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

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 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3473-3478, Tsushima, Yoko, Waterfall, Alison, Wilson, Ruth and Donlon, Craig (2019) Satellite-based time-series of sea-surface temperature since 1981 for climate applications. Scientific Data, 6. ISSN 2052-4463

[thumbnail of SciRep_2019_Merchant_etal]
Preview
PDF (SciRep_2019_Merchant_etal) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

A climate data record of global sea surface temperature (SST) spanning 1981-2016 has been developed from 4 × 1012 satellite measurements of thermal infra-red radiance. The spatial area represented by pixel SST estimates is between 1 km2 and 45 km2. 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.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sea surface temperature,remote sensing,computer science applications,statistics, probability and uncertainty,sdg 13 - climate action,sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1700/1706
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 05 Aug 2020 23:50
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2022 06:34
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/76333
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0236-x

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item