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COBE SST

From the JRA webpage: "Since some satellite data had been used incorrectly to estimate SSTs in sea ice areas, monthly mean SST data from January 2006 to December 2009 and SST normals were replaced with re-calculated ones. Please download the data again, if you obtained them previously."

Temporal Coverage:

  • Monthly Means: 1891/01 near present.
  • Long Term Mean: 1981-2010.

Spatial Coverage:

  • 1.0 degree latitude x 1.0 degree longitude global grid (360x180).
  • 89.5N - 89.5S, 0.5E - 359.5E.

Levels:

  • Sea Level

Update Schedule:

  • Monthly

Download/Plot Data:

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Variable Statistic Level Download File Create Plot/Subset
SST Monthly Mean Surfacesst.mon.mean.nc plot
SST Climatology Surface sst.mon.ltm.1981-2010.nc plot

Usage Restrictions:

  • None

Detailed Description:

  • The COBE-SST dataset is used as input for the JMA Climate Data Assimilation System (JCDAS) and the Japanese 25-year Re-analyses (JRA-25 and JRA-55). It is also used as input for the ensemble prediction systems used in seasonal forecasts. See the JRA COBE-SST webpage for details.

Caveats:

  • None

Related File Naming & Structure Information:

File Names:

  • var.time.stat.nc   (In directory: /Datasets/COBE/)

Dataset Format and Size:

    Dataset format and size:
  • PSD standard NetCDF 380 Mbyte file for monthly file. /Datasets/COBE/sst.mon.mean.nc
  • PSD standard NetCDF 3.1 Mbyte file for long term monthly mean file: /Datasets/COBE/sst.mon.ltm.1981-2010.nc

Missing Data:

  • Missing grids are 1e20.
  • Missing grids are 9.999e+20 (ltm).

Citation:

  • Please note: If you acquire COBE SST 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 COBE SST 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 COBE SST data set freely available online in the future. Thank you!
  • Ishii et al. (2005) (see below)

References:

  • Folland, C. K. and D. E. Parker, 1995: Correction of instrumental biases in historical sea surface temperature data. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 121, 319-367.
  • Ishii, M., A. Shouji, S. Sugimoto, and T. Matsumoto, 2005: Objective Analyses of Sea-Surface Temperature and Marine Meteorological Variables for the 20th Century using ICOADS and the Kobe Collection. Int. J. Climatol., 25, 865-879.
  • Japan Meteorological Agency, 2006: Characteristics of Global Sea Surface Temperature Analysis Data (COBE-SST) for Climate Use. Monthly Report on Climate System Separated Volume, 12, 116pp.

Original Source:

Contact:

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