JISAO data

Tropical-average (30N-30S) Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

The time series is for 1950 through January 1998. The anomalies are with respect to the period 1950-95.


The time series has been smoothed with a 3-point running mean for this plot. PostScript files of this figure are available both in color and in black and white.

This time series is constructed from an eof-filtered SST data set (Smith et al., 1996, J. Climate, 9, 1403-1420) for 1950-81 and an optimal interpolation SST data set (Reynolds and Smith, 1994, J. Climate, 7, 929-948) for 1982-95. The contributions of individual grid points are weighted by the cosine of the latitude of the grid point.

Click here to obtain the time series (in degrees C) written in MATLAB format. [Read the data in with "load tropical_sstanom.mat", and the data will appear in the variable "tropical_sstanom."]

In the following table, the anomalies are in thousandths of a degree Celcius.

      jan  feb  mar  apr  may  jun  jul  aug  sep  oct  nov  dec
1950 -245 -288 -195 -272 -295 -280 -268 -312 -261 -285 -311 -347
1951 -304 -277 -378 -212 -246  -49  -32  -25  -35   93   45   22
1952   40  101   60   31  -17  -30 -119  -49  -64  -35  -71  -87
1953   -2   48   71   72   32  -12    7  -29  -30  -79  -51  -24
1954  -54  -53 -110 -211 -248 -269 -329 -204 -312 -248 -306 -374
1955 -290 -329 -273 -390 -404 -363 -335 -272 -309 -460 -416 -389
1956 -315 -320 -315 -364 -338 -369 -406 -261 -303 -227 -267 -200
1957 -131  -83  -65   -2  114   86  113  147   62   22   81  148
1958  178  254  163  159   60   56   20   82   14   10  -45  121
1959   77  107   30   43  108  -37  -91  -72  -10   28  -34  -24
1960  -71  -73   51  -22   -5 -106  -19  -93  -22 -108  -85   28
1961   15  131   37   44   42   52  -51   17  -83 -139 -116  -73
1962  -39  -58  -25  -34  -37   15   70   93   90   38   49  -10
1963  -30   11   19   84   69   47  129  166  146  127  244  211
1964  120   35  -39 -100 -195 -176 -184 -253 -337 -251 -347 -386
1965 -336 -207 -238 -146 -108 -137 -136  -63  -20    4   -1   40
1966   11   11   17   24  -76    1   31  -18   14  -57  -22  -34
1967  -82  -79  -80  -96  -54  -74 -153 -139 -154 -186 -216 -168
1968 -270 -288 -290 -246 -207  -31  -22   49   66  101  125  176
1969  236  253  297  297  276  159   94   90   98  187  160  191
1970  233  126  126  128   46  -69 -106 -154 -157 -154 -166 -256
1971 -201 -316 -325 -236 -182 -207 -176 -163 -188 -202 -237 -288
1972  -97  -20 -128  -24   -7   37   83  163  155  296  317  399
1973  330  257  149   98   22  -84   -7  -83  -78 -115 -131 -261
1974 -368 -392 -363 -358 -276 -210 -118 -127 -204 -232 -205 -224
1975 -248 -249 -264 -280 -282 -287 -244 -305 -393 -404 -429 -557
1976 -503 -423 -368 -322 -320 -221 -225 -132 -105   -4    4   39
1977   54   -4  -21  -50   41   38  -23  -14    6   53   59    6
1978  108   16    0  -50  -46  -53    0  -55  -63  -59  -38   21
1979   48  -22   42   34    3  119   63   80  145  130  148  156
1980  180  114  164  165  160  139   80   58   94   42  107   86
1981    8  -41   72   44   71  128   85  -16  102  145  118  154
1982  160   57   49   45  135  157  114  118  171  248  271  366
1983  406  406  351  293  252  351  239  198  184  143  109  122
1984  143  167  161  125   51    5   32   -9  103  -20  -35 -121
1985 -108  -47  -51  -71  -58  -46  -11  -60  -33  -40    8   40
1986  -14    8   31   31   61   90   76   54  118  178  199  182
1987  193  188  308  278  336  319  394  451  517  428  507  443
1988  452  476  449  325  247  189  127  130  130   76  -25 -121
1989  -80  -81  -87  -39   -2   -6  120  100  101  101  100   92
1990   45  172  166  217  186  127  187  240  192  243  201  234
1991  203  175  167  230  296  254  291  206  170  155  156  140
1992  125  155  119  175  202  170  178   92   93   -4  -54  -46
1993   30   38   86  161  167  168   97   68   99   88  163  147
1994  137   66  113  153  164   85   76   29   62  182  235  226
1995  254  281  316  266  260  323  348  279  231  192  201  196
1996  170  218  206  179  181  225  209  157  162  117  113   75
1997   33   41  156  209  293  442  427  469  516  571  645  759
1998  681

March 1998
Todd P. Mitchell (mitchell@atmos.washington.edu)
JISAO data