International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) R3.0 in Near-Real-Time (NRT)

Useful metadata have been added in the global and variable attributes of each file to make the netCDF self-contained. R3.0 includes changes designed to enable more effective exchange of information describing data quality between ICOADS, reanalysis centers, data set developers, scientists and the public. These user-driven innovations include the assignment of a unique identifier (UID) to each marine report, to enable tracing of observations, linking with reports and improved data sharing.

Many new input data and metadata sources have been assembled, and updates and improvements to existing data sources, or removal of erroneous data, made. For NRT creation the data are first quality controlled and blended together, with duplicates (Intermediate product) retained. The duplicates are then compared and removed for the Final product and a statistical output summary file providing justifications for duplicate deletions that occurred during the blending process.

User groups include sea surface temperature analyses, global surface temperature analyses, model/reanalysis input, and general ocean research. The data set is produced and archived monthly. Spatial coverage is global and the current period of record for these files begins in January 2008 to the most current complete month.