# Talk:Sea surface temperature


### Sea surface temperature
I've just changed the image in the lead from a "climate change one" to a "natural science / georgraphy" one. The latter now shows how sea surface temperature is different for different parts of the oceans. The former (seen here on the right) contained too much other information in my opinion, e.g. it included the land surface temperature and also this statement above the graph: "oceans absorb over 90% of excess heat". This is too much jargon (absorb? excess heat? from when to when?) and thus digresses from the core purpose of the lead image: to show people with a visual image that they have come to the right page, the one that they were looking for. EMsmile (talk) 13:24, 27 June 2023 (UTC) EMsmile (talk) 13:24, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

P.S. It might be good to find a global map image for the current year, rater than for 2013. Or perhaps show side by side one for winter/summer, or one for this year versus 50 years ago (if we think the climate change aspect ought to be included in the lead image).
Suggestion for image:
https://climate.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/custom-uploads/Page%20Uploads/C3S-WMO%20Joint%20PR%200723/fig3_era5_daily_sst_60S-60N_series_1979-2023_dark.png

more than half a century of data in one image
blue, white, red colours show warming over decades
very clear that temperatures for July, August 2023 are way out of normal peak in March
Uwappa (talk) 16:10, 5 August 2023 (UTC)

I agree that this style of graphic is very compelling. However, copyright issues are a major hurdle as far as I've seen. If something is entirely the work of the U.S. government, that's good news re copyright, so *.gov searches may be a fertile search area. —RCraig09 (talk) 16:24, 5 August 2023 (UTC)
Thank you. It is similar to work of U.S. gov, it is EU funded. There are no copyright issues. Just acknowledge the source with "Credit: ECMWF, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)". See https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/CUSF/Reference+for+media+from+C3S+website Uwappa (talk) 17:13, 5 August 2023 (UTC)
@Uwappa: For free use on Wikipedia/Wikimedia, there must be a specific Creative Commons license. ecmwf.int's permission does not fulfill that requirement. ~ sad face ~ —RCraig09 (talk) 19:10, 5 August 2023 (UTC)
 The right to copy seems ok, the right to modify is probably the hurdle. Yet this hurdle seems taken at  2023_European_heat_waves containing  File:Record_Temperatures_in_the_Mediterranean_Sea_in_July.jpg from the same source. Uwappa (talk) 11:03, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
@Uwappa: Wowzerz, in all these years I had not known about the Template:Attribution-Copernicus permission that is acceptable in Wikimedia projects. I'm wondering if "This image contains data from a satellite..." is limiting in any way (if there are other charts from Copernicus that aren't covered). —RCraig09 (talk) 12:48, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
So, would it be OK to download the chart from https://climate.copernicus.eu/july-2023-sees-multiple-global-temperature-records-broken (3rd chart) and use it on Wikipedia based on the same permission? Uwappa (talk) 13:33, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
@Uwappa: That's actually like my question. The charts representing data back to the 1940s are definitely not "...data from a satellite..." that Wikimedia Commons' template describes, and ERA5 is part of ECMWF re-analysis, the "re-analysis" muddying the analysis further. One can go to the Commons Village pump/Copyright and hopefully get an opinion from a more knowledgeable person. —RCraig09 (talk) 14:41, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
I just discovered: Commons Category:Copernicus Sentinel Satellite Imagery seems to imply acceptance of many Copernicus graphics. —RCraig09 (talk) 14:46, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
Yes, it looks like it would be OK to upload the image.
Posted the copyright question at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump/Copyright#Graph:_daily_sea_surface_temperature_1970-2023 Uwappa (talk) 05:24, 8 August 2023 (UTC)
OK from village pump, file uploaded.
 Uwappa (talk) 13:32, 11 August 2023 (UTC)
Thanks for that, Uwappa! It's a very impressive (and scary!!) graphic. I think it's a good one for the lead. I've just made its caption more detailed (I think it's important to point out for where in the world this data was taken); also I have moved the other two images that were in the lead to further down below. I think it's best to have just one image in the lead. EMsmile (talk) 16:50, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
You are welcome. Yes the graph is excellent, a true graphic gem, very well designed. Lots of credits to the designer at Copernicus, very well done. See chart title for location: 60 degrees south - 60 degrees north, the extra polar global oceans. So yes, scary as that is an enormous amount of energy stored in a lot of much water.
What strikes me is that temperatures are out of bandwidth for months in a row already with no end in sight. See BBC for how the warmer oceans alarm scientists:
22 Jul: Climate records tumble, leaving Earth in uncharted territory
4 aug:  Ocean heat record broken, with grim implications for the planet.
Uwappa (talk) 17:43, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
Please have a look at the 12 months since 1 June 2023 at:
https://climate.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/custom-uploads/2405%20CB/PR/timeseries_era5_sst_60S-60N_daily_1979-2024.png
in
https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-may-2024-streak-global-records-surface-air-and-ocean-temperatures-continues
It is way beyond funny. Uwappa (talk) 19:45, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Sippel, S., Kent, E.C., Meinshausen, N. et al. Early-twentieth-century cold bias in ocean surface temperature observations. Nature 635, 618–624 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08230-1
However, early records of global mean surface temperature are uncertain owing to changes in measurement technology and practice, partial documentation, and incomplete spatial coverage9. Here we show that existing estimates of ocean temperatures in the early twentieth century (1900–1930) are too cold, based on independent statistical reconstructions of the global mean surface temperature from either ocean or land data. The ocean-based reconstruction is on average about 0.26 °C colder than the land-based one, despite very high agreement  in all other periods. 2003:E5:2747:1200:585C:9A71:85D2:DFBA (talk) 09:48, 3 December 2024 (UTC)