The year 2012 marks a decade of observations undertaken by the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) under the auspices of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division. The network consists of 114 sites across the conterminous 48 states, with additional sites in Alaska and Hawaii. Stations are installed in open (where possible), rural sites very likely to have stable land-cover/use conditions for several decades to come. At each site a suite of meteorological parameters are monitored, including triple redundancy for the primary air temperature and precipitation variables and for soil moisture/temperature. Instrumentation is regularly calibrated to National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and maintained by a staff of expert engineers. This attention to detail in USCRN is intended to ensure the creation of an unimpeachable record of changes in surface climate over the United States for decades to come. Data are made available without restric...

/pdf/u-s-climate-reference-network-after-one-decade-of-operations-2ekzf8bjim.pdf

U.S. Climate Reference Network after One Decade of Operations: Status and Assessment

In order to facilitate the collection of high quality and uniform surface water pCO2 data, an underway pCO2 instrument has been designed based on community input and is now commercially available. Along with instrumentation, agreements were reached on data reduction and quality control that can be easily applied to data from these systems by using custom-made freeware. This new automated underway pCO2 measuring system is designed to be accurate to within 0.1 μatm for atmospheric pCO2 measurements and to within 2 μatm for seawater pCO2, targeted by the scientific community to constrain the regional air–sea CO2 fluxes to 0.2 Pg C year−1. The procedure to properly reduce the underway pCO2 data and perform the steps necessary for calculation of the fugacity of CO2 from the measurements is described. This system is now widely used by the scientific community on many different types of ships. Combined with the recommended data-reduction procedures, it will facilitate producing data sets that will significantly decrease the uncertainty currently present in estimates of air–sea CO2 fluxes.

Recommendations for autonomous underway pCO2 measuring systems and data-reduction routines

[1] Observation of the atmospheric climate and detection of changes require high quality data. Radio Occultation (RO) using Global Positioning System (GPS) signals is based on time measurements with precise atomic clocks. It provides a long-term stable and consistent data record with global coverage and favorable error characteristics. Highest quality and vertical resolution is given in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). RO data exist from the GPS/Met mission within 1995–1997, and continuous observations are available since 2001. We give a review on studies using RO data for climate monitoring and change detection in the UTLS and discuss RO characteristics and error estimates, climate change indicators, trend detection, and comparison to conventional upper-air data. These studies showed that RO parameters cover the whole UTLS with useful indicators of climate change, being most robust in the tropics. Refractivity is most sensitive in the lower stratosphere (LS) and tropopause region, pressure/geopotential height and temperature over the UTLS region. An emerging climate change signal in the RO record can be detected for geopotential height of pressure levels and for temperature, reflecting warming of the troposphere and cooling of the LS. The results are in agreement with trends in radiosonde and ERA-Interim records. Climate model trends basically agree as well but they show less warming/cooling contrast across the tropical tropopause. (Advanced) Microwave Sounding Unit LS bulk temperature anomalies show significant differences to RO. Overall, the quality of RO climate records is suitable to fulfill the requirements of a global climate change monitoring system.

https://opensky.ucar.edu:/islandora/object/articles%3A12064/datastream/PDF/view

GPS radio occultation for climate monitoring and change detection

 A new satellite-derived climate dataset – denoted CLARA-A1 ("The CM SAF cLoud, Albedo and RAdiation dataset from AVHRR data") – is described The dataset covers the 28 yr period from 1982 until 2009 and consists of cloud, surface albedo, and radiation budget products derived from the AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) sensor carried by polar-orbiting operational meteorological satellites Its content, anticipated accuracies, limitations, and potential applications are described The dataset is produced by the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM SAF) project The dataset has its strengths in the long duration, its foundation upon a homogenized AVHRR radiance data record, and in some unique features, eg the availability of 28 yr of summer surface albedo and cloudiness parameters over the polar regions Quality characteristics are also well investigated and particularly useful results can be found over the tropics, mid to high latitudes and over nearly all oceanic areas Being the first CM SAF dataset of its kind, an intensive evaluation of the quality of the datasets was performed and major findings with regard to merits and shortcomings of the datasets are reported However, the CM SAF's long-term commitment to perform two additional reprocessing events within the time frame 2013–2018 will allow proper handling of limitations as well as upgrading the dataset with new features (eg uncertainty estimates) and extension of the temporal coverage

/pdf/clara-a1-a-cloud-albedo-and-radiation-dataset-from-28-yr-of-188zuz975o.pdf

CLARA-A1: a cloud, albedo, and radiation dataset from 28 yr of global AVHRR data

Three interrelated climate phenomena are at the center of the Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) Atlantic research: tropical Atlantic variability (TAV), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC). These phenomena produce a myriad of impacts on society and the environment on seasonal, interannual, and longer time scales through variability manifest as coherent fluctuations in ocean and land temperature, rainfall, and extreme events. Improved understanding of this variability is essential for assessing the likely range of future climate fluctuations and the extent to which they may be predictable, as well as understanding the potential impact of human-induced climate change. CLIVAR is addressing these issues through prioritized and integrated plans for short-term and sustained observations, basin-scale reanalysis, and modeling and theoretical investigations of the coupled Atlantic climate system and its links to remote regions. In this paper, a brief review of the state of understanding of Atlantic climate variability and achievements to date is provided. Considerable discussion is given to future challenges related to building and sustaining observing systems, developing synthesis strategies to support understanding and attribution of observed change, understanding sources of predictability, and developing prediction systems in order to meet the scientific objectives of the CLIVAR Atlantic program.

/pdf/atlantic-climate-variability-and-predictability-a-clivar-529ypy24w7.pdf

Atlantic climate variability and predictability: A CLIVAR perspective

There is compelling evidence that the climate is changing, for whatever reason. We discuss the degree, nature, and cause of the climate variations and whether there is in fact a change, but the only way to resolve the issue is with solid information. This requires improved global observations of the state variables and the variables causing change (the forcings), the means to process these and understand them, and the ability to set them in a coherent physical (as well as chemical and biological) framework with models for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Meanwhile, the information that helps settle these arguments and reduces uncertainties is also extremely valuable for many other purposes, including a myriad of practical applications for business, industry, government, and the general public. The following is a list of strategic requirements necessary for a comprehensive climate observing system: Climate observations from both space-based and in situ platforms are taken in ways that address c...

https://home.chpc.utah.edu/~u0035056/jhorel/mac/trenberth.pdf

The Need for a Systems Approach to Climate Observations

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The Need for a Systems Approach to Climate Observations