Types of Data

Wind Movement

Wind Gust Recorder

Relative Humidity

Solar Pyroheliometer Chart Data

Temperature

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

Ship's Log

Station Pressure Charts