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.
Sub-categories
Climate datasets
![Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/BEST_trend.png?itok=N1eTamQK)
Years of record
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The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures (BEST) are a set of data products, originally a gridded reconstruction of land surface air temperature records spanning 1701-…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Cowtan, Kevin
![GHCN-D: Global Historical climatology Network daily temperatures GHCN-D: Global Historical climatology Network daily temperatures](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/ghcnd-figs-for-cdg.png?itok=YXS6OK24)
Years of record
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The Global Historical Climatology Network Daily database, GHCN-D, contains meteorological measurements from over 90,000 stations across the globe. The majority of…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature PrecipitationExperts contributing reviews
- McKinnon, Karen
![Map of linear trend in R99p https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadex3/images/HadEX3_R99p_1901-2018_ADW_61-90_1.25x1.875deg_Ann_trend.png](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-08/HadEX3_R99p_1901-2018_ADW_61-90_1.25x1.875deg_Ann_trend.png?itok=EF6lA_rG)
Years of record
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HadEX3 provides gridded, station-based indices of temperature- and precipitation- related climate extremes and supersedes HadEX2. It is intended for global and continental…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Land Freeze/ThawExperts contributing reviews
- Dunn, Robert
![U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/US-climate-extremes-index.png?itok=Mm5-1eoR)
Years of record
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The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) was first presented in 1995 as a framework for quantifying observed changes in climate within the contiguous United States. At…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation Wind Land Drought-
Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly, Seasonal, Annual
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Domain
- North America
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Gleason, Karin
![PRISM High-Resolution Spatial Climate Data for the United States: Max/min temp, dewpoint, precipitation PRISM High-Resolution Spatial Climate Data for the United States: Max/min temp, dewpoint, precipitation](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/PRISM_ppt_30yr_normal_4kmM2_annual.png?itok=cviHYJoX)
Years of record
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PRISM is a set of monthly, yearly, and single-event gridded data products of mean temperature and precipitation, max/min temperatures, and dewpoints, primarily for the…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Dew Point Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation-
Formats
- ARC/INFO ASCII GRID | netCDF
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Timestep
- Climatology, Daily, Monthly
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Domain
- North America
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Daly, Christopher
![Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/noc_net_flux_seasonal_maps.png?itok=pKnbfctm)
Years of record
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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…
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Formats
- netCDF
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Climate Data Record
Experts contributing reviews
- Kent, Elizabeth
![map of Tmin over eastern US (credit: Michele Thornton)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-08/DaymetTmin_AvgDaily_2006.EasternUS2.jpg?itok=YjE9R6qm)
Years of record
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Daymet provides long-term, continuous, gridded estimates of daily weather and climatology variables by interpolating and extrapolating ground-based observations through…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation Radiation Water Vapor Cryosphere Snow Water Equivalent-
Timestep
- Climatology, Daily
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Domain
- North America
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Thornton, Peter E
![E-OBS: High-resolution gridded mean/max/min temperature, precipitation and sea level pressure for Europe & Northern Africa E-OBS: High-resolution gridded mean/max/min temperature, precipitation and sea level pressure for Europe & Northern Africa](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/all_stations_plot.png?itok=x5w235at)
Years of record
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E-OBS is a high spatial resolution daily gridded data that covers the European region and is based on the station data collated by the ECA&D initiative (Klein Tank et al…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation Sea Level PressureExperts contributing reviews
- van der Schrier, Gerard
![CHELSA high-resolution land surface temperature and precipitation CHELSA high-resolution land surface temperature and precipitation](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/CHELSA.png?itok=14Nqfkhr)
Years of record
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The Climatologies at high resolution for the Earth's land surface (CHELSA) dataset contains high spatial resolution monthly climatologies of mean, maximum and minimum…
Experts contributing reviews
- Karger, Dirk
![TerraClimate: Global, high-resolution gridded temperature, precipitation, and other water balance variables TerraClimate: Global, high-resolution gridded temperature, precipitation, and other water balance variables](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/TerraClimate.png?itok=d36kQWdD)
Years of record
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TerraClimate is a global gridded dataset of meteorological and water balance variables for 1958-present, available on a monthly timestep. Its relatively fine spatial…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Potential Evapotranspiration Precipitation Wind Snow Water Equivalent Land evapotranspiration Runoff and Streamflow Soil MoistureExperts contributing reviews
- Abatzoglou, John
![APHRODITE: Asian Precipitation - Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of Water Resources APHRODITE: Asian Precipitation - Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of Water Resources](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/APHRODITE.png?itok=g_ok0bWh)
Years of record
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APHRODITE’s (Asian Precipitation - Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation) gridded precipitation is a set of long-term (1951 onward) continental-…
Experts contributing reviews
- Maeda, Mio | Yasutomi, Natsuko | Yatagai, Akiyo
![Livneh gridded precipitation and other meteorological variables for continental US, Mexico and southern Canada Livneh gridded precipitation and other meteorological variables for continental US, Mexico and southern Canada](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/Livneh-gridded-precipitation.png?itok=2rXj_Wqe)
Years of record
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The Livneh et al. (2015) hydrometeorological dataset consists of gridded daily and monthly precipitation, maximum and minimum air temperature, and wind speed for the…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation Wind-
Formats
- netCDF
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Timestep
- Daily, Monthly
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Domain
- North America
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Livneh, Ben
![HadGHCNDEX - Gridded Daily Temperature Extremes HadGHCNDEX - Gridded Daily Temperature Extremes](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_566.png?itok=bFUaZpTw)
Years of record
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HadGHCND (aka HadGHCNDEX) is a gridded daily dataset of near-surface maximum (TX) and minimum (TN) temperature observations. Anomalies (departures from 1961-1990 climatology…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air TemperatureExperts contributing reviews
- N/A
![HadEX2: Gridded Temperature and Precipitation Climate Extremes Indices (CLIMDEX data) HadEX2: Gridded Temperature and Precipitation Climate Extremes Indices (CLIMDEX data)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/HadEX2_MLOST_JJA_tchange_CONUS.png?itok=LpDWkFMY)
Years of record
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HadEX2 provides gridded, station-based indices of temperature- and precipitation- related climate extremes. It is intended for climate change detection and attribution…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Land Freeze/ThawExperts contributing reviews
- N/A
![GHCNDEX: Gridded Temperature and Precipitation Climate Extremes Indices (CLIMDEX data) GHCNDEX: Gridded Temperature and Precipitation Climate Extremes Indices (CLIMDEX data)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/GHCNDEX_MLOST_JJA_tchange_CONUS_0.png?itok=wGvmy1IK)
Years of record
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GHCNDEX provides gridded, station-based indices of temperature- and precipitation- related climate extremes. It is intended for climate change detection and attribution…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Land Freeze/ThawExperts contributing reviews
- N/A
![NOAA ThreadEx Long-term Station Extremes for America NOAA ThreadEx Long-term Station Extremes for America](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_616.png?itok=XA0TT96n)
Years of record
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ThreadEx is a data set of extreme daily temperature and precipitation values for 270 locations in the United States. For each day of the year at each station, ThreadEx…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation-
Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Daily
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Domain
- North America
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A
![Cloud Dataset Overview Cloud Dataset Overview](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/cloud-dataset-overview.png?itok=4K0op3KS)
Years of record
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Clouds cover about 70% of the earth's surface. They are important components of the cliimate's water and energy budgets. Historically, cloud reports have come from station…
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Formats
- N/A
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Timestep
- Climatology, Monthly
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Overview / Comparison page
Experts contributing reviews
- Stubenrauch, Claudia
![CRU TS Gridded precipitation and other meteorological variables since 1901 CRU TS Gridded precipitation and other meteorological variables since 1901](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/CRUTS_climo_Lamb.png?itok=CvdkTRa7)
Years of record
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The CRU TS series of data sets (CRU TS = Climatic Research Unit Timeseries) contain monthly timeseries of precipitation, daily maximum and minimum temperatures, cloud cover…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Cloud Properties Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Potential Evapotranspiration PrecipitationExperts contributing reviews
- N/A
![NASA's MERRA2 reanalysis NASA's MERRA2 reanalysis](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/merra-grab.png?itok=ekoJ4nIp)
Years of record
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The Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) is a global atmospheric reanalysis produced by the NASA Global Modeling and…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Aerosols Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable waterExperts contributing reviews
- Bosilovich, Michael | Cullather, Richard
![GPCP (Monthly): Global Precipitation Climatology Project GPCP (Monthly): Global Precipitation Climatology Project](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/DiagMap_cdr_precip_201912.png?itok=iQTqcL9A)
Years of record
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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…
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Timestep
- Climatology, Monthly
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Domain
- Global
Experts contributing reviews
- Pendergrass, Angeline | Wang, Jian-Jian