This compilation of Sea Surface Salinity data collected in the three tropical oceans (30°N–30°S) is derived mainly from 13 trans-oceanic Voluntary Observing Ships tracks and from 35 TAO/TRITON and 13 PIRATA mooring sites. Details about validation procedures can be found in the reference publication.

Mean subthermocline and intermediate zonal currents meridional sections are produced at several longitudes across the Tropical Pacific, from 18°S to 18°N and 0 to 2000m depth. They are based on a compilation of shipboard ADCP measurements, and absolute geostrophic velocities constructed from a high-resolution 0–2000-m Argo climatology referenced to a 1000-m velocity field derived from Argo float drifts. Description 1) SADCP data obtained from ships transiting in the low-latitude tropical Pacific, during 1999–2015 (see Cravatte et al., 2017, 190 cruises) are compiled. Most of the data (128 cruises) were provided by the Joint Archive for Shipboard ADCP (JASADCP) at the University of Hawaii, with a large fraction from the NOAA ship Ka’imimoana, servicing the TAO array of moored buoys. All data retrieved from the JASADCP center were from their ‘‘standard subset’’ containing hourly averages interpolated to a 10-m vertical grid. For the other datasets, SADCP data were provided as 5- to 15-min temporal averages with 5- to 24-m vertical resolution. They were then averaged and interpolated to the 1-h, 10-m vertical grid. The complete dataset was mapped on a 0.25° latitude by 1° longitude grid using a simple Gaussian weighting function with 0.25° latitude and 3° longitude decorrelation scales, independent of the timing of the measurements, with windows of 0.5° of latitude and 6° of longitude. 2) The mean Argo temperature and salinity gridded climatology with a 1/6° resolution (Roemmich and Gilson 2009 was used to compute dynamic height anomalies. Derived zonal geostrophic shear both on and off the equator were computed following the method presented by Picaut and Tournier (1991) using a 1000-m reference level. The 1000-m Argo float drift then provided the constant of integration for vertically integrating the geostrophic shear to obtain a field of mean absolute geostrophic velocity.

The gridded Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) data set covers the region between 120°E – 70°W and 30°N – 30°S in the Pacific Ocean. It is based on available data collected from 1950 to 2009 mostly from Voluntary Observing Ships, TAO/TRITON moorings and Argo profilers, with complementary hydrocasts, STD, and CTD data collected during research cruises, and subsequently validated. This monthly SSS product is gridded using an objective mapping at the spatial resolution 1° x 1°. It is distributed with its associated error fields. It is an update of the SSS product presented in Delcroix et al (2011).

The gridded Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) data set covers the region between 95°W – 20°E and 50°N – 30°S in the Atlantic Ocean. It is based on available data collected from 1970 to 2016 mostly from Voluntary Observing Ships, PIRATA moorings and Argo profilers, and subsequently validated. This monthly SSS product is gridded using an objective mapping at the spatial resolution 1° x 1°. It is distributed with its associated error fields. It is an update of the SSS product presented in Reverdin et al (2007).

Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) is an essential climate variable that requires long term in situ observation. The French SSS Observation Service (SSS-OS) manages a network of Voluntary Observing Ships equipped with thermosalinographs (TSG) since 2002. The network is global though more concentrated in the tropical Pacific and North Atlantic oceanic basins. The acquisition system is autonomous with real time transmission and is regularly serviced at harbor calls. The high resolution data retrieved from the acquisition system during ship calls is processed through a dedicated software (freely available) for attribution of data quality flags by visual inspection, and correction of TSG time series by comparison with climatology, onboard daily water samples and collocated Argo data. Details can be found in the reference below. The validated delayed time data collected from TSG, together with some bucket samples mostly collected before 2002, are made available for educational and research purposes through an interactive web interface.