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BITMAP: Tracks of western disturbances (1979-2015)

Western disturbances (WDs) are upper-level vortices that can significantly impact the weather over Pakistan and north India. This collection contains a catalogue of the tracks of WDs passing through the region (specifically 20-36.5N, 60-80E) produced from various model outputs. This work was undertaken as part of the NERC funded BITMAP (Better understanding of Interregional Teleconnections for prediction in the Monsoon and Poles) project.

BITMAP was an Indo-UK-German project (NERC grant award: NE/P006795/1) to develop better understanding of processes linking the Arctic and Asian monsoon, leading to better prospects for prediction on short, seasonal and decadal scales in both regions. Recent work had suggested that the pole-to-equator temperature difference is an essential ingredient driving variations in the monsoon.

Tracks of these WDs were generated using a bespoke tracking algorithm within the project applied to data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' (ECMWF) ERA-Interim reanalysis data and model output from various experiments of the World Climate Research Programme's Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (WCRP CMIP5). The algorithm, described in Hunt et al, 2017, QJRMS (see linked documentation), identified and linked upper-tropospheric vortices from the data and are available within this dataset collection. Additional details of the CMIP5 tracking algorithm are available in the Hunt et al. paper 'Representation of western disturbances in CMIP5 models' paper (see linked documentation). The principal difference between the algorithm used for the ERA-Interim data and the CMIP5 data is the choice of pressure levels on which the algorithm was run: 500 hPa for the ERA-Interim data and 450-300 hPa layer for the CMIP5 data.

Simple

Date (Publication)
2019-02-05T12:21:35
Date (Creation)
2019-02-05T12:21:35
Identifier
https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/b1f266c25cf2445f8b87d874f6ac830a
Identifier
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) / b1f266c25cf2445f8b87d874f6ac830a
Author
  Unavailable - Turner, Andrew G. ( author )
Author
  Unavailable - Hunt, Kieran ( author )
Custodian
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - custodian
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
Owner
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - data_owner
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
Distributor
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - distributor
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
pointofContact
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - point_of_contact
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
pointofContact
  Unavailable - Turner, Andrew G. ( point_of_contact )
Publisher
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - publisher
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
Maintenance and update frequency
unknown Unknown
Update scope
series Series
Keywords
  • BITMAP
  • India
  • Western disturbances
  • Vortices
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • atmospheric conditions
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
All data within this dataset collection are available to any registered CEDA user.
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.
Spatial representation type
grid Grid
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Topic category
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Begin date
1950-01-01T06:00:00
End date
2101-01-01T00:00:00
Unique resource identifier
WGS 84
Distribution format
  • Contact data centre for format details. ()

Distributor
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - Data Center Contact
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
OnLine resource
CEDA Data Catalogue Page

Detail and access information for the resource

OnLine resource
Hunt, K. M., Turner, A. G. and Shaffrey, L. C. (2018), The evolution, seasonality and impacts of western disturbances. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 144: 278-290. doi:10.1002/qj.3200

No further details.

OnLine resource
Hunt, K.M., A.G. Turner, and L.C. Shaffrey, 0: Representation of western disturbances in CMIP5 models. J. Climate, 0, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0420.1

No further details.

Hierarchy level
series Series

Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement
Please see data lineage statements for each dataset within this collection for data lineage details.
File identifier
b1f266c25cf2445f8b87d874f6ac830a XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Character set
8-bit variable size UCS Transfer Format, based on ISO/IEC 10646 UTF8
Hierarchy level
series Series
Hierarchy level name
series
Date stamp
2025-11-15T03:27:49
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version
2.3
Point of contact
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
atmospheric conditions

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