U.S. Global Surface Airways Hourly Meteorological Observations

Hourly or 3-hourly surface weather observations collected primarily at major airports and military bases worldwide. The data is produced by the US National Weather Service, US Air Force, US Navy, and the Federal Aviation Administration, with the earliest digital records dating from 1936. Parameters include clouds, visibility, wind, temperature, humidity, pressure, and present weather, though reporting varies by station and historical changes in recording systems.

Use Cases

• Train time-series forecasting models for weather parameters like temperature and wind based on hourly observations.
• Analyze historical climate trends based on long-term air temperature and pressure records.
• Study aviation weather patterns and visibility based on data from airport and military base stations.
• Compare automated (ASOS) versus manual observation quality based on the described recording systems.

Strengths

• Data spans a long historical period, with the earliest digital records from 1936.
• Includes quality-controlled data (DSI-3280) that has been hand-checked by archive personnel.
• Observations are made by trained personnel or tested automated equipment at fully instrumented stations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Not all parameters are reported by all stations, and recording methods have changed historically.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), via NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

Observations made by trained personnel or automated equipment at stations operated by the NWS, FAA, US Air Force, and US Navy.

Time Range

Earliest digital data from 1936; ongoing.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Primarily the US, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and other Pacific locations, plus global military bases.