GOES-15 Satellite: Half-Hourly Sea Surface Temperature for the Central Pacific

Skin sea surface temperature (SST) measurements derived from the far infrared channels of the GOES-15 satellite. The data is processed into GHRSST Level 2P format with Single Sensor Error Statistics (SSES) and provided in full resolution on a half-hourly basis, subset into regional granules. The dataset is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from the GOES-15 satellite launched in March 2010.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere heat exchange based on half-hourly skin SST measurements.
• Tracking diurnal warming events in the Central Pacific based on high temporal resolution data.
• Validating and calibrating other SST products using the Single Sensor Error Statistics (SSES) included in the L2P format.
• Analyzing regional sea surface temperature patterns from the subsetted northern and southern granule data.

Strengths

• Data is collected at high temporal resolution on a half-hourly basis.
• Includes Single Sensor Error Statistics (SSES) following the GHRSST Data Processing Specification version 2.0.
• Measurements are derived from a five-channel imaging radiometer providing 10-bit precision telemetry.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) via the GOES-15 satellite.

Collection Method

Skin SST calculated from far IR channels of the GOES N-P Imager, processed into GHRSST L2P datasets.

Time Range

Data collection began after the GOES-15 launch on 4 March 2010; specific temporal coverage is not detailed.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:41:45.266423; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Central Pacific region, with data subset into distinct northern and southern granules.