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.
Sub-categories
Climate datasets
![Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/BEST_trend.png?itok=N1eTamQK)
Years of record
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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 temperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Cowtan, Kevin
![Ocean temperature analysis and heat content estimate from Institute of Atmospheric Physics Ocean temperature analysis and heat content estimate from Institute of Atmospheric Physics](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/Ocean-temperature-analysis.png?itok=KJt8M_Oy)
Years of record
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The Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) ocean temperature analysis features global coverage of the oceans, at 1° x1° horizontal resolution on 41 vertical levels from 1-…
Main variables and Earth System components
Ocean Ocean Heat Content Sea Level Sub Surface TemperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Cheng, Lijing
![World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13) World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/F5-NWA-sal_0.png?itok=3aBUM0Uj)
Years of record
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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 SST - sea surface temperature Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature Sub-surface data phosphate potential temperature silicate-
Timestep
- Climatology, Monthly, Seasonal
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Diagnostic Data Sets, NCAR-DOE-CESM, oceandiagnostics
Experts contributing reviews
- Mishonov, Alexey
![EN4 subsurface temperature and salinity for the global oceans EN4 subsurface temperature and salinity for the global oceans](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/EN4-snippet.png?itok=YSxPFs4t)
Years of record
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EN4 is a subsurface temperature and salinity dataset for the global oceans, spanning 1900 to present at a monthly timestep. It includes two types of data products: (1) a…
Main variables and Earth System components
Ocean potential temperature Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature Sub-surface dataExperts contributing reviews
- Killick, Rachel
![X-ray image illustrating the annual density bands in corals. (Image credit: USGS via Allison Lawman))](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-06/Figure2_Coral_x-ray_USGS.jpg?itok=YJl-5KxY)
Years of record
- N/A
Coral records are one of the main types of high-resolution (annual to sub-annual) paleoclimate proxies, providing timeseries of environmental conditions reaching hundreds to…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Ocean Salinity SST - sea surface temperature-
Formats
- ascii | HTML Table | Linked Paleo Data (LiPD) | Matlab
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Timestep
- N/A
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Domain
- Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Tropics
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Lawman, Allison
![ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_670.png?itok=0NHCxRjj)
Years of record
- N/A
ICOADS (International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set) is the most comprehensive archive of global marine surface climate observations available. Variables include…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Budget Cloud Properties Latent & sensible heat flux Sea Level Pressure Specific Humidity Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Deser, Clara
![SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4 SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/ERSSTv4-1.png?itok=MRPouN6l)
Years of record
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The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete SST data at a monthly timestep for 1854-present. Compared to the…
Experts contributing reviews
- Huang, Boyin
![HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/HadIOD.png?itok=0xea-2Go)
Years of record
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HadIOD (Met Office Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database) is a global database of in situ ocean temperature and salinity observations, spanning 1850-present on a daily…
Main variables and Earth System components
Ocean Salinity SST - sea surface temperature Sub Surface TemperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Atkinson, Chris
![Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/AMOindex-Zhang.png?itok=A0P62TAr)
Years of record
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The Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) has been identified as a coherent mode of natural variability occurring in the North Atlantic Ocean with an estimated period of…
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Timestep
- Monthly, Decadal
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- Trenberth, Kevin | Zhang, Rong
![Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/NPMM_schematic.png?itok=_YAO699f)
Years of record
- N/A
In each of the world’s tropical ocean basins, year-to-year climate variability is primarily governed by fluctuations in the zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradient and…
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Formats
- N/A
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Timestep
- N/A
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Domain
- Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Amaya, Dillon
![Nino SST Indices (Nino 1+2, 3, 3.4, 4; ONI and TNI) Nino SST Indices (Nino 1+2, 3, 3.4, 4; ONI and TNI)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/oni.monthly.smoo_stro.png?itok=HR_SsTzH)
Years of record
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There are several indices used to monitor the tropical Pacific, all of which are based on sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies averaged across a given region. …
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Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Pacific Ocean, Tropics
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- Trenberth, Kevin
![Argo Ocean Temperature and Salinity Profiles Argo Ocean Temperature and Salinity Profiles](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/ARGOstatusbig.gif?itok=_86qEzKX)
Years of record
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Argo is an array of over 3600 profiling floats distributed almost uniformly across the global oceans. First deployed in 2000, Argo floats provide temperature and…
Main variables and Earth System components
Ocean Salinity Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface TemperatureExperts contributing reviews
- Willis, Josh
![SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b) SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/Botin-ERSST.png?itok=7D657zM7)
Years of record
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The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete SST data at a monthly timestep for 1854-present. Version3 is based upon…
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Global
Experts contributing reviews
- Huang, Boyin | Livermore, Jay | Smith, Tom
![COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_625.png?itok=WvwBluAP)
Years of record
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The Coordinated Ocean Research Experiments version 2 (COREv2) data set consists of a globally complete set of air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and freshwater for 1948-…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Evaporation Precipitation Radiation Wind Stress Land Runoff and Streamflow Ocean Surface Flux-
Formats
- netCDF
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Diagnostic Data Sets, NCAR-DOE-CESM, atmosdiagnostics, oceandiagnostics
Experts contributing reviews
- Yeager, Stephen
![Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/SOSE-F1.png?itok=2qZ7ON-U)
Years of record
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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-
Formats
- binary
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Timestep
- Daily, Monthly, Weekly, Annual
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Mazloff, Matthew
![Asymmetry and Diversity in the pattern, amplitude and duration of El Niño and La Niña Asymmetry and Diversity in the pattern, amplitude and duration of El Niño and La Niña](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/Santoso-snippet.png?itok=FFNoG7X6)
Years of record
- N/A
El Niño and La Niña, the two phases of ENSO, are sometimes described as opposites. However, there are asymmetries in their spatial structure, amplitude, duration and…
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Formats
- N/A
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Timestep
- N/A
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Domain
- Tropics
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Santoso, Agus
![SST data: HadSST4 SST data: HadSST4](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/HadSST4.png?itok=KXbE7Qmy)
Years of record
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HadSST4 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…
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Formats
- netCDF
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Diagnostic Data Sets
Experts contributing reviews
- Kennedy, John
![Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/PDO-pattern.png?itok=tGsYIU7B)
Years of record
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The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is defined by the leading pattern (EOF) of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Pacific basin (typically, polewards of…
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Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Pacific Ocean
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Deser, Clara | Trenberth, Kevin
![Daily Arctic sea ice volume from PIOMAS for each year from January 1, 1979 to November 30, 2022 using shades of blue to red in sequential order for every line. The decadal averages are annotated on the right side. (contributed by Z. Labe)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-08/SIV_PIOMAS.png?itok=sDtDYeKF)
Years of record
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The Pan-Arctic Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) is a reanalysis data set that uses a coupled ice and ocean model to provide daily and monthly estimates of…
Experts contributing reviews
- Labe, Zachary
![CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS) CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/hctrend.png?itok=LjtuO1Lt)
Years of record
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"The CMCC Global Ocean Physical Reanalysis System (C-GLORS) is used to simulate the state of the ocean in the last decades. It consists of a variational data…
Main variables and Earth System components
Ocean Ocean Heat Content SST - sea surface temperature Salinity Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature mixed layer depth sea surface height u, v current componentsExperts contributing reviews
- Storto, Andrea
![World Ocean Atlas (WOA09) World Ocean Atlas (WOA09)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_633.png?itok=dxIVJqXY)
Years of record
- N/A
World Ocean Atlas 2009 (WOA09) is a set of objectively analyzed (1 degree grid) climatological fields of in situ temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, Apparent Oxygen…
Main variables and Earth System components
Ocean Dissolved Oxygen SST - sea surface temperature Salinity Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature oxygen saturation phosphate silicate-
Timestep
- Climatology, Monthly, Seasonal, Annual
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Domain
- Global
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Collections
- Diagnostic Data Sets, NCAR-DOE-CESM, oceandiagnostics
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A
![Global Mean Sea Level from TOPEX & Jason Altimetry Global Mean Sea Level from TOPEX & Jason Altimetry](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_638.png?itok=BvL1ym2c)
Years of record
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The global mean sea level timeseries is an excellent, integrative indicator of climate change, providing a record independent of common metrics like global surface air…
Experts contributing reviews
- Nerem, R.S.
![Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_570.png?itok=n3RinZNw)
Years of record
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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…
Experts contributing reviews
- von Schuckmann, Karina
![Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA) Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_556.png?itok=jX366QUy)
Years of record
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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 componentsExperts 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](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/rapid.streamfunction.png?itok=W85BGq-C)
Years of record
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"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-
Timestep
- Sub-daily
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Domain
- Atlantic Ocean
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Collections
- Diagnostic Data Sets
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A
![SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_585.png?itok=4qCh2e91)
Years of record
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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…
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A