Twentieth Century Global Atmospheric Reanalysis 1908-1958

1908 to 1958 global atmospheric reanalysis assimilating historical surface pressure observations, sea surface temperature, and sea ice. The dataset provides 6-hourly ensemble mean and spread analysis fields on a 2x2 degree grid, produced by NOAA, CIRES, and the University of Colorado. Version 1 is superseded by a later version covering 1851-2011.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in 6-hourly ensemble mean pressure fields over the 2x2 degree global grid.
• Study the variability and uncertainty captured in the ensemble spread forecast fields on the T62 Gaussian grid.
• Validate climate model simulations against historical reanalysis of sea surface temperature and sea ice distribution parameters.
• Investigate synoptic-scale weather patterns from the monthly files containing all atmospheric parameters.

Strengths

• Covers a 51-year period from 1908 to 1958.
• Provides data on a global 2x2 degree latitude-longitude grid and a higher-resolution T62 Gaussian grid.
• Includes ensemble statistics (mean and spread) for quantifying uncertainty in historical analyses.

Limitations

• Limited to Version 1 (1908-1958), as Version 2c (1851-2011) is the recommended research version.
• Assimilation is based only on surface pressure, SST, and sea ice, lacking upper-air observations available in later periods.
• Temporal resolution is 3 to 6 hours, which may not capture all sub-daily phenomena.

Provenance

Source

NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Sciences Division and University of Colorado CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center.

Collection Method

Global reanalysis generated by assimilating historical surface pressure observations, monthly sea surface temperature, and sea ice distribution.

Time Range

1908 to 1958

Freshness

Data generation concluded for this version; the last updated date reflects the end of the covered period.

Geography

Global