This announcement is to the attention of users of Essential climate variables for assessment of climate variability from 1979 to present data who may have downloaded surface air relative humidity data for September 2022 and October 2022.
In the frame of a major hardware change at ECMWF, and for a limited period, the services usually provided by the Data Handling System, from which this dataset is retrieved, were distributed across different systems. For this, a bespoke retrieval script was developed, within which an error led to the incomplete retrieval of surface air relative humidity data for the month of September 2022. This had an impact on all data and information derived from those. Upon publication of data for November 2022, the problem was identified and the data for the month of September 2022 correctly retrieved. For this reason, all relative humidity data covering September 2022 were recently back-updated.
In practical terms, this means that if you have accessed Essential climate variables for assessment of climate variability from 1979 to present data for the period 1 September 2022 (monthly and 12 months running means and anomalies) to 30 October 2022 (12 months running mean and anomaly), we recommend that you download the data again.
As you may know, the Essential climate variables for assessment of climate variability from 1979 to present dataset is used as the basis to produce the C3S monthly climate bulletin.
The surface air relative humidity data for September 2022 were used in the September and October 2002 issues. All related graphics (maps and time series) and data-files shown (and downloadable) in those have been therefore updated and replaced for consistency with the underlying dataset.
For reference, this issue has been recorded as a "Known issue" in the Essential Climate Variables for assessment of climate variability from 1979 to present: Product user guide.
We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.
If you have any questions, please raise a query via our Support Portal.
Best regards,
ECMWF Support
