Abstract:
This data set contains climatological monthly means of heat fluxes and
radiation budget over the global oceans, based on analyses of the
Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) for the period
1950 - 1979. All data are given on a 2 x 2 latitude/longitude
grid. Meteorological and oceanographic parameters contained in
this data set include air temperature, mixed layer temperature,
... precipitation, relative humidity, cloud cover, wind speed, sea
level pressure, salinity, absorbed solar radiation, outgoing
longwave radiation, net radiation, latent heat flux, sensible
heat flux, net downward heat flux, net freshwater flux, buoyancy
flux, frictional velocity, newtonian cooling rate, and transfer
coefficient for latent heat. Precipitation data were prepared
by Dennis Shea (NCAR). It was derived from land or island station
records and completed by satellite observations. Salinity data
required to compute buoyancy fluxes were taken from Sydney Levitus
(NOAA/NODC). All input data were monthly mean climatological
values except the surface salinity.
Because of the small variation of the climatological mean surface
salinity throughout the year, annual mean values were used. 
