Climatology metrics: A climatology, by definition, is the long-term condition for a specified time period. NOAA Coral Reef Watch's (CRW) Version 3.5 Thermal History products use the climatology that underpins the Version 3.1 (v3.1) daily global 5km satellite coral bleaching heat stress monitoring products.

We determined climatology values at coral reef-containing and adjacent satellite pixel locations worldwide, from 1985-2012, using CRW's v3.1 daily global 5km CoralTemp satellite sea surface temperature (SST) data product. The climatology was then adjusted to have a baseline (or reference) time period of 1985-1990 plus 1993 only. This follows CRW's currently-established methodology¹ for its daily global 5km satellite coral bleaching heat stress products. Click here or here to learn more.

In addition to data and images of the Monthly Climatology of SST, metrics identify which of the 12 months is the climatologically warmest and coolest, as well as the typical range of SST experienced.

Warmest Month, Coolest Month, Climatological Temperature Range [range: 0.4-16.1°C] and Monthly Climatology [12.6-34.3°C]: For each month, we determined the average temperature for each year in the climatology period (1985-2012) and the linear regression coefficients for each individual pixel. The Monthly Climatology was then set to the regression solution at the time 1988.286. This is the time-center (temporal mid-point) of NOAA CRW's heritage 50km climatology and subsequent 5km climatologies (both current and historical) ¹, which have the baseline (or reference) time period of 1985-1990 plus 1993. We then identified the Warmest and Coolest Months from the Monthly Climatology and derived the Climatological Temperature Range from those values.

¹Heron SF, et al. (2014) Climatology development for NOAA Coral Reef Watch's 5-km product suite. NOAA Technical Report NESDIS 145. NOAA/NESDIS. College Park, MD. 30pp.