East Siberian Continuous Permafrost Zone - Comprehensive Dataset on Long-term Changes in Air Temperature, Snow Depth and Precipitation

Oct 13, 2026

Climate and its evolution strongly shape permafrost-area natural processes, making meteorological observations especially critical. In the East Siberian continuous permafrost region, public station data are sparse and highly inconsistent, with many records containing large temporal gaps. This work merges three datasets into a unified database providing daily air temperature (mean, maximum, minimum), precipitation totals, and snow cover thickness with daily resolution from 1 January 1966 to 30 September 2025, including quality indicators and source references after automated cleaning and duplicate removal.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages35

Reading Time12 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

[https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-346](https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-346) Preprint. Discussion started: 15 July 2026 􀀍c Author(s) 2026 . CC BY 4.0 License. 1 A comprehensive analysis of three meteorological datasets for the East 2 Siberian continuous permafrost zone: long-term changes in air temperature, 3 snow depth and precipitation. 4 Robert Sysoliatin1,2, Zhi Wen1, Qiang Gao1, Kun Xiang1, Yana Tikhonravova1,2 5 1-Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of 6 Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, 730000, China 7 2 – Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Yakutsk, 677010, Russia 8 Correspondence to: Zhi Wen ([wenzhi@lzb.ac.cn](wenzhi@lzb.ac.cn)) 9 Abstract 10 Climate and its evolution strongly influence numerous natural processes, and in 11 permafrost areas this impact outweighs that of any other factors. The main publicly 12 available databases consist of data only for 167 meteorological stations within 13 Republic of Sakha (3,08 ml km2), Magadan Obslat (0,46 ml km2) and Chukotka 14 (0,72 ml km2), which makes the meteorological network in that region - almost 15 entirely underlain by continuous permafrost -one of the sparsest on the planet, at 16 approximately 1 station per 25000 km2. The longest series dates back to 1834 at the 17 first official meteorological station in Yakutsk-24959, while the shortest to 1987 in 18 Anabar-21608), however, data availability is highly inconsistent, and more than half 19 of meteorological stations contain gaps of up to 40% in their timeseries. Despite the 20 abundance of reanalysis products, here we aim to assess the current meteorological 21 network, the available observation data, and to merge three different datasets into a 22 unified database containing the following parameters: mean, maximum, and 23 minimum daily air temperature, daily precipitation totals and snow cover thickness. 24 The resulting database spans the period from 1 January 1966 to 30 September 2025, 25 with daily temporal resolution, and includes source references as well as the number 26 of measurements recorded for each day as a quality indicator parameter. We carried 27 out automated cleaning for obvious mistakes and typos as well as deleting duplicates. 28 Chosen parameters are particularly important for a wide range of researchers, as well 29 as for society and policymakers. This dataset has been used for filling gaps in air 30 temperature time series using machine learning approaches. For convenient access, 31 we have developed an online dashboard that presents the main meteorological 32 parameters at daily, decadal, monthly, and annual scales. The database presented and 33 described in this article is available for download at 34 [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19883706](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19883706) and at 35 [https://robertseesaw.shinyapps.io/meteo-dashboard/](https://robertseesaw.shinyapps.io/meteo-dashboard/) . [https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-346](https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-346) Preprint. Discussion started: 15 July 2026 􀀍c Author(s) 2026 . CC BY 4.0 License. 36 1. Introduction 37 Datasets from meteorological stations situated across the permafrost zone of 38 northern latitudes have great value due to their limited availability (Cowtan and Way, 39 2014; Folland et al., 2013; Simmons et al., 2010) . Severe climate conditions, road 40 inaccessibility, and high cost of experiments and instrument maintenance result in a 41 low density of meteorological network (Gorokhov and Fedorov, 2018; Lytkin et al., 42 2021; Streletskiy et al., 2019, 2025) . Although numerous climatic indices exist, the 43 most representative indicators are near-surface air temperatures, precipitation and 44 snow depth (Hu et al., 2021; Menne et al., 2012; Tran et al., 2024) . Changes in these 45 parameters have a significant impact on water and heat exchange process

FAQs

What problem does the dataset address in the East Siberian continuous permafrost zone?

It addresses the sparsity and inconsistency of publicly available meteorological station data, where many stations have substantial time-series gaps and limited coverage for key variables.

Which meteorological parameters are included in the unified database?

The database includes daily mean, maximum, and minimum air temperature, daily precipitation totals, and snow cover thickness, plus source references and a measurement-count quality indicator per day.

What time span and temporal resolution does the dataset cover?

It spans from 1 January 1966 to 30 September 2025 with daily temporal resolution, with support for daily through annual access via an online dashboard.

Oct 13, 2026

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