This data set is a subset of a 0.5-degree gridded temperature and precipitation data set for South America (Willmott and Webber 1998). This subset was created for the study area of the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), defined as 10° N to 25° S, 30° to 85° W. The data are in ASCII GRID format.

The data consist of the following:

Monthly mean air temperature time series (1960-1990), in degrees C:
monthly mean air temperatures for 1960-1990
cross validation errors associated with time series
monthly mean air temperatures for 1960-1990, DEM assisted interpolation
cross validation errors associated with DEM assisted interpolation time series

Monthly mean air temperature climatology, in degrees C:
climatic means of monthly and annual air temperatures
cross validation errors associated with climatic means
climatic means of monthly and annual mean air temperatures, DEM assisted interpolation
cross validation errors associated with DEM assisted interpolation climatic means

Monthly total precipitation time series (1960-1990), in millimeters:
monthly precipitation totals for 1960-1990
cross validation errors associated with time series
monthly precipitation totals for 1960-1990, climatologically aided interpolation
cross validation errors associated with climatologically aided interpolation time series

Monthly total precipitation climatology, in millimeters:
climatic means of monthly and annual precipitation totals
cross validation errors associated with climatic means
More information about the full data set can be found at "Willmott, Matsuura, and Collaborators' Global Climate Resource Pages" (http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climate) at the University of Delaware. To obtain the original documentation and data, follow the link for "Available Climate Data," register or sign in, and follow the link for "South American Climate Data."

Information on the LBA subset can be found at ftp://daac.ornl.gov/data/lba/physical_climate/willmott/comp/willmott_re….