The Large Data Set A3

The Large Data Set
 The exam board expects you to have ‘knowledge of the large data set’ to use in your exams.
 The booklet contains our best guess at the knowledge required.
Introduction
 The data set consists of weather data samples from the following locations
 There is data for May to October 1987 and May to October 2015.
 10 variables were collected by the MET office for the UK data.
 4 of these 12 variables were collected from the overseas locations. Variables collected over
24 hours are from the times specified in the row heading e.g. Daily Total Rainfall (0900-0900)
(mm) means from 9am of the day specified until 9am the next day.
The 4 main variables
Daily Mean Air Temperature

 Temperature of the air in ºC to 1 decimal place.
 Measurements taken hourly then averaged.
 n/a means the reading was not available that day.
 The temperatures in the data set range from 3ºC to 33ºC (remember it
doesn’t include the winter months!)
 The overseas locations are warmer than the UK.
Rainfall (24 hour total)

 The total amount of rain collected in one day, measured in mm to 1 d.p.
 Includes snow and hail which was melted down before measurement.
 ‘tr’ means trace; less than 0.05mm. Count this as a ‘0’ in your
calculations unless told otherwise.
 There are many zeros in the table, for days with no rain.
 Most locations had around 0 to 50mm rainfall per day.
 Perth had one day in May 1987 and one in June 2015 with over 100mm.
Daily Mean Pressure

 The measurement is taken at the location and converted into the
equivalent amount for the pressure at sea level (to remove the effect of
altitude at location).
 Measured in hectopascals (hPa) to the nearest whole number.
 The value is always around 1000 hPa.
 Higher pressure is associated with good weather
 Lower pressure is associated with rain, cold, cloud.
 The UK locations have pressures of 980 to 1040 hPa.
 The overseas locations have pressures of 1000 to 1040 hPa.
Daily Mean Windspeed

 Measured for 24 hours then averaged.
 Measured in knots to 1 d.p.
 1 knot = 1.15 mph.
 ‘n/a’ means not available.
 Also given using the Beauford scale: calm, light, moderate, fresh,
strong.
 The UK locations are mostly 1- 15 knots (light, moderate) and some days
of 15-20+.
 The overseas locations are mostly 1-10 knots (light) with occasional windy
days up to approx. 20 knots.
The UK only variables
Daily Total Sunshine
 Measurements in hours to the nearest tenth of an hour.
 Sunshine has to be bright to be recorded, very low levels register as 0.
 n/a means not available.
 Values varied between 0 and 16 hours on sunshine per day
 The summer months are sunniest; October is usually the least sunny.
DailyMaximum Gust
 Maximum instantaneous speed.
 Measured in knots as it is a windspeed.
 Max gust > mean windspeed as it is the largest value of the data that
makes up the average.
 Values varied from 8 – 50 usually with a max of 78 knots in one storm.
Daily Maximum Relative Humidity

 Measured as a percentage of saturation of the air with water vapour
 0% would mean no water (doesn’t happen in nature)
 100% means the air cannot carry any more water, not that the air is
100% water vapour.
 Over 95% relative humidity is associated with mist and fog.
 n/a means not available.
Daily Mean Total Cloud

 Measures the amount of the sky covered in cloud.
 Measured in Oktas (oct = eight)
 Takes values 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
 0 = less than 1/8 of the sky is cloud;
 8 = more than 7/8 of the sky is cloud
 Most UK days are 1 – 8; there are a few 0’s
Visibility
 Measures how far can be seen horizontally
 Measured in decametres (Dm) to the nearest hundred
 1 Dm = 10 metres
 Mostly 1000 – 7000 Dm
 Some less than 1000 with a few 0’s
 Mist is defined as less than 200 Dm visibility
 Fog is defined as less than 100 Dm visibility
Daily Mean Wind Direction and Daily Maximum

Gust Direction
 Both measures the direction the wind comes
from
 The directions are given as a bearing to the
nearest 10O
 360 is used instead of 0
 Cardinal directions are also given.
Cardinal Directions
Questions
1. List names of the 5 UK locations and 3 overseas locations.
UK ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________
Overseas ________________ ________________ ________________
2. List the unit used to measure:
Variable Unit Variable Unit

Mean air temperature Daily maximum gust
Rainfall Relative Humidity
Mean pressure Total Cloud
Mean windspeed Visibility
Total sunshine Wind direction
3. The values below are wrong. Use your knowledge of the large data set to explain why.
a) Perth 17/05/1987 Daily mean temperature = 0.4
b) Leuchars 11/08/2015 Daily mean pressure = 10.18
c) Jacksonville 04/08/2015 Daily mean windspeed = 50
d) Heathrow 17/07/1987 Mean Total Cloud = 75%
e) Cambourne 01/05/1987 Daily mean wind direction = 0
f) Beijing 25/12/2015 Rainfall (24 hour total) = 0.0
4. State a location used in the large data set which is:
a) in the south hemisphere.
b) north of heathrow.
c) Coastal
5. Is a daily mean windspeed of 2 ‘light’ or ‘fresh’?
6. Here is an extract of the large data set.

10/05/1987
11/05/1987
12/05/1987
13/05/1987
14/05/1987
15/05/1987
16/05/1987
17/05/1987
18/05/1987
19/05/1987
20/05/1987
Date
Daily Total Rainfall

0 0.2 0.3 5 0.6 0.9 tr 1.4 tr 0 tr
(0900-0900) (mm)
a) What does (0900-0900) mean?
b) The value of 5 on 13/05/1987 is much higher than the other days. What does this mean?
c) Calculate the mean daily total rainfall.

Answers
1. List names of the 5 UK locations and 3 overseas locations.
UK Camborne Heathrow Hurn Leeming Leuchars

Overseas Beijing Jacksonville Perth
2. List the unit used to measure:
Variable Unit Variable Unit

Mean air temperature oC Daily maximum gust Kn
Rainfall mm Relative Humidity %
Mean pressure hPa Total Cloud Oktas
Mean windspeed Kn (knots) Visibility Dm
o
Total sunshine hrs Wind direction
3.
a) Perth 17/05/1987 Daily mean temperature = 0.4 0.4 is too low. Perth is hot in May.
b) Leuchars 11/08/2015 Daily mean pressure = 10.18 10.18 is too low. Pressure is approx. 1000.
c) Jacksonville 04/08/2015 Daily mean windspeed = 50 50 is too high. E.g. 21 Knots in the Camborne
storm.
d) Heathrow 17/07/1987 Mean Total Cloud = 75% Wrong units. Total cloud is measured in Oktas.
75% = 6 Oktas.
e) Cambourne 01/05/1987 Daily mean wind direction = 0 Impossible value: 0 degrees is recorded as
360 degrees.
f)) Beijing 25/12/2015 Rainfall (24 hour total) = 0.0 Date is incorrect. The large data set only goes to
October… not Christmas day.
4. State a location used in the large data set which is:
a) in the south hemisphere. Perth

b) north of heathrow. Leeming / Leuchars
c) Coastal Leuchars / Cambourne / Hurn / Jacksonville / Perth
5. Is a daily mean windspeed of 2 ‘light’ or ‘fresh’? light. (2 is not much on the scale of 0-20 or so
and the scale is light -> moderate -> fresh -> strong).
6. Here is an extract of the large data set.

10/05/1987
11/05/1987
12/05/1987
13/05/1987
14/05/1987
15/05/1987
16/05/1987
17/05/1987
18/05/1987
19/05/1987
20/05/1987
Date
Daily Total Rainfall

0 0.2 0.3 5 0.6 0.9 tr 1.4 tr 0 tr
(0900-0900) (mm)
a) What does (0900-0900) mean? It is the total rainfall from 9am of the day specified until 9am the
next day.
b) The value of 5 on 13/05/1987 is much higher than the other days. What does this mean? It is an
outlier. The data is not a suspected error as it just means it rained on that day but wasn’t that rainy
on the days before or after. This is a standard weather pattern for the UK.
c) Calculate the mean daily total rainfall. 0.764 to 0.777 mm (If you got 1.05 by excluding the trace
values this is incorrect. Use tr = 0 or tr = 0.05.)

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The Large Data Set

Daily Mean Air Temperature

Rainfall (24 hour total)

Daily Mean Pressure

Daily Mean Windspeed

Daily Maximum Relative Humidity

Daily Mean Total Cloud

Daily Mean Wind Direction and Daily Maximum

UK ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________

Overseas ________________ ________________ ________________

2. List the unit used to measure:

Variable Unit Variable Unit

a) Perth 17/05/1987 Daily mean temperature = 0.4

b) Leuchars 11/08/2015 Daily mean pressure = 10.18

c) Jacksonville 04/08/2015 Daily mean windspeed = 50

d) Heathrow 17/07/1987 Mean Total Cloud = 75%

e) Cambourne 01/05/1987 Daily mean wind direction = 0

f) Beijing 25/12/2015 Rainfall (24 hour total) = 0.0

4. State a location used in the large data set which is:

a) in the south hemisphere.

5. Is a daily mean windspeed of 2 ‘light’ or ‘fresh’?

6. Here is an extract of the large data set.

Daily Total Rainfall

c) Calculate the mean daily total rainfall.

UK Camborne Heathrow Hurn Leeming Leuchars

Variable Unit Variable Unit

4. State a location used in the large data set which is:

a) in the south hemisphere. Perth

6. Here is an extract of the large data set.

Daily Total Rainfall

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UK __

Overseas