Climate Data

The Climate Data Guide is a high-traffic expert knowledge portal providing concise and reliable information on the data that are essential for monitoring and understanding the Earth System. Currently, it curates expert insights on over 200 observational datasets and indices, searchable or browseable in the list below.

To find a specific dataset or climate variable, jump to the the search box. For only the datasets paired with guidance written by experts, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.

Data creators, data publishers, and scientists who use climate data are invited to join our Network of Experts by contributing commentaries on data strengths and limitations to the Climate Data Guide. What type of data are included? See this discussion.

With the exception of about 25 climate indices, the Climate Data Guide does not host datasets.  Data cannot be downloaded from this site. However, links are provided to download locations under the "Data Access" section of each dataset page.

Citation: Please link to this website in your work that draws upon material from this website, and cite this paper:

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. 

=> Additionally, each dataset page with expert-written guidance has its own citation example on the individual page, such that the experts who wrote the guidance may be credited. Finally, responsible use and citation of datasets is strongly encouraged.

Climate datasets

Has expert guidance
Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record

  • Years of record

  • to

The NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of sea ice concentration is available at 25 x 25 km spatial resolution in daily or monthly timesteps for 1987-2014. It provides a consistent interpretation of sea ice for the satellite record, with the intent of being suitable for…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
Post-boost climatology of lightning from TRMM LIS (September 2001 through December 2014). Taken from Blakeslee et al. (2020). (credit: Dennis Buechler) Lightning data from the TRMM and ISS Lightning Image Sounder (LIS): Towards a global lightning Climate Data Record

  • 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 Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM; 1998-2015; Kummerow et al. 1998) and the International Space…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Lightning
(credit: Signe Aaboe and Thomas Lavergne) Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record from OSI SAF

  • Years of record

  • to

The Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Applications Facility (OSI SAF) of EUMETSAT provides sea ice concentration products for the Arctic and Antarctic based on satellite passive microwave data. The concentration value is expressed as the fractional percentage of the ice cover in…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
ISCCP: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project ISCCP: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

  • Years of record

  • to

The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) makes use of routine observations by operational weather satellites to provide a long-term (1983-2009), gridded, global record of cloud properties. ISCCP uses observations in the visible and infrared window…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Cloud Properties
Carbon Emissions from Historical Land-Use and Land-Use Change Carbon Emissions from Historical Land-Use and Land-Use Change

  • Years of record

  • to

Annual net land-atmosphere carbon flux and net flux of carbon to the atmosphere due to land-use and land-use change (LULUC) are estimated using an integrated assessment model and three historical reconstructions of land use and land use conversion. The data span 1800-2010…

Main variables and Earth System components

Biosphere CO2 Land CO2 Land-Atmosphere flux Land Cover Type Land Use Conversion

    • Timestep

    • Annual

    • Collections

    • None
Historical land-cover changes and land-use conversions global data set by Meiyappan and Jain Historical land-cover changes and land-use conversions global data set by Meiyappan and Jain

  • Years of record

  • to

A set of three estimates of land-cover types and annual transformations of land use are provided on a global 0.5°x0.5° grid at annual timesteps. The longest of the three estimates spans 1770-2010. The three estimates use three different data sets of cropland and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Land Land Cover Type Land Use Conversion Vegetation Cover

    • Timestep

    • Annual

    • Collections

    • None
HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database

  • Years of record

  • to

HadIOD (Met Office Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database) is a global database of in situ ocean temperature and salinity observations, spanning 1850-present on a daily timestep. It is somewhat unique among temperature and salinity datasets in that it combines…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Salinity SST - sea surface temperature Sub Surface Temperature

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

  • Years of record

  • to

The most up-to-date version is known as Kaplan Extended SST v2, which combines statistically infilled grids of UK Met Office SSTs for 1856-1981 with a statistically reduced and coarser resolution version of Smith and Reynolds Optimally Interpolated (OI) SSTs for 1981 to…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo

  • Years of record

  • to

A regularly updated monthly timeseries of ocean heat content, based on Argo profiles, is integrated over 10-1500m depth and the latitudes 60°S-60°N. Coverage begins in 2005. It is estimated based on the method described in von Schuckmann and Le Traon (2011) and discussed…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Ocean Heat Content

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
Water Isotopes from Satellites Water Isotopes from Satellites

  • Years of record

  • to

Summary of 7 satellite-derived products providing a global snapshot of water isotope distribution in 3D, with good information on zonal gradients and seasonality.

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Water Isotopes
DCENT warming level image Global surface temperature data: The Dynamically Consistent ENsemble of Temperature (DCENT)

  • Years of record

  • to

The Dynamically Consistent ENsemble of Temperature (DCENT) provides monthly, global, gridded, surface temperature anomalies since 1850. This product provides combined land surface air temperature (LSAT) and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies at monthly 5° x 5°…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
timeseries of global-mean methane from NOAA (https://gml.noaa.gov/webdata/ccgg/trends/ch4_trend_all_gl.png) Global-mean methane at the Earth's surface from NOAA’s global cooperative greenhouse gas measurements

  • Years of record

  • to

NOAA’s Global Monitory Laboratory has measured atmospheric methane levels since 1983 at a global cooperative greenhouse gases sampling network, which currently includes more than 50 sites. This measurement network is unique among greenhouse gases monitoring programs with…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere CH4 (methane)
MSU/AMSU Atmospheric Temperature Climate Data Record, Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) MSU/AMSU Atmospheric Temperature Climate Data Record, Remote Sensing Systems (RSS)

  • Years of record

  • to

A long (30-year+) data set of atmospheric temperatures for 4 tropopsheric and lower stratopsheric layers has been derived from brightness temperatures measured by the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU). This page describes the data…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature
HadISDH Long Term Trends in Relative Humidity (1973-2023) Global near-surface humidity data: HadISDH

  • Years of record

  • to

HadISDH (Met Office Hadley Centre International Surface Dataset of Humidity) is a gridded 5°x5° monthly mean product beginning in January 1973, and updated annually. It provides monthly gridded specific humidity (q), relative humidity (RH), vapor pressure (e), dew point…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Relative Humidity Specific Humidity

    • Timestep

    • Climatology, Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice

  • Years of record

  • to

The Walsh and Chapman Sea Ice Data Set provides a long record of Arctic sea ice concentrations on a monthly basis for 1870-2011. Historical observations were gridded and combined with satellite-derived sea ice concentrations for the recent decades. Mostly climatologies…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
WASWind: Wave and Anemometer-based Sea Surface Wind WASWind: Wave and Anemometer-based Sea Surface Wind

  • Years of record

  • to

"WASWind (Wave and Anemometer-based Sea Surface Wind) provides a bias-corrected marine surface wind dataset over the global oceans. Variables include scalar, zonal and meridional winds at 10-meter high, and zonal and meridional components of wind stress. WASWind has been…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Wind Wind Stress

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
Extended Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports Archive (EECRA) from Ships and Land Stations Over the Globe Extended Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports Archive (EECRA) from Ships and Land Stations Over the Globe

  • Years of record

  • to

"The Extended Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports Archive makes use of routine synoptic observations made by humans on ships over the ocean and at weather stations over land. Following the synoptic code (WMO, 1974), observers report the fraction of sky dome covered by all clouds…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Cloud Properties

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily

    • Collections

    • None
JRA-55C (reanalysis using conventional observations) JRA-55C (reanalysis using conventional observations)

  • Years of record

  • to

JRA-55C is a fixed observing system atmospheric reanalysis that uses the same model and data assimilation scheme as JRA-55. The observations assimilated include surface station data, radiosondes, tropical cyclone retrievals and wind profilers.  No satellite…

Main variables and Earth System components

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • None
Landscape surface freeze/thaw status based on passive microwave remote sensing Landscape surface freeze/thaw status based on passive microwave remote sensing

  • Years of record

  • to

A global data set of the frozen state of the land surface (free-thaw (FT) status) has been developed spanning 1979-present at a daily timestep and 25 x 25 km spatial resolution. Based on passive microwave remote sensing, the FT parameter is closely related to the surface…

Main variables and Earth System components

Land Freeze/Thaw
Gridded Climatology of Clouds from Surface Observations Worldwide (1971-2008) Gridded Climatology of Clouds from Surface Observations Worldwide (1971-2008)

  • Years of record

  • to

This digital archive provides multi-year monthly, seasonal, and annual averages in 5x5-degree grid boxes (or 10x10-degree boxes for some quantities over the ocean). Daytime and nighttime averages, as well as the diurnal average (average of day and night), are given.…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Cloud Properties
HadCRUT5_MLE annual mean global temperature anomaly Global surface temperature: Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Temperatures using HadCRUT5 (Version 1.2)

  • Years of record

  • to

The Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Temperatures using HadCRUT5 Version 1.2 (HadCRU_MLE_v1.2) dataset provides global complete surface temperature estimates since 1850, with monthly 5°x5° resolution.  It uses more sophisticated statistical models to fill data gaps in…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Stratospheric Ozone: Randel & Wu 2007 Stratospheric Ozone: Randel & Wu 2007

  • Years of record

  • to

This is a monthly, zonal-mean ozone profile data set spanning 1979–2005 for altitudes from the tropopause up to 50 km. Interannual variability is based on a combination of SAGE (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) satellite profile measurements and polar ozonesondes…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Ozone: Stratospheric
Stratospheric Ozone: Vertically Resolved, zonal mean based on BDBP Stratospheric Ozone: Vertically Resolved, zonal mean based on BDBP

  • Years of record

  • to

Combined monthly mean vertical ozone profile database spanning the period 1979 to 2007. The database is completely filled such that there are no missing data. The raw individual ozone data are sourced from the BDBP database.  Monthly means are calculated from…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Ozone: Stratospheric

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • None