The Climate Change Data and Detection (CCDD) Program Element of NOAA's Climate and Global Change Program focuses on the development, analysis, and stewardship of high-quality data sets to further our understanding of climate variability and change on time scales from days to centuries. The element benefits from strong interagency partnerships with NASA in activities focused on the development of blended data sets from multiple sources, the Department of Energy in climate change detection and attribution studies, and NSF in work centered on the development of historical reference data sets.

The scientific goals of the CCDD element include efforts to:

1. provide data and information management support to help assure the availability of critical data sets for a variety of international programs and assessments of primary interest to NOAA's Climate and Global Change Program, e.g., WCRP (World Climate Research Program), and International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), US CLIVAR, the US National Climate Assessment, etc.;
2. develop, quality control, quantify time-dependent biases (homogeneity), and evaluate data sets for cross-cutting science needs necessary to improve our ability to describe, understand, and predict seasonal, interannual, decadal, and longer term climate variations and changes;
3. calibrate, validate, and blend existing data sets from a variety of observing systems, including space-based, in-situ, and model data (data set enhancement);
4. document the quantitative character of observed climate variations and changes (climate change detection);
5. attribute changes in the observed climate record to specific climate forcings (climate change attribution).

In pursuit of these objectives, a portfolio of seventy projects are currently funded at research institutions within the university community, private sector, and Federal government laboratory complex.

The activities targeted under goals (4) and (5) above were recently described by Chris Miller (see http://www.ogp.noaa.gov/aboutogp/spotlight/detect/detect6_00.htm) This discussion will provide a look at a representative project from each of the other CCDD program areas.

Goal (1): Data and information management support for focused programs and assessment activities.

Project Title: 
Developing a Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Information Center (GOSIC)

Principal Investigator:
Ferris Webster, University of Delaware College of Marine Studies

Overview:
The Global Observing System Information Center (GOSIC) provides information on the observing requirements, the operational data systems, and the access procedures for finding and obtaining data and products of the G3OS. The G3OS consists of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). GOSIC is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The GOSIC is not a repository for data. Rather, it maintains a database of meta data (information about the data sets that are available in the three programs) and will point to the data centers where the data and information can be obtained.

GOSIC can be accessed by standard Web browsers, with gateways to a relational database for complex searches. It links directly to other sites on the Web that provide G3OS data and information. It encourages the participation of other sites in supporting the G3OS data and information system, and encourages the standardization of presentation and methodologies between these sites and GOSIC. For further information, refer to the GOSIC home page at http://www.gos.udel.edu/.

(Click on images below for larger view)

The GCOS Surface Network (GSN) is a global network of  approximately 1000 stations collecting surface meteorological observations including temperatures, pressures, winds, clouds, precipitation, etc.

The GCOS Upper Air Network (GUAN) is a global network of approximately 140 upper-air stations collecting profiles of temperature, winds, humidity, etc. using radiosondes.

The GCOS requirements for atmospheric chemistry observations will be implemented within the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) global network of monitoring stations. There are about 20 global stations  measuring atmospheric chemistry, surface meteorological data, and with an upper air station nearby.

Goal (2): Data set development.

Project Title:
Development of a Mexican Historical Climatological Network

Principal Investigator:
Arthur V. Douglas, Creighton University Omaha, NE

Overview:
The past year of this project emphasized the development of two long-term precipitation data sets: 1) a 50-year data set of daily precipitation for western Mexico and 2) a 70-year daily data set (1920s to present) of more than 300 stations for Mexico. The Servicio Meteorologico Nacional (SMN) of Mexico has been extremely helpful in the development of these two data sets. Throughout the year SMN personnel responded to repeated requests for additional data needed to develop a grid in which the stations are characterized by: 1) high historical availability, and 2) are currently operating.

In the daily data set for western Mexico the investigators have tagged tropical storm precipitation associated with eastern North Pacific tropical storms. National Hurrican Center (NHC) 6 hourly positions for all tropical storms, 1949-97, were used to determine station rainfall associated with tropical storms. In a detailed study for Manzanillo, Mexico, it was found that cloud shields from tropical storms affect regions along the coast when storms are at least 550 km from the station. For the arid peninsula of Baja California on average about 60% of the summer rainfall (May through November) was found to be from tropical storms. Along the humid south coast of Mexico (Acapulco to Manzanillo) on average about 40% of the summer rainfall was associated with tropical storms. In the future plans are to extend this current grid to the remainder of Mexico and to include tropical storm precipitation associated with North Atlantic tropical storms.

The second data set is aimed at climate change detection in Mexico. This collaborative investigation has identified a grid of approximately 300 stations with relatively long-term, daily climate records. Temperature (maximum, minimum and time of observation), precipitation (24 hour totals), and weather phenomena (thunderstorms, hail, frost etc) are recorded for these stations. All readings are taken at 8AM local time, thus eliminating problems with varying observation times. For the past two years we have been trying to identify those stations with nearly continuous records from the 1920s (or earlier) to the 1990s. The current grid of stations is still being refined.

Upon completion of these data sets, the data will be forwarded to NCDC for inclusion in the Global Historical Climatological Network.

Goal (3): Data Set Enhancement. 
(NOTE: Activities under this program element are jointly supported by NASA and NOAA.)

Project Title:
Compilation of an Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Motion Dataset from 1978-1998.

Principal Investigator:
Ronald Kwok , Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Overview:
The investigators are compiling a 20-year sea ice motion record of the Arctic and Antarctic using passive microwave observations and available ice motion datasets. There will be two datasets at the conclusion of this project. The first is a data set of ice motion from the record of passive microwave satellite sensors: SMMR and SSM/I. The second is a blended data set of daily ice motion that combines motion data from passive microwave imagery with motion data from buoys, AVHRR, ERS-1 SAR and RADARSAT, and a tuned ice model.

The data set covering the winter Arctic Ocean between 1978-1996 has been released. The blended motion data set of the winter Arctic Ocean derived from buoy, 85GHz, 37GHz, wind, and available SAR data is complete. The Southern Ocean data set includes the 1-day, 2-day 85 GHz and 37 GHz ice motion fields, as well as the blended 1-day and 2-day ice motion of the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea. All these motion fields have been posted on the web. Once the processing of the passive microwave data set is finished at the end of August, the compilation of the 20-year data set will be complete.

Examination of the new ice motion dataset of the Arctic Ocean over the eighteen year period (1978-1996) reveals patterns of variability that can be linked directly to the North Atlantic Oscillation. The intensity of the Icelandic Low, one of its centers of action, modulates the sea level pressure distribution over a broad region of the Arctic Ocean and the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian and Barents Seas. Over the winters of 1988 through 1995, the Oscillation has remained in its positive phase contributing to coherent large scale changes in the intensity and character of ice transport in the Arctic Ocean. The significant changes include: the weakening of the Beaufort Gyre; the increase in ice export through the Fram Strait; the increase in ice import from the Barents/Kara Seas; the enhanced eastward transport of sea ice from the Laptev Sea; the weakening of the Transpolar Drift Stream; and, the reduction in ice extent in the Nordic Seas. All of these changes affect the regional and total sea ice mass balance of the Arctic Ocean. These observations have been reported in a recent paper [Kwok, R., Recent changes in the Arctic Ocean ice motion associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27(6), 775-778, 2000].

Current data set access: A number of motion fields developed for the Arctic Ocean, Weddell Sea, and Ross Sea are now available on the web site at JPL: (http://www-radar.jpl.nasa.gov/rgps)

Examples of the raw observations and the optimally interpolated fields produced using buoy and passive microwave ice motions. (From: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)