Historical surface climate data files and meta-data for stations in Mediterranean North Africa and Middle East areas (1852-2008) =================================================================================================================================== 1. General Information: =================================================================================================================================== Countries covered : Morocco, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Syria. Climatic variables: TN : Daily minimum temperature of air (C deg) TX : Daily maximum temperature of air (C deg) RR : Daily precipitation total (mm/day) PP : Sub-daily air pressure (hPa) mostly in the form of sea level adjusted air pressure (SLP) - see below (4.4) for details. Dates : Start date : 1852.01.01 Final date : 2008.12.31 Development : Developed by : Centre for Climate Change (C3) of University Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona/Tortosa, Spain. Funded by : European Union, Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 242093 (EURO4M project). Reference : A full description of the data set has been submitted to Geoscience Data Journal, (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2049-6060). =================================================================================================================================== 2. Data Files: =================================================================================================================================== 2.1. Data file list: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Data file name Content Number of lines Number of columns (elements per line) ----------------------- ------------------------ ------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- C3-EURO4M-MEDARE_TN_v2.txt TN data for 70 stations* 1 (header) + 57344 (data) 3 (date data) + 70 (climatic data) C3-EURO4M-MEDARE_TX_v2.txt TX data for 70 stations* 1 (header) + 57344 (data) 3 (date data) + 70 (climatic data) C3-EURO4M-MEDARE_RR_v2.txt RR data for 76 stations* 1 (header) + 57344 (data) 3 (date data) + 76 (climatic data) C3-EURO4M-MEDARE_PP_v2.txt PP data for 33 stations* 1 (header) + 57344 (data) 3 (date data) + 148 (time and PP data)** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * see section 4.1-"station list" for details ** there are 74 pairs of observational time series and PP data series; for some stations there are up to three sub-daily records, which corresponds to 6 data columns; see sections 2.2, and 4.4 for details 2.2. Data file structure: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The data files are in ASCII format comprising data lines whose data elements are separated by tabs. The TN, TX, & RR data files start with an one-line header which describes the structure of each data line: Year, Month, Day (of month), WMO-code#1, WMO-code#2, etc. Header (TN) extract: Year Month Day 60100-0 60101-0 60107-0 60115-0 60318-0 60320-0 60338-0 60355-0 ... The data lines that follow consist of the date data (3 elements) plus the station data (70/76 elements), as described on the header line. Data (TN) example: 1960 1 1 8.0 -99.9 -99.9 7.0 10.0 -99.9 5.0 -99.9 ... The PP data files start with an one-line header which describes the structure of each data line: Year, Month, Day (of month), HourMin, WMO-code#1, HourMin, WMO-code#2, etc. If there are more than one sub-daily observations for a station, the same WMO-code number appears succesively (up to three times). Header (PP) extract: Year Month Day HourMin 60100-0 HourMin 60100-0 HourMin 60100-0 HourMin 60101-0 ... The data lines that follow consist of the date data (3 elements) plus the time and PP data (148 elements), as described on the header line. Data (PP) example: 1960 1 1 0600 1026.8 -999 -99.9 1800 1026.1 -999 -99.9 ... Each data line corresponds to an individual day. Data lines are in an ascending chronological order from the start date (1852.01.01) to the final date (2008.12.31). Data lines with missing data are included in the data files. 2.3. Data special codes: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Missing value for climatic data = -99.9 Missing value for HourMin = -999 Trace precipitation = -3 Cumulative precipitation = -4 =================================================================================================================================== 3. Data Quality Control: =================================================================================================================================== The data have been quality controlled following a multi-stage approach: (1) application of RClimDex-extraQC software (http://www.c3.urv.cat/data.html) for TN, TX & RR data (2) application of a series of statistical checks for PP data (3) visual inspection of times series (4) consultation of ancillary information found in the data sources used 3.1. Automatic Quality Control results file: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- File name = C3-EURO4M-MEDARE_documentingQC.txt 3.2. File structure: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Country, Station Name, WMO code, Year, Month, Day, Element, Original Value, Replacement Value, Detection Test, Type of error, Procedure Each data line corresponds to an suspicious. =================================================================================================================================== 4. Station Metadata: =================================================================================================================================== 4.1. Station list: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WMO code LOCATION-STATION NAME COUNTRY LATITUDE LONGITUDE ALTITUDE VARIABLES LENGTH DATA SOURCES -------- ------------------------ ------- ----------- ----------- -------- ------------ --------- ------------------------- 60100-0 Tangier city Morocco 35.78 deg N 5.82 deg W 86 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1912-1961 BMD-España, BM-Maroc 60101-0 Tangier airport Morocco 35.73 deg N 5.90 deg W 15 m TN,TX,RR,PP2 1961-1978 BM-Maroc 60107-0 Al Hoceima Morocco 35.18 deg N 3.85 deg W 12 m TN,TX,RR,PP2 1965-1978 BM-Maroc 60115-0 Oujda Morocco 34.78 deg N 1.93 deg W 478 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1910-1978 BM-Algérie, BM-Maroc 60318-0 Tetuan Morocco 35.58 deg N 5.33 deg W 10 m TN,TX,RR 1920-1978 BMD-España, BM-Maroc 60320-0 Ceuta Spain 35.89 deg N 5.35 deg W 87 m TN,TX,RR 1933-1939 BMD-España 60338-0 Melilla Spain 35.28 deg N 2.96 deg W 47 m TN,TX,RR 1899-1962 BMD-España, BM-Maroc 60355-0 Skikda-Cap Bougarouni Algeria 37.08 deg N 6.47 deg E 195 m TN,TX 1931-1938 BM-Algérie 60357-0 Annaba-Cap de Garde Algeria 36.97 deg N 7.79 deg E 161 m TN,TX,RR 1909-1937 BM-Algérie 60367-0 La Calle (El Kala) Algeria 36.90 deg N 8.44 deg E 10 m PP1 1877-1938 BM-Algérie 60369-0 Algiers-Ville/Université Algeria 36.78 deg N 3.07 deg E 59 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1877-1938 BM-Algérie 60372-0 Algiers-Bouzareah Algeria 36.80 deg N 3.03 deg E 344 m TN,TX,RR 1893-1920 BM-Algérie 60374-0 Algiers-Cap Caxine Algeria 36.80 deg N 3.04 deg E 38 m TN,TX,RR 1878-1879 ABCM-France 60395-0 Tizi Ouzou Algeria 36.72 deg N 4.05 deg E 222 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1879-1938 BM-Algérie 60395-1 Fort National Algeria 36.63 deg N 4.20 deg E 942 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1884-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60400-0 Bejaia-Cap Carbon Algeria 36.78 deg N 5.10 deg E 225 m TN,TX 1926-1938 BM-Algérie 60401-0 Bejaia-Bougie (Port) Algeria 36.75 deg N 5.10 deg E 9 m TN,TX,RR 1909-1926 BM-Algérie 60419-0 Constantine Algeria 36.37 deg N 6.62 deg E 660 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1880-1938 BM-Algérie 60425-0 Orleansville (Chlef) Algeria 36.17 deg N 1.34 deg E 112 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1879-1838 BM-Algérie 60445-0 Setif Algeria 36.18 deg N 5.40 deg E 1081 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1878-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60461-0 Oran Algeria 35.70 deg N 0.65 deg W 53 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1852-1966 ASM-France, ABCM-France, BM-Algérie, BM-Maroc 60485-0 Oran-Cap Falcon Algeria 35.77 deg N 0.80 deg W 78 m TN,TX,RR 1896-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60475-0 Tebessa Algeria 35.42 deg N 8.12 deg E 863 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1879-1938 BM-Algérie 60517-0 Nemours (Ghazaouet) Algeria 35.10 deg N 1.85 deg W 83 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1878-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60520-0 Sidi-Bel-Abbés Algeria 35.20 deg N 0.63 deg W 476 m TN,TX,RR 1880-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60525-0 Biskra Algeria 34.85 deg N 5.72 deg E 125 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1880-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60545-0 Laghouat Algeria 33.80 deg N 2.89 deg E 767 m TN,TX,RR 1888-1938 BM-Algérie 60550-0 Geryville (El-Bayadh) Algeria 33.68 deg N 1.00 deg E 1320 m TN,TX,RR 1888-1938 BM-Algérie 60590-0 El-Golea Algeria 30.55 deg N 3.07 deg E 394 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1892-1938 ABCM-France, BM-Algérie 60714-0 Bizerte Cap Blanc Tunisia 37.33 deg N 09.84 deg E 264 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1899-1961 CIRCE 60714-1 Bizerte Karouba Tunisia 37.23 deg N 09.82 deg E 6 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1920-1959 CIRCE 60715-0 Tunis Tunisia 36.80 deg N 10.17 deg E 36 m TN,TX,RR 1886-1938 BM-Algérie 60715-1 Tunis-el-Aouina Tunisia 36.83 deg N 10.23 deg E 4 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1925-1957 CIRCE 60720-0 Kelibia Tunisia 36.84 deg N 11.11 deg E 82 m RR 1907-1932 SM-Tunis 60725-0 Jendouba Souk-el-Arba Tunisia 36.48 deg N 08.80 deg E 144 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1946-1957 CIRCE 60735-0 Kairouan Tunisia 35.67 deg N 10.10 deg E 65 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1930-1957 CIRCE 60743-0* El Djem Tunisia 35.33 deg N 10.70 deg E 112 m TN,TX,RR 1900-1932 BM-Algérie, SM-Tunis 60750-0 Sfax Tunisia 34.72 deg N 10.72 deg E 23 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1886-1957 BM-Algérie, CIRCE 60760-0 Tozeur Tunisia 33.95 deg N 08.11 deg E 50 m TN,TX,RR,PP1 1897-1938 BM-Algérie 60765-0 Gabes Tunisia 33.89 deg N 10.11 deg E 4 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1887-1957 SM-Tunis, CIRCE 60769-0 Djerba Tunisia 33.88 deg N 10.85 deg E 4 m TN,TX,RR 1898-1912 BM-Algérie 62002-0 Nalut Libya 31.87 deg N 10.98 deg E 621 m TN,TX,RR 1932-1953 BMA-Italiana, Libyan-NMC 62007-0 Zuara Libya 32.88 deg N 12.08 deg E 3 m TN,TX,RR 1920-1955 Libyan-NMC 62010-0 Tripoli Airport Libya 32.67 deg N 13.15 deg E 81 m TN,TX,RR 1943-1955 Libyan-NMC 62010-1 Tripoli Sidi El Mesri Libya 32.87 deg N 13.22 deg E 25 m TN,TX,RR 1916-2008 Libyan-NMC 62010-2 Tripoli City Libya 32.90 deg N 13.18 deg E 25 m TN,TX,RR 1925-1974 BMA-Italiana, Libyan-NMC 62016-0 Misurata Libya 32.32 deg N 15.05 deg E 32 m TN,TX,RR 1925-1956 Libyan-NMC 62019-0 Sirte Libya 31.20 deg N 16.58 deg E 13 m TN,TX,RR 1925-1955 Libyan-NMC 62053-0 Benghazi Benina Libya 32.08 deg N 20.27 deg E 132 m TN,TX,RR 1944-1955 Libyan-NMC 62053-1 Benghazi Regima (Ragma) Libya 32.07 deg N 20.07 deg E 322 m TN,TX,RR 1922-1935 Libyan-NMC 62055-0 Agedabia Libya 30.72 deg N 20.17 deg E 7 m TN,TX,RR 1924-1955 Libyan-NMC 62056-0 Shahat Libya 32.80 deg N 21.88 deg E 648 m TN,TX,RR 1921-1955 Libyan-NMC 62059-0 Derna Libya 32.76 deg N 22.66 deg E 10 m TN,TX,RR 1928-1955 BM-Cirenaica, BMA-Italiana, Libyan-NMC 62300-0 Salloum Egypt 31.55 deg N 25.18 deg E 4 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1919-1957 Egypt-DWR 62306-0 Mersa Matruh Egypt 31.33 deg N 27.22 deg E 25 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1920-1957 Egypt-DWR 62333-0 Port Said Egypt 31.28 deg N 32.23 deg E 6 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1884-1957 ABCM-France, UK-DWR, Cairo-MR, Egypt-DWR 62371-0 Cairo Abbassia Egypt 30.08 deg N 31.29 deg E 30 m TN,TX,RR 1900-1908 UK-DWR, Cairo-MR 62374-0 Cairo Ezbekiya Egypt 30.05 deg N 31.25 deg E 20 m TN,TX,RR 1909-1957 Egypt-DWR 62375-0 Giza (Cairo) Egypt 30.03 deg N 31.21 deg E 28 m TN,TX,RR 1924-1957 Egypt-DWR 62378-0 Helwan (Cairo) Egypt 29.86 deg N 31.34 deg E 116 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1904-1957 Egypt-DWR, Helwan-MR 62417-0 Siwa Egypt 29.20 deg N 25.48 deg E –15 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1912-1957 Egypt-DWR 62441-0 Ismailia Egypt 30.60 deg N 32.23 deg E 10 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1884-1956 ABCM-France, Egypt-DWR 62450-0 El Suez Egypt 29.93 deg N 32.55 deg E 10 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1907-1957 Egypt-DWR 17600-0 Paphos Cyprus 34.77 deg N 32.43 deg E 30 m TN,TX,RR 1901-1922 UK-CR 17607-0 Nicosia Cyprus 35.19 deg N 33.37 deg E 152 m TN,TX,RR,PP2 1881-1922 UK-CR 40102-0 Rayack Lebanon 33.85 deg N 36.00 deg E 920 m RR 1928-1970 BCM-Liban 40103-0 Tripoli Lebanon 34.45 deg N 35.82 deg E 20 m RR 1931-1970 BCM-Liban 40105-0 Les Cedres (Al Arz) Lebanon 34.25 deg N 36.05 deg E 1925 m RR 1939-1964 BCM-Liban 40106-0 Ksara Lebanon 33.82 deg N 35.89 deg E 918 m TN,TX,RR,PP3 1912-1971 ABCM-France, AO-Ksara 40108-0* Hermel Lebanon 34.40 deg N 36.38 deg E 700 m RR 1932-1970 BCM-Liban 40109-0* Rachaya Lebanon 33.50 deg N 35.85 deg E 1235 m RR 1933-1970 BCM-Liban 40005-0 Jarablus Syria 36.82 deg N 38.00 deg E 350 m TN,TX,RR 1928-1975 BCM-Liban, MCD-Syria 40007-0 Aleppo Syria 36.18 deg N 37.22 deg E 390 m TN,TX,RR 1955–1975 MCD-Syria 40022-0 Lattakia Syria 35.50 deg N 35.78 deg E 7 m RR 1928–1975 BCM-Liban, MCD-Syria 40050-0 Tartous Syria 34.90 deg N 35.87 deg E 5 m RR 1928–1975 BCM-Liban, MCD-Syria 40055-0 Homs Syria 34.75 deg N 36.72 deg E 487 m TN,TX,RR 1914–1959 AULO-Beirut, BCM-Liban, MCD-Syria 40061-0 Palmyra Syria 34.55 deg N 38.30 deg E 404 m TN,TX,RR 1928–1975 BCM-Liban, MCD-Syria 40079-0 Damascus Syria 33.48 deg N 36.23 deg E 720 m TN,TX,RR 1928–1955 BCM-Liban 40095-0 Dara'a Syria 32.60 deg N 36.10 deg E 532 m TN,TX,RR 1928–1933 BCM-Liban 4.2. Information on WMO codes: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WMO codes (the first 5 digits) correspond to the same or nearest modern-time station code. The WMO code suffix is usually a "-0"; if there are more than one stations with the same WMO code, it ascends to a "-1", or "-2". When a WMO pseudo-code is used, it is indicated by an asterisk (*). 4.3. Information on stations' latitude, longitude and altitude: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The coordinates of stations may have varied throughout the observational period. Data on coordinates were not always available in the data sources used. The latest coordinates found are mentioned here. 4.4. Information on climatic variables: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TN = Daily minimum temperature within 12:00-12:00, 18:00-18:00, 19:00-19:00, 00:00-24:00 hours, or unknown interval. TX = Daily maximum temperature within 06:00-06:00, 07:00-07:00, 12:00-12:00, 19:00-19:00, 00:00-24:00 hours, or unknown interval [1]. RR = Daily precipitation total within 06:00-06:00, 07:00-07:00, 08:00-08:00, 00:00-24:00 hours, or unknown interval [1]. PP1 = Air pressure records taken in the morning [2] [3]. PP2 = Air pressure records taken in the morning & evening (twice a day) [2] [3]. PP3 = Air pressure records taken in the morning, mid-day & evening (three times a day) [2] [3]. Notes: [1] In order to place TX & RR daily values on the correct calendar day, their data were occasionally shifted one day back. [2] PP observational times are in local times for the ancient-period data, but are provided in UTC for the modern periods. The use of UTC standard for PP records starts at different dates for each country as follows: Morocco: since 1953 Algeria: since 1953 Tunisia: since 1943 Egypt : since 1948/06/10-11 Cyprus : only local times Lebanon: only local times [3] PP records are mostly in the form of sea level adjusted air pressure (SLP). However, there are periods for which air pressure data seem to correspond to original (unadjusted) records: 60590-0 El-Golea Algeria 1892.01-1898.12 60714-0 Bizerte Cap Blanc Tunisia 1906.03-1938.04 60725-0 Jendouba Souk-el-Arba Tunisia 1946.08-1957.05 (all data) 60735-0 Kairouan Tunisia 1930.10-1957.05 (all data) 60750-0 Sfax Tunisia 1946.07-1957.05 (looks like being original records) 17607-0 Nicosia Cyprus 1881.08-1922.12 (all data) 40106-0 Ksara Lebanon 1912.01-1939.12 (all data) 4.5. Information on data lengths: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Years, Months, or sporadic days with missing data may occur within the data period mentioned. 4.6. Information on data sources: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABBREVIATED NAME DATA SOURCE COUNTRIES COVERED YEAR RANGE ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ---------- ABCM-France Annales du Bureau Central Météorologique de France Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia 1884-1914 AO-Ksara Annales de l’ Observatoire de Ksara Lebanon 1921–1971 ASM-France Annuaire de la Société Météorologique de France Algeria 1852–1867 AULO-Beirut American Univ.(Syrian Protestant College) – Lee Observatory. Beirut Syria 1914-1915 BCM-Liban Bulletin Climatologique Mensuel du Liban Lebanon 1928–1970 BM-Algérie Bulletin Météorologique de l'Algérie Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia 1877–1938 BM-Cirenaica Bolletino Meteorologico della Cirenaica Libya 1928-1931 BM-Maroc Bulletin de Météorologique du Maroc Algeria, Morocco, Spain 1953–1978 BMA-Italiana Bollettino Meteorologico dell'Africa Italiana Libya 1932-1936 BMD-España Boletín Meteorológico Diario de España Morocco, Spain 1899–1948 Cairo-MR Cairo. Meteorological Reports Egypt 1904–1941 CIRCE CIRCE-project digital data files Tunisia 1899–1961 Egypt-DWR Egypt. Daily Weather Reports Egypt 1907–1957 Helwan-MR Helwan Observatory Meteorological Reports Egypt 1942–1944 Libyan-NMC Libyan National Meteorological Center archives Libya 1916–2008 MCD-Syria Monthly Climatological Data. Syria Syria 1955–1975 SM-Tunis Service Météorologique de Tunis Tunisia 1907–1932 UK-CR UK Climatological Returns Cyprus 1881–1922 UK-DWR UK Daily Weather Reports Egypt 1900–1904