Monthly Average Sea–Surface Temperatures and Ice–Pack Limits on a 1° Global Grid

Abstract

Climatological monthly ocean-surface temperatures obtained from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and from Fleet Numerical Weather Central are merged and interpolated onto a 1° global grid. Monthly distributions of the main ice packs of the Arctic and Antarctic are digitized from Fleet Weather Facility ice charts and Navy atlases, and are incorporated into the global arrays. Machine-analyzed maps of the resulting distributions for the months of January, March, May, July, September and November are presented to indicate the seasonal variations of temperature and ice extent.