Modern Average Global Sea-Surface Temperature Schweitzer, Peter N. cartographic Reston, Virginia U.S. Geological Survey und The data contained in this data set are derived from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data (AVHRR MCSST), which are obtainable from the Distributed Active Archive Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The JPL tapes contain weekly images of SST from October 1981 through December 1990 in nine regions of the world ocean: North Atlantic, Eastern North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Agulhas, Indian, Southeast Pacific, Southwest Pacific, Northeast Pacific, and Northwest Pacific. This data set represents the results of calculations carried out on the NOAA data and also contains the source code of the programs that made the calculations. The objective was to derive the average sea-surface temperature of each month and week throughout the whole 10-year series, meaning, for example, that data from January of each year would be averaged together. The result is 12 monthly and 52 weekly images for each of the oceanic regions. Averaging the images in this way tends to reduce the number of grid cells that lack valid data and to suppress interannual variability. The purpose of this data set is to provide paleoclimate researchers with a tool for estimating the average seasonal variation in sea-surface temperature (SST) throughout the modern world ocean and for estimating the modern monthly and weekly sea-surface temperature at any given oceanic location. It is expected that these data will be compared with temperature estimates derived from geological proxy measures such as faunal census analyses and stable isotopic analyses. The results can then be used to constrain general circulation models of climate change. As ancillary data, the ETOPO5 global gridded elevation and bathymetry data (Edwards, 1989) were interpolated to the resolution of the SST data; the interpolated topographic data are included. The images are provided in three formats: a modified form of run-length encoding (MRLE), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), and Macintosh PICT format. Also included in the data set are programs that can retrieve seasonal temperature profiles at user-specified locations and that can decompress the data files. These nongraphical SST retrieval programs are provided in versions for UNIX, MS-DOS, and Macintosh computers. Graphical browse utilities are included for users of UNIX with the X Window System, 80386- based PC's, and Macintosh computers. Smith, E., 1991, A user's guide to the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data set produced by the University of Miami/Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science: Distributed by the Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. 10 p. remote-sensing image August sea-surface temperature in the Western North Atlantic Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/na/gif/m_augna.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/nae/gif/m_augnae.gif August sea-surface temperature in the South Atlantic Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/sa/gif/m_augsa.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Southeastern Atlantic and Southwestern Indian Oceans. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/ag/gif/m_augag.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Indian Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/io/gif/m_augio.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/nep/gif/m_augnep.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/nwp/gif/m_augnwp.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/sep/gif/m_augsep.gif August sea-surface temperature in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. This file is available electronically using the URL http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/cdrom/core/raw/swp/gif/m_augswp.gif Calculation of sea-surface temperature values from AVHRR data is described extensively in the references and in the user's guides of the source data products. The data contained in this data set are derived from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature data (AVHRR MCSST), which are obtainable from the Distributed Active Archive Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The JPL tapes contain weekly images of SST from October 1981 through December 1990 in nine regions of the world ocean: North Atlantic, Eastern North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Agulhas, Indian, Southeast Pacific, Southwest Pacific, Northeast Pacific, and Northwest Pacific. This data set represents the results of calculations carried out on the NOAA data and also contains the source code of the programs that made the calculations. The objective was to derive the average sea-surface temperature of each month and week throughout the whole 10-year series, meaning, for example, that data from January of each year would be averaged together. The result is 12 monthly and 52 weekly images for each of the oceanic regions. Averaging the images in this way tends to reduce the number of grid cells that lack valid data and to suppress interannual variability. This data set is provided on a single CD-ROM in ISO 9660 format with Macintosh-compatible HFS directory information as well. The data set was developed on a Data General AViiON computer system running DG/UX version 5.4.2R01 (UNIX); additional software products provided on the CD-ROM were developed on a Macintosh IIci and on an IBM-compatible personal computer made by ZEOS, Inc., running an Intel 80486 DX microprocessor. Oceanography Sea Surface Temperature Present http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/magsst/magsst.html none