The Comprehensive Aerological Reference Dataset (CARDS): Current Status and Future Objectives

An important aspect of climate change research today involves understanding how the climate of the troposphere and stratosphere has changed over the past 50 years. This includes both observational research as well as verification of global climate models. To accomplish this, a high-quality upper air dataset with global network coverage is needed. The CARDS project was initiated to produce such a dataset. This talk will outline the current status of the CARDS project and describe the availability of these data for research purposes. Currently, the CARDS database contains more than 2300 upper air stations covering a 52-year time frame from 1948-2000. All of the observations have undergone extensive checking for gross instrument and observation errors through the Complex Quality Control (CQC) system, developed specifically for CARDS. Progress is also currently being made to adjust for systematic errors in the data due to changes in radiosonde sensors and site-specific data correction procedures. The homogeneity of the dataset is improved by removing or reducing the influence of these errors. Another item currently underway in the CARDS project is the update and detailing of station history information. This is a vital task necessary to aid in the detection of systematic errors and maintain the integrity of the dataset. One of the important goals of the project is to make these data available to the research community. Plans are underway to include data access via the internet as part of the web-based system already in place.