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Modern Average Global Sea-Surface Temperature

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Schweitzer, Peter N.

Publication_Date: 1993

Title: Modern Average Global Sea-Surface Temperature

Edition: 2.0

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: remote-sensing image

Series_Information:

Series_Name: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series

Issue_Identification: DDS-10

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Reston, Virginia

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey

Online_Linkage: <http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds10/>

Online_Linkage:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst.kit> (Tcl/Tk starkit, platform independent, requires tclkit to run, get that at <http://www.equi4.com/tclkit/download.html> )

Online_Linkage:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst.exe> (Microsoft Windows)

Online_Linkage:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst.bin> (Linux x86)

Online_Linkage:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst-viewer.dmg.gz> (Mac OSX)

Online_Linkage:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/dds10.zip> (Source code)

Description:

Abstract:

The data contained in this data set are derived from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data (AVHRR MCSST), which are obtainable from the Distributed Active Archive Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The JPL tapes contain weekly images of SST from October 1981 through December 1990 in nine regions of the world ocean: North Atlantic, Eastern North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Agulhas, Indian, Southeast Pacific, Southwest Pacific, Northeast Pacific, and Northwest Pacific.
This data set represents the results of calculations carried out on the NOAA data and also contains the source code of the programs that made the calculations. The objective was to derive the average sea-surface temperature of each month and week throughout the whole 10-year series, meaning, for example, that data from January of each year would be averaged together. The result is 12 monthly and 52 weekly images for each of the oceanic regions. Averaging the images in this way tends to reduce the number of grid cells that lack valid data and to suppress interannual variability.

Purpose:

The purpose of this data set is to provide paleoclimate researchers with a tool for estimating the average seasonal variation in sea-surface temperature (SST) throughout the modern world ocean and for estimating the modern monthly and weekly sea-surface temperature at any given oceanic location. It is expected that these data will be compared with temperature estimates derived from geological proxy measures such as faunal census analyses and stable isotopic analyses. The results can then be used to constrain general circulation models of climate change.

Supplemental_Information:

As ancillary data, the ETOPO5 global gridded elevation and bathymetry data (Edwards, 1989) were interpolated to the resolution of the SST data; the interpolated topographic data are included.

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19811001

Ending_Date: 19901231

Currentness_Reference:

Smith, E., 1991, A user's guide to the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data set produced by the University of Miami/Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: Distributed by the Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. 10 p.

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: Irregular

Spatial_Domain:

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -180.0

East_Bounding_Coordinate: 180.0

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 72.0

South_Bounding_Coordinate: -66.0

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: none

Theme_Keyword: Oceanography

Theme_Keyword: Sea Surface Temperature

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Categories

Theme_Keyword: oceans

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Place_Keyword: North Atlantic Ocean

Place_Keyword: South Atlantic Ocean

Place_Keyword: Indian Ocean

Place_Keyword: Pacific Ocean

Place_Keyword: Mediterranean Sea

Temporal:

Temporal_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Temporal_Keyword: Present

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: Augmented FIPS 10-4 and FIPS 6-4, version 1.0

Place_Keyword: OC13 = North Atlantic

Place_Keyword: OC14 = South Atlantic

Place_Keyword: OC15 = Mediterranean Sea

Place_Keyword: OC16 = Gulf of Mexico

Place_Keyword: OC30 = Indian

Place_Keyword: OC40 = Pacific

Place_Keyword: OC41 = Northeast Pacific

Place_Keyword: OC42 = Northwest Pacific

Place_Keyword: OC43 = Southeast Pacific

Place_Keyword: OC44 = Southwest Pacific

Access_Constraints: none

Use_Constraints: none

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Peter N. Schweitzer

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address:

Mail Stop 954 National Center
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

City: Reston

State_or_Province: VA

Postal_Code: 20192

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: (703) 648-6533

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (703) 648-6252

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: pschweitzer@usgs.gov

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name: <http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/legend.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description:

Graphical legend relating colors on the images to sea-surface temperature

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augna.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description:

August sea-surface temperature in the Western North Atlantic Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augnae.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description:

August sea-surface temperature in the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augsa.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description: August sea-surface temperature in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augag.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description:

August sea-surface temperature in the Southeastern Atlantic and Southwestern Indian Oceans.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augio.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description: August sea-surface temperature in the Indian Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augnep.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description: August sea-surface temperature in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augnwp.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description: August sea-surface temperature in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augsep.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description: August sea-surface temperature in the Southeast Pacific Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Browse_Graphic:

Browse_Graphic_File_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/m_augswp.gif>

Browse_Graphic_File_Description: August sea-surface temperature in the Southwest Pacific Ocean.

Browse_Graphic_File_Type: GIF

Native_Data_Set_Environment:

Originally compiled under a Data General UNIX system, these data are now maintained under Linux, and the software written using Tcl/Tk and C, usable under Linux, UNIX, and Microsoft Windows. A Mac OSX port is possible but has not been done.

Cross_Reference:

Citation_Information:

Originator: U.S. Geological Survey

Originator: Peter N. Schweitzer (comp.)

Publication_Date: 1995

Title: Monthly Average Polar Sea-Ice Concentration

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: remote-sensing image

Series_Information:

Series_Name: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series

Issue_Identification: DDS-27

Online_Linkage: <http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds27/>

Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

Calculation of sea-surface temperature values from AVHRR data is described extensively in the references and in the user's guides of the source data products.

Logical_Consistency_Report:

Included in the data set are the UNIX shell scripts and makefiles that were used to derive the averages and create the tables and images. Source code is provided for all programs written by the author.

Completeness_Report:

Included in the data set is a table enumerating the days for which sea-surface temperature data were available in the source material. In general, images were available every week during the time period from 811001 through 891231.

Positional_Accuracy:

Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy:

Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report:

The grid provided in the source data (supplied by PO.DAAC) is described in the user's guide of the source product.

Lineage:

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Publication_Date: 1991

Title:

NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data set produced by the University of Miami/Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science:

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: remote-sensing image

Other_Citation_Details:

Distributed by the Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. User's guide is 10 pages. The data are distributed on 9 nin-track tapes in VAX Backup format.

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: AVHRR MCSST

Type_of_Source_Media: Nine-track tape

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19811001

Ending_Date: 19901231

Source_Currentness_Reference:

Smith, E., 1991, A user's guide to the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data set produced by the University of Miami/Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: Distributed by the Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. 10 p.

Source_Contribution:

The source data set provides 467 weekly images of each of nine regions of the world oceans; these weekly files were averaged in the present data set to produce monthly composite images.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Calculate monthly averages and composite monthly averages.
The Bourne shell script do_avgs describes the manner in which the program average was used to calculate the monthly and composite monthly average sea ice concentration files. The program average is given a list of sea ice concentration data files in HDF format. For each grid cell in the images, it calculates the arithmetic average of the corresponding cell in the input files, and writes the average image into a new file. This program is run once for each month of each year represented in the original data to yield monthly averages. Then the composite monthly averages are calculated using the monthly averages for each year.

Process_Date: 1993

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Create GIF and PICT images of monthly and composite monthly averages.
The Bourne shell script do_imgs converts the monthly average and composite monthly average files into GIF and PICT images. This script uses two programs from the freely available PbmPlus toolkit developed by Jeff Poskanzer.

Process_Date: 1993

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Regrid ETOPO5 elevation and bathymetry data to fit sea ice concentration grid.
The ETOPO5 global gridded elevation and bathymetry data set describes world topography on a grid whose cells measure 5 minutes of latitude by 5 minutes of longitude. Since the ice concentration data are given in an azimuthal equidistant projection, the elevation of cells in the ice concentration grid must be determined by appropriately sampling or interpolating the ETOPO5 data. Because the ETOPO5 grid is finer than the ice concentration grid, a sampling algorithm was combined with a spatial averaging scheme to derive the desired elevation data. The program that implements this algorithm is called topo.c; its strategy is to find the ice grid cell coordinates of the center of each ETOPO5 cell, and calculate the average depth of all of the ETOPO5 cells that fall within an ice grid cell. The results are two 16-bit images with big- endian byte ordering in which each signed 16-bit word describes the average depth or elevation in meters (sea level is zero) of a cell in the ice concentration grid.
Along with the 16-bit depth data files, displayable images are created using depthppm.c in portable pixmap format, and from that intermediate stage, GIF and PICT images are created using the PbmPlus toolkit. Depthppm reduces the complexity of the depth data by assigning one color to a range of depths. The relationship between depth ranges and colors is given in the source code file depthppm.c.
The Bourne shell script do_topo carries out these operations.

Process_Date: 1993

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Developed a Tcl/Tk script that will display the monthly images of sea-surface temperature (in GIF format) along with a plot of the values. This is a replacement for the graphical browse program previously written in C, which ran only on graphics systems that are now out of date.

Process_Date: 20040510

Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:

Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Raster

Raster_Object_Information:

Raster_Object_Type: Pixel

Row_Count: 512

Column_Count: 512

Spatial_Reference_Information:

Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Geographic:

Latitude_Resolution: 0.01757812

Longitude_Resolution: 0.01757812

Geographic_Coordinate_Units: Decimal degrees

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Detailed_Description:

Entity_Type:

Entity_Type_Label: Sea-surface temperature grid cell

Entity_Type_Definition:

Any of the one-byte data elements in the sea surface temperature files

Entity_Type_Definition_Source: self-evident

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: Sea-surface temperature grid cell value

Attribute_Definition:

The average temperature, in degrees Celsius, of the ocean surface water in the location indicated by the pixel.

Attribute_Definition_Source:

Smith, E., 1991, A user's guide to the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data set produced by the University of Miami/ Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: Distributed by the Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. 10 p.

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Range_Domain:

Range_Domain_Minimum: 0

Range_Domain_Maximum: 250

Attribute_Units_of_Measure:

Degrees centigrade (calculated from the pixel value by the formula T = -2.1 + 0.2 * p where p is the pixel value.

Attribute_Measurement_Resolution: 1

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Enumerated_Domain:

Enumerated_Domain_Value: 252

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition: Missing data

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source: AVHRR MCSST

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Enumerated_Domain:

Enumerated_Domain_Value: 255

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition: Land area

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source: AVHRR MCSST

Detailed_Description:

Entity_Type:

Entity_Type_Label: ETOPO5 grid cell

Entity_Type_Definition:

Any of the two-byte data elements in the files etopo5.na, etopo5.sa, etopo5.nae, etopo5.ag, etopo5.io, etopo5.nep, etopo5.nwp, etopo5.sep, and etopo5.swp.

Entity_Type_Definition_Source: self-evident

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: ETOPO5 grid cell value

Attribute_Definition:

Height of the land surface or depth of the sea floor, relative to mean sea level.

Attribute_Definition_Source:

NOAA/NGDC. 1992. Integrated Global Elevation and Bathymetry. Digital Data. NOAA/NGDC/WDC-A, Boulder, Colorado. Digital raster data on a 5-minute geographic (lat/long) 2160x4320 grid. In: Global Ecosystems Database Version 1.0: Disc A. Boulder, CO: NOAA National Geophysical Data Center. 1 independent single-attribute spatial layer on CD-ROM. 18.6 MB. [First published in 1989.]

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Range_Domain:

Range_Domain_Minimum: -10783

Range_Domain_Maximum: 8000

Attribute_Units_of_Measure: meters

Attribute_Measurement_Resolution: 1

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Peter N. Schweitzer

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address:

Mail Stop 954 National Center
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

City: Reston

State_or_Province: VA

Postal_Code: 20192

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: (703) 648-6533

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (703) 648-6252

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: pschweitzer@usgs.gov

Resource_Description: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-10

Distribution_Liability:

Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data, software, or related materials.

Standard_Order_Process:

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: starkit

Format_Specification:

Stand-alone runtime (Tcl/Tk starkit, platform independent, requires tclkit to run)

Format_Information_Content: Sea-Surface Temperature

File_Decompression_Technique: tclkit sst.kit

Transfer_Size: 7.5 megabytes

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: <http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst.kit>

Network_Resource_Name:

<http://www.equi4.com/tclkit/download.html> (get tclkit here to run sst.kit)

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: GIF

Format_Version_Number: 89a

Format_Information_Content: Sea-Surface Temperature

File_Decompression_Technique: unzip

Transfer_Size: 7 megabytes

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: <http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/dds10.zip>

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: EXE

Format_Specification:

Stand-alone runtime (Tcl/Tk starpack executable, UPX compressed) for Microsoft Windows

Format_Information_Content: Sea-Surface Temperature display application

File_Decompression_Technique: execute

Transfer_Size: 7.5 megabytes

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: <http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst.exe>

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: ELF

Format_Specification:

Stand-alone runtime (Tcl/Tk starpack executable, UPX compressed) for Linux x86

Format_Information_Content: Sea-Surface Temperature display application

File_Decompression_Technique: execute from a Linux command shell

Transfer_Size: 7.5 megabytes

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: <http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst.bin>

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: Disk image

Format_Specification: Compressed disk image containing the application for Mac OSX

Format_Information_Content: Sea-Surface Temperature display application

File_Decompression_Technique: gzip -d

Transfer_Size: 7.5 megabytes

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name:

<http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/digital-data/10/sst-viewer.dmg.gz>

Fees: none

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20051121

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Peter N. Schweitzer

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address:

Mail Stop 954 National Center
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

City: Reston

State_or_Province: VA

Postal_Code: 20192

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: (703) 648-6533

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (703) 648-6252

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: pschweitzer@usgs.gov

Metadata_Standard_Name: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998