Global Gridded Observed Monthly Mean Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Concentration at 1x1 Degree Resolution for CMIP5, 1870-2012

This data set is a merged product based on the monthly mean Hadley Centre sea ice and sea surface temperature (SST) data set version 1 (HadISST1) and version 2 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weekly optimum interpolation (OI version 2) SST analysis. The merging procedure was designed to take full advantage of the higher-resolution SST information inherent in the NOAA OI.v2 analysis. The merged product provides monthly mean SST and sea ice concentration (i.e., percentage of area covered by sea ice) from 1870 to 2012 at 1x1 degree resolution. The data are available in several formats: ASCII files; NetCDF files; and GRIB files.