How can relational databases help you with your research?
Relational databases can help with my research by storing all of the weather data that is coming in from multiple weather stations. Each weather station is collecting the exact same data with the files all set up in the same way. It would be helpful if these were all stored in a simple way so that they could be quickly accessed to be analyzed.
Is there any aspect of them that makes them a poor fit for you?
The only problem I really see in using relational databases would be if the weather stations stop working or a sensor stops working and the normal data length is shortened. This would disrupt the ability for the data to be analyzed.
What other types of databases are there?
There are NonSQL databases or ones that can work with unstructured data.