National Climatic Data Center

National Climatic Data Center
National Climatic Data Center, December 23, 1994 (GIBBS GOES-7 imagery)

The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina is the world's largest active archive of weather data. The center became established in late 1951, with the move into the new facility occurring in early 1952.[1]

The Center has more than 150 years of data on hand with 224 gigabytes of new information added each day. NCDC archives 99 percent of all NOAA data, including over 320 million paper records; 2.5 million microfiche records; over 1.2 petabytes of digital data residing in a mass storage environment. NCDC has satellite weather images back to 1960.

Data are received from a wide variety of sources, including satellites, radar, automated airport weather stations, NWS cooperative observers, aircraft, ships, radiosondes, wind profilers, rocketsondes, solar radiation networks, and NWS Forecast/Warnings/Analyses Products.

The Center provides historical perspectives on climate which are vital to studies on global climate change, the greenhouse effect, and other environmental issues. The Center stores information essential to industry, agriculture, science, hydrology, transportation, recreation, and engineering.

The NCDC says:

Evidence is mounting that global climate is changing. The extent to which man is responsible is still under study. Regardless of the causes, it is essential that a baseline of long-term climate data be compiled; therefore, global data must be acquired, quality controlled, and archived. Working with international institutions such as the International Council of Scientific Unions, the World Data Centers, and the World Meteorological Organization, NCDC develops standards by which data can be exchanged and made accessible.

NCDC provides the historical perspective on climate. Through the use of over a hundred years of weather observations, reference data bases are generated. From this knowledge the clientele of NCDC can learn from the past to prepare for a better tomorrow. Wise use of our most valuable natural resource, climate, is the goal of climate researchers, state and regional climate centers, business, and commerce.[2]

NCDC also maintains World Data Center for Meteorology, Asheville. The four World Centers (US, Russia, Japan and China) have created a free and open atmosphere in which data and dialogue are exchanged.

NCDC maintains the US Climate Reference Network datasets amongst a vast number of other climate monitoring products.[3] The current director of the center is Tom Karl, a lead author on three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change science assessments.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "At Asheville National Weather Records Center Established". Weather Bureau Topics (United States Weather Bureau) 10 (11): 202. November 1951. http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/wb_topicsandpersonnel/1951.pdf. 
  2. ^ NCDC: What Is NCDC?
  3. ^ NCDC: Climate Monitoring
  4. ^ Pearce, Fred, The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming, (2010) Guardian Books, ISBN: 978-0-85265-229-9, p. XVIII.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • National Climatic Data Center — Le National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) des États Unis, fondé en 1951, situé à Asheville en Caroline du Nord est le plus important centre mondial de collecte des données météorologiques. Le centre possède plus de 150 années de données archivées… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • National Climatic Data Center — Das National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, gelegen in Asheville (North Carolina), ist das größte Archiv für Wetterdaten. Es wurde 1951 gegründet. Am 21. Januar 2010 bestätigte es nach der NASA und der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • National Oceanographic Data Center — The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) is one of the national environmental data centers operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The main NODC facility is located in Silver …   Wikipedia

  • National Climatic Data Center — noun the part of NOAA that maintains the world s largest active archive of weather data • Syn: ↑NCDC • Hypernyms: ↑agency, ↑federal agency, ↑government agency, ↑bureau, ↑office, ↑authority …   Useful english dictionary

  • National Weather Service — NWS Agency overview Formed February 9, 1870 Jurisdiction …   Wikipedia

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — NOAA Agency overview Formed October 3, 1970 (1970 10 03 …   Wikipedia

  • National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration — Directeur William J Brennan, Administrateur interimaire Agence mère Département du Commerce des États Unis La National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) est l agence américaine responsable de l étude de l …   Wikipédia en Français

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — Direction Jane Lubchenco (2009 ), Administrateur Agence mère Département du Commerce des États Unis La National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) est l agence américaine responsable de l étude de l …   Wikipédia en Français

  • National oceanic and atmospheric administration — Directeur William J Brennan, Administrateur interimaire Agence mère Département du Commerce des États Unis La National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) est l agence américaine responsable de l étude de l …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Climatic Research Unit documents — Main article: Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Hubert Lamb Building, University of East Anglia, where the Climatic Research Unit is based Climatic Research Unit documents including thousands of e mails and other documents were stolen… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”