Ocean

Oceanic variables include sea surface temperature, salinity, currents, air-sea heat fluxes, ocean heat content, and much more. Overview pages summarize and compare selected datasets of a given variable.

To find a specific dataset or variable, jump to the search box below or click your desired variable from among the blue sub-category buttons.

To see only the datasets with expert-written commentaries, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.

Climate datasets

Has expert guidance
Japanese Ocean Flux Data sets with Use of Remote Sensing Observations (J-OFURO2) Japanese Ocean Flux Data sets with Use of Remote Sensing Observations (J-OFURO2)

  • Years of Record

  • 1988-01 to 2006-12

These ocean surface flux data sets are derived primarily using data from multiple satellites. The COARE 3.0 bulk algorithm [Fairall et al. (2003)] is used in J-OFURO2 for…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Specific Humidity Wind Stress Latent & sensible heat flux Ocean Surface Flux

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans. OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.

  • Years of Record

  • 1958-01 to 2012-12

"The OAFlux project aims to provide consistent, multi-decade, global analysis of air-sea heat, freshwater (evaporation), and momentum fluxes for use in studies of global…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Latent & sensible heat flux Radiation Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux wind stress curl

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
SST data: HadSST3 SST data: HadSST3

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2017-12

HadSST3 provides monthly SST anomalies on a 5°x5° grid for 1850-present. The anomalies are derived from a 30-year climatology spanning 1961-90.Coverage is global but there…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates

  • Years of Record

  • 1891-01 to 2020-03

The COBE data set is a spatially complete, interpolated 1°x1° SST product for 1891 to present. It combines SSTs from ICOADS release 2.0, the Japanese Kobe collection, and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea ice concentration data from NASA Goddard based on SSMI and NASA Team (NT2) algorithm Sea ice concentration data from NASA Goddard based on SSMI and NASA Team (NT2) algorithm

  • Years of Record

  • 1992-01 to 2008-04

The NASA Team 2 (NT2) / SSMI data set of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration is available at daily timesteps and 25km spatial resolution for 1992-2008. NT2, an…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content

  • Years of Record

  • 1958-01 to 2013-04

ECMWF's current ocean reanalysis uses a sophisticated data assimilation methodology which includes a model bias correction. The ocean model used is forced by atmospheric…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Ocean Heat Content Salinity Sea Level potential temperature u, v current components

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System

  • Years of Record

  • 2016-01 to 2016-12

GODAS is a real-time ocean analysis and a reanalysis. It is used for monitoring, retrospective analysis as well as for providing oceanic initial conditions for the CFS.…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean 3D Velocity SST - sea surface temperature Salinity heat flux isothermal layer depth mixed layer depth potential temperature salt flux sea surface height

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Global Ocean Heat and Thermospheric Sea Level Change Global Ocean Heat and Thermospheric Sea Level Change

  • Years of Record

  • 1955-01 to 2010-12

Using updated data from the World Ocean Database (Boyer et al, 2009) and improved ARGO profiling data, new estimates of ocean heat content and thermospheric sea level…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Ocean Heat Content Sea Level

    • Timestep

    • Monthly, Seasonal, Annual

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo

  • Years of Record

  • 2005-01 to 2011-12

A regularly updated monthly timeseries of ocean heat content, based on Argo profiles, is integrated over 10-1500m depth and the latitudes 60°S-60°N. Coverage begins in 2005…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Ocean Heat Content

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
GHRSST: Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature GHRSST: Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature

  • Years of Record

  • 2006-01 to 2012-12

The Group for High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (SST; GHRSST) provides a new generation of global high-resolution (10km) SST products to the operational oceanographic…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
HadDTR: Hadley Centre sea-surface temperature diurnal temperature range climatology HadDTR: Hadley Centre sea-surface temperature diurnal temperature range climatology

  • Years of Record

The Hadley Centre sea-surface temperature diurnal temperature range climatology is a 5x5 degree gridded climatology of the diurnal range of sea surface temperature as…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature SST diurnal range

    • Timestep

    • Climatology

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
AVISO: Satellite derived Sea Surface Height above Geoid AVISO: Satellite derived Sea Surface Height above Geoid

  • Years of Record

  • 1992-10 to 2010-12

The sea surface height relative to the geoid (the mean ocean surface of the Earth if the ocean is at rest) is derived from TOPEX/Poseidon, Envisat, Jason-1, and OSTM/Jason-…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Sea Level sea surface height

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2 SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2

  • Years of Record

  • 1981-09 to 2022-02

"NOAA’s Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface temperature (OISST, also known as Reynolds’ SST) is a series of global analysis products, including the weekly OISST on a 1° grid…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA) Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA)

  • Years of Record

  • 1992-01 to 2013-04

The Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program (TOGA) is a component of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) aimed specifically at the prediction of climate phenomena…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Precipitation Radiation Relative Humidity Sea Level Pressure Wind Ocean Absolute Dynamic Topography (ADT) Ocean Heat Content SST - sea surface temperature Salinity Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature u, v current components

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily, Monthly, Weekly

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
SODA: Simple Ocean Data Assimilation SODA: Simple Ocean Data Assimilation

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2010-12

The Simple Ocean Data Assimilation, or SODA, analysis is an ocean reanalysis data set consisting of gridded variables for the global ocean, as well as several derived…

Main variables and Earth System components

Wind Stress Ocean 3D Velocity potential temperature Salinity sea surface height SST - sea surface temperature u, v current components

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0

  • Years of Record

  • 1973-01 to 2014-12

The National Oceanography Centre  (NOC) Version 2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset is a monthly mean gridded dataset of marine surface measurements and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Cloud Properties Evaporation Latent & sensible heat flux Multiple variables Radiation Sea Level Pressure Specific Humidity Surface Pressure Surface solar radiation Water Vapor Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux
SeaWIFS: ocean bio-optical and carbon properties SeaWIFS: ocean bio-optical and carbon properties

  • Years of Record

  • 2002-01 to 2013-08

The purpose of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project is to provide quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties and to assess the oceans'…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean ocean ecosystem

    • Timestep

    • Climatology, Daily, Monthly, Seasonal, Annual

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
GLODAP: GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project for Carbon GLODAP: GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project for Carbon

  • Years of Record

The GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a cooperative effort to coordinate global synthesis projects funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean CO2: CarbonDioxide

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE)

  • Years of Record

  • 2005-01 to 2010-12

The Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) is a model-generated best fit to Southern Ocean observations.  As such, it provides a quantitatively useful climatology of the…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean 3D Velocity Bottom pressure SST - sea surface temperature Salinity Sub Surface Temperature mixed layer depth sea surface height u, v current components Wind Stress
CARINA: Carbon in the North Altantic CARINA: Carbon in the North Altantic

  • Years of Record

  • 1978-01 to 2006-12

The CARINA (CARbon dioxide IN the Atlantic Ocean) data synthesis project is an international collaborative effort of the EU IP CARBOOCEAN, and US partners. It has produced…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean CO2: CarbonDioxide

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
PACIFICA: PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon PACIFICA: PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon

  • Years of Record

  • 1988-01 to 2000-12

PACIFICA (PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon) was an international collaborative project for the data synthesis of ocean interior carbon and its related parameters in the…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean CO2: CarbonDioxide nitrate

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
RAPID: monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N RAPID: monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N

  • Years of Record

  • 2004-04 to 2017-02

"The Rapid Climate Change programme (RAPID) explores what causes rapid switches in climate, with a main (but not exclusive) focus on the Atlantic Ocean's thermohaline…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Salinity Sub Surface Temperature heat flux streamfunction

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Global surface temperature data: GISTEMP: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Surface Temperature Analysis Global surface temperature data: GISTEMP: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Surface Temperature Analysis

  • Years of Record

  • 1880-01 to 2020-03

NASA Goddard's Global Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) combines land surface air temperatures from GHCN-M version 4 with SSTs of the ERSSTv5 analysis into a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4 Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2020-02

Extending back to 1850 and frequently updated, HadCRUT4 is the longest data set of its type. HadCRUT4 is a combination of the global land surface temperature data set,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Global surface temperature data: MLOST: NOAA Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis Global surface temperature data: MLOST: NOAA Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis

  • Years of Record

  • 1871-01 to 2021-09

NOAA's Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (MLOST) combines land surface air temperatures primarily from the Global Historical Climatology Network, Monthly (GHCN…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures

  • Years of Record

  • 1701-01 to 2019-07

The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures (BEST) are a set of data products, originally a gridded reconstruction of land surface air temperature records spanning 1701-…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Global Temperature Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table Global Temperature Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2013-10

Global surface temperature data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and long-term trends. The most commonly used data sets…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13) World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13)

  • Years of Record

  • 1955-01 to 2012-12

The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is a set of climatological mean, gridded fields of oceanographic variables based on in-situ measurements from a wide variety of sources. …

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Dissolved Oxygen phosphate potential temperature silicate SST - sea surface temperature Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature Sub-surface data