sea surface temperature
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water temperature close to the ocean's surface
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Sea-surface temperature since 1979 in the extrapolar region (between 60 degrees south and 60 degrees north latitude)
Sea surface temperature (or ocean surface temperature) is the temperature of ocean water close to the surface. The exact meaning of surface varies in the literature and in practice. It is usually between 1 millimetre (0.04 in) and 20 metres (70 ft) below the sea surface. Sea surface temperatures greatly modify air masses in the Earth's atmosphere within a short distance of the shore. The thermohaline circulation has a major impact on average sea surface temperature throughout most of the world's oceans.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sea surface temperature” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.