Conclusion

• There is a large international network of surface observation stations that record, among other things, air temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, wind direction, cloud type, cloud cover and precipitation.
• Satellites provide global, or at least hemispheric, coverage, from either polar or geostationary orbits, using remote instruments which operate at various frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum.
• To complement surface data and observations from space, data from within the atmosphere itself can be gathered by radiosondes, aircraft and by radar.
• The collation and distribution of atmospheric data is coordinated by the World Meteorological Organisation.