The grid

The grid is used for two purposes: The crop specific parameters take geographic differences in the growing season into account. Density of the network of meteorological stations determines the grid size. The grid is described in the database by the GRID table, which contains the following fields:
 

GRID_NO: identifier to be used for this grid [-]
LATITUDE: decimal latitude of the grid centre [decimal degrees]
LONGITUDE: decimal longitude of the grid centre [decimal degrees]
ALTITUDE: mean agricultural elevation of the grid [m]
CLIMATE_BARRIER_NO: climate barrier code [-]
DISTANCE_TO_COAST: distance to coast for the grid centre (km) [km]

The mean agricultural grid elevation is commonly derived from a digital terrain map. A typical value would be the 25% value of all elevation points in a grid square. The climate barrier code is used in conjunction with a similar code associated with the weather stations, to ensure that interpolation of meteorological variables does not cross major climatological boundaries such as the Alps. Distance to coast is important because it is a factor used to calculate the ‘similarity’ of the grid centre and nearby weather stations. However, in this calculation any distance over 200 km is given the same weight, so the accuracy of this distance to coast is less relevant for greater distances.

All of the data above can be derived from the GIS representation of the grid.