PRELIMINARY September 2011 SST Anomaly Update

Sorry for the delay. I’ve been arguing with the author of a few recent guest posts at WUWT, and I hadn’t checked to see if the preliminary SST data for September had been posted on NOMADS.

STANDARD OPENING PARAGRAPH

The September 2011 Reynolds OI.v2 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data through the NOAA NOMADS website won’t be official until Monday, October 10th. Refer to the schedule on the NOAA Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis Frequently Asked Questionswebpage. The following are the preliminary Global and NINO3.4 SST anomalies for September 2011 that the NOMADS website prepares based on incomplete data for the month. I’ve also included the weekly data through September 21, 2011, but I’ve shortened the span of the weekly data, starting it in January 2004, so that the variations can be seen.

PRELIMINARY MONTHLY DATA

Based on the preliminary data Monthly NINO3.4 SST anomalies are at -0.64 deg C, which is below the threshold of a La Niña.

Monthly NINO3.4 SST Anomalies

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The preliminary global SST anomaly is +0.165 deg C, basically unchanged from last month.

Monthly Global SST Anomalies

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WEEKLY DATA

The weekly NINO3.4 SST anomalies for the week centered on September 24, 2011 have taken another drop toward their seasonal La Niña minimum. They are presently at -0.78 deg C.

Weekly NINO3.4 SST Anomalies

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Weekly Global SST Anomalies dropped significantly over the past week, and are presently at +0.104 deg C.

Weekly Global SST Anomalies

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SOURCES

SST anomaly data is available through the NOAA NOMADS website:

http://nomad1.ncep.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/pdisp_sst.sh

or:

http://nomad3.ncep.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/pdisp_sst.sh?lite=