Himawari-9 Satellite Sea Surface Temperature For Pacific Ocean

NOAA ACSPO system produces Subskin Sea Surface Temperature data from the Advanced Himawari Imager on the Himawari-9 satellite. Data covers the Pacific Ocean region with 2km spatial resolution and 10-minute temporal sampling, collated into hourly products totaling 1.2 GB per day. The Japanese Meteorological Agency operates the satellite, which became operational in December 2022.

Use Cases

• Model diurnal warming cycles using the 10-minute temporal sampling of SST_subskin data.
• Detect marine heatwaves by analyzing time-series of SST_subskin values across the 60S-60N, 80E-160W region.
• Validate other SST products using the in-situ quality-controlled data referenced in the NOAA iQuam and SQUAM systems.
• Assimilate SST_subskin observations into numerical weather prediction models using the near-real-time hourly updates.
• Study cloud masking performance by examining the reduction in cloud leakages reported in the collated 1-hour product.

Strengths

• Spatial resolution of 2km at nadir for detailed ocean surface observation.
• High temporal frequency with 10-minute sampling and hourly collated products.
• Continuous validation against in-situ data from the NOAA iQuam system.
• Data volume of 1.2 GB per day indicates substantial observational coverage.

Limitations

• Pixel earth locations are not directly reported in data granules, requiring separate files or scripts.
• Delayed Mode data has an approximate 2-month latency, limiting real-time analysis.
• Spatial resolution degrades from 2km to 15km at high view zenith angles (67-deg).

Provenance

Source

NOAA ACSPO system processing data from the Japan Meteorological Agency's Himawari-9 satellite.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), processed into GHRSST-compliant netCDF4 files.

Time Range

Operational data from December 13, 2022 onward.

Freshness

Near-real-time data updated hourly with several hours latency.

Geography

Pacific Ocean Full Disk area: 80E-160W longitude, 60S-60N latitude.