2014) and National Climatic Data Center (
ERSST.v4; Huang et al.
Figure 1 shows the correlations between the observed DJF mean daily precipitation anomalies and the November Nino 3 index based on
ERSST for the period of 1970 to 2010.
--, and Coauthors, 2016a: Further exploring and quantifying uncertainties for extended reconstructed sea surface temperature (
ERSST) version 4 (v4).
Indices are determined from area-averaged DJF SST anomalies, relative to 1950-2016, from the Extended Reconstructed SST (
ERSST), version 3b, dataset.
(a) Atlantic-mean (0[degrees]-65[degrees]N, 75[degrees]-7.S[degrees]W) sea surface temperatures (red) and global mean excluding the North Atlantic (blue) sea surface temperatures for annual means (thin lines) and decadal mean (thick lines) based on the Extended Reconstructed SST, version 4 (
ERSST.v4), dataset (Huang et al.
5: Observational extrapolation (OISST, HadlSST,
ERSST v4) Ch.
(Other winter months yielded similar results.) Figure 4.1 shows histograms of monthly
ERSST.V5 Nino3 and Nino4 indices, compared with two different probability distribution functions (PDFs) determined not by fitting the histogram, but by fitting two different Markov processes to each index time series: an AR1 process (or red noise; e.g., Frankignoul and Hasselmann 1977) with a memory time scale on the order of several months, yielding a Gaussian (normal) distribution; and a "stochastically generated skewed" process (SGS; Sardeshmukh et al.
Huang, B., and Coauthors, 2014: Extended reconstructed sea surface temperature version 4 (
ERSST.v4): Part I.
The DJF oceanic Nino index (ONI, 3-month running mean of
ERSST.v4 SST anomalies in the Nino-3.4 region), based on centered 30-year base periods updated every 5 years, was used as an indicator of the ENSO.
There are currently three families of SST datasets available that take different approaches to bias adjustment [HadSST/Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature dataset (HadlSST),
ERSST, and COBE], However, all still use approaches that are essentially adaptations of methods originally developed decades ago.
Some datasets like the NOAA Extended Reconstructed SST (
ERSST) opt to not include satellite information in order to preserve the consistency, or homogeneity, of the record.