North-West European Shelf Temperature and Salinity Climatology for 1971–2000

A 30-year temperature and salinity climatology for surface and near-bed regions of the NW European shelf seas, with a resolution of 1/6° longitude by 1/10° latitude. The data were extracted from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data centre and supplemented by the World Ocean Data Centre (WODC). Mean monthly and climatic mean annual cycle values were calculated from irregularly distributed original data.

Use Cases

• Modeling marine ecosystem responses based on long-term temperature and salinity cycles.
• Analyzing climate change impacts on shelf seas based on a 30-year climatological baseline.
• Calibrating regional oceanographic models based on high-resolution surface and near-bed data.
• Studying seasonal variability in oceanographic conditions based on mean monthly calculations.

Strengths

• 30-year temporal coverage from 1971 to 2000 provides a stable climatological baseline.
• High spatial resolution of 1/6° longitude by 1/10° latitude.
• Includes both surface and near-bed distributions for temperature and salinity.
• Integrates data from two authoritative sources: ICES and WODC.

Limitations

• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data centre and World Ocean Data Centre (WODC).

Collection Method

Data extracted from source centres, with mean monthly and climatic mean annual cycle calculated from irregularly distributed original records.

Time Range

1971–2000

Freshness

The description states the climatology will be regularly updated, but the last update date is unknown.

Geography

North-West European continental shelf seas.