Current status of broad-scale meteorological data available for agrometeorological studies

Abstract

Meteorological data are one of the fundamental information not only for studies on agricultural meteorology but also for other research fields and various social and economic activities. In this review, I summarized the current status of broad-scale (i.e. landscape or larger) data of land-surface meteorology applicable to agrometeorological works. The data sets presented here include statistically aggregated or up-scaled data, objective analysis and reanalysis data with meteorological models, teleconnection indices, satellite remote sensing data, and synthetic data for model input. Based on the development of weather monitoring systems and informatics, variety, quality, and coverage of these data sets have greatly improved in last decades. The data development facilitates our researches and operations in agricultural fields with respect to yield estimation, meteorological risk avoidance, optimization of management, and so on. However, we should still pay enough attention to deficiencies (e.g., bias and error, and short coverage) contained in these data, including the characteristics and difference among data sets, and data use policy.