This page describes and gives options for manipulating the
NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta dataset. We start with the
options for manipulating, because once you are comfortable with the
system, they are the most useful.
Dataset Options
- Help/Terse
- switches back and forth between this relatively
descriptive page that contains extended explanations, and the page that just has the information.
- Expert Mode
- switches into a mode that lets you access
several datasets at the same time, and enter data-manipulating
commands directly as text rather than clicking on a series of pages.
When in Expert Mode there is a list of active datasets at the top of
the page, followed by a text window containing the command equivalent
of the current page. These commands can be edited or extended.
- Views
- (the icons that show different views) go to an interactive data
viewer that let you view the data with a variety of plot types
(including colors and contours), zoom
in and out, and select different slices and different variables. You can
also save the view in a variety of formats, including as a clickable
link in your own html document, as well as extract the data in the
view as a table or datafile.
- Data Selection
- lets you pick out a subset of the full dataset. You should try
the interactive data viewer first.
- Data Files
- lets you download
the dataset in your choice of format.
- Tables
- lets you view the data as a table.
A number of formatting options are available.
Note that there will be many more options once you have picked a
particular variable, because the server is currently more adept at manipulating
single variables than it is at manipulating datasets (e.g. collections
of variables).
Dataset Description
We start with a quick reminder of where you are in the collection of datasets.
As you go from left to right, the datasets listed get more and more
specific, ending with the current dataset, NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta. Datasets with documentation are marked (*): the * links to the documentation directly.
NOAA NCDC GHCN beta version 2 (prcp)
NOAA NCDC GHCN beta version 2 (prcp): Monthly weather station precipitation data from the Global Historical Climate Network.Documents
give additional information about the current dataset.- outline
- shows all the different parts of this dataset (the parts are datasets and variables, see below).
- agreement
-
Variables (also called data or dependent variables) are sets of numbers, along with the grids (independent variables) that place those numbers in space and time, and the additional information (such as units) that render the data meaningful. Datasets are collections of variables and datasets. This will become clearer once you look at the outline.
| elev | NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta elev[ IWMO |]
|
| latitude | NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta lat[ IWMO |]
|
| longitude | NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta lon[ IWMO |]
|
| Name | NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta Name[ IWMO |]
|
| precipitation | NOAA NCDC GHCN v2beta prcp[ T | IWMO]
|
Grids
Grids are the independent variables contained in this dataset.
| station | grid: /IWMO (ids) ordered [ (1001000) (1005000) (1008000) ... (98851001)] N= 20590 pts :grid
|
| time | grid: /T (months since 1960-01-01) ordered (0011 1 Jan 1697 - 0011 1 Feb 1697) to (Dec 2008) by 0.9999999 N= 3744 pts :grid
|
References
Vose, R. S., Richard L. Schmoyer, Peter M. Steurer, Thomas C. Peterson, Richard Heim, Thomas R. Karl, and J. Eischeid, 1992: The Global Historical Climatology Network: long-term monthly temperature, precipitation, sea level pressure, and station pressure data. ORNL/CDIAC-53, NDP-041. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
