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Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#21

Post by airza »

godshatter wrote: post #18
rpeden wrote: post #15

There's a reply that's dead, but I'd like to address it. It asked: "We have 25 years or so invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it?" That's a fair question, but my aim definitely isn't to try to find something wrong with the data. My aim is only to explore the data and find out what's right and what's wrong about my current understand…

Also, isn't publishing something in order for others to "find something wrong with it" a core component of the scientific method?

sure, but statistically someone who knows how to correctly interpret this data probably already has the academic communication channels to solicit it directly, so someone randomly asking for it online probably has an axe to grind

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#22

Post by prewett »

sword_smith wrote: post #2

I have a Master's degree in physics from the University of Copenhagen and I have taught together with one of the leading climate scientists from that university Bo Møllesøe Vinther. He claimed that the best dataset on global average temperatures is satellite based and is the University of Alabama in Huntington dataset (UAH) which goes back to 1979. You can find it here: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/ Direct link…

Wouldn't you need data going back for thousands of years? 40 years of data won't tell you anything about the cause of the temperatures in this data set. You'll need to eliminate the possibility that we are in a Little Heat Wave cycle; if you got forty years of temperature data during the beginning of the Little Ice Age, you won't have a representative sample, for instance.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#23

Post by rpeden »

airza wrote: post #21
godshatter wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, isn't publishing something in order for others to "find something wrong with it" a core component of the scientific method?

sure, but statistically someone who knows how to correctly interpret this data probably already has the academic communication channels to solicit it directly, so someone randomly asking for it online probably has an axe to grind

Right, which is why I thought it was a fair point for the original poster of the message to bring up. And it seems like there are lots of people with an axe to grind on this topic.

I'm just looking to learn more for myself, and I decided to ask HN because I was having trouble deciding where to start. I realize it's tough to look at data on a complex topic without a thorough academic background in it. But I figure I'll never learn more if I don't at least get started.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#24

Post by matt4077 »

Google's Bigquery has the following huge set of weather measurements, and you can use both the initial trial credit, as well as a substantial free quota every month to run analysis on it right within Bigquery: https://bigquery.cloud.google.com/dataset/bigquery-public-da...

Quote: "This public dataset was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and includes global data obtained from the USAF Climatology Center. This dataset covers GSOD data between 1929 and present, collected from over 9000 stations.

Dataset Source: NOAA

Category: Weather

Use: This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source — http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy — and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

Update Frequency: daily"

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#25

Post by newforice »

I like this data:

https://gcmd.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Metadata.do?Portal=amd&K...

And from there:

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data/...

And a Wiki article discussing it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Vostok_Petit_data.sv...

Where this chart is interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_talk:Vostok_Petit_data.sv...

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#26

Post by mturmon »

mindcrime wrote: post #8

It's slightly tangential, but you might find this project, and the surrounding community, to be of interest. https://climate.apache.org/ Also, in addition to historical data that's already collected and available online, an interesting side note is that it's possible to directly receive some satellite data yourself using a relatively inexpensive SDR (Software Defined Radio) device. This article deals specifically wit…

The Apache project you link is not tangential at all -- it's spot on! See the examples at:

https://github.com/apache/climate/tree/master/examples

The people advising the project have significant publications and research experience. I believe some of their examples are replicating peer-reviewed work with that software.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#27

Post by drewmol »

airza wrote: post #21
godshatter wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, isn't publishing something in order for others to "find something wrong with it" a core component of the scientific method?

sure, but statistically someone who knows how to correctly interpret this data probably already has the academic communication channels to solicit it directly, so someone randomly asking for it online probably has an axe to grind

Based on my interpretation, using that logic as a reason to withhold the data probably furthers the exclusionary/isolationist phenomenon that exists in modern academia already. Certainly people who are formally accredited to 'correctly interpret this data' are quantifiable, but without providing it to the non-credentialed as well we shouldn't draw statistical claims based on their ability to correctly analyze something they've been denied access to, or suppose their intentions as a reason to exclude access.

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#28

Post by [deleted] »

prewett wrote: post #22
sword_smith wrote: post #2

I have a Master's degree in physics from the University of Copenhagen and I have taught together with one of the leading climate scientists from that university Bo Møllesøe Vinther. He claimed that the best dataset on global average temperatures is satellite based and is the University of Alabama in Huntington dataset (UAH) which goes back to 1979. You can find it here: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/ Direct link…

Wouldn't you need data going back for thousands of years? 40 years of data won't tell you anything about the cause of the temperatures in this data set. You'll need to eliminate the possibility that we are in a Little Heat Wave cycle; if you got forty years of temperature data during the beginning of the Little Ice Age, you won't have a representative sample, for instance.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#29

Post by drewmol »

rpeden wrote: post #23
airza wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, but statistically someone who knows how to correctly interpret this data probably already has the academic communication channels to solicit it directly, so someone randomly asking for it online probably has an axe to grind

Right, which is why I thought it was a fair point for the original poster of the message to bring up. And it seems like there are lots of people with an axe to grind on this topic. I'm just looking to learn more for myself, and I decided to ask HN because I was having trouble deciding where to start. I realize it's tough to look at data on a complex topic without a thorough academic background in it. But I figure I'l…

Thanks for explaining this, I would have thought the same: I'm a novice, looking for good climate data sets to analyze... asking HN could be a good place to start. Based on the feedback/links provided so far, I think it is!

Re: Ask HN: What are some good sources of climate data to analyze?

#30

Post by me_bx »

Data from European Union's satellites (Copernicus Program) is available for free.

Copernicus Climate Change Service is under development, some data is already available:

http://climate.copernicus.eu/

Some other Copernicus services may also contain relevant information related to climate change: atmosphere, land, marine..

http://www.copernicus.eu/main/services

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