Atmosphere

Atmospheric variables include temperature, precipitation, wind, pressure, clouds, greenhouse gases, and much more. Overview pages summarize and compare selected datasets of a given variable.

To find a specific dataset or variable, jump to the search box below or click your desired variable from among the blue sub-category buttons. Note that the classification of datasets by variable is approximate, especially for large, multi-variable datasets like reanalyses.

To see only the datasets accompanied by in-depth commentary, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.

Climate datasets

Has expert guidance
ERA-Interim: derived components ERA-Interim: derived components

  • Years of record

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Era-Interim data are used to derive monthly mass, moisture and energy budget products. Each term is available. Atmospheric energy, mass, and moisture budgets can be computed…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Budget Evaporation-Precipitation

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Budgets: Mass, Moisture, Energy Budgets: Mass, Moisture, Energy

  • Years of record

  • N/A

The uneven distribution of incoming and outgoing radiation is the primary driver of the climate system. The resulting flows of energy by the climate components (atmosphere,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Budget Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Radiation

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
CERES EBAF: Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy Systems (CERES) Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF) CERES EBAF: Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy Systems (CERES) Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF)

  • Years of record

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The CERES-EBAF product provides 1-degree regional, zonal and global monthly mean Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface (SFC) longwave (LW), shortwave (SW), and net (NET)…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Cloud Properties Radiation
NASA's MERRA2 reanalysis NASA's MERRA2 reanalysis

  • Years of record

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The Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) is a global atmospheric reanalysis produced by the NASA Global Modeling and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Aerosols Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable water

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis

  • Years of record

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ERA5, the successor to ERA-Interim, provides global, hourly estimates of atmospheric, ocean-wave and land-surface variables, at a horizontal resolution of 31 km and 137…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Land Ocean wave height
Precipitation Data Sets: Overview & Comparison table Precipitation Data Sets: Overview & Comparison table

  • Years of record

  • N/A

Precipitation (rain, snow, hail, ...) is one of the key components of the hydrological cycle. Its societal importance cannot be over stated. For climate research,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Precipitation

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR): HIRS Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR): HIRS

  • Years of record

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"The new Climate Data Record (CDR) provides daily global climate data that are valuable as inputs into Radiation Budget Studies and verifying numerical models and can…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Outgoing Longwave Radiation

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
ISCCP: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project ISCCP: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

  • Years of record

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The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) makes use of routine observations by operational weather satellites to provide a long-term (1983-2009), gridded…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Cloud Properties
Cloud Dataset Overview Cloud Dataset Overview

  • Years of record

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Clouds cover about 70% of the earth's surface. They are important components of the cliimate's water and energy budgets. Historically, cloud reports have come from station…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Cloud Properties
HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data

  • Years of record

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The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS) set is a satellite-based climatology of precipitation, evaporation and freshwater budget (…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Radiation Specific Humidity Wind Latent & sensible heat flux Precipitable water Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
CALIPSO CALIPSO

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CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations ) was launched on April 28, 2006 to study the impact of clouds and aerosols on the Earth's…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Aerosols Cloud Properties

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

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OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans. OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.

  • Years of record

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"The OAFlux project aims to provide consistent, multi-decade, global analysis of air-sea heat, freshwater (evaporation), and momentum fluxes for use in studies of global…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Latent & sensible heat flux Radiation Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux wind stress curl

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

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ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations

  • Years of record

  • N/A

ICOADS (International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set) is the most comprehensive archive of global marine surface climate observations available. Variables include…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Budget Cloud Properties Latent & sensible heat flux Sea Level Pressure Specific Humidity Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
NASA MERRA NASA MERRA

  • Years of record

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The Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) was undertaken by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office with two primary objectives: to…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable water Water Vapor

  • Experts contributing reviews

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TRMM: Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission TRMM: Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

  • Years of record

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The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint space mission between NASA and Japan's National Space Development Agency designed to monitor and study tropical and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Precipitation
GPCP (Monthly): Global Precipitation Climatology Project GPCP (Monthly): Global Precipitation Climatology Project

  • Years of record

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Data from rain gauge stations, satellites, and sounding observations have been merged to estimate monthly rainfall on a 2.5-degree global grid from 1979 to the present. The…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Precipitation
JRA-55 JRA-55

  • Years of record

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Spanning 1958-present, JRA-55 is the longest third-generation reanalysis that uses the full observing system (in contrast, products like ERA-20C and NOAA 20CR assimilate a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable water

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
GPPM logo decal, from NASA, https://gpm.nasa.gov/resources/images/gpm-decal IMERG precipitation algorithm and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

  • Years of record

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IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement) is NASA's updated precipitation algorithm, while the Global Precipitation Measurement…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Precipitation