pcp.cli and pcp data files

These files contain all information needed by the model about observed precipitation data.

The precipitation data files contain the observed precipitation input data. They are named by the user and must have the file ending *.pcp. There must be one file per station used in the simulation. As in all SWAT+ input files, the first line in the precipitation data files is reserved for user comments. The second line contains the column headers for the third line, which lists basic information about the station.

FieldDescriptionTypeUnit

nbyr

Length of the precipitation time series

integer

years

tstep

Time step of the precipitation data

integer

n/a

lat

Latitude of the precipitation station

real

Decimal Degrees

lon

Longitude of the precipitation station

real

Decimal Degrees

elev

Elevation of the precipitation station

real

m

Starting in the fourth line, the year, Julian day, and precipitation amount are listed. There are no headers for these columns.

FieldDescriptionTypeUnit

year

Year of the observation

integer

n/a

jday

Julian day of the observation

integer

n/a

pcp

Observed precipitation

real

mm

If the user wishes to run simulations at a sub-daily time step, precipitation data has to be provided at the simulation time step. Currently, the model is able to run at an hourly time step. Smaller time steps have not been tested yet. Three additional columns need to be included in the hourly precipitation files:

FieldDescriptionTypeUnit

year

Year of the observation

integer

n/a

jday

Julian day of the observation

integer

n/a

mon

Month of the observation

integer

n/a

day

Day of the observation

integer

n/a

hr

Time of the observation

integer

n/a

pcp

Observed precipitation

real

mm

A negative 99.0 (-99.0) should be inserted for missing data. This value tells SWAT+ to generate precipitation for that day.

The pcp.cli file lists the names of the precipitation data files used in the simulation. The first line is reserved for user comments. The second line is reserved for the column header "filename". The user can list as many precipitation data file names as needed for the simulation. Only one file name should be listed per line. All file names listed in weather-sta.cli must be listed here. For every file name listed in pcp.cli, a file with that name must be provided by the user that contains the precipitation data measured at the station.

Last updated

#1315: katie.mendoza's Oct 3 ET chapter

Change request updated