CRU CY3.26: Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Year-by-Year Variation of Selected Climate Variables by CountrY (CY) version 3.26 (Jan. 1901 - Dec. 2017)

The CRU CY version 3.26 dataset consists of ten climate variables for country averages at a monthly, seasonal and annual frequency; including cloud cover, diurnal temperature range, frost day frequency, precipitation, daily mean temperature, monthly average daily maximum and minimum temperature, vapour pressure and potential evapotranspiration.

This dataset was produced in 2018 by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia and supersedes version 3.25, additionally however these data are superseded by the CRU CY 4.02 data which has a new processing methodology. This concurrent release of CRU CY 3.26 and CRU CY 4.02 is made to support users during the transition to the CRU CY version 4 data. No further releases of version 3 are planned.

An updated set of country definitions have been introduced with this version. Please see the appropriate Release Notes. The data are available as text files with the extension '.per' and can be opened by most text editors.

Spatial averages are calculated using area-weighted means. CRU CY3.26 is derived directly from the CRU TS3.26 dataset. CRU CY version 3.26 spans the period 1901-2017 for 289 countries.

To understand the CRU-CY3.26 dataset, it is important to understand the construction and limitations of the underlying dataset, CRU TS3.26. It is therefore recommended that all users read the Harris et al, 2014 paper listed in the online documentation on this record.

CRU CY data are available for download to all CEDA users.