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Description

This dataset provides monthly-averaged global mean sea level from the ECCO Version 4 Release 4 (V4r4) ocean and sea-ice state estimate. Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) ocean and sea-ice state estimates are dynamically and kinematically-consistent reconstructions of the three-dimensional time-evolving ocean, sea-ice, and surface atmospheric states. ECCO V4r4 is a free-running solution of the 1-degree global configuration of the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) that has been fit to observations in a least-squares sense. Observational data constraints used in V4r4 include sea surface height and model sea level anomaly (SSH) from satellite altimeters [ERS-1/2, TOPEX/Poseidon, GFO, ENVISAT, Jason-1,2,3, CryoSat-2, and SARAL/AltiKa]; sea surface temperature (SST) from satellite radiometers [AVHRR], sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Aquarius satellite radiometer/scatterometer, ocean bottom pressure (OBP) from the GRACE satellite gravimeter; sea ice concentration from satellite radiometers [SSM/I and SSMIS], and in-situ ocean temperature and salinity measured with conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors and expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) from several programs [e.g., WOCE, GO-SHIP, Argo, and others] and platforms [e.g., research vessels, gliders, moorings, ice-tethered profilers, and instrumented pinnipeds]. V4r4 covers the period 1992-01-01T12:00:00 to 2018-01-01T00:00:00.

Product Summary

Platforms
MODELS ,
MITgcm
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
0.5 Decimal Degrees x 0.5 Decimal Degrees
Geographic Region
GLOBAL OCEAN
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C1991543742-POCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
1
Processing Level
4
Published
Science Keywords
Sea Level Rise

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Fenty, I., & Wang, O. (2020). ECCO Global Mean Sea Level - Monthly Mean (Version 4 Release 4) [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ECTSM-MSL44 Date Accessed: 2025-12-14

Documents

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
global_mean_barystatic_sea_level_anomaly Global mean barystatic sea level anomaly due to changes in total ocean mass. Note: ECCOv4 uses a volume-conserving Boussinesq formulation of the MITgcm with a free-surface boundary condition with real freshwater flux forcing. Changes in ocean mass due to evaporation, precipitation, runoff, and sea-ice growth/melt are reflected in model sea level. However, as a consequence of the Boussinsq formulation, changes to seawater density due to net buoyancy fluxes (e.g., global mean surface heating/cooling) do not change model sea level anomaly (ETAN) via seawater expansion/contraction. Changes in global ocean density therefore induce a spurious change in model ocean bottom pressure (PHIBOT) via 'virtual mass fluxes'. The 'Greatbatch correction' is a time varying, globally-uniform correction to account for changes in global mean density in Boussinesq models. This correction is used to calculate dynamic sea surface height (SSH) and ocean bottom pressure (OBP). Importantly, there is no dynamical significance to the Greatbatch correction but it is required to account for steric changes in global sea level. See Greatbatch, 1994. J. of Geophys. Res. Oceans, doi.org/10.1029/94JC00847 m float 9.96921E+36 -0.044738118 to 0.043026384 1
global_mean_sea_level_anomaly Global mean of dynamic sea level anomaly, equivalent to global mean sea level change. Note: ECCOv4 uses a volume-conserving Boussinesq formulation of the MITgcm with a free-surface boundary condition with real freshwater flux forcing. Changes in ocean mass due to evaporation, precipitation, runoff, and sea-ice growth/melt are reflected in model sea level. However, as a consequence of the Boussinsq formulation, changes to seawater density due to net buoyancy fluxes (e.g., global mean surface heating/cooling) do not change model sea level anomaly (ETAN) via seawater expansion/contraction. Changes in global ocean density therefore induce a spurious change in model ocean bottom pressure (PHIBOT) via 'virtual mass fluxes'. The 'Greatbatch correction' is a time varying, globally-uniform correction to account for changes in global mean density in Boussinesq models. This correction is used to calculate dynamic sea surface height (SSH) and ocean bottom pressure (OBP). Importantly, there is no dynamical significance to the Greatbatch correction but it is required to account for steric changes in global sea level. See Greatbatch, 1994. J. of Geophys. Res. Oceans, doi.org/10.1029/94JC00847 m float 9.96921E+36 -0.055373594 to 0.054730136 1
global_mean_sterodynamic_sea_level_anomaly Steric sea level anomaly associated with seawater expansion/contraction due to density changes. Note: ECCOv4 uses a volume-conserving Boussinesq formulation of the MITgcm with a free-surface boundary condition with real freshwater flux forcing. Changes in ocean mass due to evaporation, precipitation, runoff, and sea-ice growth/melt are reflected in model sea level. However, as a consequence of the Boussinsq formulation, changes to seawater density due to net buoyancy fluxes (e.g., global mean surface heating/cooling) do not change model sea level anomaly (ETAN) via seawater expansion/contraction. Changes in global ocean density therefore induce a spurious change in model ocean bottom pressure (PHIBOT) via 'virtual mass fluxes'. The 'Greatbatch correction' is a time varying, globally-uniform correction to account for changes in global mean density in Boussinesq models. This correction is used to calculate dynamic sea surface height (SSH) and ocean bottom pressure (OBP). Importantly, there is no dynamical significance to the Greatbatch correction but it is required to account for steric changes in global sea level. See Greatbatch, 1994. J. of Geophys. Res. Oceans, doi.org/10.1029/94JC00847 m double 9.9692099683869E+36 -0.017452795300931 to 0.017312100615511 1
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