Argo Ocean Temperature and Salinity Profiles
Years of Record: 2000/01 to 2017/01
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
Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO)
Years of Record: 1856/01 to 2016/07
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
Domain: Atlantic Ocean, NH - Northern Hemisphere
AVISO: Satellite derived Sea Surface Height above Geoid
Years of Record: 1992/10 to 2010/12
The sea surface height relative to the geoid (the mean ocean surface of the Earth if the ocean is at rest) is derived from TOPEX/Poseidon, Envisat, Jason-1, and OSTM/Jason-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: 1978/01 to 2006/12
The CARINA (CARbon dioxide IN the Atlantic Ocean) data synthesis project is an international collaborative effort of the EU IP CARBOOCEAN, and US partners. It has produced 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
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 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
Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)
Years of Record: 1979/01 to 2011/01
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
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 assimilation system (OceanVar), capable of assimilating all in-situ observations along with altimetry data, and a forecast step...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF
Timestep: Daily,Monthly,Weekly
Domain: Global
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 1948-2009 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
CoRTAD: Coral Reef Temperature Anomaly Database (SST)
Years of Record: 1985/01 to 2005/12
"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
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 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
Global Ocean Heat and Thermospheric Sea Level Change
Years of Record: 1955/01 to 2010/12
Using updated data from the World Ocean Database (Boyer et al, 2009) and improved ARGO profiling data, new estimates of ocean heat content and thermospheric sea level 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
Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4
Years of Record: 1850/01 to 2017/04
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
Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures
Years of Record: 1701/01 to 2013/03
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...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF
Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly
Domain: Global
Global Temperature Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table
Years of Record: 1850/01 to 2013/10
Global surface temperature data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and 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
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: 2016/01 to 2016/12
GODAS is a real-time ocean analysis and a reanalysis. It is used for monitoring, retrospective analysis as well as for providing oceanic initial conditions for the CFS. Both temperature and synthetic salinity profiles are assimilated in a 3DVAR scheme. Beginning with March 2007, altimetry sea level...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | GRIB
Timestep: Monthly,Pentad
Domain: Global
Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes Version 2c (GSSTF 2c)
Years of Record: 1987/01 to 2008/12
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...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: binary | HDF-EOS
Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly,Seasonal,Annual
Domain: Global
Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes Version 3 (GSSTF3)
Years of Record: 1998/01 to 2008/12
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
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 (evaporation minus precipitation) as well as related turbulent heat fluxes and atmospheric state variables over the global ice free...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF
Timestep: Climatology,Sub-daily,Monthly,Pentad
Domain: Global
ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations
Years of Record: 1800/01 to 2016/09
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...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | binary | IMMA
Timestep: Climatology,Daily,Monthly
Domain: Global
Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies
Years of Record: 1856/01 to 2017/05
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
Nino SST Indices (Nino 1+2, 3, 3.4, 4; ONI and TNI)
Years of Record: 1870/01 to 2015/11
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
OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.
Years of Record: 1958/01 to 2012/12
"The OAFlux project aims to provide consistent, multi-decade, global analysis of air-sea heat, freshwater (evaporation), and momentum fluxes for use in studies of global energy budget, water cycle, atmosphere and ocean circulation, and climate. The OAFlux project is so called because it applies...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF
Timestep: Daily,Monthly
Domain: Global
Ocean heat content for 10-1500m depth based on Argo
Years of Record: 2005/01 to 2011/12
A regularly updated monthly timeseries of ocean heat content, based on Argo profiles, is integrated over 10-1500m depth and the latitudes 60°S-60°N. Coverage begins in 2005. 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
ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content
Years of Record: 1958/01 to 2013/04
ECMWF's current ocean reanalysis uses a sophisticated data assimilation methodology which includes a model bias correction. The ocean model used is forced by atmospheric 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:
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 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
PACIFICA: PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon
Years of Record: 1988/01 to 2000/12
PACIFICA (PACIFic ocean Interior CArbon) was an international collaborative project for the data synthesis of ocean interior carbon and its related parameters in the 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: 2004/04 to 2015/10
"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: 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
SeaWIFS: ocean bio-optical and carbon properties
Years of Record: 2002/01 to 2013/08
The purpose of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project is to provide quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties and to assess the oceans' 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: 1870/01 to 2010/12
The Simple Ocean Data Assimilation, or SODA, analysis is an ocean reanalysis data set consisting of gridded variables for the global ocean, as well as several derived fields. The goal is to provide an improved estimate of ocean state from those based solely on observations or numerical simulations.
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF
Timestep: Monthly
Domain: Global
Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE)
Years of Record: 2005/01 to 2010/12
The Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) is a model-generated best fit to Southern Ocean observations. As such, it provides a quantitatively useful climatology of the mean-state of the Southern Ocean. Technically, SOSE is a solution to the MITgcm. SOSE is a gridded dataset at 1/6...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: binary
Timestep: Daily,Monthly,Weekly,Annual
Domain: Antarctic, SH - Southern Hemisphere, Southern Ocean
SST Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table
Years of Record: 1850/01 to 2014/04
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
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 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
SST data: AVHRR Pathfinder v5.2, NOAA NODC
Years of Record: 1981/01 to 2011/12
"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: 1891/01 to 2017/05
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
SST data: HadiSST v1.1
Years of Record: 1870/01 to 2017/02
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
SST data: HadSST3
Years of Record: 1850/01 to 2014/10
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
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b)
Years of Record: 1854/01 to 2017/05
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
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4
Years of Record: 1854/01 to 2016/12
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
Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0
Years of Record: 1973/01 to 2014/12
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Version 2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset is a monthly mean gridded dataset of marine surface measurements and derived fluxes constructed using optimal interpolation. Input for the period 1973 to 2006 are ICOADS Release 2.4 ship data and the...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF
Timestep: Monthly
Domain: Global
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 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
Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA)
Years of Record: 1992/01 to 2013/04
The Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program (TOGA) is a component of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) aimed specifically at the prediction of climate phenomena on time scales of months to years. In order to achieve the TOGA goals, a strategy of large-scale, long-term monitoring of the...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii
Timestep: Sub-daily,Daily,Monthly,Weekly
Domain: Tropics
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 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
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...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii
Timestep: Climatology,Monthly,Seasonal,Annual
Domain: Global
World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13)
Years of Record: 1955/01 to 2012/12
The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is a set of climatological mean, gridded fields of oceanographic variables based on in-situ measurements from a wide variety of sources. Global, decadal averages of temperature, salinity, oxygen and nutrients are provided at monthly, seasonal and annual averaging...
Main variables and Earth System components:
Formats: netCDF | ascii | shapefile
Timestep: Climatology,Monthly,Seasonal
Domain: Global
