Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature data set (HadISST)

The Met Office Hadley Centre's sea ice and sea surface temperature (SST) data set, HadISST1, replaces the Global sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature (GISST) data sets, and is a unique combination of monthly globally-complete fields of SST and sea ice concentration on a 1 degree latitude-longitude grid from 1870 to date.

The SST data are taken from the Met Office Marine Data Bank (MDB), which from 1982 onwards also includes data received through the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). In order to enhance data coverage, monthly median SSTs for 1871-1995 from the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) were also used where there were no MDB data. The sea ice data are taken from a variety of sources including digitized sea ice charts and passive microwave retrievals.
HadISST1 temperatures are reconstructed using a two stage reduced-space optimal interpolation procedure, followed by superposition of quality-improved gridded observations onto the reconstructions to restore local detail. The sea ice fields are made more homogeneous by compensating satellite microwave-based sea ice concentrations for the impact of surface melt effects on retrievals in the Arctic and for algorithm deficiencies in the Antarctic, and by making the historical in situ concentrations consistent with the satellite data. SSTs near sea ice are estimated using statistical relationships between SST and sea ice concentration.

The material may be downloaded to file or printer for the purposes of private study and scientific research. Any other proposed use of the material is subject to a copyright license available from the Met Office. Please read their terms and conditions.

Warning:
10 March 2016: A detailed analysis of HadISST has identified a number of problems, some of which might limit the utility of the dataset for certain scientific applications, particularly where high resolution SST data or spatial gradients of SST are required. Thanks to Dudley Chelton and Craig Risien for bringing this to our attention and their detailed analysis.

13/MARCH/2015. Users have noticed that there is a minor discontinuity at the dateline in HadISST1 SST fields starting in 1982. It appears to only affect gridcells just to the east of the dateline. Please note that this can affect estimates of the mean and variability of SSTs in HadISST1 when analysed across this region.

08/MARCH/2011. The switch of satellite source data at the start of 2009 introduced a discontinuity in the fields of sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic.

03/DECEMBER/2010. The SSM/I satellite that was used to provide the data for the sea ice analysis in HadISST suffered a significant degradation in performance through January and February 2009. The problem affected HadISST fields from January 2009 and probably causes an underestimate of ice extent and concentration. It also affected sea surface temperatures in sea ice areas because the SSTs are estimated from the sea ice concentration (see Rayner et al. 2003). As of 3rd December 2010 we have reprocessed the data from January 2009 to the present using a different sea ice data source.

Reference:
Rayner, N.A., D.E. Parker, E.B. Horton, C.K. Folland, L.V. Alexander, D.P. Rowell, E.C. Kent, and A. Kaplan, 2003: Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J. Geophys. Res. (Atmospheres), 108(14), 2-1

Variables
Sea Ice Coverage (%)
SST (°C)
ZonalGlobal by 1.0 deg
MeridionalGlobal by 1.0 deg
VerticalGround or sea surface
Temporal Jan 1870 to near present by 1 month(s)
Static? no
Volume 428MB
Server public:
Sourcehttp://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadisst/
Acquired Jul 23, 2003 (Updated Jun 2020)
APDRC contact
SupplementsReadme_hadisst1