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Global Historical Climatology Network, 1753-1990

Published by ORNL_DAAC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Metadata Last Checked: February 21, 2026 | Last Modified: 2026-02-17
This data set contains monthly temperature, precipitation, sea-level pressure, and station-pressure data for thousands of meteorological stations worldwide. The database was compiled from pre-existing national, regional, and global collections of data as part of the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) project, the goal of which is to produce, maintain, and make available a comprehensive global surface baseline climate data set for monitoring climate and detecting climate change. It contains data from roughly 6000 temperature stations, 7500 precipitation stations, 1800 sea level pressure stations, and 1800 station pressure stations. Each station has at least 10 years of data, 40% have more than 50 years of data. Spatial coverage is good over most of the globe, particularly for the United States and Europe. Data gaps are evident over the Amazon rainforest, the Sahara Desert, Greenland, and Antarctica.

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
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                                            [
  "026:00"
]
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "Earthdata Forum",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
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}
description This data set contains monthly temperature, precipitation, sea-level pressure, and station-pressure data for thousands of meteorological stations worldwide. The database was compiled from pre-existing national, regional, and global collections of data as part of the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) project, the goal of which is to produce, maintain, and make available a comprehensive global surface baseline climate data set for monitoring climate and detecting climate change. It contains data from roughly 6000 temperature stations, 7500 precipitation stations, 1800 sea level pressure stations, and 1800 station pressure stations. Each station has at least 10 years of data, 40% have more than 50 years of data. Spatial coverage is good over most of the globe, particularly for the United States and Europe. Data gaps are evident over the Amazon rainforest, the Sahara Desert, Greenland, and Antarctica.
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identifier 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/220
keyword 
                                            [
  "earth-science-atmospheric-pressure-atmosphere-sea-level-pressure",
  "earth-science-atmospheric-pressure-atmosphere-surface-pressure",
  "earth-science-atmospheric-temperature-atmosphere-surface-temperature-air-temperature",
  "earth-science-precipitation-atmosphere-precipitation-amount"
]
landingPage https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search?q=CDIAC_NDP41_220&ac=true
modified 2026-02-17
programCode 
                                            [
  "026:000"
]
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "ORNL_DAAC",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial 
                                            "[[{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180.0,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90.0,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180.0,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90.0}],"CARTESIAN"]"
theme 
                                            [
  "Earth Science"
]
title Global Historical Climatology Network, 1753-1990

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