Overview
CHIRPS (Climate Hazards center InfraRed Precipitation with Stations), version 3, is a quasi-global daily precipitation dataset produced by the Climate Hazards Center (UC Santa Barbara), blending 0.05° satellite infrared cold-cloud-duration imagery with in-situ station observations. It spans 1981 to near-present, covering 60°S–60°N at all longitudes, and is widely used for drought monitoring, hydrological modeling, and trend/seasonal analysis. Values represent daily accumulated precipitation in millimeters.
Intended uses
- daily rainfall inputs for crop and hydrological models
- drought monitoring and seasonal rainfall anomalies
Not recommended for
Why: CHIRPS v3 covers 60°S to 60°N only.
Use instead: ERA5 or AgERA5 precipitation.
Why: daily values are disaggregated from pentad totals with ERA5, so within-day timing is not observed.
Use instead: IMERG half-hourly precipitation.
Access & use
Files, endpoints, and worked examples for each distribution.
Data
Daily GeoTIFF files, one per day in yearly folders. Daily values are CHIRPS v3 pentad totals disaggregated with ERA5 daily precipitation (the "rnl" variant).
Format: image/tiff
List of files 16,679 filesDownload CSV
Individual file
https://data.chc.ucsb.edu/products/CHIRPS/v3.0/daily/final/rnl/1981/chirps-v3.0.rnl.1981.01.01.tif
Other access methods
File pattern: {time:%Y}/chirps-v3.0.rnl.{time:%Y.%m.%d}.tif
Data dictionary
What each file holds. A layout describes how the data is stored in a file: its variables, the dimensions they vary over, and any keys.
File layouts
| Files | Format | Variables | Dimensions | No data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| geotiff | image/tiff | precipitation | cell × time | -9999 |
Variables
| Variable | Type | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| precipitation | float32 | mm | Daily accumulated precipitation |
Dimensions
0.05° (~5 km at equator).
Grid spacing: 0.05 degree
Day of the precipitation total; the {time} token of the daily files.
Range: 1981-01-01 – 2026-08-31, daily
Technical metadata
The full spatial, temporal, and modeling detail behind the summaries elsewhere on this page.
Spatial
- CRS
- EPSG:4326
- Extent (W S E N)
- [-180, -60, 180, 60]
- Coverage
- World
- Grid spacing
- 3 arc-minutes (~5.6 km at the equator)
Temporal
- Start
- 1981-01-01
- End
- open (present)
- Updates
- Monthly
Provenance
Ordered processing steps, from source to publication.
- source
Original CHIRPS v3 daily release from the Climate Hazards Center
How to cite
Please cite the dataset and any associated peer-reviewed publications.
Climate Hazards Center, UC Santa Barbara (2025) Climate Hazards Center Infrared Precipitation with Stations version 3 (CHIRPS3) Data Repository. Version v3.0. https://doi.org/10.15780/G2JQ0P. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/chirps-v3-daily_v3.0/.
BibTeX
@misc{chirps_v3_daily_2025,
title = {Climate Hazards Center Infrared Precipitation with Stations version 3 (CHIRPS3) Data Repository},
author = {{Climate Hazards Center, UC Santa Barbara}},
year = {2025},
version = {v3.0},
doi = {10.15780/G2JQ0P},
note = {Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/chirps-v3-daily_v3.0/}
}Contacts
Who produced this dataset, and who to reach about it.