Publishing data on future rainfall extremes in support of a journal publication

In the picture: Gaby Gründemann and Ruud van der Ent on a rainy walk

PhD researcher Gaby Gründemann and supervisor Ruud van der Ent study future rainfall extremes. They have recently uploaded their data to the 4TU.ResearchData repository, in support of their journal publication in Communications Earth & Environment (Nature Publishing Group). They explain why their research is of interest and highlight the importance of sharing their research data.

Their research is highly relevant for society and could be used as a wake-up call. “We try to get a better grasp of how rainfall extremes are changing in the future. The greatest extremes increase relatively more than the common extremes,” Ruud explains.  “Rainfall extremes are expected to get worse in the future,” Gaby adds. “We have to realise that we are not set-up for these very rare events and we have to upgrade our systems to be able to deal with these heavier storms in the future.”

The journal Communications Earth & Environment requires all authors to upload the data supporting their publication. However, Gaby and Ruud already had in mind to publish their data. “I believe that with such impactful research, it is good that other researchers can check the underlying data and reproduce it,” Ruud says. “Ten years ago, when I did my PhD, sharing data was very uncommon.” Gaby: “I think that other researchers could also use our data as a starting point for their own research, based on what we have already done.”

It was not the first time for Gaby to use the 4TU.ResearchData repository and she had a great experience. “The repository is not only free but also supported by our institute,” Gaby explains. “The process to upload the data was straightforward, quick, and smooth. The 4TU.Researchdata team helped me with the metadata and suggested some modifications. Moreover, it’s good to know that the data are stored safely.”

Links to the dataset and the journal publication:

• Dataset: Scripts and data for “Rarest rainfall events will see the greatest relative increase in magnitude under future climate change” (https://doi.org/10.4121/20531376.v1)
• Journal publication: Gründemann, G. J., van de Giesen, N., Brunner, L., & van der Ent, R. (2022). Rarest rainfall events will see the greatest relative increase in magnitude under future climate change. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(1), 235. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00558-8)

Article written by Tonke de Jong.