Weather – short term response of the atmosphere to solar heating and Earth rotation
Winds at 10m above the sea surface
windspeed – ms-1 or knots
wind direction – degrees relative to true North (direction from)
east wind – ms-1 wind towards East
north wind – ms-1 wind towards North
gust – ms-1, maximum instantaneous wind speed in a period
Atmospheric pressure – Pa (hPa = mbar), air pressure at mean sea level
Air temperature – degrees Celcius (C) at 2m above the surface (or degrees Kelvin (K) … C = K - 273.15)
Relative Humidity - % at 2m above the surface, a measure of the amount of water vapour in the air
Cloud cover – fraction between 0 (no cloud) and 1 (total cloud cover)
Visibility – m, distance view at the surface
Precipitation – mm/day, accumulated rainfall
Currents
Tides – generated by the gravitational attraction between the Earth, the Moon and Sun
tidal current speed – ms-1 or knots
tidal current direction – degrees relative to true North (direction to)
Ocean currents – response to atmospheric forcing and differences between water masses in polar and equatorial regions
current speed – ms-1
current direction - degrees relative to true North (direction to)
Coastal currents – response to atmospheric forcing, river inflows and topographic steering
current speed – ms-1
current direction - degrees relative to true North (direction to)
Stokes drift – currents associated with surface wave propagation
current speed – ms-1
current direction - degrees relative to true North (direction to)
Surface waves – generated by the action of winds on the sea surface
Significant wave height – m, the mean of one third of the highest waves in a given period
Peak wave period – seconds, the period of the wave spectral peak
Peak wave direction – degrees relative to true North (direction from) of the wave spectral peak
Wind wave height – m, the mean wave height driven by local winds in a given period
Wind wave period – seconds, the period of the mean wind wave periods
Wind wave direction – degrees relative to true North (direction from) of the mean wind wave
Swell wave height – m, the mean swell wave height of the major (primary) swell component in a given period
Swell wave period – seconds, the period of the mean swell wave periods
Swell wave direction – degrees relative to true North (direction from) of the mean swell waves
Oceanographic – other parameters
Sea Surface Temperature - degrees Celcius (C), the foundation temperature of the sea surface layer
Sea Surface Salinity – salinity units (psu), saltiness of the sea water at the sea surface
Sea surface height – m, ocean sea surface height above the geoid
Tidal elevation – m, tidal sea surface height above mean sea level
Chlorophyll_a – mgm-3, values of mass concentration of chlorophyll_a, an indication of primary production
Sea ice fraction – fraction between no ice (=0) and total ice coverage (=1); all ice floating in the sea which has formed from freezing sea water
Sea ice thickness – m, vertical extent of ice floating in the sea which has formed from freezing sea water
