As the Earth’s largest body of water the Pacific Ocean plays a central role in climate analysis and prediction, and precipitation is one of the most important variables. The Environmental Verification and Analysis Center (EVAC) maintains the Pacific Rainfall Database (PACRAIN), a database of daily and monthly precipitation in the tropical Pacific. PACRAIN combines data from national agencies and sources unique to EVAC, such as the Schools of the Pacific Rainfall Climate Experiment (SPaRCE). Many locations in the database are atolls which can be considered representative of the open ocean. PACRAIN has many users in both the research and operational meteorology communities.

There are many ongoing and planned database enhancements. Data is being adjusted to conform to the same reporting conventions, regardless of source. Historical data (prior to 1971) from the Atlas of Pacific Islands Rainfall has recently been incorporated, extending the period of record for some sites back to the late Nineteenth Century. An evaluation of the existing data is underway to identify and correct problem areas. An improved web-based interface is being developed that will be more flexible and robust than the current version. Behind the scenes, the database infrastructure is being upgraded. Planned improvements include statistical methods to identify not only anomalous records but also anomalous sites, which can then be flagged as part of the enhanced metadata. The overall goal is to make the PACRAIN database the most comprehensive source for Pacific island rainfall, and to make the data available to the global climate community.