dataset · USA
NOAA Analysis of Record for Calibration (AORC) Dataset
#### Announcements: April 2, 2026: The Office of Water Prediction (OWP) has identified some brittle components of the AORC data processing pipelines that, by our estimations, have resulted in 0.04% of all available rows being incorrectly masked. We've resolved the issue and we are currently regenerating the Zarr files to ensure a complete record. We will post an updated announcement once the corrected data is posted. <br/> <br/> The Analysis Of Record for Calibration (AORC) is a gridded record o
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Licence: NOAA data disseminated through NODD are open to the public and can be used as desired. <br/> <br/> NOAA makes data openly available to ensure maximum use of our data, and to spur and encourage explora
Evidence quality: 34.5
Listed in aws-odr 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
- hourly total precipitation · 2 m air temperature · 2 m specific humidity · terrain-level (surface) pressure · downward longwave radiation · downward shortwave radiation · 10 m west-east (U) wind · 10 m south-north (V) wind
- Coverage docs-verified
- Continental United States (CONUS) and Alaska, plus their hydrologically contributing areas · 1979 onward (CONUS); 1981 onward (Alaska); to near-present
- Resolution docs-verified
- Spatial: 30 arc seconds (~800 m) lat/lon grid; temporal: 1 hour
- Formats docs-verified
- Zarr
- Access docs-verified
- Free and open under NOAA NODD terms; no AWS account required for anonymous S3 access (aws s3 ls --no-sign-request); NOAA requests attribution and no implied endorsement
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Forcing inputs (hourly precipitation and temperature) for a catchment hydrological model in a US flood risk assessment · Historical hourly rainfall and temperature context for drainage or stormwater modelling in the US · Gridded meteorological forcing (humidity, radiation, wind) for land-surface or evapotranspiration modelling in US water resources studies
- Audience llm-inferred
- hydrologists · flood consultants · drainage engineers · water resources engineers · GIS analysts
Limitations
- Constraints docs-verified
- Covers CONUS and Alaska only; no UK coverage, so not usable for UK catchments · Recent data affected by a processing issue: about 0.04% of rows were incorrectly masked and the Zarr files are being regenerated · Update frequency not stated; the data creation runs with a 10-day lag · Outermost grid rows and columns are filled with missing values · Gridded product, not station observations; 800 m grid cells are coarse for site-scale work · Registry also lists a separate 1-km v1.1 S3 bucket, which the entry does not explain in relation to the 30 arc-second dataset
Evidence
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.