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 ocean analyses of the
National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global
Ocean Data Assimilation System (GODAS) available at
https://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/godas/monthly/ GODAS produces a real-time gridded ocean temperature dataset as the output of a dynamical global ocean model-based data assimilation scheme that incorporates temperature profiles from TAO moorings, Argo floats, XBTs and other data sets. For further information see https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/GODAS/ The monthly WWV and T300 indices are computed for the period beginning January 1980. WWV is defined as the volume of water with temperature above 20°C in oceanic regions of the equatorial Pacific between 5°N to 5°S, 120°E to 80°W. 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 1981-2010. Monthly means and anomalies for the eastern (80°W-155°W) and western (155°W-120°E) halves of the basin are also available, as are the mean seasonal cycles for the 1981-2010 base period. The two indices are equivalent for most purposes, with the correlation of monthly means and anomalies > 0.9. |
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Please acknowledge GTMBA 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 GTMBA bibliography. Relevant publications should be
sent to:
NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory 7600 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115 |
For further information, contact Michael.J.McPhaden@noaa.gov. |