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Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4

Change of temperature between 1901:1920 and 1991:2010 based on the HadCRUT4 dataset. Credit: ClimateDataGuide, NCAR

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 data set, CRUTEM4 and the global SST data set, HadSST3. HadCRUT4 is different from the most closely comparable products (e.g. NASA GISTEMP and NOAA MLOST) in that no interpolation is performed. As such, there are many coverage gaps; this may be a limiting factor in regional analyses but hemispheric and global means are very consistent with other data sets. Extensive analysis has been done to characterize uncertainties arising from non-climatic factors, for example changing instrumentation and observing practices, changes in station location, and changes in local land use. The resulting distribution of uncertainty is presented as an ensemble of 100 realizations of the data set. Individual ensemble members may be accessed via the Met Office webpage, though many users will likely focus on the ensemble median fields that are distributed online by CRU, Hadley Centre and other organizations. 

Key Strengths:

  • Incorporates many additional data sources beyond GHCN
  • Explicit uncertainty analyses and separate land & ocean data sets
  • Grid-box averaging only; less analysis and smoothing/interpolation than comparable data sets for both land and ocean domains

Key Limitations:

  • More spatial coverage gaps than comparable data sets; not analyzed or infilled like GISTEMP, UDEL or MLOST

Years of Record

1850/01 to 2020/02
temporal metadataID:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/thredds/wcs/Datasets/cru/crutem4/std/air.mon.anom.nc

Formats

Timestep

Climatology | Monthly

Domain

Global

Spatial Resolution

5x5 degrees

Ocean or Land

Ocean&Land

Missing Data Flag

missing data present

Vertical Levels

Surface Data Set

Input Data

~5500 land station records from GHCN and other sources combined with HadSST3

Earth system components and main variables

Atmosphere, Air Temperature, Ocean, SST - sea surface temperature

Data Access: Please Cite data sources, following the data providers' instructions.

  1. CRU temperature data; netCDF and ascii files
  2. Met Office (gridded data, individual ensemble members)
  3. CRUTEM4 at NOAA-ESRL (netCDF)

Key Figures

Click the thumbnails to view larger sizes

Thumbnails

Captions
Change of temperature between 1901:1920 and 1991:2010 based on the HadCRUT4 dataset. Credit: ClimateDataGuide, NCAR Change of annual mean temperature between 1901:1920 and 1991:2010 based on the HadCRUT4 dataset. Credit: ClimateDataGuide, NCAR
HadCRU absolute temperature HadCRU absolute surface temperatures for 1961-1990. The global mean is 13.97 deg C. Figure Credit: NCAR, ClimateDataGuide.

Cite this page

National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified 27 Mar 2020. "The Climate Data Guide: Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4." Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/global-surface-temperature-data-hadcrut4-and-crutem4.

Acknowledgement of any material taken from this page is appreciated. On behalf of experts who have contributed data, advice, and/or figures, please cite their work as well.

Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4

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 data set, CRUTEM4 and the global SST data set, HadSST3. HadCRUT4 is different from the most closely comparable products (e.g. NASA GISTEMP and NOAA MLOST) in that no interpolation is performed. As such, there are many coverage gaps; this may be a limiting factor in regional analyses but hemispheric and global means are very consistent with other data sets. Extensive analysis has been done to characterize uncertainties arising from non-climatic factors, for example changing instrumentation and observing practices, changes in station location, and changes in local land use. The resulting distribution of uncertainty is presented as an ensemble of 100 realizations of the data set. Individual ensemble members may be accessed via the Met Office webpage, though many users will likely focus on the ensemble median fields that are distributed online by CRU, Hadley Centre and other organizations. 

1850-01/2020-02

Summary of Global Surface Temperature Data Sets

Namesort descending Temperature change Source Period of Record available timestep(s) available resolution Input Data Climatology
Global (land) precipitation and temperature: Willmott & Matsuura, University of Delaware U. Delaware / Cort J. Willmott, Kenji Matsuura 1900/01 to 2014/12 Climatology, Monthly 0.5x0.5 degree land stations from GHCNv2 and a few other sources
Global surface temperature data: GISTEMP: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Surface Temperature Analysis GISTEMP trend; ClimataDataGuide figure. NASA GISS / R. Reudy, M. Sato, K. Lo, formerly J. Hansen 1880/01 to 2020/03 Monthly 2x2 degree GHCN v4 (~6300 land stations); ERSSTv5 (SSTs); SCAR READER (for Antarctic stations) (Source: GISTEMP webpage)
Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4 Change of temperature between 1901:1920 and 1991:2010 based on the HadCRUT4 dataset. Credit: ClimateDataGuide, NCAR U East Anglia CRU / Phil Jones and others,UK Met Office Hadley Centre 1850/01 to 2020/02 Climatology, Monthly 5x5 degrees ~5500 land station records from GHCN and other sources combined with HadSST3 HadCRU absolute temperature
Global surface temperature data: MLOST: NOAA Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis Change of temperature in the MLOST data set. credit: Climate Data Guide NOAA NCDC / RS Vose and others 1871/01 to 2020/04 Monthly 5x5 degrees GHCN v3.3 (~7000 land stations); ERSSTv3b (SSTs)
Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures Change of temperature between 1901:1920 and 1991:2010 based on the Berkeley Earth dataset. Credit: ClimateDataGuide, NCAR BerkeleyEarth.org/ R. Muller, R. Rhode 1701/01 to 2019/07 Climatology, Daily, Monthly 1x1 degree or equal-area grid, .25 degree available for USA and Europe combination of 14 databases of station data; ~37,000 individual records used;; merged land-ocean version uses HadSST3 Climatology of Berkeley Earth temperatures.
TerraClimate: Global, high-resolution gridded temperature, precipitation, and other water balance variables 1981-2010 average Dec-February climatic water deficit for Tasmania as represented in TerraClim (contributed by J. Abatzoglou) John Abatzoglou, University of Idaho 1958/01 to 2018/12 Climatology, Monthly ~4 km (1/24th degree) WorldClim, CRUTS4.0 average annual temperatures in 2017 according to TerraClimate

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