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NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (SST) V4

The monthly mean file was corrupted and has been replaced 12/9/2015. Jan and Feb 2014 maps were impacted.

Brief Description:

  • A global monthly SST analysis from 1854 to the present derived from ICOADS data with missing data filled in by statistical methods. More Details...

Temporal Coverage:

  • Monthly values for 1854/01 - present.
  • Long term monthly means, derived from data for years 1971 - 2000.
  • Long term monthly means, derived from data for years 1981 - 2010.

Spatial Coverage:

  • 2.0 degree latitude x 2.0 degree longitude global grid (89x180).
  • 88.0N - 88.0S, 0.0E - 358.0E.

Levels:

  • Sea Surface

Update Schedule:

  • Variable

Download/Plot Data:

Variable Statistic Level Units Download File Create Plot/Subset
Sea Surface Temperature Monthly Mean Surface degC sst.mnmean.v4.nc plot
Sea Surface Temperature Monthly Long Term Mean Surface degC sst.mon.1981-2010.ltm.v4.nc plot
Sea Surface Temperature Monthly Long Term Mean Surface degC sst.mon.1971-2000.ltm.v4.nc plot

Usage Restrictions:

  • None

Detailed Description:

  • The monthly Extended Reconstructed Sea SurfaceTemperature(ERSST)dataset,available onglobal 2x2 grids, has been revised herein to version 4 (v4) from v3b. ERSST v4 revisions are based on ERSST v3b. Major improvements include updated and substantially more complete input data from the ICOADS Release 2.5, revised Empirical Orthogonal Teleconnections (EOTs) and EOT acceptance criterion, updated sea surface temperature (SST) quality control procedures, revised SST anomaly (SSTA) evaluation methods, revised low-frequency data filing in data sparse regions using nearby available observations, updated bias adjustments of ship SSTs using Hadley Nighttime Marine Air Temperature version 2 (HadNMAT2), and buoy SST bias adjustments not previously made in v3b. These revisions and their associated improvements are justified in part by subsampling the observations of the modern period (1960–2012) using historical observation masks from the period 1860–1912.

    The monthly analysis extends from January 1854 to the present, but because of sparse data in the early years, there is damping of the analyzed signal before 1880. After 1880, the strength of the signal is more consistent over time. ERSST is suitable for long-term global and basin-wide studies, and smoothed local and short-term variations are used in the dataset.
    For more information see https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/marineocean-data/extended-reconstructed-sea-surface-temperature-ersst-v4.

Caveats:

  • The monthly analysis extends from January 1854 to the present, but because of sparse data in the early years, there is damping of the analyzed signal before 1880. After 1880, the strength of the signal is more consistent over time. ERSST is suitable for long-term global and basin-wide studies, and smoothed local and short-term variations are used in the dataset.

Related File Naming & Structure Information:

File Names:

  • sst.stat[.time].v4.nc   (In directory: /Datasets/noaa.ersst/)

OpenDap File Names:

  • http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/thredds/dodsC/Datasets/noaa.ersst/sst.mnmean.v4.nc   
  • http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/thredds/dodsC/Datasets/noaa.ersst/sst.mon.1981-2010.ltm.v4.nc   
  • http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/thredds/dodsC/Datasets/noaa.ersst/sst.mon.1971-2000.ltm.v4.nc   

Dataset Format and Size:

  • PSD standard NetCDF4 ~54 Mbyte file for the monthly file.
  • PSD standard NetCDF4 1 Mbyte file for each long term mean file.

Missing Data:

  • Land points are flagged with a value of -9.96921e+36.

Citation:

  • Please note: If you acquire NOAA_ERSST_V4 data products from PSD, we ask that you acknowledge us in your use of the data. This may be done by including text such as NOAA_ERSST_V4 data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/ in any documents or publications using these data. We would also appreciate receiving a copy of the relevant publications. This will help PSD to justify keeping the NOAA_ERSST_V4 data set freely available online in the future. Thank you!

References:

Original Source:

Contact:

  • Physical Sciences Division: Data Management
    NOAA/ESRL/PSD
    325 Broadway
    Boulder, CO 80305-3328
    esrl.psd.data@noaa.gov