Atmosphere

Atmospheric variables include temperature, precipitation, wind, pressure, clouds, greenhouse gases, and much more. Overview pages summarize and compare selected datasets of a given variable.

To find a specific dataset or variable, jump to the search box below or click your desired variable from among the blue sub-category buttons. Note that the classification of datasets by variable is approximate, especially for large, multi-variable datasets like reanalyses.

To see only the datasets accompanied by in-depth commentary, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.

Climate datasets

Has expert guidance
HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data

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The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS) set is a satellite-based climatology of precipitation, evaporation and freshwater budget (…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Radiation Specific Humidity Wind Latent & sensible heat flux Precipitable water Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

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X-ray image illustrating the annual density bands in corals. (Image credit: USGS via Allison Lawman)) Coral geochemical records: An overview of their use as climate proxies and of available databases

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Coral records are one of the main types of high-resolution (annual to sub-annual) paleoclimate proxies, providing timeseries of environmental conditions reaching hundreds to…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Ocean Salinity SST - sea surface temperature
Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices

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In each of the world’s tropical ocean basins, year-to-year climate variability is primarily governed by fluctuations in the zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradient and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
JRA-55 JRA-55

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Spanning 1958-present, JRA-55 is the longest third-generation reanalysis that uses the full observing system (in contrast, products like ERA-20C and NOAA 20CR assimilate a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable water

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Monthly

    • Collections

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Atmospheric Reanalysis: Overview & Comparison Tables Atmospheric Reanalysis: Overview & Comparison Tables

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Reanalysis a systematic approach to produce data sets for climate monitoring and research. Reanalyses are created via an unchanging ("frozen") data assimilation scheme and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere
Budgets: Mass, Moisture, Energy Budgets: Mass, Moisture, Energy

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The uneven distribution of incoming and outgoing radiation is the primary driver of the climate system. The resulting flows of energy by the climate components (atmosphere,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Budget Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Radiation

  • Experts contributing reviews

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COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes

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The Coordinated Ocean Research Experiments version 2  (COREv2) data set consists of a globally complete set of air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and freshwater for 1948-…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Precipitation Radiation Wind Stress Land Runoff and Streamflow Ocean Surface Flux
OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans. OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.

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"The OAFlux project aims to provide consistent, multi-decade, global analysis of air-sea heat, freshwater (evaporation), and momentum fluxes for use in studies of global…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Latent & sensible heat flux Radiation Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux wind stress curl

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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UK Met Office; contributed by Colin Raymond HadISD: Sub-daily, non-interpolated weather station data

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HadISD ("Hadley Centre Integrated Surface Database") is a compendium of subdaily weather-station data developed by the UK Met Office that is based on NOAA NCEI's Integrated…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Dew Point Temperature Precipitation Sea Level Pressure Storm data Wind

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily

    • Collections

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NLDAS-2 Primary Forcing monthly average 2-m surface temperature for July 1980. NLDAS: North American Land Data Assimilation System

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The North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) integrates a large quantity of observation-based and model reanalysis data to produce long-term hourly atmospheric…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature CAPE Evaporation Precipitation Radiation Specific Humidity Surface Pressure Wind
ERA-Interim: derived components ERA-Interim: derived components

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Era-Interim data are used to derive monthly mass, moisture and energy budget products. Each term is available. Atmospheric energy, mass, and moisture budgets can be computed…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Budget Evaporation-Precipitation

  • Experts contributing reviews

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ERA-Interim ERA-Interim

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Using a much improved atmospheric model and assimilation system from those used in ERA-40, ERA-Interim represents a third generation reanalysis. Several of the inaccuracies…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable water Precipitation
Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0

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The National Oceanography Centre  (NOC) Version 2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset is a monthly mean gridded dataset of marine surface measurements and derived…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Cloud Properties Evaporation Latent & sensible heat flux Multiple variables Radiation Sea Level Pressure Specific Humidity Surface Pressure Surface solar radiation Water Vapor Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux
GPCP (Monthly): Global Precipitation Climatology Project GPCP (Monthly): Global Precipitation Climatology Project

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Data from rain gauge stations, satellites, and sounding observations have been merged to estimate monthly rainfall on a 2.5-degree global grid from 1979 to the present. The…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Precipitation
Precipitation Data Sets: Overview & Comparison table Precipitation Data Sets: Overview & Comparison table

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Precipitation (rain, snow, hail, ...) is one of the key components of the hydrological cycle. Its societal importance cannot be over stated. For climate research,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Precipitation

  • Experts contributing reviews

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