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Data

Monthly average ocean heat content in the top 700 meters

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Climate Change

About this data

Monthly average ocean heat content in the top 700 meters
Measured in 10²² Joules.
Source
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information - Heat Content Basin Time Series (2024); EPA based on various sources (2021) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
November 18, 2024
Next expected update
January 2025
Date range
1955–2023
Unit
10²² Joules

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The time series of yearly heat content are presented for the 0-700 and 0-2000 meters layers.

The yearly data for each of four major oceanic basins, namely the World Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean (which includes the entire Arctic Ocean), and the Indian Ocean, can be accessed on this page.

Retrieved on
November 18, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/ocean-heat-salt-sea-level
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) - Heat Content Monthly Basin Time Series.
Levitus, Sydney; Antonov, John I.; Boyer, Tim P.; Baranova, Olga K.; García, Hernán E.; Locarnini, Ricardo A.; Mishonov, Alexey V.; Reagan, James R.; Seidov, Dan; Yarosh, Evgeney; Zweng, Melissa M. (2017). NCEI ocean heat content, temperature anomalies, salinity anomalies, thermosteric sea level anomalies, halosteric sea level anomalies, and total steric sea level anomalies from 1955 to present calculated from in situ oceanographic subsurface profile data (NCEI Accession 0164586). https://doi.org/10.7289/v53f4mvp.
Retrieved on
April 17, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-ocean-heat
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Climate Change Indicators: Ocean Heat (2021)
Data for this indicator were collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other organizations around the world. The data were analyzed independently by researchers at NOAA, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), China's Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), and the Japan Meteorological Agency's Meteorological Research Institute (MRI/JMA).
Full citation of the original sources:

    

  • NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2021. Global ocean heat and salt content. Accessed February 2021. www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/3M_HEAT_CONTENT . Based on:

      

    • Levitus, S., J.I. Antonov, T.P. Boyer, O.K. Baranova, H.E. Garcia, R.A. Locarnini, A.V. Mishonov, J.R. Reagan, D. Seidov, E.S. Yarosh, and M.M. Zweng. 2012. World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change (0-2000 m), 1955-2010. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39:L10603. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/woa/PUBLICATIONS/grlheat12.pdf
      • 

    

    • 

  • CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). 2016 update to data originally published in: Domingues, C.M., J.A. Church, N.J. White, P.J. Gleckler, S.E. Wijffels, P.M. Barker, and J.R. Dunn. 2008. Improved estimates of upper-ocean warming and multi-decadal sea-level rise. Nature 453:1090-1094. www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/thermal_expansion_ocean_heat_timeseries.html
    • 

  • IAP (Institute of Atmospheric Physics). 2021 update to data originally published in: Cheng, L., K.E. Trenberth, J. Fasullo, T. Boyer, J. Abraham, and J. Zhu. 2017. Improved estimates of ocean heat content from 1960 to 2015. Science Advances 3(3):e1601545.
    • 

  • MRI/JMA (Meteorological Research Institute/Japan Meteorological Agency). 2021. Global ocean heat content. Accessed February 2021. www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/kaiyou/english/ohc/ohc_global_en.html.
    • 


More details can be found on their technical documentation.

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Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Monthly average ocean heat content in the top 700 meters”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Veronika Samborska (2024) - “Climate Change”. Data adapted from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from http://staging-site-master/grapher/monthly-upper-ocean-heat [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information - Heat Content Basin Time Series (2024); EPA based on various sources (2021) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information - Heat Content Basin Time Series (2024); EPA based on various sources (2021) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Monthly average ocean heat content in the top 700 meters” [dataset]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, “Heat Content Basin Time Series”; United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Climate Change Indicators: Ocean Heat” [original data]. Retrieved December 10, 2024 from http://staging-site-master/grapher/monthly-upper-ocean-heat