CRU Station Records
Important update: Versions of the code and data posted on this page on December 23, 2009 were erroneous due to several off-by-one bugs in my parsing code. I think I am pretty sure the errors have been fixed. Apologies.
This morning, I saw on ClimateAudit.org that the U.K. Met Office had announced the release of station records were produced by the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, in collaboration with the Met Office Hadley Centre
.
My curiosity got the best of me so I decided to try to disect the data set.
I put together a map of CRU station locations.
All code and original work posted by me here is Copyright © 2009 A. Sinan Unur and is released under the Perl Artistic License.
THIS INFORMATION AND SOURCE CODE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
The data set is organized into subdirectories according to the first two digits of station id numbers. In each directory, there are bunch of data files, each corresponding to a station. Each file contains meta information about the station and the station data. The data are anomalies in Celcius by year (lines) and month (space separated fields within lines). An anomaly value of -99.0 indicates a missing value.
In terms of getting an overall picture, it is inconvenient to look at individual data files, so I wrote a rudimentary Perl script to parse the data files into individual tables of station meta information, station normals and standard deviations and actual data:
The resulting SQLite database file is too large to post here. However, having this file me to quickly generate spreadsheet files for each type of information:
- Station List in Text Format (pipe separated to force you to correctly specify column types when importing into Excel)
- Station List in Excel Format (compressed in ZIP format to save bandwidth)
- Anomaly data by station, year and month (compressed in ZIP format)
- Station normals
- Station standard deviations
I noticed that some country names are misspelled in the meta information provided in the files. That will require manual lookup and fixing to get accurate station counts by country. With that caveat in mind, here are the number of stations by country. When you are looking at the table, keep in mind that there are 49 stations in the UNITED STATES and there are 22 stations in the USA and 5 stations in the USA---------.
The largest contribution seems to come from RUSSIA (40) plus USSR (31) plus RUSSIA (ASIA) (25) plus RUSSIAN FEDER (8) plus RUSSIA (EUROP) (7) and, finally RUSSIA EUROPE (1).
Then, of course, there are the countries of I, O and S.
Clearly, these transcription errors do not mean there is anything wrong with the numbers but it makes one wonder: Couldn't they have hired some undergrads to check the names?
| Country | Number of stations |
|---|---|
| AUSTRALIA | 66 |
| CHINA | 61 |
| ARGENTINA | 54 |
| CANADA | 53 |
| UNITED STATES | 49 |
| RUSSIA | 40 |
| INDIA | 36 |
| 32 | |
| BRAZIL | 32 |
| FRANCE | 32 |
| JAPAN | 32 |
| USSR | 31 |
| UK | 28 |
| ALGERIA | 27 |
| MONGOLIA | 27 |
| MEXICO | 25 |
| PERU | 25 |
| RUSSIA (ASIA) | 25 |
| USA | 22 |
| INDONESIA | 21 |
| SUDAN | 21 |
| TURKEY | 21 |
| KAZAKHSTAN | 20 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 19 |
| MALI | 18 |
| VENEZUELA | 16 |
| ANTARCTICA | 15 |
| CHILE | 15 |
| PAKISTAN | 15 |
| UNITED KINGDO | 14 |
| ALASKA | 13 |
| ZAIRE | 13 |
| CAMEROON | 12 |
| CENTRAL AFRIC | 12 |
| D.R. OF CONGO | 12 |
| ETHIOPIA | 12 |
| IRAN | 12 |
| ITALY | 12 |
| LIBYA | 12 |
| MALAYSIA | 12 |
| NORWAY | 12 |
| BOLIVIA | 11 |
| GABON | 11 |
| NIGER | 11 |
| NIGERIA | 11 |
| SENEGAL | 11 |
| SOUTH-AFRICA | 11 |
| ANGOLA | 10 |
| COTE D'IVOIRE | 10 |
| GUINEA | 10 |
| MADAGASCAR | 10 |
| MAURITANIA | 10 |
| SOUTH AFRICA | 10 |
| SPAIN | 10 |
| THAILAND | 10 |
| CHAD | 9 |
| CONGO | 9 |
| GERMANY | 9 |
| BRAZI | 8 |
| COLOMBIA | 8 |
| FINLAND | 8 |
| GREECE | 8 |
| MOZAMBIQUE | 8 |
| PARAGUAY | 8 |
| POLAND | 8 |
| REPUBLIC OF K | 8 |
| RUSSIAN FEDER | 8 |
| SAUDI ARABIA | 8 |
| SWEDEN | 8 |
| AUSTRIA | 7 |
| FRENCH POLYNE | 7 |
| IRAQ | 7 |
| ROMANIA | 7 |
| RUSSIA (EUROP | 7 |
| SYRIA | 7 |
| TUNISIA | 7 |
| URUGUAY | 7 |
| BENIN | 6 |
| BURKINA FASO | 6 |
| GREENLAND | 6 |
| IRELAND | 6 |
| KENYA | 6 |
| W.GERMANY | 6 |
| BANGLADESH | 5 |
| BOLIV A | 5 |
| E.GER ANY | 5 |
| FIJI | 5 |
| HUNGARY | 5 |
| JAPANESE PACI | 5 |
| MOROCCO | 5 |
| MYANMAR | 5 |
| SWITZERLAND | 5 |
| UKRAINE | 5 |
| USA--------- | 5 |
| ANTAR | 4 |
| AUSTRALIAN IS | 4 |
| CAROLINE ISLA | 4 |
| EGYPT | 4 |
| FRENCH GUIANA | 4 |
| FRENCH SOUTHE | 4 |
| ICELAND | 4 |
| MAURI IUS | 4 |
| NAMIBIA | 4 |
| NETHERLANDS | 4 |
| REUNION | 4 |
| S.AFRICA | 4 |
| SOMALIA | 4 |
| SRI LANKA | 4 |
| TOGO | 4 |
| TURKE | 4 |
| TURKMENISTAN | 4 |
| VIETNAM | 4 |
| BELARUS | 3 |
| CROATIA | 3 |
| ECUADOR | 3 |
| EL SALVADOR | 3 |
| GERMANY----- | 3 |
| GHANA | 3 |
| GUATEMALA | 3 |
| HAWAII | 3 |
| ISRAEL | 3 |
| KIRIBATI | 3 |
| LAO P.D.R. | 3 |
| PAPUA NEW GUI | 3 |
| PHILIPPINES | 3 |
| REPUBLIC OF U | 3 |
| REPUBLIC OF UZ | 3 |
| SLOVAKIA | 3 |
| SPAIN------- | 3 |
| ZAMBIA | 3 |
| ZIMBABWE | 3 |
| ACORES | 2 |
| AFGHANISTAN | 2 |
| ANGOL | 2 |
| ARGEN INA | 2 |
| AUSTRALIA--- | 2 |
| BAHAMAS | 2 |
| BERMUDA | 2 |
| CANARY IS. | 2 |
| CANARY ISLAND | 2 |
| CAPE VERDE I | 2 |
| COSTA RICA | 2 |
| CUBA | 2 |
| CZECH REPUBLI | 2 |
| DENMARK | 2 |
| DOMINICAN REP | 2 |
| ERITREA | 2 |
| HONDURAS | 2 |
| JAMAICA | 2 |
| JORDAN | 2 |
| KAMPUCHEA | 2 |
| KYRGYZ REPUBLI | 2 |
| LIBERIA | 2 |
| LIBYA------- | 2 |
| LITHUANIA | 2 |
| MADEIRA | 2 |
| MALAWI | 2 |
| NEW CALEDONIA | 2 |
| OMAN | 2 |
| PARAG AY | 2 |
| PHILI PINES | 2 |
| PORTUGAL | 2 |
| S.AFR | 2 |
| SAMOA | 2 |
| SOUTH AFRICAN | 2 |
| TAJIKISTAN | 2 |
| TANZANIA | 2 |
| US CENTRAL PA | 2 |
| VANUATU | 2 |
| W.GER ANY | 2 |
| YUGOSLAVIA | 2 |
| ZAMBI | 2 |
| AATAR | 1 |
| AFGHA | 1 |
| ALBANIA | 1 |
| ALGERIA----- | 1 |
| ALKER FLD | 1 |
| ANDAMAN AND L | 1 |
| ANTIL ES | 1 |
| ARMENIA | 1 |
| BAHRAIN | 1 |
| BARBADOS | 1 |
| BELGIUM | 1 |
| BELIZE | 1 |
| BRAZIL------ | 1 |
| BULGARIA | 1 |
| BULGARIA---- | 1 |
| BURUNDI | 1 |
| CAMER ON | 1 |
| CANAD | 1 |
| CAPE VERDE | 1 |
| CHAD-------- | 1 |
| CHAGOS ARCHIP | 1 |
| CHINA------- | 1 |
| COMOROS | 1 |
| COOK ISLANDS | 1 |
| COTE-D'IVOIR | 1 |
| CZECH | 1 |
| D.P.R.OF KORE | 1 |
| DJIBOUTI | 1 |
| EANDAMAN AND | 1 |
| ECUAD | 1 |
| ECUAD R | 1 |
| ESTONIA | 1 |
| FAEROE IS. | 1 |
| FAN | 1 |
| FRANC | 1 |
| GAMBIA | 1 |
| GIBRALTAR | 1 |
| GREEN AND | 1 |
| GUADE OUPE | 1 |
| GUINEA-BISSAU | 1 |
| GUYANA | 1 |
| HONDU AS | 1 |
| I | 1 |
| ICELA D | 1 |
| INDIA------- | 1 |
| INDON SIA | 1 |
| INTL | 1 |
| ISLA DE PASCU | 1 |
| ISRAEL------ | 1 |
| IZ) A PT | 1 |
| KUWAIT | 1 |
| LAOS | 1 |
| LATVIA | 1 |
| LEBAN N | 1 |
| LLY | 1 |
| LUXEM OURG | 1 |
| MACAU | 1 |
| MALTA | 1 |
| MARIANA ISLAN | 1 |
| MARTI IQUE | 1 |
| NAL | 1 |
| NENE) | 1 |
| NEPAL | 1 |
| NETH. ANTILLE | 1 |
| NEW Z ALAND | 1 |
| NICARAGUA | 1 |
| O | 1 |
| PACIFIC OC. | 1 |
| PORTU AL | 1 |
| PUERTO RICO | 1 |
| QATAR | 1 |
| REPUBLIC-OF- | 1 |
| RUMAN A | 1 |
| RUSSIA EUROPE | 1 |
| S | 1 |
| S FLD | 1 |
| SAO TOME | 1 |
| SAO-TOME-AND | 1 |
| SEPH O | 1 |
| SERBIA------ | 1 |
| SEYCHELLES | 1 |
| SIERRA LEONE | 1 |
| SOLOMON ISLAN | 1 |
| SOLOMON ISLAND | 1 |
| SOMAL | 1 |
| ST. HELENA | 1 |
| SURINAME | 1 |
| TANZANIA---- | 1 |
| TONGA | 1 |
| TRINIDAD AND | 1 |
| TUVALU | 1 |
| UGANDA | 1 |
| WALLIS ISLAND | 1 |
| WESTERN SAHAR | 1 |
| YUGOS AVIA | 1 |
| ZIMBA WE | 1 |