Climate Charts, Data and RClimate Scripts

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Kelly in R bloggers | 0 Comments

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While there are many online climate data resources, the source data files are in numerous data formats, presenting a challenge to climate citizen scientists who want to retrieve and analyze several climate indicators at the same time.

I have been working to develop a consolidated open access data file and RClimate scripts that users can use to retrieve climate data, conduct their own analysis and generate their own climate charts. My goal is to make it easier for climate citizen scientists to get their hands on the data in a simple, usable format (CSV). This post updates the status of my RClimate efforts.

Consolidated Climate Data File

This CSV file (link) includes 9 monthly climate data series:

Global land – ocean temperature anomaly data for the 5 major series: GISS, NOAA, Hadley, RSS and UAH. The first 3 series use station data, the last 2 use satellite based observations.
Nino34 SST Anomaly
Pacific Decadal oscillation (PDO)
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)
Global Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (SSTA)

The CSV data file is updated monthly from source agency data files. All source agency data is downloaded monthly so that any changes in Agency source data will be reflected in the consolidated file.

I update the file once all Agency source files have been updated. This file is usually available for the last month in the 3rd week of the current month.

Climate Charts

I regularly update 15 climate charts using publicly available online data and R. All of my RClimate scripts are available for download and use (link).