Accessing Met Office Weather Data

Introduction - from Thursday 29th July 2021

The CEDA Archive has been a conduit for the research community to access a range of weather data supplied by the Met Office under the NERC-Met Office agreement. Until 2021 users had to submit repeat applications for access to each of the dataset groups (for example radiosonde data, wind profiler data, surface observations).However, with a combined access route already available for users of Met Office weather data already in place for users on the JASMIN data analysis system it has been possible to apply changes to the access control for a range of Met Office weather data.

CEDA Users can apply for this new access here: https://services.ceda.ac.uk/cedasite/resreg/application?attributeid=ukmo_wx

Which data are included and which are not

The new combined access route has been applied to weather related datasets in the CEDA Archive including:

Surface observations in the full MIDAS dataset collection
Ceilometer data from the LIDARNET dataset collection
Historic wind profiler and radiosonde data
High resolution radiosonde data
Model output from the operational Unified Model
Met Research Flight (MRF) data

See the bottom of this help page for a full list of dataset collections with links to their catalogue entries.

Dataset from the Met Office Hadley Centre or those already available under the Open Government Licence are not covered by this new combined access route.

For New Users

If you are a new user you simply need to find one of the datasets within the access group and apply for one of the datasets. Once granted you will then be able to access all the other datasets within the same access group. Note, as before if you need to use the data for an alternative reason then a fresh application will need to be submitted. Likewise, if you are working with colleagues wishing to use the data too then, as the access and licence is strictly granted on a per person, per project basis, they must apply for - and receive - their own access.

For users with existing or pending applications:

Existing users of datasets now covered by the new access route will need to apply for access to this new combined access group. Parallel access will be in place for existing access until the end of August 2021 when the existing access groups will then be removed in order to allow CEDA to complete the transition to the new access arrangements. We hope that the length of the transition period will allow uses to transition smoothly and benefit from the increased access they then achieve. Beyond greater access existing users should not notice any other changes.

Pending application will be removed from the application system.

For government users

The Met Office also permits access to these data for governmental use (e.g. by use within local/national government departments) through a dedicated option as part of the application process. Existing users with such access will also need to re-apply for access.

For JASMIN Users

No additional actions are needed with regards to JASMINN user accounts - the change in the access is managed through the CEDA archive accounts linked to your account. If you don’t already have access to Met Office data then you may need to link your CEDA account to your JASMIN account - see here for instructions.

Full list of collections covered:

The following links are the dataset collections which contain one or more datasets covered by this new combined access route. Only one application is required to access the Met Office weather data included in these. The list below has been divided into 3 sections:

Presently live datasets (i.e. continue to be updated - some updates may be pending)

Historic Met Office datasets no longer being updated

Project related datasets - (provided in support of specific projects)

These datasets may contain one or more Met Office datasets within the collection, though the link is to the collection as a whole which may contain data from other sources not covered by the new combined Met Office weather data access route: