IBTrACS: Global Tropical Cyclone Best-Track Data

IBTrACS provides a unified global collection of tropical cyclone best-track data, merging records from multiple international agencies. The dataset includes storm identifiers, positions, wind speeds, pressures, and basin classifications. It is published by HDX under a CC-BY-3.0-IGO license and was last updated in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing storm intensity and paths based on latitude, longitude, and wind speed data.
• Comparing tropical cyclone activity across different ocean basins based on the BASIN and SUBBASIN fields.
• Studying the temporal evolution of storms using the ISO_TIME observation timestamps.
• Validating and comparing storm data from different source agencies as the dataset is a merged archive.

Strengths

• Described as the most complete global collection of tropical cyclones available.
• Merges data from multiple agencies to create a unified best-track dataset for improved comparisons.
• Includes key physical parameters like maximum sustained wind speed (WMO_WIND) and minimum central pressure (WMO_PRES).

Limitations

• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent for some fields; field semantics for NATURE and the combination algorithms must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), aggregated by HDX.

Collection Method

Merges recent and historical tropical cyclone best-track data from multiple responsible WMO agencies.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-14 11:54:21.503877; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, with specific basin and sub-basin classifications.