Southern Hemisphere Sea-Level Pressure Grids from 1951 to 1958

Gridded daily sea-level pressure data for the Southern Hemisphere from 15°S to 70°S. The dataset covers an 8-year period from January 1951 to December 1958, originally sourced from South Africa and processed by NASA's DSS. Data is provided on a 5-degree latitude-longitude grid after interpolation from the original diamond grid.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal trends in the Southern Annular Mode using the gridded pressure fields over the 8-year period.
• Studying the spatial patterns and intensity of mid-latitude cyclones from the 5-degree resolution pressure grids.
• Reconstructing historical weather events by examining daily pressure anomalies across the Southern Hemisphere.
• Validating and calibrating climate model simulations for the 1950s against this observed gridded pressure data.
• Investigating linkages between high-latitude pressure south of 70°S and lower-latitude systems using the available grid coverage.

Strengths

• Provides continuous daily coverage for an 8-year period from 1951 to 1958.
• Offers spatially complete data on a consistent 5-degree latitude-longitude grid after interpolation.

Limitations

• No data is available south of 70°S, limiting analysis of the Antarctic region.
• The 5-degree spatial resolution is coarse for studying small-scale atmospheric features.
• Data originates from a single source (South Africa) and may have regional observational biases.

Provenance

Source

Originally from South Africa, processed and distributed by NASA's Data Support Section (DSS).

Collection Method

Observational data interpolated from a diamond latitude/longitude grid to a standard 5-degree grid.

Time Range

January 1951 to December 1958.

Freshness

Historical dataset with a final timestamp of December 1958; not updated.

Geography

Southern Hemisphere from 15°S to 70°S.