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HadCRUT3 Data: download

The data are available in two formats: either as a set of compressed plain text files in this data format, or as a set of NetCDF files.

Variable	As compressed text	As NetCDF
Best estimate temperature anomalies	HadCRUT3.gz	HadCRUT3.nc
Measurement and sampling error	HadCRUT3_m+s_error.gz	HadCRUT3_m+s_error.nc
Station error	HadCRUT3_station_error.gz	HadCRUT3_station_error.nc
Temperature anomalies including biases at the upper uncertainty range	HadCRUT3_biased_97.5pc.gz	HadCRUT3_biased_97.5pc.nc
Temperature anomalies including biases at the lower uncertainty range	HadCRUT3_biased_2.5pc.gz	HadCRUT3_biased_2.5pc.nc

All of these files are updated towards the end or each month. An update will add all the available data for one additional month, and may also make small additions or changes to the data for the previous 12 months.

Variance adjusted data

Because the number of observations forming each grid-box average in HadCRUT3 is not constant in space or time, the variability in the gridded anomalies also changes: grid-box averages made from many observations have a smaller variance than those made from few. We have made a variance adjusted version of the dataset, where the anomalies have been statistically processed to homogenise the variances.

The strengths and weaknesses of variance adjusted data are discussed in the paper describing the dataset; please read this before using the data.

The variance adjusted dataset (HadCRUT3v) is available in the same two formats.

HadCRUT3v.gz or HadCRUT3v.nc

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