Sea surface temperature
Sea surface temperature (raw)
°Ckey sst_cno NERC concept says exactly thisseries sst_c
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
- 47,734
- values
- 0
- flagged
- 2010–2022
- years
- 1
- dataset
- surface
- depth
- 9 of 12
- months
Measured in
1 dataset
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.
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.
-
series
sst_c· source columnsst_cno flag at this grain no P01 concept
Explorerdb-queryERDDAPThis page as JSON R · Python · Parquet
Every way in 7 ways · ERDDAP · Parquet · R · Python · JSON
Read from measurements.json of release v2026.11.05, 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-querySELECT * FROM read_json('…/v2026.11.05/catalog.json')
-- objects[] WHERE table = 'obs_env'
-- AND partition_value = 'sst_c'library(calcofi4r)
con <- cc_get_db() # the promoted release
tbl(con, "obs_env") |> filter(measurement_type %in% c("sst_c"))import calcofi4py as cc
con = cc.cc_get_db()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM obs_env WHERE measurement_type IN ('sst_c')").df()How it is measured underway intake
Why it matters 5 ways to say it · EOV Subsurface temperature
the GOOS specification sheet for this Essential Ocean Variable lists it
other ways to say why · 4
- 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
- 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 record’s own history no climatology to depart from
Each year against the normal i
i
The release builds no climatology for this measurement, so there is no normal to draw a departure from.
Units and range °C · -2 … 40 declared · 0 flagged
°C (deg_C in metadata/measurement_type.csv)
details
- bounds
- The registry declares
-2 … 40 °Cforsst_c; a value outside it is dropped at the ingest (drop_out_of_bounds()). - observed
- Underway Meteorological (METS)
sst_c0.0071 · median 16.62 · 37 °C (5th–95th percentile 12.41–20.42) - flags
- Underway Meteorological (METS)
sst_ccarries 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.
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.
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.
By depth · by month surface · 9 of 12 months
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).
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.
i
Values per calendar month, one row per series: CalCOFI's quarterly cruises show as peaks in the months the ships sail.
Cite the release, v2026.11.05
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.