Northern Hemisphere Cyclone Locations and Characteristics from NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Data

Data Contributors SERREZE, MARK C. Parameters ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA > CYCLONES ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA > STORMS ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE > ANTICYCLONES/CYCLONES ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE > DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE > PRESSURE TENDENCY ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE > SEA LEVEL PRESSURE Instruments ALTIMETERS AWS : AUTOMATED WEATHER SYSTEM BAROMETERS CEILOMETERS DRIFTING BUOYS DRY BULB THERMOMETERS HIRS : HIGH RESOLUTION INFRARED RADIATION SOUNDER HUMIDITY SENSORS HYGROMETERS MSU : MICROWAVE SOUNDING UNIT PRESSURE SENSORS RADAR : RADIO DETECTION AND RANGING RADIOSONDES RAIN GAUGES RAWINSONDES SIRS : SATELLITE INFRARED SPECTROMETER SOIL TEMPERATURE PROBE SOUNDERS SSM/I : SPECIAL SENSOR MICROWAVE/IMAGER SSU : STRATOSPHERIC SOUNDING UNIT TEMPERATURE SENSORS THERMOMETERS VISUAL OBSERVATIONS VTPR : VERTICAL TEMPERATURE PROFILE RADIOMETER WAVE HEIGHT GAUGES WET BULB THERMOMETERS XBT : EXPENDABLE BATHYTHERMOGRAPHS

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This data set comprises a 50-year record of daily extratropical cyclone statistics computed for the Northern Hemisphere. Cyclone locations and characteristics were obtained by applying the updated Serreze (1997) algorithm to daily Sea Level Pressure (SLP) data at six-hour intervals (Serreze and Barrett 2008). The SLP source data are part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Reanalysis data set, an assimilation of various atmospheric data collected by a wide variety of sensors within a global weather model. The parameters included in this data set are the position and central pressure of each cyclone, the distance the center of the cyclone traveled, whether the observation represents a cyclogenesis or cyclolysis event, and the local Laplacian of SLP and Sea Level Pressure Tendency (SLPT) at each cyclone center. The total volume of this data set is approximately 150 megabytes. Data are provided in tab-delimited ASCII text format and are available via FTP.

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Data Citation

The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.

Serreze, Mark.. 2009. Northern Hemisphere Cyclone Locations and Characteristics from NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Data. [indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.

See Also

• ARCSS Data
• Arctic Cyclone Track Data Set, 1966-1993
• ARCSS Data
• Contact User Services