The 1991–2020 sea surface temperature normals

Abstract

AbstractThe 1991–2020 climate normals for sea surface temperature (SST) are computed based on the NOAA Daily Optimum Interpolation SST dataset. This is the first time that high‐resolution SST normals with global coverage can be achieved in the satellite SST era. Normals are one of the fundamental parameters in describing and understanding weather and climate and provide decision‐making information to industry, public, and scientific communities. This product suite includes SST mean, standard deviation, count and extreme parameters at daily, monthly, seasonal and annual time scales on 0.25° spatial grids. The main feature of the SST mean state revealed by the normals is that in the Tropics, the Indo‐Pacific Ocean is dominated by the warm pool (SST ≥ 28°C) while the eastern Pacific is characterized by the cold tongue (SST ≤ 24°C); in the midlatitudes, SSTs are in zonal patterns with high meridional gradients. Daily SST standard deviations are generally small (<1.0°C) except in frontal zones (>1.5°C) mostly associated with ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio and Equatorial Currents. Compared to the 1982–2011 climatology, the 1991–2020 mean SSTs increased over most global areas but obvious cooling is seen in the Southern Ocean, eastern tropical South Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic warming hole. The Indo‐Pacific warm pool (IPWP) is found to have strengthened in both intensity and coverage since 1982–2011. By a count parameter criterion of ≥300 days annually with SST ≥ 28°C, the IPWP coverage increased 33% from 1982–2011 to 1991–2020. The global mean SST of 1991–2020 is warmer than that of 1982–2011, and the warming rate over 1991–2020 doubles that over 1901–2020.