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Climate Data Archive

This data archive is slowly being migrated to the Center for Science in the Earth System (CSES). A good way to find a data set on this and the CSES pages is to google "jisao keyword," where keyword could be SST, or the name of a particular data set.

NOTE: All links to external websites will open in a new window. Close these windows when you are finished with the resource.

The data archive consists of

Gridded Data Sets

Go to: precipitation | surface temperature | sea-level pressure | surface vector wind & stress | miscellaneous

The gridded data sets are written in network common data form (netCDF) conforming to the Cooperative Ocean-Atmosphere Research Data Service (COARDS) standard. ( Description of COARDS netCDF standard.) A superset of the COARDS standard, called the NetCDF climate and forecast (CF) metadata convention, includes the possibility to store time series for multiple stations, along with their names and coordinates.

If you need the data in ASCII format, let me know, and time permitting, I will see what I can do.

Precipitation

Name Temporal
Resolution
Spatial
Resolution
Range of Years Comments
Rain gauge:
DoE (Eischeid et al.)
NCDC GHCN
NASA GISS
University of East Anglia
GPCC
GPCP
University of Delaware
University of Washington
NCEP CPC

seasonal
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly
daily
daily, monthly

4x5°

2.5°
2.5x3.75°
2.5, 1°
2.5°
0.5, 1.0°
"50" km
0.25, 1°

1851-1989
1900-present
1850-1996
1900-98
1986-98
1979-Jan2005
1900-2008
1949-94
1948-98

anomalies
anomalies
anomalies
totals & climatology
totals & climatology
totals
totals & climatology
Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest/US
Satellite, gauge, model:
CMAP monthly
CMAP pentad

monthly
pentad

2.5°
2.5°

1979-Sep2004
1979-Mar2009


Satellite & gauge:
Legates/MSU
CAMS-OPI
GPCP monthly
GPCP pentad
GPCP daily
CMAP monthly
CMAP pentad

monthly
monthly
monthly
pentad
daily
monthly
pentad

2.5°
2.5°
2.5°
2.5, 1°

2.5°
2.5°

climatology
1979-Jan 2009
1979-2010
1979-Apr 2008
1996-Apr 2009
1979-Sep 2004
1979-Mar2009

Satellite:
MSU
GPI
SSM/I (NESDIS)
SSM/I (RSS)
OLR

monthly
monthly/pentad/daily
monthly
monthly
monthly

2.5°
2.5°
2.5°
0.25, 0.5°
2.5°

1979-July1997
1987-May1996
1987-Oct1996
1987-July2002
1974-Nov1998

oceans only


totals & climatology

         

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Surface Temperature

Name Temporal
Resolution
Spatial
Resolution
Range of Years Comments
Land only:
University of East Anglia
University of Delaware
NCDC GHCN

monthly
monthly
monthly


0.5, 1.0°


1850-present
1900-2008
1880-present

sampling
totals
anomalies
Land and ocean:
UEA / UKMO
NOAA (ERSST and GHCN)
NASA GISS
Legates and Willmott climatology
IABP / POLES
merged Arctic

monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly



2.5°
0.5, 2.5°
other, 1°


1850-present
1880-present
1979-97

1979-present
1950-99

sampling



Arctic

sea surface temp. (SST):
LDEO
Extended reconstructed
NCEP EOF-filtered
NCEP optimal interpolation
Merged NCEP EOF / OI
Sadler climatology
COADS climatology

monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly,weekly
monthly
monthly
monthly







1, 2°

1856-1991
1854-present
1950-2000
Nov1981-present
1950-May99



anomalies




tropics

ICOADS SST & air temp.
monthly 4x6° 1800-present anomalies
         

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Sea-Level Pressure (SLP)

Name Temporal
Resolution
Spatial
Resolution
Range of Years Comments
NCAR (Trenberth and Paolino)
Reduced resolution COADS
Sadler (COADS) climatology
COADS climatology
LDEO
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly
monthly

4x6°


1899-Apr2009
1800-Feb2006


Apr1854-1992
90-12.5N
anomalies
tropics only
global
selected NCEP / NCAR reanalysis fields pentads
monthly
2.5°
2.5°
1948-2002
1950-79 climatology

         

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Surface or 10-m Vector Wind & Surface Vector Stress

Name Temporal
Resolution
Spatial
Resolution
Range of Years Comments
COADS Vector Sfc. Wind
monthly climatology
global, marine
Reduced resolution COADS vector sfc. wind anomalies
monthly 4x6° 1800-Feb2006
Sadler Vector Sfc. Wind
monthly climatology
tropical, marine
Sadler Vector Sfc. Stress
monthly climatology
tropical, marine
ERS-1 10-m Vector Wind
monthly 1992-95

SSM/I (RSS) 10-m wind speed
monthly 0.25, 0.5° 1987 - July 2002

         

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Miscellaneous

Name Temporal
Resolution
Spatial
Resolution
Range of Years Comments
oceanic low-clouds seasonal 2.5° climatology  
COADS cloudiness monthly climatology global, marine
Reduced resolution COADS cloudiness anomalies monthly 4x6° 1800-Feb2006  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) monthly 2.5° 1974-Nov98  
Planetary albedo monthly climatology  
MSU stratosphere and troposphere temperatures monthly 2.5° 1979-April 2003 anomalies
Elevation data sets (land and sea)   various°   global
Tropical cyclone positions and number daily   historical global
NOAA percentage sea ice monthly,weekly November1981-Feb2005 version 2
selected NCEP / NCAR reanalysis fields pentads
monthly
2.5°
2.5°
1948-2002
1950-79 climatology
 
SSM/I (RSS) water vapor and cloud water monthly 0.25, 0.5° 1987 - July 2002  
Land vegetation (NDVI) monthly 1981-2001  
SeaWiFS marine chlorophyll and aerosol monthly, pentad 0.5,1,2.5° 1997-2002  
UW Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model data monthly, daily, 3-hourly 1/8° 1950-July2000  
         

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Key Climate Time Series

Go to: precipitation | surface temperature | sea-level pressure | surface wind | miscellaneous

Precipitation

Name Range of Years Comments
Global EOFs 1900-88  
Tropical Pacific and non-Pacific indices from gauge data 1892-1996, 1850-96  
South America
northeast Brazil
Piura Perú rainfall and river runoff

1849-2002
1932-97, 1925-96
 
Africa
Sahel, Soudan, Guinea Coast (Nicholson)
Sahel (Univ. Washington)
Gulf of Guinea (Univ. Washington)

1901-94
1901-2016
1899-June2001
 
All-India
India sub-divisions

1871-2001

1870-1997
1844-1992

1871-2001
 
Puget Sound Lowland (Washington State) 1931-2009  
Northeastern Washington State 1931-96  
Digital values for numerous stations (WMSSC) climatology  
Walker and Bliss Southern Oscillation index 1875-1933  
     

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Surface Temperature

Name Range of Years Comments
Equatorial Pacific SSTs: Nino1+2, Nino3, Nino4, Nino3.4 1950-present  
Eastern Eq. Pacific SST Anomalies
"Cold Tongue Index" (CTI)
1845-January 2011  
Puerto Chicama Perú SST 1925-2002  
Paita Perú SST 1963-May98  
Global-SST ENSO index 1817 - February 2011  
Walker and Bliss Southern Oscillation index 1875-1933  
Indian Ocean SAT Anomalies 1800-2004  
Tropical Land Temperature Anomalies 1851-June 1997  
Global- and hemispheric-averages land, sea, and land+sea
National Climatic Data Center
University of East Anglia

1880-present
1850-present
 
Global-average SST ICOADS 1845-Sep2006 & EOF-based 1950-2003  
Global-average marine sfc. air temperature anomalies 1854-1997  
Tropical-average SST Anomalies 1854-Oct2007  
"Pacific Decadal Oscillation" (PDO)
north Pacific SST anomalies
1900-present  
"G", the leading principal component of SST anomaly "deviations" 1900-2005  
Puget Sound Lowland (Washington State) 1931-2009  
Northeastern Washington State 1931-96  
Climatological temperature and precipitation for numerous stations climatologies  
     

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Sea-Level Pressure (SLP)

Name Range of Years Comments
Jakarta Indonesia 1841-1999  
Darwin Australia (UEA, NCEP, NCAR) 1866-present  
Tahiti (UEA, NCEP, NCAR) 1855-present  
Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)
NCAR
University of East Anglia
ICOADS-based
Walker and Bliss

1882-present
1854-present
1800-present
1875-1933
 
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
Hurrell
University of East Anglia
NCEP

1864-present
1821-present
1950-present



obs. & forecast
Northern Annular Mode (NAM) / Arctic Oscillation (AO)
Colorado State University
University of Washington
NCEP

1899-2002
1948-Mar2010
1950-2003



obs. & forecast
Southern Annular Mode (SAM) / Antarctic Oscillation (AAO)
University of Washington
    · 850 hPa Z
    · SLP
NCEP
British Antarctic Survey (Marshall)


1948-2002
1948-May2011
1979-present
1957-present




obs. & forecast

     

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Surface Wind

Name Range of Years Comments
Eq. Pacific zonal wind 1850-Jun2005  
Eq. Pacific meridional wind 1850-Jun2005  
     

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Miscellaneous

Name Range of Years Comments
Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) index 1953 - present Freie Universität Berlin
Walker and Bliss Southern Oscillation index
Quinn et al. El Niño index
1875-1933
1525-1987
 
Pacific/North American (PNA) pattern index
Wallace and Gutzler (1981) grid-point definition
EOF-definition

1948-Oct2010
1948-Mar2010
 
Madden and Julian Oscillation (MJO) 1979 to mid-2002  
Tropical cyclone positions and number 1886 - present  
CO2 station records (Mauna Loa, South Pole, ...) 1958-2001 PS JPEG PNG GIF
Northern and Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent 1978 - present  
     

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Useful WWW Data Sites

Go to: Monthly-means | pentad-means | daily- and hourly means | other

Monthly-means:

Indian Monsoon data: vegetation and precipitation departures served by the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA)

NOAA National Climatic Data Center

Selected fields from the Japan Meteorological Agency

"WaterWeb" search engine for hydrological data. Let me know if this is useful!

The British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) provides global, gridded, historical data sets of sea surface temperatures, sea-level pressure, marine air temperature (nighttime) for academic use.

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) provides several global, gridded data sets: surface temperature, precipitation, clouds, aerosols, and other fields.

The IRI/LDEO (International Research Institute for Climate Prediction / Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) data library contains a broad selection of climate data sets.

Pacific Island Rainfall provided by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit: historical, gridded, global precipitation, SLP, surface temperature, minimum-, maximum-temperature, vapor pressure, and many other fields.

Western Region Climate Center: digital values of climatological mean precipitation and surface temperature for the National Weather Service cooperative network stations in the western United States.

NCEP Climate Prediction Center:

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides high spatial resolution sea surface temperatures and other, more oceanographic, fields.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research Computational and Information Systems Laboratory Research Data Archive and Informed Guide to Climate Data Sets.

NOAA Climate Diagnostics Center: the NMC Reanalysis data and the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) in netCDF format. Also, water vapor temperature is available here.

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center: historical data sets.

FSU Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies: near real-time monthly-mean pseudostress analyses for the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Global River Discharge Database Project (RivDIS)
Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) river discharge data.

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Pentad-means:

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Daily- or hourly means:

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Other sites

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Software for analyzing data

Please send me URLs for sites with useful free software for analyzing data.

* Contact: Todd Mitchell | 206-685-3786 | mitchell@atmos.washington.edu

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Please report problems or corrections to DATA webmaster: Todd Mitchell <mitchell@atmos.washington.edu>.