ICOADS Web information page (Tuesday, 03-Feb-2009 15:27:47 MST):
Delayed-mode (ICOADS.DM) Archive Overview (1784-2004)
NOTE: Work is planned to update documentation to more completely
describe the latest ICOADS.DM data (covering 1998-2004) and Releases
2.2-2.5 (the latter planned for availability by mid 2009). Meanwhile the
following material still usefully describes many ICOADS.DM data
characteristics prior to 1998.
Background
-
The underlying data prior to 1998 were from three intermediate releases, described on the following
webpages:
-
Release 1a (1980-97)
-
Release 1b (1950-79)
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Release 1c (1784-1949)
-
Collectively, these were referred to as Release 2.0. (Release 2.1 consisted of ICOADS.DM for 1784-1997 as extended by ICOADS.RT through 2002, and Release 2.2 extended the ICOADS.DM data for 1998-2004 to replace the ICOADS.RT data.)
Figures 1a through 4d below illustrate the enhancements in coverage gained in
Release 2.0, in comparison to the original COADS Release 1 data. These show
total numbers of observations per decade for 2° latitude x 2° longitude boxes
for the indicated variables: -
Fig. 1a | Fig. 1b | Fig. 1c | Fig. 1d: sea surface temperature (SST)
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Fig. 2a | Fig. 2b | Fig. 2c | Fig. 2d: wind speed (WSPD)
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Fig. 3a | Fig. 3b | Fig. 3c | Fig. 3d: sea level pressure (SLP)
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Fig. 4a | Fig. 4b | Fig. 4c | Fig. 4d: relative humidity (RHUM)
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Figure letters indicate the decadal coverage:
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1800-09,...,1840-49 (a figures)
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1850-59,...,1890-99 (b figures)
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1900-09,...,1940-49 (c figures)
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1950-59,...,1990-97 (d figures)
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The Release 1 data (left-hand column on each figure) are from the "trimmed"
version, and the Release 2.0 data (right-hand column) are from the "enhanced"
version. Decades prior to 1854 and after 1979 are blank for Release 1 because
it only covered 1854-1979, whereas statistics for Release 2.0 covered 1800-1997.
A wide range of colors was used to show different levels of detail during
earlier and later time periods. Colors were assigned to ranges of total
observations per decade, each equivalent to an average maximum number of
observations per year or month (note that all observations within a given
decade could fall within one month):|
Color |
Decadal range |
Average maximum |
|
blank | 0 | 0 |
|
grey | 1-10 | 1 per year |
|
navy | 11-120 | 1 per month |
|
blue | 121-600 | 5 per month |
|
cyan | 601-1200 | 10 per month |
|
green | 1201-1800 | 15 per month |
|
chartreuse | 1801-2400 | 20 per month |
|
yellow | 2401-3000 | 25 per month |
|
orange | 3001-3600 | 30 per month |
|
red | 3601 or more | >30 per month |
For the abbreviated decades 1854-59 and 1990-97, the decadal ranges were
adjusted so that the colors would have the same meaning under the maximum
column.
Contact points for additional information
Scott D. Woodruff, IT Specialist
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (R/PSD3)
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80305 USA
Phone: +1 303-497-6747
FAX: +1 303-497-6181
e-mail: Scott.D.Woodruff@noaa.gov
|
Steven J. Worley, Data Support Section
National Center for Atmospheric Research
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO 80307 USA
Phone: +1 303-497-1248
FAX: +1 303-497-1298
e-mail: worley@ucar.edu
|
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Updated: Feb 3, 2009 15:27:47 MST
http://icoads.noaa.gov/r2.html
