Global cyclone and anticyclone tracks, 1948-2022 [Replica]

Brief description

This record was harvested by RDA at 2026-10-08T11:58:32.650368+11:00 from NCI's Data Catalogue where it was last modified at 2026-06-09.

Full description

This dataset contains global surface anticyclones and both surface and 500 hPa cyclones tracked using the University of Melbourne cyclone tracking scheme over all available years to 2022. It updates an earlier version by revising the surface cyclone intensity calculation to use the Laplacian averaged within 2 degrees of the centre, rather than 5 degrees, and by adding tracked 500 hPa lows. For 500 hPa lows, tracking is based on 6-hourly instantaneous geopotential height rather than daily mean fields.

Credit

This project was jointly funded by The Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Government under the National Environmental Science Program.

Lineage

This dataset is a replica of the following dataset: Pepler, Acacia (2023). Global cyclone and anticyclone tracks, 1948-2022. figshare. Collection. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24086898.v1 Which is an update of: Pepler, Acacia (2020). Australian region cyclones, 1950-2019. figshare. Collection. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4944135.v1 The main revisions are: (1) surface cyclone intensity is now based on the Laplacian averaged within 2 degrees of the centre rather than 5 degrees, and (2) 500 hPa lows are now included and are tracked from 6-hourly instantaneous 500 hPa geopotential height fields rather than daily mean fields, unlike the earlier ERA5-based dataset. Cyclones and anticyclones were identified using the Murray and Simmonds tracking scheme and later refinements. Code and documentation: https://cyclonetracker.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/ Example processing scripts: https://github.com/apepler/cyclonetracking The included .incycloc and .intrack files record the tracking parameters used. For more information, please refer to the references and the associated readme.txt file. References: Murray, R. J., and I. Simmonds, 1991: A numerical scheme for tracking cyclone centres from digital data. Part I: Development and operation of the scheme. Aust. Meteorol. Mag., 39, 155166. Pepler A. (2024) Recent trends in extratropical lows and their rainfall over Australia. Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science 74, ES24002. https://doi.org/10.1071/ES24002 Simmonds, I., R. J. Murray, and R. M. Leighton, 1999: A refinement of cyclone tracking methods with data from FROST. Aust. Meteorol. Mag., (special edition), 3549.