The purpose of this study was to determine PM_2.5 mass concentration and the contents of trace elements and water-soluble ions in samples collected inside the Metropolitan area of Huancayo. Four monitoring stations were installed at three urban areas (UNCP, HYO, and CHI) and one rural (IGP). The sampling campaign was carried out from March 2017 to November 2017. The PM_2.5 content was determined by gravimetric method, and fifteen trace elements (TE) and seven water-soluble ions were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS), and ion chromatography (IC), respectively. Datasets were assessed by one ANOVA test to detect significant differences among monitoring station. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied for source identification. The mean annual concentration of PM_2.5 mass concentrations has ranged (average) from 3.4 to 36.8 µg/m³ (16.6 ± 6.8 µg/m³) for the monitoring stations under study. The annual World Health Organization thresholds and national air quality standards were exceeded. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed between most trace elements at urban and rural areas. PCA and HCA illustrated that the most important sources of traces element originated of natural origin (soil re-suspension) and vehicular sources (fuel combustion, abrasion of vehicles tires, wear car components).

A set of instruments to measure several physical, microphysical, and radiative properties of the atmosphere and clouds are essential to identify, understand and, subsequently, forecast and prevent the effects of extreme meteorological events, such as severe rainfall, hailstorms, frost events and high pollution events, that can occur with some regularity in the central Andes of Peru. However, like many other Latin American countries, Peru lacks an adequate network of meteorological stations to identify and analyze extreme meteorological events. To partially remedy this deficiency, the Geophysical Institute of Peru has installed a set of specialized sensors (LAMAR) on the Huancayo observatory (12.04${}^{°}$ S, 75.32${}^{°}$ W, 3350 m ASL), located in the Mantaro river basin, which is a part of the central Andes of Peru, especially in agricultural areas. LAMAR consists of a set of sensors that are used to measure the main atmosphere and soil variables located in a 30-meter-high tower. It also has a set of high-quality radiation sensors (BSRN station) that helps measure the components of short-wave (SW) (global, diffuse, direct and reflected) and long-wave (LW) (emitted and incident) irradiance mounted in a 6-meter-high tower. Moreover, to analyze the microphysics properties of clouds and rainfall, LAMAR includes a set of profiler radars: A Ka-band cloud profiler (MIRA-35c), a UHF wind profiler (CLAIRE), and a VHF wind profiler (BLTR), along with two disdrometers (PARSIVEL2) and two rain gauges pluviometers. The present study performs a detailed dynamic and energetic analysis of two extreme rainfall events, two intense frost events, and three high-pollution events occurring on the Huancayo observatory between 2018 and 2019. The results show that the rainfall events are similar to the 1965–2019 climatological 90th percentile of the daily accumulated rainfall. The results also highlighted the patterns of reflectivity in function of height for both events, which is measured by highlighting the presence of convective and stratiform rainfall types for both events. The first intense rainfall event was associated with strong easterly circulations at high levels of the atmosphere, and the second one was associated with the presence of strong westerly circulations and the absence of BH-NL system around the central Andes. The first frost event was mainly associated with continuous clear sky conditions in the few previous days, corresponding to a radiative frost event. The second one was mainly associated with the intrusion of cold surges from extra-tropical South America. For both events, the energy budget components were strong-lower in comparison to the mean monthly values during early morning hours. Finally, for the high pollution events, the study identified that the main source of aerosols were the forest fires that took place in Peru with certain contributions from the fires in the northern area of Bolivia.

Ultraviolet (UV) solar irradiance measurements performed in the central Andes, Huancayo, Peru (12.0°S, 75.3°W, 3313 m asl) at 1 min intervals between January 2003 and December 2006 were used to analyse daily, monthly, and annual cycles of UV solar irradiance. The measurements were performed using a GUV-511 multi-channel filter radiometer at four wavelengths: 305, 320, 340, and 380 nm. UV irradiance data under clear sky and all sky conditions were separated using a procedure based on calculation of normalized irradiance. In February, the highest hourly mean value at noon for the UV Index reached 18.8 for clear sky conditions and 15.5 for all sky conditions, with outlier peaks close to UVI = 28. In addition, the highest mean value for the daily erythemal dose was found also in February, reaching 7.5 kJ m⁻² d⁻¹ with a maximum outlier value close to 10.1 kJ m⁻² d⁻¹. Comparisons between the clear sky GUV measurements and TUV model estimations were evaluated with statistical quantities showing values of R² close to 0.98. The total ozone column and trace gases were obtained from OMI. The aerosol parameters were obtained from MODIS. The enhancements due to clouds of spectral irradiance at 340 nm as compared to a cloudless sky reach maxima of 20%. These results indicate that tropical central Andes has among the highest incident ultraviolet solar radiation in the world.

The present study presents a detailed analysis of the diurnal and monthly cycles the surface boundary layer and of surface energy balance in a sparse natural vegetation canopy on Huancayo observatory (12.04 ${}^{\circ }$ S, 75.32 ${}^{\circ }$ W, 3313 m ASL), which is located in the central Andes of Perú (Mantaro Valley) during an entire year (May 2018–April 2019). We used a set of meteorological sensors (temperature, relative humidity, wind) installed in a gradient tower 30 m high, a set of radiative sensors to measure all irradiance components, and a set of tensiometers and heat flux plate to measure soil moisture, soil temperatures and soil heat flux. To estimate turbulent energy fluxes (sensible and latent), two flux–gradient methods: the aerodynamic method and the Bowen-ratio energy-balance method were used. The ground heat flux at surface was estimated using a molecular heat transfer equation. The results show minimum mean monthly temperatures and more stable conditions were observed in June and July before sunrise, while maximum mean monthly temperatures in October and November and more unstable conditions in February and March. From May to August inverted water vapor profiles near the surface were observed (more intense in July) at night hours, which indicate a transfer of water vapor as dewfall on the surface. The patterns of wind direction indicate well-defined mountain–valley circulation from south-east to south-west especially in fall–winter months (April–August). The maximum mean monthly sensible heat fluxes were found in June and September while minimum in February and March. Maximum mean monthly latent heat fluxes were found in February and March while minimum in June and July. The surface albedo and the Bowen ratio indicate semi-arid conditions in wet summer months and extreme arid conditions in dry winter months. The comparisons between sensible heat flux ( $Q_H$ ) and latent heat flux ( $Q_E$ ), estimated by the two methods show a good agreement (R ${}^2$ above 0.8). The comparison between available energy and the sum of $Q_E$ and $Q_H$ fluxes shows a good level of agreement (R ${}^2$ = 0.86) with important imbalance contributions after sunrise and around noon, probably by advection processes generated by heterogeneities on the surface around the Huancayo observatory and intensified by the mountain–valley circulation.

This dataset includes data obtained at the Atmospheric Microphysics and Radiation Laboratory (LAMAR) of the Huancayo Observatory (12.04° S, 75.32° W, 3313 m ASL). Two Parsivel2 and two tipping bucket rain gauges are used in this dataset which are operating together since 2018. Data is given in NetCDF format, including two types of files, one NetCDF for precipitation totals and another which contains Parsivel2 data. This data set was collected in the complex topography conditions of the tropical Andes, and its potential use is to study the microphysics of orographic rainfall, atmospheric models and rainfall estimation algorithms.