Google and Galaxy zoo could aid global climate project | Science | The Observer

However, meteorologists are limited by the lack of data they receive from monitoring stations around the globe. Although there are more than 6,000 such stations providing data about temperatures, wind, precipitation and other variables, these only generate monthly averages for a particular locality.

"We need to get daily temperature readings if we are going to make accurate forecasts," said Peter Thorne, of the Co-operative Institute for Climate and Satellites in North Carolina. At the same time, swaths of Africa and Antarctica and much of the Amazon have no stations at all.