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Dataset

 

CRU TS3.22: Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) Version 3.22 of High Resolution Gridded Data of Month-by-month Variation in Climate (Jan. 1901- Dec. 2013)

Update Frequency: Not Planned
Status: Completed
Online Status: ONLINE
Publication State: Citable
Publication Date: 2014-09-17
DOI Publication Date: 2014-09-23
Download Stats: last 12 months
This dataset has been superseded. See Latest Version here
Abstract

The gridded CRU TS (time-series) 3.22 data are month-by-month variations in climate over the period 1901-2013, on high-resolution (0.5x0.5 degree) grids, produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia.

CRU TS 3.22 variables are cloud cover, diurnal temperature range, frost day frequency, PET, precipitation, daily mean temperature, monthly average daily maximum and minimum temperature, vapour pressure and wet day frequency for the period Jan. 1901 - Dec. 2013.

CRU TS 3.22 data were produced using the same methodology as for the 3.21 datasets. In addition to updating the dataset with 2013 data, the v3.22 release corrects an error in the v3.21 dataset. This is summarised in the document, CRU_Advisory_v3.2x_NE_Africa.txt, and affects PRE and WET variables only. There are several known issues with the current dataset which cannot be resolved in the timeframe of this release; they will be addressed in the future. This directory also contains an advisory note regarding an issue with 35 Mozambique stations that were new. After an investigation by the CRU, the comparison plots show that the only countries affected in a possibly significant way are Egypt and Eritrea. The details of these can be found in this directory.

The CRU TS 3.22 data are monthly gridded fields based on monthly observational data, which are calculated from daily or sub-daily data by National Meteorological Services and other external agents. The ASCII and netcdf data files both contain monthly mean values for the various parameters.

All CRU TS output files are actual values - NOT anomalies.

CRU TS data are available for download to all CEDA users. The CEDA Web Processing Service (WPS) may be used to extract a subset of the data (please see link to WPS below).

Citable as:  University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit; Harris, I.C.; Jones, P.D. (2014): CRU TS3.22: Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) Version 3.22 of High Resolution Gridded Data of Month-by-month Variation in Climate (Jan. 1901- Dec. 2013). NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre, 23 September 2014. doi:10.5285/18BE23F8-D252-482D-8AF9-5D6A2D40990C. http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/18BE23F8-D252-482D-8AF9-5D6A2D40990C
Abbreviation: cru_ts_3.22
Keywords: CRU TS, ATMOSPHERE, EARTHSCIENCE

Details

Previous Info:

2014-09-24 DOI issued for CRU TS3.22. Dataset is now citeable. 2014-09-24 DOI issued for CRU TS3.22. Dataset is now citeable.

2014-09-23 CRU TS 3.22 now available for extraction via the CEDA WPS. 2014-09-23 CRU TS 3.22 now available for extraction via the CEDA WPS.

Previously used record identifiers:
http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/view/badc.nerc.ac.uk__ATOM__ACTIVITY_d3fc7c9c-3eb0-11e4-9ec9-00163e251233
Access rules:
Access to these data is available to any registered CEDA user. Please Login or Register for an account to gain access.
Use of these data is covered by the following licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.
Data lineage:

CRU TS 3.00 data files acquired directly from CRU in 2007. CRU provided the BADC with software to generate the CRU datasets in 2010, and this was used to produce CRU TS 3.10 at the BADC in early 2011.

In July 2012, systematic errors were discovered in the CRUTS v3.10 process. The effect was, in some cases, to reduce the gridded values for PRE and therefore WET. Values of FRS were found to be unrealistic in some areas due to the algorithms used for synthetic generation. The files (pre, frs and wet) were immediately removed from BADC. The corrected run for precipitation, based on the v3.10 precipitation station data, was generated as a direct replacement and given the version number 3.10.01. There were no corrected runs produced for wet and frs.

CRU TS 3.20 was produced in December 2012.
In March 2013, CRU TS observation databases for TMP and PRE variables were provided by CRU. Others are in preparation. In july 2013, two errors were found in the PRE and WET variables of CRU TS v3.20. These have been repaired in CRU TS v3.21. Details of the errors found are available in the Release Notes in the archive.

CRU TS 3.21 was produced in July 2013.

In July 2014, CRU TS 3.22 provided by CRU, is the latest version available, superseding all previous data versions (which are available to allow user comparisons).
File Format:
The CRU TS 3.22 data (i.e. climate variables) are available in both compressed (.gz extension) ASCII ".dat" and netcdf ".nc" file formats. CRU TS 3.22 metadata files (i.e. stations and observations) are available in ASCII. To understand how to read the CRU TS 3.22 data and metadata files, please refer to the CRU_TS_3.22_File_Formats_explained PDF documentation (under Linked Documentation below).

Related Documents

 Climate Research Unit (CRU) data Homepage
 Harris et al. (2014) Reference
 CRU TS 3.22 file formats guide
 CRU User Guide

Process overview

This dataset was generated by the computation detailed below.
Title UEA Climatic Research Unit (CRU) High Resolution gridding software deployed on UEA Climatic Research Unit (CRU) computer system
Abstract This computation involved: UEA Climatic Research Unit (CRU) High Resolution gridding software deployed on UEA Climatic Research Unit (CRU) computer system. For details about the production of CRU TS and CRU CY datasets, please refer to Harris et al. (2014) - see link below.
Input Description None
Output Description None
Software Reference None
  • long_name: Atmospheric Phenomena
  • gcmd_url: http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/P131/4/GTER0022
  • gcmd_keyword: Atmospheric Phenomena
  • names: http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/P131/4/GTER0022, Atmospheric Phenomena
  • var_id: cld
  • units: percentage
  • long_name: cloud cover
  • names: cloud cover
  • var_id: dtr
  • units: degrees Celsius
  • long_name: diurnal temperature range
  • names: diurnal temperature range
  • units: days
  • var_id: frs
  • long_name: ground frost frequency
  • names: ground frost frequency
  • units: degrees_north
  • long_name: latitude
  • var_id: lat
  • names: latitude
  • units: degrees_east
  • long_name: longitude
  • var_id: lon
  • names: longitude
  • var_id: tmp
  • units: degrees Celsius
  • long_name: near-surface temperature
  • names: near-surface temperature
  • var_id: tmx
  • units: degrees Celsius
  • long_name: near-surface temperature maximum
  • names: near-surface temperature maximum
  • var_id: tmn
  • units: degrees Celsius
  • long_name: near-surface temperature minimum
  • names: near-surface temperature minimum
  • units: mm/day
  • long_name: potential evapotranspiration
  • var_id: pet
  • names: potential evapotranspiration
  • units: mm
  • var_id: pre
  • long_name: precipitation
  • names: precipitation
  • long_name: time
  • var_id: time
  • names: time
  • units: hPa
  • var_id: vap
  • long_name: vapour pressure
  • names: vapour pressure
  • units: days
  • var_id: wet
  • long_name: wet day frequency
  • names: wet day frequency

Co-ordinate Variables

Coverage
Temporal Range
Start time:
1901-01-01T00:00:00
End time:
2013-12-31T00:00:00
Geographic Extent

 
90.0000°
  
-180.0000°
  
180.0000°
 
-60.0000°
  
Related parties
Authors (3)
Publishers (1)