launched by 5 mobile radiosonde teams. The launching sites were different from IOP to IOP. The positions are identical with the positions of the meteorological towers (imkmt1 to imkmt4). There have been no more than 4 teams operational on each IOP. The dropsondes are radiosonde-like systems. The maximum height is 12050 m above MSL. At this height, the sondes are separated from the balloon and then glide to the ground. Drop points are up to 70 kilometres apart from launching sites. For detailed information about the sites see supplement file and map.

Several meteorological parameteres were measured at different stations run by FZK/IMK-TRO. Depending on the individual site i.e. wind direction, wind speed, global radiation, reflected irradiance, atmospheric longwave radiation, terrestric longwave radiation, surface temperature, precipitation, air pressure, soil heat flux, relative humidity. The respective set of parameters is described in the meta data of each station.

The energy balance stations run by FZK/IMK-TRO measured high-frequency (20 Hz or 32 Hz) eddy-covariance raw data with either a Solent R1012 (Gill Instruments Ltd.) sonic anemometer or a Young 81000 (R. M. Young Company) sonic anemometer and a LI-7500 (LI-COR Biosciences) hygrometer above different target land use types. The measuring set-up was continuously running during the entire COPS measurement period in order to provide a complete time series of the turbulent fluxes of momentum, sensible and latent heat as well as carbon dioxide. Post-processing was performed using the software package TK2 (developed by the Department of Micrometeorology, University of Bayreuth) which produces quality assured turbulent flux data with an averaging interval of 30 min. The documentation and instruction manual of TK2 (see entry cops_nebt_ubt_info_1) and additional references about the applied flux corrections and post-field data quality control (see entry cops_nebt_ubt_info_2) as well as a document about the general handling of the flux data can be found in supplementary pdf-files within the energy balance and turbulence network (NEBT) experiment of the data base. The turbulent flux data in this data set are flagged according to their quality and checked for an impact of possible internal boundary layers. Additionally, the flux contribution from the target land use type intended to be observed to the total flux measured was calculated applying footprint modeling. Information and references about the internal boundary layer evaluation procedure and the footprint analysis are also given in the additional pdf-files. Pictures of the footprint climatology of the station as related to the land use and to the spatial distribution of the quality flags are included in the corresponding additional info pdf-files.

The period of permanent measurement was : 1st July - 31 July 2007 The measured parameters are : Air pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, position. The operation was effective during IOP, up to 6 soundings a day. Near the village of Meistratzheim, 20 km south_westward of Strasbourg. The platform on the site of Niederrott is installed just between 2 types of vegetation : Maize on the west and short grass on the east part.

The Soundings were usually performed during the daytime of IOPs at two fixed locations. Scheduled launching times were at 05, 08, 11, 14, 17 and 20 UTC. Radiosounding at Burnhaupt le Bas, France: Sondes of the type DFM-06 manufactured by the Company GRAW (http://graw.de) have been used. Radiosounding at FZK, Karlsruhe, Germany Sondes of the type DFM-97 manufactured by GRAW (http://graw.de) have been used. From 26 July at 5:02 DFM-06 sondes of the same company have been used. On 25 July at 11:08 there was a test run of a DFM-06 sonde.

The energy balance stations run by University of Bayreuth continuously measured radiation and soil parameters over different land types with a sampling frequency of 1 Hz averaged to 1 min values within the data logger. After a check for plausibility the 1 min values have been averaged to 30 min intervals, which are provided in this data set. The instrumentation was different on each location. The following was measured depending on the station: - soil heat flux - soil temperature - volumetric soil water content - longwave radiation components - shortwave radiation components - tipping bucket rain gauge measurements The ground heat flux including the heat storage in the upper soil layer was determined from the measured soil heat flux, soil temperatures and volumetric soil water contents according to the 'simple measurement' (SM) method according to Liebethal and Foken (2007).