Climatological Data for Clouds Over the Globe from Surface Observations, 1982-1991, (Total Cloud Edition) CDIAC NDP-026A

The dataset includes global coverage of analyzed cloud data obtained from routine, surface synoptic weather reports from ships and land stations over the entire globe, for the 10-year period from December 1981 through November 1991. It is similar to the NDP-026 dataset which has data from 1930-1979 (see also NCAR DSS 292.0). This Total Cloud Edition, contains various annual, seasonal, and monthly averages of clear-sky, precipitation, and sky-obscured due to fog. Data are in grid boxes that are 2.5 x 2.5 degree (lat x lon) for land and 5 x 5 degree for ocean. Data were obtained from surface synoptic weather reports obtained from the National Meteorological Center (NMC) archives and from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS). Day and nighttime average are also given seperately for each season. Several derived quantities, such as interannual variations and annual and diurnal harmonics, are provided as well. This dataset incorporates an improved representation of nighttime cloudiness by using only those nighttime observations for which the illuminance due to moonlight exceeds a specified threshold. This reduction in nighttime bias increases the computed global average total cloud cover by about 2%. All CDIAC numerical data packages include copies of pertinent literature discussing the data, summaries discussing the background, source and scope of the data, as well as applications limitations and restrictions of the data. CDIAC has provided an anonymous FTP area to all data files, retrieval codes, and descriptive files for the NDP's that are presently available. The FTP address is 'ftp://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov' or 128.219.24.36 and input your email address as the password or link to "http://cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp/ndp026a/" The NDP-026a data set is located in CDIAC's anonymous FTP in pub/ndp026a. All files are compressed (UNIX) ASCII text files. All the data bases provided in this area are fully documented and are also available on 9-track magnetic tape, CD-ROM, or IBM-formatted, high or low-density floppy diskettes.