Continuous measurements of meteorological parameters from the Frome Piddle; Pang Lambourn and Tern catchments, recorded between 2002 and 2006. Automatic weather stations were installed at 7 sites in these catchments to record hourly values of soil heat flux, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, solar and net radiation (upward and downward short and long wave), rainfall, soil temperature at 10 and 30 cm, air temperature and wind direction and speed for differing periods at the varying sites. The instruments were installed as part of the NERC funded Lowland Catchment Research (LOCAR) Programme to provide comparable baseline metrological data across the LOCAR catchments. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/d55a6607-7da7-4b6e-8b28-f5fbd63884a9

River water alkalinity, chloride-ion, conductivity, pH and nutrients data from the Frome Piddle; Pang Lambourn and Tern catchments, recorded between 2003 and 2006. River water samples were collected fortnightly at twenty three sites within these catchments and analysed for Alkalinity pH 4.5, Ammonia, Chloride-ion, Conductivity 20 deg C, Nitrate, pH, Phosphorus soluble reactive (SRP), Silicate reactive dissolved (SRD) and Sulphate. The samples were collected as part of the NERC funded Lowland Catchment Research (LOCAR) Programme to provide comparable baseline river water chemistry data across the LOCAR catchments. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/bb600a56-c9cf-4fca-b9be-be3de0039a79

Continuous measurements of rainfall from the Frome Piddle; Pang Lambourn and Tern catchments, recorded between 2002 and 2007. Continuous recording rain gauges were installed at six sites in these catchments to record 15 minute rainfall data for differing periods at the varying sites. The instruments were installed as part of the NERC funded Lowland Catchment Research (LOCAR) Programme to provide comparable baseline rainfall data across the LOCAR catchments. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/3ab4545b-2453-4bdf-9b48-552748632cdd

1km and 5km gridded Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) data for Great Britain, which is a drought index based on the probability of precipitation for a given accumulation period as defined by McKee et al. (1993). SPI is calculated for different accumulation periods: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Each of these is in turn calculated for each of the twelve calendar months. Note that values in monthly (and for longer accumulation periods also annual) time series of the data therefore are likely to be autocorrelated. The standard period which was used to fit the gamma distribution is 1961-2010. The dataset covers the period from 1961 to 2012. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/94c9eaa3-a178-4de4-8905-dbfab03b69a0

1km and 5km gridded Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) data for Great Britain, which is a drought index based on the probability of Climatic Water Balance (CWB) - which is equivalent to the amount of precipitation minus the amount of evapotranspiration - for a given accumulation period as defined by Vicente Serrano et al. (2010). SPEI is calculated for different accumulation periods: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Each of these is in turn calculated for each of the twelve calendar months. Note that values in monthly (and for longer accumulation periods also annual) time series of the data therefore are likely to be autocorrelated. The standard period which was used to fit the generalised logistic distribution is 1961-2010. The dataset covers the period from 1961 to 2012. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/d201a2af-568e-4195-bf02-961fb6954c72