Indices of Equatorial Pacific Heat Content

As indices of upper ocean heat content in the equatorial Pacific, we
compute monthly Warm Water Volume (WWV) and depth averaged temperature
over the upper 300 m (T300) from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Research Center (BMRC) Ocean Analyses
(http://www.bom.gov.au/bmrc/ocean/results/climocan.htm).  These indices
are computed for the period beginning January 1980. WWV is defined as
the volume of water with temperature above 20C in oceanic regions of
the equatorial Pacific between 5N to 5S, 120E to 80W.  T300 is
defined as the average temperature over the same latitude and longitude
ranges. Monthly anomalies are computed by removing the mean seasonal
cycle for a base period of 1980-2002. Monthly means and anomalies for
the eastern (80-155W) and western (155W-120E) halves of the basin
are also available, as are the mean seasonal cycles for the 1980-2002
base period.  The two indices are equivalent for most purposes, with the
correlation of monthly means and anomalies > 0.9.

Please acknowledge TAO Project Office, NOAA/PMEL if you use these
products in publications or presentations. Also, we would appreciate
receiving a preprint and/or reprint of publications utilizing these data
for inclusion in the TAO bibliography. Relevant publications should be 
sent to:

TAO Project Office
NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

For further information, contact Michael.J.McPhaden@noaa.gov.