Northwest Atlantic Regional Climatology based on the World Ocean Database archive of temperature and salinity from observations collected from 1955-01-13 to 2012-12-31 (NCEI accession 0130919) (NCEI Accession 0130919)

The Northwest Atlantic (NWA) plays a crucial role in long-term earth and ocean climate change. The Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current System are the key elements of northward heat transport and Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. The NWA is a resource-rich coastal zone with abundant fisheries and other material resources. Its economic significance and climatic importance called forth intensive observational and research programs spanning over many decades.

To provide an improved oceanographic foundation and reference for multi-disciplinary studies of the NWA, NCEI Regional Climatology Team developed a new set of high-resolution quality-controlled long-term annual, seasonal and monthly mean temperature and salinity fields on different depth levels. This new regional climatology is based on the World Ocean Database archive of temperature and salinity from observations spanning over more than a hundred years and incorporates a great deal of new data not previously available.

The NWA high-resolution regional climatology is a part of the NOAA-wide Sustaining Marine Ecosystems in a Changing Climate (SMECC) Project.

西北大西洋（Northwest Atlantic, NWA）在长期地球与海洋气候变化进程中发挥着至关重要的作用。湾流（Gulf Stream）与北大西洋流系（North Atlantic Current System）是大西洋北向热输送与经向翻转环流（Meridional Overturning Circulation）的核心构成要素。西北大西洋是资源富集的沿岸海域，拥有充沛的渔业资源与其他物质资源。其显著的经济与气候价值，催生了数十年来持续开展的高密度观测与研究计划。

为给西北大西洋的多学科研究提供更为完善的海洋学基础与参考支撑，美国国家环境信息中心（National Centers for Environmental Information, NCEI）区域气候学团队研发了一套全新的高分辨率、经过严格质量控制的长期平均温盐场数据集，涵盖不同深度层级的年、季、月平均温度与盐度数据。这套新型区域气候学数据集依托覆盖百余年观测时长的世界海洋数据库（World Ocean Database）温盐归档数据，并整合了大量此前未公开的新型观测资料。

这套西北大西洋高分辨率区域气候学数据集，是美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）全系统项目“气候变化下海洋生态系统维持（Sustaining Marine Ecosystems in a Changing Climate, SMECC）”的组成部分。