Toward A homogenous global tropical cyclone rest-track dataset

The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) project was formed under the leadership of the World Data Center for Meteorology-Asheville (WDC-Asheville) to address the best-track accessibility issue by combining TC best-track data from all agencies into an integrated dataset readily available to the user community. The new IBTrACS dataset provides the original TC intensities in a uniform format and catalogs the full range of reported values for pressure, wind speed, and position for each 6-hour time step from each agency. The final dataset is available in a varity of formats in use by the TC community, which includes the original unedited data as received from each of the RSMCs (Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers). The purpose of the IBTrACS workshop was to begin a dialog with representatives from the RSMCs and TCWCs, as well as from other organizations to accurately combine the disparate data to better understand the global climatology of TCs.