Show HN: 41 years sea surface temperature anomalies (ssta.willhelps.org)

by willmeyers 73 comments 147 points
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73 comments

[−] mckirk 36d ago
Along these lines: I really like the 'Climate Reanalyzer' project by the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine [1]. There's so much good stuff there if you click around a bit; you can create custom plots for the surface temperature of different regions for example[2], which quickly shows you that Western Europe has actually warmed a lot more than the global average, and we're closer to +2°C already in that region.

[1]: https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/?dm_id=world2 [2]: https://climatereanalyzer.org/research_tools/monthly_tseries...

[−] engineer_22 36d ago
[−] Windchaser 36d ago
Probably just an El Nino / La Nina oscillation. Looks similar to the changes leading up to 1998 (another big El Nino), 2016 (same), and 2024.

More glibly: "the temperature"

[−] engineer_22 35d ago
Haha, actually the long term trend changed abruptly
[−] interloxia 36d ago
I don't know but it cooencideds with the start of satellite monitoring.

Half a century of satellite remote sensing of sea-surface temperature (2019) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003442571...

I haven't looked but there will probably be references somewhere explaining the dat sources.

[−] paganel 36d ago

>

https://climatereanalyzer.org/research_tools/monthly_tseries...

It can also be clearly seen that the 2020 limit on the sulphur content in the fuel oil used on board ships [1] had quite the negative effects when it comes to surface sea temperatures, but I haven't that many climate (and not only) scientists taking responsibility of that act (even though related warnings had been made, I remember reading one just before the measure went in effect).

[1] https://www.imo.org/en/mediacentre/hottopics/pages/sulphur-2...

[−] wat10000 36d ago
Cutting sulphur content wasn't about climate. Why would climate scientists be taking responsibility?

Blasting pollution into the air is generally a bad idea. If it becomes necessary in order to fight warming, it should be done deliberately and with due consideration, not by having a bunch of ships burning dirty fuel.

[−] paganel 35d ago
So, who decides what? What's worst? Dirtier air or a hotter climate? Who makes those decisions? On what considerations?
[−] wat10000 35d ago
Those questions sum up one of the great problems of our time.
[−] nielsbot 36d ago
What should they say? “Turns out there’s a side effect we should put the sulfur back in diesel”?
[−] paganel 35d ago
Something like: What we scientifically thought was going to improve things has made them worst.
[−] jfengel 35d ago
It didn't make them worse. It solved one problem. That made the extent of the other existing problem more apparent.

That was known and expected. We could not continue to put sulfur in the air; it causes acid rain.

The fact that we also cannot afford to put CO2 into the air is a separate problem. That goes beyond temperature: even if additional sulfur would mitigate the temperature increase, it would also make ocean acidification worse.

[−] nielsbot 35d ago
Scientists are saying that tho. We’re talking about those findings rn. Not sure what point you’re trying to make. Scientists don’t own their mistakes?
[−] mistrial9 36d ago
"those three ants there ruined my picnic" ?
[−] Scarblac 36d ago
In general I think the sea warms slower than land, so you'd expect land everywhere to warm faster than the global average.
[−] ninalanyon 34d ago
This March (2026) in Norway was nearly 4 K warmer than the preceding thirty year average for March, and 0.6 K warmer than the previous record set about 10 years ago.

So I could easily believe that we are already at +2 K for the year as whole.

[−] croemer 36d ago
In case you wonder how the anomaly is calculated:

   The daily global 5km SSTA product requires a daily climatology to calculate the daily SST anomalies. Daily climatologies (DC) are derived from the monthly mean (MM) climatology via linear interpolation. To achieve this, we assigned the MM value to the 15th day of each corresponding month, with the individual days between these dates being derived using linear interpolation.

   We then calculate the SSTA product using: SST_anomaly = SST - DC where the SST is the value for the day in question, and DC is the corresponding daily climatology for that day of the year.
[−] marginalx 36d ago
This doesn't give me a clear idea as a layman on how to interpret this information. Is it ok for the layman to believe that may 1st 1985 the variations of -5 to 5 were around 86 mean but in 2025 the same were around 82 mean, if that were to be the case, irrespective of the variations, it would not give me an idea of whether its concerning or not (this is just a random example, don't read too much into my beliefs)
[−] callumprentice 36d ago
I made something like this (in the VERY broadest sense) 10 years ago - inspired me to revisit and update both visuals and data (a lot has changed in that time).

https://callumprentice.github.io/apps/global_temperature_cha...

and

https://callumprentice.github.io/apps/climate_temperature_ch...

[−] pimlottc 36d ago
This looks cool but it's missing a clear legend on the default view to help the viewer understand what they're looking at.

It's not immediately clear if it's just absolute temperatures or relative temperatures or what. You have to look at the color scale to notice that it's from -5 to +5. But relative to what? Over what timescale? Is it a moving average?

I guess I could dig into the data link to figure it out but most people aren't going to do that.

[−] zug_zug 36d ago
Very emotionally powerful to watch something play out, even if I'm already consciously aware of it. Would love a speed where I can watch the whole dataset play out in about 1 minute.
[−] jstanley 36d ago
What are we seeing play out? It just looks like some areas are warm and some are cold?
[−] iso1631 36d ago
I can't believe there are still so-called intellegent people coming out with this crap.

1985 sure. Maybe 2000

But now?

[−] rob_c 36d ago
I'll give you 2 reasons.

a) published data tends to see corrections from sensors and methodology which take several years to work out the fine details. (This isn't an attack this is science) Which means always take yesterday's numbers with more scepticism than 2yr ago. (This is making no statement of any data you're looking at or any trend you claim to see)

b) a field dominated by modelling needs data to back it up, otherwise the conversation would be, "Why is the LHC failing to find strong theory which is absolutely there" vs "I wonder if the modelling is correct based on..." This is a certain level of maturity that certain sciences are only starting to reach after playing in the ballpark of "let's go model my idea and make a press release which will just so happen to help my funding".

Yes sea level temps are rising, absolute numbers are still difficult to come by though and last UN summary doc I read still put things at 5C global average over a century. (Yes still horrifically catastrophic for the wrong people, but I'm also not in charge)

[−] zug_zug 36d ago
I doubt it has anything to do with data-quality, I'd be surprised if even 10% of climate denialists have studied the numbers. Remember >20% of US citizens are still creationists, a lot of people aren't emotionally ready to believe scary things, and maybe they never will be.
[−] vscode-rest 36d ago
I take it you have data against creationism?

Or that it is somehow less “scary”?

[−] Windchaser 36d ago
Indeed, there is quite a lot of data against (Biblical/young-earth) creationism.

Everything from "humans' chromosome 2 is a fusion of two other chromosomes, and we see those two other chromosomes still present in chimpanzees and gorillas and bonobos", which argues for common descent, to "when zircon crystals form, they accept radioactive uranium but violently reject the lead that it decays to, and modern zircon crystals have lead-uranium ratios indicating that they formed billions of years ago", arguing for an old age of the universe. And many, many, many, many other pieces of evidence.

[−] vscode-rest 36d ago
Chromosomal similarity argues for solid engineering principles just as much as it does common decent. Do you have any data to suggest that the almighty did not take a working chromosome 2 (made in their own image, perhaps), and reuse it in these other animals you reference?
[−] saalweachter 36d ago
Nothing about the human body argues for solid engineering principles.
[−] vscode-rest 36d ago
Presumably you have some data to back that up? A product designed by the worlds top biological engineers that is more effective?
[−] Windchaser 36d ago

> Do you have any data to suggest that the almighty did not take a working chromosome 2 (made in their own image, perhaps), and reuse it in these other animals you reference?

Why would an almighty god leave markers in our Chromosome 2 that look like they are from chromosomes 2a/2b in other apes?

It's not just that there's a huge genetic similarities between the chromosomes. Which there are! Chromosome 2 also has an extra, deactivated centromere, which was used in the copying of the previous chromosome 2b, before the fusion. And, remember that chromosomes typically have telomeres at their ends to keep them from fraying apart. In a fusion event you'd expect some telomeres from the end of the ingredient chromosomes to end up in the middle of the resulting fused chromosome. And this is what we see.

Of course God could have created our chromosome in such a way that it looks very much like the fusion of 2 chromosomes from our shared ancestor with chimpanzees, down to the addition of an extra centromere and telomere region. But why would he?

But, I've also got to say, man, please don't be surprised if I don't respond much. I have no offense intended towards you, but from my perspective, arguing with a young earth creationist is about as productive as arguing with a flat earther. There are about 6 orders of magnitude of difference in age between an Earth that's about 6k years old and 4 billion, and those differences should be readily apparent all over the natural world. And they are! We see an incredible wealth of evidence for an old universe.

But... well, horse and water and all that. I can't expect to change your mind any more than I'd expect to change a flat-earther's mind.

[−] vscode-rest 36d ago
I get that you don’t understand why a creator might do things they way they might have done. I don’t either. But surely you admit your own lack of understanding is not a scientific proof point?

If I said “I don’t understand why the big bang happened”, would that be evidence it didn’t?

[−] wat10000 36d ago
There's a buttload of data against creationism. There are living trees older than the typical date given for the creation.
[−] vscode-rest 36d ago
Oldest tree I see is reported as 5,000 years. Common creation date is held to be roughly 6000 years ago.

Not that I think the age estimates folks have has much basis is reality. But this is a particularly empty nothing-burger.

[−] wat10000 36d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees

I’m sure you’ll say the older ones are wrong, of course.

[−] vscode-rest 36d ago
https://www.conservation.org/news/methuselah-still-the-world...

Why do these disagree? Are the metrics perhaps under some debate, even amongst the Scientists?

[−] rob_c 36d ago
And believing the world ending as in "the day after tomorrow" was the "still mask wearing" of the 2010s. Fear.
[−] nonameiguess 36d ago
Jesus Christ, dude. That was a disaster movie by the same guy that brought us Independence Day and 2012, based on a book by a radio host best known for possibly facilitating the Heaven's Gate mass suicide by feeding rumors a UFO was following the Hale-Bopp comet, and a writer who has peddled personal tales of alien abductions for 40 years. Not exactly a reliable central tendency measure of what real people feared.

This has to be one of the stupidest false equivalences I've ever seen.

[−] rob_c 33d ago
You. Wow.... You clearly aren't paying attention to how that movie was widely mid portrayed and presented within the education sector as fact
[−] zug_zug 36d ago
Feels like a really weak bad-faith take.

I guess you're trying to draw a false-equivalency between taking a problem extra seriously and denying/perpetuating it? However taking a problem too seriously doesn't harm people, if you want to wear a mask out of an abundance of caution you won't kill anybody else.

Also nobody believed the world was going to end in two days, that feels like a disingenuous talking point. If somebody literally believed the world would end in < 10 years they'd likely quit their job, spend all their savings, etc.

If your point is that you've met ~15 individuals in your life who were obnoxious/self-righteous/unlikeable about their attempts to make the world better -- congrats every movement has that. But it can't distract from the fact that one thing is true and the other is false, and anybody who tries to focus more on the stereotypes of the individuals in a movement than whether it's true or not is only creating noise.

[−] rob_c 36d ago
No I'm talking about proper healthy science not blind trust. Please don't confuse discussion with argument it's disingenuous and best I can say is look inwards.
[−] HumblyTossed 36d ago
No, most of these people consciously or otherwise, just want/need to be contrarians. Look at flat Earthers. There is no way any sane person would say the earth is flat.
[−] rob_c 36d ago
Please don't bring up another thing started by idiot scientists for a laugh to laugh at stupid people. You have no idea what it's like dealing with the "just open your eyes" and "what else are they hiding" tier of pseudo-intellectualism enabled by nu-media.

There are reasons to be sceptical which are set in reason and it's worth not throwing that out with the bath water. Even if the bath water is full of low iq bitchute comments...

[−] jstanley 35d ago
I think you may be reading more into my comment than I wrote. I was only talking about what we are seeing in the Show HN. I have no baseline to compare it to so all I can see is a map of the oceans with some areas red and some areas blue.
[−] iso1631 35d ago
And over time the volume of blue reduces and changes to red, and even deeper red appears

It's generally accepted that red = hot and blue = cold, and there is a scale showing that anyway

It's quite obvious based solely on the site that this shows surface sea temperatures over 40 years, and it's far higher now than it was 40 years ago

But sure, just go on the "I'm only asking questions" crap.

[−] Johnny_Bonk 36d ago
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[−] drc500free 36d ago
If you tap the images on mobile, there is an animation.
[−] rexpop 36d ago
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[−] ferfumarma 36d ago
This is all terrifying data.
[−] pstuart 36d ago
Made worse that there's a significant number of people who refuse to believe it, and for all the wrong reasons at that.
[−] cjauvin 36d ago
For those interested in this type of climate data visualization apps, I have worked on this one in the past, which is actively maintained with a lot of love, and very nice:

https://portraits.ouranos.ca/en

[−] illwrks 36d ago
Very nice. I had a quick look at the data source and I wonder if the more recent data is more sensitive/better quality since 2020? There's a clear trend of the oceans getting warmer but recently it seems like there's more and more heat retained.

"CRW's first-generation global monitoring products were operational at NOAA until April 30, 2020, when they were officially retired, and succeeded by CRW's next-generation operational daily monitoring products."

[−] marginalx 36d ago
I don't quite understand the temperature color scale of -5 to 5, what is the baseline here on -5 to 5, is it relative to global average of that day? Or a period of time?
[−] rob_c 36d ago
Serious question. Why are there static (in absolute positional terms) anomalies in the data that seem to be recording at the other end of the spectrum to their immediate surrounding waters?

Also nice to see several shipping lanes crop up when watching it.

[−] Gravityloss 36d ago
Awesome! Maybe there could be even larger speeds and timesteps.
[−] HumblyTossed 36d ago
We're frogs, slowly boiling ourselves...
[−] kittikitti 36d ago
This is great, thank you for posting this!
[−] adcent 36d ago
I jumped to my birth date and found it's much colder than today.
[−] imagetic 36d ago
More of this!
[−] fedorsapronov 36d ago
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[−] simonebrunozzi 36d ago
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[−] mc-serious 36d ago
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