International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) And NCEI Global Marine Observations

ICOADS is the world's largest collection of marine surface in situ observations with 185+ million records for 1784 through the present. ICOADS is developed and maintained as a cooperative effort between NSF's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): specifically its Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC), in conjunction with the Cooperative Institute for Research Sciences (CIRES) of the University of Colorado, and its National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI).ICOADS is a collection of global marine surface observations from 1784-present.

The data is originally from Surface Marine Observations, DSI-1129, (C00242). The coverage is global and sampling density varies depending on date and position relative to major ocean shipping routes. ICOADS data are made available through observations that are taken primarily from ships (merchant, ocean research, fishing, navy, etc.) and moored and drifting buoys.