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Due to their thermal and mechanical inertia, the oceans play a key role in decadal-scale climate variability (DCV) and provide a potential source of initial-value predictability for low-frequency climate fluctuations. Characterizing oceanic DCV is challenging, however, due to the limited duration of the observational record combined with the sparse and irregular data coverage. These constraints also hinder assessments of the robustness of the patterns and timescales of DCV, and understanding of the governing mechanisms. In this brief note, we provide an overview of the main phenomena of DCV in the historical sea surface temperature (SST) data record, discuss proposed interpretations and causal mechanisms, and highlight outstanding research questions. SST data coverage Our focus on SST is motivated by both practical and physical considerations. On the practical side, the longest ocean temperature records are measured near the surface from ships-of-opportunity, starting with bucket samples in the 19th and early 20th centuries followed by engine-intake measurements (e.g., Woodruff et al., 2008). On the physical side, SSTs are the main agent of communication between the atmosphere and the ocean, and thus represent a key quantity for probing DCV (for a discussion of the upper-ocean mixed layer heat budget, c.f. Deser et al., 2010).

An overview of decadal-scale sea surface temperature variability in the observational record