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

  • Years of Record

  • 2000-01 to 2025-07

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

    • Timestep

    • Monthly, Weekly

    • Collections

    • N/A
SST Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table

  • Years of Record

  • 1850 to Present

This overview focuses on SST datasets designed for climate applications. The focus is on datasets with coverage back to around 1850 at monthly resolution but select…

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)

  • Years of Record

  • 1982-01 to 2013-12

"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

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly, Weekly

    • Collections

    • N/A
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices

  • Years of Record

  • 1900-01 to 2015-12

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
Tide gauge sea level data Tide gauge sea level data

  • Years of Record

  • 1800-01 to 2016-01

The global sea level record from tide gauges is an important indicator of the evolution and impact of global change. Tide gauge data also capture a variety of local…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Sea Level

    • Formats

    • N/A

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily, Monthly, Annual

    • Collections

    • N/A
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4 SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4

  • Years of Record

  • 1981-10 to 2022-02

Note: ERSST is currently on version 6. See the ERSSTv6 page here.  The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete…

Main variables and Earth System components

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

  • Years of Record

  • 1901-01 to 2010-12

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

    • Collections

    • N/A
Ocean temperature analysis and heat content estimate from Institute of Atmospheric Physics Ocean temperature analysis and heat content estimate from Institute of Atmospheric Physics

  • Years of Record

  • 1940-01 to 2016-12

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 Temperature
SST Data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs Version 5 (ERSSTv5) SST Data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs Version 5 (ERSSTv5)

  • Years of Record

  • 1854-01 to 2019-08

Note: ERSST is currently on version 6. See the ERSSTv6 page here.  The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
SST data: HadSST4 SST data: HadSST4

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2018-12

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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis

  • Years of Record

  • 1940-01 to 2023-07

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
EN4 subsurface temperature and salinity for the global oceans EN4 subsurface temperature and salinity for the global oceans

  • Years of Record

  • 1900-01 to 2019-12

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 data

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
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

  • Years of Record

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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Formats

    • N/A

    • Timestep

    • N/A

    • Collections

    • N/A
HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2019-12

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 Temperature

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices

  • Years of Record

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
Global land-ocean surface temperature data: HadCRUT5 Global land-ocean surface temperature data: HadCRUT5

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2020-12

HadCRUT5 is one of the main datasets used to monitor global and regional surface temperature variability and trends. It is a global surface temperature product that…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
X-ray image illustrating the annual density bands in corals. (Image credit: USGS via Allison Lawman)) Coral geochemical records: An overview of their use as climate proxies and of available databases

  • Years of Record

Coral records are one of the main types of high-resolution (annual to sub-annual) paleoclimate proxies, providing timeseries of environmental conditions reaching hundreds…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Ocean Salinity SST - sea surface temperature
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)

  • Years of Record

  • 1979-01 to 2023-08

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
DCENT warming level image Global surface temperature data: The Dynamically Consistent ENsemble of Temperature (DCENT)

  • Years of Record

  • 1850 to Present

The Dynamically Consistent ENsemble of Temperature (DCENT) provides monthly, global, gridded, surface temperature anomalies since 1850. This product provides combined land…

Main variables and Earth System components

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

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
HadCRUT5_MLE annual mean global temperature anomaly Global surface temperature: Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Temperatures using HadCRUT5 (Version 1.2)

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2023-12

The Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Temperatures using HadCRUT5 Version 1.2 (HadCRU_MLE_v1.2) dataset provides global complete surface temperature estimates since 1850,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
AMOC Observing Systems Observations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

  • Years of Record

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

    • Formats

    • N/A

    • Timestep

    • N/A

    • Domain

    • N/A

    • Collections

    • N/A
ERSSTv6 vs v5 July 2025 SST Data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs Version 6 (ERSSTv6)

  • Years of Record

  • 1850-01 to 2025-01

The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature version 6 (ERSSTv6) is a global, spatially complete SST data at monthly 2°×2° resolutions based on in situ…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
OISSTv2.1 global mean SST data: NOAA daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature version 2.1, OISSTv2.1

  • Years of Record

  • 1981-01 to 2025-01

NOAA’s daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (dOISST, also known as Reynolds’ SST or OISST) is a global SST analysis product. An SST analysis is a spatially…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Daily

    • Collections

    • N/A
COBE North Pacific Comparison SST Data: COBEv3: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates Version 3

  • Years of Record

  • 1900-01 to 2020-01

The Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates of Sea Surface Temperature version 3 (COBE-SST3) is a SST analysis produced by the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA).…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2011-12

The Walsh and Chapman Sea Ice Data Set provides a long record of Arctic sea ice concentrations on a monthly basis for 1870-2011. Historical observations were gridded and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

  • Years of Record

  • 1856-01 to 2020-03

The most up-to-date version is known as Kaplan Extended SST v2, which combines statistically infilled grids of UK Met Office SSTs for 1856-1981 with a statistically reduced…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations

  • Years of Record

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
Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)

  • Years of Record

  • 1979-01 to 2017-11

The CFSR is a third generation reanalysis product. It is a global, high resolution, coupled atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice system designed to provide the best…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Geopotential Height Precipitable water Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Overview: Climate Indices Overview: Climate Indices

  • Years of Record

A climate index is a simple diagnostic quantity that is used to characterize an aspect of a geophysical system such as a circulation pattern. A variety of methods have been…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
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)

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2023-04

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. …

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV)

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2021-03

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
SST data: NOAA Optimal Interpolation (OI) SST Analysis, version 2 (OISSTv2) 1x1 SST data: NOAA Optimal Interpolation (OI) SST Analysis, version 2 (OISSTv2) 1x1

  • Years of Record

  • 1981-12 to 2020-03

The NOAA Optimal Interpolation SST analysis provides global, spatially complete SSTs on a weekly and monthly basis for 1982-present.

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
SST data: HadiSST v1.1 SST data: HadiSST v1.1

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2021-12

The Hadley Centre Global Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature (HadISST) is a combination of monthly globally complete fields of SST and sea ice concentration for 1871-present…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b) SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b)

  • Years of Record

  • 1854-01 to 2020-02

Note: ERSST is currently on version 6. See the ERSSTv6 page here.  The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Global Mean Sea Level from TOPEX & Jason Altimetry Global Mean Sea Level from TOPEX & Jason Altimetry

  • Years of Record

  • 1992-10 to 2015-10

The global mean sea level timeseries is an excellent, integrative indicator of long-term global temperature trends, providing a record that is observed and processed…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Sea Level

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

    • N/A
SST (AMSR-E): Sea Surface Temperature from Remote Sensing Systems SST (AMSR-E): Sea Surface Temperature from Remote Sensing Systems

  • Years of Record

  • 2002-06 to 2010-12

High resolution (0.25°) SSTs were derived from the AMSR-E, a passive microwave radiometer flying on NASA's AQUA satellite. Remote Sensing Systems distributes the data in…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
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)

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2020-08

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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
World Ocean Atlas (WOA09) World Ocean Atlas (WOA09)

  • Years of Record

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

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record

  • Years of Record

  • 1978-10 to 2023-12

The NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of sea ice concentration is available at 25 x 25 km spatial resolution in daily or monthly timesteps for 1987-2014. It provides a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes

  • Years of Record

  • 1949-01 to 2006-12

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

  • Years of Record

  • 1987-01 to 2008-12

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

  • N/A
GRACE: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment: Surface mass, total water storage, and derived variables GRACE: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment: Surface mass, total water storage, and derived variables

  • Years of Record

  • 2002-01 to 2012-09

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) refers to a pair of NASA satellites that has flown in low-Earth orbit since 2002. The satellites use a precise microwave…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Glaciers Ice Sheet Mass Land Groundwater surface water Water Storage Ocean Bottom pressure
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

  • Years of Record

  • 2002-06 to 2011-10

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

  • N/A
(credit: Signe Aaboe and Thomas Lavergne) Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record from OSI SAF

  • Years of Record

  • 1978-10 to 2023-08

The Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Applications Facility (OSI SAF) of EUMETSAT provides sea ice concentration products for the Arctic and Antarctic based on satellite passive…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
Sea Ice Concentration data from HadISST Sea Ice Concentration data from HadISST

  • Years of Record

  • 1870-01 to 2021-12

Spanning 1871-present at monthly timesteps, HadISST provides the longest gridded sea ice data available for both the Arctic and Antarctic. It is a 1° x 1° spatially infilled…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on NASA Team algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on NASA Team algorithm

  • Years of Record

  • 1978-10 to 2014-12

NASA Team sea ice refers to a well-known algorithm used to estimate sea ice concentration from passive microwave brightness temperatures. This page discusses the algorithm…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on Bootstrap algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on Bootstrap algorithm

  • Years of Record

  • 1978-10 to 2014-12

Bootstrap sea ice refers to a well-known algorithm used to estimate sea ice concentration from passive microwave brightness temperatures. It can be applied to data from many…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea Ice Concentration data from NOAA OI Sea Ice Concentration data from NOAA OI

  • Years of Record

  • 1981-10 to 2022-02

The NOAA Optimal Interpolation (OI) v2 sea ice data set contains gridded, weekly or monthly resolution sea ice concentration estimates for both the Northern and Southern…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea Ice Concentration data: Overview, Comparison table and graphs Sea Ice Concentration data: Overview, Comparison table and graphs

  • Years of Record

Sea ice concentration is both an indicator and driver of changes high-latitude climate with strong societal and ecological importance. It is a key boundary condition for…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC using AMSR-E and NASA TEAM2 (NT2) algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC using AMSR-E and NASA TEAM2 (NT2) algorithm

  • Years of Record

  • 2002-06 to 2011-10

The AMSR-E/NASA Team 2 (NT2) data set of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration is available at daily timesteps and 12.5 km (optionally 25km) spatial resolution for 2002…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A