An arctic meteorology and climate atlas on CD-ROM

A new data product may aid investigations of arctic climate change and internannual climate variability. The Arctic Meteorology and Climate Atlas is a product of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Arctic Climatology Project. This digital compilation adds newly available data to the historical record of synoptic observations in the Arctic, and presents fields of meteorological parameters in a common gridded format for ease of use by climate researchers. The Atlas contains climatic (mean monthly) data from Russian coastal and island stations for the period of record until 1990. For completeness, western coastal station data are given as well. A reissued version of synoptic data from all Russian "North Pole" drifting stations, previously unavailable Russian synoptic data from ice patrol ships and from Drifting Automatic Radiometeorological Stations, and collected historical western data including observations from the Fram and Maud expeditions and from U.S. drifting stations (T-3, Alpha, Charlie, AIDJEX, and ARLIS) are contained on the CD-ROM in a common format and can be browsed with a plotting tool. Gridded fields of monthly means for two-meter air temperature, sea level pressure, precipitation, cloud, snow, and global solar radiation were constructed using existing and new data sources. For most parameters, fields are available beginning in the 1950s. Images of the gridded data can be browsed using the HTML interface. In addition to data, the Atlas contains English translations of monographs by Russian investigators on clouds and solar radiation, a glossary of meteorological terms in English and Russian, a "Primer" section with educational material for the general public, an article on Inuit climate knowledge, and a monograph on weather hazards in the Russian Arctic translated from Russian. A section titled "A Look Back" highlights the history of meteorological observations in the Arctic, with a photo gallery and new documentation of the Russian "North Pole" drifting station program.

The Atlas was developed by a joint U.S. - Russian team at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, and the University of Washington, Seattle under funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the EWG. The EWG Arctic Climatology Project has also produced arctic ocean and sea ice atlases. All atlases are distributed by NSIDC.