Annual sea surface temperature anomalies:1982 - 2016
Annual mean sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly maps for 1982 - 2016. The anomalies are the annual mean SST minus the 1982 - 2010 mean SST. The underlying data are derived by thermal remote sensing, and for the latter half of the record are independent of (but highly consistent with) SST information obtained from ocean surface measurements. The remotely sensed SST have been spatio-temporally completed (in-filled) using optimal interpolation, before averaging from daily fields to the annual maps shown here. Full details of the data set are given in the paper linked below, and the full resolution (daily, 0.05 degree) data are freely available by registering at the UK Centre for Environmental Data Archival (see data link below). When using this image, please cite both the paper and dataset. This project is funded by the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative.
Data citation: Good, S.A.; Embury, O.; Bulgin, C.E.; Mittaz, J. (2019): ESA Sea Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative (SST_cci): Level 4 Analysis Climate Data Record, version 2.1. Centre for Environmental Data Analysis, 22 August 2019. doi:10.5285/62c0f97b1eac4e0197a674870afe1ee6. http://dx.doi.org/10.5285/62c0f97b1eac4e0197a674870afe1ee6
Paper citation: Merchant, C.J., Embury, O., Bulgin, C.E., Block T., Corlett, G.K., Fiedler, E., Good, S.A., Mittaz, J., Rayner, N.A., Berry, D., Eastwood, S., Taylor, M., Tsushima, Y., Waterfall, A., Wilson, R., Donlon, C. Satellite-based time-series of sea-surface temperature since 1981 for climate applications, Scientific Data 6:223 (2019). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0236-x
