Merged Hadley-NOAA/OI Sea Surface Temperature & Sea-Ice Concentration (Hurrell et al, 2008)

Merged Hadley-NOAA/OI Sea Surface Temperature & Sea-Ice Concentration (Hurrell et al, 2008)
The merged Hadley-OI sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration (SIC) data sets were specifically developed as surface forcing data sets for AMIP style uncoupled simulations of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM). The Hadley Centre's SST/SIC version 1.1 (HADISST1), which is derived gridded, bias-adjusted in situ observations, were merged with the NOAA-Optimal Interpolation (version 2; OI.v2) analyses. The HADISST1 spanned 1870 onward but the OI.v2, which started in November 1981, better resolved features such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio Current which are important components of the climate system. Since the two data sets used different development methods, anomalies from a base period were used to create a more homogeneous record. Also, additional adjustments were made to the SIC data set.

Key Strengths

Optimized as boundary conditions for atmospheric modeling; combines long, spatially complete global record with more resolution in recent decades
Regularly updated
Better resolution of Western Boundary Currents and other features in SSTs than HadISST

Key Limitations

Sea ice suffers from discontinuities due to changes in source data (especially in SH); see HadISST and NOAA OI sea ice pages

Please cite data sources, following the data providers' instructions
Suggested Data Citation

  1. Dataset:
    Shea, Dennis, Hurrell, Jim, Phillips, Adam. (2020). Merged Hadley-OI sea surface temperature and sea ice concentration data set. Version 1.0. UCAR/NCAR - DASH Repository. https://doi.org/10.5065/r33v-sv91. Accessed DD MM YYYY.
    Scientific paper:
    Hurrell, J. W., J. J. Hack, D. Shea, J. M. Caron, and J. Rosinski, 2008: A New Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Boundary Dataset for the Community Atmosphere Model. Journal of Climate, 21, 5145–5153, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008jcli2292.1.
     

Dataset DOIs
  1. 10.5065/r33v-sv91
Hosted Climate Index Files
None
Data Access
  1. Download data from the DASH Repository at NCAR
Usage Restrictions
None

Cite this page

Acknowledgement of any material taken from or knowledge gained from this page is appreciated:

National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified "The Climate Data Guide: Merged Hadley-NOAA/OI Sea Surface Temperature & Sea-Ice Concentration (Hurrell et al, 2008).” Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/merged-hadley-noaaoi-sea-surface-temperature-sea-ice-concentration-hurrell-et-al-2008 on 2025-08-29.


Citation of datasets is separate and should be done according to the data providers' instructions. If known to us, data citation instructions are given in the Data Access section, above.


Acknowledgement of the Climate Data Guide project is also appreciated:

Schneider, D. P., C. Deser, J. Fasullo, and K. E. Trenberth, 2013: Climate Data Guide Spurs Discovery and Understanding. Eos Trans. AGU, 94, 121–122, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013eo130001

Key Figures

Sea ice concentration: Merged Had-OI

Average Arctic sea ice concentration for March 2003-2007 from the Merged Had-OI boundary condition data set. (Figure by D. Schneider, NCAR).
Climate Data Guide Image

Sample SST anomalies. The top two figures show two strong El Nino events for January (1983 and 1998) and two strong La Nina events (1974 and 2011). A 1950-79 climatology is used as a reference. (Climate Data Guide; D. Shea)

Other Information

Years of record
to
Metadata ID
None
Data time period extended
Yes, data set is extended
Timestep
Monthly
Domain
Global, Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
Formats:
netCDF
Input Data

HadISST 1870-Nov 1981; NOAA OI Dec 1981-present

Vertical Levels:
Surface Data Set
Missing Data Flag
Spatially complete
Ocean or Land
Ocean Only
Spatial Resolution

1° x 1°

Model Resolution (reanalysis)
None
Data Assimilation Method
None
Model Vintage (reanalysis)
None

Key Publications
  1. Hurrell, J. W., J. J. Hack, D. Shea, J. M. Caron, and J. Rosinski, 2008: A New Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Boundary Dataset for the Community Atmosphere Model. Journal of Climate, 21, 5145–5153, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008jcli2292.1.
  2. Rayner, N. A., et al (2003): Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J. Geophys. Res., 108
  3. Reynolds, R. W, and T. M. Smith, 1994: Improved global sea surface tem- perature analyses using optimum interpolation. J. Climate, 7, 929–948.
  4. Folland, C. K., and D. E. Parker, 1995: Correction of instrumental biases in historical sea surface temperature data. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 121, 319–367