Climate Links

CLIMATE LINKS

CONTENTS

NCEP/ NCAR Reanalysis - CDC site (easiest access to online gridded reanalysis data)
NCAR's Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
CIRES/ NOAA Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) see the US Interactive Climate Page
GrADS (tool for the analysis and display of gridded data)
Climate Data Sets from CDIAC (includes long time series for assessing temperature trends)
DIRECT LINK TO CDC's Pages for: Composites Correlations

NCEP/NCAR REANALYSIS PROJECT -- What is it all about?

CDC NCEP/NCAR REANALYSIS PROJECT SITE THE CDC (Climate Diagnostics Center) SITE
(EASIEST TO USE! -- Follow Directions BELOW)

NCEP/NCAR REANALYSIS -- Descriptions of What's Online (By starting here you can scroll down through many sections to read descriptions of the variables in the categories listed under Daily Data below)

TO SEE IT ALL! Go here to see the full listing of all the different data sets and scroll through a list of all the different variables. From this page you can narrow your search by data set or by variable.

Search all of the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis available at CDC.

DAILY GRIDDED DATA -- start with the NCEP/NCAR REANALYSIS link, (to get plots of gridded individual daily data, scroll down the page and select your variable from one of the categories in the list below; then proceed with plot-making)

Pressure Level Data
Surface Data
Surface Flux Data
Other Flux Data
Tropopause Level Data

CLIMATIC GRIDDED DATA (go here to get plots of monthly data, anomalies, longterm means, etc.):

Visualize NCEP Data

OTHER ENTRY POINTS INTO THE GRIDDED DATA:

TO GET COMPOSITES:

Monthly Mean Composites

TO DO CORRELATIONS (you can also import your own time series and get correlation maps via this page!)

Correlations of Monthly Means

NCEP/NCAR cdas REANALYSIS PROJECT (MORE DETAILS ON THE PROJECT FROM ANOTHER SITE)

Another ENTRY INTO THE REANALYSIS DATA via CDAS
General listing of types of reanalysis data
1996 Bulletin of AMS (BAMS) article in webpage format
BAMS CD-ROM (March 1996) ( available for downloading )
Reading the data
- Introduction
- About GrADS
- About other programs to read the data: wgrib, and grib2ctl

ECMWF - EUROPEAN CENTRE for MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS

NCAR's CLIMATE ANALYSIS SECTION (CAS) DATA CATALOG

Quick Index: A complete outline of CAS data sets. A good place to start.

...or do a more methodical search:

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF):: Upper air and surface data sets from the ECMWF (TOGA and WMO) global analyses and derived products.
National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP, formerly the National Meteorological Center):: Upper air data sets from the NCEP global operational analysis and reanalysis and derived products.
Satellite Data:: Data sets from a number of satellites.
Surface Data:: Surface data sets from a number of sources.
Climate Indices:: Climate related indices such as NAO, NP, and SOI.

National Climatic Data Center

CLIMVIS -- includes the following datasets:

National Weather Service Summary of the Day: Approximately 300 currently active National Weather Service stations are included, with a lag time (after end of data month) of about 8-10 weeks. This is our best quality and most complete data for these stations. 16 parameters for as early as 1869 to present are available. The data are summarized based on local standard time (LST) for each calendar day. See global summary of day for additional U.S. stations.
                                TIME SERIES GRAPHS          CONTOUR/VECTOR GRAPHS
Climate Divisional Data: Drought indices, precipitation, and temperature data by month for all U.S. climate divisions are included, with a lag time (after end of data month) of about 1 week. Data presented are estimated averages for each division for that month. The period 1895 to present is available.               TIME SERIES GRAPHS   (listing of data also available)

   Global Historical Climatology Network: A comprehensive global baseline climate data set comprised of land surface station observations of temperature, precipitation, and pressure. (Only version 1 precipitation data is currently available.) All GHCN data are on a monthly basis with the earliest record dating from 1697.                 TIME SERIES GRAPHS (listing of data also available)
CLIMVIS Graphing

Selection Process:
1) Select the dataset to browse.
2) Select the plot type.
3) Select the data location.
4) Select the time period.
The time to plot is dependent on the type of plot. Most plots take between 15 to 30 seconds. That of course depends on the internet traffic. The complex time series plots can take 30 to 50 seconds while the complex contour plots can take between 30 to 90 seconds. After the graphics session, the user may download the data from the image by setting the browser options for ftp transfer of data and clicking on the 'download' link at the bottom of the image page. The user may also download the entire NCDC archive data file that the data was extracted from by linking to NCDC's Online Data Access.

CIRES/NOAA - CLIMATE DIAGNOSTICS CENTER
The mission of CDC is to identify the nature and causes of climate variations on time scales ranging from a month to centuries. The goal of this work is to develop the ability to predict important climate variations on these time scales.

UNITED STATES INTERACTIVE CLIMATE PAGE

Obtain the climatologies of temperature, precipitation and other variables for cities throughout the United States and its possessions.
Create maps of monthly US temperature and precipitation products from 1895 to the present.
Site has neat topographic maps of each state with the major cities plotted, plus links to each state's Office of Climatology and Regional Climate Center
Also has a link for easy access to US Climate Divisions Plotting Page

GrADS: GRID ANALYSIS AND DISPLAY SYSTEM
The Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) is an interactive desktop tool that is currently in use worldwide for the analysis and display of earth science data. GrADS is implemented on all commonly available UNIX workstations, Apple Macintosh, and DOS or Linux based PCs, and is freely distributed over the Internet via anonymous ftp. GrADS provides an integrated environment for access, manipulation, and display of earth science data.

CLIMATE DATA SETS FROM CDIAC (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)

Global Temperature, Precipitation, Sea Level Pressure, and Station Pressure Data

Temperature, Trends
The Global Historical Climatology Network: Long-Term Monthly Temperature, Precipitation, Sea Level Pressure, and Station Pressure Data (1992), NDP-041 - Abstract
Historical Isotopic Temperature Record from the Vostok Ice Core (2000), Trends
Global, hemispheric, and zonal temperature deviations derived from radiosonde records (1999), Trends
Annual and Seasonal Global Temperature Deviations in the Troposphere and Low Stratosphere, 1958-1998 (1999), NDP-008 - Abstract
Global and hemispheric temperature anomalies-land and marine instrumental records (1999), Trends
Global and Hemispheric Annual Temperature Variations Between 1861 and 1991 (revised 1994), NDP-022 - Abstract
An Updated Global Grid Point Surface Air Temperature Anomaly Data Set: 1851-1990 (revised 1991), NDP-020 - Abstract
Global Paleoclimatic Data for 6000 Yr B.P. (1985), NDP-011 - Abstract
A Computer-Based Atlas of Global Instrumental Climate Data (1994), DB1003 - Abstract
A Comprehensive Precipitation Data Set for Global Land Areas (1991), TR051 - Abstract

United States Temperature, Precipitation, and Snow Data

United States Historical Climatology Network (HCN) Serial Temperature and Precipitation Data (revised 1995), NDP-019
United States Historical Climatology Network Daily Temperature, Precipitation, and Snow Data (1871-1997) (1999), NDP-070 - Abstract
United States Historical Climatology Network Daily Temperature and Precipitation Data (1991), NDP-042 - Abstract
Alaskan Historical Climatology Network (HCN) Serial Temperature and Precipitation Data (1994), DB1004 - Abstract
Daily Snow Depth Measurements from 195 Stations in the United States (1997), NDP-059 - Abstract

Climate Data - U.S.S.R.

Daily Temperature and Precipitation Data for 223 U.S.S.R. Stations (1993), NDP-040 - Abstract
Six- and Three-Hourly Meteorological Observations from 223 U.S.S.R. Stations (1998), NDP-048

Climate Data - People's Republic of China

Two Long-Term Instrumental Climatic Data Bases of the People's Republic of China (1997), NDP-039
Climate Data Bases of the People's Republic of China 1841-1988 (1993), TR055 - Abstract

Cloud and Sunshine Data

Clouds, Trends
Climatological Data for Clouds Over the Globe from Surface Observations (1988), NDP-026 - Abstract
Climatological Data For Clouds Over the Globe From Surface Observations, 1982-1991: The Total Cloud Edition (1994), NDP-026A - Abstract
Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports from Ships and Land Stations Over the Globe, 1982-1991 (1995), NDP-026B
Extended Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports from Ships and Land Stations Over the Globe, 1952-1996 (1999), NDP-026C - Abstract
Historical Sunshine and Cloud Data in the United States (revised 1991), NDP-021 - Abstract
Trends in Total Cloud Amount Over China (1999), Trends

Other Climatic Data

Antarctic Surface Temperature and Pressure Data (1989), NDP-032 - Abstract
Monthly Mean Pressure Reconstructions for Europe (1780-1980) and North America (1858-1980) (1987), NDP-025 - Abstract
Tree Ring Chronology Indexes and Reconstructions of Precipitation in Central Iowa, USA (1984), NDP-002 - Abstract
An Annotated Inventory of Climatic Indices and Data Sets (1986), TR035 - Abstract
A Global Geographic Information System Data Base of Storm Occurrences and Other Climatic Phenomena Affecting Coastal Zones (1991), NDP-035 - Abstract

Weather Underground (wunderground.com)

OSU Weather (Ohio State Weather Site)

U.S. Koeppen Climate Classification in GIS

Information about reproducing the Köppen climate classification is presented here. This process was carried out prior to creating the agroclimate classification with the intention of seeing how well the PRISM data would reproduce a well-known and currently accepted climate classification.

Wind Names

Climate Monitor Online

IPCC Reports

SeaWIFS Images

Resources in Atmospheric Sciences *****

Worldwide Weather & Climate *****

NAO site

Sue's DFO Companion site

Andrew Comrie's Bookmarks: