Obs4MIPs: Observations for Model Intercomparisons Project
obs4MIPs (Observations for Model Intercomparisons Project) is a community effort to prepare observational data in a format compatible with CMIP model output for use in model evaluation. Datasets are distributed through the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). The tables below list all 160 obs4MIPs source_ids, grouped by product family and organized by thematic category. Where a Climate Data Guide documentation page exists, it is linked in the first column; ESGF search links are provided for each source_id.
Please contact us if you would like to contribute documentation for datasets marked No CDG page.
Precipitation |
|
|---|---|
| GPCP Monthly | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| GPCP Daily | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| IMERG / GPM | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| TRMM | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| CMORPH | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| CMAP | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| CMAP-V1902 | |
| GSMaP | No CDG page |
| MSWEP | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| PERSIANN | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| PRISM | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| PRISM-M3 | |
Temperature & Surface Climate |
|
|---|---|
| HadCRUT5 | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| HadCRUT5-0-2-0 | |
| CRU TS | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| CRUTS-4-0-9 | |
| HadISDH | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| HadISDH-land-4-6-1-2024f | |
| Livneh | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| nClimGrid | No CDG page |
| RSS MSU | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
Sea Surface Temperature |
|
|---|---|
| HadISST | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| HadISST-1-1 | |
| ERSST | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| OISST | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| ESA CCI SST | No CDG page |
| AMSR-E SST | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| AMSRE-v7 | |
| MUR SST | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| MUR25-4-2 | |
| RSS SST | No CDG page |
Radiation, Clouds & Atmosphere |
|
|---|---|
| CERES EBAF | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| GERB | No CDG page |
| CM SAF SARAH | No CDG page |
| CMSAF-SARAH-2-0 | |
| CM SAF CLARA | No CDG page |
| CMSAF-CLARA-A-2-1 | |
| CM SAF HOAPS | No CDG page |
| CMSAF-HOAPS-4-0 | |
| ESA Cloud CCI | No CDG page |
| CALIPSO | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| CALIPSO-ICECLOUD-1-0 | |
| Outgoing Longwave Radiation | No CDG page |
| AIRS | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| Aura MLS | No CDG page |
| Aura-MLS-v04-2 | |
| TES | No CDG page |
| TES-1-0 | |
| MODIS Atmospheric | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| MODIS-1-0 | |
| GridSat | No CDG page |
| NOAA-NCEI-GridSat-4-0 | |
| GNSS Radio Occultation | No CDG page |
| GNSS-RO-1-3 | |
| ARM Best Estimate | No CDG page |
Atmospheric Chemistry |
|
|---|---|
| Total Ozone — C3S GTO-ECV | No CDG page |
| C3S-GTO-ECV-9-0 | |
| Total Ozone — BSVertOzone | No CDG page |
| BSVertOzone-v1-0 | |
| Stratospheric Ozone — SAGE CCI OMPS | No CDG page |
| SAGE-CCI-OMPS-v0008 | |
| Tropospheric NO₂ — ESA CCI | No CDG page |
| ESACCI-PREC-L3C-NO2 | |
Wind & Water Vapor |
|
|---|---|
| CCMP | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| CCMP-3-1 | |
| QuikSCAT | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| QuikSCAT-v20110531 | |
| RSS Surface Wind | No CDG page |
| RSS-sfcWind-v07r01 | |
| NOAA Blended Sea Winds | No CDG page |
| NOAA-NCEI-SeaWinds-1-2 | |
| RSS Precipitable Water Vapor | No CDG page |
Ocean |
|
|---|---|
| AVISO Sea Surface Height | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| AVISO-1-0 | |
| World Ocean Atlas | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| GLODAP | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| GLODAP-2-2016b | |
| IAP Ocean Heat Content | No CDG page |
| IAP-1-2 | |
| Monthly Global OHC & Temperature Anomalies | No CDG page |
| MGOHCTA-WOA09 | |
| TropFlux | No CDG page |
| TropFlux-1-0 | |
| RAPID AMOC | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| RAPID-v2023-1 | |
| Dai Global River Flow | No CDG page |
| DAI-1-0 | |
Sea Ice & Sea Surface Salinity |
|
|---|---|
| NOAA NCEI Sea Ice Concentration | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| OSI SAF / ESA CCI Sea Ice | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| OSISAF-V3 | |
| RSS SMAP Sea Surface Salinity | No CDG page |
Land, Vegetation & Carbon |
|
|---|---|
| FLUXNET2015 | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| FLUXNET2015-1-0 | |
| NDVI (AVHRR) | No CDG page |
| Leaf Area Index (AVHRR) | No CDG page |
| Leaf Area Index (VIIRS) | No CDG page |
| NOAA-NCEI-LAI-VIIRS-1-0 | |
| Leaf Area Index (GIMMS LAI4g) | No CDG page |
| LAI4g-1-2 | |
| FAPAR (AVHRR) | No CDG page |
| FireCCI Burned Area | No CDG page |
| FireCCI-v5-1 | |
| WECANN | No CDG page |
| WECANN-1-0 | |
| HWSD | No CDG page |
| HWSD-2-0 | |
| Soil Organic Carbon (AI Upscaling) | No CDG page |
| LORA Runoff | No CDG page |
| Hoffman Carbon Flux | No CDG page |
| HOFFMAN-1-0 | |
Snow & Cryosphere |
|
|---|---|
| ESA Snow CCI — Fractional Snow Cover | No CDG page |
| CCI-CryoClim-FSC-1 | |
| ESA Snow CCI — Snow Water Equivalent | No CDG page |
| CCI-SWE-v4-0 | |
| ESA Snow CCI — MODIS Snow Cover | No CDG page |
| ESACCI-SCFG-MODIS-v4-0 | |
| JASMES Snow Cover | No CDG page |
| JASMES-SNOWCOVER-1-0 | |
| Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (NCSCD) | No CDG page |
| NCSCD-2-2 | |
Reanalyses |
|
|---|---|
| ECMWF ERA | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| MERRA-2 | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| MERRA-2 | |
| JRA | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| 20th Century Reanalysis (20CR) | Climate Data Guide page ↗ |
| 20CR-V2 | |
| OLC-ORS | No CDG page |
| OLC-ORS-V0 | |
Cite this page
Acknowledgement of any material taken from or knowledge gained from this page is appreciated:
National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified "The Climate Data Guide: Obs4MIPs: Observations for Model Intercomparisons Project.” Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/obs4mips-observations-model-intercomparisons-project on 2026-09-16.
Citation of datasets is separate and should be done according to the data providers' instructions. If known to us, data citation instructions are given in the Data Access section, above.
Acknowledgement of the Climate Data Guide project is also appreciated:
Schneider, D. P., C. Deser, J. Fasullo, and K. E. Trenberth, 2013: Climate Data Guide Spurs Discovery and Understanding. Eos Trans. AGU, 94, 121–122, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013eo130001