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
Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures Global surface temperatures: BEST: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures

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The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures (BEST) are a set of data products, originally a gridded reconstruction of land surface air temperature records spanning 1701-…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
HadCRUT5_MLE annual mean global temperature anomaly Global surface temperature: Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Temperatures using HadCRUT5 (Version 1.2)

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

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Global surface temperature data: GISTEMP: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Surface Temperature Analysis Global surface temperature data: GISTEMP: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Surface Temperature Analysis

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NASA Goddard's Global Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) combines land surface air temperatures from GHCN-M version 4 with SSTs of the ERSSTv5 analysis into a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
DCENT warming level image Global surface temperature data: The Dynamically Consistent ENsemble of Temperature (DCENT)

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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

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    • Monthly

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4 SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, Version 4

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The NOAA Extended Reconstruction Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST) provides global, spatially complete SST data at a monthly timestep for 1854-present.  Compared to the…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Global land-ocean surface temperature data: HadCRUT5 Global land-ocean surface temperature data: HadCRUT5

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature at 2m Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b) SST data: NOAA Extended Reconstruction SSTs, version 3 (ERSSTv3 & 3b)

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices

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

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2 SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2

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"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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices

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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
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)

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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)

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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

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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
Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies Kaplan Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

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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

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    • Monthly

    • Collections

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World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13) World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13)

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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. …

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Dissolved Oxygen SST - sea surface temperature Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature Sub-surface data phosphate potential temperature silicate
ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations ICOADS Surface Marine Weather Observations

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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
Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0 Surface Flux and Meteorological Dataset: National Oceanography Centre (NOC) V2.0

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Cloud Properties Evaporation Latent & sensible heat flux Multiple variables Radiation Sea Level Pressure Specific Humidity Surface Pressure Surface solar radiation Water Vapor Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux
SST data: HadSST3 SST data: HadSST3

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
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)

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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

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Global surface temperature data: MLOST: NOAA Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis Global surface temperature data: MLOST: NOAA Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis

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NOAA's Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (MLOST) combines land surface air temperatures primarily from the Global Historical Climatology Network, Monthly (GHCN-…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

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SST data: HadSST4 SST data: HadSST4

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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
SST data: HadiSST v1.1 SST data: HadiSST v1.1

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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

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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

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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

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SST Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table SST Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table

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Sea surface temperature (SST) data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and climate change.  By surface area, SSTs are…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

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HadDTR: Hadley Centre sea-surface temperature diurnal temperature range climatology HadDTR: Hadley Centre sea-surface temperature diurnal temperature range climatology

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature SST diurnal range

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    • Climatology

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SST (AMSR-E): Sea Surface Temperature from Remote Sensing Systems SST (AMSR-E): Sea Surface Temperature from Remote Sensing Systems

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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

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Global Temperature Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table Global Temperature Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table

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Global surface temperature data sets are an essential resource for monitoring and understanding climate variability and climate change. The most commonly used data sets…

Main variables and Earth System components

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

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COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes COREv2 Air-Sea Surface Fluxes

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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
GHRSST: Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature GHRSST: Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature

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The Group for High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (SST; GHRSST) provides a new generation of global high-resolution (10km) SST products to the operational oceanographic…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

    • Timestep

    • Sub-daily, Daily

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE)

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean 3D Velocity Bottom pressure SST - sea surface temperature Salinity Sub Surface Temperature mixed layer depth sea surface height u, v current components Wind Stress
HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database HadIOD: Met Office-Hadley Centre Integrated Ocean Database

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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

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    • Daily, Monthly

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Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4 Global surface temperature data: HadCRUT4 and CRUTEM4

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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,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

  • Experts contributing reviews

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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

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

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Evaporation Evaporation-Precipitation Precipitation Ocean Salinity SST - sea surface temperature
ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis

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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
CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS) CMCC Global Ocean Reanalysis System (C-GLORS)

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"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

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    • Daily, Monthly, Weekly

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SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates SST data: COBE: Centennial in situ Observation-Based Estimates

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

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World Ocean Atlas (WOA09) World Ocean Atlas (WOA09)

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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

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GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System GODAS: NCEP Global Ocean Data Assimilation System

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean 3D Velocity SST - sea surface temperature Salinity heat flux isothermal layer depth mixed layer depth potential temperature salt flux sea surface height

  • Experts contributing reviews

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Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA) Tropical Moored Buoy System: TAO, TRITON, PIRATA, RAMA (TOGA)

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Precipitation Radiation Relative Humidity Sea Level Pressure Wind Ocean Absolute Dynamic Topography (ADT) Ocean Heat Content SST - sea surface temperature Salinity Sub Surface Salinity Sub Surface Temperature u, v current components

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    • Sub-daily, Daily, Monthly, Weekly

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans. OAFlux: Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes for the global oceans.

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"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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Latent & sensible heat flux Radiation Wind Ocean SST - sea surface temperature Surface Flux wind stress curl

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    • Daily, Monthly

    • Collections

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content ORAS4: ECMWF Ocean Reanalysis and derived ocean heat content

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Ocean Ocean Heat Content Salinity Sea Level potential temperature u, v current components

  • Experts contributing reviews

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

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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

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SODA: Simple Ocean Data Assimilation SODA: Simple Ocean Data Assimilation

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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…

Main variables and Earth System components

Wind Stress Ocean 3D Velocity potential temperature Salinity sea surface height SST - sea surface temperature u, v current components

    • Timestep

    • Monthly

    • Collections

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  • Experts contributing reviews

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