Monthly Antarctic Station Temperature, Pressure, and Wind Speed Records

READER provides monthly and annual mean surface and upper air meteorological measurements from Antarctic research stations and automatic weather stations. The dataset is curated by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and includes records from stations with at least 25 years of operation or 10 years of recent continuous operation. The first release covers data up to the end of 2000.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in monthly mean surface temperature from Antarctic stations to assess regional warming patterns.
• Correlate monthly mean sea level pressure records with upper air geopotential height data to study atmospheric dynamics.
• Model surface wind speed variability over decades using station records to understand changing wind patterns.
• Validate climate model outputs against the definitive set of monthly mean temperature, pressure, and wind speed measurements.
• Investigate climate change signals by comparing long time series from year-round stations meeting the 25-year inclusion criterion.

Strengths

• Includes only stations with long-term records, requiring at least 25 years of data or 10 years of recent continuous operation.
• Monthly mean values are color-coded to indicate the percentage of possible observations used in computing each mean, providing transparency.
• Focuses on a key set of meteorological variables: surface temperature, mean sea level pressure, surface wind speed, and upper air temperature, geopotential height, and wind speed.

Limitations

• Contains significant gaps in data, particularly for upper air measurements.
• Provides only monthly and annual means; daily data is excluded.
• The metadata structure is flexible and varies considerably between stations, complicating uniform analysis.

Provenance

Source

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) READER Project.

Collection Method

Data collected from Antarctic research stations and automatic weather stations, excluding mobile platforms.

Time Range

Up to the end of 2000 for the first release.

Freshness

Updated regularly via a web site, with periodic new CD releases.

Geography

Fixed locations across Antarctica.