Woodruff, S. D., S. J. Worley, J. A. Arnott, H. F. Diaz, J. D. Elms, M. Jackson, S. J. Lubker, and D. E. Parker, 2003: COADS updates and the blend with the UK Met Office Marine Data Bank. In Advances in the Applications of Marine Climatology, WMO/TD-No. 1081 (JCOMM Technical Report No. 13), WMO, 3-10.
Ongoing data and metadata enhancements to the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) are described, including the blend with the UK Met Office Marine Data Bank (MDB). MDB data available since 1854 are being used, together with other new and improved sources, to enhance data coverage and quality within the presently available period-of-record (1854-1997). In addition, some newly available historical data will be used to extend coverage back to 1784. Data composition and coverage are discussed, and future plans outlined, including improved products to help address data continuity problems arising from observational, instrumental, and processing changes. Improved and expanded metadata also are becoming available as part of an upgrade of the COADS web site (http://icoads.noaa.gov), which includes details about how to request data products.