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Dataset Overview | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

Sudden Stratospheric Warming Compendium

SSWC

browse graphicPotential vorticity [-30 to 150 PVU] 3 days after the SSW event of 2009/01/24
Sudden Stratospheric Warming Compendium (SSWC) data set documents the stratospheric, tropospheric, and surface climate impacts of sudden stratospheric warmings. This examines major mid-winter warmings, as defined by a reversal between November-March of the zonal winds at 10 hPa and 60N from westerly to easterly. The one major warming that occurred in the Southern Hemisphere is also included. Analyses are available from 6 different reanalyses: MERRA2 (1980-2014), JRA-55 (1958-2014), ERA-interim (1979-2014), ERA-40 (1958-2002), NOAA20CR (1958-2011), and NCEP-NCAR I (1958-2014). Global gridded anomaly fields are calculated from smoothed daily climatologies based on the full record of each reanalysis. Data is provided 60 days prior to and after each SSW event. Pressure-level fields include winds, temperatures, geopotential heights, vorticity and potential vorticity, and ozone; surface fields include temperatures, sea-level pressures, and precipitation. Other derived data and climate indices are also included. Data are provided as daily means, with 2.5x2.5 degree horizontal resolution for pressure-level fields and native horizontal resolution for surface fields. Daily climatological means and standard deviations of all input fields are included with the output.
  • Cite as: Butler, Amy; Sjoberg, Jeremiah; Seidel, Dian; and NOAA ESRL Chemical Science Division (2016):Sudden Stratospheric Warming Compendium, Version 1.0. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). doi:10.7289/V5NS0RWP [access date].
gov.noaa.ncdc:C00960
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  • netCDF-4
Ordering Instructions Contact NCEI for other distribution options and instructions.
Distributor NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
ncei.info@noaa.gov
Dataset author SSWC Team
UCO/CIRES > Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado
sswcompendium@gmail.com
Time Period 1948-07-01 to 2014-12-31 (time interval: 1-day)
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates
West: -180.0
East: 180.0
South: -90.0
North: 90.0
Spatial Coverage Map
General Documentation
Publication Dates
  • publication: 2016-04-29
Edition Version 1.0
Data Presentation Form Digital model - multi-dimensional digital representation of a feature, process, etc.
Dataset Progress Status Under development - data is currently in the process of being created
Data Update Frequency Annually
Purpose The Sudden Stratospheric Warming Compendium (SSWC) provides a simple way to plot and download information on historical sudden stratospheric warming events; to consider the development, evolution, and impacts of both individual events and their composite; and to provide a basis for model evaluation and improvement. Surface impacts are a particular focus of this data set, so surface fields are retained at higher horizontal resolution than those on pressure levels. The data are well-suited for research applications and for outreach efforts such as animations for public education.
Dataset Citation
  • Cite as: Butler, Amy; Sjoberg, Jeremiah; Seidel, Dian; and NOAA ESRL Chemical Science Division (2016):Sudden Stratospheric Warming Compendium, Version 1.0. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). doi:10.7289/V5NS0RWP [access date].
Cited Authors
  • Butler, Amy
    UCO/CIRES > Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado
Originators
  • Sjoberg, Jeremiah
    UCO/CIRES > Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado
Principal Investigators
  • Seidel, Dian
    DOC/NOAA/OAR/ARL > Air Resources Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Publishers
  • DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Theme keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Sea Level Pressure
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Surface Temperature > Air Temperature
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Surface Temperature > Maximum/Minimum Temperature
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Upper Air Temperature
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Upper Level Winds
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Wind Dynamics > Vorticity
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Precipitation Amount > 24 Hour Precipitation Amount
  • Earth Science > Climate Indicators > Atmospheric/Ocean Indicators > Precipitation Indices
  • Earth Science > Climate Indicators > Atmospheric/Ocean Indicators > Temperature Indices
  • Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Geopotential Height
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Essential Climate Variables (ECVs)
  • Atmospheric - Surface - Air Temperature
  • Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Temperature
  • Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Wind Speed And Direction
  • Atmospheric - Surface - Precipitation
  • Atmospheric - Surface - Air Pressure
Keyword Thesaurus Title
  • Sudden Stratospheric Warming
Data Center keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Data Center Keywords
  • ECMWF > European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
  • NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GMAO > Global Modeling and Assimilation, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA
  • JP/JMA > Japan Meteorological Agency, Japan
  • DOC/NOAA/OAR/ESRL/PSD > Physical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
  • DOC/NOAA/NWS/NCEP/EMC > Environmental Modeling Center, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National Weather Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
  • UCAR/NCAR > National Center for Atmospheric Research, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Platform keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Platform Keywords
  • REANALYSIS MODELS
Place keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
  • Geographic Region > Global
  • Vertical Location > Troposphere
  • Vertical Location > Stratosphere
Project keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Project Keywords
  • ERA-I > ECMWF Interim Reanalysis
  • MERRA > Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications
  • MERRA-2 > The second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications
  • JMA55 > JMA Japanese 55-year Reanalysis
  • NNRP > NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project
  • ERA40 > ECMWF ERA40 Reanalysis Project
Stratum keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
  • Vertical Location > Troposphere
  • Vertical Location > Stratosphere
Use Constraints
  • Cite as: Butler, Amy; Sjoberg, Jeremiah; Seidel, Dian; and NOAA ESRL Chemical Science Division (2016):Sudden Stratospheric Warming Compendium, Version 1.0. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). doi:10.7289/V5NS0RWP [access date].
  • Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
Access Constraints
  • Distribution liability: NOAA and NCEI make no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding these data, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA and NCEI cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data. If appropriate, NCEI can only certify that the data it distributes are an authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCEI archives.
Fees
  • In most cases, electronic downloads of the data are free. However, fees may apply for custom orders, data certifications, copies of analog materials, and data distribution on physical media.
Lineage information for: dataset
Lineage Statement Data in the compendium originated from various output reanalysis datasets which are commonly available. These reanalysis data, which are given on a variety of vertical, horizontal, and temporal resolutions, are converted to 1) daily pressure-level data on a 2.5x2.5 degree horizontal grid and 2) daily surface data on the native horizontal grid. Daily climatologies are calculated from these processed full-field data and anomaly fields are calculated. Event dates are selected and the processed full-field and anomaly reanalysis data are extracted. A number of output data fields are calculated using these extracted full-field and anomaly data.
Processing Steps
  • Raw reanalysis are converted to daily-mean, gridded data. Pressure-level data are converted to a 2.5x2.5 degree horizontal grid, while surface data are retained at the native horizontal grid.
    Rationale: This step is important for reducing the total size of the final product, as well as for standardizing across the reanalysis products. This reduction to daily-means and 2.5 degree horizontal grids retains enough resolution to capture relevant details of the events. Surface data is retained at native horizontal resolution to capture fine-scale features there.
  • Climatologies of the processed data are computed by retaining the first four Fourier components of the annual cycle. These climatological fields are used to calculate the anomaly fields. Percentile distributions are calculated to identify climate extremes in the data.
    Rationale: Anomaly fields are vital components to studying these events. Retaining the first four Fourier components keeps the longest time scale (> 90 day) variability. All available data are used as input for the climatologies and distributions so as to more properly captured the mean state than taking a subset of the data (e.g. 30 year chunks).
  • Full-field, anomaly, and calculated data are extracted and stored for the 60 days prior to and 60 days following selected sudden stratospheric warming dates.
    Rationale: These are the final outputs for the compendium we are creating. +-60 days retains an adequate amount of data for proper study and production of animations.
Processing Environment These data were processed on a desktop Mac OS X 10.9 environment, using IDL 8.5. NetCDF library version 4.3.3.1 was used.
Source Datasets
  • Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications
  • The Japanese 55-year Reanalysis
    • The Japanese 55-year Reanalysis
      NCAR Research Data Archive hosting the data
    • Description of Source: JMA 55-year reanalysis
    • Temporal extent used: 1958-01-01 to 2014-12-31
    • Spatial extent used: N:90 S:-90 E:180 W:-180
  • The ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA40)
    • The ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA40)
      NCAR Research Data Archive hosting the data
    • Description of Source: ECMWF 40 year reanalysis
    • Temporal extent used: 1957-09-01 to 2002-08-31
    • Spatial extent used: N:90 S:-90 E:180 W:-180
  • ECMWF interim Reanalysis (ERAi)
    • ECMWF interim Reanalysis (ERAi)
      NCAR Research Data Archive hosting the data
    • Description of Source: ECMWF Interim reanalysis
    • Temporal extent used: 1979-01-01 to 2014-12-31
    • Spatial extent used: N:90 S:-90 E:180 W:-180
  • Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications 2
  • NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis project
    • NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis project
      NOAA ESRL PSD hosting of the reanalysis data
    • Description of Source: NCEP/NCAR reanalysis
    • Temporal extent used: 1948-01-01 to 2014-12-30
    • Spatial extent used: N:90 S:-90 E:180 W:-180
  • NOAA-CIRES Twentieth Century Reanalysis
    • NOAA-CIRES Twentieth Century Reanalysis
      NOAA ESRL PSD hosting of the reanalysis data
    • Description of Source: NOAA 20th century reanalysis
    • Temporal extent used: 1978-01-01 to 2014-12-31
    • Spatial extent used: N:90 S:-90 E:180 W:-180
Lineage information for: repository
Processing Steps
  • 2015-04-22T00:00:00 - NOAA created the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) by merging NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), and National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), including the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC), per the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Public Law 113-235. NCEI launched publicly on April 22, 2015.
Last Modified: 2023-06-23
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