We provide the research community with access to a range of critically important observational datasets as well as the expertise necessary to make the most of the numbers.
These datasets range from observations of a single thunderstorm collected during a field campaign to global temperature and precipitation measurements stretching back decades. They provide scientists with a range of insights, from the microphysics of cloud formation to the impacts of a changing climate.
Explore our vast storehouse of data, including climate datasets, observations of the Sun, and our field campaign archives.
Observational datasets covering a long period of time are a cornerstone of climate research. However, changes in sampling protocols, instrument degradation, and other factors can complicate the detection of climate change signals in the data. NCAR scientists perform analyses to address these issues and provide expertise on dataset use. For example, NCAR scientists use the conservation of energy, mass, and moisture principles to validate observations from many sources.
In addition, NCAR scientists created the Climate Data Guide, a widely used website that communicates the strengths, limitations, and applications of datasets used in climate research. A common application of these datasets is the evaluation of Earth system models, using community tools such as the Climate Variability Diagnostics Package developed at NCAR.
