The research aircraft DO-128, call sign D-IBUF, of the IFF (TU Braunschweig) measures numerous meteorological and chemical variables to get a better understanding of the atmospheric processes which cause the development of precipitation. The aircraft starts from the Baden Airpark and flys among different flight pattern which are described in the flight protocols. The meteorological variables are static pressure and dynamic pressure at the nose boom, surface temperature, humidity mixing ratio by a lyman-alpha sensor, dewpoint temperature by a dewpoint-mirror, relative humidity by an aerodata-humicap, air temperature by a PT-100 sensor, vertical and horizontal wind components by a five-hole probe and GPS, turbulence (100 Hz), shortwave (pyranometer) and longwave (pyrgeometer) radiance in upper und lower half space. The chemical variables are mole fractions of ozone, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen monoxide and nitric oxides (NOx). There are also a few variables for the position and the velocity of the aircraft stored in the data file. Additionally to the measurements by the aircraft, up to 30 drop-sondes can be dropped out of the aircraft. By using these sondes, vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind can be detected (see also the meta data describing the drop-sonde data). Special events are also marked in the data files by the event counter (e.g. dropping times of the drop-sondes, marks concerning the flight patterns etc.). The specific action or flight manoeuvre indicated by the event_number can be identified in the flight protocol.

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.

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.

The two instuments were: Scintec Sodar (MFAS) at Igelsberg, located near a waste disposal site. The device measures wind vectors every ten minutes. Metek RASS-Sodar in Bad-Rotenfels, located near a sewage treatment plant. The vertical wind component in the netCDF-files has been set to dummy values due to quality check failure for this variable.

Lidar data of 2mu Doppler Lidar run by FZK/IMK-TRO at COPS-Supersite Hornisgrinde. The windtracer is a commercial Doppler Lidar from LMCT. It can be operated in scanning and slant path mode. The data is direct output of the Real Time Lidar Data Processing Unit containing UTC, scanner position, rangegates and measured line_of_sight_velocity, signal to noise ratio (SNR), and aerosol backscatter signal derived from SNR. The wind profile is calculated automatically using VAD algorithm for 10 minutes intervals. No manual quality control is applied.

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 data include daily, monthly, and seasonal variables of CORDEX experiments scaled down onto a ca. 50 km grid over Africa (acronym: AFR-44) based on the CCLM4-8-17 regional climate model. Each file contains a single variable and is formatted according to the CORDEX data protocol - meaning NetCDF-4 compressed, CF-1.4 compliant, with attributes and filenames according to the specified DRS. Data from any CORDEX experiment and with any CMIP5 global model forcing available and transfered from the ESGF to the long term archive WDCC at the time of publication are included. These are the experiments evaluation, historical, rcp85, and rcp45 using forcing data derived from the CMIP5 models MPI-ESM-LR, EC-EARTH, CNRM-CM5 and HadGEM2-ES. The data are provided on the model computational (native) grid.

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.

Lidar data of 2mu Doppler Lidar run by FZK/IMK-TRO at COPS-Supersite Hornisgrinde. The windtracer is a commercial Doppler Lidar from LMCT. It can be operated in scanning and slant path mode. The data is direct output of the Real Time Lidar Data Processing Unit containing UTC, scanner position, rangegates and measured line_of_sight_velocity, signal to noise ratio (SNR), and aerosol backscatter signal derived from SNR. The wind profile is calculated automatically using VAD algorithm for 10 minutes intervals. No manual quality control is applied.