"The Role of Air-Sea Forcing in Causing Rapid Changes in the North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation" project was a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) RAPID Climate Change Research Programme project (Round 1 - NER/T/S/2002/00427 - Duration 16 Feb 2004 - 15 Oct 2007) led by Dr Simon Josey of National Ocenaography Centre, with co-investigators also at the National Oceanography Centre. This dataset collections contains analysis of coupled model output of surface forcing variability in ocean circulation from the Fast Ocean Rapid Troposphere Experiment (FORTE). Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) was a £20 million, six-year (2001-2007) programme for the Natural Environment Research Council. The programme aimed to improve the ability to quantify the probability and magnitude of future rapid change in climate, with a main (but not exclusive) focus on the role of the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation.

As part of the Network for Calibration and Validation of Earth Observation data (NCAVEO) 2006 Field Campaign, hyperspectral measurements were collected over the study area of Shrewsbury on 17th June 2006. The measurements were recorded using a Specim Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging Systems (AISA) Eagle sensor on board a Dornier 228 aircraft operated by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Airborne Research and Survey Facility (ARSF). The Eagle is a 12 bit, pushbroom, hyperspectral sensor. It covers the visible and near infra-red spectrum 400 - 970nm, has a 1000 pixel swath width and a maximum spectral resolution of 2.9nm. This dataset compromises the level 1b data which was collected by the instrument. The data was collected between 10:40 am and 12:01 pm GMT. 8 flightlines of data were acquired: 7 flown in a NW-SE azimuth and one cross-cutting flightline (08), in a SW-NE direction. A link to the record page for the level 3a dataset and CASI-2 data collected during the flight are also available in linked documentation.

Spectra measurements were collected for a patch of bare soil at the northern corner of Brockley field, near Chilbolton, to establish the field's typical soil background reflectance. The measurements were recorded on the 18th June 2006 as part of the Network for Calibration and Validation of Earth Observation (NCAVEO) 2006 Field Campaign. An ASD Fieldspec Pro Instrument (FR Unit No. 6408, NCAVEO Code N4406), owned by Newcastle University, was used with an 8° FOV foreoptic. All measurements were collected using a 1.5m extension probe from a height of ~1.35 metres above the ground, with the foreoptic positioned approximately 1.5m from the tramline, in a vertical plane unless stated otherwise. At each pair of coloured flags 11 sets of panel/target measurements were taken at approximately 1 metre intervals moving from left [01] to right [11] facing from the tramline towards the crop. 30 samples were averaged per data point. Times recorded are UTC (GPS time).

Reflectance data were acquired from a fixed tripod near the north-east corner of a concrete calibration site at the Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research (CFARR), as part of the Network for Calibration and Validation of Earth Observation data (NCAVEO) 2006 Field Campaign. The data was collected on the 17th June 2006 using a single beam GER3700 spectroradiometer. The nominal field-of view of the instrument was 3°, and it was mounted 1 metre above the surface.

Data from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model, version 3.0 simulations

Data from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA/GISS), USA GISS ModelE-R simulations

The wind profiler observations describe hourly observations from around 400 Wind profiler stations distributed globally. The observations cumulate in around 10,000 reports a day, giving measurements of parameters such as the different components of wind velocity, and the standard deviations of vertical and horizontal wind speeds. The data are collected by observation stations worldwide and transmitted within the WINPRO message. Wind speeds are given to the nearest metre per second. Air temperature is measured in Kelvin. Precipitation amount is given in kilograms per metre squared. Air pressure is given in Pascals. Relative humidity is measured as a percentage.

The Airborne Research & Survey Facility (ARSF, formerly Airborne Remote Sensing Facility) is managed by NERC Scientific Services and Programme Management. It provides the UK environmental science community, and other potential users, with the means to obtain remotely-sensed data in support of research, survey and monitoring programmes. The ARSF is a unique service providing environmental researchers, engineers and surveyors with synoptic analogue and digital imagery of high spatial and spectral resolution.The NEODC holds the entire archive of Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) and Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) data acquired by the NERC ARSF. High-resolution scanned digital versions of the entire collection of analogue photographs are now also available as well as selected LiDAR-derived elevation and terrain models for selected sites flown using the sensor.

As part of the 2006 Field Campaign of the Network for Calibration and Validation of EO data (NCAVEO), an Intergraph Z/I Imaging Digital Mapping Camera (DMC) was used to collect data in 4 spectral bands in the visible and near infrared, at a nominal ground resolution of 65cm. The Chilbolton site was flown over on the 9th June 2006 by the Ordnance Survey, resulting in 84 strips captured over the Area of Interest (2048 x 3072) with 60% overlap along the track. The data was orthorectified to the British National Grid using photogrammetric methods.

Cascade was a NERC funded consortium project to study organized convection and scale interactions in the tropical atmosphere using large domain cloud system resolving model simulations. The xfncl simulation was made using the Met Office Unified Model (UM) at 1.5km resolution over the domain 40E-183E, 22S-22N which encompasses the Indian Ocean West Pacific Warm Pool. Cascade Warm Pool simulations coincide with the Year of Tropical Convection. This dataset contains Warm Pool 1.5km model measurements from xfncl run.