Global Surface Hourly / Integrated Surface Database (ISD), dataset C00532 - ISO 19115-2 metadata record

Overview

The record is the ISO 19115-2 metadata document that NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) publishes for 'Integrated Surface Dataset (Global) (Version Superseded)', the Global Hourly ISD. ISD holds worldwide surface weather observations from over 35,000 stations, with the best spatial coverage in North America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia. The name covers both the database and the format in which hourly, 3-hourly (synoptic) and daily observations are stored; for some stations data reaches back to 1901, though volume rises substantially in the 1940s and again in the early 1970s.

Observation sources include the World Meteorological Organization, Automated Surface Observing System, Automated Weather Observing Stations and the US Climate Reference Network. Observed elements include dry bulb, wet bulb and dew point temperatures, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, station and sea level pressure, sky conditions, visibility and precipitation. Data is sorted by station-year-month-day-hour-minute. Version 1 was released in 2001, Version 2 in 2003 added further quality control, and in 2016 documentation and processing were improved. Over 14,000 'active' stations are updated daily, and online data are typically delayed 24 hours.

The most important note in the record is that this version has been superseded, and users should access it only for special cases such as reproducing studies. The only stated constraints are citation, distribution-liability and use-liability notes; NOAA and NCEI give no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness and the user is responsible for judging usability. The metadata record describes the dataset, its sources, access points (CSV, AWS S3, Azure) and constraints, not the data itself.

Key points

1. ISD consists of hourly, synoptic (3-hourly) and daily surface weather observations from over 35,000 stations; parameters include air temperature and dew point.
2. Best spatial coverage is in North America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia; some stations go back to 1901.
3. Observed elements include dry bulb, wet bulb, dew point, relative humidity, wind, pressure, precipitation, cloud and visibility.
4. Version 1 (2001), Version 2 (2003, additional quality control) and the 2016 update (improved documentation and processing) are recorded; the version in this record has been superseded by a newer one.
5. The record states only citation, distribution-liability and use-liability notes as constraints; NCEI gives no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
6. Data is organised by station-year-month-day-hour-minute; observations are mostly decoded at operational centres and forwarded to the archive, and basic quality control may be applied before arrival.
7. Over 14,000 active stations are updated daily; online data are typically delayed 24 hours.
8. Data is available as CSV, through the NCEI open-data registry, AWS S3 and Microsoft Azure; in most cases electronic downloads are free.

Using it in design

• For cooling design use a station's hourly dry-bulb and wet-bulb (or dew point) data to count free-cooling and economiser hours in 1 degree C bins; SoSo CAD builds annual 1 degree C dry-bulb and wet-bulb hour bins for this purpose from one year of station files.
• One measured year is weather, not a design climate or extreme-value dataset; combine it with multi-year or extreme-value sources for design conditions.
• When choosing a station check coverage and data gaps; as the record notes, coverage is best in North America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia.
• Document the file version and station used; the record says this ISD version has been superseded and recommends the current version for new work.
• Write the citation in the form the record gives (NOAA NCEI, Global Surface Hourly, subset used and access date).

Who should read it

Engineers using weather data for data centre climate analysis, free-cooling hours and energy modelling.

Document contents

1. Identification and abstract: Integrated Surface Dataset (Global), Version Superseded
2. Dataset description and coverage: stations, parameters, observation sources
3. Keywords and subject classifications
4. Constraints: citation, distribution liability, use liability
5. Geographic extent
6. Distribution: CSV, open data registry, AWS S3, Azure
7. Dataset history: Version 1 (2001), Version 2 (2003), 2016 update
8. Source datasets: NOAA surface weather observations, USAF 14th Weather Squadron, static inputs
9. Repository and metadata maintenance
10. Instruments and platforms

Publication details

Authors

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information

Publisher

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

Year

2016

Document language

English

Source type

Government / public

Access

Free to read

Licence

U.S. public domain — U.S. Government work; free to reuse

Licence evidence

registry.opendata.aws

Citation