The monthly sea surface temperature anomalies in the Pacific Ocean,the Atlantic Ocean,the Indian Ocean and global oceans in recent 50 years (from 1950 to 1998) are respectively analyzed by the EOF method,the spatial distribution and corresponding temporal variation of the main EOF modes are also discussed.Then,the period and energy analyses of element fields are further investigated by means of the Morlet wavelet technic.It is found that the first five EOF modes of SSTA fields have a good spatial global property and evident interannual and interdecadal variations.On the other hand,it is indicated that there exist conspicuous simultaneous and time lag correlations of SSTAs between the great oceans,thus reflecting the coordinated effect of the oceans and the dominant effect of the Pacific Ocean respectively.In addition,the areas with distinct sea surface temperature variations from different spatial distribution modes are choosed as key areas,and the simultaneous and time lag correlations are analyzed.Results show that there are remarkable correlations of SSTAs among the key sea areas.