The underlying historical data is sourced from the
Worldclim and the
Climate Research Unit (CRU) (CL1.0 and CL2.0) datasets. These data were reformatted, adjusted and recombined to generate all of the required variables following the methods detailed in Kriticos et al. (
2012). The Worldclim dataset draws primarily on data between 1961-1990, though station records from 1950 to 2000 are used occasionally to fill gaps in records. The CRU datasets draw exclusively on data from 1961-1990.
The precipitation data was taken from the Worldclim dataset because the 10' data in the CRU dataset was found to suffer from inconsistencies. Conversely, the CRU dataset had more reliable temperature data, which was most apparent in Greenland. Relative Humidity data for 09:00 and 15:00 hours was calculated using temperature and vapour pressure variables.
The CliMond data have been produced for only those locations where a full set of variables are available. In the southern part of the island of Hawai'i, the CRU radiation dataset is missing data in the 10' dataset. We are exploring ways to patch this hole.