Berkeley Earth High Resolution Dataset - April 2026

# BERKELEY EARTH SURFACE TEMPERATURE - HIGH RESOLUTION DATASET

Dataset:   Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature - High Resolution Dataset
Producer:  Berkeley Earth
Contents:  Text summary files and gridded NetCDF files for land-only and
global surface temperature products.

## OVERVIEW

This collection contains high-resolution Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature
files. The data are provided as temperature anomalies relative to the
1951-1980 average.

The collection includes four primary data products:

* Land-only TMAX, available from 1850 to present
* Land-only TMIN, available from 1850 to present
* Land-only TAVG, available from 1750 to present
* Global TAVG, available from 1850 to present

For each data product, the collection includes text summary files and gridded
monthly NetCDF files. The text files are intended for users who want summary
time series. The NetCDF files are intended for users who want spatially
resolved gridded fields.

## TEMPERATURE VARIABLES AND DOMAINS

Land-only TMAX

Monthly and annual averages of land-only daily maximum temperature
anomalies. Available from 1850 to present.

Land-only TMIN

Monthly and annual averages of land-only daily minimum temperature
anomalies. Available from 1850 to present.

Land-only TAVG

Monthly and annual land-only average temperature anomalies.
Available from 1750 to present.

Global TAVG

Monthly and annual summaries of global average temperature anomalies.
Available from 1850 to present. The global product combines land and
ocean surface temperature information. The ocean component is a
reinterpolation derived from HadSST4.

## REFERENCE PERIOD

All temperatures are reported as anomalies relative to the 1951-1980 average.

For a given month or year:

temperature anomaly = estimated temperature - 1951-1980 average temperature

Positive values indicate temperatures warmer than the 1951-1980 average for
the corresponding location, month, or domain. Negative values indicate
temperatures cooler than that average.

## TEXT SUMMARY FILES

Each data product has three associated text summary files:

1. Annual average summary

   Annual mean temperature anomaly time series for the corresponding data
   product.

2. Monthly average summary

   Monthly mean temperature anomaly time series for the corresponding data
   product.

3. Monthly ensemble summary

   Monthly temperature anomaly ensemble summary containing 50 alternative
   realizations. These realizations provide a representation of uncertainty
   in the Berkeley Earth analysis.

The text files are intended for general users and are the recommended starting
point for users interested in domain-average annual or monthly time series.
They contain additional context and descriptions embedded in their headers.

## GRIDDED NETCDF FILES

Each data product also has two gridded monthly NetCDF files. File names follow
the product naming convention used in the release. Examples include:

Global_TAVG_Gridded_Ensemble-All_1deg.nc
Global_TAVG_Gridded_0p25deg.nc

The two gridded files are:

1. Gridded ensemble file at 1 degree resolution

   This file contains monthly gridded ensemble information for the data
   product (50 members).

2. Gridded field file at 0.25 degree resolution

   This file contains monthly gridded temperature anomaly fields at quarter
   degree spatial resolution.

The gridded NetCDF files contain monthly anomaly fields. They also contain a
climatology field of monthly average temperatures. The climatology field can
be used to recover the estimated actual temperature from the anomaly field.

For monthly gridded data:

estimated actual temperature = temperature anomaly + monthly climatology

The climatology should be matched by location and calendar month when
recovering estimated actual temperatures.

## EXPECTED FILE GROUPS

The collection is organized around the following four data products:

Product           Domain       Variable   Time coverage

---

Land-only TMAX    Land-only    TMAX       1850-present
Land-only TMIN    Land-only    TMIN       1850-present
Land-only TAVG    Land-only    TAVG       1750-present
Global TAVG       Global       TAVG       1850-present

For each of these products, the expected files are:

Text files:

- Annual average summary
- Monthly average summary
- Monthly ensemble summary with 50 alternative realizations

NetCDF files:

- Gridded ensemble file at 1 degree resolution
- Gridded monthly field file at 0.25 degree resolution

This gives five primary files per data product, or 20 primary files in total
across the four products.

 temperature

## USING THE GRIDDED NETCDF FILES

Use the gridded NetCDF files when you need spatially resolved monthly
information.

For anomaly analysis, use the gridded temperature anomaly fields directly.
For estimated actual temperatures, add the corresponding monthly climatology
field to the anomaly field.

The general relationship is:

actual temperature estimate = anomaly + climatology

where the climatology is selected for the same grid cell and calendar month as
the anomaly value.

The NetCDF files are most appropriate for users working with geospatial or
climate data tools that can read NetCDF, such as Python/xarray, NCO, CDO,
Panoply, Matlab, R, or other NetCDF-compatible software.

## ENSEMBLE REALIZATIONS

The monthly ensemble summary text files contain 50 alternative realizations.
These realizations are intended to represent uncertainty in the temperature
analysis.

Users may use the ensemble realizations to estimate uncertainty in derived
monthly statistics, trends, or other analyses. When using ensemble data,
analysis should generally be repeated across the ensemble members and the
spread of the results used to characterize uncertainty.

## NOTES AND CAUTIONS

* The Global TAVG product describes global average temperature and includes
  both land and ocean information. The ocean component is a reinterpolation
  derived from HadSST4.

* The weather stations used in this reconstruction are available at:
  [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20427092](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20427092)

* TMAX and TMIN are available here as land-only products. This collection
  does not include global TMAX or global TMIN products.

* Berkeley Earth will publish monthly updates of this dataset on its own
  webpage at berkeleyearth.org.

* Later releases of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature dataset may extend
  the time period, update recent months, and revise earlier values.

* When publishing or redistributing results derived from these files,
  identify the product, variable, file type, resolution when applicable,
  reference period, and version or access date used.

## RECOMMENDED CITATION INFORMATION

When using this dataset, cite Berkeley Earth and identify the specific product
and files used. At minimum, report:

* Dataset name: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature - High Resolution Dataset
* Product: Land-only TMAX, Land-only TMIN, Land-only TAVG, or Global TAVG
* File type: annual summary, monthly summary, monthly ensemble summary,
  gridded 1 degree ensemble NetCDF, or gridded 0.25 degree NetCDF
* Date accessed or release date, if available

## CONTACT AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For additional documentation, monthly updates, methodology, and related
Berkeley Earth products, consult the Berkeley Earth project materials available
from Berkeley Earth at berkeleyearth.org.