CalCOFI.io CalCOFI.io open data ecosystem
Measurement · Physical Oceanography · °C

Sea surface temperature (raw)

key sst_c series sst_c
47,734
values
0
flagged
47,734
sampling events
2010–2022
years
1
dataset
surface
depth
Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jul · Aug · Oct · Nov
seasons
What

stands in: temperature’s face, underway sea-surface reading

No definition of its own: the estimate is described by its derivation, under How.

How
underway intake

not found on calcofi.org ↗
Why

EOV Subsurface temperature

CalCOFI holds 47,734 values of it from 47,734 sampling events in one dataset, 2010–2022, at the surface.R Temperature sets the water’s density, and so the layering that decides whether deep nutrients reach the sunlit surface; off California the warm years are El Niño years and marine heatwaves.C

other ways to say why · 4
  • authored Sea surface temperature is the one ocean measurement a satellite takes everywhere every day, and a ship’s reading is what it gets checked against. needs a citation before it can be the pick
  • authored A warm year off California is usually a lean one: warmer, more layered water brings fewer nutrients up, and the plankton the rest of the food web eats decline. needs a citation before it can be the pick
  • Wikipedia Marine heatwave source
  • Wikipedia Sea surface temperature is the temperature of ocean water close to the surface. The exact meaning of surface varies in the literature and in practice. Sea surface temperature · CC BY-SA 4.0 · rev. 1374459881

The measurement

Measured in
i

One row per series, one cell per year, darker with more values — the same strip the front door draws per dataset and a species page draws per taxon. Each row is one dataset's own measurement_type; the label is written once, in the title above.

  • Underway Meteorological (METS) 47,734 values · 47,734 sampling events · 2010–2022 · surface · 107 grid cells · 31 cruises
    series sst_c · source column sst_c no flag at this grain no P01 concept

How it is measured

Underway Meteorological (METS) · underway intake
no flag at this grain
not found on calcofi.org ↗

Why it matters

The familiar scale
i

Bars are each series' 5th–95th percentile, the line its minimum to maximum, the ring its median; the marks are metadata/measurement_scale.csv's, each hovering to its own source.

The record’s own history
i

The release builds no climatology for this measurement, so there is no normal to draw a departure from.

Essential Ocean Variable
Subsurface temperature

the GOOS specification sheet for this Essential Ocean Variable lists it

GOOS specification sheet ↗

The record

Ways in
i

Read from measurements.json of release v2026.10.14, written at release by calcofi4db::build_measurements_catalog() beside taxa.json. The catalog's index is /measurements/; the JSON-LD on this page is a schema.org/DefinedTerm in the NERC P01 term set with a PropertyValue per series.

Explorerdb-query
ERDDAP · Underway Meteorological (METS)CalCOFI's own server, the Underway Meteorological (METS) table constrained to this series
https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/calcofi_mets.html?&measurement_type=%22sst_c%22

By depth
i

Values per depth band at the release grain, one thin bar per series. The bands are the record's own (0-10 … 2000+ m).

By month
i

Values per calendar month, one row per series: CalCOFI's quarterly cruises show as peaks in the months the ships sail.

Range & quality

bounds-2 … 40 °Cobserved0.0071 … 37 °Cflagged0baselineno climatology
details
bounds
The registry declares -2 … 40 °C for sst_c; a value outside it is dropped at the ingest (drop_out_of_bounds()).
observed
Underway Meteorological (METS) sst_c 0.0071 · median 16.62 · 37 °C (5th–95th percentile 12.41–20.42)
flags
Underway Meteorological (METS) sst_c carries no quality code at the release grain; qual_ok keeps all 47,734.
baseline
No climatology row is built for this measurement, so the Explorer draws values, not anomalies.

Cite

Cite the release; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page — Underway Meteorological (METS). The Explorer's Share → Cite writes it for the view you make.