You are here

Home

NCAR Climate Data Guide Content with Tag: Ocean

Argo float locations Source: http://www-hrx.ucsd.edu/www-argo/statusbig.gif
Argo Ocean Temperature and Salinity Profiles
Years of Record: 1999/12 to 2016/12
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 salinity profiles from the surface to a depth of 2000m. The array has approximately 1 float for every 3 degrees of latitude and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly,Weekly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Willis, Josh
contrasting El Nino and La Nina SST anomaly patterns (contributed by A Santoso)
Asymmetry and Diversity in the pattern, amplitude and duration of El Niño and La Niña
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 seasonal evolution. This leads to differing teleconnections and global impacts, as well as implications for ENSO predictability. The...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Domain: Tropics
See Expert Guidance by Santoso, Agus
AMO index timeseries (contributed by R. Zhang)
Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO)
Years of Record: 1869/12 to 2020/08
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 60-80 years. It is based upon the average anomalies of sea surface temperatures (SST) in the North Atlantic basin, typically...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly,Decadal Domain: Atlantic Ocean, NH - Northern Hemisphere
See Expert Guidance by Trenberth, Kevin | See Expert Guidance by Zhang, Rong
Climate Data Guide Image
AVISO: Satellite derived Sea Surface Height above Geoid
Years of Record: 1992/09 to 2010/11
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-2 altimetry measurements. Altimetry is a technique for measuring height. Satellite altimetry measures the time taken by a radar...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
CARINA: Carbon in the North Altantic
Years of Record: 1977/12 to 2006/11
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 a merged internally consistent data set of open ocean subsurface measurements for biogeochemical investigations, in particular...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: ascii Timestep: Sub-daily Domain: Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean
Tropical Instability Waves (contributed by E. de Boisseson)
CERA-20C: ECMWF's Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Reanalysis of the 20th Century
Years of Record: 1900/12 to 2010/11
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 assimilated include surface pressures from the International Surface Pressure Databank v3.2.6 and ICOADS v 2.5.1, and surface winds...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | GRIB Timestep: Sub-daily,Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Laloyaux, Patrick
Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)
Years of Record: 1978/12 to 2017/10
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 estimate of the state of these coupled domains over this period. The CFSR includes (1) coupling of atmosphere and ocean during the...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: GRIB Timestep: Sub-daily,Monthly Domain: Global
Heat Content Trend
CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS)
Years of Record: 1981/12 to 2013/11
"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 assimilation system (OceanVar), capable of assimilating all in-situ observations along with altimetry data, and a forecast step...
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Daily,Monthly,Weekly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Storto, Andrea
COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes
Years of Record: 1948/12 to 2006/11
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 1948-2009 at monthly resolution.  This data set serves as a set of common atmospheric boundary conditions that has been used...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Yeager, Stephen
CoRTAD: Coral Reef Temperature Anomaly Database (SST)
Years of Record: 1984/12 to 2005/11
"The Coral Reef Temperature Anomaly Database (CoRTAD) is a collection of sea surface temperature (SST) and related thermal stress metrics, developed specifically for coral reef ecosystem applications but relevant to other ecosystems as well. In addition to SST, it contains SST anomaly (SSTA,...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Weekly Domain: Global
EN4 temperature profile coverage as of May 2019 (contributed by R Killick)
EN4 subsurface temperature and salinity for the global oceans
Years of Record: 1899/12 to 2019/11
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 database of quality-controled in situ profiles and (2) a spatially complete analyses at 1 by 1 degree horizontal resolution and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Killick, Rachel
Climate Data Guide Image: GHRSST
GHRSST: Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature
Years of Record: 2005/12 to 2012/11
The Group for High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (SST; GHRSST) provides a new generation of global high-resolution (
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Sub-daily,Daily Domain: Global
HadCRUT4 and HadCRUT5 temperature anomalies (from CarbonBrief, https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-the-new-met-office-temperature-record-shows-faster-warming-since-1970s)
Global land-ocean surface temperature data: HadCRUT5
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2020/11
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 combines land surface air temperatures from CRUTEM5 with SSTs from HadSST4. HadCRUT5 is a departure from its predecessors (HadCRUT4,...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Hausfather, Zeke
Global Mean Sea Level from TOPEX & Jason Altimetry
Years of Record: 1992/09 to 2015/09
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 temperature.  The major contributions to the observed sea level trend of 3.3 mm/year include the ocean's thermal expansion,...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Nerem, R.S.
Climate Data Guide Image: thermospheric sea level change
Global Ocean Heat and Thermospheric Sea Level Change
Years of Record: 1954/12 to 2010/11
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 change (0-2000m) for the period 1955-2010 are derived.
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly,Seasonal,Annual Domain: Global
The mean global annual surface temperature from 1880-2019 with 95% confidence interval.
Global surface temperature data: GISTEMP: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Surface Temperature Analysis
Years of Record: 1879/12 to 2020/02
NASA Goddard's Global Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) combines land surface air temperatures primarily from the GHCN-M version 4 with SSTs of the ERSSTv5 analysis into a comprehensive global surface temperature data set spanning 1880 to the present at monthly resolution, on a 2x2 degree...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | binary Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Lenssen, Nathan
Change of temperature between 1901:1920 and 1991:2010 based on the HadCRUT4 dataset. Credit: ClimateDataGuide, NCAR
Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2020/01
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, CRUTEM4 and the global SST data set, HadSST3. HadCRUT4 is different from the most closely comparable products (e.g. NASA GISTEMP...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | KML Timestep: Climatology,Monthly Domain: Global
Change of temperature in the MLOST data set.
Global surface temperature data: MLOST: NOAA Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis
Years of Record: 1870/12 to 2020/09
NOAA's Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (MLOST) combines land surface air temperatures primarily from the Global Historical Climatology Network, Monthly (GHCN-M) version 3 with SSTs of the ERSSTv3b analysis into a comprehensive global surface temperature data set spanning 1880 to the...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | binary Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
Change of temperature in the Berkeley Earth data Set.
Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures
Years of Record: 1700/12 to 2019/06
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures (BEST) are a set of data products, originally a gridded reconstruction of land surface air temperature records spanning 1701-present, and now including an 1850-present merged land-ocean data set that combines the land analysis with an interpolated...
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Cowtan, Kevin
Change of surface temperatures in 5 global data sets. credit: NCAR, climatedataguide
Global Temperature Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2013/09
Global surface temperature data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and climate change. The most commonly used data sets combine historical observations of near surface air temperatures at land stations with global data sets of sea surface...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | binary Timestep: Climatology,Monthly Domain: Global
GLODAP: GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project for Carbon
Years of Record: 2013/08
The GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a cooperative effort to coordinate global synthesis projects funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the Joint Global Ocean...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Climatology Domain: Global
GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System
Years of Record: 2015/12 to 2016/11
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. Both temperature and synthetic salinity profiles are assimilated in a 3DVAR scheme. Beginning with March 2007, altimetry sea level...
Formats: netCDF | GRIB Timestep: Monthly,Pentad Domain: Global
Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes Version 2c (GSSTF 2c)
Years of Record: 1986/12 to 2008/11
This data set (GSSTF 2C) has been superceded by GSSTF3 released in July 2012. The Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes (GSSTF) data set is part of the NASA Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Project. The objective of this project is to...
Formats: binary | HDF-EOS Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly,Seasonal,Annual Domain: Global
Climate Data Guide Image: GSSTF3 latent heat flux
Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes Version 3 (GSSTF3)
Years of Record: 1997/12 to 2008/11
Version 3: The Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes (GSSTF) data set is part of the NASA Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Project. The objective of this project is to continually produce a uniform data set of sea surface turbulent fluxes...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: HDF-EOS Timestep: Climatology,Sub-daily,Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
GRACE: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment: Surface mass, total water storage, and derived variables
Years of Record: 2001/12 to 2012/08
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 ranging system to measure the distance between themselves due to gravitational acceleration. Onboard GPS instruments determine...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Swenson, Sean
HadDTR: Hadley Centre sea-surface temperature diurnal temperature range climatology
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 measured by drifting buoys.
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: ascii Timestep: Climatology Domain: Global
HadIOD (contributed by C Atkinson)
HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2019/11
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 timestep. It is somewhat unique among temperature and salinity datasets in that it combines observations from both surface and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Atkinson, Chris
HOAPS: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data
Years of Record: 1986/12 to 2008/11
The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS) set is a satellite-based climatology of precipitation, evaporation and freshwater budget (evaporation minus precipitation) as well as related turbulent heat fluxes and atmospheric state variables over the global ice free...
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Climatology,Sub-daily,Monthly,Pentad Domain: Global
ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations
Years of Record: 1799/12 to 2016/08
ICOADS (International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set) is the most comprehensive archive of global marine surface climate observations available. Variables include SST, SLP, air temperature, wind speed, cloud amount, and others. There is no processing beyond initial quality control. ICOADS...
Formats: netCDF | ascii | binary | IMMA Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Deser, Clara
Japanese Ocean Flux Data sets with Use of Remote Sensing Observations (J-OFURO2)
Years of Record: 1987/12 to 2006/11
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 the estimation of sensible and latent heat fluxes.
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | binary Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies
Years of Record: 1855/12 to 2020/02
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 and coarser resolution version of Smith and Reynolds Optimally Interpolated (OI) SSTs for 1981 to present. Those desiring only...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Kaplan, Alexy
Merged Hadley-NOAA/OI Sea Surface Temperature & Sea-Ice Concentration (Hurrell et al, 2008)
Years of Record: 1869/12 to 2020/07
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...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global, Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
Schematic (contributed by D. Amaya)
Meridional Modes and their indices
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 zonal surface winds. These variations consist of recognizable climate modes, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Domain: Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean
See Expert Guidance by Amaya, Dillon
The Oceanic Nino Index (ONI), a variant of the Nino 3.4 index
Nino SST Indices (Nino 1+2, 3, 3.4, 4; ONI and TNI)
Years of Record: 1869/12 to 2018/09
There are several indices used to monitor the tropical Pacific, all of which are based on SST anomalies averaged across a given region.  Usually the anomalies are computed relative to a base period of 30 years.  The Niño 3.4 index and the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) are the most...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Timestep: Monthly Domain: Pacific Ocean, Tropics
See Expert Guidance by Trenberth, Kevin
Climate Data Guide Image: OAFlux
OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.
Years of Record: 1957/12 to 2012/11
"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 energy budget, water cycle, atmosphere and ocean circulation, and climate. The OAFlux project is so called because it applies...
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Global
Ocean heat content: ARGO
Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo
Years of Record: 2004/12 to 2011/11
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. It is estimated based on the method described in von Schuckmann and Le Traon (2011) and discussed in the context of other...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by von Schuckmann, Karina
ocean energy budget based on IAP ocean temperature analysis (contributed by L Cheng)
Ocean temperature analysis and heat content estimate from Institute of Atmospheric Physics
Years of Record: 1939/12 to 2016/11
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 1-2000m, and monthly resolution from 1940 to present.  As such, it is aimed at studies of climate variability and change,...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Cheng, Lijing
Climate Data Guide Image: ORAS4
ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content
Years of Record: 1957/12 to 2013/03
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 daily surface fluxes, relaxed to SST and bias corrected. The Balmaseda et al (QJRMS 2013) reference provides excellent peer...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
Overview: Climate Indices
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 used to derive assorted indices. Classically, selected station, grid point or regional average data have been used (eg.,...
Main variables and Earth System components:
spatial pattern of the PDO (contributed by C. Deser)
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices
Years of Record: 1899/12 to 2015/11
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 20°N).  The SST anomalies are obtained by removing both the climatological annual cycle and the global-mean SST anomaly...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Pacific Ocean
See Expert Guidance by Deser, Clara | See Expert Guidance by Trenberth, Kevin
PACIFICA: PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon
Years of Record: 1987/12 to 2000/11
PACIFICA (PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon) was an international collaborative project for the data synthesis of ocean interior carbon and its related parameters in the Pacific Ocean. The North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), Section of Carbon and Climate (S-CC) supported the project. We...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: ascii Timestep: Sub-daily Domain: Pacific Ocean
RAPID: monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N
Years of Record: 2004/03 to 2017/01
"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 circulation." "A principal objective of the RAPID programme is the development and maintenance of a pre-operational prototype...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Sub-daily Domain: Atlantic Ocean
Sea Ice Concentration data from AMSR-E, AMSR2 & SSMIS, U Bremen and U Hamburg ASI algorithm
Years of Record: 2002/05 to 2011/09
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 satellite instruments. ASI is based on the difference of vertically and horizontally polarized brightness temperatures at 89...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | HDF | GeoTIFF Timestep: Daily Domain: NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic, Arctic
Climate Data Guide Image: HADISST ice concentrations
Sea Ice Concentration data from HadISST
Years of Record: 1870/01 to 2020/11
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 data set that is It is intended as a consistent analyses for input into SST analyses or as boundary conditions for models....
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
Climate Data Guide Image: Sea Ice Concentration data; Goddard Bootstrap
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on Bootstrap algorithm
Years of Record: 1978/09 to 2014/11
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 satellite instruments, such as SMMR, SSMI, and AMSR-E. This page discusses the algorithm itself and the long-term data set ("...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | binary Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
Artic sea ice: NASA Team
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on NASA Team algorithm
Years of Record: 1978/09 to 2014/11
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 itself and the long-term data set ("NSIDC 0051") produced by scientists at NASA Goddard and distributed by NSIDC. The NASA Team...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | binary Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
Artic sea ice: AMSR-E / NT2
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC using AMSR-E and NASA TEAM2 (NT2) algorithm
Years of Record: 2002/05 to 2011/09
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 2002-2011. NT2, an extension of the original NASA Team algorithm, uses AMSR-E 89GHz channels to help resolve ambiguity between low...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: HDF-EOS Timestep: Daily Domain: Antarctic, Arctic
Arctic sea ice: SSMI / NT2
Sea ice concentration data from NASA Goddard based on SSMI and NASA Team (NT2) algorithm
Years of Record: 1991/12 to 2008/03
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 extension of the original NASA Team algorithm, uses SSMI 85GHz channels to help resolve ambiguity between low ice concentrations and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: binary Timestep: Daily Domain: Antarctic, Arctic
Arctic sea ice: NOAA OI
Sea Ice Concentration data from NOAA OI
Years of Record: 1981/10 to 2021/02
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 Hemispheres. It is intended as a consistent analyses for input into SST analyses (and is the basis for calculating SSTs in sea...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly,Weekly Domain: Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
Artic sea ice: Eumetsat reprocessed.
Sea Ice Concentration data reprocessed from SSMR & SSMI, by Eumetsat
Years of Record: 1978/09 to 2009/09
The Eumetsat Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Applications Facility provides a "reprocessed" data set of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration for 1978-2009. Source data are the SMMR and SSM/I passive microwave brightness temperatures. Three algorithms are utilized: the Technical University of...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Daily Domain: NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic, Arctic
Arctic sea ice climatologies for September
Sea Ice Concentration data: Overview, Comparison table and graphs
Sea ice concentration is both an indicator and driver of high-latitude climate change with strong societal and ecological importance. It is a key boundary condition for atmospheric models (including those used in atmospheric reanalyses) and a benchmark for coupled climate models. As such, numerous...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Domain: Antarctic, Arctic
Arctic sea ice: Climate Data Record
Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record
Years of Record: 1978/10 to 2019/11
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 consistent interpretation of sea ice for the satellite record, with the intent of being suitable for studies of climate...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Daily,Monthly Domain: Antarctic, Arctic, NH - Northern Hemisphere, SH - Southern Hemisphere
See Expert Guidance by Meier, Walter
SeaWIFS: ocean bio-optical and carbon properties
Years of Record: 2001/12 to 2013/07
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' role in the global carbon cycle. SeaWiFS data are being used to help clarify the magnitude and variability of chlorophyll and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: HDF Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly,Seasonal,Annual Domain: Global
SODA: Simple Ocean Data Assimilation
Years of Record: 1869/12 to 2010/11
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 fields. The goal is to provide an improved estimate of ocean state from those based solely on observations or numerical simulations.
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
Streamfunction map (contributed by M. Mazloff)
Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE)
Years of Record: 2004/12 to 2010/11
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 mean-state of the Southern Ocean.  Technically, SOSE is a solution to the MITgcm.  SOSE is a gridded dataset at 1/6...
Formats: binary Timestep: Daily,Monthly,Weekly,Annual Domain: Antarctic, SH - Southern Hemisphere, Southern Ocean
See Expert Guidance by Mazloff, Matthew
SST Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2014/03
Sea surface temperature (SST) data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and climate change.  By surface area, SSTs are the dominant (~71%) input into merged global land-ocean surface temperature data products.   Historically, SST measurments...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly,Weekly Domain: Global
Climate Data Guide Image: AMSR-E: Standard error of 'tos' (SST) for July 2006.
SST (AMSR-E): Sea Surface Temperature from Remote Sensing Systems
Years of Record: 2002/05 to 2010/11
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 high spatial and temporal (daily, weekly, monthly) resolutions for both daytime and nighttime averages. Monthly versions are...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | binary Timestep: Daily,Monthly,Weekly Domain: Global
Climate Data Guide Image: SST data: AVHRR Pathfinder v5.2, NOAA NODC
SST data: AVHRR Pathfinder v5.2, NOAA NODC
Years of Record: 1980/12 to 2011/11
"The AVHRR Pathfinder Version 5.2 (PFV52) data set was computed using an entirely modernized system, based on SeaDAS and incorporating several key changes over the older Pathfinder V5.0 and V5.1 datasets. PFV52 is viewed as a significant step forward in preparation for the future Version 6 (PFV6)...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Sub-daily Domain: Global
SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates
Years of Record: 1890/12 to 2020/02
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 reports from ships and buoys. Data are gridded using optimal interpolation. As in HadISST, data up to 1941 were bias-adjusted...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: GRIB Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
Climate Data Guide Image: HadISST v1.1 SST anomalies and sea ice concentration (August 2012).
SST data: HadiSST v1.1
Years of Record: 1870/01 to 2020/11
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. This page focuses on the SST data; see the separate page for discussion of HadISST sea ice. HadISST uses reduced space...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
Climate Data Guide Image: HadSST3 (Kennedy et al (2011b)
SST data: HadSST3
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2017/11
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 is no interpolation; Thus, missing data occur in the final product. The primary input data are from ICOADS release 2.5. Bias...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Kennedy, John
annual trends in HadSST4 (created with NCAR Climate Variability Diagnostics Package)
SST data: HadSST4
Years of Record: 1849/12 to 2018/11
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 is no interpolation; Thus, missing data occur in the final product. This means that uncertainties due to limited spatial...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Kennedy, John
SST Data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs Version 5 (ERSSTv5)
Years of Record: 1853/12 to 2019/07
The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete SST data at a monthly timestep for 1854-present. Version5 is based upon statistical interpolation of the ICOADS release 3.0 data. Argo float data are used in the recent years (since ~2000). The data...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Climatology,Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Hausfather, Zeke
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b)
Years of Record: 1853/12 to 2020/01
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 statistical interpolation of the ICOADS release 2.4 data. Version 3 includes satellite AVHRR SST data for 1985 onwards....
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Huang, Boyin | See Expert Guidance by Livermore, Jay | See Expert Guidance by Smith, Tom
ERSST v4 timeseries (contributed by B Huang)
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4
Years of Record: 1981/10 to 2021/02
The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete SST data at a monthly timestep for 1854-present.  Compared to the previous version, Version 4 uses the more extensive ICOADS Release 2.5 data and revised quality control, bias adjustment, and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Huang, Boyin
SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2
Years of Record: 1981/09 to 2021/02
"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 to the more recent daily on a ¼° grid. An SST analysis is a spatially gridded product created by interpolating and...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | binary Timestep: Daily Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Banzon, Viva | See Expert Guidance by Reynolds, Richard
Climate Data Guide Image: NOAA OI SST: SST range (C)
SST data: NOAA Optimal Interpolation (OI) SST Analysis, version 2 (OISSTv2) 1x1
Years of Record: 1981/11 to 2020/02
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:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | binary Timestep: Climatology,Monthly,Weekly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Banzon, Viva | See Expert Guidance by Reynolds, Richard
NOCv2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset (contributed by E. Kent)
Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0
Years of Record: 1972/12 to 2014/11
The National Oceanography Centre  (NOC) Version 2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset is a monthly mean gridded dataset of marine surface measurements and derived fluxes constructed using optimal interpolation. Input for the period 1973 to 2006 are ICOADS Release 2.4 ship data and the...
Formats: netCDF Timestep: Monthly Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Kent, Elizabeth
spatial distibution of tide gaugues
Tide gauge sea level data
Years of Record: 1799/12 to 2015/12
The global sea level record from tide gauges is an important indicator of the evolution and impact of global climate change.  Tide gauge data also capture a variety of local and regional phenomena related to decadal climate variability, tides, storm surges, tsunamis, swells, and other coastal...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Timestep: Sub-daily,Daily,Monthly,Annual Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Hamlington, Benjamin | See Expert Guidance by Thompson, Phil
Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA)
Years of Record: 1991/12 to 2013/03
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 on time scales of months to years. In order to achieve the TOGA goals, a strategy of large-scale, long-term monitoring of the...
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Sub-daily,Daily,Monthly,Weekly Domain: Tropics
Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice
Years of Record: 1869/12 to 2011/11
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 combined with satellite-derived sea ice concentrations for the recent decades. Mostly climatologies before the 1950s. The Walsh...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: ascii Timestep: Monthly Domain: NH - Northern Hemisphere, Arctic
See Expert Guidance by Chapman, William
World Ocean Atlas (WOA09)
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 Utilization (AOU), percent oxygen saturation, phosphate, silicate, and nitrate at standard depth levels for annual, seasonal, and...
Formats: netCDF | ascii Timestep: Climatology,Monthly,Seasonal,Annual Domain: Global
Northwest Atlantic regional Sea Water Salinity Annual fields for period of 1995-2004 at 50m depth (contributed by A. Mishonov)
World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13)
Years of Record: 1954/12 to 2012/11
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.  Global, decadal averages of temperature, salinity, oxygen and nutrients are provided at monthly, seasonal and annual averaging...
Formats: netCDF | ascii | shapefile Timestep: Climatology,Monthly,Seasonal Domain: Global
See Expert Guidance by Mishonov, Alexey
Subscribe to Recent Climate Data Guide content with Tag: Ocean

Copyright 2021 UCAR | Contact | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Copyright Issues | NCAR Home

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.