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Historical Sunshine and Cloud Data in the United States, CDIAC NDP-021/R1

Entry ID: CDIAC_NDP21

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Summary

Abstract: This package contains monthly sunshine data from 240 U.S. stations (including Puerto Rico and nine Pacific Islands) and monthly cloud amount data from 197 U.S. stations. The longest periods of record are 1891 through 1987 for the sunshine data and 1871 through 1987 for the cloud data.The sunshine data were derived from measurements taken by a variety of sunshine-recording instruments. The cloud ... data were derived from land-based estimates of fractional cloud amount, which were made with observation practices that have varies during the period of record.

The sunshine data include monthly and annual total hours of recorded sunshine, monthly and annual maximum possible hours of sunshine, monthly and annual percentages of possible sunshine (hours recorded/hours possible), and dates of use for recorders at the stations. The cloud data contain monthly and annual cloud amount (in percent of sky cover) and sample listings of the total monthly and annual sunshine measurements, maximum possible monthly and annual sunshine measurements, and the percentages of monthly and annual sunshine (measured/maximum possible).

Sunshine duration is considered to be the time between sunrise and sunset, assuming a smooth, spherical earth. Sunrise and sunset are considered to be when the sun's upper disc appears just above the horizon in the morning and disappears below the horizon in the evening. On a smooth, spherical earth, possible sunshine duration varies only with latitude and time of year.

Sunshine data for 240 U.S. stations (including Puerto Rico and islands in the Pacific) are presented for the years 1891-1984. The periods of record of monthly and annual total hours of sunshine vary widely from station to station. Many of the stations have discontinuous sampling periods and only 15 stations have periods of records greater than 90 years. However, 185 stations have periods of record equal to or greater than 30 years.

Maximum possible sunshine values for the 240 stations recording network range from a minimum of 4,418 hours at the most southern station (San Juan, Puerto Rico) to a maximum of 4,591 hours at the most northern station (Fairbanks Alaska). The highest annual sunshine value ever recorded in the U.S. was at Yuma, Arizona, with 4,272 hours in 1958 (96%) and the lowest was at Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, with 1,181 hours in 1943 (26%).

All CDIAC numerical data packages include copies of pertinent literature discussing the data, summaries discussing the background, source and scope of the data, as well as applications limitations and restrictions of the data. This data set also resides on the CDIAC CD-ROM which contains many other CDIAC data sets.

CDIAC has provided an anonymous FTP area to all data files, retrieval codes, and descriptive files for the NDP's that are presently available. The FTP address is ftp://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov

The NDP-021/R1 data set is located in CDIAC's anonymous FTP in pub/ndp021r1. All files are compressed (UNIX) ASCII text files. All the data bases provided in this area are fully documented.

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: FTP directory of data.

Link: GET DATA

Description: HTTP directory of data.

Geographic Coverage

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Spatial coordinates

N: 72.0

S: 17.0

E: -65.0

W: -180.0

Data Set Citation

Dataset Originator/Creator: P. M. Steurer and T. R. Karl

Dataset Title: Historical Sunshine and Cloud Data in the United States (revised 1991)

Dataset DOI: DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/cli.ndp021

Online Resource: http://cdiac.ornl.gov/ndps/ndp021.html

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1891-01-01

Stop Date: 1987-12-31

Location Keywords

OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > Pacific Islands

OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > CARIBBEAN SEA > PUERTO RICO

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 1.0 Degrees
Longitude Resolution: 1.25 Degrees
Horizontal Resolution Range: 100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees
Temporal Resolution: Monthly
Temporal Resolution Range: Monthly - < Annual

Science Keywords

ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY > TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES

ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > REFLECTANCE > REFLECTIVITY

ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY > OXYGEN COMPOUNDS > OZONE > TOTAL OZONE

ISO Topic Category

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE

Platform

EP-TOMS > Earth Probe-TOMS

Instrument

Spectrometers

TOMS > Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer

Project

EOSDIS > Earth Observing System Data Information System

ESIP > Earth Science Information Partners Program

TOMS-EP > Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer-Earth Probe

CWIC > CEOS WGISS Integrated Catalog

Quality WARNING: EP TOMS started experiencing calibration problem since 2002. For data beginning in year 2000, the calibration has been stabilized relative to NOAA-16 SBUV/2 in the equatorial zone. Because of continuing changes in the optical properties of the front scan mirror that are not well understood, data are showing a latitude dependent error that cannot be corrected by a simple calibration correction. The calibration appears to be stable near the equator. But by 50 degrees latitude, there is now a -2% to -4% error in TOMS, a bit larger in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. Because of this error, data since 2002 should NOT be used for trend analysis

Use Constraints EP TOMS started experiencing calibration problem since 2002. Because of the continuing changes in the optical properties of the front scan mirror that are not well understood, data started showing a latitude dependent error that cannot be corrected by a simple calibration correction. The calibration appears to be stable near the equator. But by 50 degrees latitude, there is now a -2% to -4% error in TOMS, a bit larger in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere.

Earth Probe TOMS data since 2002 should NOT be used for trend analysis because of the calibration problem.

Ancillary Keywords

CLIMATOLOGY

MONTHLY DATA

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Originating Center

GES DISC

Data Center

Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (formerly Goddard DAAC), Global Change Data Center, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA

Data Center URL: http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Dataset ID: TOMS LEVEL 3 MONTHLY GRIDDED DATA

Data Center Personnel
Name: GES DISC HELP DESK SUPPORT GROUP Phone: 301-614-5224 Fax: 301-614-5268 Email: gsfc-help-disc at lists.nasa.gov Contact Address: Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center Code 610.2 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center City: Greenbelt Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20771 Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: ftp

Distribution Size: 0.2 Mbytes

Distribution Format: HDF

Fees: none

Personnel

PAWAN K BHARTIA, PH. D

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Phone: 301-614-5731

Fax: 301-614-5903

Email: Pawan.K.Bhartia at nasa.gov

Contact Address:

NASA

Goddard Space Flight Center

Mailstop 613.3

City: Greenbelt

Province or State: MD

Postal Code: 20771

Country: USA

Publications/References

Eck, T. F., Bhartia, P. K., Kerr, J. B., Satellite estimation of spectral UVB irradiance using TOMS derived total ozone and UV reflectivity, Geophy. Res. Letters 1995, 22, 611-614

Herman, J.R., et al., "Meteor-3 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Data Products User's Guide." NASA reference publication 1393, 1996.

McPeters, R.D., et al., "Earth-Probe Total Ozone ...

Extended Metadata Properties

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Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2011-01-28

Last DIF Revision Date: 2013-05-02

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