Summary This 2-disk CD-ROM set contains 53 data sets for the analysis of global climate change in response to the NASA Earth Science and Applications Division-sponsored initiative, the Greenhouse Effect Detection Experiment (GEDEX). The data sets include surface, upper-air, and/or satellite-derived measurements of temperature, solar irradiance, clouds, greenhouse ... gases, fluxes, albedo, aerosols, ozone, and water vapor, along with Southern Oscillation Indices and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation statistics. Many of the data sets provide global coverage and the spatial resolutions vary from zonal to 2.5 degree latitude/longitude grids. Temporal coverage also varies with some surface station data sets covering more than 100 years, while most of the satellite-derived data sets cover only the most recent 12 years. The temporal resolution for most data sets is monthly. The data sets are thoroughly documented through standard detailed catalogs and are easily identified through the use of summaries providing temporal coverage and resolution, spatial coverage and resolution, parameters, etc. The data reside in a standard format, the Common Data Format (CDF), to allow for the use of a single set of software tools to access the data on disks. Each CD-ROM contains 6 subdirectories: DATA (data sets in CDF); DETAILED (detailed catalogs); DOCUMENT (CD-ROM documentation); INDEX (tables of data describing the data sets); SOFTWARE (utility programs for manipulating data in CDF under MS-DOS, DEC VAX, UNIX); and SUMMARY (summary documentation).
Disk 1 contains the temperature, solar irradiance, cloud, and radiation budget data. The basic surface temperature data set from the National Climatic Data Center/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCDC/NCAR) contains monthly temperature and precipitation values and is subdivided by continent. Other surface temperature data were supplied by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and the Russian State Hydrologic Institute. Sea surface temperature data were supplied by the Climate Analysis Center (CAC) and Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) calculations were contributed by the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU). Upper-air data were supplied by NCDC/NCAR, NOAA Air Resource Laboratory (ARL), Marshall Space Flight Center, and the National Meteorological Center (NMC). Solar transmission and surface-measured irradiance data were sent by the NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL). Solar irradiance data from Nimbus-7 ERB, ERBE, and SMM/ACRIM were contributed from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Langley Research Center (LARC), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and 2800 MHz solar flux from the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). Radiation budget and cloud data from ERB, ERBE, ISCCP were supplied by LARC, GISS, and GSFC.
Disk 2 contains the atmospheric constituents data. The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) provided carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) concentrations spanning the geological record (through ice core techniques) and more recent data collected by NOAA from flask sampling and continuous monitoring techniques. Other contributors include the NOAA ARL (ozone) and LARC (ozone, nitrogen dioxide, water vapor, aerosols).
Satellite data sets include the NOAA Polar Orbiters Series (TOVS, AVHRR, ERBE), NIMBUS-7 (ERB), Solar Maximum Mission (ACRIM), Atmospheric Explorer Mission (SAGE I), Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (SAGE II), and the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (AVHRR, MIR, VAS).
Datasets include the following: Angell's Percent Deviation of Seasonal Layer Ozone (ANGELL-LYRO3) Angell's Percent Deviation of Seasonal Total Ozone (ANGELL-TOTO3) Institut fur Meterologie (BERLIN-STRAT) Climate Analysis Center Sea Surface Temperatures (CAC-SST) Concentrations of Atmospheric Greenhouse Effects Gases; CO2, CH4 (GRNHS-GASES) Solar Transmission Index at Mauna Loa (CMDL-MLOA) Surface Solar Irradiance ar Solar Flux (NOAA/CMDL) Sites (CMDL-SFC) Climate Research Unit Southern Oscillation Index (CRU-SOI) ERBE Regional, Zonal, and Global Averages S-4; ERBS,NOAA-9,NOAA-10 (ERBE-S4) Nimbus-7 ERB MATRIX (ERB-MATRIX) Nimbus-7 ERB Solar Irradiances (N7-ERB) GISS Global Temperature Deviations (GISS-TMP-DEV) ISCCP C2 - clouds, optical depth, O3, pressure, refl., temp. (ISCCP-C2) TOVS MSU Low Tropospheric Temperature Anomalies (MSUTMP) Angell's QBO Temperature and Zonal Wind (Q-BI-OSCIL) RAOB Station (RAOB-STATION) AEM-2 SAGE I Profiles: Aerosols, NO2, O3 (SAGEI-PROF) ERBS SAGE II Profiles: Aerosols, O3, Humidity, NO2 (SAGEII-PROF) SMM ACRIM Daily Means of Solar Flux (SMM-ACRIM) Penticton 2800 MHz Solar Flux (PENTICTON) Angell's Global Temperature Deviations (ANGELL-SONDE) World Monthly Surface Station Climatology (SSCLIMATE) Susskind TOVS Gridded Fields (SUSSKIND-TOVS) Vinnikov-Grosiman-Lugina Monthly Temperature Deviations (VGL-TEMP-DEV) Geographic Coverage
Spatial coordinates
N: 90.0
S: -90.0
E: 180.0
W: -180.0
Data Set Citation
Dataset Creator:
GEDEX
Dataset Title:
The Greenhouse Effect Detection Experiment (GEDEX) Global and Regional Selected Data Sets Version 1 on CD-ROM
Online Resource:
http://ingrid.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES/.GEDEX/dods