DOI: 10.15167/opendata/ccvuzu
title: Multi-parametric Dataset of the Historical Meteorological Observatory of the University of Genoa, Italy (since 1833)

description: In the historic city center of Genoa, one of the oldest and longest-running meteorological observatories in the world has been in operation since 1833. These ancient sentinels of the climate are of fundamental importance, as they allow us to estimate in a more objective and scientific way the true extent of any climate variations through the analysis of a long historical series of data. The importance of the Historical Observatory of the University of Genoa and its historical data set has also been recognized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which included it on the restricted list of "Centennial Observing Stations". This multi-parametric dataset includes values of temperatures, rainfall, relative humidity, pressure starting from January 1st 1833, subdivided into different files, one for each parameter: temperature: HistObs_UniGe_meteo_temperature rainfall: HistObs_UniGe_meteo_rainfall humidity: HistObs_UniGe_meteo_humidity pressure: HistObs_UniGe_meteo_pressure The atmospheric temperature data includes the following columns: Year, Month, Day: 3 columns for the recording date (one day per row) H8, H9, H12, H14, H15, H19, H21: values of temperature at different recording hours. From 1833-01-01 to 1903-05-10 there are measurements at H9, H12, H15, H21; from 1903-05-11 to 1932-11-30 there are measurements at H9, H15, H21; from 1932-12-01 to 2001-12-31 there are measurements at H8, H14, H19; from 2002-01-01 onwards there are measurements for all recording hours: H8, H9, H12, H14, H15, H19, H21 Max, Min: maximum and minimum daily temperature values (for the whole period) Average (24H): daily average temperature calculated on all daily hourly averages (from the year 2002 onwards) Notes: various notes on data Values of temperatures are reported in °C. The rainfall data includes the following columns: Year, Month, Day: 3 columns for the recording date (one day per row) Tot. H0-24: daily cumulative rainfall. From 1833-01-01 to 1932-11-30 the daily value refers to the period from 21:00 of the previous day to 21:00 of the current day; from 1932-12-01 to 1948-12-31 the daily value refers to the period 19:00 of the previous day to 19:00 of the current day; from 1949-01-01 onwards the daily value refers to the current day Notes: various notes on data Values of rainfall are reported in mm. The relative humidity data includes the following columns: Year, Month, Day: 3 columns for the recording date (one day per row) H8, H9, H12, H14, H15, H19, H21: values of humidity at different recording hours. From 1833-01-01 to 1903-05-10 there are measurements at H9, H12, H15, H21; from 1903-05-11 to 1932-11-30 there are measurements at H9, H15, H21; from 1932-12-01 to 2001-12-31 there are measurements at H8, H14, H19; from 2002-01-01 onwards there are measurements for all recording hours: H8, H9, H12, H14, H15, H19, H21 Max, Min: maximum and minimum daily humidity values (from the year 2002 onwards) Average (24H): daily average humidity calculated on all daily hourly averages (from the year 2002 onwards) Notes: various notes on data Values of humidity are reported in %. The atmospheric pressure data includes the following columns: Year, Month, Day: 3 columns for the recording date (one day per row) H8, H9, H12, H14, H15, H19, H21: values of pressure at different recording hours. From 1833-01-01 to 1903-05-10 there are measurements at H9, H12, H15, H21; from 1903-05-11 to 1932-11-30 there are measurements at H9, H15, H21; from 1932-12-01 to 2001-12-31 there are measurements at H8, H14, H19; from 2002-01-01 onwards there are measurements for all recording hours: H8, H9, H12, H14, H15, H19, H21 Max, Min: maximum and minimum daily pressure values (from the year 2002 onwards) Average (24H): daily average pressure calculated on all daily hourly averages (from the year 2002 onwards) Notes: various notes on data From 1833-01-01 to 1993-12-31 pressure is measured in mm., then converted in hPa (x 1.333224) and reducted to mean sea level through the formula: Pmsl = Pobs+((Pobs/29.27)x(elev./273.15)) where elev. is the elevation of the instrument in metres. From 1994-01-01 onwards pressure is measured in hPa and reducted to mean sea level through the same previous formula. Shifts in station elevations are reported in columns "Notes". For all parameters, missing values are marked with "NA" and also with "Lack of data" in column "Notes". For all parameters, starting from 1972 onwards, when it has been possible, in case of lack of data, a reliable value interpolated from nearby stations has been added, with the caution to always mention this "foreign" data in the "Notes" column. The Historical Meteorological Observatory of the University of Genoa has UTC+1 as time reference.