A 1° monthly gridded sea-surface temperature dataset compiled from ICOADS from 1850 to 2002 and northern hemisphere frontal variability

Using surface marine data collected in International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) release 2.1, a gridded SST dataset on a monthly, 1 degrees x 1 degrees to grid is produced from 1850 to 2002. Some unrealistic features, which are commonly found in the gridded SSTs of ICOADS, are removed by a subjective quality control. Based on the gridded SST data, SST variability associated with the oceanic fronts is investigated for the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Year-to-year SST variability in the North Atlantic is prominent along the climatological Gulf Stream extension (GSE) in winter and spring. This correspondence is captured better in the present SST dataset than in several widely used datasets. GSE mean SST exhibits multidecadal variability similar to the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation represented by mean SSTs over the North Atlantic. Year-to-year SST variability in the North Pacific in winter and spring seasons is strong along the subarctic front (SAF) and also in the subtropical front (STF), with weaker amplitudes in the latter. In particular, just east of Japan, the Kuroshio extension appears to be a core of strong variability. Winter and spring averaged SAF and STF exhibit prominent decadal warmings in the 1940s, i.e. these fronts may be two of the action centres for the 1940s climate regime shift and the previously reported 1970s shift. The warming anomalies around the SAF associated with the 1940s shift are distributed more broadly than those with the 1970s shift, and have maximal amplitudes around Japan. Copyright (c) 2005 Royal Meteorological Society.