Expanding HadISD: Quality-controlled, sub-daily station data from 1931

Abstract

HadISD is a sub-daily, station-based, quality-controlled dataset designed to study past extremes of temperature, pressure and humidity and allow comparisons to future projections. Herein we describe the first major update to the HadISD dataset. The temporal coverage of the dataset has been extended to 1931 to present, doubling the time range over which data are provided. Improvements made to the station selection and merging procedures result in 7677 stations being provided in version 2.0.0.2015p of this dataset. The selection of stations to merge together making composites has also been improved and made more robust. The underlying structure of the quality control procedure is the same as for HadISD.1.0.x, but a number of improvements have been implemented in individual tests. Also, more detailed quality control tests for wind speed and direction have been added. The data will be made available as NetCDF files at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadisd and updated annually.