Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Overlays with Coastal Radar Current Vectors

CODAR Satellite Overlays combine sea surface temperature images with surface current vectors from Coastal Ocean Radar. Rutgers University Marine Remote Sensing provides these overlays for the Mid-Atlantic Bight region. Images are generated when clear satellite data is available for overlaying CODAR vectors.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the correlation between sea surface temperature patterns and surface current direction/speed indicated by overlay arrows.
• Tracking temporal changes in coastal currents by parsing timestamps from image filenames (e.g., 010402.0725).
• Mapping surface flow dynamics in the Mid-Atlantic Bight using georeferenced vector overlays on satellite imagery.
• Studying seasonal or diurnal variations by comparing images from different months and GMT times.

Strengths

• Data combines two distinct measurement sources: satellite SST and CODAR radar surface currents.
• Images include temporal metadata encoded in filenames (year, month, day, hour, minute, satellite identifier).

Limitations

• Image updates are conditional on clear satellite data availability, leading to irregular temporal coverage.
• Specific data volume metrics (row count, file size) and spatial resolution are not provided.
• The dataset's primary format is GIF images, which may limit quantitative analysis compared to raw data formats.

Provenance

Source

Rutgers University Marine Remote Sensing via NASA Earthdata (platform: nasa_earthdata).

Collection Method

Overlay of CODAR (Coastal Ocean Radar) surface current vectors on satellite-derived sea surface temperature imagery.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is implied by filenames (e.g., starting 2001) but exact range is unspecified.

Freshness

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Geography

Mid-Atlantic Bight region, specifically referenced in relation to the Jersey shore.