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
![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
- to
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
![QuikSCAT: near sea-surface wind speed and direction QuikSCAT: near sea-surface wind speed and direction](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/QuikSCAT.png?itok=KzfttDpY)
Years of record
- to
The QuikSCAT mission was intended to obtain sea-surface wind speed and direction data under all weather and cloud conditions over Earth's oceans. SeaWinds, an active radar…
Experts contributing reviews
- Ricciardulli, Lucrezia
![UK Met Office; contributed by Colin Raymond](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-08/fig3.png?itok=VpRwn-df)
Years of record
- to
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 WindExperts contributing reviews
- Raymond, Colin
![JRA-55 JRA-55](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/JRA55-ncl8r28kXUAA9.tmpqq__0.gif?itok=BoM90udX)
Years of record
- to
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 waterExperts contributing reviews
- Kobayashi, Shinya
![Post-boost climatology of lightning from TRMM LIS (September 2001 through December 2014). Taken from Blakeslee et al. (2020). (credit: Dennis Buechler)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-09/LIS-f01-snippet.png?itok=BZf7HSrO)
Years of record
- to
The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) is an optically based spaceborne lightning detection instrument that has been hosted on two different platforms – the Tropical Rainfall…
Experts contributing reviews
- Lang, Timothy
![IBTrACS: Tropical cyclone best track data IBTrACS: Tropical cyclone best track data](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_621.png?itok=xud8Ck1l)
Years of record
- N/A
IBTrACS (International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship) provides global tropical cyclone best track data in a centralized location to aid our understanding of the…
Experts contributing reviews
- Schreck, Carl
![NASA's MERRA2 reanalysis NASA's MERRA2 reanalysis](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/merra-grab.png?itok=ekoJ4nIp)
Years of record
- to
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
![AIRS and AMSU: Tropospheric air temperature and specific humidity AIRS and AMSU: Tropospheric air temperature and specific humidity](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_577.png?itok=Mg72txGV)
Years of record
- to
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) project has generated decadal-length, global, gridded data sets of temperature and specific humidity for several standard levels in…
Experts contributing reviews
- Tian, Baijun
![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
- to
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
![Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/NPMM_schematic.png?itok=_YAO699f)
Years of record
- N/A
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…
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Formats
- N/A
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Timestep
- N/A
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Domain
- Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Amaya, Dillon
![timeseries of signal and noise in the SOI](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-09/soi3.gif?itok=jYDJ17xv)
Years of record
- to
The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is a time series used to characterize the large scale sea level pressure (SLP) patterns in the tropical Pacific. Monthly mean SLP at…
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Australia, Pacific Ocean, Tropics
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- Trenberth, Kevin