The Global Historical Climatology Network: A preview of Version 2
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC (United States). Global Climate Lab.
- Colorado Univ., Boulder, CO (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Research in Environmental Sciences
Instruments that could reliably measure temperature, precipitation, and pressure were developed by the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It has been estimated that weather records have been collected at one to two hundred thousand locations since those first instruments were placed in the field. Numerous applications, from global change studies to climate impact assessments to general circulation models, make use of such historical records. Given their importance, it is unfortunate that one cannot approach a single researcher or data center to acquire all of the records for all of the stations, or even a large portion of them. In 1990, the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) undertook a collaborative effort aimed at solving this problem. The initiative completed its first data product, known as the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) version 1.0, in 1992. This data base contains quality-controlled monthly climatic time series from 6,039 temperature, 7,533 precipitation, 1,883 sea level pressure, and 1,873 station pressure stations located on global land areas. This paper describes the data and methods being used to compile GHCN version 2.0, an expanded and improved version of its predecessor. Planned for distribution in early 1995, its enhancements will include (1) data for additional stations--perhaps three times as many as in version 1.0, plus maximum/minimum temperature measurements; (2) detailed assessments of data quality, including nearest-neighbor checks; and (3) adjustments for nonclimatic inhomogeneities, such as station relocations and land use changes.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10120539
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950124-6; ON: DE95007003; TRN: AHC29509%%77
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 75. annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society: diamond anniversary,Dallas, TX (United States),15-20 Jan 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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The global historical climatology network: Long-term monthly temperature, precipitation, and pressure data
The Global Historical Climatology Network: Long-term monthly temperature, precipitation, sea level pressure, and station pressure data