Satellite-based time-series of sea-surface temperature since 1981 for climate applications

• Published in: Scientific data 2019-10, Vol.6 (1), p.223-18, Article 223
• Main Authors: Merchant, Christopher J., Embury, Owen, Bulgin, Claire E., Block, Thomas, Corlett, Gary K., Fiedler, Emma, Good, Simon A., Mittaz, Jonathan, Rayner, Nick A., Berry, David, Eastwood, Steinar, Taylor, Michael, Tsushima, Yoko, Waterfall, Alison, Wilson, Ruth, Donlon, Craig
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/106; 704/829/2737; Data Descriptor; Diurnal; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Oceanography; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Temperature effects
• ISSN: 2052-4463; 2052-4463
• DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0236-x

A climate data record of global sea surface temperature (SST) spanning 1981–2016 has been developed from 4 × 10 12 satellite measurements of thermal infra-red radiance. The spatial area represented by pixel SST estimates is between 1 km 2 and 45 km 2 . The mean density of good-quality observations is 13 km −2 yr −1 . SST uncertainty is evaluated per datum, the median uncertainty for pixel SSTs being 0.18 K. Multi-annual observational stability relative to drifting buoy measurements is within 0.003 K yr −1 of zero with high confidence, despite maximal independence from in situ SSTs over the latter two decades of the record. Data are provided at native resolution, gridded at 0.05° latitude-longitude resolution (individual sensors), and aggregated and gap-filled on a daily 0.05° grid. Skin SSTs, depth-adjusted SSTs de-aliased with respect to the diurnal cycle, and SST anomalies are provided. Target applications of the dataset include: climate and ocean model evaluation; quantification of marine change and variability (including marine heatwaves); climate and ocean-atmosphere processes; and specific applications in ocean ecology, oceanography and geophysics. Measurement(s) temperature of water Technology Type(s) satellite imaging Factor Type(s) time • geographic location Sample Characteristic - Environment sea Sample Characteristic - Location Earth (planet) Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9939638