:: INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DATA RESCUE ORGANIZATION ::

Information in this section consists of guides where environmental professionals may find ideas, concepts, and procedures to facilitate the establishment and operation of environmental data rescue and digitization programs within their organizations and within their countries.

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Why Rescue Old Data?

Our understanding of global warming and climate change is incomplete. To fully comprehend the global environmental challenges we face, we need to collect and analyze as much raw data as possible.

Many countries of the world are establishing a Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) composed of new observation sites to closely monitor weather trends over the next century. Indeed, it takes about 100 years’ worth of data to be able to make accurate predictions and to see clearly what actions can and should be taken. If we only start collecting that data today, 100 years from now when our data is finally complete enough, we may find that it is too late to take the corrective actions necessary to stem the trend towards extreme climate throughout the world.

Old Is Better

There is a quicker, cheaper solution: locate, organize, and rescue historic weather data. For a fraction of the cost and the time being expended on CGOS, we could rescue each piece of old environmental information, digitize it, and place it on a secure medium for everyone’s use. Questions about climate change could be answered quickly; hopefully in time for mankind to take corrective measures.

The data rescued by IEDRO enables the meteorological and scientific communities to provide more accurate severe weather forecasting and to better understand climate change. This information enables the world community to predict long-range weather patterns more accurately and thereby helps meteorological professionals to:

• Prevent famine and starvation.

• Provide more accurate lifesaving flood forecasts.

• Prevent the spread of airborne and insect-borne disease.

• Construct and reinforce buildings, bridges, and public services to withstand predicted severe weather.

• Better understand the nature and extent of global warming and climate change, as well as the rate at which our climate is changing.

• Gain a clearer understanding of human history.

Data Rescue Problems and IEDRO’s Solution

Weather data describes the atmosphere at a particular time and place. It may include temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, wind speed, barometric pressure, visibility, precipitation, and other factors. There are two basic types of weather observations:

• Surface Observations — Readings taken by an observer from weather instruments which are about five feet off the ground. Readings may be hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly.

• Upper-Air Observations — Taken from a radio transmitter attached to weather sensors. The sensors trail a balloon as it rises from the ground up to 100,000 feet.

Problems with Historic Observations

• Observations — Records of unusual environmental disturbances were recorded in ships’ logs, personal diaries, newspaper accounts, or other temporary media before the invention of modern meteorological instruments. Many times the data was imperfect or estimated. For example, winds at sea may have been described by sea conditions or the billowing of ships’ sails, while winds on land may have been estimated by the movement of trees and other flora.

• Recording Methods — Prior to 1985, weather observations were recorded on paper and transmitted via radio, telephone, and teletype to weather forecasters. Unfortunately, many times transmission difficulties prevented the readings from reaching users. This handicapped scientists wishing to study a particular weather phenomenon, since they did not have a complete set of weather observations archived.

Strip charts were used to record observational data such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, precipitation, stream flow, wind direction and speed, etc.


*"The further back you look, the further forward you can see." - Winston Churchill*

Like the one above, hydro-meteorological “strip charts” look like pen traces on a grid. The charts are mounted on cylinders that rotate at a constant speed; a pen, attached to a mechanical device, records the changes in parameter values over time. Depending on the speed at which the cylinder turns, the charts may represent parameter changes over a 24-hour period or a 7-day week.

The Problem

The process to extract information and digitize the values from strip charts involves manually running a digitizing pen over the chart to trace it and then entering the data on a form by hand. This process takes 15 to 20 minutes of effort per chart.

IEDRO’s Solution

Dr. Ed Root, one of IEDRO’s talented volunteers, is developing a computer program that will copy and digitize a scanned or photographed image of a strip chart. The digitized data will be provided in a comma-delimited file or transcribed in a table. The time required for the program to digitize a chart will be less than 5 seconds!

Stay tuned to IEDRO through our website or our free monthly newsletter. Sign up at admin@iedro.org.

To learn more about who benefits from IEDRO's work, click here.

IEDRO’s Data Rescue Goals

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a program in 2001 to save and digitize data at risk of being lost forever. NOAA’s data rescue program gathers old paper observations and hires contractors to view each weather observation record and manually key in the information into a digital database.

While NOAA has successfully digitized historic weather observations taken in the U.S., weather observations from around the world have not been collected. We at IEDRO focus on locating and rescuing historic weather records that have not been captured by NOAA. This information, which provides records for about two-thirds of the planet’s surface, has not been digitized or placed in an accessible archive. These fragile paper records may no longer exist 10 years from now, and the vital information contained within them will be lost.

While most of the data located, rescued, and computerized by IEDRO are historic weather observations taken by foreign meteorological services, other unofficial observations and unusual records are equally important. IEDRO’s long range goals include expanding our rescue efforts to:

•   Weather data recorded on microfilm, microfiche and      magnetic tape
•   Marine observations (surface temperatures, tidal records     and deep ocean data)
•   Inland water body data
•   Data from historic ship’s logbooks
•   Solar observations
•   Ionosphere observations
•   Shoreline mapping records
•   Marine ecosystems
•   Cetacean data (observance of large marine mammals)
•   Historic glacier photographs
•   Personal diary weather observations
•   Storm descriptions from historic church records
•   Other private historical data donated by the public

How We Provide Rescued Data to the World Community

- IEDRO has one requirement – rescued data will be provided to the world community through a world data center for free or for a nominal reproduction charge.

- IEDRO sends a copy of the scanned images received from our data rescue projects to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina. NCDC keys the alphanumeric data, scans the photographs, and stores the digital files in its database. Anyone in the world can access the information stored at NCDC for educational and operational purposes.

Who Uses IEDRO’s Historical Weather Data?

IEDRO collects historical data from as far back as the 1600’s. The data we collect holds the power to help every global citizen today. With data spanning 100 years or more, we can successfully forecast and understand the ever-changing climate. The data we collect is digitized and downloaded to an open and unrestricted digital database accessible by all.

Foreign Agricultural Extension Agents to Prevent Starvation
Our newly available data enables rural agricultural and development planners to show 1.8 billion subsistence farmers the real frequency of drought in their countries. Planting more appropriate crops means extra production for famine years.

Public Health Officials and Disease Researchers to Avert the Spread of Diseases
Saved data is correlated with historic disease epidemics and pandemics to stem current outbreaks of airborne diseases, such as Malaria, West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever. The relationship of past disease spread with the historic weather conditions enables researchers to predict disease spread (disease vectorization). Inoculation teams and mosquito spraying equipment can then be allocated to the most vulnerable areas.

Researchers to Understand Climate Change and Global Warming
Newly available data shows scientists the true extent and rate of global warming and climate change. Regardless of which side of the global warming debate scientists are on, all agree more historical weather data is needed for research, and we need it soon.

Hydrologists and Meteorologists to Predict Severe Weather Conditions
Flooding causes more deaths each year than all other natural disasters combined (e.g., lightning, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and tornados). Collection of historical rainfall records is critical to flood-forecast computer models used by most national weather services (including the U.S.) to forecast river flooding. Accuracy of forecasting increases as the year span of the collected data increases.

IEDRO Project Countries 2008
The below table shows total observations rescued, number rescued in 2008, and primary area of benefit.

Country	Total	2008	Primary Area of Benefit
Chile	540,000	24,500	Global warming
Uruguay	277,000	53,000	Global warming
Dominican Rep.	20,000	0	Severe weather
Kenya	35,000	0	Starvation/disease
Malawi	35,000	4,000	Starvation/disease
Mozambique	42,000	12,000	Starvation/disease
Niger	5,000	0	Starvation/disease
Senegal	70,000	14,000	Starvation/disease
Tanzania	2,000	2,000	Starvation/disease
Zambia	30,000	4,500	Starvation/disease
Totals	1,020,000	114,000

Why Do We Rescue Historic Weather Data

We at IEDRO desire to:

• Better understand the nature and extent of global warming and climate change, as well as the rate at which our climate is changing.

• Prevent the spread of airborne and insect-borne disease.

• Provide more accurate lifesaving flood forecasts.

• Prevent famine and starvation.

• Make buildings, bridges, and public services able to withstand severe weather.

• Gain a clearer understanding of human history.

To better understand the reasons we collect old weather data, refer to the following documents.

1.  6 Reasons to Collect Historic Weather Data click here.
2.  About IEDRO Brochure click here.
3.  Articles Related to Why We Rescue Weather Data click here.
4.  IEDRO Newsletters that discuss 6 reasons for rescuing weather data click here.
5.  IEDRO Presentation with music click here.

The Costs and Benefits of Accurate Weather Predictions

What is the impact in terms of lives, live stock, structures, lifestyle, health, and finances when predictions of extreme weather are not accurate versus when they are on target and adequate warnings and preventive measures are provided? click here.