Met Office Hadley Centre observations datasets
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HadISD online material - version 2.0.1.2016p

Please read the Climate of the Past Discussion paper before using the material presented here.

The netCDF headers are listed below with some information as to what they contain.

Field NameLong NameUnits
timeTimeHours since 1-1-1931 00:00UT
input_station_idPrimary source for timestep data
temperaturesC
dewpointsC
total_cloud_coveroktas
low_cloud_coveroktas
mid_cloud_coveroktas
high_cloud_coveroktas
cloud_basem
windspeedsm/s
winddirsdegree
wind gustm/s
slpsea-level pressurehPa
past_sigwx1Past significant weather code
precip1_depthDepth of Precipitationmm
precip1_periodPrecipitation Accumulation Periodhr
qc_flagsQuality control flags
flagged_valuesRemoved values (T, D, S, TC, LC, MC, HC, WS, WD)

The homogeneity information for this version is available here - the list of breaks and also some of the graphical outputs. The columns of the datafiles give the Station ID, the date of the change point, and two break magnitudes (one in the case of SLP). The first is from the monthly mean value, and the second is from the monthly mean diurnal range (temperature & dewpoint temperatures) or monthly mean daily maximum (wind speed). Missing values are denoted by -99.99. Please get in touch if there are any queries.

The inhomogeneity information has been calculated presuming the most recent period of a station is accurate and hence tranversing the timeseriers backwards in time. Therefore a negative in homogeneity value given indicates that prior to the month given, the data is at a lower value (so the adjustment required would be positive). Conversely, a positive vaue indicates that prior to the month given the data is at a higher value (a negative adjustment required).

DescriptionData fileNotes
Logs
Merged temperature inhomogeneitiesMergedBreaks_temperatures.dat
Merged dewpoint inhomogeneitiesMergedBreaks_dewpoints.dat
Merged SLP inhomogeneitiesMergedBreaks_slp.dat
Merged windspeeds inhomogeneitiesMergedBreaks_windspeeds.dat
And figures from the homogeneity assessment
TypeTemperatureDewpointsSLPWindspeeds
Distribution - averagePHA_temperatures_average_distribution.pngPHA_dewpoints_average_distribution.pngPHA_slp_average_distribution.pngPHA_windspeeds_average_distribution.png
Distribution - DTRPHA_temperatures_dtr_distribution.pngPHA_dewpoints_dtr_distribution.png--
Distribution - max---PHA_windspeeds_max_distribution.png
Map - average - inhomogeneity sizebreak_size_map_temperatures_average.pngbreak_size_map_dewpoints_average.pngbreak_size_map_slp_average.pngbreak_size_map_windspeeds_average.png
Map - dtr - inhomogeneity sizebreak_size_map_temperatures_dtr.pngbreak_size_map_dewpoints_dtr.png--
Map - max - inhomogeneity size---break_size_map_windspeeds_max.png
Map - inhomogeneity numberbreak_number_map_temperatures.pngbreak_number_map_dewpoints.pngbreak_number_map_slp.pngbreak_number_map_windspeeds.png
Map - no inhomogeneitieszero_breaks_map_temperatures.pngzero_breaks_map_dewpoints.pngzero_breaks_map_slp.pngzero_breaks_map_windspeeds.png

A number of files and plots are linked below which were used or generated when creating HadISD.

DescriptionStation NumberData fileNotes
Station Lists
HadISD Station List7877hadisd_station_info_v201.txt1
HadISD Station Additions214hadisd_station_additions_v201.txt
HadISD Station Removals14hadisd_station_removals_v201.txt
Composite Stations2048final_mergers.txt2
User Identified erroneous data
Failure Rate Summaries
Number of stations with a failures from a certain test in percentage binsall_fails_summary_20170131.dat3
Test 3-letter code descriptortests_codes.txt

TestVariablePostScriptPNG
Failure Rate Plots
Duplicate monthsAllepspng
Odd ClusterTemperaturesepspng
Odd ClusterDew Pointsepspng
Odd ClusterSLPepspng
Odd ClusterWind Speedepspng
Frequent Value CheckTemperatureepspng
Frequent ValuesDew pointepspng
Frequent ValuesSLPepspng
Diurnal Cycle CheckAllepspng
Gap CheckTemperatureepspng
Gap CheckDew pointepspng
Gap CheckSLPepspng
Record CheckTemperatureepspng
Record CheckDew pointepspng
Record CheckSLPepspng
Record CheckWind speedepspng
Day StringsTemperatureepspng
Day StringsDew pointepspng
Day StringsSLPepspng
Day StringsWind speedepspng
Straight StringsTemperatureepspng
Straight StringsDew pointepspng
Straight StringsSLPepspng
Straight StringsWind speedepspng
Hour StringsTemperatureepspng
Hour StringsDew pointepspng
Hour StringsSLPepspng
Hour StringsWind speedepspng
All temperature stringsTemperatureepspng
All dewpoint stringsDew pointepspng
All SLP stringsSLPepspng
All wind stringsWind speedepspng
Climatological CheckTemperatureepspng
Climatological CheckDew pointepspng
Climatological CheckSLPepspng
Spike CheckTemperatureepspng
Spike CheckDew pointepspng
Spike CheckSLPepspng
Spike CheckWind speedepspng
SupersaturationDew pointepspng
Dew point depressionDew pointepspng
Dew point Cut OffDew pointepspng
Variance CheckTemperatureepspng
Variance CheckDew pointepspng
Variance ChecksSLPepspng
Variance ChecksWind speedepspng
Logical CheckWind speedepspng
Wind RoseWind speedepspng
Cloud TotalLow,Mid,High,Totalepspng
UnobservableHigh Cloudepspng
UnobservableLow Cloudepspng
UnobservableMid Cloudepspng
UnobservableTotal Cloudepspng
Full Low cloud checkMid & High Cloudepspng
Full Mid cloud checkHigh Cloudepspng
Negative cloud valueAll Cloudepspng
Neighbour OutlierTemperatureepspng
Neighbour OutlierDew pointepspng
Neighbour OutlierSLPepspng
Month clearedTemperatureepspng
Month clearedDew pointepspng
Month clearedSLPepspng
Month ClearedWind Speedepspng
Month clearedWind Directionepspng
Month clearedTotal cloudepspng
Month clearedHigh Cloudepspng
Month clearedMid Cloudepspng
Month clearedLow Cloudepspng
Month clearedCloud Baseepspng
AllTemperatureepspng
AllDew pointepspng
AllSLPepspng
AllCloudepspng

Notes

[1] Station ID, latitude, longitude and elevation used.
[2] First ID in the line is the station ID used throughout the processing. The remainder are ones which were composited into this station record.
[3] Summary table in the paper was created from this file. And you will need the test_codes.txt file to interpret these outputs.