The UK soil temperature data contain daily and hourly values of soil temperatures at depths of 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 centimetres. The measurements were recorded by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within NCM or DLY3208 messages. The data spans from 1900 to 2020. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. At many stations temperatures below the surface are measured at various depths. The depths used today are 5, 10, 20, 30 and 100cm, although measurements are not necessarily made at all these depths at a station and exceptionally measurements may be made at other depths. When imperial units were in general use, typically before 1961, the normal depths of measurement were 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 inches. Liquid-in-glass soil thermometers at a depth of 20 cm or less are unsheathed and have a bend in the stem between the bulb and the lowest graduation. At greater depths the thermometer is suspended in a steel tube and has its bulb encased in wax. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record.

The UK daily temperature data contain maximum and minimum temperatures (air, grass and concrete slab) measured over a period of up to 24 hours. The measurements were recorded by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within NCM, DLY3208 or AWSDLY messages. The data span from 1853 to 2020. For details on measurement techniques, including calibration information and changes in measurements, see section 5.2 of the MIDAS User Guide linked to from this record. Soil temperature data may be found in the UK soil temperature datasets linked from this record. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. Of particular note, however, is that as well as including data for 2020, historical data recovery has added further data for Eskdalemuir (1915-1948) and Eastbourne (1887-1910). This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. Currently this represents approximately 95% of available daily temperature observations within the full MIDAS collection.

The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor was carried onboard Landsats 4 and 5 from July 1982 to May 2012 with a 16-day repeat cycle, referenced to the Worldwide Reference System-2. Very few images were acquired from November 2011 to May 2012. The satellite began decommissioning activities in January 2013. The Thematic Mapper (TM) is an advanced, multispectral scanning, Earth resources sensor designed to achieve higher image resolution, sharper spectral separation, improved geometric fidelity, and greater radiometric accuracy and resolution than the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) sensor. TM data are sensed in seven spectral bands simultaneously. A TM scene has an Instantaneous Field Of View (IFOV) of 30m x 30m in bands 1-5 and 7 while band 6 has an IFOV of 120m x 120m on the ground (band 6 was collected at 120 meters, but was resampled to 30 meters). Band 6 senses thermal (heat) infrared radiation. Landsat can only acquire night scenes in band 6. The approximate scene size is 170 km north-south by 183 km east-west (106 mi by 114 mi).

The UK hourly solar radiation data contain the amount of solar irradiance received during the hour ending at the specified time. All sites report 'global' radiation amounts. This is also known as 'total sky radiation' as it includes both direct solar irradiance and 'diffuse' irradiance as a result of light scattering. Some sites also provide separate diffuse and direct irradiation amounts, depending on the instrumentation at the site. For these the sun's path is tracked with two pyrometers - one where the path to the sun is blocked by a suitable disc to allow the scattered sunlight to be measured to give the diffuse measurement, while the other has a tube pointing at the sun to measure direct solar irradiance whilst blanking out scattered sun light. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. The data were collected by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within the following message types: SYNOP, HCM, AWSHRLY, MODLERAD, ESAWRADT and DRADR35 messages. The data spans from 1947 to 2020. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record.

The UK daily rainfall data contain rainfall accumulation and precipitation amounts over a 24 hour period. The data were collected by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within the following message types: NCM, AWSDLY, DLY3208 and SSER. The data spans from 1853 to 2020. Over time a range of rain gauges have been used - see section 5.6 and the relevant message type information in the linked MIDAS User Guide for further details. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. A large proportion of the UK raingauge observing network (associated with WAHRAIN, WADRAIN and WAMRAIN for hourly, daily and monthly rainfall measurements respectively) is operated by other agencies beyond the Met Office, and are consequently currently excluded from the Midas-open dataset. Currently this represents approximately 13% of available daily rainfall observations within the full MIDAS collection.

The UK daily weather observation data contain meteorological values measured on a 24 hour time scale. The measurements of sunshine duration, concrete state, snow depth, fresh snow depth, and days of snow, hail, thunder and gail were attained by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK operated and transmitted within DLY3208, NCM, AWSDLY and SYNOP messages. The data span from 1887 to 2020. For details of observations see the relevant sections of the MIDAS User Guide linked from this record for the various message types. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. Of particular note, however, is that as well as including data for 2020, historical data recovery has added further data for Eastbourne (1887-1910). This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. Currently this represents approximately 95% of available daily weather observations within the full MIDAS collection.

The UK hourly weather observation data contain meteorological values measured on an hourly time scale. The measurements of the concrete state, wind speed and direction, cloud type and amount, visibility, and temperature were recorded by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within SYNOP, DLY3208, AWSHRLY and NCM messages. The sunshine duration measurements were transmitted in the HSUN3445 message. The data spans from 1875 to 2020. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. Of particular note, however, is that as well as including data for 2020, historical data recovery has added further data for Eskdalemuir (1914-1944) and Eastbourne (1887-1910). For details on observing practice see the message type information in the MIDAS User Guide linked from this record and relevant sections for parameter types. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. Note, METAR message types are not included in the Open version of this dataset. Those data may be accessed via the full MIDAS hourly weather data.

Dual-polar products from the Met Office's Deanhill C-band rain radar, Devon, England. Data include augmented ldr (linear depolarization ratio) and zdr (differential reflectivity) scan data (both long and short pulse). The radar is a C-band (5.3 cm wavelength) radar and data are received by the Nimrod system at 5 minute intervals.

The UK mean wind data contain the mean wind speed and direction, and the direction, speed and time of the maximum gust, all during 1 or more hours, ending at the stated time and date. The data were collected by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within the following message types: SYNOP, HCM, AWSHRLY, DLY3208, HWNDAUTO and HWND6910. The data spans from 1949 to 2020. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. For further details on observing practice, including measurement accuracies for the message types, see relevant sections of the MIDAS User Guide linked from this record (e.g. section 3.3 details the wind network in the UK, section 5.5 covers wind measurements in general and section 4 details message type information). This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record.

The UK hourly rainfall data contain the rainfall amount (and duration from tilting syphon gauges) during the hour (or hours) ending at the specified time. The data also contains precipitation amounts, however precipitation measured over 24 hours are not stored. Over time a range of rain gauges have been used - see the linked MIDAS User Guide for further details. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. The data were collected by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within the following message types: NCM, AWSHRLY, DLY3208, SREW and SSER. The data spans from 1915 to 2020. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. A large proportion of the UK raingauge observing network (associated with WAHRAIN, WADRAIN and WAMRAIN for hourly, daily and monthly rainfall measurements respectively) is operated by other agencies beyond the Met Office, and are consequently currently excluded from the Midas-open dataset.