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
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.
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 2025-07-18.
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
Average Arctic sea ice concentration for March 2003-2007 from the Merged Had-OI boundary condition data set. (Figure by D. Schneider, NCAR).
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
HadISST 1870-Nov 1981; NOAA OI Dec 1981-present
1° x 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.
- 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
- Reynolds, R. W, and T. M. Smith, 1994: Improved global sea surface tem- perature analyses using optimum interpolation. J. Climate, 7, 929–948.
- 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