Design of data collection related to the climate in the tropics

Abstract

Weather and climate are usually distinguished by different timescales. While weather lasts typically a few days, climatological periods are derived from monitoring the averages of meteorological data over longer time spans. Today, modern measuring instruments are used to measure, analyze, and predict weather and climate all over the world. The better part of these instruments is installed on the ground, while others are also set on weather balloons, aircrafts, on satellites, or on ships and buoys on the seas etc. Many countries have established national weather systems and services which are collecting, editing, and preparing national climate data. However, the spatial coverage of meteorological ground stations used for these datasets is quite different around the globe, and ground climate observation sites are often limited to single-point locations in well-populated areas and/or regions which are easy to access (e.g., coastal areas). Consequently, other options have to be considered to close the existing gaps between ground climate monitoring sites. Remote sensing through radar and satellite observations is one suitable tool to ensure climate investigations in isolated regions and can help to understand weather and climate processes at different time scales. Additionally to ground-based weather monitoring and remote sensing model, reanalysis data have become common in climate science during the last years.