dataset · Global

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present

ERA5 is the fifth generation ECMWF reanalysis for the global climate and weather for the past 8 decades. Data is available from 1940 onwards. ERA5 replaces the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Reanalysis combines model data with observations from across the world into a globally complete and consistent dataset using the laws of physics. This principle, called data assimilation, is based on the method used by numerical weather prediction centres, where every so many hours (12 hours at ECMWF) a previous fo

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Source details

Licence: CC-BY-4.0

Evidence quality: 51.6

Listed in cds public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).

Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z

What's in it

Data offered docs-verified: 10m wind speed · 10m and 100m u/v-components of wind · 2m temperature · 2m dewpoint temperature · Large-scale and convective precipitation · Evaporation · Downward UV radiation at surface · High and low cloud cover · Clear-sky direct solar radiation at surface · Geopotential · Boundary layer height · Convective available potential energy · Leaf area index (high and low vegetation) · Lake temperature, depth, cover and ice variables · Sea-ice temperature layers 1-4 · Ocean-wave parameters (e.g. Benjamin-Feir index, Charnock)
Coverage docs-verified: Global · 1940 to present
Resolution docs-verified: Spatial: regridded lat-lon, 0.25° x 0.25° (atmosphere), 0.5° x 0.5° (ocean waves). Temporal: monthly.
Update frequency docs-verified: Monthly means available around the 6th of each month; ERA5 updated daily with about 5-day latency
Formats docs-verified: GRIB
Access llm-inferred: Licence CC-BY-4.0 (per ENTRY metadata). Page shows Login/Register links, suggesting a CDS account is needed to download. Pricing not stated in DOCS.

Useful for

Use cases llm-inferred: Long-term monthly temperature and rainfall context for FRA or climate-change statements on a catchment · Monthly evaporation and wind baselines for water-balance or site-climate assessments · Monthly cloud and solar radiation context for energy or ecological site notes
Audience llm-inferred: hydrologists · flood consultants · environmental consultants · GIS analysts · climate analysts

Limitations

Constraints docs-verified: Regridded subset of the full ERA5 data on native resolution, not native-resolution data · Monthly temporal resolution only; hourly products are separate entries · Monthly means are not available for the ensemble mean and spread · Early release (ERA5T) may differ from the final release 2 to 3 months later

Evidence

Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.