News
Corrected version v01cor-r01 fixes some bugs found in v01r01.
Vision
Providing tropical cyclone best track data in a centralized location to aid our understanding of the distribution, frequency, and intensity of tropical cyclones worldwide.
Introduction
The intent of the IBTrACS project is to overcome data availability issues, and to freely disseminate this new global dataset. This was achieved by working directly with all the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers and other international centers and individuals to create a global best track dataset, merging storm information from multiple centers into one product and archiving the data for public use.
One of the goals of the project is for the data processing methods to remain open, such that desired user feedback on data quality is more easily collected. Also, data provenance is completely recorded so all observations and corrections, either through rigorous quality control or user feedback, may be tracked. Data are then provided in various formats given the diversity of the tropical cyclone (TC) data user community.
Principles
Global
Tropical cyclone (TC) best track data already exist as individual storm tracks at other centers. IBTrACS merges these data sets into a worldwide TC database.
Open
The methods used in merging and maintaining the data will be so that all data quality revisions and additions will be recorded and open for review. Information about the integrity or quality of a storm track will also be provided back to the center(s) providing the track data.
Provenance
Changes to any data will be recorded. Versions of all data will be maintained and data provenance will be recorded to preserve traceability and to easily determine the source of all data. Reasoning behind changes and algorithms that merge and adjust the datasets will be recorded such that the data can be well understood for years to come.
Ongoing
The dataset production will be ongoing and updated semi-annually: in the boreal spring following the completion of the Northern Hemisphere TC season and in the boreal autumn following the completion of the Southern Hemisphere TC season.
Accessibility
NOAA's NCDC will maintain the official archive of this product in one format, but will provide the data set in the many formats already in use by the TC community.
