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Observed Variations of Sea Surface Temperature

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Climate-Ocean Interaction

Abstract

After reviewing evidence for the influence of sea surface temperature (SST) on climate, this chapter concentrates on the longer-term changes in regional and global SST that have been observed since the mid-19th century. The problems of data coverage and quality are discussed, and details of ongoing attempts to devise a new method of compensating for changing biases in historical SST data are given. Provisionally corrected historical SST data are compared with air temperature data observed on ships and on islands. Corrected time series of SST and night marine air temperature anomalies are shown for selected large ocean regions, including the global ocean. Evidence for interhemispheric-scale patterns of SST anomalies is given, and associations of these patterns with rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa are mentioned. Some results of a recent attempt to combine worldwide SST and land air temperature anomaly fields in four recent decades are provided, and likely future improvements to this new analysis are outlined. The combined analyses are now making it possible to compare comprehensively changes in global and regional surface temperature observed in recent decades with numerical predictions of the influence of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Analysis Center, NOAA/National Meteorological Center, Washington DC, 20233, USA

    C. K. Folland (Visiting Scientist)

  2. United Kingdom Meteorological Office, London Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 2SZ, UK

    D. E. Parker

Authors
  1. C. K. Folland
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  2. D. E. Parker
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA

    M. E. Schlesinger

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© 1990 British Crown Copyright

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Folland, C.K., Parker, D.E. (1990). Observed Variations of Sea Surface Temperature. In: Schlesinger, M.E. (eds) Climate-Ocean Interaction. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2093-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2093-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7440-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2093-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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