Combining Tropical Cyclone Data Sets Worldwide: International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) Workshop; Asheville, North Carolina, 5–7 May 2009

At the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) workshop in North Carolina, experts from the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) officially recognized tropical cyclone tracking and forecasting agencies met to discuss ways to accurately combine the disparate tropical cyclone (TC) best track data to better understand their global climatology. Representatives from each participating agency provided an overview of their agency's operating procedures and how those procedures have changed over time. Breakout sessions addressed many issues, including wind-pressure relationships and their use, converting between wind speed averaging periods, and other differences between best track data sets.