iCOADS Monthly Summaries 2 x 2 degrees

International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) Release 3.0/3.0.2, Monthly Summaries (2x2 Enhanced and Standard)

IMPORTANT: The time period of data available is defined in two segments.

The International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) offers surface marine data spanning the past three centuries, and simple gridded monthly summary products for 2° latitude x 2° longitude boxes back to 1800—these data and products are freely distributed worldwide. As it contains observations from many different observing systems encompassing the evolution of measurement technology over hundreds of years, ICOADS is probably the most complete and heterogeneous collection of surface marine data in existence.

The datasets are subdivided into "standard" and "enhanced" products, which reflect the "trimming" (quality control) procedure used and the data mixture. In the standard products, the data have been edited using climatological 3.5 standard-deviation (sigma) limits, with the observations limited (as nearly as practical) to those from ships. In the "enhanced" products, in contrast, the data have been edited using broader 4.5 sigma limits to better represent extreme climate events, with observations from ships plus from other in situ marine platform types (e.g., drifting and moored buoys). Ten statistics are available for each of the 22 variables:

• First sextile
• Third sextile (Median)
• Fifth sextile
• Mean
• Number of observations
• Standard deviation
• Mean day of month of observations
• Fraction of observations in daylight
• Mean longitude (off SW corner of box) of observations
• Mean Latitude (off SW corner of box) of observations

Note that there are data only where there are observations (this is not an interpolated product).

Please acknowledge usage of the data by including text such as ICOADS data provided by the NOAA/NCEI, from their Web site at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/international-comprehensive-ocean-atmosphere/v3/archive/msg/ in any documents or publications using these data.

Reference:
Freeman, E., Woodruff, S. D., Worley, S. J., Lubker, S. J., Kent, E. C., Angel, W. E., Berry, D. I., Brohan, P., Eastman, R., Gates, L., Gloeden, W., Ji, Z., Lawrimore, J., Rayner, N. A., Rosenhagen, G. and Smith, S. R. (2016), ICOADS Release 3.0: a major update to the historical marine climate record. Int. J. Climatol.. doi:10.1002/joc.4775

Woodruff, S. D., Worley, S. J., Lubker, S. J., Ji, Z., Eric Freeman, J., Berry, D. I., Brohan, P., Kent, E. C., Reynolds, R. W., Smith, S. R. and Wilkinson, C. (2011), ICOADS Release 2.5: extensions and enhancements to the surface marine meteorological archive. Int. J. Climatol., 31: 951–967. doi:10.1002/joc.2103

Variables
Air Temperature (degC)
Cloudiness (okta)
Latent Heat Parameter (g/kg m/s)
Latent Heat Trans Eastward Param (g/kg m/s)
Latent Heat Trans Northward Param (g/kg m/s)
Meridional Latent Heat Parameter (g/kg m/s)
Relative Humidity (%)
Sat Sp Hum at SST minus Sp Hum (g/kg)
Scalar Wind (m/s)
Scalar Wind cubed (m**3/s**3)
Sea Level Pressure (mb)
Sea Surface Temperature (degC)
Sea-air Temperature difference (degC)
Sensible Heat Parameter (degC m/s)
Sensible Heat Trans Eastward Param (degC m/s)
Sensible Heat Trans Northward Param (degC m/s)
Specific Humidity (g/kg)
U-wind (m/s)
U-wind Stress (m^2/s^2) V-wind (m/s)
V-wind Stress (m^2/s^2)
Zonal Latent Heat Parameter (g/kg m/s)
ZonalGlobal by 2 deg
MeridionalGlobal by 2 deg
Verticalsurface  
Temporal r3.0: Jan 1800 to October 2022 by 1 month (preliminary)
r3.0.2: Jan 1800 to Sep 2024 by 1 month (NRT)
Static? no
Volume14MB per all variables per month
Serverpublic:
Sourcehttp://icoads.noaa.gov/
Acquired Jun 6, 2011 (Updated Oct 2024)
APDRC contact
Supplements Readme_icoads_r2.5_2degree