Field measurements of rainfall and soil moisture data used to support understanding of infiltration and runoff following the 2007 Canyon Fire, Malibu, CA, USA

This data release includes information used to support interpretations of relations between precipitation and soil moisture for a U.S. Geological Survey post-fire monitoring array installed near Malibu, CA following the 2007 Canyon fire. The 3 datasets are: 1) a time series of precipitation from three tipping bucket rain gages in individual files (Schmidt_2020_CANVQRG1.csv, Schmidt_2020_CANVQRG2.csv, and Schmidt_2020_CANTPRG3.csv; where RG in file name is abbreviation for rain gage), 2) a time series of a total of 9 soil moisture probes distributed with three soil moisture probes installed at varying depths from 3 individual soil pits in 3 individual files grouped by pit (Schmidt_2020_CANVQSM1.csv, Schmidt_2020_CANVQSM2.csv, and Schmidt_2020_CANVQSM3.csv; where SM in file name is abbreviation for soil moisture), and 3) locational and temporal record information for the instruments including manufacturer and serial number as tabular data (Schmidt_2020_Canyon_Fire_Instrument_info.csv) and a shapefile including location information (Schmidt_2020_instruments.shp) as well as a 4 band raster geospatial data file (Schmidt_2020_CAN_RG_SM.png). 
The data was generally collected from December 1, 2007 to September 5, 2008. Tipping bucket rain gages recorded 0.2 mm per tip with either an irregular time stamp representing each successive tip (CANVQRG1 and CANTPRG3) or at a regular four-minute interval (CANVQRG2) with all null values, representing no measurable precipitation, removed for clarity. Time-progressive cumulative rainfall is reported. Rain gage “CANVQRG1” was located closest to soil moisture monitoring instruments (“CANVQSM1, “CANVQSM2”, and “CANVQSM3”). Soil moisture probes recorded dimensionless volumetric water content in m^3/m^3 utilizing the dielectric constant of the media using capacitance or frequency domain technology. Probes were placed at three different depths in the soil: 5, 15 and 30 cm below the ground surface. Pit CANVQSM1 located closer to top of ridge, pit CANVQSM2 located mid-slope, and pit CANVQSM3 located downslope closer to the base of the hillslope. Soil moisture measurements were logged at regular time intervals, varying between two or six minutes, with recorded values reported as averages for that two- or six-minute interval. Column headers for soil moisture data denote unique instrument serial number and placement depth below ground surface in centimeters. Data pertaining to instrumental error was removed and entries left as null values. Negative reported values, outside of normal instrument recording range, during dry and likely hot conditions were left unmodified within data sets. All geographic coordinates reported as UTM NAD83 Zone 11N. All times are in Pacific Standard Time set to field laptop with migration forward one hour at 2 am on March 9, 2008.

Tags: biota, california, earth-sciences, field-inventory-and-monitoring, geology-minerals-energy-and-geophysics-science-center, gmeg, hazard-mitigation, hazard-preparedness, landslide-hazards, landslide-hazards-program, landslides, lhp, malibu-beach, precipitation-atmospheric, soil-moisture, time-series-datasets, united-states, usgs, usgs-5ea9fd9182cefae35a21ec91
Organization: Department of the Interior