Hydrologic Monitoring Programme
The National Directorate for Water Resource Management (NDWRM) has collected data at over 30 sites since 2007 (see the Rainfall Stations Map). The data collection consists of daily manual rainfall readings and daily visual staff gauge readings.
History and Purpose of the Data Collection
The Hydrologic Monitoring Program collects data in support of other work units in Timor-Leste. The data have been provided to other agencies, consultants, and the general public with increasing frequency.
Requesting Data
Monitoring data may be obtained by downloading our zip-file or by emailing Fransisco Pereira, fransisco [at] hydrotimor [dot] com. When writing a request, please include the following information:
- Your Name
- Organization (if applicable)
- Address
- Telephone
- Locator Numbers and/or Gage Names you want data for
- Date or period of interest
- Data format
- Comments
Data Collection Methods
Rain Gauges
The equipment in use is a standard rain gauge, see picture. It consists of a funnel attached to a flask, which can collect the equivalent of 75 mm of rainfall. If the water overflows the flask, the outside larger container will catch it. When measurements are taken, the water in the flask (and outside larger container) is carefully poured into a graduated cylinder. Each horizontal line on the cylinder is 0.2 mm. The gauges are read daily at 9 am and 5 pm by the local observer. The measured rainfall is recorded and written in a form provided by NDWRM. The form is returned to the hydrological department in the beginning of the next month.
Staff Gauges
Daily visual readings of water level are made at some stream sites. Staff plates are installed or tape down points established to provide a benchmark to compare the water level to. Some benchmarks are surveyed to a point of known elevation. Stream sites may have a stage-discharge rating established so that the gage height reading can be converted to discharge. The data are stored in the database.
Presentation of Data
Gauge Number
The gauge number is a short identifier assigned to a monitoring site for ease of use. Rain gauge numbers usually consist of identifier number (1–10), district number, district name and village name. Stream gauges are similarly named.
Gauge Name, Descriptive Location and Address
Gauge names are assigned to describe the general location and purpose of a monitoring site. The descriptive location elaborates on the gage name to further describe the location with nearby landmarks. Many of the sites have actual addresses or in some cases we have estimated a street address as a further aid to the site location.
Latitude and Longitude
Sites have WGS 84 latitude and longitude coordinates obtained by a Global Positioning Satellite receiver (see the Rainfall Stations Coordinates table).
Totals
All rainfall data is presented as totals (24h) in mm, based on daily readings 9 am and 5 pm.
Quality
Please observe the following:
- The data quality may vary for some of the stations. The quality has improved significantly since approximately 2009. We have however included all results, even if the quality for some periods is less than desirable, which has to be taken into account when assessing these data.
- For some stations there are several results showing a daily rainfall of 75 mm. The rainfall gauge/instrument in use consists of a funnel, flask and a outer container. The design of the rainfall gauge is that when the flask is full (equivalent to 75 mm of rain) the operator should also measure the water inside the outer container. Unfortunately, for several stations this did not take place, and the daily rainfall is reported as 75 mm.