Daily Northern Hemisphere Sea Level Pressure Grids Since 1899

1899 to present daily gridded sea-level pressure data for the Northern Hemisphere from 15N to the North Pole, assembled by DSS from various meteorological chart digitization projects and operational analyses. The dataset is the longest continuous set of such daily gridded data in the DSS archive and continues to be updated regularly. From July 1962 onward, the temporal resolution increases to two grids per day.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in sea-level pressure fields over the Northern Hemisphere using the 5-degree latitude/longitude grid values.
• Study the frequency and intensity of pressure systems like the Icelandic Low or Siberian High across the historical record.
• Reconstruct historical weather events by examining daily grid patterns from specific dates.
• Validate climate model simulations of atmospheric pressure against this observed gridded data spanning over a century.

Strengths

• Data coverage from 1899 to present provides over 120 years of continuous daily observations.
• Spatial coverage spans the entire Northern Hemisphere from 15N to the North Pole on a consistent 5-degree grid.
• Regular updates ensure the dataset incorporates newly available operational analyses.

Limitations

• Prior to 1946, the original data had a coarser 10-degree resolution with interpolated points, reducing spatial fidelity.
• Large numbers of gridpoints are missing in early periods, particularly over the Asian continent.
• The last documented update was in 2015, which may indicate a lag in recent data availability.

Provenance

Source

UCAR Research Data Archive (RDA) dataset ds010.0, assembled by DSS (Data Support Section).

Collection Method

Assembled from grids of various meteorological chart digitization projects and operational analyses.

Time Range

1899 to present (continuously updated).

Freshness

Dataset is described as updated regularly, but last platform update recorded was 2015-05-06.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere, 15N to the North Pole.