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

Published by DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:25 PM | Dataset Last Updated: September 15, 2019 at 12:00 AM
The International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) Near-Real-Time (NRT) product is an extension of the official ICOADS data set based on preliminary Global Telecommunication System (GTS) data. The data are considered 'preliminary' until fully incorporated into a full major ICOADS data set release. The NRT data set is a merged product of various marine GTS data sources providing surface marine in situ observations from different observing platforms. Observations in the NRT product are primarily from ships (merchant, research, fishing, navy, etc.), moored and drifting buoys, and coastal stations. Each report contains individual observations of meteorological and oceanographic variables, such as sea surface and air temperatures, winds, pressure, humidity, wet bulb, dew point, ocean waves and cloudiness. The data are provided in the ICOADS common International Maritime Meteorological Archive (IMMA) data format and NetCDF. 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.

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Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Atmospheric Pressure Measurements Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Pressure Tendency Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Sea Level Pressure Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Surface Pressure Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Pressure > Sea Level Pressure Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Sea Surface Temperature Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Water Temperature Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Sea State

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.orders@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) Near-Real-Time (NRT) product is an extension of the official ICOADS data set based on preliminary Global Telecommunication System (GTS) data. The data are considered 'preliminary' until fully incorporated into a full major ICOADS data set release. The NRT data set is a merged product of various marine GTS data sources providing surface marine in situ observations from different observing platforms. Observations in the NRT product are primarily from ships (merchant, research, fishing, navy, etc.), moored and drifting buoys, and coastal stations. Each report contains individual observations of meteorological and oceanographic variables, such as sea surface and air temperatures, winds, pressure, humidity, wet bulb, dew point, ocean waves and cloudiness. The data are provided in the ICOADS common International Maritime Meteorological Archive (IMMA) data format and NetCDF. 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.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C01596/html",
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    "description": "Direct download links for dataset files.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA ICOADS page",
    "accessURL": "https://icoads.noaa.gov/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Access to ICOADS documentation, chronology, and publications.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "ICOADS IMMA Format Description",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "NOAA ICOADS documentation describing the process and formatting of data.",
    "downloadURL": "https://icoads.noaa.gov/e-doc/imma/R3.0-imma1_short.pdf",
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    "title": "Journal article published June 2016 by Wiley (International Journal of Climatology)",
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    "description": "Freeman, E., S.D. Woodruff, S.J. Worley, S.J. Lubker, E.C. Kent, W.E. Angel, D.I . Berry, P. Brohan, R. Eastman, L. Gates, W. Gloeden, Z. Ji, J. Lawrimore, N.A. Rayner, G. Rosenhagen, and S.R. Smith, 2017: ICOADS Release 3.0: A major update to the historical marine climate record. Int. J. Climatol. (CLIMAR-IV Special Issue), 37, 2211-2237. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4775",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
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]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C01596.xml
issued 2017-04-04T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Atmospheric Pressure Measurements",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Pressure Tendency",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Sea Level Pressure",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Pressure > Surface Pressure",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Pressure > Sea Level Pressure",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Sea Surface Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Water Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Sea State",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Swells",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Wave Height",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Wave Period",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Wave Speed/Direction",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Waves > Wind Waves",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Ocean Winds > Surface Winds",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Sea Ice > Ice Edges",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Sea Ice > Icebergs",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Sea Ice > Sea Ice Concentration",
  "Oceanic - Surface - Sea-surface Temperature",
  "Atmospheric - Surface - Air Temperature",
  "Atmospheric - Surface - Wind Speed And Direction",
  "Atmospheric - Surface - Pressure",
  "Ocean",
  "Vertical Location > Sea Surface",
  "ICOADS > International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set",
  "Anemometers",
  "Barometers",
  "Hygrometers",
  "Drifting Buoys",
  "Wind Vane",
  "Thermometers",
  "Aneroid Pressure Sensor",
  "Visual Observations",
  "Ships",
  "C-MAN > Coastal Marine Network",
  "Buoys",
  "Ocean Platforms",
  "Moorings",
  "Ocean Weather Stations",
  "TAO > Tropical Atmosphere Ocean",
  "TRITON > TRIangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network",
  "Floats",
  "NDBC Moored Buoy",
  "Point Resolution",
  "Hourly - < Daily",
  "1 minute - < 1 hour",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce"
]
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2019-09-15T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4775",
  "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5CZ3562"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1662-10-15T00:00:00+00:00/1662-10-15T00:00:00+00:00
title International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) R3.0 in Near-Real-Time (NRT)

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