There is a newer version of the record available.

Published February 3, 2026 | Version v23
Dataset Open

QBO: monthly zonal stratospheric winds from tropical radiosonde data (mainly Singapore)

  • 1. ROR icon Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Contributors

Description

Monthly Tropical Stratospheric Zonal Winds from Radiosondes

Data Source and Processing:

Monthly mean zonal wind data for the tropics are provided as a service for the global QBO and trend analysis communities. The original data source and processing chain were established by the Free University of Berlin (FUB). Currently, the data is processed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, ROR:04t3en479), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK), Germany with the tools developed at FUB.

Data Description:

The dataset includes monthly mean zonal wind values at pressure levels 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 12, and 10 hPa, derived from radiosonde observations at four equatorial stations:

  • Kiribati (Canton Island) - data from 1953 to 1967 (closed)
  • Maldives (Gan Island) - data from 1967 to 1975 (closed)
  • Singapore (Payalebar) - data from 1975 to 1989
  • Singapore (Changi) - data from 1989 onwards

Important Notes:

  • Values for 100 hPa from October 1967 are solely from Singapore (Changi).
  • Values for 100 hPa before October 1967 are from Kiribati (Canton Island) when available.
  • Detailed information about the radiosonde stations and their periods of operation is provided below.

Additional Information:

Detailed List of Radiosonde Stations:

Station Name Location (Lat, Lon) Data Period Pressure Levels (hPa)
Kiribati (Canton Island) -2.7667, -171.7167 1953 - 1967 (closed)

Above 100 (until August 1967)

100 (until September 1967)

Maldives (Gan Island) -0.6933, 73.1556 1967 - 1975 (closed) Above 100 (September 1967 to December 1975)
Singapore (Payalebar) 1.3667, 103.9167 1975 - 1989 Above 100 (January 1976 to May 1989)
Singapore Upper Air Observatory 1.3404, 103.8879 1989 - present

100 (October 1967 to May 1989), 

All levels from June 1989

 

Files

qbo_wind.pdf

Files (1.3 MB)

Name Size Download all
md5:afedfa9401e18c99fa6f6731ec8bcc7a
52.4 kB Download
md5:7bc8b392357c97d612fbd6b62602f44c
28.6 kB Download
md5:0d286a71c0806bd0af4da52782edac21
28.7 kB Preview Download
md5:fe399652f18ebe62f366ec55179212e5
817.5 kB Preview Download
md5:97b05c646b6fc29907674a6539363bc8
150.9 kB Preview Download
md5:9130856f8996c737179aaf34587916ff
231.2 kB Download
md5:1b2a4e171961d5247866c6d0b93acfe8
148 Bytes Download
md5:b29f0c2c8e3e67bcdff6a50d232db0b8
39.8 kB Download
md5:99fc837df4c6f07465a45fdeee025d11
281 Bytes Download

Additional details

Related works

Continues
Dataset: https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/en/met/ag/strat/produkte/qbo/index.html (Other)
Is identical to
Dataset: https://www.atmohub.kit.edu/english/807.php (Other)

Dates

Created
2026-02-03

References