Tendencies, variability and persistence of sea surface temperature anomalies.

Quantifying global trends and variability in sea surface temperature (SST) is of fundamental importance to understanding changes in the Earth's climate. One approach to observing SST is via remote sensing. Here we use a 37-year gap-filled, daily-mean analysis of satellite SSTs to quantify SST trends, variability and persistence between 1981-2018.

Satellite-based time-series of sea-surface temperature since 1981 for climate applications.

A climate data record of global sea surface temperature (SST) spanning 1981-2016 has been developed from 4 × 10 satellite measurements of thermal infra-red radiance. The spatial area represented by pixel SST estimates is between 1 km and 45 km. The mean density of good-quality observations is 13 km yr.