Climate Indices

Climate indices are diagnostic tools used to describe the state of the climate system and monitor climate. They are most often represented with a time series, where each point in time corresponds to one index value. An index can be constructed to describe almost any atmospheric event; as such, they are myriad. Therefore, CDIAC provides these links to other web sites to help guide users to the most widely used climate indices, which in many cases are updated monthly.

Data Set Website/Name

• NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, Monitoring and Data Index Page
• NOAA's Earth Systems Research Laboratory, Monthly Atmospheric and Ocean Time Series Page
  (plot, analyze, and compare time series)
• The Monthly Teleconnection Indices Page from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center
• The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) Page from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center