Data and Analysis

General Sources of Data

There is a treasure trove of climate data available, but, be that as it may, the sources frequently move around as universities, businesses, and the government rearrange their websites. At this moment, in 2014 (and following), I can recommend the following, as having provided useful datasets or links to same in the past:

• A compendium of data on global climate
• Climate Data Library
• www.climate.gov dashboard
• International Council for Science data portal
• Paleoclimate data sites and sets and viewer
• Climate Data Information
• British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC)
• Monthly Atmospheric and Ocean Time Series (ESRL) (Earth System Research Laboratory)
• Some interesting NOAA sets (might dig directly into the directory of this file)

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Data Files

"Climate Indices" (from NOAA)

Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns — didn't even know these PCA-based patterns exist!

Sun

Solar transmissivity

• Solar Transmission at Mauna Loa (heard about it in this RClimate post on Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) Atmospheric Transmission)

Solar Activity

• Sunspot data, from the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center (SIDC), Royal Observatory of Belgium

Land and Atmosphere

Paleoclimatology

• Tree rings

Temperature

• Surface Temperature:
  • GISS Surface Temperature Analysis
    • the data (sea and land)
  • NASA temps at 14000 feet
  • Monthly Zonal Time Series Area Average anomaly data provided for several zonal latitude bands. Different files contain Ocean, Land, or Ocean and Land data. The land and ocean file also contains continental U.S.
  • Berkeley Earth land/sea data
  • Berkeley Earth Land data
• Hadley Sea Surface Temperature data
  • here's their data site, more generally, including paleoclimatology
• Upper Air Temperature

Storms

• Atlantic Hurricanes back to 1888

Hydrology

• Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)
  • Daily Earth Temperatures from Satellites

Stratospheric Optical Thickness

• Stratospheric Aerosol Optical Thickness data (off of this NASA website)

Ice

• Sea Ice:
  • Sea Ice Extent, from The Arctic Ice Sea Monitor
  • University of Illinois Sea Ice Dataset
  • Arctic Sea Ice Graphs and Data
• Ice cores:
  • Vostok ice core data

Oceans

Sea Level

• Sea Level Data, including this reconstructed data
• From Colorado
• Tide data

Temperature

• Surface Temperature:
  • GISS Surface Temperature Analysis
    • the data (sea and land)
  • Monthly Zonal Time Series Area Average anomaly data provided for several zonal latitude bands. Different files contain Ocean, Land, or Ocean and Land data. The land and ocean file also contains continental U.S.
  • Berkeley Earth land/sea data
• Hadley Sea Surface Temperature data
  • here's their data site, more generally, including paleoclimatology
• Ocean Heat Content
• El Nino/La Nina
  • El Nino (since 1990)
  • ERSST.V3B (centered base periods) "Oceanic Niño Index" or the 3-month running average in Niño 3.4 (5 degrees North-5 degrees South) (170-120 degrees West))
  • ERSST v3b datasets, from which others are derived.
  • Nino since 1950

Oxygen

• Benthic d18O Stack, from Lisiecki, L. E., and M. E. Raymo (2005), A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic d18O records, Paleoceanography,20, PA1003, doi:10.1029/2004PA001071. See Lorraine Lisiecki's website for more details on the benthic stack. She has a nice description of why we'd be interested in this isotope 18 of oxygen in the appendix of her dissertation.

Salinity

• Global Ocean Heat and Salt Content (NOAA)

Southern Oscillation

• Southern Oscillation Index

North Atlantic Oscillation

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Analysis

The IPCC took heat from the denial-scape once, in part because of the use of the word "trick". It has a certain connotation in mathematical circles (as a "pre-method"), but was emphasized by the denial-scape to take advantage of its more colloquial use as subterfuge, something devious. Words matter!

So does analysis, of course: real data, and real analysis of that data. The data, properly analyzed, suggests that we're in trouble, and that we ought to be doing something very serious to prevent problems today (and into the future). Too long has climate change been characterized as a problem for future generations. The impacts are being felt today, in particular areas like agriculture, suffering droughts and heat, and in sea-side communities suffering from sea-level rise.

• Andy Long's
  • assortment of Global Warming Data and Analysis (many using one of my favorite pieces of software, xlispstat)
  • RClimate examples, based on work by Kelly O'Day (here's a link to his script collection, and their descriptions).
  • Octave-based analysis in support of this Budyko paper.
  • D. Kelly O'Day-motivated RClimate — presenting sensible graphical representations the data of climate change.
  • Octave-based analysis in support of this Budyko paper.
  • How to do non-linear regression
• Maths Matters: Carbon Dioxide: using mathematics to understand the greenhouse effect
  • Part 1: CO2 conservation about the home, transportation, and remediation (green leaves)
  • Part 2: conservation (cont.), automobiles and optimizing driving for the Earth.
• Issue 18 - Greenhouse Gases Global CO2 Emissions And Global Warming, pp. 195-205, Environmental Issues (great examples of simple analysis RE atmosphere and sea level)
• Population Connection Worksheet Activity #13: Global Warming Begins at Home USA
• Wood For Trees does great climate analysis, of a wide variety of data sets, and a wide variety of techniques. Kelly O'Day put me on to this one, as well.
• Rebuttals to common skeptic questions

Etc.

Ideas for Analysis

• This article about elderly health concerns from the New York Times uses a really neat interactive scheme for displaying data
• Climate Modeling 101 (from the NAS)
• Think Like a Scientist (for kids, from EPA)

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Data Management

• Manning the helm during the data deluge (or so they say! - Tips on using R, etc.)

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Thanks to:

• Temperature Trend Viewer provided many links to data.
• Thanks to D Kelly O’Day, PE for lots of links and info, especially having to do with R.