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

Years of record
- to
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…
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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

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

Years of record
- to
NASA Goddard's Global Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) combines land surface air temperatures primarily from the GHCN-M version 4 with SSTs of the ERSSTv5…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature-
Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Global
Experts contributing reviews
- Lenssen, Nathan

Years of record
- to
Extending back to 1850 and frequently updated, HadCRUT4 is the longest data set of its type. HadCRUT4 is a combination of the global land surface temperature…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature-
Timestep
- Climatology, Monthly
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Domain
- Global
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A

Years of record
- to
NOAA's Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (MLOST) combines land surface air temperatures primarily from the Global Historical Climatology Network,…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature-
Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Global
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A

Years of record
- to
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures (BEST) are a set of data products, originally a gridded reconstruction of land surface air temperature records spanning…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Cowtan, Kevin

Years of record
- to
Global surface temperature data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and climate change. The most commonly used…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature-
Timestep
- Climatology, Monthly
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Overview / Comparison page
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A