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NOAAGlobalTemp

The NOAA Merged Land Ocean Global Surface Temperature Analysis (NOAAGlobalTemp, formerly known as MLOST) combines long-term sea surface (water) temperature (SST) and land surface (air) temperature datasets to create a complete, accurate depiction of global temperature trends. The dataset is used to support climate monitoring activities such as the Monthly Global Climate Assessment, and also provides input data for a number of climate models.

Methodology

To achieve global temperature coverage, NOAAGlobalTemp combines the sea surface temperature (SST) with land surface air temperature (LSAT). Data is available as a series of temperature anomalies relative to a 1971–2000 monthly climatology. To compute anomalies relative to climatologies for other time periods (e.g. 1991–2020), calculate the average of the NOAAGlobalTemp anomalies for that time period (e.g. 1991–2020), and then subtract the average from the original anomalies.

Current Version: 5.1

Updates

Version 5.1 differs from 5.0 in two major ways:  

  • 5.1 extends back to 1850 (vs. 1880)
  • 5.1 has complete coverage of all land and ocean areas for the entire period of record

Input Datasets

Data

Gridded

Global Gridded 5° Monthly data are available in netCDF format and can be downloaded from one of the two links:

Time Series

Monthly and annual land–ocean temperature time series as well as land-only and ocean-only time series are available from 1850 to present for several zonal bands.

ASCII Time Series

Climate at a Glance

This interactive tool provides global charts and graphics using NOAAGlobalTemp data.

Launch Climate at a Glance

Older Versions

Updates

Version 5 incorporates upgraded versions of ERSST and GHCN-M for increased land and ocean spatial coverage, and improved treatment of historical changes in observing practice.

Input Datasets

  • ERSST v5
  • GHCN-M v4 

Data

Gridded

Monthly data are available in netCDF format and can be downloaded from one of the two links:

Time Series

Monthly and annual land–ocean temperature time series as well as land-only and ocean-only time series are available from 1880 to present for several zonal bands.

ASCII Time Series

Climate at a Glance

This interactive tool provides global charts and graphics using NOAAGlobalTemp data.

Launch Climate at a Glance

Paper Citations

  • Huang, B., M. J. Menne, T. Boyer, E. Freeman, B. E. Gleason, J. H. Lawrimore, C. Liu, J. J. Rennie, C. Schreck, F. Sun, R. Vose, C. N. Williams, X. Yin, H.-M. Zhang, 2020: Uncertainty estimates for sea surface temperature and land surface air temperature in NOAAGlobalTemp version 5. J. Climate, J. Climate, 33, 1351-1379, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0395.1.
  • Zhang, H.-M., J. H. Lawrimore, B. Huang, M. J. Menne, X. Yin, A. Sanchez-Lugo, B. E. Gleason, R. Vose, D. Arndt, J. J. Rennie, and C. N. Williams, 2019: Updated temperature data give a sharper view of climate trends. EOS, 100, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO128229.

Data Citation

Zhang, H.-M., B. Huang, J. Lawrimore, M. Menne, Thomas M. Smith, NOAA Global Surface Temperature Dataset (NOAAGlobalTemp), Version 5 [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi:10.25921/9qth-2p70 [access date].

Input Datasets

  • ERSST v4
  • GHCN-M v3.3.0

Global Gridded 5° Data     ASCII Time Series

Data Citation

Zhang, H.-M., B. Huang, J. Lawrimore, M. Menne, Thomas M. Smith, NOAA Global Surface Temperature Dataset (NOAAGlobalTemp), Version 4.0 [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi:10.7289/V5FN144H [access date].

Contact Info

Specifications

Data Sources: 
Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (ERSST), Global Historical Climatology Network monthly (GHCNm), International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS), International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP)

Spatial Coverage:
Global 5° × 5°

Time Frame: 
1850–Present

Resources

References

  • Vose, R.S., B. Huang, X. Yin., D. Arndt, D.R. Easterling, J.H. Lawrimore, M.J. Menne, A. Sanchez-Lugo, H.-M. Zhang, 2021: Implementing full spatial coverage in NOAA’s global temperature analysis. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2020GL090873. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090873.
  • Zhang, H.-M., J. H. Lawrimore, B. Huang, M. J. Menne, X. Yin, A. Sanchez-Lugo, B. E. Gleason, R. Vose, D. Arndt, J. J. Rennie, and C. N. Williams, 2019: Updated temperature data give a sharper view of climate trends. EOS, 100, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO128229.
  • Vose, R.S., D. Arndt, V.F. Banzon, D.R. Easterling, B. Gleason, B. Huang, E. Kearns, J.H. Lawrimore, M.J. Menne, T.C. Peterson, R.W. Reynolds, T.M. Smith, C.N. Williams, Jr., and D.L. Wuertz, 2012: NOAA's merged land-ocean surface temperature analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 93, 1677–1685, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00241.1.
  • Smith, T.M., R.W. Reynolds, T.C. Peterson, and J. Lawrimore, 2008: Improvements to NOAA's historical merged land–ocean surface temperatures analysis (1880–2006); Journal of Climate, 21, 2283–2296, doi:10.1175/2007JCLI2100.1.

Cite dataset when used as a source. See the dataset's DOI landing page for citation details at doi:10.7289/V5FN144H.