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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 » Online Cloud Atlas containing NDP-026D data is available via the University of Washington.« less

Authors:
; ;
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  1. University of Arizona
  2. University of Washington
Publication Date:
Other Number(s):
NPD-026D
ORNL/CDIAC-123
Product Type:
Dataset
Research Org.:
Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) (United States); 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)
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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Works referencing / citing this record:

Trends in aerosol radiative effects over Europe inferred from observed cloud cover, solar “dimming,” and solar “brightening”
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  • Norris, Joel R.; Wild, Martin
  • Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 112, Issue D8
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Cloud type climatology over the Tibetan Plateau: A comparison of ISCCP and MODIS/TERRA measurements with surface observations
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Cloud type climatology over the Tibetan Plateau: A comparison of ISCCP and MODIS/TERRA measurements with surface observations
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  • Li, Yueqing; Liu, Xiaodong; Chen, Baode
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 33, Issue 17
  • DOI: 10.1029/2006gl026890

How do aerosol histories affect solar “dimming” and “brightening” over Europe?: IPCC-AR4 models versus observations
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Global characterization of cirrus clouds using CALIPSO data
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  • Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 113, Issue D16
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  • Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 114, Issue D21
  • DOI: 10.1029/2009jd012217
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