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
COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes

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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
Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0

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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
OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans. OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.

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"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

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    • Daily, Monthly

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations

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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 temperature
Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
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)

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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

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Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE)

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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
HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data

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The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS) set is a satellite-based climatology of precipitation, evaporation and freshwater budget (…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Radiation Specific Humidity Wind Latent & sensible heat flux Precipitable water Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

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CERA-20C: ECMWF's Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Reanalysis of the 20th Century CERA-20C: ECMWF's Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Reanalysis of the 20th Century

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The CERA-20C is a global, coupled reanalysis spanning 1901-2010 with a focus on low-frequency climate variability.  Similar to ERA-20C, the surface observations…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Multiple variables Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily, Monthly

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Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV)

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS) CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS)

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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 components

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    • Daily, Monthly, Weekly

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Argo float locations July 30, 2025 Argo Ocean Temperature and Salinity Profiles

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Argo is an array of over 4100 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 Temperature

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    • Monthly, Weekly

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Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13) World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13)

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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 phosphate potential temperature silicate SST - sea surface temperature Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature Sub-surface data
ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis

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ERA5, the successor to ERA-Interim, provides global, hourly estimates of atmospheric, ocean-wave and land-surface variables, at a horizontal resolution of 31 km and 137…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Land Ocean wave height
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) Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS)

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Thickness Ocean
ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content

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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

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AMOC Observing Systems Observations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

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The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is comprised of a series of northward surface currents and southward currents at depth in the Atlantic Basin. It is a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean

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GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System

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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

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Sea Ice Concentration data from AMSR-E, AMSR2 & SSMIS, U Bremen and U Hamburg ASI algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from AMSR-E, AMSR2 & SSMIS, U Bremen and U Hamburg ASI algorithm

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The sea ice data derived from AMSR-E using the ARTIST sea ice (ASI) algorithm offer a factor of 4 finer spatial resolution than most sea ice data sets from passive microwave…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

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

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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

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