Global Monthly Land Climate Data for the 20th Century

New et al.'s dataset provides mean monthly surface climate data over global land areas, excluding Antarctica, for nearly all of the twentieth century. The data is gridded at 0.5-degree resolution and includes seven variables: precipitation, mean temperature, diurnal temperature range, wet-day frequency, vapour pressure, cloud cover, and ground-frost frequency. It was constructed using an anomaly approach relative to a 1961-1990 normal period, combining station data from the Climatic Research Unit and the Global Historic Climatology Network.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term precipitation trends based on monthly gridded data from 1901-1995.
• Modeling historical temperature anomalies using the diurnal temperature range variable.
• Studying climate variability through derived variables like wet-day frequency and cloud cover.
• Calibrating climate models with the 1961-1990 station-based normal period data.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal range, with core data for 1901-1995 and some variables extending to 1998.
• Provides a specific spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees latitude/longitude over global land areas.
• Integrates data from authoritative sources, specifically the Climatic Research Unit and the Global Historic Climatology Network.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific row counts, column names, and file sizes are not provided across platforms.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata, with one source showing 1998 and another showing a future date of 2026.
• The dataset excludes Antarctica, limiting its global land coverage.

Provenance

Source

Climatic Research Unit, Global Historic Climatology Network (GHCN), National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Constructed using an anomaly approach, where grids of monthly historic anomalies relative to a 1961-1990 normal period were combined with high-resolution mean monthly climatology.

Time Range

1901-1998

Freshness

1998-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global land areas, excluding Antarctica