Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D)

doi:10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d

Title: Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D)

Abstract

Surface synoptic weather reports for 39 years have been processed to provide a climatology of clouds for each of over 5000 land-based weather stations with long periods of record both day and night. For each station, this digital archive includes: multi-year annual, seasonal and monthly averages for day and night separately; seasonal and monthly averages by year; averages for eight times per day; and analyses of the first harmonic for the annual and diurnal cycles. Averages are given for total cloud cover, clear-sky frequency, and 9 cloud types: 5 in the low level (fog, St, Sc, Cu, Cb), 3 in the middle level (Ns, As, Ac) and one in the high level (all cirriform clouds combined). Cloud amounts and frequencies of occurrence are given for all types. In addition, non-overlapped amounts are given for middle and high cloud types, and average base heights are given for low cloud types. Nighttime averages were obtained by using only those reports that met an "illuminance criterion" (i.e., made under adequate moonlight or twilight), thus making possible the determination of diurnal cycles and nighttime trends for cloud types.The authors have also produced an online, gridded atlas of the cloud observations contained in NDP-026D. Themore »« less

Creator(s)/Author(s):: Hahn, C. J.; Warren, S. G.; Eastman, R.

Publication Date:: 2012-08-01

Other Number(s):: NPD-026D
ORNL/CDIAC-123

Product Type:: Dataset

Research Org.:: Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem; Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Subject:: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

OSTI Identifier:: 1394932

DOI:: 10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d

Citation Formats


                    Hahn, C. J., Warren, S. G., and Eastman, R. Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D).  United States: N. p., 2012. 
        Web.  doi:10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d.

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                    Hahn, C. J., Warren, S. G., & Eastman, R. Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D).  United States.  doi:10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d.

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                    Hahn, C. J., Warren, S. G., and Eastman, R. 2012.  
"Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D)".  United States.  doi:10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1394932. Pub date:Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012

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@article{osti_1394932,

  title        = {Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D)},

  author       = {Hahn, C. J. and Warren, S. G. and Eastman, R.},

  abstractNote = {Surface synoptic weather reports for 39 years have been processed to provide a climatology of clouds for each of over 5000 land-based weather stations with long periods of record both day and night. For each station, this digital archive includes: multi-year annual, seasonal and monthly averages for day and night separately; seasonal and monthly averages by year; averages for eight times per day; and analyses of the first harmonic for the annual and diurnal cycles. Averages are given for total cloud cover, clear-sky frequency, and 9 cloud types: 5 in the low level (fog, St, Sc, Cu, Cb), 3 in the middle level (Ns, As, Ac) and one in the high level (all cirriform clouds combined). Cloud amounts and frequencies of occurrence are given for all types. In addition, non-overlapped amounts are given for middle and high cloud types, and average base heights are given for low cloud types. Nighttime averages were obtained by using only those reports that met an "illuminance criterion" (i.e., made under adequate moonlight or twilight), thus making possible the determination of diurnal cycles and nighttime trends for cloud types.The authors have also produced an online, gridded atlas of the cloud observations contained in NDP-026D. The Online Cloud Atlas containing NDP-026D data is available via the University of Washington.},

  doi          = {10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d},

  journal      = {},

  number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2012},

  month        = {8}

}

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DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp026d

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Environmental Systems Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE)

Agarwal, Deb

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Systems Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) is a data archive for Earth and environmental science data. The mission of ESS-DIVE is to preserve, expand access to, and improve usability of critical data generated through DOE-sponsored research of terrestrial and subsurface ecosystems. By making ESS research data easily accessible, ESS-DIVE has the potential to advance the scientific understanding and prediction of hydro-biogeochemical and ecosystem processes that occur from bedrock through soil and vegetation to the atmospheric interface.

Works referencing / citing this record:

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Similar records in DOE Data Explorer and OSTI.GOV collections:

A Gridded Climatology of Clouds over Land (1971-1996) and Ocean (1954-2008) from Surface Observations Worldwide (NDP-026E)*

Dataset Hahn, C. J. ; Warren, S. G.

Surface synoptic weather reports from ships and land stations worldwide were processed to produce a global cloud climatology which includes: total cloud cover, the amount and frequency of occurrence of nine cloud types within three levels of the troposphere, the frequency of occurrence of clear sky and of precipitation, the base heights of low clouds, and the non-overlapped amounts of middle and high clouds. Synoptic weather reports are made every three hours; the cloud information in a report is obtained visually by human observers. The reports used here cover the period 1971-96 for land and 1954-2008 for ocean. This digitalmore »« less
Extended Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports from Ships and Land Stations Over the Globe, 1952-2009 (NDP-026C)

Dataset Hahn, C. J. ; Warren, S. G. ; Eastman, R.

This database contains surface synoptic weather reports for the entire globe, gathered from various available data sets. The reports were processed, edited, and rewritten to provide a single dataset of individual observations of clouds, spanning the 57 years 1952-2008 for ship data and the 39 years 1971-2009 for land station data. In addition to the cloud portion of the synoptic report, each edited report also includes the associated pressure, present weather, wind, air temperature, and dew point (and sea surface temperature over oceans). This data set is called the "Extended Edited Cloud Report Archive" (EECRA). The EECRA is based solelymore »« less
Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports from Ships and Land Stations Over the Globe, 1982-1991 (NDP-026B)

Dataset Hahn, Carole J. ; Warren, Stephen G. ; London, Julius

Surface synoptic weather reports for the entire globe for the 10-year period from December 1981 through November 1991 have been processed, edited, and rewritten to provide a data set designed for use in cloud analyses. The information in these reports relating to clouds, including the present weather information, was extracted and put through a series of quality control checks. Reports not meeting certain quality control standards were rejected, as were reports from buoys and automatic weather stations. Correctable inconsistencies within reports were edited for consistency, so that the "edited cloud report" can be used for cloud analysis without further qualitymore »« less
Long-Term Daily and Monthly Climate Records from Stations Across the Contiguous United States (U.S.Historical Climatology Network) (NDP-019)

Dataset Menne, M. J. ; Williams, Jr., C. N. ; Vose, R. S.

The United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) is a high-quality data set of daily and monthly records of basic meteorological variables from 1218 observing stations across the 48 contiguous United States. Daily data include observations of maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation amount, snowfall amount, and snow depth; monthly data consist of monthly-averaged maximum, minimum, and mean temperature and total monthly precipitation. Most of these stations are U.S. Cooperative Observing Network stations located generally in rural locations, while some are National Weather Service First-Order stations that are often located in more urbanized environments. The USHCN has been developed over the yearsmore »« less
The Global Historical Climatology Network: Long-Term Monthly Temperature, Precipitation, Sea Level Pressure, and Station Pressure Data (NDP-041)

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The GHCN data base contains mean monthly temperature data (in tenths of degrees celsius) for 6039 stations throughout the world. The majority (61%) have records for fewer than 50 years, but a significant proportion (10%) have records in excess of 100 years. It also contains total monthly precipitation data (in tenths of millimeters) for 7533 stations throughout the world. A slight majority (55%) have records in excess of 50 years, and a significant proportion (13%) have records in excess of 100 years. Also in this content is mean monthly sea level pressure data (in tenths of millibars) for 1883 stationsmore »« less

Similar Records

Research Org:	Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org:	USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Title: Cloud Climatology for Land Stations Worldwide, 1971-2009 (NDP-026D)

Abstract

Citation Formats

Spatial patterns and recent trends in cloud fraction and cloud-related diffuse radiation in Amazonia journal, January 2009

Trends in aerosol radiative effects over China and Japan inferred from observed cloud cover, solar “dimming,” and solar “brightening” journal, January 2009

Trends in aerosol radiative effects over China and Japan inferred from observed cloud cover, solar “dimming,” and solar “brightening” journal, January 2009

Evaluation of multidecadal variability in CMIP5 surface solar radiation and inferred underestimation of aerosol direct effects over Europe, China, Japan, and India: OBSERVED SOLAR RADIATION journal, June 2013

Projected changes in surface solar radiation in CMIP5 global climate models and in EURO-CORDEX regional climate models for Europe journal, December 2016

Cloud type climatology over the Tibetan Plateau: A comparison of ISCCP and MODIS/TERRA measurements with surface observations journal, January 2006

Cloud type climatology over the Tibetan Plateau: A comparison of ISCCP and MODIS/TERRA measurements with surface observations journal, January 2006

Projected changes in surface solar radiation in CMIP5 global climate models and in EURO-CORDEX regional climate models for Europe journal, December 2016

How do aerosol histories affect solar “dimming” and “brightening” over Europe?: IPCC-AR4 models versus observations journal, January 2009

Spatial patterns and recent trends in cloud fraction and cloud-related diffuse radiation in Amazonia journal, January 2009

Spatial patterns and recent trends in cloud fraction and cloud-related diffuse radiation in Amazonia
journal, January 2009

Trends in aerosol radiative effects over China and Japan inferred from observed cloud cover, solar “dimming,” and solar “brightening”
journal, January 2009

Trends in aerosol radiative effects over China and Japan inferred from observed cloud cover, solar “dimming,” and solar “brightening”
journal, January 2009

Evaluation of multidecadal variability in CMIP5 surface solar radiation and inferred underestimation of aerosol direct effects over Europe, China, Japan, and India: OBSERVED SOLAR RADIATION
journal, June 2013

Projected changes in surface solar radiation in CMIP5 global climate models and in EURO-CORDEX regional climate models for Europe
journal, December 2016

Cloud type climatology over the Tibetan Plateau: A comparison of ISCCP and MODIS/TERRA measurements with surface observations
journal, January 2006

Cloud type climatology over the Tibetan Plateau: A comparison of ISCCP and MODIS/TERRA measurements with surface observations
journal, January 2006

Projected changes in surface solar radiation in CMIP5 global climate models and in EURO-CORDEX regional climate models for Europe
journal, December 2016

How do aerosol histories affect solar “dimming” and “brightening” over Europe?: IPCC-AR4 models versus observations
journal, January 2009

Spatial patterns and recent trends in cloud fraction and cloud-related diffuse radiation in Amazonia
journal, January 2009