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A Google Earth-based interface to the CRU TS dataset. |
| The interface allows individual half-degree cells to be examined, and for nearby observations to also be found. |
| The data included are drawn directly from the CRU TS 4.05 dataset and related observation files. |
| Temperature (TMP), Precipitation (PRE), Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) and Vapour Pressure (VAP) are available. |
| In order to use this interface, you will need to have installed Google Earth |
| You can then open this file in Google Earth: cruts_4.05_gridboxes.kml |
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News |
| Station counts have been addded to the grid cell plots, as coloured heaps behind the main
lines. Counts vary from 0 (no stations in range; climatology substituted) to the maximum of 8.
For VAP, there are synthetic station counts as well as direct observations: where both are
present, they are usually labelled; where only one is present, the right-hand Y-axis label indicates
the type. (April 2021) |
| DTR and VAP have been added, so four variables are available. VAP, as a secondary
variable, has both observed and synthetic station support. The interface has been
redesigned accordingly, with new station markers and a proper legend. Station names are
hidden (to reduce clutter) until you mouse over them. Synthetic station counts
have been added to the VAP cell data. The smoothed curves have been removed from the annual
station plots - they were too intermittent. Note that the two bugs found in June can be seen
'in action' in this release; for the clustering of synthetic VAP stations, please see the
3 June report,
and for the clustering of stations around the 99.99°W meridian please see the
6 June report.
Finally, the colourscheme has been altered to one that is theoretically 'coloursafe' - I welcome
feedback on this. (June 2020) |
| Where cells had no stations in range, the annual mean plot was a straight line (from the climatology),
this has been replaced with a sample year from the climatology. Where the (PRE) climatology is zero
throughout the year, a note is printed instead (September 2019) |
| The feature by which 'live' stations had a brighter colour is available for this
version. (September 2017) |
| The error by which, if you were on a Mac, running 10.10.0 or later, choosing to view
a 'larger' plot crashed Google Earth when you tried to return to the map, has only been
resolved for Google Earth; it is reportedly still an issue on Google Earth Pro. (September 2017) |
| The feature by which 'live' stations had a brighter colour is not available for this
version (all stations are bright). However, as a rule of thumb, if the station data end year is 2016,
it is very likely to be receiving current updates. (January 2017) |
| The error by which, if you were on a Mac, running 10.10.0 or later, choosing to view
a 'larger' plot crashed Google Earth when you tried to return to the map, has been resolved.
Please get in touch if it recurs. (January 2017) |
| Precipitation plots now show annual total precip rather than average monthly (October 2015) |
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Notes |
A new Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) page, also linked from every dialogue box in the interface, is here.
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Unlike the CRUTEM4 Google Earth interface, (link), on which this is based, the CRU TS
Interface needs to have two levels of spatial mapping. So the user is first presented with
five-degree blocks, and can click in these to 'turn on' the enclosed half-degree cells.
To access the dataset in its original form, please follow
links from the HRG page:
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/
Users who need more sophisticated access to the dataset are advised to visit both the
Climate Explorer at KNMI, which provides interactive
access to this and many other datasets, and the
Global Climate Monitor at the University of Seville,
a newer map-based interface.
The appropriate paper to cite for this dataset is:
Harris, I., Osborn, T.J., Jones, P. et al. Version 4 of the CRU TS monthly high-resolution gridded multivariate climate dataset.
Sci Data 7, 109 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0453-3
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